Today's Learning Zevachim - 10:3-4 Sponsored by O.C. 438:2-439:2 the Rozen & Donowitz Chullin 108 families on the yahrzeit of Yerushalmi-- mother and grandmother Sanhedrin 30 Rita Rozen a"h The Vogel family on the yahrzeit of mother and grandmother Miriam bat Yehuda Leib a"h Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Vayeishev Vol. XI, No. 9 (492), 26 Kislev 5757, December 7, 1996 This week's parashah relates how Yaakov favored Yosef over his brothers and gave him a special shirt, the "ketonet pasim." The midrash Bereishit Rabbah states: "Why did the brothers hate Yosef? So that the sea would be torn open before them. 'Pasim' equals 'Pas yam'/'The sea split'." [Until here from the midrash] Rav Dr. Salomon Breuer z"l (son-in-law of Rav Samson R. Hirsch) explains as follows: The splitting of the Yam Suf/Red Sea was the key event, even more so than the plagues or the Exodus, in instilling emunah/belief in G-d in the Jewish people. Emunah means, in particular, trusting that everything that happens in G-d's world is for the good. Thus, on the verse (Bereishit 1:31), "And G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good," our sages say, "'Very good' refers to death." Even tragedy is ultimately good. At the Yam Suf/Red Sea, every single Jew experienced prophecy and came to understand the above lesson. This is why the Torah introduces the "Shirat Hayam"/"Song at the Sea" with the phrase in the future tense: "Az yashir"/"Then he will sing." This means, "Now, we sometimes sing and sometimes cry, but in the future, when we see how all of our troubles were only stepping stones to the ultimate good, then we will only sing." Similarly, the above midrash teaches, Yosef's receiving the ketonet pasim was part of the Divine plan. In retrospect, it led to the splitting of the sea, and thus was part of the process of education and redemption (in Rav Breuer's words) through which G-d built His people. (Divrei Shlomo: Chochmah U'mussar) ************************************ Parashat Vayeishev In Halachah None of the 613 mitzvot appears in this parashah. (Sefer Hachinuch) One should never show favoritism among his children, for due to the two coins worth of wool (i.e., the ketonet pasim) which Yaakov gave Yosef, his children descended to Egypt. (Shabbat 10b) "And she named him Onan" (38:4) The Targum Yonatan ben Uziel explains that Yehuda's wife named her son "Onan" because she foresaw that his father would mourn for him. (A person in the first stage of mourning is called an "Onen.") Rav Reuven Margaliot z"l notes that she named her second son this and not her first, although he, too, was destined to die in his father's lifetime. This may be a source, he writes, for the custom of some people not to mourn if (G-d forbid) their firstborn son dies. (Mekor Chessed, paragraph 22) (Rema, Y.D. 374:11 writes that this is a mistaken custom.) "And she named him 'Shelah,' and Yehuda was in Keziv when she gave birth to him." (38:6) Why does the Torah tell us where Yehuda was when his son was born? Daat Zekenim writes that it is customary for parents to alternate choosing names for their children, the husband naming odd numbered children and the wife naming even numbered children. Therefore, the Torah had to explain here why Yehuda's wife named two consecutive children. Today, it is customary among many Ashkenazic Jews for the mother to name the first child. Some speculate that the reason for this is that the wife's parents commonly support the young couple in their first years after marriage. (Artscroll Bris Milah p.47) "Enter into a levirate marriage with her, and establish offspring for your brother." (38:8) Yehuda instructed his second son, Onan, to perform the mitzvah of yibum -- marrying the widow of his brother who had died childless. Rashi writes that "establish offspring for your brother" means that the child born of this marriage would be named after the deceased husband/brother. Ramban disagrees, and writes that there is no obligation to name this child after the deceased husband. Thus, for example, Ruth named her son Oved, and not Machlon, after her first husband, although Boaz had said, "Let the name of the deceased not be cut off." (Ruth 4:10) ************************************ "And Yaakov settled in the land where his father lived, in the Land of Canaan." (37:1) Don't we know that Yaakov's father, Yitzchak, lived in Canaan? Rav Moshe Yechiel Halevi of Ozrov explains as follows: Chazal say that Yaakov feared Esav because of two merits which Esav had that Yaakov did not. For 22 years, while Yaakov was with Lavan, Esav had the merit of (1) honoring his parents and (2) living in Eretz Canaan/Yisrael. Now that Yaakov had returned, he, too, sought to perform these mitzvot, so he settled: "(1) in the land where his father lived, (2) in the Land of Canaan." Yaakov hoped that this would protect him from Esav, for Esav had since left Canaan and moved to Se'ir. This is what Chazal (quoted in Rashi here) meant when they said, "Yaakov hoped to lived in peace." (Be'er Moshe) ************************************ "The pit was empty, there was no water in it." (37:24) If it was empty, do we not know that there was no water in it? Rather, there was no water in it, but there were snakes and scorpions in it." (Rashi) The Vilna Gaon explains this homiletically: "Water" frequently is a metaphor for Torah. The minute one separates himself from the Torah, he becomes full of snakes and scorpions -- evil and deceit. (Commentary to Mishlei 17:11) ************************************ From the humor of our sages . . . When Rav Chaim Brisker was eight years old, his father, the Bet Halevi, said to him, "Chaim, the gemara tells us that Hashem considers our intention to do a good deed as if we already did it. Right now, I am thinking of a very hard question, so it is as if I already asked it. Can you answer it?" Without hesitating, the little boy answered, "Father, I'm thinking of a very good answer. Can you refute it?" (Words of Wisdom, Words of Wit) ************************************ Rav Yechezkel Halevi Halstock z"l 5647 (1887) - early Tevet 5703 (1942) Rav Yechezkel succeeded his father, Rav Meir Yechiel, as the Rebbe of Ostrovtza in 1928. Rav Yechezkel was a tzaddik in his own right, and his childhood friend, Rav Moshe Yechiel of Ozrov, wrote of Rav Yechezkel that he used to soak his pillow every night with his tearful prayers that G-d should grant him wisdom. (Divrei Torah from Rav Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtza and Rav Moshe Yechiel of Ozrov appear in this issue.) At age 24, Rav Yechezkel was appointed rabbi of a suburb of Tomashov, Poland. Later he moved to other towns, where he also taught yeshiva students. From the few writings that survive, it is clear that he was expert even in the relatively neglected areas of Kodshim (the portions of the Talmud dealing with the Bet Hamikdash). In a letter to the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Sfas Emes in Yerushalayim he asks that some of his teachings be repeated in that school. He explains: A person's real life force comes from his Torah learning, and if his Torah teachings are repeated in Yerushalayim, it connects him with the Holy City. After becoming the Rebbe, Rav Yechezkel established a preparatory yeshiva in Ostrovtza called Bet Meir. Rav Yechezkel was murdered in the ghetto of Sandomierz with his seven sons. Today there is no rebbe of Ostrovtza. ************************************ "As she was taken out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, 'By the man to whom these belong I am pregnant'." (38:25) Rashi writes: She did not want to embarrass Yehuda by saying, "I am pregnant from you." From here we learn that it is better for a person to be burnt at the stake rather than to embarrass another person. Said Rav Meir Yechiel Halevi Halstock z"l: What kind of person should one not embarrass? If Yehuda had allowed Tamar to be killed, he would have been a rasha. Even so, she refused to embarrass him! (quoted in Marbitzei Torah Me'olam Hachassidut III p.84) ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible ************************************