Hamaayn / The Torah Spring Parashat Vayigash Edited by Shlomo Katz Volume 23, No.11 7 Tevet 5769 January 3, 2009 Sponsored by Milton Cahn in memory of his mother, Abby Cahn (Brachah bat Moshe a"h) and his wife, Felice Cahn (Faigah Sarah bat Naftali Zeev a"h) Today's Learning: Me'ilah 5:4-5 O.C. 259:3-5 Daf Yomi (Bavli): Bava Kamma 6 Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Gittin 24 King Shlomo writes in Mishlei (6:1-3), "My child, if you have been a guarantor for your friend, if you have given your handshake to a stranger, you have been trapped by the words of your mouth, snared by the words of your mouth--do this, therefore, my child, and be rescued, for you have come into your fellow's hand: Go humble yourself [before him] and let your fellow be your superior." R' Yehoshua ibn Shuiv (Spain; early 14th century) writes that these verses, like much of the book of Mishlei, can be interpreted on multiple levels. On the simplest level, these verses teach that a person should be careful with his words in order that he not get himself into unpleasant situations. If he has gotten himself into a difficult predicament, he should do his best to extricate himself. Being a guarantor is an example of a situation to be avoided, writes R' ibn Shuiv. He continues: Yaakov's son, Yehuda, was not careful with his words and became a guarantor for his brother Binyamin. Thus we read at the beginning of our parashah how Yehuda tried to extricate himself from his predicament. As King Shlomo suggests, Yehuda humbled himself before the Egyptian viceroy, who, unbeknownst to Yehuda, was Yosef. However, our Sages say that Yehuda's words had a double meaning and also contained veiled threats to Yosef. One a deeper level, writes R' ibn Shuiv, the "friend" of our verse is the yetzer ha'tov and the "stranger" of our verse is the yetzer hara. Each person is a guarantor for his yetzer ha'tov, i.e., we are supposed to ensure that our yetzer ha'tov is able to fulfill the mitzvot as is its desire. Too often, however, we give a handshake to the yetzer hara and we then must extricate ourselves. (Derashot R' Y. ibn Shuiv) ******** "Then Yehuda approached him and said, `If you please, my lord, may your servant speak a word in my lord's ears and let not your anger flare up at your servant -- for you are like Pharaoh'." (44:18) Yehuda's request for permission to speak seems out of place, since he was already negotiating with Yosef at the end of last week's parashah. R' David Shlomo Eyebschutz z"l (1755-1813; author of the halachic work Levushei Serad) explains that Yosef's statement at the end of last week's parashah, "The man in whose possession the goblet was found, only he shall be my slave, and as for you -- go up in peace to your father," was meant to be his last word. When a king or noble speaks his final word on a subject, one does not dare to continue discussing the matter. Therefore, Yehuda needed to ask permission to speak again. We read similarly (Devarim 3:23), "I implored Hashem at that time, laimor / to say." The last word in the verse means that Moshe asked Hashem's permission to speak about the possibility of his entering Eretz Yisrael, since Moshe knew it was a subject that Hashem did not wish to revisit. And, in the course of his request for permission to speak, Moshe "snuck-in" his request (3:25), "Let me now cross and see the good Land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon." Hashem responded (3:26), "Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter." Not only do you not have permission to pray about this matter, I do not even give you permission to talk about it incidentally. (Arvei Nachal) ******** "He cried in a loud voice. Egypt heard, and Pharaoh's household heard. Yosef said to his brothers, `I am Yosef; is my father still alive?' But his brothers could not answer him because they were left disconcerted before him." (45:2-3) The midrash teaches: Abba Kohen Bardala said, "Woe to us from the day of din / judgment! Woe to us from the day of tochachah / rebuke! If the brothers could not stand up in the face of the rebuke from Yosef, who was their junior, what will we answer when G-d comes to rebuke each and every one of us?" R' Moshe Shick z"l (1805-1879; rabbi of Chust, Hungary) writes: Din and tochachah represent two separate ideas. If a person harms someone who never did him good, but never harmed him either, din / justice requires that the one who did the harm must pay damages. If the victim had done a great deal of good for the other and was repaid with bad, how great does his tochachah / rebuke and punishment need to be?! G-d sustains us at every moment, but, all too frequently, we "repay" His kindness by transgressing His laws. Even if He had never done anything for us, we would need to fear His din. How much more so must we fear His tochachah when we have repaid bad for the good He does for us?! (Maharam Shick Al Ha'Torah) ******** "Then Yosef said to his brothers, `Come close to me, if you please,' and they came close." (45:4) R' Shlomo Algazi z"l (1610-1683) explains: We read (37:2) that, when Yosef was younger, he had been close to his half-brothers, the sons of the maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah. Rashi explains that the sons of Leah used to demean the sons of Bilhah, and Yosef stood up for them. The halachah is that a person who calls another a slave deserves to be excommunicated. Yosef believed that the sons of Leah deserved to be excommunicated because they demeaned the sons of Bihah, who were the sons of a maidservant. For their part, the sons of Leah believed the Yosef deserved to be excommunicated because, in their opinion, he had excommunicated them unjustly. In our verse, writes R' Algazi, these mutual excommunications were undone. When someone is excommunicated, others are enjoined to stay four amot (about 6-8 feet) away from him. Here, Yosef invited his brothers to come close to him and they did so. (Sheima Shlomo) ******** "And now, be not distressed, nor reproach yourselves for having sold me here, for it was to be a provider that G-d sent me ahead of you." (45:5) R' Yisrael Meir Hakohen z"l (the Chafetz Chaim; died 1933) writes: The Zohar states, "Come and see! Not only did Yosef not repay bad to his brothers, he did good for them. This is the way of righteous people at all times. Accordingly, G-d has mercy on them at all times, in This World and in the World-to-Come." The Chafetz Chaim elaborates: In order to understand the error of one who takes revenge, one should reflect on the lofty idea which is found in the Talmud Yerushalmi: If one was walking and he tripped over his own feet so that he fell and bruised himself, would he think for an instant of taking revenge on his own leg? Would he say, "I will not bandage my injured leg because it tripped me?" Of course not! Similarly, if we understood that we are all limbs of a single body called Klal Yisrael, we would never think of harming each other or taking revenge. (Shemirat Halashon: Sha'ar Ha'tevunah ch.6) ******** "Yosef harnessed his chariot and went up to meet Yisrael his father in Goshen. He appeared before him, fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck excessively." (46:29) Rashi z"l writes: Yaakov, however, did not fall upon Yosef's neck nor did he kiss him. Our Sages say that the reason was that he (Yaakov) was reciting the Shema. R' Yerucham Halevi Levovitz z"l (mashgiach ruchani in the Mir Yeshiva in Poland; died 1936) observes: One must be amazed at Yaakov's concentration! At this moment, he was being reunited with his long-lost son, who was now crying on his shoulder, and Yaakov was still able to focus on the words of Kriyat Shema! R' Levovitz continues: Commentaries ask why Yosef was not reciting Kriat Shema at this moment as well, and they give various answers. The underlying assumption of their question is that, had Yosef wanted to say Kriat Shema now, he too could have put all other thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on his prayers. (Da'at Torah) ******** This Week in History, Halachah, and Minhag 8 Tevet: This day is a ta'anit tzaddikim / fast day for the righteous (i.e., an optional fast) because on this day in the days of King Ptolemy the Torah was translated into Greek. (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 580:2) 9 Tevet: This day also is a ta'anit tzaddikim, but the reason is not known (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 580:2). The Mishnah Berurah writes that the Selichot prayers recited on this day state that it is the yahrzeit of the prophet Ezra. Why would Ezra's yahrzeit be a mystery? Because Ezra was equal in some respects to Moshe Rabbeinu. Just as Moshe's death and burial are shrouded in mystery, so is Ezra's death. Others explain that the fast is connected with the founding of a religion that split from Judaism and oppressed the Jewish People, but that our Sages hid the reason out of fear. (Luach Davar B'ito p.453) R' Yonatan Eyebschutz z"l (died 1764) suggests that just as we fast on the ninth of Av although the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed on the tenth of that month, and just as the ninth of Tishrei has some of the holiness of Yom Kippur, so we fast on the ninth of Tevet to begin the commemoration of the tragedy that occurred on the tenth (see below). (Ya'arot Devash: Drush 2) On this day in 4827 (1067), R' Yehosef Ha'naggid z"l of Granada, viceroy to the Spanish ruler, and 1,500 other Jews were murdered by Arabs. (Luach Davar B'ito p.454) 10 Tevet: This day is a fast day that commemorates the beginning of the siege of Yerushalayim, which ended with the destruction of the First Temple. Midrash Tanchuma (Tazria 9) states that G-d "wanted" to destroy the Bet Hamikdash on this day and exile the Jews but He had mercy and did not exile them in the cold of winter. 11 Tevet is "Purim Lipanto" (Italy) and "Purim Mezhibozh" (Ukraine) because of miracles that happened to each community on this day (She'eilot U'teshuvot Maharam Al-Shakar No. 49; Luach Davar B'ito p.463). The latter town was the home of the Ba'al Shem Tov. 12 Tevet 4594 (834 C.E.): On this day, a devastating earthquake struck Eretz Yisrael causing a significant loss of life. (Luach Davar B'ito p.466)