Parshas Vaera

This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.

A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.


Question:

"Pharaoh sent word and discovered that among the Israelites' livestock, not a single [animal] had died. But Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not let the people leave" (Exodus 9:7).

Why should Pharaoh care if the Jews' livestock were spared the plague?


Slavery and Freedom

"And Hashem spoke to Moses and Aaron and commanded them regarding the Children of Israel and Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to take out the Children of Israel from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 6:13).

This verse seems quite strange; what can it mean to command the Jews to free the Jews from Egypt?

Rav Baruch HaLevy Epstein in his Torah Temimah cites the Jerusalem Talmud:
"Rav Shmuel son of Rav Yitzchak said, 'On what were they commanded? On the section [of the Torah dealing with] releasing servants'" (Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh HaShana 3:5).

It is clear that Pharaoh is being commanded to free the slaves and our Sages understand that this same command was given to the Jews. If we say the Jews had slaves, one could say that it is not just to demand Pharaoh release his slaves while the Jews keep their own. And even if we say that no Jews had slaves, Pharaoh could not be ordered to free slaves who, once free, will acquire and oppress slaves.

On a deeper level, I think this Medrish also relates to the purpose of our slavery in Egypt. G-d commanded us:

"Do not hurt the feelings of a foreigner or oppress him, for you were foreigners in Egypt" (Exodus 22:20)

Nechama Leibowitz (Studies in Shemot, volume 1, p 5-8) cites many verses where we are told to remember our servitude in Egypt and not to oppress others and to go out of our way to help people. We must become models of freedom and kindness to the entire world.


Food for thought and discussion:
What can we do to apply these ideas every day on a personal level, not solely by attending rallies (which are very important), but also in our daily life?

Information about Rav Baruch HaLevy Epstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Epstein

Have a good Shabbas and Rosh Chodesh,
Mordechai

In this week's Parshah, Moses and Aaron requested permission from Pharaoh for the Jews to leave Egypt and serve G-d for three days but the King of Egypt denied their petition and proclaimed:



"…[the Jews] are lazy (נִרְפִּים)! Therefore they cry out, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our G-d.' Let the labor fall heavy upon the men and let them work at it, and let them not talk about false matters" (Exodus 5:8-9).



In order to combat his slaves' laziness, Pharaoh increased their labor. However, the Tyrant's reasoning seems quite foolish and counterproductive; if the Jews are lazy and thus want a break, the harder they are pushed, the more they will want time off!



Rashi, translating נִרְפִּים as lax, solves our problem, and he explains that Pharaoh reasoned that since the Jews had free time, they could think of "idleness" and thus wanted to serve G-d. By driving the Jews harder than ever, Pharaoh hoped to deny the Jews the ability to contemplate anything other than their immediate task at hand. The Torah tells us that Pharaoh's tactic worked; in Exodus chapter six, G-d commanded Moses to relay words of comfort and inspiration to the exhausted Jews but they "did not hearken to Moses because of [their] shortness of breath and because of [their] hard labor" (Exodus 6:9) which Rashi understands to mean that "they did not accept consolation."



Given that Children of Israel's broken state, why would G-d command Moses to comfort them if they were simply too worn out to listen? It must have been that, as difficult as it was, the Jews in fact had the ability to pay heed. In fact, the Seforno views the Jews' failure in accepting Moses' words as a lack of trust; had they trusted in G-d, they would have found the strength for listening.



How exactly did the Jews' inability to concentrate stem from a lack of trust? According to the Gur Aryeh's interpretation of Rashi, the Jews' shortness of breath, one of the factors preventing them from listening, resulted from stress. What exactly is stress? It is worrying about a situation beyond one's physical control. One who trusts in G-d will accept conditions beyond their physical control, regardless of its justice. Despite the cruelty inflicted on them, had the Jews fully trusted in G-d, instead of worrying, they would have accepted their current situation. By doing so, their thoughts would have remained free to contemplate spiritual matters and they would have accepted G-d's comfort.



"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."
Serenity Prayer

Parshas Vayechi



This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.

A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.



Question:

“Joseph then ordered his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. The physicians thus embalmed Israel” (Genesis 50:2).

How could Joseph have Jacob embalmed?!



Healthy Growth


Joseph then took the two boys. He placed Ephraim to his right (to Israel's left), and Manasseh to his left (to Israel's right). He then came close to [his father]. Israel reached out with his right hand and placed it on Ephraim's head [even though] he was the younger son. He [placed] his left hand on Manasseh's head. He deliberately crossed his hands, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, he was displeased. He tried to lift his father's hand from Ephraim's head and place it on Manasseh's.
'That's not the way it should be done, Father,' said Joseph. 'The other one is the first-born. Place your right hand on his head.'
His father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know. [The older one] will also become a nation. He too will attain greatness. But his younger brother will become even greater, and his descendants will become full-fledged nations.'
On that day [Jacob] blessed them. He said, '[In time to come] Israel will use you as a blessing. They will say, 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' ' He [deliberately] put Ephraim before Manasseh. (Genesis 48:13-14,17-20).

Why did Jacob, after all the trouble such things caused hive, put the younger son ahead of the older one? Additionally, why did Jacob see Ephraim and Manasseh as a model that we should bless our children to be like?
In the Artscroll Pocket Zemiros (religious song) book (pages 10-11), it cites Agra d’Pirka who says that while Ephraim was greater than Manasseh, Ephraim was not arrogant and did not look down on his brother and Manasseh was not jealous of his younger brother. I think then the blessing is that we should all grow as much as we personally can while neither being jealous nor haughty.


Food for thought and discussion:

The blessing to be like Ephraim and Manasseh is for sons while the parallel blessing for daughters is to be like the Matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. The two blessings seem to be completely different (for girls – the Matriarchs, for boys – two grandchildren of Jacob), what is going on?

These blessings are given at Friday night before the Shabbas meal. Why?


Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshas Vayigash



This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.





Question:



"And they told him, saying, 'Joseph is still alive,' and [they told him] that he ruled over the entire land of Egypt, and his heart changed, for he did not believe them. And they told him all of Joseph's words that he had said to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of their father Jacob was revived. And Israel said, 'Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.'" (Genesis 45:26-28).



Why did Jacob only believe his sons that Joseph was alive when he saw the wagons that were sent?





Do it Yourself



Jacob and Joseph are about to be reunited for the first time in 22 years. The Torah tells us:



"And Joseph harnessed his chariot, and he went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and he appeared to him, and he fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck for a long time" (Genesis 46:29).



Joseph was viceroy of Egypt and surely had many things to do. Why did he prepare his chariot when he could have had it done for him?



Rashi comments:

And Joseph harnessed his chariot He personally harnessed the horses to the chariot to hasten to honor his father.



Rashi says that the reason Joseph harnessed the chariot was in order "to hasten to honor his father." How will Joseph doing it himself speed anything up?



Joseph coming out to meet his father would be honoring him. But when Joseph, second in command of Egypt, prepares the chariot himself in order to meet his father, he is showing that his father his so honorable that it is fitting for such an important person to do menial work in order for Jacob to be honored. Furthermore, because preparing the chariot will give honor to Jacob, Joseph, wanting to honor his father as soon as possible, wants to start immediately and thus he readies the chariot.





Food for thought and discussion:

Since it is better to do a mitzvah oneself rather than use an agent (Kiddushin 41a), why does G-d sometimes require us to use agents such as Kohanim (the priests) who offer the sacrifices for us?

Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai

Parshas Mikeitz



This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.





Question:



While Joseph ruled as Pharaoh's second in command, why did he not attempt to contact his family?





Cause and Effect



In last week's Torah portion, Joseph was thrown into prison. There, he interpreted the royal cupbearer's dream that he would be released and restored to his position. This indeed happened. In this week's reading, two years after his encounter with the cupbearer, the King of Egypt has a dream and, turning to Joseph to interpret it for him, Joseph is released from jail.





Why was Joseph released? On the surface, we would say because Pharaoh needed Joseph to interpret the dream. However, the Beis HaLevy cites a medrish that gives a different reason.



"And it was at the end of two years that Pharaoh dreamt…" (Genesis 41:1).

This alludes to the idea in the verse 'He put an end to darkness…' (Job 28:3). [G-d] put an end [set a limit] to Joseph's time in prison. Once the end came, 'Pharaoh dreamt'" (Translation from the English Beis HaLevy, page 153)



The Beis HaLevy says that instead of Pharaoh's dream being the reason that Joseph was freed, in reality, the medrish says that Joseph needing to be freed was the reason Pharaoh dreamt.



We don't and can't know how Divine providence works on a daily basis but we need to realize that what we see may not be correct.



Food for thought and discussion:

How is this idea related to Chanukah?

Also, does this idea pose a problem for the idea of free will and reward and punishment?





Biography of the Beis Halevy

http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/ybsolov.htm



Have a good Shabbas and happy Chaunkah,
Mordechai

Parshas Vayeshev



This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.





Question:



"The Medanites sold [Joseph] in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officers, captain of the guard" (Genesis 37:36)



"Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's Egyptian officers, the captain of the guard, had purchased him from the Arabs who had brought him there" (Genesis 39:1)



Who sold Joseph to Potiphar?







Acting Effectively



When Joseph's brothers saw him approaching, they thought of ways to kill him.



"Reuben tried to reason with his brothers. 'Don't commit bloodshed. You can throw him into this well in the desert, and you won't have to lay a hand on him.' His plan was to rescue [Joseph] from [his brothers] and bring him back to his father

When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of the long colorful coat that he was wearing. They took him and threw him into the well. The well was empty; there was no water in it. The [brothers] sat down and ate a meal. When they looked up, they saw an Arab caravan coming from Gilead. The camels were carrying gum, balsam, and resin, transporting them to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers, 'What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover his blood ? Let's sell him to the Arabs and not harm him with our own hands. After all, he's our brother, our own flesh and blood.' His brothers agreed" (Genesis 37:22-27).



Both Reuben and Judah successfully convinced their brothers but regarding Judah , the Torah goes out of its way and tells us that the brothers agreed which Rashi takes to mean that it was a full agreement. By implication, when they agreed to Reuben, it was not so wholehearted. Why the difference?



R. Francis Nataf, in his new book Redeeming Relevance (page 104), says the difference is that Judah waited until the brothers had eaten a meal and calmed down in the meantime.



While Judah should have told his brothers to let Joseph free (Rashi on Genesis 38:1), we can learn the lesson that effective leadership requires acting at the right moment.





[[If we say the brothers did not sell Joseph, then the Torah saying that they agreed to Judah is not redundant.]]



Food for thought and discussion:

How is this idea related to Chanukah?



Have a good Shabbas and happy Chaunkah,

Mordechai