* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion Parshas Vayeshev For the week ending 23 Kislev 5755 25 & 26 November 1994 =========================================================================== Ohr Somayach Around The World: The ACT Jewish Community of Canberra, AUSTRALIA, included Ask The Rabbi #37 in their magazine "HaMerkaz." Do you republish Ohr Somayach publications? We'd love you to see what you are doing - please send us a sample! =========================================================================== Summary Yaakov Avinu settles in the land of Canaan. His favorite son, Yosef, brings him critical reports about his brothers. Yaakov makes for Yosef a fine tunic of multi-colored woolen strips. Yosef exacerbates his brothers' hatred by recounting prophetic dreams -- of sheaves of corn bowing to his sheaf, and of the sun and the moon and the stars bowing down to him -- signifying that all his family will appoint him king. The brothers indict Yosef and resolve to execute him. When Yosef comes to Shechem, the brothers relent and decide, at Reuven's instigation, to throw him into a pit instead. Yehuda persuades the brothers to take Yosef out of the pit and sell him to a caravan of passing Yishmaelim. When Reuven returns to find the pit empty, he rends his clothes in anguish. The brothers soak Yosef's tunic in goat's blood and show it to their father Yaakov, who assumes that Yosef has been devoured by wild animals -- Yaakov is inconsolable. Meanwhile, in Egypt, Yosef has been sold to Potiphar, Pharaoh's Chamberlain of the Butchers. In the Parsha's sub-plot, Yehuda's son Er dies as punishment for preventing his wife Tamar from becoming pregnant because he feared that she would lose her beauty after childbirth. Onan, Yehuda's second son, then weds Tamar by levirate marriage. He too is punished in similar circumstances to his brother. When Yehuda's wife dies, Tamar resolves to have children through Yehuda as this union will found the Davidic line, culminating in the Mashiach. Meanwhile, Yosef rises to power in the house of his Egyptian master. His extreme beauty attracts the unwanted advances of his master's wife. Enraged by his rejection of her, she slanders Yosef, falsely accusing him of attempting to seduce her, and he is imprisoned. While in jail, Yosef successfully predicts the outcome of the dream of Pharaoh's wine steward, who is re-instated; and that of Pharaoh's baker, who is hanged. In spite of his promise, the wine steward forgets to help Yosef after he is released, and Yosef languishes in jail. =========================================================================== Commentaries "...and your bundles (of wheat) turned and bowed to my bundle...and behold the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed to me" (37:7,9). In Yosef's first dream, all of the bundles of wheat -- representing Yosef's brothers -- bow to his bundle, but not to him himself. But in the second dream, the sun, the moon and the stars, representing his entire family, bow to Yosef himself. When a man amasses physical power and wealth, they do not become part of his essence, making him any greater than he was, rather they make his bundle greater, requiring people with smaller bundles to respect it, but not him. The first dream foretells the deference that Yosef's brothers will be forced to pay him as viceroy of Egypt -- the external status of wealth and power. But the second dream about the sun, the moon and the stars represents Yosef's spiritual attainments, which will be recognized by his entire family. Spiritual achievements become part of the very being of a person -- they are not mere bundles, and accoutrements. (Beis HaLevi) "Go, please, and see how are your brothers" (37:14). After Yosef brought negative reports about his brothers to his father, Yaakov sent Yosef to "see how your brothers are" -- to try and focus on their virtues rather than their defects. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizenzk was well-known for the enormous love he had for the Jewish People. In his prayers he would petition Hashem "that we should see each others' virtues and not their flaws". (HaRebbe m'Pschische) "It happened that there was an opportune day when he entered the house to do his work" (39:11). After wearing down Yosef's resistance to her advances, Potiphar's wife had in fact managed to subdue Yosef, and "he entered the house to do his work," meaning to acquiesce to her advances. Suddenly, a vision of his father Yaakov appeared in the window, telling Yosef that if he consorted with her, he would forfeit his spiritual status as a building block of the Jewish People. Why was it not sufficient for Yosef just to hear the voice of his father and its dire warning? Why did he need to have a visual representation as well? Our Sages teach us that hearing cannot be compared to the power of seeing. Throughout the ages, when the Jewish People have been tempted by the blandishments of the gentile nations, at that moment of truth when a Jew is on the verge of abandoning his heritage, how often it is the vision of his father or his grandfather -- wearing tallis and tefillin, or making kiddush in the glow of the Shabbos candles -- comes and rescues him. A picture is worth a thousand words... (Based on the Talmud Sotah 36) =========================================================================== Haftorah: Amos 2:6-3:8 "Only you have I loved of all the families of the earth, therefore will I recall upon you all your iniquities" (3:2). The Jewish people have suffered Hashem's punishments more than any other people, even though other nations have certainly deserved to be punished more. Paradoxically, this is because the Jewish People are exalted above the other nations. Because of them, the world was created. They were chosen to be a sign to all peoples. It is they who are the heartbeat of the world, and therefore, necessarily, their responsibility is greater. When the Jewish people sin, they blemish the whole Creation, and they are therefore judged more exactingly. The reason for this is that even though their small infractions may seem insignificant, they have cosmic consequences. (Mayana Shel Torah) =========================================================================== Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 principles of faith Principle #7: "I believe with complete faith that the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the father of the prophets -- both those who preceded him and those who came after him." Moses' prophecy was not only true but of a quality unapproached by any other prophet before or since. It is essential that his prophecy be unrivaled so that no later `prophet' could ever claim that he had received a `Torah' that was superior to that of Moses. Artscroll Siddur Moses and the Jewish People are like two witnesses who have seen the same thing. Each witness in the pair knows the other is speaking truthfully, neither needs any proof regarding the other. The same is true of Moses. The entire Jewish people were his witnesses at the revelation at Sinai, and no further signs were needed. Rambam, Yesodei HaTorah There has not arisen another like Moses, A prophet who looked upon His image. Yigdal =========================================================================== Did you receive "Talmudic Insights Into Chanukah" - the latest publication to be sent out on the OS-SPECIAL list? If you were not a subscriber, you can receive it from the following places: o The Jerusalem1 Gopher o Compuserve, Religion Forum, Judaism Library (#3) o E-Mail (send your request to newman@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il, set the subject to "Send Me: Chanukah" and leave the message text blank). =========================================================================== SUBSCRIBE! to one of the many weekly "lists" published by Ohr Somayach Institutions: weekly - Summary of the weekly Torah portion. dafyomi - Rav Mendel Weinbach's insights into the Daf Yomi. ask - The Rabbi answers YOUR questions on Judaism. parasha-qa - Challenging questions on the weekly Torah portion. os-special - All the SPECIAL publications produced by Ohr Somayach. os-alum - "Yachad" - the Ohr Somayach Electronic Alumni Newsletter. judaismo - Spanish-Language newsletter on Parsha & Judaism. There is NEVER a charge for any of the above lists (though your local information provider, such as AOL, Prodigy or CompuServe, might charge a nominal fee). To subscribe to any of these lists, send the message: subscribe {listname} {your full name} to: listserv@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il =========================================================================== Dedication opportunities are available for Torah Weekly Please contact us for details. =========================================================================== Jewish L EEEEEEEE Prepared by Ohr Somayach Institutions J L E 22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103 J L Exchange Jerusalem 91180, Israel J J L E Tel: 02-810315 Fax: 02-812890 JJJJ Learning EEEEEEEE Internet: newman@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il =========================================================================== Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair Production Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman Production Design: Lev Seltzer =========================================================================== (C) 1994 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission, and then send us a sample of an issue.