* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion and Haftorah. Plus Ani Ma-amim - The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith. Parshas Vayigash For the week ending 7 Teves 5755 9 & 10 December 1994 =========================================================================== This issue is dedicated Z''N Golde B''R Mordechai - Gertrude Feinberg Guy A mother and grandmother who inspired her son and her grandchildren to lives of Torah and Mitzvot =========================================================================== This issue is being sent out to over -> 1070 <- Internet Subscribers! =========================================================================== Summary With the discovery of the goblet in Binyamin's sack, the brothers are frozen in confusion. Yehuda alone steps forward and eloquently but firmly petitions Yosef for Binyamin's release, offering himself in his stead. As a result of this act of total selflessness, Yosef finally has irrefutable proof that his brothers are different people from the ones who cast him into the pit, and so, he now he reveals to them that he is none other than their brother Yosef. The brothers shrink from him in shame, but Yosef consoles them, telling them that everything has been part of Hashem's plan. He sends them back to their father Yaakov, with a message to come and reside in the land of Goshen. At first, Yaakov cannot accept the news, but recognizing hidden signs in the message which positively identify the sender as his son Yosef, Yaakov's spirit is revived. Yaakov, together with all his family and possessions, set out for Goshen. Hashem communicates with Yaakov in visions by night. He tells him not to fear going down to Egypt and its negative spiritual consequences, because it is there that Hashem will establish the Children of Yisrael as a great nation even though they will be dwelling in a land steeped in immorality and corruption. The Torah lists Yaakov's offspring, and hints to the birth of Yocheved, who will be the mother of Moshe Rabbeinu. Seventy souls in total descend into Egypt where Yosef is reunited with his father after twenty-two years of separation. He embraces his father and weeps, overflowing with joy. Yosef secures the settlement of his family in Goshen. Yosef takes his father Yaakov and five of the least threatening of his brothers to be presented to Pharaoh, and Yaakov blesses Pharaoh. Yosef instructs that in return for grain, all the people of Egypt must give everything to Pharaoh, including themselves as his slaves. Yosef then redistributes the population, with the exception of the Egyptian priests who are directly supported by a stipend from Pharaoh. The Children of Yaakov/Yisrael become settled and their numbers multiply greatly. =========================================================================== Commentaries "And we said to my lord that we have a father who is very old and the youngest [brother] is a child of [his] old age" (44:20). "We have a father who is very old" -- our "father" represents the ancient heritage of the Jewish People. Our continued success in surviving and flourishing as a holy nation is founded on keeping faith with our heritage, staying true to the teachings of our "father". We also have "a youngest brother" -- those unborn generations to whom we have the responsibility to pass on the torch of the Torah. We are the link in the chain between the past -- "our father" and the future -- "our youngest brother". No matter how much pressure there is on us in the present, we have a duty both to "our father" and to "our youngest brother" that this golden chain from the past to the future remains unbroken. "And Yosef said to his brothers `I am Yosef'" (45:3). When we study history and learn of wars, pogroms and holocaust; when we read of natural disasters in the newspapers, and see pictures of continents ravaged by hunger and famine, the question arises "Where is G-d?" From the moment the brothers came to Egypt to buy food they encountered one disaster after another. The brothers asked each other, "Why is Hashem doing this to us?". Just as with the words "I am Yosef", all of the brothers' questions were answered and the purpose of the previous twenty-two years became blindingly clear, so too in the future, when the world hears the words "I am Hashem", will all the dilemmas of history be solved in an instant. (Chafetz Chaim) "He [Yosef] fell on his [father's] neck, and wept exceedingly" (45:14). Whereas Yosef poured out his heart in a sea of tears at the emotional release of seeing his father after so many years, Yaakov's reaction is not mentioned at all. In fact, at that very moment, Yaakov was reciting the Shema. Why did Yaakov choose just this, of all times, to say Shema? The answer is, that a tzaddik harnesses every opportunity and emotion in the service of Hashem. When Yaakov felt a supreme surge of joy and love at the sight of his beloved son, his first wish was to suppress his own personal joy and channel his emotions into a sublime expression of his love for his Creator. Thus, he recited the Shema, the ultimate acceptance of Hashem's sovereignty: "And you shall love Hashem, your G-d with all your heart..." (Gur Aryeh) The Sfas Emes, commenting on the same verse, states that the nature of Yaakov was to be removed and elevated entirely outside and beyond the natural world. Thus, in his love for Hashem, he removed his attention completely from the natural love he had for Yosef. On the other hand, the nature of Yosef was to be enmeshed in love of Hashem even while being involved in the natural world -- thus he was able to say the Shema even while he was kissing his father. =========================================================================== Haftorah: Yechezkel 37:15-28 "Say to them `Thus says my L-rd Hashem/ Elokim: Behold! -- I take the wooden tablet of Yosef which is in Ephraim's hand, and of the tribes of Yisrael his comrades, and shall place them with it together with the wooden tablet of Yehuda, and I will make them one wooden tablet, and they shall become one in My hand'" (37:19,20). Throughout the centuries of exile, the eye of the prophet sees the Jewish People still divided into the two antagonistic kingdoms of Yehuda and Ephraim. The stamp of Ephraim/Yisrael is religious nihilism, fanatical enmity towards every specifically Jewish point of view, and indiscriminate tolerance of every non-Jewish religious point of view. The other kingdom - - that of Yehudah/Yisrael -- cannot escape the reproach of picking out which mitzvos are to be kept, and the more or less mechanical performance of those which are kept. When these two shattered halves of the Jewish People are again united, it will not be a sad compromise, "murdering" the Torah, with Ephraim/Yisrael making superficial concessions to the right producing a "Kosher-Style" smorgasbord of glatt treif on the one hand, while Yehuda/Yisrael -- the "fanatical ultra-orthodox" (as they appear to Ephraim/Yisrael) -- "moderate" their demands to comply with the "modern world". Rather, Hashem promises that both will be refined and purified, assured of help to achieve this purity, and these "two wooden tablets" will become "one in My hand." (Adapted from Rabbi Mendel Hirsch) =========================================================================== Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 principles of faith Principle #9: "I believe with complete faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, nor will there be another Torah from the Creator, may His Name be Blessed". The difference between a unique revelation and a revelation which could be repeated is the same as a difference between a Torah that is absolute and a Torah that is relative. Since the Torah is absolute, it can never become inappropriate, or "out of date". It can never be in need of modification. Reflecting the very nature of Creation, it is totally applicable in all situations for all time. However, the materialistic self-involvement of the "me" society sees mitzvos such as Shabbos as being archaic. In fact, never has there been a time in which Shabbos is so necessary, not just to retain our Judaism, but to transcend the hedonism and abandonment of today's world. (Adapted from Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg) G-d will not replace nor change His Law for all time, for anything else. Yigdal =========================================================================== Can't make it to Israel for the Winter JLE program? There is still another option available: The Ohr Somayach WINTER LEARNING RETREAT held in our Monsey New York campus from December 22-29. This FREE program is open to college students who are interested in experiencing a taste of Jewish learning. For information, speak to Rabbi Zalman Corlin E-Mail: ny000586@mail.nyser.net Voice: 800-431-2272 (212-344-2000) =========================================================================== 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.