* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion Parshas Miketz - Shabbos Chanukah For the week ending 30 Kislev 5755 2 & 3 December 1994 =========================================================================== Summary It is two years later. Pharaoh has two ominous and enigmatic dreams and is not satisfied with any of the interpretations that are offered to explain them. Pharaoh's wine chamberlain belatedly remembers that Yosef accurately interpreted his dream while they were imprisoned together, and Yosef is immediately released. Yosef interprets that within a short time there will be seven years of unusual abundance, followed by seven years of extraordinarily severe famine. Yosef suggests to Pharaoh to appoint a wise and discerning man to harness the years of plenty in preparation for the years of famine. Pharaoh, recognizing the spirit of G-d in Yosef, appoints him as viceroy to oversee the entire project. Pharaoh gives Yosef an Egyptian name, Tsofnas-Paneach, and selects Osnas, Yosef's ex-master's daughter, as Yosef's wife. As a result of Yosef's plan, Egypt becomes the granary of the world during the famine. Yosef has two sons, Menashe and Ephraim. Yaakov, hearing that there is food in Egypt, sends his sons to buy provisions. In Egypt, the brothers come before Yosef and bow down before him, fulfilling his prophecy. Yosef recognizes them immediately, but they do not recognize him in his new incarnation as viceroy of Egypt. Mindful of his prophetic dreams, Yosef plays the part of an Egyptian overlord and acts towards them harshly, accusing them of being foreign spies. After interrogating them, Yosef sells them food, but keeps Shimon hostage until they bring their youngest brother Binyamin to him as a proof of their honesty. Yoseph commands his servants to place the purchase-money on top of the food in each of their sacks. On the return journey, when feeding their donkeys, they discover the money and their hearts sink. They return their father Yaakov and retell everything that has happened. At first Yaakov refuses to let Binyamin go down to Egypt, but when the famine grows unbearably harsh, he accedes. Yehuda guarantees Binyamin's safety, and the brothers including Binyamin return to Egypt. After inquiring after his father's welfare, Yosef welcomes the brothers lavishly as honored guests. However, when he sees Binyamin he can barely control his emotions and rushes from the room and weeps. Yosef secretly instructs his servants to again replace the money in the sacks, and in addition, to put his goblet inside Binyamin's sack. When the goblet is discovered, Yosef demands that Binyamin become his slave as a punishment. Yehuda, remembering his promise to his father, interposes and offers himself instead, but Yosef refuses. =========================================================================== Commentaries "It happened at the end of two years to the day; Pharaoh dreamed..." (41:1). Cause and effect are frequently mistaken for each other. When we see someone who has been very successful in business, we assume that the cause is his business acumen. The reverse is in fact the truth. Hashem decides how much money this person will have, with the effect that he is given the necessary ability and opportunity to acquire the wealth. Similarly, Pharaoh's dream did not cause Yosef's release from prison, but rather Hashem decreed that the time had come for Yosef's release with the effect that "Pharaoh dreamed". (Beis HaLevi) "So Pharaoh sent and summoned Yoseph and they rushed him from the dungeon" (41:24). The Torah teaches us that Yosef was released from the dungeon on Rosh HaShana. In every Jewish person, however far he may have veered off- course, there is to be found a buried spark of righteousness and decency. And this spark can never be dulled or extinguished, because the yetzer hara can never devour this precious point of light. All year long this spark, which is known as Yosef the Tzadik, languishes in a dungeon constructed from the power of materialism and the cravings of the flesh. However, when Rosh HaShana arrives, and we rid ourselves of all the desires of the physical world, and accept upon ourselves the majesty and dominion of Hashem, then this little spark, Yosef HaTzadik, emerges from his dungeon into the light of day... (Mayana Shel Torah) "When the famine spread over all the face of the earth, Yoseph opened up all the store-houses..." (41:56). Why did Yosef open up all the store-houses at once, rather than bit by bit, according to need? His intention was to prevent hunger-riots. Just as there are physical hunger-riots, there are spiritual hunger-riots. There are times when a person despairs, losing his hope in being able to serve Hashem. Therefore, at times of special holiness, the gates of heaven are thrown open for him, and, experiencing the brightness of enormous enlightenment, he becomes a new person with a different spirit. This throwing open of the gates of heaven comes entirely to remove despair from the heart of a person; that he should know that he has not lost his faith, and that he is still one of those upon whom Hashem calls. With this, he can begin again to serve Hashem with renewed strength and vigor. (Shem m'Shmuel) =========================================================================== Haftorah: 1 Kings 3:15-4:1 The king said "This one claims `This is my son who is alive, and your son is the dead one', and this one claims `It is not so! Your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'...Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other" (3:23&25). In this famous incident, it is usually assumed that Shlomo Hamelech ordered the baby to be cut in half in order to determine the real mother. In reality, it was already clear to him who was the true mother from the way the two women had expressed themselves. The first one started by saying "This is my son who is alive" and then "and your son is dead", whereas the second had commenced her claim by saying "Your son is the dead one" and only afterward "My son is the living one". The second woman, who was lying, didn't really want so much to get the living child, for why should she want to expend the considerable effort of raising a child which was really not hers. Rather, out of jealousy, she wanted to prevent the other woman from keeping the living child. For that reason her focus was on "Your child is dead", rather than "My son is the living one" -- her whole intention was to prove the dead child belonged to someone else. On the other hand, the real mother was only concerned to prove that her child was alive. From these tell-tale subconscious hints, Shlomo Hamelech was able to discern the true mother. It was only to prove to the world that his analysis was accurate, that he went through the theatrics of calling for the sword to divide the living child, knowing that the real mother would far prefer that the child should live, even if it meant having to give him up. However Shlomo, the wisest of men, had already arrived at the truth of the matter as soon as the two women opened their mouths. (Kochav m'Yaakov) =========================================================================== Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith Principle #8: "I believe with complete faith that the entire Torah now in our hands is the same one that was given to Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him." Moshe Rabbeinu was the most sublime `secretary' to have existed, for every single letter of the Torah as communicated to him by Hashem was taken down by him verbatim. Not a single word of the Torah, neither The Written Torah nor The Oral Torah contains Moshe's commentary, or his elucidation. It is for this reason that he is known as `The Inscriber'. Moshe transcribed the entire Written Torah in his own hand shortly before his death. He gave a copy to each tribe and told the Levi'im to place another copy to the side of the Aron (Ark), so that no one would ever be able to add to or edit the Torah, for there would always be a reference copy. Based on the Rambam -- Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah G-d gave a true Torah to His People, Through His prophet, trusted in all His House. Yigdal =========================================================================== Parsha Parparot* Miketz is always read on the Shabbos of Chanukah. There are 2025 words in the Parsha. If you take the gematria (numerical equivalent) of ner (light) which is 250 and multiply it by 8 -- the number of days that we kindle the lights of Chanukah, and add 25 -- the date on which Chanukah begins, the result is...2025 ! from the book Parparot B'Shivah She'arim by Rabbi Shimon Avigal Educational Supervisor for The Israel Ministry of Education and Culture, and lecturer on Jewish Topics Rabbi Avigal can be reached at 972-3-570-5738. *appetizers, tidbits, desserts, etc. =========================================================================== Can't make it to Israel for the Winter JLE program? 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