Sruly Schnair – Page 112 – Peninim on the Torah

אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף

These are the chronicles of Yaakov: Yosef. (37:2)

While the word toldos is usually translated as offspring, in this pasuk it means chronicles, since the only offspring of Yaakov Avinu that the pasuk mentions is Yosef. Rashi explains why the Torah applies the term toldos to Yosef more so than to any of his brothers. First, Yaakov worked for Lavan in order to get Rachel Imeinu, Yosef’s mother, as his wife. Second, Yosef’s countenance closely resembled that of Yaakov. Third, whatever happened to Yaakov (so to speak), happened to Yosef: Yaakov was hated by his brother; so, too, was Yosef (obviously for different reasons); Yaakov’s brother sought to…

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וימכרו את יוסף לישמעלים בעשרים כסף ויבאו את יוסף מצרימה

Sruly Schnair In 5780, Vayeishev

They sold Yosef to the Yishmaelim for twenty silver pieces and they bought Yosef to Egypt. (37:28)

The Midrash (cited by Sefer Ha’Yashar) teaches that when the Arab caravan taking Yosef to Egypt passed by Rachel Imeinu’s grave, Yosef ran out to it and prayed. He fell on the tombstone and pleaded, “Mama, Mama! Look at the suffering your son is experiencing. Please, stand before Hashem and plead with Him that He allow me to return to my father (Yaakov Avinu). Do not refrain from helping me!” A young man, orphaned from his mother, was wrongfully sold into slavery. To be relegated to living in a country in which debauchery and hedonism are a way of life…

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ויהי בעת ההיא וירד יהודה מאת אחיו

Sruly Schnair In 5780, Vayeishev

It was at that time that Yehudah went down from his brothers. (38:1)

Rashi explains that the juxtaposition of Yehuda’s brothers deposing him and the loss of his wife and two sons upon the story of Yosef (in fact, it is placed right in the middle of the Yosef incident) teaches us that one who commences a mitzvah (Yehudah undertook to save Yosef, but did not complete his mission), but does not complete it, will bury his wife and children. It seems like a harsh punishment. After all, at least he started the mitzvah, while others did not even bother to get involved. Yet, he is punished; they are not. What is even…

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עם לבן גרתי

Sruly Schnair In Vayishlach, 5780

With Lavan, I lived. (32:5)

Rashi interprets the phrase, Im Lavan garti, “With Lavan, I lived,” as a profound message to Eisav. The word garti has the same letters (hence, the same gematria, numerical value) as taryag, 613 (mitzvos). Yaakov intimated to Eisav, “I do not fear your influence on me. I lived for years with the wicked Lavan; yet, I did not learn from his evil ways. I still was able to observe all taryag mitzvos. Yaakov seems to be making two statements: A) I observed the entire Torah, B) I did not learn from Lavan’s evil ways. Is this not obvious? If one…

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ויותר יעקב לבדו

Sruly Schnair In Vayishlach, 5780

Yaakov was left alone. (32:25)

Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 77) quote the pasuk in Devarim (32:25), Ein ka’Keil Yeshurun, rocheiv Shomayim b’ezarecha, u’v’gaavaso shechakim; “O, Yeshurun, there is none like G-d, riding through the heavens to help you, and in His majesty through the upper heights.” Chazal teach, “There is none like G-d, and who is like G-d? Yeshurun, the most pleasant and praiseworthy (straight and upright), pursuing their lives in undeviating duty.” (When a Jew achieves the level of Yeshurun in complete devotion to Hashem, he becomes “G-d-like,” achieving a level in this world that has no peer.) The Midrash concludes, “Who is like G-d?…

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ויאמר עשו יש לי רב ויאמר ויעקב ...וכי יש לי כל

Sruly Schnair In Vayishlach, 5780

And Eisav said, “I have much, And Yaakov said, I have everything.” (33:9,11)

The Chafetz Chaim, zl, states that the varied comments concerning their individual material bounty that Yaakov Avinu and Eisav ha’rasha expressed define their individual outlook on olam hazeh, this world. Eisav contended that he had much; a term that implied he could use more. With such an attitude, he would always seek more. One who has one hundred is dissatisfied. He now wants two hundred. He never has enough. On the other hand, Yaakov declared that he had everything. Material assets had little worth to Yaakov. He got by on what he had and what he had was all that…

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ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע וילך חרנה

Sruly Schnair In Vayeitzei, 5780

Yaakov departed from Beer-Sheva and went towards Charan. (28:10)

Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 68) address the concept of Heavenly intervention with regard to shidduchim, matrimonial matches. We derive from Yitzchak Avinu’s shidduch that mei’Hashem yatza ha’davar; “The matter stemmed from Hashem” (Ibid. 24:50). The Midrash states: “There are those for whom their zivug, pair/spouse, comes to them (as was manifest in the case of Yitzchak Avinu), and there are those who must go to their spouse (as was evinced with Yaakov Avinu, who had to travel to Canaan to seek his designated spouse). What is Chazal teaching us with this statement? It is a fact of life that some people…

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ועיני לאה רכות

Sruly Schnair In Vayeitzei, 5780

And the eyes of Leah were soft. (29:17)

Why were Leah’s eyes soft? Chazal (Bava Basra 123) explain that Leah heard the conversation of people who would talk among themselves. “Rivkah had two sons; her brother, Lavan, had two daughters. The older daughter is (apparently) promised to the older son, and the younger daughter to the younger son.” Leah asked concerning the nature of the older son’s endeavors. (Obviously, if she were destined to marry him, it would be nice to know what type of life she was destined to have.) The response was: “The older son is an evil, base person, a thief who preys on the…

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ויפגעו בו מלאכי אלקים

Sruly Schnair In Vayeitzei, 5780

And the Angels of G-d met him. (32:2)

The word va’yifga connotes an unexpected encounter. When the angels encountered Yaakov Avinu, it was an unusual experience for them. As Horav S. R. Hirsch, zl, explains, Yaakov Avinu was the first of the Avos, Patriarchs, who merited to have mitaso sheleimah, that all of his children were righteous and followed in his ways of serving Hashem. Even after living for twenty years in the home of the evil Lavan, they emerged spiritually unscathed. The level that Yaakov achieved was incredible for the angels to behold. It was a momentous experience for them to see such a family on earth…

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ויחרד יצחק חרדה גדולה עד מאד

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5780

Then Yitzchak trembled in very great perplexity. (27:33)

Yitzchak Avinu possessed the middah, attribute, of gevurah, strength. He feared nothing, because his belief in Hashem was so resolute that he understood that one has nothing to fear if he is with Hashem. The Almighty either protects the individual or He does not; if He does not protect him, fear is futile. Yitzchak had extraordinary control of his emotions. This was evident throughout the Akeidah, Binding (of Yitzchak), when he prepared to become an olah, sacrifice, for Hashem. He never questioned his father, Avraham Avinu, not even when he looked up at him and saw him poised with the…

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אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף

These are the chronicles of Yaakov: Yosef. (37:2)

וימכרו את יוסף לישמעלים בעשרים כסף ויבאו את יוסף מצרימה

They sold Yosef to the Yishmaelim for twenty silver pieces and they bought Yosef to Egypt. (37:28)

ויהי בעת ההיא וירד יהודה מאת אחיו

It was at that time that Yehudah went down from his brothers. (38:1)

עם לבן גרתי

With Lavan, I lived. (32:5)

ויותר יעקב לבדו

Yaakov was left alone. (32:25)

ויאמר עשו יש לי רב ויאמר ויעקב ...וכי יש לי כל

And Eisav said, “I have much, And Yaakov said, I have everything.” (33:9,11)

ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע וילך חרנה

Yaakov departed from Beer-Sheva and went towards Charan. (28:10)

ועיני לאה רכות

And the eyes of Leah were soft. (29:17)

ויפגעו בו מלאכי אלקים

And the Angels of G-d met him. (32:2)

ויחרד יצחק חרדה גדולה עד מאד

Then Yitzchak trembled in very great perplexity. (27:33)

YEARS

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