Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

  • Reset

Home -> Vayechi -> 5786

ויברכם ביום ההוא לאמר בך יברך ישראל

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayechi

So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you shall Yisrael bless.” (48:20)

Yaakov Avinu assured his son, Yosef, that, for all time, Jewish parents would remember that he was the father of sons – Ephraim and Menashe — who achieved shevet, tribal, status equal with Yaakov’s sons.  Parents will strive to see their sons reach such a level.  The commentators, each in his own inimitable manner, offer explanations for the elevation of Menashe and Efraim to tribal status.  Most focus on their characters and the fact that they were able to maintain their extraordinary commitment to Torah and mitzvos, despite the spiritual bankruptcy of the society in which they lived.  Nothing of…

Continue Reading

Home -> Vayechi -> 5786

גור אריה יהודה ... כרע רבץ כאריה וכלביא מי יקימנו

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayechi

A lion cub is Yehudah … He crouches, lies down like a lion, and like an awesome lion, who dares rouse him. (49:9)

The Torah compares five of Yaakov Avinu’s sons to animals: Yehudah – a lion; Binyamin – a wolf; Dan – a snake; Yissachar – a donkey; Naftali – a deer.  While four of them are identified directly with the animal, Yehudah stands out as being compared both to a lion cub and a full-grown lion.  Chazal address the singular distinction accorded to Yehudah.  They explain that, because of his future leadership and monarchial obligations, he was given both the might of a lion and the brazenness of a young cub.  As Horav S.R. Hirsch, zl, observes, Yehudah was to combine…

Continue Reading

Home -> Vayechi -> 5786

לא יסור שבט מיהודה ומחוקק מבין רגליו עד כי יבא שילה

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayechi

The scepter shall not depart from Yehudah, nor a scholar from among his descendants until Shiloh arrives. (49:10)

Chazal teach that Yaakov Avinu was about to reveal the keitz, End of Days, the coming of Melech Ha’Moshiach, and an end to all of our tzaros, troubles.  When he saw the Shechinah, Divine Presence, depart from him, he understood that now was not the time for such a revelation.  While he did not reveal the “when,” he did allude to the “who” as a descendant of the shevet, tribe, of Yehudah.  Dovid HaMelech, a direct descendant of Yehudah, would be the progenitor from whom Moshiach would descend.  Indeed, every leader of the monarch level was a descendant of David…

Continue Reading

Home -> Vayigash -> 5786

ויבאו מצרימה יעקב וכל זרעו אתו ... בניו ובני בניו אתו בנתיו ובנות בניו וכל זרעו הביא אתו מצרימה

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayigash

And they came to Egypt… Yaakov and all his offspring with him … His sons and grandsons with him, his daughters and granddaughters and all his offspring he brought with him. (46:6,7)

The Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh comments concerning the redundancy of the text.  It previously said that Yaakov v’chol zaro, with all his offspring, came to Egypt.  Why does the Torah reiterate that his sons and grandsons came?  Were they not part of his offspring?  The Torah goes on to mention daughters and granddaughters, following the word ito, with him. First, why are they separated from the rest of the offspring? And why is the extra word ito added as a separation between sons/grandsons and daughters/granddaughters.  The Ohr HaChaim explains that, indeed, with regard to their attitude, the different groups were not…

Continue Reading

Home -> Vayigash -> 5786

ובני בנימין

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayigash

And the sons of Binyamin. (46:21)

The Torah goes on to record the names of Binyamin’s ten sons.  Rashi (ibid 43:30) quotes Chazal that Binyamin named each of his sons for some element of Yosef’s tragedy. For example: Bela, because Yosef was Nivla, swallowed among the nations; Becher, related to be’chor, first born, which Yosef was to Rachel Imeinu; Shavui, because he was taken captive.  In this unique manner, Binyamin immortalized Yosef’s memory.  Thus, he ensured that every time he called his children, Yosef’s character, his ordeal, and his greatness would come to mind. A vital truth is underscored herein.  A person dies twice:  Once when…

Continue Reading

Home -> Vayigash -> 5786

רק אדמת הכהנים לא קנה כי חוק לכהנים מאת פרעה ואכלו את חוקם

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Vayigash

Only the land of the priests did he not buy, since the priests had a stipend from Pharaoh. (47:22)

Rashi explains a set decree which Pharaoh established, that the priests should receive a daily stipend of bread – regardless of the country’s economic condition.  Thus, it was unnecessary for them to sell their land for food.  Targum Yonasan disagrees, explaining that Yosef established this rule out of a sense of gratitude to the priests for saving his life.  Potifar was a priest, whose wife claimed that Yosef had made advances toward her.  Understandably, for a lowly slave to act in such a reprehensible manner warranted the death penalty.  Potifar sought the advice of his colleagues – both as verification…

Continue Reading

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5786

ויהי מקץ שנתיים ימים ופרעה חולם

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Mikeitz

It happened two years to the day, Pharaoh was dreaming. (41:1)

At the end of Parashas Vayeishev (Bereishis 40:23), Rashi cites Midrash Rabbah (Bereishis 89:3), which teaches that Yosef placed his trust in the chamberlain to put in a few good words about him to Pharaoh.  Perhaps this would secure his release from prison.  For someone of Yosef HaTzadik’s elevated spiritual level, relying on people was beneath him.  Thus, Yosef’s sentence was changed, and two more years were added.  His request implied a subtle lack of bitachon, trust.  Not that Yosef should have avoided exerting his hishtadlus, effort, which is crucial, but his heart relied too heavily on human intervention, rather…

Continue Reading

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5786

ויקרא יוסף את שם הבכור מנשה כי נשני אלקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אב

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Mikeitz

Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe for Hashem has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household. (41:51)

Clearly, Yosef could not have been so crass as to praise the fact that Hashem had allowed him to forget the tzaros, troubles, that had plagued him in his father’s home.  While forgetting troubles, pain and anxiety is a good thing, what about his home did he want to forget?  He was the son of Yaakov Avinu, not just any son, but his ben zekunim, son born to him in his old age, the son of Rachel Imeinu. He was the favorite son.  Was all of this something he wanted to forget?  On the other hand, unquestionably, life for Yosef…

Continue Reading

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5786

ויאסוף אותם אל משמר שלשת ימים

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Mikeitz

Then he herded them into a ward for a three-day period. (42:17)

Was it really necessary to herd all the brothers into the lock-up?  He could have taken one, and it would have sufficed to send a message.  The Brisker Rav, zl, cites the Yerushalmi in Terumos (12), “A group/caravan of men were traveling and were accosted by a gang of non-Jews demanding that they give up one of their own.  They said, ‘We want one Jew whom we will kill.  Otherwise, we will kill all of you!’ The halachah is clear that we may not give up a Jew under any circumstances –even if it means that everyone will die.  Therefore,…

Continue Reading

Home -> Mikeitz -> 5786

למה הרעתם לי להגיד לאיש העוד לכם אח

Sruly Schnair
In 5786, Mikeitz

“Why did you treat me so ill by telling him (the viceroy) that you had another brother? (43:6)

Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 91:10) comment: “Hashem said, ‘Yaakov thinks that he is being harmed and does not realize that I am in the process of making his son viceroy of Egypt.” In other words, Hashem has a Master Plan.  He orchestrates events to fit the goals of His plan. To us mere mortals, our cognitive appreciation coincides for the most part with appearances, with what we see before us. We do not see the before and after – the entire global picture.  Be patient, and it will all come together. The Veitzener Rav, zl, Horav Tzvi Hirsch Meisels, applied this…

Continue Reading

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our weekly Peninim on the Torah list!

You have Successfully Subscribed!