Sruly Schnair – Page 112 – Peninim on the Torah

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

Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe, for “G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” (41:51)

Is it possible that Yosef lauded forgetting his father’s home, the home of Yaakov Avinu, the b’chir haAvos, chosen of the Patriarchs? Certainly not. Yosef HaTzaddik would certainly not be so crass as to name his firstborn with a name that indicated the severance of his relationship with the past. Horav Yisrael Salanter, zl, explains that Yosef lauded his self-imposed amnesia concerning his brothers’ hatred toward him and their consequent selling him to the caravan of Arabs that brought him to Egypt. It was a great challenge to look to the future while ignoring the past. He wanted to remember…

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אנכי אערבנו מידי תבקשנו... וחטאתי לך כל הימים

Sruly Schnair In 5780, Mikeitz

I will personally guarantee him; of my own hand you can demand him… and I will have sinned to you for all time. (43:9)

Rashi explains Yehudah’s statement: “I will have sinned to you for all time” implies that Yehudah’s sin will transcend this world and will be held against him even in Olam Habba, the World to Come. This is a powerful commitment on the part of Yehudah. He is willing to accept banishment from both worlds, should he fail to bring Binyamin back to his father. Why was it necessary for Yehudah to make such a strong promise? Yaakov Avinu would have believed him even had he not promised to relinquish his Olam Habba. Horav Reuven Karlinstein, zl, explains that by accepting…

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וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו... אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף

Sruly Schnair In 5780, Vayeishev

Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojourning… These are the chronicles of Yaakov: Yosef. (37:1,2)

Yaakov Avinu had more than one son. Yet, when the Torah enumerates his offspring, it mentions only Yosef. Furthermore, why does the Torah first inform us that Yaakov continues to live in Canaan, the land that his father chose as his place of habitation, and then inform us about his offspring? Clearly, his family had the obligation to take ownership over the place in which he lived. It is almost as if where he chose to live is connected with his offspring. Horav Sholom Schwadron, zl, explains that in the Torah’s vernacular, offspring is a reference to one who is…

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אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף

Sruly Schnair In 5780, Vayeishev

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

Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe, for “G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.” (41:51)

אנכי אערבנו מידי תבקשנו... וחטאתי לך כל הימים

I will personally guarantee him; of my own hand you can demand him… and I will have sinned to you for all time. (43:9)

וישב יעקב בארץ מגורי אביו... אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף

Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojourning… These are the chronicles of Yaakov: Yosef. (37:1,2)

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)

YEARS

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