Sruly Schnair

בטרם תבוא אליהן המילדת וילדו

Before the midwife comes to them, they have given birth. (1:19)

The midwives explained to Pharaoh that the Jewish women were unique in that they gave birth even prior to the arrival of the midwife. Thus, the midwives were powerless to prevent the male infants from entering the world. Certainly, Pharaoh did not want them to commit a wanton act of murder. Horav Ovadia Yosef, zl, related the following incredible incident. One Erev Pesach, a young father who lived on a Moshav south of Yerushalayim came to him with a six-year old boy. “Kavod Horav, will the Chacham bless my son? After all, he was born because of ‘you,’” the young…

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ותרד בת פרעה לרחץ על היאר

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Shemos

Pharoah’s daughter went down to bathe by the river. (2:5)

The Baal HaTurim writes that the last letters of va’teired bas Pharaoh – daled, saf, hay, spell dassah, her religion. This teaches us that Bisyah, daughter of Pharaoh, was not taking a random trip down to the river. She went there to immerse herself as her concluding step toward converting to Judaism. This comment is already stated in the Talmud (Sotah 12b), “She went down to the river to wash herself off from her father’s idols.” Horav Gamliel Rabinowitz, Shlita, asks an intriguing question. Of all times to join the Jewish People, this was not the most propitious. No people…

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ויאנחנו בני ישראל מן העבודה ויזעקו ותעל שועתם אל האלקים... וישמע... ויזכר אלקים את בריתו את אברהם את יצחק ואת יעקב

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Shemos

And Bnei Yisrael groaned from the labor, and they cried out, and their outcry rose up to G-d… and G-d heard… and G-d remembered His covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. (2:23,24)

The Jews had been suffering for years from the back-breaking labor forced upon them by the Egyptians. They must have cried, groaned and moaned before. Now, the covenant with the Patriarchs came into play. This was not a new covenant. It had been around for quite some time. Why now? What change transpired that now, after all this time, Hashem listened, remembered and responded to these pleas? Horav Yisrael Belsky, zl, recounts from a Shabbos Shuvah drashah, lecture, rendered by Horav Yonasan Shteif, zl, that responds to this question. Golus comes in two forms: physical and spiritual. Physical bondage is…

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ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayechi

Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt. (47:28)

Rashi asks (based on a Midrash), “Why is this parsha setumah, closed?” Despite the fact that Vayechi begins a new parshah, it is “closed.” This means it is not set off by the usual number of spaces that would normally mark it as distinct from the previous parsha. (In other words, when there are no spaces it is difficult to discern the beginning of a new parsha.) Rashi offers his responses. I would like to focus on a meaningful explanation which Horav Nissan Alpert, zl, renders. Life (can be – and is) unpredictable and mysterious. Life is like a “closed…

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ויברך את יוסף ... יברך את הנערים ויקרא בהם שמי ... ויברכם ביום ההוא לאמר בך יבורך ישראל

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayechi

He blessed Yosef … shall bless the lads and shall call them my name… And he blessed on that day, saying: “In you shall Yisrael (be) blessed.” (48:15,16,20)

Yaakov Avinu actually gave two blessings: one to Yosef, and one to Ephraim and Menashe. Upon reading the text of the blessings, however, we confront an anomaly: Yaakov actually directed the blessing meant for Yosef at his sons – Ephraim and Menashe. The blessing that Yaakov Avinu gave to Ephraim and Menashe was all about Yosef. Concerning Yosef’s blessing, the Torah writes, Yevareich es ha’naarim, “He (Hashem) should bless the lads,” while, concerning Ephraim and Menashe, the Patriarch said, “In you (singular), shall Yisrael be blessed,” which implies that the blessing was to him. Horav Yisrael Belsky, zl, posits that…

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בך יבורך ישראל לאמר ישימך אלקים כאפרים וכמנשה

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayechi

By you shall Yisrael bless saying, “May G-d make you like Ephraim and Menashe.” (48:20)

Yaakov Avinu assured Yosef that, throughout the ages, Jewish parents would bless their sons that they grow up to be like Ephraim and Menashe. Why should these two grandsons of Yaakov, children raised in the pagan, hedonistic society that Egypt epitomized, be the paradigms of Jewish parents’ hopes for their children? At first blush, the mere fact that they “made it” in Egypt speaks volumes about them and their upbringing. If so, Yaakov would be speaking only with regard to the galus Jew, who is challenged by the non-Jewish, assimilationist environment. This is obviously not the case. Yaakov spoke to…

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אל תיראו כי התחת אלקים אני ואתם חשבתם עלי רעה אלקים חשבה לטובה

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayechi

“Fear not, for am I instead of G-d? Although you intended the harm, G-d intended it for good. (50:19,20)

In the last few parshiyos, we have been reading about Yaakov Avinu’s sons, the Shivtei Kah, Twelve Tribes of Klal Yisrael, the closest link to our Patriarchs from whom our Nation descends. We refer to them by name and relate their activities; their sale of Yosef, followed by their encounter with the viceroy of Egypt, aka, Yosef; their ensuing remorse over their lack of empathy with his pain; their being supported by Yosef in Egypt; and, finally, their apology and request for absolution for their misdeed. Reading all this, we might lose sight of the greatness of these individuals. They…

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אני יוסף אחיכם אשר מכרתם אתי מצרימה

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayigash

“I am Yosef, your brother, it is me, whom you sold into Egypt.” (45:4)

Abba Kohen Bardela says, “Woe is to us from the Yom HaDin, Day of Judgment; woe is to us from the Yom HaTochacha, Day of Rebuke. Yosef, who was the smallest (youngest) of the tribes, and (when he rebuked his brothers) they were unable to withstand his rebuke. Similarly, what will we say/do when Hashem rebukes each and every one of us in accordance with what he is (or could have been)?” Many commentators have commented on this well-known Midrash throughout the millennia as the paradigm of tochachah, rebuke. After all, what did Yosef actually say to them? Two words:…

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ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayigash

Then he fell on Binyamin’s neck and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. (45:14)

When Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, the Torah writes that he and Binyamin fell on one another’s shoulders and wept profusely. Chazal explain why they wept: Yosef cried over the Batei Mikdash which would be destroyed in Binyamin’s portion of Eretz Yisrael. Binyamin cried over the Mishkan Shiloh that was once situated in Yosef’s portion, which would be destroyed. The obvious question is not why they wept, but rather, why should they not weep? Who would not cry after years of separation with one brother longing for the other, not knowing if he were dead or alive, spiritually…

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ואת יהודה שלח לפניו ... להורות לפניו גשנה

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Vayigash

He sent Yehudah ahead of him… to prepare ahead of him in Goshen. (46:28)

Rashi quotes the well-known Chazal: Yaakov Avinu sent Yehudah to prepare the way for the family. He sent Yehudah to establish a bais Talmud, house of Torah study, a yeshivah, from where Torah would be disseminated. No one questions that Yehudah was a capable leader, a spokesman for the family, but was he appropriate to be a Rosh Yeshivah? Levi and Yissachar were the two brothers who devoted their days and nights to spiritual pursuits. One would have expected that Yaakov would have selected either or both of them to be his emissaries to build a makom Torah. The answer…

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בטרם תבוא אליהן המילדת וילדו

Before the midwife comes to them, they have given birth. (1:19)

ותרד בת פרעה לרחץ על היאר

Pharoah’s daughter went down to bathe by the river. (2:5)

ויאנחנו בני ישראל מן העבודה ויזעקו ותעל שועתם אל האלקים... וישמע... ויזכר אלקים את בריתו את אברהם את יצחק ואת יעקב

And Bnei Yisrael groaned from the labor, and they cried out, and their outcry rose up to G-d… and G-d heard… and G-d remembered His covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. (2:23,24)

ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים

Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt. (47:28)

ויברך את יוסף ... יברך את הנערים ויקרא בהם שמי ... ויברכם ביום ההוא לאמר בך יבורך ישראל

He blessed Yosef … shall bless the lads and shall call them my name… And he blessed on that day, saying: “In you shall Yisrael (be) blessed.” (48:15,16,20)

בך יבורך ישראל לאמר ישימך אלקים כאפרים וכמנשה

By you shall Yisrael bless saying, “May G-d make you like Ephraim and Menashe.” (48:20)

אל תיראו כי התחת אלקים אני ואתם חשבתם עלי רעה אלקים חשבה לטובה

“Fear not, for am I instead of G-d? Although you intended the harm, G-d intended it for good. (50:19,20)

אני יוסף אחיכם אשר מכרתם אתי מצרימה

“I am Yosef, your brother, it is me, whom you sold into Egypt.” (45:4)

ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Then he fell on Binyamin’s neck and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. (45:14)

ואת יהודה שלח לפניו ... להורות לפניו גשנה

He sent Yehudah ahead of him… to prepare ahead of him in Goshen. (46:28)

YEARS

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