Sruly Schnair – Page 86 – Peninim on the Torah

ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים

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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ויריצוהו מן הבור

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Mikeitz

And they rushed him from the dungeon. (41:14)

Yosef is imprisoned in an Egyptian dungeon – with no realistic hope of being released. He needs Hashem to provide him with a miracle. Suddenly the door is opened, guards enter and lift him off the floor. The people quickly give him a haircut and a new set of clothes. He does not have a moment to comprehend what is occurring. Before he realizes what is happening, he is presented to Pharaoh. Yosef had no preparation whatsoever for that moment in which Pharaoh said to him, “I hear that you are good at interpreting dreams. I want you to listen…

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וקמו שבע שני רעב ואחריהן ונשכח כל השבע בארץ מצרים

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Mikeitz

The seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. (41:30)

When Yosef described the sorry state of affairs during the years of hunger, he said that the hunger would be so devastating that no one would be able to recollect the previous wonderful years of abundance. This was represented by the seven lean cows swallowing up the seven healthy cows in such a manner that the presence of the seven healthy cows would not even be a memory. They would be gone, disappeared, as if they had never existed. Ramban suggests that Yosef was alluding to Pharaoh that the years of famine would be no ordinary famine, where one can…

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

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Mikeitz

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)

After years of overcoming challenges and adversity, pain and enslavement, Yosef is freed and overnight catapulted to undreamed of leadership, luxury and dignity. He marries and is blessed with his firstborn son whom he names Menashe. He chooses this name because of its relationship with nashoh, forget. Thus, Yosef declares: “This name (which implies forgetting) is my declaration of gratitude to Hashem for allowing me to be able to forget my hardship and my father’s household (which was, for Yosef, the beginning of his hardship). A cursory reading of the name and its implications leaves the reader perplexed. Is this…

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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)

ויריצוהו מן הבור

And they rushed him from the dungeon. (41:14)

וקמו שבע שני רעב ואחריהן ונשכח כל השבע בארץ מצרים

The seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. (41:30)

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)

YEARS

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