Vayigash – Peninim on the Torah

ואת יהודה שלח לפניו... להורות לפניו גשנה

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

Yaakov Avinu sent Yehudah l’horos lefanav Goshnah, which Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 95:3) interpret to be Yehudah’s mission to set the foundation for a makom Torah, a yeshivah where everyone could study. From the very beginning, our Patriarch set forth his priorities for his children to know and incorporate into their lives. Torah is our number one priority. While not every Jewish community has a yeshivah gedolah, they all have a shul set aside for prayer and study. Without Torah, we are unable to serve Hashem and live properly as observant Jews. Judaism is a religion – not a culture –…

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ויסע ישראל וכל אשר לו ויבא בארה שבע

Sruly Schnair In 5784, Vayigash

So Yisrael set out with all that he had and he came to Beer Sheva. (46:1)

Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 94:4) explain that Yaakov Avinu went to Beer Sheva to cut down cedar trees which his grandfather, Avraham Avinu, had planted there. Apparently, Avraham knew that the karshei haMishkan, bars that comprised the walls of the Mishkan, would be made of wood. He planted in preparation for that auspicious day. Knowing that he would die in Egypt and that his descendants would build a Sanctuary in the wilderness, Yaakov, therefore, went to cut these trees (and transplanted them in Egypt), so that, when his descendants would leave, they would take the trees along with them. This is…

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ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Sruly Schnair In 5784, Vayigash

Then he fell upon his brother Binyamin’s neck and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. (45:15)

Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 93:10) comment that the Yosef/Binyamin reunion, accompanied by copious weeping, was much more profound than two brothers simply reconnecting after many years. Their weeping was not just an expression of joy mixed with sadness. Their weeping was not personal. They wept over: the destruction of the Batei Mikdash that would stand in Binyamin’s portion of Yerushalayim, and Mishkan Shiloh which was situated in the portion of Efraim, son of Yosef. This is a momentous commentary concerning the elevated level of sensitivity which each of these two brothers demonstrated. They were distinct from the rest of their family,…

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קחו לכם... עגלות לטפכם ולנשיכם... וירא את העגלות אשר שלח יוסף... ותחי רוח יעקב אביהם

Sruly Schnair In 5783, Vayigash

Take for yourselves… wagons for your small children and for your wives… and he (Yaakov) saw the wagons that Yosef had sent… the spirit of their father Yaakov revived. (45:19,27)

Chazal wonder what it was about the agalos, wagons, that assuaged Yaakov Avinu’s fear concerning Yosef’s moral status. [His son had been separated from him and his pristine spiritual environment for over two decades. During this time Yosef had been ensconced in a country whose moral compass was bankrupt, its culture redefining the nadir of moral profligacy. He worried, but when he saw the agalos, he calmed down.] The simple answer is that agalos, wagons, allude to Eglah Arufah (agalah, eglah, same letters), the axed heifer, which was the last topic Yaakov had studied with Yosef prior to his disappearance….

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ויפל אל צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Sruly Schnair In 5783, Vayigash

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

Chazal teach that Yosef and Binyamin wept over the Sanctuaries that would be built in their respective portions of Eretz Yisrael and later destroyed. The two Batei Mikdash were in Binyamin’s territory, and the Mishkan Shiloh in Yosef’s (Efraim’s) territory. After years of separation, the love the two brothers had for one another was superseded by their sadness over the future destructions. While the Avos, Patriarchs, and their children were all human beings, the Torah and everything spiritual were uppermost in their minds. Their connection to one another was via the Torah. Horav Yaakov Neiman, zl, relates the well-known incident…

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ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדנ-י

Sruly Schnair In 5783, Vayigash

Then Yehuda approached him and said, “If you please, my lord.” (44:18)

The Jewish people are called Yehudim, from Yehudah’s name. What is so special about his name that earned this distinction? The goal of a Jew is to realize that everything which occurs in his life emanates from Hashem. Even when he finds himself in the worst predicament of his life, he acknowledges his life force: Hashem. He sees Hashem’s light amid the darkness that engulfs him. The Sefas Emes explains Yehudah’s statement to Yosef, Bee Adonee, literally, “Within me is my Master.” Yehudah’s name contains within it the same letters as Hashem’s Name. When Yehudah expunged whatever personal bias might…

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ואת יהודה שלח לפניו אל יוסף להורות לפניו גשנה

Sruly Schnair In 5782, Vayigash

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

Yaakov Avinu sent Yehudah, the leader of the brothers, to make the necessary arrangements for their imminent arrival in Egypt. Yehudah’s mission (according to Rashi, who cites the Midrash) was to establish a makom Torah, a yeshivah from which Torah and its teachings would emanate and radiate to the family. Traditionally, the makom Torah has always been the priority in settling a community. Without Torah as its centerpiece, the community as a spiritually-committed community would be hard-pressed to survive. Upon perusing the pasuk, two questions stand out. First, why Yehudah over Yosef? Yosef HaTzaddik, despite being the Egyptian viceroy, was…

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ויזבח זבחים לאלקי אביו יצחק

Sruly Schnair In 5782, Vayigash

And he slaughtered sacrifices to the G-d of his father Yitzchak. (46:1)

Why Yitzchak and not Avraham? Surely, Yaakov Avinu remembered his zayde, grandfather, the Patriarch of the family. Rashi comments that Yaakov underscored the idea that a son owes more to his father than to his grandfather. The other commentators focus on the middah, attribute, of Yitzchak, which Yaakov felt would benefit his descendants most as they were about to commence the bitter Egyptian exile – which would lead to the next exiles, until the Final Redemption at the End of Days. Horav Shlomo Freifeld, zl, explains Yaakov’s actions as a lesson to his descendants about how to live a Torah…

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ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Sruly Schnair In 5782, Vayigash

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

The Midrash comments that Yosef and Binyamin wept over the destruction of the Sanctuaries that would be built in their respective portions of the Land: the two Batei Mikdash that would be built in Binyamin’s portion, and Mishkan Shiloh that stood in the portion of Yosef’s son, Efraim. Horav David Leibowitz, zl, derives from here the overwhelming pain experienced by our forefathers concerning the churban, destruction of the Batei Mikdash. During the greatest moment of heightened joy, when all that should have occupied their minds was the homecoming/reinstatement of Yosef, their long- lost brother, their thoughts were elsewhere. Binyamin was…

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כי למחיה שלחני אלקים לפניכם

Sruly Schnair In 5782, Vayigash

For it was to be a provider that Hashem sent me ahead of you. (45:5)

The above pasuk should be every Jew’s rallying cry upon confronting the various vicissitudes of life. Travail, challenge, obstacles, speed bumps – however one seeks to refer to them – they happen, but we must remember they happen for a reason which only Hashem knows. The mere fact that we accept that everything that takes place is Divinely dispatched and serves a Heavenly purpose, which is inherently good, should be sufficient balm for the pain and anxiety it leaves in its wake. We are, however, only human. As a result, while we are in the midst of the maelstrom of…

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ואת יהודה שלח לפניו... להורות לפניו גשנה

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

ויסע ישראל וכל אשר לו ויבא בארה שבע

So Yisrael set out with all that he had and he came to Beer Sheva. (46:1)

ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Then he fell upon his brother Binyamin’s neck and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. (45:15)

קחו לכם... עגלות לטפכם ולנשיכם... וירא את העגלות אשר שלח יוסף... ותחי רוח יעקב אביהם

Take for yourselves… wagons for your small children and for your wives… and he (Yaakov) saw the wagons that Yosef had sent… the spirit of their father Yaakov revived. (45:19,27)

ויפל אל צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

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

ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדנ-י

Then Yehuda approached him and said, “If you please, my lord.” (44:18)

ואת יהודה שלח לפניו אל יוסף להורות לפניו גשנה

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

ויזבח זבחים לאלקי אביו יצחק

And he slaughtered sacrifices to the G-d of his father Yitzchak. (46:1)

ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

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

כי למחיה שלחני אלקים לפניכם

For it was to be a provider that Hashem sent me ahead of you. (45:5)

YEARS

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