5785 – Page 6 – Peninim on the Torah

ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם

I shall take you to Me as a people. (6:7)

The climax of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Egyptian exodus, occurred when Hashem told us we were to be His people, when He gave us the Torah at Har Sinai. At that point, we achieved our identity. A slave has no identity. He is a number, whose master predetermines his purpose and activities. His life is aimless, since he has no control over it. Our identity as Yehudim, Torah Jews, was established at Sinai when we accepted the Torah. Many biological Jews live in the world, but biology does not establish our identity, because it does not define who we are. Our…

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הם המדברים אל פרעה ... הוא משה ואהרן

Sruly Schnair In Vaeira, 5785

These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh … this was Moshe and Aharon. (6:27)

Prior to relating Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen’s visit to Pharaoh for what was to be the beginning of the end of the Jewish enslavement, the Torah digresses and offers a brief genealogical backdrop. The Torah begins by introducing Levi ben Yaakov, the Patriarch of the Levite families. This is followed by a detailed list of his children and grandchildren, and it concludes with Moshe and Aharon who came before Pharaoh demanding that he release the Jews. Rashi is bothered by the superfluous ending to the family history. He explains that the Torah intimates that Hu Moshe v’Aharon mi’techilah v’ad…

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ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה ... ויקם מלך חדש... אשר לא ידע את יוסף

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Shemos

And these are the names of Bnei Yisrael who were coming to Egypt… A new king rose… who did not know Yosef. (1:1,8)

Pharaoh soon forgot all the wonderful things that Yosef had done for him and his people. Sadly, this is not uncommon. People remember you only when they need your help. Once they feel they can do it alone, they quickly forget that they were your beneficiaries. Unfortunately, this is human nature. It requires a special person, whose character traits are refined, to acknowledge what he owes and offer his gratitude. Forgetfulness is often a product of self- centeredness. When a person sees only himself and his immediate needs, he can easily dismiss the benefits and blessings that he has received…

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וימררו את חייהם בעבדה קשה בחמר ובלבנים

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Shemos

They embittered their lives with hard work, with mortar and with bricks. (1:14)

The Zohar HaKadosh explains chomer, mortar, and leveinim, bricks, differently than the standard translation. Chomer is reference to kal v’chomer (light and heavy; a principle of determining halachah. It means that what applies in a less important – light – case will surely apply in a more important – heavy – one. The phrase has come to mean an inescapable conclusion). Leveinim refers to libun halachah, the process of thoroughly analyzing, clarifying and elucidating halachah. (The word libun means whitening or purification, symbolizing the effort expended to refine and clarify a halachic issue until it becomes clear, so that it…

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אשר שם האחת שפרה ושם השנית פועה

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Shemos

The name of the first one was Shifrah, and the name of the second was Puah. (1:15)

Shifrah and Puah, the Egyptian midwives who saved the lives of the Jewish boys whose birth they facilitated, were none other than Yocheved and her daughter, Miriam. (Alternatively, it was Yocheved and her daughter-in-law, Elisheva bas Aminadav, wife of Aharon HaKohen.) In any event, Shifrah/Yocheved merited to give birth to our quintessential leader, Moshe Rabbeinu. Clearly, she must have had an extraordinary z’chus to merit being the progenitress (the computer says this isn’t a word…) of Moshe. It must be her unwavering fear of Hashem which sparked within her the courage to stand up to Pharaoh and save the Jewish…

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ועתה שני בניך הנולדים לך בארץ מצרים...אפרים ומנשה כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Vayechi

And now, your two sons who were born in Egypt… Ephraim and Menashe shall be mine like Reuven and Shimon (48:5)

Yaakov Avinu underscores the fact the Menashe and Ephraim were Egyptian-born. He could just as easily have said, “your two sons, Ephraim and Menashe,” without adding their origins. HaRav Yaakov Kamenetzky, zl, explains that Yaakov was concerned about his grandsons’ origins because of the harsh, foreign spiritual influences they might have sustained. In order to include them among the Shevatim, they had to have remained on a spiritual plateau in some way equal to the Shevatim. Yaakov intimates that he was bringing Ephraim and Menashe close because, since they were born and raised in Egypt, they needed that spiritual TLC….

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ואני נתתי לך שכם אחד על אחיך אשר לקחתי מיד האמורי בחרבי ובקשתי

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Vayechi

As for me, I have given you, Shechem, one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the Emori with my sword and with my bow. (48:22)

Yaakov Avinu awarded Yosef an extra portion of land: Shechem. This was bequeathed to him for taking the initiative to inter Yaakov Avinu’s remains in Eretz Yisrael. To protect Shimon and Levi, who had gone to Shechem to retrieve their sister, Dinah, and to avenge the family’s honor, the Patriarch took up arms, preparing to battle the Emori. Hashem provided the Patriarch with a miracle, so that he would emerge triumphant. Sword and bow are figurative terms for the spiritual weaponry that our Patriarch employed. This teaches us that true strength is not physical in nature, but rather, spiritual strength…

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פחז כמים אל תותר כי עלית משכבי אביך אז חללת יצועי עלה

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Vayechi

Water-like impetuosity—you cannot be foremost because you mounted your father’s bed, then you desecrated Him who ascended my couch. (49:4)

Reuven had it all—and lost it—due to an impetuous move on his part. Make no mistake: Reuven did not mean to sin. Indeed, he thought he was acting virtuously to defend his mother’s honor. He even repented after he was informed of his own imprudence. Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that he acted impulsively. A king, a leader, a Kohen, must act with deliberation and circumspection. Thus, the birthright that had been Reuven’s was transferred to Yosef, the monarchy to Yehudah, and the Kehunah/Priesthood to Levi. A leader does not have the luxury of acting in haste. Yaakov…

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יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך .... כרע רבץ כאריה וכלביא מי יקימנו (49:8-9)

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Vayechi

Yehudah—you, your brothers shall acknowledge… He crouches, lies down like a lion, and like an awesome lion, who dares rouse him. (Bereishit 49:8-9)

Yehudah was the acknowledged king of the shevatim. He is compared to a lion, the king of beasts. This was Yaakov Avinu’s vision of Yehudah for the future. Horav Shalom Yosef Zevin, zl, expounds on these two terms: crouches; and lies down. Both are characteristics associated with the lion. A person’s emotional state affects both his physical and ethical/moral conduct and his demeanor. One who feels down or discouraged can easily fall into a state of despair, which not only affects his motivation and drive, but can also lead to ethical compromises. He simply does not care. When one feels…

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ויפל על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו

Sruly Schnair In 5785, Vayigash

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

Rashi explains that Yosef wept over the two Batei Mikdash, situated in Binyamin’s portion of Ertez Yisrael, which would be destroyed. Binyamin wept over the Mishkan Shiloh, which was in Yosef’s portion, that would be destroyed. The question is glaring: Did they have no other time to weep over these churbanos, destructions? There is a time for everything: a time for dance; ‘a time for eulogy; a time for weeping’, and a time for joy. This was the moment for which they had both longed. It should have been filled with heightened joy-not weeping. HoRav Mordechai Pogremonsky, zl, cites the…

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ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם

I shall take you to Me as a people. (6:7)

הם המדברים אל פרעה ... הוא משה ואהרן

These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh … this was Moshe and Aharon. (6:27)

ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה ... ויקם מלך חדש... אשר לא ידע את יוסף

And these are the names of Bnei Yisrael who were coming to Egypt… A new king rose… who did not know Yosef. (1:1,8)

וימררו את חייהם בעבדה קשה בחמר ובלבנים

They embittered their lives with hard work, with mortar and with bricks. (1:14)

אשר שם האחת שפרה ושם השנית פועה

The name of the first one was Shifrah, and the name of the second was Puah. (1:15)

ועתה שני בניך הנולדים לך בארץ מצרים...אפרים ומנשה כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי

And now, your two sons who were born in Egypt… Ephraim and Menashe shall be mine like Reuven and Shimon (48:5)

ואני נתתי לך שכם אחד על אחיך אשר לקחתי מיד האמורי בחרבי ובקשתי

As for me, I have given you, Shechem, one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the Emori with my sword and with my bow. (48:22)

פחז כמים אל תותר כי עלית משכבי אביך אז חללת יצועי עלה

Water-like impetuosity—you cannot be foremost because you mounted your father’s bed, then you desecrated Him who ascended my couch. (49:4)

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך .... כרע רבץ כאריה וכלביא מי יקימנו (49:8-9)

Yehudah—you, your brothers shall acknowledge… He crouches, lies down like a lion, and like an awesome lion, who dares rouse him. (Bereishit 49:8-9)

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)

YEARS

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