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ויאמר אברהם כי אמרתי רק אין יראת אלקים במקום הזה והרגוני על דבר אשתי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Vayeira, 5776

And Avraham said, “Because I said, “There is but no fear of G-d in this place and they will slay me because of my wife.” (20:11)

We can derive a powerful lesson from Avraham Avinu’s statement.  Yiraas Shomayim, fear of Heaven, is the “be all” and “end all.”  One who fears Hashem has hope that he will navigate through life’s journey without encountering challenges that are insurmountable – not because they will not occur, but because he has the one tool that gives him the ability to surmount and triumph over whatever the “satans” of life throw at him.   Avraham felt that a lack of yiraas Shomayim on the part of the Plishtim could even lead to bloodshed. We see this on a regular basis.  When…

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Home -> 5776 -> Vayeira

וישלחו האנשים את ידם ויביאו את לוט אליהם הביתה ואת הדלת סגרו ואת האנשים אשר פתח הבית הכו בסנורים... וילאו למצא הפתח

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Vayeira, 5776

The men stretched out their hand and brought Lot into the house with them, and closed the door. And the men who were at the entrance of the house, they were struck with blindness…and they tried vainly to find the entrance. (19:10, 11)

The angels pulled Lot into the house making sure to close the door behind them.  Immediately afterward, the angels struck the men at the door, blinding them.  They no longer could locate the doorway to Lot’s house.  One can only find what he can see.  We wonder why the door had to be closed once the men had been blinded.  They could no longer find the entrance.  Lot was essentially protected.  He could sit right in front of them, and they would not be aware of it. Horav Shalom Schwadron, zl, explains that the door was not closed in order…

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אולי יש חמשים צדיקים בתוך העיר

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Vayeira, 5776

What if there should be fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city? (18:24)

The pasuk seems to be emphasizing tzadikim b’soch ha’ir, “righteous persons in the midst of the city”.  Simply, this means that these virtuous men do not play out their righteousness only in the private sphere, but also in the midst of the city.  It might not be convenient for some to express their religious beliefs in public – such as when it means adhering to the standard uniform of an observant Jew, i.e. tzitzis, yamulka– yet, they do so out of religious conviction.  Hashem was setting the standard: a righteous person at home and in the street.  (We have also…

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וד' אמר המכסה אני מאברהם אשר אני עשה. ואברהם היו יהיה לגוי גדול ועצום

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Vayeira, 5776

And Hashem said, “Shall I conceal from Avraham what I do, now that Avraham is surely to become a great and mighty nation?” (18:17, 18)

Hashem informed Avraham Avinu, that He was about to destroy the city of Sodom. Its community of sinners had gone too far, elevating sin to the level of cultural acceptance.  It had become a way of life.  The Torah teaches that Hashem’s intention in notifying Avraham of His plans was to inform Avraham about his future as Patriarch of a large nation.  Is this the reason that Hashem informed Avraham of His plans?  True, Hashem wanted Avraham to pray for the people of Sodom, to teach the Patriarch the significance of prayer and its ability to rescind a decree –…

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וירא אליו ד' ... והוא ישב פתח האהל

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Vayeira, 5776

Hashem appeared to him…while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent. (18:1)

Rashi’s commentary to this pasuk is well known.  Hashem appeared to Avraham Avinu, visiting him during the Patriarch’s recuperation from his Bris Milah.  It was the third day following the circumcision, a day which is especially painful, so Hashem was mevaker choleh, visited the sick.  Rashi’s source is Chazal, who laud the exalted nature of this mitzvah.  While everyone agrees that this mitzvah is meaningful, both to the beneficiary and benefactor, it is also a source of incredible reward to the individual who fulfills it. The Sefer HaMiddos writes concerning the mitzvah of bikur cholim: “In the merit of bikur…

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Home -> Vayechi -> 5776

ויעל יוסף לקבר את אביו ויעלו אתו כל עבדי פרעה... ויבאו עד גרן האטד... ויספדו שם מספד גדול וכבד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Vayechi

Yosef went up to bury his father, and with him went up all of Pharaoh’s servants… they came to Goren Haatad… and they held a very great and imposing eulogy. (50:7, 10)

Chazal teach that this name (Goren Haatad) is not the name of a place; rather, it is a name given to a singular event and the image it projected, which determined the name of the area. The Kings of Canaan and the Princes of Yishmael worked together to prevent Yaakov Avinu’s burial and, in order to once and for all, eliminate the Jewish People. They conjectured that following the loss of their holy father, the brothers and their families were at their lowest emotional point. What better time to attack them than at a time in which the Jews were…

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Home -> Vayechi -> 5776

בן פרת יוסף בן פרת עלי עין

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Vayechi

A charming son is Yosef, a charming son to the eye. (49:22)

The Talmud Berachos 20a teaches that Yosef HaTzaddik and his descendants were impervious to the nefarious power of the evil eye. They derive from the above pasuk that the evil eye had no power over them, because Yosef refused to feed himself from anything that was not his. The evil eye is the product of envy, which results from an individual’s character deficiency. He is jealous of others, because he is insecure with himself. Why should a decent person suffer because an individual with a jaundiced character is jealous of his success? In his Michtav MeiEliyahu 4, Horav Eliyahu Eliezer…

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Home -> Vayechi -> 5776

וירא ישראל את בני יוסף ויאמר מי אלה ויאמר יוסף אל אביו בני הם אשר נתן לי אלקים בזה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Vayechi

Then Yisrael saw Yosef’s sons and he said, “Who are these?” And Yosef said to his father, “They are my sons whom G-d has given me here.” (48:8,9)

Rashi quotes the Midrash which explains that, although Yaakov Avinu’s vision was impaired, he would still have been able to see the two young men standing before him. Instead, they explain that, Mi eileh? “Who are these?” is a reference to descendants of Menashe and Efraim, whose nefarious activities precluded them from deserving blessing. Yaakov wondered – “How did they get into this family? They certainly do not have a reason to warrant blessing.” Yosef assured his father that his two sons had been begotten through a marriage of sanctity with a kesubah, kosher marriage contract, and that, indeed, they…

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ואני בבאי מפדן מתה עלי רחל... ואקברה שם בדרך אפרת הוא בית לחם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Vayechi

But as for me – when I came from Paddan, Rachel died on me… and I buried her there on the road to Efras, which is Bais Lechem. (48:7)

Rashi explains that Yaakov Avinu was excusing himself for not having buried Rachel Imeinu in the Meoras HaMachpeilah. Here he was asking Yosef to make a special effort to take his body out of Egypt in order to bury him in the Meoras HaMachpeilah – when he had not done the same for his wife – Yosef’s mother. Apparently, Yaakov sensed that Yosef might have been harboring ill will against him for not making that extra effort to bury his mother in what he might have felt was her rightful place. Yaakov explained that the decision concerning Rachel’s final resting…

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Home -> Vayechi -> 5776

ויאמר ליוסף הנה אביך חולה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In 5776, Vayechi

And someone said to Yosef, “Behold!” – your father is ill. (48:1)

If someone had not informed Yosef that his father was ill, he would not have known. During the entire seventeen years that Yaakov Avinu resided in Egypt he was never alone with his long lost son, Yosef. They had been separated for twenty-two years, their hearts yearning for one another; yet, they were never alone together, never saw one another, until the end, when Yaakov lay on his deathbed. Pesikta Rabbasi explains that Yosef was afraid to be alone with his father, lest he ask him the big question: “What happened?” Yosef was acutely aware of his father’s supernatural powers….

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