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Home -> Vayeishev -> 5784

ותאמר הכר נא למי החתמת והפתילים והמטה האלה

Sruly Schnair
In 5784, Vayeishev

And she said, “Recognize, if you please, whose are this signet, this wrap, and this staff.” (38:25)

Rashi explains that, in this context, the word na (ha’ker na, “recognize, if you please”) expresses nothing but request. Tamar replied, “Please recognize your Creator and do not destroy three souls (Tamar and her unborn twins). According to Rashi, when Tamar said, “If you please,” it was simply a plea for mercy, it was an appeal to Yehudah’s sense of yiraas Shomayim, fear of Heaven.” Horav Shlomo Wolbe, zl, derives a powerful insight from Rashi. We are accustomed to thinking that the manner and approach for one to develop a profound recognition and perspective of Hashem is through the study…

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Home -> Vayeishev -> 5784

ויכר יהודה ויאמר צדקה ממני

Sruly Schnair
In 5784, Vayeishev

Yehudah recognized and said, “She is right; it is from me.” (38:26)

Chazal (Sotah 10b) teach, “As soon as Yehudah confessed and said Tzadkah mimeni, “She is right; it is from me,” a Bas Kol, Heavenly voice, issued forth and declared, “You saved Tamar and her two sons from the fire. By your life, I swear that I will save three of your descendants in your merit. Who are these? They are Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah.” Yehudah’s name is eternalized because he withstood and triumphed over the challenge to his integrity. Targum Yonasan (commentary to Devarim 49:8) says that, due to Yehudah’s confession concerning his involvement with Tamar, Klal Yisrael are called…

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Home -> Vayeishev -> 5784

ויהי כדברה אל יוסף יום יום

Sruly Schnair
In 5784, Vayeishev

And so it was – just as she coaxed Yosef day after day. (39:10)

The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 67:6) teaches: “The descendants of Rachel Imeinu, in the following two instances, their tests which they endured and their greatness with which they were consequently rewarded were equivalent.” Yosef was coaxed, day after day, to sin. Mordechai (of the tribe of Binyamin) refused to bow down to Haman, day after day. “Their greatness with which they were rewarded, Pharaoh removed his signet ring and appointed Yosef as viceroy. The Persian king removed his signet ring and gave it to Mordechai, granting him a position of unparalleled importance and power.” We wonder why Chazal consider Yosef and…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayishlach

עם לבן גרתי ואחר עד עתה

Sruly Schnair
In Vayishlach, 5784

I have sojourned with Lavan and have lingered until now. (32:5)

Rashi explains Yaakov Avinu’s comment concerning his stay with Lavan. “I did not become a dignitary or a notable, but a mere sojourner. Thus, it does not befit you to hate me, because our father’s blessing, Hevei g’vir l’achecha, ‘Be a lord to your brothers,’ has not been fulfilled in me.” In other words, “Eisav, if you are upset concerning the brachos that I received, do not be, because they were not fulfilled.” Alternatively, Rashi says, the gematria, numerical equivalent, of garti is taryag, 613, as if to say, “I have sojourned with Lavan, yet I have observed all 613…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayishlach

ויותר יעקב לבדו

Sruly Schnair
In Vayishlach, 5784

Yaakov was left alone. (32:25)

Our Patriarch was left alone on that fateful night. What does “alone” really mean? Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 77:1) cite the pasuk in Yeshayah (2:11), V’nisgav Hashem levado, “And Hashem alone will be exalted,” which the commentaries explain, “There are no other gods, as everyone in the world will come to recognize on that day – so too, was Yaakov Avinu among men alone in a category all to himself. His spiritual level and strength catapulted him over everyone.” Levado, alone, has a few interpretations, based upon circumstances and the individual. It can be defined as lonely, hopeless, without physical, moral…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayishlach

ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כאבים ויקחו שני בני יעקב ... איש חרבו ... ויהרגו כל זכר

Sruly Schnair
In Vayishlach, 5784

And it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Yaakov’s sons… each took his sword… and killed every male. (34:25)

Shimon and Levi’s punishment of the supportive cast of Shechem’s violation of Dinah obviously does not sit well with those whose knowledge of halachah is limited. According to the Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 9), the people were held culpable because of their indifference to the crime which one of their own perpetrated. They should have judged him and carried out the appropriate punishment. Because they did not, they are viewed as co-conspirators, participants in the crime. The question that remains is: Why did Shimon and Levi carry out their deed after the men had carried out their circumcision? Why not punish…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayishlach

Sruly Schnair
In Vayishlach, 5784

Reuven went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine …The sons of Yaakov were twelve. (35:22)

Following the passing of Rachel Imeinu, Yaakov Avinu established his primary residence in the tent of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant. This disturbed Reuven. He felt that it was an affront to his mother, Leah Imeinu, that the maidservant of Rachel had now become his mother’s “rival.” As a gesture of defending his mother’s honor, Reuven moved his father’s bed to Leah’s tent. This is all that took place, no egregious sin, as the Torah implies. While Hashem judges the righteous by a deviation of a hairbreadth, thus transforming minor transgressions into sins of utmost gravity, Reuven’s sin is, at worst, an…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayeitzei

ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע וילך חרנה

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeitzei, 5784

And Yaakov departed from Beer Sheva and went to Charan. (28:10)

Rashi asks the well-known question: “It needs only to have written, ‘And Yaakov went to Charan.’ Why does the Torah mention his departure? Magid, it tells us, that the departure of a tzaddik, righteous person, from a place makes an impression. For when he is in a city, he is its magnificence, he is its splendor, he is its grandeur. Once he has departed, its magnificence has gone away, its splendor has gone away, its grandeur has gone away.” Horav Chaim Stein, zl, makes note of Chazal’s (quoted by Rashi) use of the word magid (she’yetzias tzaddik oseh roshem), “it…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayeitzei

ויאסף לבן את כל אנשי המקום ויעש משתה

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeitzei, 5784

So Lavan gathered all the people of the place and made a feast. (29:22)

This wedding reception of Yaakov Avinu and what should have been Rachel Imeinu included all the people in the city. Lavan spared no expense in marrying off his daughter. Little did Yaakov know that his future father-in-law, Lavan the swindler, had substituted Leah Imeinu for Rachel. Lavan knew the marriage was based upon a fraud; so did Rachel and Leah. Daas Zekeinim m’Baalei Tosfos (29:25) comment that, indeed, everyone in the community, all of the invited guests, was aware of the ruse. In fact, they did not conceal their knowledge of the deception. They sang all night, Ha Leah, “This…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayeitzei

לקח יעקב את כל אשר לאבינו ומאשר לאבינו עשה את כל הכבד הזה

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeitzei, 5784

Yaakov has taken all that which belonged to our father and from that he amassed all this wealth. (31:1)

Targum Onkelos translates kavod (usually translated as honor) as nichsaya, material possessions (u’midei l’avuna kana kol nichsaya ha’ilein). Why would Onkelos diverge from the usual translation? Horav Tzvi Elimelech Hertzberg, zl (Rav in Baltimore), explains that the word kavod is noticeably spelled missing the vav, which implies that the honor that they were addressing is (to us) not true honor; rather, it is kavod medumah, imaginary honor. What did Lavan’s sons value? Growing up in their father’s home, influenced by his love of money, his constant swindling, anything to make a buck. They were privy to a perverted sense of…

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