Thursday, December 28, 2017

Dvar Torah & Podcast for Parshas Vayechi

       Parshas Vayechi finds Yaakov Avinu at the end of his life. He begins to set his affairs in order, first by instructing Yosef how and where to bury him, then blessing his sons, and finally giving his sons final words of chizuk before he passes away. When Yosef hears his father has fallen ill, he immediately rushes to his side and brings his two sons, Menashe and Efraim, along with him. He hoped he would be able to secure a bracha for his children from his father before he passed away, and he wasn’t disappointed. However, a careful read of the pesukim seems to indicate that it wasn’t Menashe and Efraim who received this bracha.
       We all know the story of what Yaakov did before he blessed Yosef’s sons, he crossed over his hands, placing the right hand on the head of Efraim, the younger son, and his left on the head of Menashe, the elder son. The bracha itself is also well-known, the pasuk of Hamalach Hagoel, which every Jewish child knows, said every night before going to sleep. However, the pasuk in between these two actions is where we will place our focus. After placing his (crossed over) hands on Menashe and Efraim, the pasuk says, “וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֶת־יוֹסֵ֖ף וַיֹּאמַ֑ר“And he (Yaakov) blessed Yosef, and said” (Bereishis 48:15). The pasuk then continues with the bracha of Hamalach, “הַמַּלְאָךְ֩ הַגֹּאֵ֨ל אֹתִ֜י מִכָּל־רָ֗ע יְבָרֵךְ֘ אֶת־הַנְּעָרִים֒“May the angel who redeemed me from all harm bless the youths” (16).
        A careful reading of Pasuk 15 shows that Yaakov was clearly blessing Yosef; however, no blessing appears in the pesukim directed at him! Pasuk 15 acts as an intro to Pasuk 16 which is clearly directed at Yosef’s sons (“יְבָרֵךְ֘ אֶת־הַנְּעָרִים֒”), so what happened to Yaakov’s bracha to Yosef?
       The Ramban answers simply that blessing Yosef’s children was Yaakov’s way of blessing Yosef directly. These were Yosef’s only children, any and all blessing to Yosef would be through these two boys. For both Yaakov and Yosef, there was no greater blessing than having these great concepts be directed at Menashe and Efraim.
       The Ohr HaChaim gives an additional explanation. He explains that the pasuk must be accentuated in a certain manner to be fully understood. “וַיְבָרֶךְ אֶת־יוֹסֵף; וַיֹּאמַר  “He blessed Yosef; and he said”; Yaakov first gave Yosef a blessing, which the Torah doesn’t mention explicitly, and then turns his attention to Yosef’s sons. (The Seforno explains the pasuk like this as well.) He gives two possible explanations for what this bracha was. The first idea is that this was a blessing that Yosef should be continuously blessed. There’s no specific idea attached to it, and therefore, the pasuk only says that he blessed Yosef.
       The second idea goes a little deeper. Rashi at the beginning of Parshas Lech Lecha (12:2) explains that originally, only Hashem was able to bless human beings. Then, He gave this power over to Avraham who gave it over to Yitzchak who passed it on to Yaakov. Our pasuk is saying that Yaakov gave over this power to Yosef. When Yaakov ‘blessed’ Yosef, he was literally giving him bracha, he was giving him the power of giving others bracha. There’s no need for specifics because there’s nothing specific about it!

Chazak Chazak V’Nischazek!

Shabbat Shalom!



Click here to listen this this week's Podcast (Also available on Apple Podcasts) 

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AIMeM 


Friday, December 22, 2017

Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayigash & Podcast

       This week's Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memory of my friend, Aron Tzvi ben Moshe Aryeh. Y'hi Zichro Baruch.

       In Parshas Vayigash, we observe the emotional reunion between Yosef and his family. After revealing his identity to his brothers, rendering them speechless, he encourages them to return as quickly as possible to Eretz Yisrael and bring his father down to Mitzrayim. The brothers knew that the shock of finding out that Yosef was alive could kill Yaakov, so they devised a plan to gently break the news. Yosef knew that his father might need a bit of convincing that his brothers were telling the truth, so he made his own arrangements too.
       “וַיִּתֵּ֨ן לָהֶ֥ם יוֹסֵ֛ף עֲגָל֖וֹת עַל־פִּ֣י פַרְעֹ֑ה“And Yosef gave them (the brothers) wagons by Paroh’s word”; “וַיָּ֣פָג לִבּ֔וֹ כִּ֥י לֹא־הֶֽאֱמִ֖ין לָהֶֽם“but he (Yaakov) had a turn of heart, for he did not believe them (the brothers)”; וַיַּרְא֙ אֶת־הָ֣עֲגָל֔וֹת אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַ֥ח יוֹסֵ֖ף לָשֵׂ֣את אֹת֑וֹ וַתְּחִ֕י ר֖וּחַ יַֽעֲקֹ֥ב אֲבִיהֶֽם“And he (Yaakov) saw the wagons that Yosef had sent to transport him, then the spirit of their father Yaakov was revived” (Bereishis 45:21; 26-27). It is clear from Pesukim 26-27 that Yaakov didn’t believe Yosef was alive until he saw these wagons. Interestingly, in Pasuk 21, it says the wagons were sent by the command of Paroh, while in Pasuk 27 Yaakov identifies them as a sign from Yosef. What was the hidden message in these wagons?
       Rashi explains that the last halachos Yaakov taught Yosef before he was sold were about Eglah Arufah, when you find an unidentified body in the wilderness, which city is responsible for it. Yosef convinced Paroh to send these wagons which hinted at a message to his father based on the similarity between the word “eglah” and the Hebrew word for wagon “agalah”. Yaakov made this connection right away and realized that it was indeed his son Yosef, still righteous after all these years, sending him these wagons. This is why the Torah changes from calling them the wagons that Paroh sent to the wagons that Yosef sent.
       The Kli Yakar takes issue with this explanation of Rashi. Rashi is committed to explaining the pesukim with the most fundamental understanding; this is clearly not the case with this explanation. If Yosef only wanted to send a message, why does the pasuk say they were meant to carry Yaakov down to Mitzrayim? Why would Yosef have sent multiple wagons, couldn’t he have made his point with one? Therefore, he understands Rashi that Yaakov saw a different set of halachos hidden in the wagons.
       The message was not the wagons themselves, but the fact that that Yosef had sent something to bring his father back down to Mitzrayim. While the halachos of eglah arufah may have been the final halachos they learned together formally, Chazal teach us the actual final lesson Yaakov gave Yosef was the mitzvah of providing an escort for someone. In fact, these halachos are actually part of the mitzvah of eglah arufah as well. We learn from the pasuk in Parshas Vayeishev (37:13) that Yaakov escorted Yosef part of the way when he sent him to check on the brothers. He must have taken this opportunity to give over this mitzvah to Yosef in the most practical way.
       Yosef didn’t need to provide any mode of transportation for his family; they must have had plenty of their own resources to provide transport. He specifically provided these wagons as a way of showing his father that he still remembered what he had been taught. This proved to Yaakov that Yosef was alive, and furthermore, he was still holding in everything he had been taught 22 years prior. With this realization, “then the spirit of their father Yaakov was revived!”  


Shabbat Shalom!



Click here to listen this this week's Podcast (Also available on Apple Podcasts) 

 The Dvar Torah is now available on parshasheets.com! Check out the site for links to Divrei Torah in both Hebrew and English, written by people around the world

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AIMeM 

Friday, December 15, 2017

Dvar Torah & Podcast for Parshas Mikeitz

       AIMeM Torah would like to wish all our readers a Happy Chanukah!

       Parshas Mikeitz finds Yosef in the complete opposite situation from last week’s parsha. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Paroh, Yosef is raised to second-in-command of Egypt with total control over all functions of the kingdom. His main assignment was to prepare for the upcoming seven-year famine which he had predicted. With this foreknowledge and a plan, Yosef built Egypt into the wealthiest country in the World; people from every country came to Egypt to purchase food.
       Eventually, Yaakov’s sons make their way down to Egypt. Yosef had prepared for this and had them gathered up and brought to his palace. He then proceeded to put them through an emotional ordeal by first accusing them of being spies and forcing them to return to Eretz Yisrael to bring back Binyamin to prove their innocence. In the meantime, he kept Shimon in jail as a hostage. What was the reason for this whole charade? Yosef must have known it would be difficult for his father to let Binyamin, his only remaining reminder of Rachel, leave his side for an extended period of time. Also, with all the tortures his brothers put him through when selling him as a slave, did that mean Yosef allowed to take revenge on them now? Why did he put Yaakov and his brothers through this torment?
       The Ramban explains based on the pasuk, “וַיִּזְכֹּ֣ר יוֹסֵ֔ף אֵ֚ת הַֽחֲלֹמ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר חָלַ֖ם לָהֶ֑ם“And Yosef remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them (his brothers) (Bereishis 42:9). When Yosef saw his brothers bowing down to him, he recalled the dreams from his youth, the ones they had all interpreted to mean that he would one day rule over his brothers. However, when the brothers first appeared in front of him, the dream was not completely fulfilled; according to his dream, all eleven of his brothers had to bow down to him, so he had to have Binyamin brought down as well. Once Binyamin arrived and all eleven brothers bowed down to him, Yosef was ready to move on to the second dream which included his father bowing down to him, and sent for Yaakov to come down to Egypt. The Ramban acknowledges that this whole episode must have been torture for the family, but he declares that it was worth it so that the dreams should be fulfilled.
       The question is obvious: was it that important that the dreams be fulfilled to the exact detail that Yosef had to torture his brothers, and worse, his father? Chazal teach us that in every dream, even in the most true ones, there is a part which is not true. Why couldn’t Yosef chalk up Binyamin not being there to that principle? What is the big deal about his dreams?
       I came across a number of answers, but one that stood out to me comes from Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky. He explains that it wasn’t specifically about the dreams that made Yosef go through this entire process. There was a lesson he had to teach his brothers which even after all the years of his being gone, they still hadn’t learned. The brothers were wise men who acted only for the sake of Hashem. When they observed Yosef’s behavior as a youth, how he preened himself, and entertained (in their minds) delusions of grandeur, they felt he was threatening the long-term future of the family culture they had carefully constructed. After all, this was not a group of simple shepherds, they were to be the founders of the great Nation of Hashem! Therefore, without even consulting their father, they put together a Beis Din and sentenced him. This was no kangaroo court, however; they had a fair judgement, and based on their observations, came out with a fair ruling. However, they were clearly mistaken; and even all these years later, while they felt bad for their father, they still felt they had made the correct decision in regards to Yosef.
       Yosef wanted to teach his brothers a lesson that went beyond just him, that even though they were great men, they could still make a mistake in their initial, simple assumptions. It was possible to have a fair and impartial judgement, but if the assumption was incorrect, the whole idea would be incorrect. Until they went through all the tortures in this week’s parsha, they had never entertained this possibility. It was so important to show them this, that he made sure every detail of the dream was exactly the way it had been foreseen, just to make sure this point was illustrated to the fullest. And his planned worked, as it says in the pasuk, “וַיֹּֽאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֗יו אֲבָל֘ אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים | אֲנַ֘חְנוּ֘ עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר רָאִ֜ינוּ צָרַ֥ת נַפְשׁ֛וֹ בְּהִתְחַֽנְנ֥וֹ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ וְלֹ֣א שָׁמָ֑עְנוּ עַל־כֵּן֙ בָּ֣אָה אֵלֵ֔ינוּ הַצָּרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת“And they said to one another, ‘Indeed, we are guilty for our brother, that we witnessed the distress of his soul when he begged us, and we did not listen. That is why this trouble has come upon us.” (Ibid 21).

Shabbat Shalom!




.
Click here to listen this this week's Podcast (Also available on Apple Podcasts) 

 The Dvar Torah is now available on parshasheets.com! Check out the site for links to Divrei Torah in both Hebrew and English, written by people around the world

For any questions, comments, or to subscribe to our email list, please email us at AIMeMTorah@gmail.com.

Please Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @aimemtorah

Don't forget to check out hashkafahandbook.com to learn about my book,Reality Check. And Like it on Facebook.

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AIMeM     

Friday, December 8, 2017

No Dvar Torah this Week

Due to circumstances beyond our control, there is no new Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayeishev. Please click here for last year's Dvar Torah and Podcast for this week's parsha. We will, b'ezrat Hashem, return next week with a brand new Dvar Torah & Podcast!

Shabbat Shalom!

For any questions, comments, or to subscribe to our email list, please email us at AIMeMTorah@gmail.com.

Please Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @aimemtorah

Don't forget to check out hashkafahandbook.com to learn about my book,Reality Check. And Like it on Facebook.

Check out our other AIMeMTorah project, Nation's Wisdom!



AIMeM