From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To: "Parasha-Page List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 01:48:19 +0000
Subject: Torah Weekly - Vayigash 5758
From: "Ohr Somayach" <ohr@virtual.co.il>
To: " Highlights of the Torah weekly portion" <weekly@virtual.co.il>
Subject: Torah Weekly - Vayigash 5758
X-To: weekly@virtual.co.il
* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
Parshas Miketz
For the week ending 5 Teves 5758
2 & 3 January 1998
===========================================================================
This publication is available in HTML format at
http://www.ohr.org.il/tw/5758/bereishi/vayigash.htm
===========================================================================
Overview
With the discovery of the goblet in Binyamin's sack, the brothers are
confused. Yehuda alone steps forward and eloquently but firmly petitions
Yosef for Binyamin's release, offering himself instead. As a result of
this act of selflessness, Yosef has irrefutable proof that his brothers are
different people from the ones who cast him into the pit, and he now
reveals that he is none other than their brother Yosef. The brothers
shrink from him in shame, but Yosef consoles them, telling them that
everything has been part of Hashem's plan. He sends them back to their
father Yaakov with a message to come and reside in the land of Goshen. At
first, Yaakov cannot accept the news, but when he recognizes hidden signs
in the message which positively identify the sender as his son Yosef, his
spirit is revived. Yaakov together with all his family and possessions sets
out for Goshen. Hashem communicates with Yaakov in a vision at night. He
tells him not to fear going down to Egypt and its negative spiritual
consequences, because it is there that Hashem will establish the Children
of Yisrael as a great nation even though they will be dwelling in a land
steeped in immorality and corruption. The Torah lists Yaakov's offspring,
and hints to the birth of Yocheved, who will be the mother of Moshe
Rabbeinu. Seventy souls in total descend into Egypt, where Yosef is
reunited with his father after 22 years of separation. He embraces his
father and weeps, overflowing with joy. Yosef secures the settlement of his
family in Goshen. Yosef takes his father Yaakov and five of the least
threatening of his brothers to be presented to Pharaoh, and Yaakov blesses
Pharaoh. Yosef instructs that in return for grain, all the people of Egypt
must give everything to Pharaoh, including themselves as his slaves. Yosef
then redistributes the population, except for the Egyptian priests who are
directly supported by a stipend from Pharaoh. The Children of
Yaakov/Yisrael become settled, and their numbers multiply greatly.
===========================================================================
Insights
________ Looking Out For Number ________
"Yosef gathered all the money that was to be found in the land of
Egypt...and...brought the money into Pharaoh's palace." (47:14)
Commerce is usually a matter of sophisticated back-scratching. You know.
You scratch my back, and I'll buy your F-16s at an inflated price.
"What's in it for Number One?" is the subtitle on the business cards of the
world.
It's like a breath of fresh air when you find someone who wants to complete
the job for no other reason than that he made a commitment to do so. A
person who puts his integrity above his bank account.
The prototype for this kind of person is to be found in is week's Parsha.
Yosef's rise to pre-eminence in Egypt was in order to fulfill his prophecy
that his father and brothers would bow to him. And to make good Hashem's
promise to Avraham that his descendants would be slaves in Egypt and emerge
from there with great wealth. Yosef's ascendancy to power was no more than
a preparation to fulfill these ends.
Thus, after his father and brothers were safely ensconced in Goshen,
logically Yosef should have stopped working with the enormous vigor that
characterized him.
This was not the case whatsoever. Even after there was no need for Yosef
to carry on serving Pharaoh, Yosef launched into an agrarian plan which
consolidated all the wealth of Egypt under the dominion of Pharaoh. Yosef
continued to act as a prince to the manner born.
Why?
Yosef was the ultimate man of integrity. Even after his own interests had
been served and there was no further need to enrich Pharaoh, Yosef returned
the trust that Pharaoh had placed in him and secured the financial
underpinnings of Pharaoh's dynasty.
In doing this, he sanctified Hashem's Name in the eyes of the people. For
it was clear to all that Hashem grants success to those who fear Him.
Yosef was looking after "Number One."
________ Pieces Of Eight________
"Then Yosef said to his brothers, 'Come close* to me, please...I am Yosef
your brother - it is me whom you sold into Egypt.' " (44:4)
* "...He (Yosef) showed them that he was circumcised." - Rashi
All but eight verses in this week's Parsha start with the letter "Vav."
Why?
The letter Vav connotes the expression "Vey!" - "Woe!". It is as though
all the other verses are crying out "Oy Vey!" to the selling of Yosef; "Oy
Vey" to the parental anguish of Yaakov.
The whole of this week's Parsha cries "Woe!" - with the exception of eight
verses.
What is the significance of the number eight?
The number seven defines the natural world: There are seven days in the
week; seven notes in the diatonic scale. Eight is that which reveals the
supernatural in the natural. Bris mila, the mitzva of circumcision, is
performed on the eighth day after birth. Bris mila reveals the
metaphysical in the physical.
Bris mila removes the covering of nature. It takes off the mask of the
natural world to reveal that Man's body has a holy purpose. It teaches us
that our physicality is to be elevated; that we can use our most aspect to
strive for that which is above nature. Bris mila represents the natural
within the supernatural.
When the brothers stood in front of Yosef before he revealed his true
identity, they thought they were in the middle of a protracted and
worsening nightmare: They had wrongly been accused of theft. One of their
brothers was already being held in custody, and now Binyamin, the youngest,
was about to be taken into slavery. They knew that this would break their
father Yaakov. They thought to themselves - "Why is all this happening to
us?"
With three small words - "I am Yosef" - everything became clear. All the
distress and the heartbreak of the past months were dispelled in an instant
of recognition. All the twists and turns in this convoluted plot had now
reached their final dramatic denouement.
In an instant, the covering was removed from nature. Suddenly everything
became transcendently clear.
So will it be in the future. When the world hears just three words - "I am
Hashem" - all the paradoxes and conundrums will be revealed to be no more
than an overture to the final crescendo of world history.
Then Hashem will reveal the faithfulness of His covenant, His Bris, with
the People of Israel and the covering will be removed from the natural
world once and forever.
===========================================================================
Haftorah: Yechezkel 37 15-28
________ Two Chips Off The Old Block________
One of the ways that a prophecy becomes irreversible is if it is reinforced
by a symbolic action.
In this week's Haftorah, the prophet Yechezkel foretells that, in the time
of the final redemption, the two halves of the Jewish People, symbolized by
Yehuda and Yosef, will be brought together like two blocks of wood. Hashem
tells Yechezkel "Join them together [so that they] look like one. They
shall be one in your hands." (37:17)
Even though nothing could be more separate than two blocks of wood,
eventually these two blocks will become one. And even though only Hashem
can perform the miracle of making one block out of two, but for us to
deserve the acceleration of the redemption, we must "look like one." We
must be united and free from malice.
Although the redemption is inevitable, it is in our hands to delay it or to
make it happen today.
(Based on The Midrash Says)
===========================================================================
Sources:
o Looking Out for Number One - Ramban, Rabbi Meir Schlessinger, Rabbi
Moshe Zauderer
o Pieces Of Eight - Rashi, HaRokeach al HaTorah, Maharal, Rabbi C. Z.
Senter
o With All My Heart - Maharal
===========================================================================
Announcing a New List!
Judaismo in Portuguese
Beginning Parashat Shemot
To subscribe, send the message
"sub judaismo-p {your name}" to listproc@virtual.co.il
===========================================================================
Do you link to us? Let everyone know about the Ohr Somayach Home Page by
dropping the following text into the HTML document of YOUR home page:
<A HREF="http://www.ohr.org.il" TARGET="_top">
The Ohr Somayach International Home Page</A>
===========================================================================
SUBSCRIBE!
to one of the many weekly "lists" published by Ohr Somayach Institutions:
ohrnet - Torah Weekly, Q&A, Ask the Rabbi & Daf Yomi in PDF Format
ohrnews - Keep up-to-date with the Ohr Somayach Web Site
weekly - Summary of the weekly Torah portion
dafyomi - Rav Mendel Weinbach's insights into the Daf Yomi
ask - The Rabbi answers YOUR questions on Judaism
parasha-qa - Challenging questions on the weekly Torah portion
os-special - All the SPECIAL publications produced by Ohr Somayach
os-alum - "B'Yachad" - the Ohr Somayach Electronic Alumni Newsletter
judaismo - Spanish-Language newsletter on the Parsha & Judaism
judaismo-p - Portuguese-Language newsletter on the Parsha & Judaism
month - Seasons of the Moon - The Jewish Year through its months
Ohr Somayach NEVER charges for any of the above lists.
To subscribe, send the message: subscribe {listname} {your full name}
mailto:listproc@virtual.co.il
*************************************************************************
To educate, train and equip for study both the Jew and
Non-Jew in the Rich Hebraic Heritage of our Faith.
Please visit the Hebraic Heritage Ministries
Web Site located at:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2175/index.html
Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l