Rabbi Winston: Parashas Vayechi - Chazak!

 The Torah says that Ya’akov Avinu, sensing his end was near, decided to let his sons in on one of the best kept secrets of all history, the end of days. But, instead of spilling the beans Ya’akov moved on to blessing his sons, leaving us with a monumental cliff hanger. We could sure use that critical information now. 

Rashi explains the sudden change of direction. Apparently, the information was not something Ya’akov Avinu knew on his own, but was a prophecy that he had to receive, but didn’t. So all he could do was move on to the next item on his personal end of days agenda, which was to bless his sons. That he did without a problem.

The Gemora elaborates somewhat on what actually happened at that time: 

“Ya’akov wanted to reveal to his sons the End of Days, but the Divine Presence left him. He asked: ‘Perhaps, G–D forbid, there is something unfit from my bed, just as Yishmael was born to Avraham, and Eisav to my father Yitzchak?’ His sons answered, ‘Shema Yisroel, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad: Just as in your heart only [G–D is] one, so too in our hearts, there is only one.’ At that moment Ya’akov said, ‘Boruch Shem kevod Malchuso l’olam va’ed—Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom forever!’” (Pesachim 56a)

We can understand Ya’akov’s question and concern. But how did his sons’ recital of the Shema and their professing the oneness of G–D, answer it, and why did he conclude with Boruch Shem? 

Because that was obviously the question that Ya’akov had asked them, about Yichud Hashem, the unification of G–D’s Name. Everything that had gone wrong for the brothers, particularly the slaughter of Shechem and the sale of Yosef, was the result of a lack of Yichud Hashem. Ya’akov knew that if he lost the prophecy about the End of Days it was because his sons still had not completed their teshuvah.

In fact, though the Gemora does not indicate if Ya’akov had been satisfied with their answer, the Zohar does:

“Ya’akov wanted to establish the ‘Mystery of Unity’ below and composed the 24 letters of ‘Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever.’ He didn’t give it 25 letters since the Mishkan had yet to be built. Once the Mishkan was built, the first word was completed…With regard to this the verse says, ‘G–D spoke to him from the Appointed Tent, saying, etc.’ (Vayikra 1:1), which has 25 letters.” (Zohar 2:139b)

In other words, only once the Mishkan had been built was the unity of G–D expressed by Boruch Shem on par with the unity of G–D declared through the Shema. The Mishkan, in which the service of G–D was performed 24/7, and in which miracles daily occurred, made it perfectly clear to anyone who witnessed them that the Divine Presence was as real on earth as it was in Heaven. The future words of the Zechariah HaNavi, “on that day, G–D will be One and His Name, One” (Zechariah 14:9) were fulfilled on a daily basis in the Mishkan.

REMEMBER HOW PHARAOH said, “Who is G–D that I should listen to His voice to let the Jewish people out? I do not know G–D, and will I not let the Jewish people out” (Shemos 5:2)? It loses something in the translation, because Pharaoh not only believed in G–D, he believed that Elokim, the G–D of nature, had punished the world with the Flood. 

This is why Pharaoh did not take Moshe Rabbeinu’s threat seriously. He knew that nature had rules that G–D Himself made and obeyed. If the Jewish people were going to go free, Pharaoh calculated, they would have to do it “naturally,” and naturally speaking they lacked the means to go free.

Moshe Rabbeinu, on the other hand, was trying to introduce Pharaoh, and really the Jewish people, to a higher level of G–D’s reality, Hovayah. This is the level of Divine revelation that becomes obvious specifically because it overrides the Laws of Physics, as the 10 Plagues did, et al. “It’s good that you see Elokim,” Moshe Rabbeinu told Pharaoh. “But if you trace Elokim upwards, you will see that it was Hovayah that gave rise to Elokim, and is what tells Elokim what to do and when.”

And lest one make the mistake of thinking that this was uniquely Pharaoh’s problem, it has been the problem of just about everyone going back to Gan Aiden and the first sin. We’re all failing the same test on some level that Ya’akov Avinu asked his sons about. They answered with the Shema and said, “Just as in your heart only [G–D is] one, so too in our hearts, there is only one,” meaning that we are now clear on the yichud of Hovayah-Elokim. 

Ya’akov Avinu suspected otherwise, or the prophecy about the End of Days would not have left him. That is what Moshiach’s arrival will do for mankind, unify Hovayah and Elokim as Hovayah-Elokim. If they had in fact completed the yichud in their hearts as well as their minds, then it would have been the End of Days in their time, and the prophecy would not have left Ya’akov. 

Ya’akov’s suspicions were confirmed after his death here:

“They commanded [messengers to go] to Yosef to say, ‘Your father commanded [us] before his death, saying, “Say to Yosef, ‘Please, forgive now your brothers’ sin…’” Yosef wept when they spoke to him…But Yosef told them, ‘Don't be afraid, for am I instead of G–D?’”

“Am I perhaps in His place?…If I wanted to harm you, would I be able? Did not all of you plan evil against me? The Holy One, Blessed is He, however, designed it for good. So how can I alone harm you?” (Rashi)

In other words, Yosef told them, can anything happen against the will of G–D? Whether a person does good or evil it is all the will of G–D. Neither good nor evil has any independent power to override the will of G–D, and the moment a person acts in any way that would suggest otherwise, they have separated Elokim from Hovayah. That is the real sin in sin. 

In fact, it was this separation of Hovayah and Elokim that the original snake used to trap Chava into eating from the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Ra. Ever wonder where G–D was when they were talking and Chava capitulated and ate? From the Torah, it sounds like G–D was somewhere else altogether because that is how they both acted. 

In fact, G–D was right there the whole time, quietly watching everything unfold, especially once Chava said:

“The woman said to the snake, ‘We may eat from all the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, Elokim said, ‘You shall not eat of it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’” (Bereishis 3:2-3)

The snake, a.k.a., the Sitra Achra, picked up on Chava’s lack of Hovayah awareness when she failed to mention the Name with Elokim, and answered her:

“‘You will surely not die. Elokim knows that on the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elokim, knowing good and evil.’” (Bereishis 2:4-5)

This is what gave Chava a sense that she was on her own, to do as she saw fit. Being real with Hovayah-Elokim would have made her realize that G–D was there and that the whole thing was a test. As Dovid HaMelech later wrote: “I have placed Hovayah before me constantly; because [He is] at my right hand, I will not falter” (Tehillim 16:8). “If I can see everything in life as coming directly from G–D,” Dovid HaMelech said, “no matter how natural it looks, then I will always know that I am being tested and rise to the occasion.”

THERE IS A hint to this issue being the main one for the brothers and redemption, at the end of Parashas Mikeitz. After the viceroy’s goblet was found in Binyomin’s sack, and they were forced to return to Egypt to face judgment, Yosef told his brothers:

“What is this deed that you have committed? Don’t you know that a person like me—kamoni—practices divination—nachesh yenachesh?” (Bereishis 44:15)

The Hebrew word kamoni—like me—is spelled Chof-Mem-Nun-Yud. If you go backwards two letters in the verse from the Mem, the letter that follows is a Shin. Do the same again and you arrive at a Yud, and one more time brings you to a Ches. Together, the letters spell Moshiach in reverse, and that is pretty amazing even if you don’t believe in things like this. 

This is especially so, since it occurs in the verse that also happens to mention the word nachash—snake, a word that appears very, very few times in the entire Torah. It also happens to have the same  gematria as Moshiach, 358. This, we are told, is significant because it was the snake who caused us to go into exile, but it will be Moshiach who will take us out of it.

But why here, why now? Even if this was not Yosef himself hinting to his brothers, it is the Torah hinting to us. Why?

Because this was the official turning point, or potential turning point. This was the place that the brothers were supposed to realize that all that had happened was from G–D—“This is from Hovayah, that which is wondrous in our eyes” (Tehillim 118:23)—part of some greater master plan that they had been oblivious to when they sold Yosef, but of which they were now fast becoming aware. 

And they came so close too, buuuuttt just missed it, saying instead:

“What shall we say to my master? What shall we speak, and how shall we exonerate ourselves? Elokim has found your servants’ iniquity…” (Bereishis 44:16)

Elokim only? Really? Not Hovayah-Elokim…after all you have gone through and were supposed to have learned about the inner workings of Hashgochah Pratis? Apparently not, and apparently setting up an even bigger reveal, and thousands of years of exile. It was the only way left to lead the Jewish people to the level of realization that the yichud of Hovayah and Elokim is redemption, as the verse of “kamoni” is telling us.

Acharis K’Reishis, Part 1

I HAVE QUOTED several times from a sefer called Acharis K’Reishis, which means “Last Like First.” It is a remarkable work by Rabbi Aryeh Shapira, shlita, based on the teachings of the Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato) and the GR”A (Vilna Gaon) regarding the final redemption, and its similarity to the first redemptions from Egypt and Bavel. 

This is must-know information for anyone who wants to be ready for the final redemption, it should come quickly in our time. In fact, the information is so crucial, and the Ramchal and GR”A are so prominent, that it is hugely surprising that this is not taught everywhere and that more people do not know about it. 

Therefore, I have decided to translate sections here. After all, the point of redemption is to make the reality of ain od Milvado real to the entire world. 

The Future Redemption, Part 1

We will now clarify, with the help of G–D, what is relevant to the future redemption from what we have already brought from the commentary of the GR”A on Tikunei Zohar Chadash (27b), that the beginning will be with a pekidah—remembrance, as happened in the time of Koresh (Cyrus).

Actually, it is discussed in the Gemora in Kesuvos, 110b: 

Rav Zeira was avoiding [being seen] by [his teacher] Rav Yehudah, wanting to go to [from Bavel to] Eretz Yisroel, [knowing that his teacher disapproved]. Rav Yehudah held that anyone who ascends from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael transgresses a positive mitzvah, as it says, “They will be taken to Bavel and remain then until the day that I recall—pokdei—them, G–D testified” (Yirmiyahu 27:22).

These words are amazing. What relevance does the verse in Yirmiyahu about redemption during the First Temple have to the final redemption? 

Tosafos there already picked up on this and they wrote: 

Even though the verse is written regarding the first exile, it can be said that the verse was particular about the second exile as well. These words also require explanation, because in the end, the verse was [only] said regarding the First Temple.

According to the GR”A however, the matter is illuminated. The Chachamim accepted that every redemption follows the same pattern of pekidah, [an initial act of redemption], and zechirah [the completion of the redemption]. Thus, whatever applied regarding the return of Tzion [the first time] is to also be the order for the future [redemptions] as well. 

This is what Rav Yehudah learned from what was said regarding the First Temple, “They will be taken to Babylonia and there they shall remain until the day that I recall them.” The future redemption will also be according to this order, and the Jewish people will not leave exile until the time of the pekidah. Chazak!

Good Shabbos,

Pinchas Winston

Pinchas Winston

www.thirtysix.org

www.shaarnunproductions.org

RABBI GREEN: HERE TO STAY

 

Attention predator class and its useful idiots:

My faith is stronger than your contempt for it.

My resolve is more unbreakable than your will to break it.

My identity is stronger than your fanatic zeal to deprive me of it.

My self respect is mightier than your desperate attempt to dispossess me of it.

My autonomy is more precious to me than your demonic urge to control me is to you.

My spirit is more indomitable than your vehemence to conquer it.

My moral values are more firmly entrenched than your perverse degeneracy.

My relationship with G-d Almighty is infinitely stronger than your servitude to Satan or any other false deities you worship.

My light is more powerful than your darkness.

My truth is more enduring than your pathological lies.

My life is infinitely more valuable than your sociopathic drive to terminate it.

You are doomed. I am promised.
You are abhorrent. I am chosen.
You are cursed. I am blessed.

You are a fleeting dream.
I am here to stay.

Rabbi Kahana: Parashat Va’ye’chi – Seek Peace and Pursue it

 

BS”D Parashat Va’ye’chi 5784

by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Dec 27, 2023

Seek Peace and Pursue it

A: With the passage of time, we can confidently conclude that the only thing which is permanent in our physical world is the phenomenon of change, except for one stubborn obsessive, intransigent, obstinate, implacable, persistent, unrelenting, ageless feature – Judenhass – hatred of the Jew. It is enduring, perpetual, and grows in concert with the population of gentiles, wherever they may be. Its resilience was predicted by the archenemy of Am Yisrael – Bil’am, in his venomous curse turned blessing (Bamidbar 23,9):

כי מראש צרים אראנו ומגבעות אשורנו הן עם לבדד ישכן ובגוים לא יתחשב

 

From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them.

I see a people who live apart and are distinct from gentile beliefs and mores.

Nations and religions have since time immemorial tried to eradicate us. But despite some physical and emotional scars, with limited success despite the huge efforts they have put into this forever unattainable ambition.

HaShem presented us with a way of life different than any other culture, in order to guarantee our superior uniqueness as His chosen nation, not to be corrupted by pagans and false idols.

We marry among ourselves; we dress differently and what we eat is stubbornly Jewish  food. Our language is not spoken by any other nation or race, and even the manner in which we are conceived and born and the way we die and are buried are uniquely Jewish.

Indeed, we have paid the price for being HaShem’s chosen nation, but our return to Eretz Yisrael at this time in history is signaling a change in the way the Almighty will relate to us in the future. The immense divide between Jews and gentiles will become exponentially greater. 

HaShem’s miracles will become ever more evident, as presented by the prophet Yechezkel 37,15-28 which served as the haftara in last week’s parasha Vayigash (Yechezkel 37,21-24):

כא) ודבר אליהם כה אמר א-דני יקוק הנה אני לקח את בני ישראל מבין הגוים אשר הלכו שם וקבצתי אתם מסביב והבאתי אותם אל אדמתם:

כב) ועשיתי אתם לגוי אחד בארץ בהרי ישראל ומלך אחד יהיה לכלם למלך ולא יהיה  יהיו עוד לשני גוים ולא יחצו עוד לשתי ממלכות עוד:

כג) ולא יטמאו עוד בגלוליהם ובשקוציהם ובכל פשעיהם והושעתי אתם מכל מושבתיהם אשר חטאו בהם וטהרתי אותם והיו לי לעם ואני אהיה להם לאלהים:

כד) ועבדי דוד מלך עליהם ורועה אחד יהיה לכלם ובמשפטי ילכו וחקתי ישמרו ועשו אותם:

כה) וישבו על הארץ אשר נתתי לעבדי ליעקב אשר ישבו בה אבותיכם וישבו עליה המה ובניהם ובני בניהם עד עולם ודוד עבדי נשיא להם לעולם:

כו) וכרתי להם ברית שלום ברית עולם יהיה אותם ונתתים והרביתי אותם ונתתי את  מקדשי בתוכם לעולם:

כז) והיה משכני עליהם והייתי להם לאלהים והמה יהיו לי לעם:

כח) וידעו הגוים כי אני יקוק מקדש את ישראל בהיות מקדשי בתוכם לעולם

 

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, to where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them back into their own land.

I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and shall no more be like two nations nor be divided into two kingdoms.

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their G–D.

My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be diligent in abiding by my decrees.

They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their G–D, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord has sanctified Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them.

B: However, this status of redemption requires a precedent of chaos. The situation of utopia as pictured by the prophet Yechezkel cannot exist when all around us are the evil incarnations of Aisav and Yishmael. As stated in Tehillim 34,15:

סור מרע ועשה טוב בקש שלום ורדפהו:

 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

As long as evil dominates the world, the gentile nations will not permit us to benefit from a good life for ourselves and for the few remaining righteous gentiles, as outlined above by the prophet Yechezkel.

What we are witnessing today is the beginning of HaShem’s countdown time for justice. It is beginning with the ongoing destruction of Amalek in Gaza and will embrace the far-reaching regions of Christianity and Islam. Not to speak of the billions of humans who deny the existence of an omnipotent G–D.

During this period of retribution, revenge and damnation for what these people have wrought upon Am Yisrael from the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash and our two-thousand-year exile from Eretz Yisrael, there will be a cathartic and purification process here in the holy land.

The 400,000 gentiles from Eastern Europe who entered the land by virtue of the irresponsible ‘Grandparent’ clause in the Law of Return, whereby one whose parents are both goyim but has a Jewish grandparent may enter the country with full Israeli citizenship. And except for a very small minority, they are not interested in converting to Judaism, preferring instead to establish churches and non-kosher food stores in every city in the holy land. They will have to go.

The millions of Moslems between the “sea and the river” who support the actions and beliefs of Hamas and their likes will have to go.

These are ambitious goals for a miniscule population of seven million Jews in Eretz Yisrael, but numbers have no bearing when HaShem emanates His messages to His prophets, like the one quoted above in Yechezkel 37.

C: Some relevant psukim (Torah verses):

1- Devarim 32,43

הרנינו גוים עמו כי דם עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו וכפר אדמתו עמו:

 

Rejoice, you nations, with His people – for He (HaShem) will avenge the blood of his servants; He will take vengeance on His enemies and make atonement for His land and people.

2- Yoel 4,21

ונקיתי דמם לא נקיתי ויקוק שכן בציון:

 

Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged? No, I will not! The Lord dwells in Zion!

 

3- Tehillim 79,10

למה יאמרו הגוים איה אלהיהם יודע בגיים בגוים לעינינו נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך:

 

Why should the nations say, where is their G–D? Before our eyes, make known among the nations that You avenge the outpoured blood of Your servants.

4- Ibid: 9,13

כי דרש דמים אותם זכר לא שכח צעקת עניים ענוים:

 

Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what He has done. For He who avenges blood remembers, He does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

5- Ibid: 120,7

אני שלום וכי אדבר המה למלחמה

 

Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

6- Ibid 144,15

אשרי העם שככה לו אשרי העם שיקוק א-להיו:

 

Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people for whom HaShem is the Lord.

 

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5784/2023 Nachman Kahana

Reb Neuberger: Parshas Vayechi – Saying Goodbye to Yaakov

SAYING GOODBYE TO YAAKOV AVINU  

We come to the moment when we must say goodbye to the Avos and plunge ahead into the rest of the Chumash. I do not want to say goodbye to Yaakov Avinu! I didn’t want to say goodbye to Yitzchak Avinu or Avraham Avinu! I miss them. I feel like an orphan! The world is empty.

 

I felt the same way when Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l was niftar. I felt alone … and events proved me right, because – since he left us – we are alone in a “new world” in which we must face our vicious enemies without our father at our side. It’s one thing to say “grow up,” but it’s not a question of growing up. Without your father beside you, it’s just not the same.

 

That’s why we have to become very serious about our relationship with Avinu Shebasho-mayim, our Father in Heaven. Every time I say “Avinu Malkeinu” I try to remember the “Avinu” part. Hashem is not only our King, but He is also our Father. That is what makes us unique. If we remember that, we can hope somehow to make it through this world.

 

Speaking of our relationship with the Ruler of the Universe, I am going to write about something else you may have heard before. My apologies, but it is too important to ignore. As our son once said to me, if something is so important, you are going to hear about it again and again. It is eternal.

 

This Shabbos is the 18^th day of the month of Teves. On that day, fifty-eight years ago, I was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan and my wife and I had been married for about two and a half years. On that day, the most important and remarkable thing occurred, and I am going to quote now my own words, written twenty-four years ago and recorded in my first book, From Central Park to Sinai: How I Found My Jewish Soul. I had never heard about the Month of Teves or even the “Torah” for that matter. But it happened anyway.

 

Because Hashem loves us! Whether or not we realize it, He is holding our hand.

 

At 2:00 a.m. on Monday, January 10, 1966, I awoke with a start.

 

Things had not been going well lately. Our marriage seemed to be falling apart, and I began to think I myself was coming unraveled.

I had always done well academically, but lately I couldn’t concentrate. There was one course, Old English, that I just couldn’t deal with. I kept getting bad marks, and I began to think I was cracking from the strain. Old English finals were Friday at 9:30 a.m. I had stayed up very late Thursday night studying. Friday morning, from some distant place, I heard the sound of an alarm clock. I must have gone back to sleep. Sometime later, I groggily opened my eyes. 

“NO! It couldn’t be… 9:20!”

I grabbed clothes and ran out of the house. I jumped on my bike. As I weaved through the traffic, tears streamed down my face. I’m cracking, I thought. My life is coming to an end.

Sunday night I was lying on that old green couch with the stuffing coming out. I can see it now, decades later. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know where to turn. I couldn’t discuss the prob-lems because I felt selfish just talking about myself. But the problems wouldn’t go away, and I didn’t know how to make them go away.

Now I was desperate. I saw a chasm opening in front of me, a pit from which there was no escape. I looked back on my life. I was twenty-three years old and we had been married just over two and half years. Linda and I loved each other, but there was something between us; tensions were at the snapping point.

I felt as if my life were a long corridor, with many doors on each side. I had opened each door. There was a door for “hiking in the wilderness.” A door for “singing folk music.” Doors for “toughness” and “coolness.” There was a door for “political activism.” A door to the psychiatrist’s office. A door for “writing poetry.” A door for “comparative religion” and a door for “The Ethical Culture Society.” Each door had led nowhere, into a blank wall.

Was there no door that led to truth, to freedom, no door to sunshine and happiness? 

I began to cry. I was through. There was no future. I was dying. There was no place I hadn’t tried, no door I hadn’t opened. I was drowning. My life was ending. Can you imagine this feeling? There was nothing to live for. No hope. 

I was sliding down, down, down . . . falling through space. And then, as I fell, a thought brushed by me. A little thought, a little voice, like a feather floating by in the midst of the void, a crazy little idea.

No, it couldn’t be true.

But then …

What else was there besides death?      

All my life I had been raised as a good American boy. I went to the finest schools and met the most sophisticated people. Nobody normal believed in G-d. I mean, where is G-d? Maybe thirteenth-century monks believed in G-d, but that was the Dark Ages. What else did they have in life? But we live in reality. This is the twentieth century, the enlightened blossoming of world culture, the age of science and technology. We are liberated. I mean, just where is G-d? I don’t see Him. I can’t touch Him. 

I’m supposed to believe in something I can’t see?

There was one big problem. 

If all that stuff were true, how come I—the sophisticated product of the culmination of all civilization—was a total failure who couldn’t succeed at even the simplest things in life? I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t prevent myself from getting angry and alienating those I cared about. I was a slave.

I “knew” that G-d didn’t exist. 

The problem was that I felt I also didn’t exist. 

Something was terribly wrong.

Suddenly, I began to turn the whole question around. I saw something I had never seen before. There was one unopened door in that long corridor. Why had I never noticed that door before? It was the door to G-d. I had been sure that G-d did not exist. But now that my own life seemed to be falling apart, I began to wonder.

Maybe I had to turn the whole thing upside down. When I examined it, it was very logical. When I was honest about my life, I saw that I did not exist—my life was empty—and at that time I was sure that G-d did not exist. But what if G-d did exist? Maybe then I could also exist. Maybe my existence depends on G-d.

Maybe there was a life I hadn’t even dreamed about. Maybe if G-d were really alive I could be alive. Maybe I had been looking at things “upside down” or “backwards” or “inside out.” 

Why did my intelligence have to be the measuring rod of reality? Maybe I did not understand and G-d did understand. Did I have to comprehend something for it to be real? Was I the center of the universe? 

Maybe there was a reality beyond my understanding.

I began to have this crazy thought. Could   G-d exist? No, it’s crazy. CRAZY! All my life I had been raised on “reality.” No normal person believed in    G-d. 

And then I began to wonder if I had ever met any normal people.

They say there are no atheists in the foxhole.  I was in a spiritual foxhole. I was fighting for my life in a “war to end all wars.” My entire civilization was falling apart. I felt the coldness of death and black nothingness where chaos reigns.      

When you are drowning, you grab the life preserver. You don’t ask questions. I was drowning, and all of a sudden out of the sky came this life preserver. I grabbed it.                        

What choice did I have? I wanted to live!  

G-d, do You exist? Could You exist?

Dawn was beginning to break in Ann Arbor as a new light began to glow inside me. All of a sudden, I started to have this incredible feeling of hope, a new idea that would enable me to live. (“From Central Park to Sinai: How I Found My Jewish Soul,” published October 2000 by Jonathan David Books)

 

Hashem saved us on that day. Everything changed. It took eight more years until I was honest enough to admit that I am a Jew, but – when that happened – the door to Torah also opened and our new life began.

 

May we all soon see the day when the Light of Torah illuminates the entire world. “Ki mi Tzion taitzai Torah … From Tzion Torah will shine forth and the Word of Hashem from Yerushalayim!”

 

The Long Corridor

Dawn

 

GLOSSARY

Avinu: Our Father

Avos: The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Chumash: Five Books of Moses

Malkeinu: Our King

Niftar: A person who died

Zt”l: May he be remembered for a blessing

 

Danny Ginsbourg: Vayechi – May G-d make you like Ephraim and like Menashe

Which brother comes first and what is the deep message hidden in the order of their names?

We read in our Parasha of two blessings by Yaakov Avinu, both concerning the two sons of his son Yosef: Ephraim and Menashe. In both, the younger son, Ephraim, precedes the first-born, Menashe.

The first of these blessings is the timeless המלאך הגואל אותי:’May the angel who redeems me from all evil bless the lads’. The Torah relates (48:13-19) that Yaakov, despite the protestations of Yosef, placed Ephraim before Menashe, who said:’this is the firstborn, place your right hand on his head’; Yaakov replied:’I know, my son, I know; he too will become a people, and he too will become great; yet his younger brother will become greater than. he.’

Immediately after this blessing, the Parasha continues:(48:20)’And he blessed them that day, saying:’By you shall Israel bless saying: ‘May G-d make you like Ephraim and like Menashe’ - and he put Ephraim before Menashe.’

The Radak comments:’And he blessed them’: he further blessed them with a separate blessing on that day, saying:’By you shall Israel bless’. ‘When one of our people wishes to bless his son, he will say:’By you shall Israel bless..’.

‘In this blessing, too, Ephraim precedes Menashe.’

The Ktav Sofer asks:’Why, in this second blessing, does Ephraim precede Menashe? Is it not the rule that מעלים בקדושה: in matters of sanctity, we proceed in ascending order - and since we have already said ‘like Ephraim’, how do we afterwards continue ‘and like Menashe’, since Yaakov Avinu said that the former would be greater?’.

He blesses us with a beautiful lesson of proper hashkafa:’It appears to me that we know that Ephraim was great in his Torah learning, which he learned from Yaakov Avinu, the pillar of Torah; Menashe, on the other hand, excelled in the affairs of the household, as our Sages relate.

‘To perform both at the same time is not possible, which is why we always need the partnership of Issachar and Zebulon - Issachar in the form of Ephraim and Zebulon in the form of a Menashe.

‘One who is not like Ephraim, and whose Torah studies are not successful, can still later be like a Menashe, earning his living honestly, be charitable and support Torah scholars. ‘However, one who is initially like Menashe, is very unlikely later to become like Ephraim.

‘Every one in Israel is obligated to educate his son to learn Torah - perhaps he will succeed, and be great in his Torah studies, but few succeed in this, as ‘a thousand enter the bet hamidrash, and only one comes out as a talmid chacham’; but, nevertheless, they all grow as G-d fearing Jews, and will conduct their activities justly and with integrity.

‘This is the father’s blessing to his son: ‘May G-d make you like Ephraim and like Menashe’, praying that he might succeed in Torah and become ‘an Ephraim’, but, should he be unable to be like him, he will, in any case, be like Menashe, to righteously conduct himself in his affairs.

‘This blessing can only be given to a young child, but not once he has grown up; then the choice is no longer open, since if he has not succeeded to be an Ephraim, he inevitably can but be a Menashe.’

The Ktav Sofer also expounds our blessing in another way:’True, a father is obligated to teach his son, Torah; but he is also obligated to teach him דרך ארץ: how to conduct himself with other people, to treat them with respect, and also teach him a profession, to enable him to support himself - but foremost, to be G-d fearing, as that is the true objective for which man exists.

‘Therefore, one should initially teach his son the ways pf Hashem - not like those who first teach their children external wisdom, and only afterwards teach them Torah, as they will not grow to fulfill their destiny. ‘We know, from our Sages, that Ephraim was great in his Torah studies,,regularly learning from Yaakov, whereas Menashe was in charge of the household, more engaged in the affairs of the world, in the physical needs of the household, and interacting with people.

‘Yaakov said:’בך: in you will Israel be blessed, saying, may you be like Ephraim and like Menashe’ - like Ephraim in Torah learning, but also like Menashe, intermingling with people, in the appropriate manner. 'This is how every father should educate his sons, but make sure to place ‘Ephraim before Menashe’ - initially in the footsteps of Ephraim, in the ways of the Torah, and only after this, also in the path of Menashe, as ‘the beginning of wisdom is awe of Hashem’.’

The Rav’s venerable father, the Chatam Sofer, offers a different understanding of this blessing:’First, it raises a fundamental question: since Yaakov Avinu placed Ephraim before Menashe, in this blessing, and said that he would be greater than his older brother, should it not have sufficed to only bless, to be ‘like Ephraim’?!

‘The answer can be derived from the utensils of the Mishkan, where the Table preceded the Menorah. ‘We know that the Table alludes to wealth, and the Menorah, to the Torah - yet, nevertheless, the Table preceded it. ‘This alludes to the reward of those who support Torah being greater than the reward of the learners themselves. ‘The reason for this is that the Torah is so sweet, that the sweetness they derive from it, is their reward; the supporters of Torah, do not enjoy this sweetness, and therefore act solely leshem shamayim.

‘This is why they - the Zebulons - precede the Torah scholars - Issaschar - in the blessings of Moshe Rabbeinu.

‘Ephraim and Menashe, similarly, allude to the Torah and to wealth, as Menashe was successful in the household of Yosef, whilst Ephraim was wholly engaged in learning Torah from Yaakov.

‘Our Sages, in Avot, enjoin us:’Make the Torah your main occupation’, and then, naturally, ‘your work will be secondary’. ‘Thus, if one is wealthy, he should spend more of his time in his Torah studies, than in his wealth.

‘This is the meaning of the blessing:’May G-d make you like Ephraim AND like Menashe’: like the two of them together, that you should be a Torah scholar like Ephraim, AND be as wealthy and great as Menashe - yet placing Ephraim before Menashe, Torah taking precedence over material matters.’

The Netziv adds:’Targum Yonatan writes, that this blessing is customarily recited at a brit milah, as there is no point in blessing someone who is not engaged in learning Torah that he should be ‘like an Ephraim’; similarly, in blessing one who is not engaged in the affairs of this world, a blessing that he should be ‘like a Menashe’, has little meaning. ‘Only at the time of the brit milah, when the path that the son will follow is as yet unknown, is there meaning to a blessing: ‘May G-d make you like Ephraim and like Menashe’ - that, should he choose to engage in Torah study, he should succeed ‘like Ephraim’, but should he choose to pursue the affairs of this world, he should succeed ‘like a Menashe’.

Rav Pinchas Friedman finds a direct link between brit milah, and the blessing of Ephraim and Menashe.

He expounds:’First, we need to find why unlike any other mitzvah, two brachot are said at a brit milah, the first ‘Who has commanded us on the milah’, and second:’Who has commanded us to bring him into the covenant of Avraham Avinu’.’

He brings the answer of the Belzer Rebbe, the Mahar’i, ‘the brit milah is the seal in our flesh, that Hashem has chosen us from all the peoples, and that we are His flock, and obliged throughout all our generations to serve Him and to speak His praises.

‘The Rebbe asks: Why did Hashen command that this be on the eighth day, when the child has no independent mind; would it not have been preferable to wait until he knows what is being done - on the day of his bar-mitzvah - so that he can perform it then, with proper intention, together with all his other mitzvot?

‘The answer is, that since the mitzvah of the brit milah is the foundation of all the mitzvot that a Jew performs throughout his life, Hashem wanted to teach us - lest we think that the main perfection of mitzvot is only when we understand the reason for them - that just as a Jew performs the mitzvah of brit milah - which is the very first mitzvah that he performs - without enquiry, or independent thought, so too, he is to perform all mitzvot in simple, pure faith, solely because that is the tradition that we have received from our forefathers, generation after generation, all the way to Moshe Rabbeinu, who received Torah from Sinai.

‘This is why, of all the titles, we are called Hashem’s flock - we are obligated to fulfill the mitzvot with simple emunah, like sheep who follow their shepherd’s every instruction. ‘This, too, is the underlying message of another bracha pronounced at a brit milah:’Just as he entered the brit, so too may he enter Torah, chuppah and good deeds’ - in the same manner, without enquiry, but with pure emunah, he should continue throughout his life and in his avodat Hashem.

‘The Ba’al Shem Tov sweetens our understanding, by explaining why, in our prayers, we say:’Our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers’. ‘He explains that there are two ways of serving Hashem: one way is by pure emunah, accepting that which we received from our forefathers, without enquiry; the second way is through enquiry and contemplation as to the reasons for mitzvot. ‘The first way may lead us to perform mitzvot ‘by rote’, out of habit, but protects us from attempts to sway us to stray, by sweet, but heretical, tongues, if we condition our acceptance of mitzvot on the basis of reasoning.

‘His advice is that we adopt both approaches, that our service of Hashem should be founded on the traditions we have received, but, at the same time, we should strive - as far as our minds permit us - to seek the reasons for the mitzvot.

‘This is the proper way of our individual avodat Hashem, reflected in the form of our prayers:’ Our G-d’, from our enquiries and contemplation, AND ‘the G-d of our forefathers’, from the emunah of the traditions we have received, from our forefathers.

‘We can now understand the link between the mitzvah of the brit milah AND the blessing given ‘on that day’, that the child be ‘like Ephraim and like Menashe’.

‘As we have brought, there are two ways to serve Hashem; there are those who serve Hashem only in the way of acceptance of that which they saw in their forefathers, without knowledge or enquiry as to the reasons for the mitzvot; and there are those who observe mitzvot only by way of their enquiry and contemplation.

‘However, lest they come not to keep mitzvot if they do not find reasons to their understanding for them, they must first accept to perform all the mitzvot in the way of our tradition, just as Moshe received them from Sinai - and only then, seek to find reasons for them, accepting that, should they be unable to rationalize any of the mitzvot, this is due to their own intellectual limitations, accepting that all mitzvot are holy of holies, to be performed without deviation. ‘They will thereby be elevated upwards upwards and with full trust in Hashem, in their avodat Hashem.

‘Our Sages teach - as Rashi brings - that ‘Ephraim was regularly before Yaakov in learning’, and we need to ask why this was not also the case with Menashe.

‘The answer is that Ephraim chose to observe the Mitzvot in the way of acceptance of the tradition from generation to generation, and therefore spent all his days learning the tradition from Yaakov.

‘Menashe, on the other hand, decided to adopt the second approach; instead of seeking to learn the tradition from Yaakov, he decided that he would be able to comprehend the whole of the Torah by himself, by his intellect and contemplation, in the manner that Avraham Avinu did, before the Torah was given.

‘This is what Yaakov Avinu sought to reveal to us before his passing: which of the two approaches we should adopt, in our avodat Hashem. ‘He therefore began his blessing with the words:’May G-d make you like Ephraim and like Menashe’: that the son should merit to serve Hashem in both of these ways, both with simple emunah AND by way of contemplation - but lest we err that the order is not critical, ‘he placed Ephraim before Menashe’, so that we should know that the foundation of Ephraim has to be first firmly established, before we follows the approach of Menashe.

‘We can now appreciate the words of the Targum Yonatan, that this blessing is said at the brit milah; the reason why this mitzvah is performed on the eighth day of the son’s life, is to instill in the son that the foundation of the observance of all mitzvot in pure emunah, without enquiry or contemplation, ‘like Ephraim’. ‘However, afterwards we are also required to serve Hashem ‘like Menashe’, to seek to understand all the ways of Hashem.’

The Ramban expounds that the word, in our blessing, בך:’by you (will be blessed..) refers to Yosef himself, that ‘by your seed shall Israel be blessed, saying to the one to be blessed:’Make you like Ephraim and like Menashe’.’

Rav Yosef Salant, expounds in the same way, noting that this is why this word is in the singular, denoting that it is referring to Yosef, and not to his sons, as it then would have been in the plural. He expounds:’Since Yosef was the viceroy, he could educate and raise his sons in any of the ways and teachings that were available, and to elevate them and appoint them to high offices.

‘This being the case, how could a simple man, who is in a lowly position, and far from the places of learning, residing amongst people of a lesser level, even contemplate to bless his sons, that they should ‘be like Ephraim and like Menashe’?

‘When we reflect on the story of Yosef, who rose from the depths of slavery and abasement, to greatness and honor, to be viceroy of all Egypt, all the while remaining in his righteousness, despite the idolatry and impurity of his surroundings, we have proof that one can rise to great heights, whatever the circumstances be. ‘This is what Yaakov Avinu alluded to, in saying בך: by you - meaning Yosef - that when we remember what transpired with him, then every father can bless his sons, that they should be ‘like Ephraim and like Menashe, because nothing is beyond Hashem.’

A parting gem from Rav Elimelech miDinov - in his sefer ‘Agra d’Kala’:’The Aseret Hadibrot concludes with the comandment ‘not to covet that which your neighbor has’ - to be satisfied with that which Hashem has given each person, trusting that Hashem alone knows what is meet for each of His creations, and not to envy others, as envy ‘removes’ a person from his world. ‘Honor and desire can likewise ‘remove’ a person from his world, and therefore a person should not seek honor as against others, but rather always be submissive and see all that he has, as chessed from Hashem.

‘Yaakov Avinu, when he placed Ephraim ahead of Menashe, saw that Ephraim was not haughty as a result - vis-a-vis Menashe - and also that Menashe was not envious of Ephraim. ‘He therefore blessed them:’בך: in you shall Israel be blessed, may Hashem make you like Ephraim’, without pride, ‘and like Menashe, without envy on the good fortune of others.’

What a beautiful way to conclude Sefer Breishit, which is replete with the disastrous results of fraternal disunity - starting with Cain and Abel, on to Yitzchak and Ishmael, Yaakov and Esav, and culminating with Yosef and his brothers.

The repair started with Yehuda’s readiness to take the place of Binyamin - and concludes with Ephraim and Menashe.

May we merit to follow in their ways, and see the fulfillment, in our children, of the blessing of Yaakov Avinu.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382699