Category Archives: Sefer Bereishis

Vayechi

Towards the end of his productive life, Yaakov gave his final burial instructions to his prestigious son Yosef. He was not to be buried in Mitzrayim, but be transported posthumously to Eretz Yisroel to be interred in the family plot of Meoras Hamachpelah. Yaakov went to great lengths to guarantee this event, and went so far as requesting that Yosef take an oath while holding his father’s thigh.

Question One

Yaakov was not the first person to request that an oath be taken whilst holding his thigh. Avrohom had Eliezer swear in that manner that he would not take a wife for Yitzchok form the daughters of Canaan. Rashi comments, questioning why Avrohom asked Eliezer to place his hand under his -Avrohom’s- thigh:

One who swears must take with his hand an article related to a mitzvah such as a Torah scroll or Tefillin, (Shevous 38b). Circumcision was the first mitzvah directly given to Avrohom, and he had fulfilled it with pain and therefore it was dear to him; so Avrohom requested that Eliezer hold Avrohom’s thigh whilst taking the oath.

This reason above is plausible for Avrohom, but does not explain why did Yaakov requested that Yosef hold Yaakov’s thigh when promising that Yaakov be buried in the land of Canaan what significance did circumcision have for Yaakov?

Question Two

Yosef and all his brothers, the Shevatim, were not left permanently in Mitzrayim, when the Jews left Egypt they took the bones of Yosef and his brothers with them. Surely they could have done the same for Yaakov, if so why did he impress on Yosef his wish to be buried immediately in Eretz Yisroel. (See Rashi)

Answer

The illustrious family of Yaakov had entered Egypt and had made it de facto their new home and country. They settled in the choicest part of the land – Goshen, and  had made great inroads into it’s society and aristocracy – one of their people was the active ruler over the country. They even had a cultural influence on life in Mitzrayim, via Yosef,  who enforced his  new demands and impositions when disseminating food. Their position seemed secure.

Too secure.

Yaakov wanted to communicate subtley to all future generations that this is not our final resting place, we don’t belong here, we belong somewhere else, we belong in Eretz Yisroel. Yaakov, by requesting to be buried in Eretz Yisroel and not in the land of Egypt was making a huge statement: even if in our lifetimes we cannot make it to Eretz Yisroel at least in death we can hope to rest there. Thus Yaakov was telling his sons, grandsons and future generations, we are in exile and aspire to emigrate to Eretz Yisroel. It was for this reason that Yaakov did not wait for the final exodus to be buried in Meoras Hamachpelah, he wanted to be sure there would be an exodus and they would not assimilate and be complacent with life in Mitzrayim. He therefore requested from Yosef that he swear to this effect whilst holding onto his Mila. Circumcision, symbolizing the purity of the coming generations and the continuity of Klal Yisroel, was the Mitzvah item that Yaakov chose thereby demonstrating that his strategy was important and is a message for future generations.

Story

Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, affectionately called the Rambam, or Maimonides, was a Rabbi, physician, and philosopher. He was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost academics in our history, and his copious work “Mishneh Torah” is a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. He was born in Cordoba, present day Spain in 1135, and died in Eygpt 1204.

Before his death, he called his students and informed that he did not wish to be buried in Egypt and they should bury him elsewhere. “Where should we bury you?” asked the disciples. The Rambam instructed them that after he had died, and the purification rites were completed, they should put his body on the back of a camel and allow the camel to wander to wherever it pleased. They were to follow the camel, and where the camel would stop and refuse to continue is his destined burial spot, and they should bury him right there.

The disciples obeyed. They strapped his body on the back of a camel and let it roam freely. The camel began to walk on and on out of Egypt heading eastward towards Eretz Israel. On reaching Eretz Yisroel, the camel did not pause and continued to walk until coming to a halt in Tiberas near the grave of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai. When the accompanying followers observed that the animal stood still and would not budge any further they removed the body and buried Maimonides there.

Vayetzei

Reuvain, Leah’s oldest son, goes out during the wheat harvest and returns home with a bouquet of Dudaim – mandrakes – for his mother. Rochel covets the flowers and asks Leah to share the gift with her.

Leah responds: “Don’t you think that it is enough that I have to share my husband, now you want to share my son’s Dudaim?”

Rochel takes the cue from Leah’s grievance, and in exchange for the mandrakes, she offers Leah the company of Yaakov for that evening . When Yaakov comes home that afternoon, Leah goes out to court him, informing him that she had earned the right for his companionship. 

Rashi, quoting the Medrash, tells us that as Rochel did not sufficiently value the presence of a Tzaddik, she did not merit to be buried together with him. Instead, Rochel was buried in a roadside grave near Beis Lechem, and she alone of all our Patriarchs and Matriarchs was not buried in Moaras Hamechpelah.

Question

Where do we see that Rochel was lacking in respect to living with Yaakov? Moreover mandrakes contain natural properties to increase fertility, and Rochel was hoping that the use of this herb will enable her to finally become pregnant. This being the case, she actually took the flowers to enhance her being together with a Tzaddik and make it more productive; if so why is she challenged for obtaining the flowers?

Answer

We have two clues as to what Chazal saw in Rochel. The first a little more subtle than the second. 

1. The wording and phraseology between Rochel and Leah: Rochel said “therefore Yaakov will be with you instead of your son’s mandrakes” instead of saying “to obtain your son’s mandrakes, Yaakov will be with you”. Her choice of style and the manner in which it is ordered implies that for a price I am willing to give up my privilege of having Yaakov, as opposed to it is so important for me to get those dudaim that I am willing to give up a night with Yaakov. Moreover, Rochel was the one who offered to relinquish spending the time with Yaakov.

2. When Leah greeted Yaakov to enlighten him about the switch, Leah said “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes”. Rashi adds  ”I paid Rochel her fee”. This connotes that the exchange smacked of being a transaction. There was a deal transpiring, a night with Yaakov in exchange for the Dudaim. A desperate man who separates with a family heirloom in order to pay for his child’s marriage expenses doesn’t view it is as a sale. Even though it is technically sound and enforceable in a court of law, his hand is forced. The fact that Rochel viewed it is as a hire is a lack of respect and value for the company of Yaakov.

Rochel wanted the mandrakes for their aphrodisiac qualities, as these would increase her chances of childbearing. She was held to the high standard that befits the Imahos and was accountable for the manner in which she was willing to make the concessions to secure the Dudaim. 

Story

Simon Wiesenthal, (1908 – 2005) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who spent four and a half years in the German concentration camps such as Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II.

After the war he became famous for his work as a Nazi hunter. Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazis so that they could be brought to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

At a conference of European Rabbis in Bratislava, Slovakia the Rabbis presented the 91 year old Simon Wiesenthal with an award, and Mr.Wiesenthal, visibly moved, told the Rabbis the following encounter that he had with Rabbi Eliezer Silver.

Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1882 - 1968) was among American Jewry’s foremost religious leaders, and most noted for spearheading efforts in rescuing as many Jews as possible from Europe. He raised funds, requested exemptions on immigration quotas, offered to ransom concentration camp prisoners for cash and tractors – talks that freed hundreds from Bergen-Belsen and other death camps- and organized rallies in Washington. After the war he traveled to Europe and worked tirelessly on the ground to assist his brethren.

It was in Mauthausen after liberation that Simon Wiesenthal was visited by Rabbi Silver when he had come to help and comfort the survivors.  Rabbi Silver had organized a special prayer service and he invited Wiesenthal to join the other survivors in praying. Mr. Wiesenthal declined, and explained his position.

“When I was in camp, I saw many different types of people do things. There was one religious man of whom I was in awe. This man had managed to smuggle a Siddur into the camp. I was amazed that he took the risk of his life in order to bring the Siddur in.

The next day, to my horror, I realized that this was no religious man. He was renting the Siddur in exchange for people giving him their last piece of bread. I was so angry with this Jew, how could he take a Siddur and use it to take a person’s last piece of bread away? So I am not going to pray, if this is how religious Jews behave.”

As Wiesenthal turned to walk away, Rabbi Silver tapped him on the shoulder and gently said in Yiddish, “Oy na’ar, na’ar”. Wiesenthal was intrigued why had the Rabbi called him childish. The answer wasn’t long in coming.
Rabbi Silver continued “Why do you look at the manipulative Jew who rented out his Siddur to take away people’s last meals? Why do you look at that bad Jew? Why don’t you focus on the dozens of Jews who gave up their last piece of bread in order to be able to use a Siddur? That’s faith. Those are the Religious Jews.”

Toldos

Yaakov and Esav, long awaited offspring of Yitzchok and Rivka are finally born. Opinions vary as to whether or not the twins were identical, but all are in agreement that Esav had a ruddy complexion and was hairier than Yaakov. The boys grew up and their different natures and tendencies become apparent. Esav was a hunter while Yaakov was studious. One day Esav came home, ravenous and exhausted from his escapades. Yaakov was in the midst of cooking a stew and Esav in his famished state told Yaakov “Stuff me up from that red red substance”. The Torah records that is why Esav is forever nicknamed Red.

Question

When Esav is born the primary feature with which the Torah chooses to identify Esav is his coloring, his red complexion. Yet, seemingly that was not a reason to call him Red. Rather it was the fact that on one occasion he asked for “that red red substance” that he deserves the appellation – Red. Why? What is more striking about this request than his actual appearance?

Answer

Hebrew nouns and verbs, and particularly Jewish names are not mere language to communicate ideas between humans. Loshon Hakodesh – the holy tongue – plumbs to the very essence of a concept or an objects reality. For example the word for a horse in Hebrew is Sus a derivative of the word Siso (to rejoice) because the horse is swift of movement and excited to approach battle (c.f. Iyov 39:25) therefore Adam named it Sus.

Eating is when we are engaged in a most basic animalistic activity and it is all to easy for the beast within us to surface. This beloved pastime provides an opportunity to overindulge, make a pig of oneself and bolt down food in a wanton unrefined manner. This is all the more true when one is hungry, because in a famished state the defenses are down and the spiritual focus is diminished.

Perhaps this is the meaning of the Talmudic statement “By three things a man is known: by his cup, by his pocket, and by his anger.” While conventionally “his cup” is understood to refer to one’s behavior under the influence, possibly we may suggest the cup refers to how one treats food. Much can be ascertained by observing a man’s eating habits.

The way Esav treated food is indicative of his inner nature. Esav in his starved state chose to identify the food solely on the basis of its color, surely this is the most meaningless attribute of food to the hungry man. Therefore, it follows that if this is was the most prominent characteristic which grabbed his mind, red was obviously an important marker for him. The connotations of the color red were part of his very essence, that is why he was called Red.

Lesson

How do you eat? (when no one is looking)

Chayei Sorah

Two incidents in this week’s Parsha could have been forestalled by taking advance measures.
One
Sarah dies, and her husband Avrohom in taking care of her funeral is desperate for a burial slot. He enters severe negotiations with Ephron, which ultimately conclude with Avrohom purchasing Meoras Hamchpelah ‘the field with the Double Cave’ for an exorbitant sum of silver.
But, thirty eight years earlier when Avrohom was paid a visit by the three angels, Avrohom was determined to feed his guests with quality meat. The young bull that Avrohom selected had different ideas and Avrohom gave chase, he eventually caught up with the animal in the Double Cave (Pirkei D’rabbi Eliezer 35). There and then Avrohom decided that this is the where he and his wife will be buried. So why did he not immediately go ahead and buy it? Why wait to until Sarah’s funeral to purchase the land?
Two
Avrohom, on behalf of his son Yitzchok, initiates a search for a wife who would make an appropriate match. To this effect he sends his servant Eliezer on a mission to Aram to see if there is anyone available from his kin. Avrohom advises Eliezer that if this venture was to prove unsuccessful then Eliezer should search amongst the offspring of either Lot or Yishmael.
Before leaving Mt. Moriah whilst still lingering on the Mountain after the Akeidah, Avrohom was told of his brother Nachor’s offspring and his recently expanded family. Rashi comments that this lineage exercise had a sole purpose, that of informing Avrohom of one person, Yitzchok’s destined wife – Rivka. (Midrash Lekech Tov). Hence, Avrohom was already aware that a suitable spouse existed in Aram. This being the case why didn’t Avrohom just send Eliezer on a mission to retrieve Rivka?
Answer
Tzaddikim may be aware of the inner workings the world, and are sometimes privy to their own destiny, nevertheless they will not manipulate events to effect this future outcomes. Rather than rush the future along, they will let Providence unfold events, and watch the Divine will manifest itself in a natural way. Hashem has his reasons of how future potential actualizes.
The case of the Double Cave provides an excellent example. Purchase of the cave was one of the ten trials that Avrohom had to face. Were he to purchase the cave earlier based on his prophetic knowledge that this is final resting place – using information from the esoteric world – he would have circumvented the experience of this trial, and the spiritual growth that came forth in it’s wake. Avrohom would have lost, not gained by eliminating this ordeal. In a similar vein we find the Talmud tells us that when Hashem sent the Jews into exile, he made them swear that they would not hurry the final redemption in an unnatural manner. 
Lesson
Foreknowledge can be harmful to their spiritual growth, because we have to grow from the things that are sent our way.
Story

Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (1724 – 1806) commonly known as the Chida, was a noted bibliophile. The Chida was a student of Rabbi Shalom Sharabi and Rabbi Chaim Ibn Attar – the Orach Chaim.

The saintly Rabbi Shalom Sharabi together with two of his disciples, the Chida and Rabbi Chaim de la Rosa, felt that the time was right to hasten Moshiach and the final redemption. The three Tzaddikim removed themselves from all earthy matters and began fasting and self-mortification in order to sanctify and purify themselves.

One day in the winter, when a thick blanket of snow covered the city of Yerushalyim, these three Tzaddikim rolled about in the snow, praying with incredible devotion and fasting afterwards for three consecutive days. 

However, this was not the divine plan and they were admonished by a heavenly voice: “My sons, you don’t have the right to hasten the Geulah. The hour has not yet come, one of you will be exiled abroad.” Since the heavenly voice did not declare who among them would suffer this fate, they drew lots to determine who would be the candidate for exile. The lot fell on the Chida. 

Without hesitation, the Chida accepted the verdict and put himself on route for a long exile, during which time he would meet the great men of his generation and travel to many countries in Africa, Europe and even Western Europe such as France, the Netherlands, and Germany. His mammoth journeys are recorded in his sefer Ma’gal Tov.

Vayeira

Lot and his daughters survived the destruction that befell Sodom, and found refuge in a nearby cave. The daughters thought the obliteration was not limited to their city but was a calamity suffered by the entire world. Not wanting the elimination of the human race, they conceived a plan to continue the propagation of homo-sapiens. As the only man available to father children was their own parent, they drew on the example of Adam’s children who necessarily married incestuously to reproduce. They wasted no time and that very night they caused the father – Lot – to become intoxicated in order to bear children.

Question

The daughters of Lot accrue merit for their actions as their intention was for the sake of Heaven, if so why was it necessary to inebriate their father? Couldn’t they contrive this plan together with him?

Answer

The generation of the flood was destroyed because of sexual immorality. The nations of the world had taken a lesson and erected safeguards lest they stoop to that low point were society has to be eradicated. Lot’s daughter’s realized that the idea of incest was so abhorrent to Lot; after all, their father had endangered his life to protect his guests from being subjected to homosexuality. A forbidden relationship was taboo and entering a dialogue with their father was doomed for failure, there was no way he would consent to something which in his eyes would bring the world down. The only method where it would be possible to have a relationship, was when Lot was under the influence.

After the first night it was time for the second daughter. Lot was aware of what transpired the previous night and enjoyed experimenting with sin in circumstances supposedly not under his control, yet he allowed himself to become drunk once again. Lot knew this wasn’t necessary because the end of the world was not near. Therefore he is scorned for the same act for which his daughters are richly rewarded. His sin is exacerbated by the fact that this action was so severe in his eyes, severe to the point his daughters would not even broach their plan with him, and yet he allowed himself to be repeatedly led to sin.

Lesson

Even when drunk “shiker like Lot” it is possible to be accountable for sin.

Story

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895 – 1986) was world-renowned for his expertise in Halachah and was regarded as the supreme Halachic authority of North America Jewry during his lifetime. Reb Moshe served as rabbi of Luban, near Minsk, until coming to the United States in 1937, where he became Rosh Yeshivah of MTJ in New York.

In 1922 a resident of Luban became ill with a strange illness, his tongue swelled in his mouth. When Reb Moshe came to visit him, the invalid requested that everyone leave except for the Rov.

He than began to tell Reb Moshe, during the previous Shabbos which was Parshas Vayeirah, he had disparagingly questioned how the daughters of Lot could merit having the Moshiach descend from them. These girls in naming their sons were not ashamed to reveal that they had had relations with their father.

That night, two elderly women, their faces and heads covered, appeared to him in a dream and informed him that they were the daughters of Lot. Having heard his rhetoric, they had come to respond to him. Being from the family of the Avrohom and delivered by a miracle from Sodom, they could have fabricated a story that a miracle occurred. They could have contended that they were impregnated by the Divine presence. Therefore, they named their children Ammon and Moab, to make it known that when a woman is pregnant the child has a flesh and blood father. For this merit they deserved to have the true Messiah descend from them. The daughters of Lot informed him that he had committed a great sin by speaking of them is such a derisive manner. For having done so he would be punished with a death similar to the Meraglim.

When this ill individual finished speaking to Reb Moshe, he turned his face to the wall and died. Reb Moshe said it appears to be words of truth.