ב''ה

SERMON RESOURCE FOR SHLUCHIM

ISTRIBUTION ATE D D : TH יד' טבת תשע'ג / TUESDAY DECEMBER 26 , 2012

PARSHA: ויחי / Vayechi

SERMON TITLE:

The Biblical Zoo

Sponsored by Shimon Aron & Devorah Leah Rosenfeld & Family A PROJECT OF THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE In loving memory of

ר' מנחם זאב בן פנחס ז''ל Emil W. Herman  The author is solely responsible for the contents of this document. who loved and supported Torah learning.

Vayechi The Biblical Zoo Good Shabbos!

If you ask anyone who has ever visited Israel what the most popular tourist attraction is in Israel, they’ll tell you without hesitation that it’s the Kotel, known in English as the Western Wall.

But today, however, the question is which tourist attraction is the leading income generator for Israel. Anyone want to venture a guess? Which location in Israel draws the highest number of visitors prepared to pay to visit it?

As it turns out, the correct answer is: the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

Officially known as the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, this zoo has become the most popular paid tourist draw in recent years. Maybe it’s because animals are the common denominator among all people of every religion, ethnicity and race, religious or not, and Jewish or not. Everyone feels at home at a zoo.

But what gives this zoo a greater pedigree than other zoos is that it is a “Biblical” zoo—because the mission of this zoo, unlike other zoos, is to protect all the species that are mentioned throughout the Tanach.

Which, of course, brings us to this week’s Torah portion.

In this week’s Parshah, we are introduced to animals for the first time in the entire Tanach. That’s because this week’s Torah portion mentions the name, and behavior, of several animals.

Before his passing, Yaakov Avinu, our Patriarch Jacob, summoned his 12 sons and blessed each with a special blessing suited specifically for each. He started with Reuven, the oldest, continued on with Shimon and Levi, and then, when he got to Yehudah, he said to him: “Gur aryei Yehudah”—“Yehudah is a young lion.” He compared Yehudah to a lion—just as the lion is the king of the beasts, so too did Yaakov foresee that from the Tribe of Yehudah would come forth the kings of Israel.

And indeed, King David stemmed from the Tribe of Yehudah, and all the kings who came after him came from the Tribe of Yehudah. Even later, when the Nation of Israel was exiled from its land, the leaders of the exiles in Bavel (Babylon) and the princes in the Holy Land were all from the Tribe of Yehudah. Throughout the generations, the Jewish Nation made great effort that its leaders be from the Tribe of Yehudah.

Most important of all, Moshiach, will come from House of David, from the Tribe of Yehudah.

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Now the second son that Yaakov compared to an animal was Yissachar. He was compared to a donkey, however: “Yissachar chamor garem”—“Yissachar is a broad- boned donkey.”

Of course, it sounds a bit humiliating to be compared to a donkey. But Rashi says that a donkey can bear a heavy load. And as a general rule, the donkey is a quiet and tolerant creature, serving its human masters faithfully. The donkey is capable of reliably navigating narrow passes along cliffs, as well as steep mountain paths. It can also survive without water for quite a long period of time.

So why was Yissachar compared to a donkey? Because Yissachar was the tribe from which came the Torah scholars, and the judges—the people who need to constantly take upon themselves the yoke of Torah, the responsibility to guard the entire Torah and pass it on to future generations. Sometimes, rabbis need to trod upon narrow paths by cliff’s edge without losing their balance. Rabbis also need to be patient, prepared to tolerate every individual. This is what the Tribe of Yissachar was.

The third son that Yaakov compared to an animal was Dan: “Let Dan be a snake on the road.”

Now this already is totally not understood: When they say that someone is a snake, they mean a cunning person. As the Torah says, “And the snake was more cunning than all the beasts of the field” (Bereishis 3:1).

Rashi explains that Yaakov here was prophesying on Shimshon HaGibor, Samson the Mighty, who came from the Tribe of Dan.

Everyone’s heard the story of Samson and Delilah fame. Shimshon waged a one- man guerilla war against the Philistines, and did it all with cunning and smarts. He didn’t declare an official war against the Philistines. Instead, he would attack them and immediately disappear—like a snake that attacks and immediately vanishes back into its hiding place. Sometimes, in emergency situations, such behavior is called for. So being called a snake is not such a bad thing after all.

Next in line in the “animal parade” here is Naftali, whom Yaakov blessed by saying, “Naftali ayalah shluchah”—“Naftali is a swift gazelle.” Now that already sounds better. But why a gazelle? Because Naftali was capable of physically running faster than any of his brothers. The Rebbe quotes the Midrash on Naftali that says that he was a man of peace, and so his brothers made him a messenger to spread good news. And on that same verse of blessing, the commentator Yonason ben Uziel says that Naftali was the one who had run from Egypt to the Holy Land to inform his father Yaakov that Yosef was still alive. He was the one who hurried up and ran like a gazelle to relay the best news a father could ever get.

And the last son that Yaakov compared to an animal was Binyamin: “Binyamin zev yitrof”—“Binyamin is a predatory wolf.” Now, comparing someone to a wolf is a bit more respectable than a snake but, after all, saying that someone is a predatory wolf is not exactly the biggest compliment.

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So what does it mean? It means that throughout Jewish history, the Tribe of Binyamin were fierce warriors who would disregard their own lives on the battlefield, like predatory wolves. And it was they who brought about many victories for the Jewish Nation.

Rashi adds another interesting detail. In the era of the Shoftim, the Judges, it happened that the Tribe of Binyamin fought against all the other Tribes, and all the other Tribes took an oath upon themselves that “No man among us shall give his daughter to Binyamin” (Shoftim 21:1).

After the war, however, they discovered that there weren’t too many girls left in the Tribe of Binyamin. And if the menfolk of the Tribe of Binyamin could not marry the daughters of the other Tribes, it could cause the extinction of an entire Tribe of Israel. But on the other hand, they couldn’t either give the Binyaminite men the hands of their daughters in marriage, because they had taken an oath that “no man among us that shall give his daughter to Binyamin as a wife.”

So the elders of the entire community thought up a brazen idea.

They told the young single men of the Tribe of Binyamin that in the near future, there would be a festival of some sort in Shiloh, during which the young women would be dancing about in the vineyards. So they advised the young men of Binyamin, “Go and hide in the vineyards, and you shall see and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh go out to dance about, you shall emerge from the vineyards and each snatch for yourself his wife.”

But what does “snatch for yourself” mean? As the normal custom goes, before a man marries a woman, he first comes to ask for the agreement of her father. The whole world does this. But here, they were to marry them without their parents’ permission—and thus, the parents would not violate the oath. After all, they didn’t give their daughters to the Tribe of Binyamin—the daughters themselves agreed to marry into the Tribe of Binyamin.

And on this story of “snatching” the daughters did Yaakov prophetically compare the Binyamin to a wolf that snatches its prey.

The Jewish Nation today, after the exile of ten of the Tribes, is comprised primarily of the Tribes of Yehudah and Binyamin, the lion and the wolf.

Nowadays, a lot of people actually raise animals at home. In general, these are dogs or cats—and, as everyone knows, the dog comes from the same family as the wolf, and the cat comes from the same family as the lion. So perhaps those that love cats come from the Tribe of Yehudah, and that those who believe that the dog is man’s best friend are from the Tribe of Binyamin…

But there’s another Tribe that still exists today—the Tribe of Levi. And the interesting thing is that the Tribe of Levi is not compared to any animal—which means that rabbis who are terrified of dogs and don’t love cats are apparently from the Tribe of Levi.

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So why am I telling you all this? Because today, my friends, the mission and purpose of every Jew (and not just the rabbis) is to join the Tribe of Levi—to be drafted into the army of G-d.

As the Rambam (Maimonides) writes at the end of the Laws of Shmittah and Yovel: “And not only the Tribe of Levi alone, but every single human being from the entire world who gives his spirit to separate himself to stand before G-d to minister unto Him and serve Him… this individual is rendered as holy as the Holy of Holies.”

And the Rebbe points out that not only can a Jew thus become a member of the Tribe of Levi, but every human being, even from the nations of the world, can “become” part of the Tribe of Levi—because then “G-d is his portion and inheritance forever and for all eternity.”

And so, while there is a lesson to be learned from various animals, the real lesson here is to be a man, meaning, a human being: A creation of G-d who reaches the maximum potential that he or she was given by G-d—to be the best human being that one could be.

Sponsored by Shimon Aron & Devorah Leah Rosenfeld & Family A PROJECT OF THE SHLUCHIM OFFICE In loving memory of

ר' מנחם זאב בן פנחס ז''ל Emil W. Herman  The author is solely responsible for the contents of this document. who loved and supported Torah learning.

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