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Parshat Vayechi January 14, 2017 16 Tevet, 5777 TORAH Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Vayechi ARTSCROLL 268 After the death of Jacob, a lie. If Jacob had really said It is clear that the sages Joseph‘s brothers were those words he would have said needed both episodes to HERTZ 180 afraid. Years earlier, when them to Joseph himself, not to the establish the principle. Had he had revealed his true brothers. he time to have done we only known about the HAFTORAH identity to them, he so was on his deathbed in the Sarah case, we could not infer ARTSCROLL 1145 appeared to have forgiven previous chapter. he brothers‘ that it is permitted to tell a them for selling him as a tale was a #white lie.& Its primary white lie. (od did not tell a HERTZ 191 slave. Yet the brothers were aim was not to deceive but to white lie about Sarah. He not wholly reassured. ease a potentially e6plosive merely did not tell Abraham Times Maybe Joseph did not mean situation. Perhaps that is why the whole truth. Had we only what he said. Perhaps he Joseph wept, understanding that known about the case of Candle Lighting 4:32 pm still harbored resentment. his brothers still thought him Joseph‘s brothers, we could Might the only reason he capable of revenge. he sages not have inferred that what Mincha 4:30 pm had not yet taken revenge derived a principle from this te6t. they did was permitted. Hashkama 8:00 am was respect for Jacob. Mutar le5shanot mipnei ha5 Perhaps it was forbidden, and here was a convention in shalom: #It is permitted to tell an that is why Joseph wept. he Youth Minyan 8:30 am those days that there was untruth (literally, #to change& the fact that (od himself had to be no settling of scores facts. for the sake of peace.& A done something similar is Parsha hiur 8:30 am between siblings in the white lie is permitted in Jewish what led the sages to say that lifetime of the father. We law. his is not the only place the brothers were justified. Main 9:00 am know this from an earlier where the sages invoked this episode. After Jacob had principle. hey even attributed it What is at stake here is an Beit Midrash 9:15 am taken his brother‘s blessing, to (od himself. When the angels important feature of the moral Esau says, # he days of came to visit Abraham to tell him life, despite the fact that we Mincha 4:15 pm mourning for my father are and Sarah that they were about to seem to be speaking of no near$ then I will kill my have a child, #Sarah laughed to more than social niceties: halosh eudot/ 4:40 pm brother Jacob& ((en. herself as she thought, 0After I am tact. he late Sir Isaiah Berlin Ari acher 27:,1.. So the brothers worn out and my lord is old, will I pointed out that not all values come before Joseph and now have this pleasure7‘& (od coe6ist in a kind of platonic habbos Ends 5:41 pm say: #Your father left these then asked Abraham, #Why did harmony. His favorite instructions before he died: Sarah laugh and say, 0Will I really e6ample was freedom and R6 Reisman 7ideo 7:30 pm 0 his is what you are to say have a child, now that I am e:uality. You can have a free to Joseph: I ask you to old7‘& ((en. 18:12513.. (od did economy but the result will be un. Jan. 15 7:30/8:30 am forgive your brothers$ the not mention that Sarah believed ine:uality. You can have sins and the wrongs they that not only was she too old to economic e:uality, Mon. , Thurs. 1:35/7:45 am committed in treating you have a child. So was Abraham communism, but the result so badly.‘ 1ow please (this turned out to be :uite will be a loss of freedom. In Tues.. /ed. , 0ri. 1:45/7:45 am forgive the sins of the untrue: Abraham had si6 more the world as currently Mincha 4:40 pm servants of the (od of your children after Sarah‘s death.. he configured, moral conflict is father.& When their sages inferred that (od did not unavoidable. his was an Latest Times for message came to him, mention it because he did not important fact, though one hema/ hemoneh Esrei Joseph wept. ((en. 20:145 want there to be bad feeling about which Judaism seems 17. he te6t makes it as between husband and wife. Here never to have been in doubt. plain as possible that the too the sages said: it is permitted here is, for e6ample, a Jan. 14 9:40/10:28 am story they told Joseph was to change for the sake of peace. powerful moment in anakh Jan. 21 9:40/10:28 am Kiddush Seudah Shlishit is sponsored y Lillian * Gary Chu ak Ne4t habbat is sponsored hemot in memory of his father y -en.amin Chu ak /0l Candle Lighting 4:40 pm Great Neck and y -eth * 1arc Gottlie Mincha 4:40 pm Synagogue in honor of Ari Sacher 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11 23 (516) 487-61 Shabbat Announcements Vayechi 5777 when King David‘s son Absalom mounts a coup d‘etat against his himself. So to praise the bride was not making an objective father. David was forced to flee. Eventually there was a battle statement that could be tested empirically. It was simply between Absalom‘s troops and David‘s. Absalom, who was endorsing the bridegroom‘s choice. It was a way of celebrating handsome and had fine hair, was caught by it when it became the couple‘s happiness. Iourtesies are often like this. elling entangled in the branches of a tree. Left handing there, Joab, someone how much you like the gift they have brought, even if captain of David‘s army, killed him. When David heard the news you don‘t, or saying to someone, #How lovely to see you& when he was overcome with grief: # he king was shaken. He went up you were hoping to avoid them, is more like good manners to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: 0A than an attempt to deceive. We all know this, and thus no harm my son AbsalomB My son, my son AbsalomB If only I had died is done, as it would be if we were to tell a lie when substantive instead of youCA Absalom, my son, my sonB‘& (2 Samuel 18:33.. interests are at stake. Joab is brutal in his words to the king: # oday you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your lifeDYou love More fundamental and philosophical is an important Midrash those who hate you and hate those who love youD1ow go out about a conversation between (od and the angels as to and encourage your men& (2 Sam. 1E:458.. David‘s grief at the whether human beings should be created at all: Rabbi Shimon loss of his son conflicts with his responsibilities as head of state said: When (od was about to create Adam, the ministering and his loyalty to the troops who have saved his life. Which angels split into contending groups. Some said, 0Let him be comes first: his duties as a father or as a king7 created.‘ Athers said, 0Let him not be created.‘ hat is why it is written: 0Mercy and truth collided, righteousness and peace he e6istence of conflicting values means that the kind of clashed‘ (Psalms 82:11.. Mercy said, 0Let him be created, morality we adopt and the society we create depend not only on because he will do merciful deeds.‘ ruth said, 0Let him not be the values we embrace but also on the way we prioritiFe them. created, for he will be full of falsehood.‘ Righteousness said, PrioritiFing e:uality over freedom creates one kind of society G 0Let him be created, for he will do righteous deeds.‘ Peace said, Soviet communism for e6ample. PrioritiFing freedom over 0Let him not be created, for he will never cease :uarrelling.‘ e:uality leads to market economics. People in both societies may What did the Holy Ane, blessed be He, do7 He took truth and value the same things but they rank them differently in the scale threw it to the ground. he angels said, 0Sovereign of the of values, and thus how they choose when the two conflict. hat universe, why do You do thus to Your own seal, truth7 Let truth is what is at stake in the stories of Sarah and Joseph‘s brothers. arise from the ground.‘ hus it is written, 0Let truth spring up ruth and peace are both values, but which do we choose when from the earth‘ (Psalms 82:12.. his is a challenging te6t. What they conflict7 1ot everyone among the rabbinic sages agreed. e6actly were the angels saying7 What does it mean to say that here is, for e6ample, a famous argument between the schools of #(od took truth and threw it to the ground7& And what Hillel and Shammai as to what to say about the bride at a happened to the claim made by the angel of Peace that humans wedding. he custom was to say that # he bride is beautiful and #will never cease :uarrelling&7 I interpret it as meaning that graceful.& Members of the school of Shammai, however, were humans are destined to conflict so long as contending groups not prepared to say so if, in their eyes, the bride was not each claim to have a monopoly of the truth.