Chanuka Rabbi Gary Bazak

בס"דפרשת מקץ / חנוכה הריני בא ללמוד תורה לשמה לעשות נחת רוח לאבינו שבשמים 16TH DECEMBER 2017 כ"ח כסלו תשע"ח קריאת התורה: בראשית מא:א-מד:יז OnegShabbos NORTH WEST LONDON’S WEEKLY TORAH & OPINION SHEETS A Torah publication that enables local Rabbonim and Avreichim to share their insights and Divrei Torah on a variety of different levels, to provide something for everyone LONDON MANCHESTER GATESHEAD KINDLY SPONSORED In Memory of הדלקת נרות PM 3:34 PM 3:23 PM 3:35 Times Leslie and Freda Aronson Shabbos 4:50 PM 4:52 PM 4:44 PM מוצש’’ק SEE PAGE 3 FOR Mr Andrew Cohen President, Federation of Synagogues The author can be contacted at [email protected] Parshah How is it conceivable that Yaakov and his family didn’t realise that it was their Yosef who was elevated to become the Viceroy of all the land of Mitzrayim? וַּיִקְרָא יֹוסֵ ףאֶת-ׁשֵ םהַּבְ כֹור,מְ נַ ּשֶׁ ה: ּכִי-נַ ּשַׁ ינִ אֱֹלהִ ים ,he’s a Naar, he’s an Ivri ְו ׁשָ ם ּתָאִ נ ּו נַ עַ ר - עִ בְ רִ י, עֶ בֶ ד The context can be teased out as the story אֶ ת-ּכָל-עֲמָ לִי, וְאֵ תּכָל-ּבֵית אָבִ י. .unfolds of the dramatic events. The status he’s an Eved4 and fame of Yaakov Avinu’s family had spread This wretched young Ivri slave is now to be And Yosef called the name of the first- throughout the region. They were known as appointed ruler of Mitzrayim, second only to the born Menashe: ‘for Hashem has made me Ivrim, the characteristic description of the king with a mandate to revolutionise produce forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. descendants of Avraham . Rashi1 gives two production and the tax systems. This is surely This choice of name for his firstborn is definitions of the word Ivri: they were m’ever the most sensational and significant story in perplexing. Obviously, Yosef did not forget his ha’nahar from over the river, the other side of the Mitzrayim. News would have spread like wild home; his father’s image was his conscience. River Euphrates and secondly, m’benei Ever from fire – the story of the Ivri who is now ruler of It can’t be that he was grateful that Hashem the children of Ever. What he illuminates is that helped him to overcome the paralysing grief and there was exclusively only one family fulfilling Mitzrayim. How could it possibly be that Yaakov and his family would not have heard of this homesickness so that they wouldn’t interfere both qualifications, this being Avraham ’s family, with his ability to live a normal life, because astounding story? There’s only one family of the only descendant of Ever who crossed the that‘s not a reason to give that name to a son: Ivrim in the world and of that family, there is only Euphrates. ‘Thank Hashem have got over my grief and one missing person – Yosef. This family must already have been longing to be reunited with my father’. considered so important that the land where But herein is the major problem. Indeed, Yosef Hatzadik, imbued with greatness from they were living was by now known as their Pharaoh recognised the impossibility to rule Yaakov’s house, if he didn’t have the tremendous land. Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch in his against the protocols of Egypt - as Rashi brings power, the indomitable inner strength to put classic commentary asserts the significance, from the Midrash5 - and openly appoint an Eved, aside his past, he could never have been able to that at that time when they hardly consisted of noch an Ivri, to this lofty post. lead the house of Pharaoh, which was opposed in every way to his father’s house. It was with seventy persons they were so characteristically So Pharaoh sits down with his spin doctors prominent that they had a special national name Hashem’s help that he was able to forget, in a and devises a strategy to hide the identity of that Yosef, already earlier, could call the land sense, his past, that he was able to become the Yosef. First he gives him a new name. No more of Canaan - Eretz ho’Ivrim2. Further, the extent de facto ruler of Mitzrayim, assume his new role a name which , צָ פְ נַ ת ּפַ עְ נֵ חַ Yosef, now it’s to be their influence and recognition had spread is and ascend to this elevated position. some Meforshim6 explain comes from the word demonstrated later in the sedra when Yosef Pharaoh’s creative game plan succeeded. The Tzofun - hidden. Very appropriate. true identity of this Ivri was suppressed, the ּכִ י ֹלא יּוכְ לּון .sat down to eat with his brothers3 Second, he reasoned that the only people news never emerged, and Yosef saved Egypt. At הַ ּמִ צְ רִ י ם לֶ אֱ כֹ ל אֶ ת- הָ עִ בְ רִ י ם לֶ חֶ ם, ּכִ י-תֹועֵבָ ה הִ ו א ְ ל מִ צְ רָ ִי ם The pasuk quotes the then laws of Mitzraim outside his inner circle who knew Yosef and his this basic level, without nevuoh, Yaakov could stating that it was a Toeivoh, an abomination, origins were Potifar and his family. According never have suspected the Viceroy of Mitzrayim .to ensure their silence, he was his long lost beloved son , משך חכמהfor Mitzrayim to eat with Ivrim. So it’s evidently to the 7 מקץ מא-יב .4 מקץ מג-לב .3 וישב מ-טו .2 וישב לט-יד .clear, there was only one family called Ivrim. arranged the marriage of their daughter to Yosef: 1 מקץ מא-מה .They of course, were 5. As above 6. S R Hirsch 7 . ּי וַ ִ ּתֶ ן-לֹו אֶ ת- אָ סְ ַ נ ת ּבַ ת-ּפֹוטִ י פֶ רַ ע And now let’s set the scene. The palace is in turmoil. The king can’t sleep, he can’t eat he’s in complicit in the deception, being delighted that a rage. His recurring dream is driving him nuts, their daughter was now married to the ruler of Please urgently Daven For שלמה טבלי בן שרה נ''י insane. He knows it has deep meanings; he can’t Mitzrayim. They certainly wouldn’t be divulging שירה תמר בת שושנה דבורה תחי' .get respite. his genuine ancestry אריאל יהודה בן יהודית נ"י Out of the dungeons a freshly laundered slave The final piece of the jigsaw was Yosef חיה רוחמה בת אטא תחי' is hauled before him. himself. He had to go along with the plan and הרב יונתן יוסף בן טעמא שליט"א How does the Sar Hamashkim define him hide his true identity. On the outside he took to Pharaoh? The pasuk relates he remorsefully on the new persona, but inside he remained as לרפואה שלימה בתוך שאר חולי ישראל ?gives a deprecating and disparaging description: before. How is this evident Rabbi Moshe 2 Brandeis The author can be contacted at [email protected] SEDRA Changing the Parshah SUMMARY world one Thank you to Chabad.org (potential) step at a time osef’s imprisonment finally ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven osef had been languishing for years only is the result of keeping him alive rewarded, but Yfat cows that are swallowed up behind bars in an Egyptian dungeon for a also the joy, effort and enthusiasm which he infused by seven lean cows, and of seven fat crime he had not committed. The charges into the mitzvah added into the calculation. ears of grain swallowed by seven lean had been grave, an attempt at sinning He takes this idea even further, connecting our with the wife of his former master, Potiphar. No ears. Yosef interprets the dreams to Y midrash to the Gemara in Kiddushin (39b) which one in the decadent Egyptian society into which he mean that seven years of plenty will be says “one who sits and does not perform a sin had been sold, had believed this lone Hebrew slave followed by seven years of hunger, and [with which he was confronted] is given a reward far away from his righteous family back in Canaan. advises Pharaoh to store grain during equivalent to [that received by] one who performs Nevertheless the Torah testifies for all generations a mitzvah”. Thus when one decides not to sin and the plentiful years. Pharaoh appoints that he had passed this most difficult test with flying overcomes his temptation, he is rewarded for each Yosef governor of Egypt. Yosef marries colours. Suddenly after all the years of suffering he component sinful action which he might have Osnas daughter of Potiphar, and they successfully interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and the committed yet never actually confronted him. have two sons, Menashe and Ephraim. Torah depicts vividly the steps of Yosef’s transition Rabbi Zev Leff likens reward and punishment to from slave to second in command to Pharaoh. Famine spreads throughout the region, one who purchases a new car and as he is driving and food can be obtained only in The Medrash Rabba (90:3) highlights how each off with his prized possession, the car salesman Egypt. Ten of Yosef’s brothers come to stage was a reward for the part of the body which runs after him and thrusts a book into his hand. had not sinned and instead had showcased Yosef Egypt to purchase grain; the youngest, The salesman proceeds to explain the contents Hatzadik’s immense self-control: Binyamin, stays home, for Yaakov fears of the driver’s handbook, which petrol to use, the for his safety.

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