YNA Newsletter 1 of 7
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YNA Newsletter 1 of 7 In This Issue Parshat Vayetze HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Vayetze Staff Dvar Torah By Rav Yoel Yehoshua Netiv HaChinuch - For Parents and Teachers Petuchei Chotam on Parshat Vayetze Visitor Log, Mazal Tov's, T ehilim List Alumni Melava Malke with HaRav Bina and R' Natan Schwartz Join Our List Links Rabbanit Malke Bina Trip to USA/England Schedule All alumni are encouraged to attend a Melava Malke with HaRav Aharon Bina and R Natan Schwartz this Motzei Shabbat, Parshat Vayetze. It will be at the home of Ricardo and Gitty Goldschmidt, 24 Woodmere Boulevard South, Woodmere, NY at 8:00 PM. ~~~~~~~ RAV KORN AND RAV GINSBURG SHABBAT AT YU! Rav Yitzchak Korn and Rav Beinish Ginsburg will be at Yeshiva University Shabbat Parshat Vayeishev (December 16-17), and all alumni (even those not in YU) are encouraged to join. There will be an oneg Friday Night, and they will be giving shiur Shabbat day. Both Rav Korn and Rav Ginsburg will be available to speak to our alumni throughout Shabbat. (For those who need, meals can be purchased from YU, and anyone unable to find sleeping arrangements on their own can contact [email protected] and someone will try to assist you.) This week at YNA Shana Alef went to the Blind and Deaf Museums in Tel Aviv. They were led by blind/deaf guides and trainers in total darkness/silence as they learned to interact and communicate by relying on other senses. An eye/ear-opening experience. Shana Bet had an audience with the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, HaRishon Letzion HaRav Ovadia Yosef shlit"a. They also went to reknowned author and speaker HaRav Zev Leff in Moshav Matityahu, followed by a tiyul to the Bar YNA Newsletter 2 of 7 Chochva caves. This Shabbat is an optional Shabbaton in Meron with HaRav Chizkiyahu Nebenzahl, Rav of the Old City of Jerusalem (as well as part of the YNA faculty). Shabbat Davening Times: with Rav Fodor & Family Friday Night Mincha in the Beit Midrash - 4:20 PM Shabbat Day Shachrit- 5:45 AM Second Shachrit- 8:30 AM Mincha-4:00 PM YNA.EDU | Ask Rav Nebenzahl | Suggestion Box Contact Us | Alumni Update Form | Parsha Archives HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Vayetze HaRav Nebenzahl asks that his Divrei Torah are not read during Tefillah or the Rabbi's sermon. We are still in need of donors to cover the remaining costs of publishing Yerushalayim beMoadeha - Shabbat Volume III. If you would like to take part in this mitzvah of harbatzat Torah please email [email protected]. Donations of $5,000 will entitle you to a dedication page. "GRANT TRUTH TO YAAKOV" II Yaakov said to Rachel and Leah: "Now you have known that it was with all my might that I served your father, yet your father mocked me and changed my wage a hundred times" (Bereishit 31:6-7). Our discussion last week revolved around the verse "grant truth to Yaakov" Micha 7:20) - Yaakov Avinu as the symbol of Man of Truth. Yaakov's honesty was not limited to the words he spoke but extended to his actions as well. We find Yaakov Avinu telling Lavan: "these twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and she-goats never miscarried, nor did I eat rams of your flock. That which was mangled I never brought you - I myself would bear the loss, from me you would exact it, whether it was stolen by day or stolen by night. This is how I was: by day scorching heat consumed me, and frost by night" (Bereishit 31:38-40). Yaakov demonstrated truth in his actions - he took upon himself the task of guarding Lavan's sheep, and this is what he did - he devoted his whole body, heart, and soul to fulfillment of this endeavor. The Torah describes Yaakov's working an additional seven years for Lavan - "vayaavod imo od sheva shanim acherot" "and he worked for him yet ("od") another ("acherot") seven years" (Bereishit 29:30). The two expressions used in this pasuk have conflicting implications. On the one hand "od sheva shanim" implies that the additional seven years were similar if not equivalent in nature to the initial seven. The term "acherot", on the other hand, suggests that the latter seven years were different in nature from the first. The term "acher" in general has the connotation of something different, not equal to the other subject matter discussed. (For example "and she left his house and went and married a different ('acher') man" (Devarim 24:2). Chazal comment: "Scripture calls him 'different' ('acher') to say that this second husband is not the equal of the first, this first man removed a wicked person from his house, and this second man brought a wicked person into his house" (Gittin 90b). Had the two men been equal, the Torah would have used the word "sheni" to denote another man rather YNA Newsletter 3 of 7 than "acher". "Sheni", second, implies a similarity to the first, whereas "acher" implies dissimilarity. For examples of "sheni" connoting a similarity see Yoma 62b). How are we to resolve the conflicting implications of this pasuk? The answer is that from Yaakov's perspective, this was "od", an additional seven years similar in nature to the initial seven. From Lavan's point of view, however, these seven years were "acherot" - different in nature. The first seven years were part of the contract that Yaakov had signed with Lavan - the agreement was that Rachel be given over to Lavan in exchange for seven years of labor. It was not fitting to extort such a high price for one's daughter, especially if the prospective son-in-law is Yaakov Avinu, yet an agreement is an agreement and Lavan "earned" Yaakov's labor for seven years. The latter seven years, however, were not earned honestly - they were founded on total deceit. Thus the pasuk stated that they were seven other, different "acherot" years - they were not earned in an honest manner the way the first seven were. From Yaakov's perspective, however, these were simply "od sheva shanim" - an additional seven years identical to the first seven - "just as the first ones were carried out in good faith, so, too, the latter ones were carried out in good faith" (Rashi Bereishit 29:30). Despite Lavan's extracting these seven years in an underhanded deceitful manner, Yaakov served Lavan during these seven years as faithfully as he had the first seven. In fact, during the additional six years that Yaakov worked in exchange for the flock, Yaakov was deceived time and again. Lavan changed the terms of Yaakov's wages one hundred times (see Rashi Bereishit 31:7). In spite of all this, Yaakov Avinu remained the ever-faithful worker "These twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and she-goats never miscarried, nor did I eat rams of your flock. That which was mangled I never brought you - I myself would bear the loss, from me you would exact it, whether it was stolen by day or stolen by night. This is how I was: by day scorching heat consumed me, and frost by night" (Bereishit 31:38-40). Although Chazal tell us "the righteous are permitted to act deceitfully when others are trying to deceive him, as it says 'with a pure person you act purely and with a crooked person you act crookedly' (Shmuel II 22:27)" (Megilla 13b), the only deceptive way Yaakov was to provide Rachel with signs so that he could protect himself against Lavan's ways (see Megilla there and Rashi Bereishit 29:25). We do not find Yaakov actually deceiving Lavan - despite all that Lavan had done to him, he did not retaliate during the entire twenty years of his employ. Yaakov's work was with such devotion and faithfulness that it became the measuring stick for generations to come, as to how much trouble a "shomer" (one who safeguards another's property) must go to (see Baba Metzia 93b). This type of straight, faithful, and honest behavior is required of all of us. The Messilat Yesharim (see chapter 11) on this subject, quotes the pasuk "Hashem, are Your eyes not toward truth?" (Yirmiyahu 5:3). Hashem demands and expects of us to be trustworthy - not only towards Hashem but towards our fellow man. We must act with each other in an honest and upright manner in business transactions. Not only must the employee be above suspicion, but this applies to the employer as well. In the case of Yaakov Avinu, the worker was as straight as can be, while the employer was a liar and a cheat who took advantage of his employee's good nature. In order for us to know the words of the Torah we must first receive it. Our holy forefathers amassed Torah knowledge without it being given to them, as we learn: "Avraham Avinu fulfilled the entire Torah before it was given" (Kiddushin 82a), presumably this applies to Yitzchak and Yaakov as well. From where did they know the Torah prior to its being given? Chazal tell us: "Avraham's two kidneys became as two pitchers of water and were flowing with Torah" (Bereishit Rabba 95:3). What is the meaning of this? This means that the Torah is the natural desire of the soul from the time of its creation. Man was created in the image of G-d and the Torah is Hashem's wisdom and desire. As much as the "image" resembles the original, the more this physical "image" is able to absorb this G-dly wisdom - the wisdom and the desire of the "image" resemble that of G-d.