Veyaishev 5771

Books of Memory:
After Yosef had his dreams his brothers decided for several reasons that he deserved death. (Two of the possibilities were: 1) He was trying to take the kingdom from Yehuda who was destined to be king. 2) He told Yaakov that his brothers were eating Aiver Min HaChia [limbs from a live animal] when it was not true. For these reasons, and several others, the brothers decided he deserved death.) Yaakov sent Yosef to his brothers to make sure everything was going well. When he got there his brother were ready to kill him. At that moment Reuven convinced them that they should not kill him, rather they should leave him in a pit to die on his own. The pasuk tells us that really Reuven had other plans. (37:22) "... So that he (Reuven) could save him (Yosef) from their hands and return him to his father."

There is a famous Midrash Rabba (Vayikra 34:8/9 [depending on the version]) "Rav Yitzchak says 'The Torah teaches us derech eretz, that when a person does a mitzvah he should do it with a full heart. If only Reuven would known that Hashem would write down "And Reuven heard and he saved him (Yosef) from their hands" he would have picked him up and brought him to his father. If Boaz would have known that Hashem would have written about him (Rut 2:14) "...and he fed her parched grain..." he would have fed her stuffed cows.' Rav Kohen and Rebbe Yehoshua B'Rebbe Simon in the name of Rav Levi say 'In the past a person did a mitzvah and the navi would write it down. Now a person does a mitzvah who writes it? Eliyahu and the king Mashiach, then Hashem signs it on their hands as it says (Malachi 3:16) "When the ones who fear Hashem speak to each other Hashem listens and writes..."

We all know the mishna in Avot (2:1) that says "... Look at three things and you will not come to sin; know what is above you: a seeing eye, a listening ear, and every act is written a book."

If we look at the midrash and mishna we can learn a very valuable lesson. A person must remember at every moment that Hashem is watching him. If one always remembers this he will be carefully about every action he he does. Rabbeinu Yonah asks on the mishna, why do you need three examples to teach the same thing, all three examples just mean that Hashem remembers what you do? He answers that each example reminds us of a different action we must be cautious about. The seeing eye is to make us careful of our actions, the hearing ear is to make us cautious of our speech, and the written book is to teach us that every action will be remembered.

If we are constantly aware of Hashem then every action we do will be thought through first. How could one put non-kosher food in his mouth if Hashem is watching? How can one speak badly of another person if Hashem is listening? Would a person think for a second that it is okay to "bend the rules" of Judaism if his action will be written down forever?

There is another side to this coin. If we look closely at the words of midrash in comparison to the mishna we can see that while the mishna is discussing how to avoid sin the midrash is teaching us how to do do mitzvot. It is not enough to just follow the same routine everyday that is not enough. We must do our mitzvot with a full heart. If a person wakes up every morning and puts his tefillin without thinking, opens up his siddur and moves his lips for a few minutes without thinking about what he is saying he is missing the point.

If we look at the pasuk with Reuven we see that the pasuk is not even talking about his actions, rather it speaks about his kavanah, it says (37:22) "... So that he (Reuven) could save him (Yosef) from their hands and return him to his father." We can learn out from here that Reuven never thought that his kavanah would be recorded in the Torah and this is what the midrash is trying to teach us. A person can understand that all of actions are recorded by Hashem but it is a lot harder to realize that even ones thoughts are recorded by Hashem. If we can realize that every single act and thought we have is important than that we would run to do mitzvot with the best kavanah we can.

Vayishlach 5771

Relying on Miracles:

A few weeks ago, parshat Vayaira, we spoke about Avraham followed Hashem's command against his own personal morals, because in the end Hashem who is the ultimate decider of what will be successful. This week will focus on other aspects of hishtadlut.

The Ramban gives a short introduction to this week's parsha where he says that we learn from here that Hashem saves His people (lit. slaves) but they do not rely on Hashem rather they do everything in their power to make their endeavor successful.

The pasuk (32:9) says "And he (Yaakov) said "If Esav comes this group and attacks it the other group will remain to survive." Rashi here tells us that Yaakov "prepared himself in three ways: 1) to give Esav presents (32:22) 2) to daven (32:10) 3) and to fight in war (32:9).

We learn from Yaakov's actions that we should not come to rely on miracles. The gemara in Shabbat (53b) brings a case were a man needed a miracle to save his child and a miracle happened (see there for the exact case) Rav Yosef said "Come and see how great this person is that such a miracle happened to him" Abayai responded "how bad is this person that the order of creation was changed for him." Not only that but in Taanit (24) the gemara paskins that one cannot even derive pleasure from a miracle. There is also a gemara in Bava Kamma (85a) that allows a person to go the doctor. Rashi on the spot says that a person should not assume that Hashem will make in better.

Rabbi Avishai David, my Rosh Yeshiva in his new sefer "Darosh Darash Yosef" (I highly recommend it, not that he needs my haskama) says as follows (pg. 90-91) "However, Jacob used both approaches. He offered up prayers but also rolled up his sleeves. True, a single angel could have defeated Esau's army without effort, just as an angel destroyed the Assyrian army of Sanherib, which consisted of 185,000 men, in one night. But it is not guaranteed. These are the principle of bitachon and hishtadlut. Our challenge is to have emunah, to offer prayer, but alos to be prepared to confront our adversary."

This idea does not just come up in a case of war, rather this is how a person should respond in every situation. A person must prepare for what is coming but at the same time must know that every outcome is from Hashem. We cannot rely on a miracle happening so we cannot just sit back and hope for the best.

What is very interesting is that only several pasukim later (32:11) Yaakov says "I am belittled from all of the good and the truth that You did for your slave (ie me)..." The Vilna Goan says that this is the pasuk that we learn that even though a person should not assume that he deserves good because of his merits, should assume that any good that he does have is because of his merits, and therefore he does not deserve any more. This is what the gemara in Sotah means that a humble person should have an eighth of an eighth of gaivah. Meaning the eight pasuk of the eighth parsha. Meaning that this pasuk should be the mentality of a humble person. A humble person must work as hard as he can for his goal. While he working for it he should know that he does not truly deserve the reward, but if he gets the reward he should remember that it all comes from Hashem and now that he got his reward he deserves no more. This is the mentality of a true anav!

We know Yaakov is known as Esh Ha'Emet (the man of truth), so if he truly believed that this is the right way to think then it must be the proper way to live. May we all be zoche to live on the level of Yaakov, with the ability to do our hishtadlut yet still realize that in the end it is all up to Hashem.

Have a good Shabbat!

Vayaitzei 5771

Hakarat Hatov:

The mishna avot (5:10) says "There are four Middot in a person:.. the one who says what is mine is yours and what is yours is yours- Chassid. What is mine is mine what is yours is mine- Rasha." When a person believes he deserves nothing, anything he gets is more than he deserves; but when a person thinks he deserves everything no matter how much he has, it is not enough.

In last week's parsha we learned how Esav was supposed to get the brachot from Yitzchak but Yitzchak gave the bracha to Yaakov instead. If one where to ask Esav if his selling of the firstborn was also a selling of the rights to the bracha Esav would have agreed, but since Esav believed he deserved everything there was no reason why he should not get the bracha from Yitzchak.

In this week's parsha Lavan hires Yaakov to work for him. Over the course of the twenty years while Yaakov was working for Lavan the livestock increased greatly. In fact Lavan says (30:27) "...and Hashem blesses me because of you." Yet, even though all of the wealth was because of Yaakov, when Yaakov left with all of the livestock he had gotten from Lavan's deal Lavan had the nerve to say (31:43) "... The daughters are my daughters and the sons are my sons and the sheep are my sheep and everything you see is mine..." This pasuk is very puzzling. Did Yaakov not work fourteen years to get the right to marry Rachel and Leah? Did he not work 20 years for Lavan to deserve the sheep? In fact, Lavan never did any of his own work. Even though Yaakov had done all of the work Lavan still believed that it all truly belongs to him.

The Sforno says "Even if I (Lavan) switched your wages or sent you with nothing I would not be taking anything from you because everything is mine, and with trickery it got to your hands, not in judgement."

Imagine the following scenario: Someone comes to you with $10,000,000, he tells you that you can hold on to the money but in a week you need to give me $3,000,000. Now the week is over and man comes to collect is $3,000,000, would you for even one moment call him a robber? As crazy as this seems, it is exactly what Lavan did. The only way someone can believe that is if they actually think that they deserve everything, and this is exactly was the mishna in avot is talking about. When someone can live with this mentality it is called being a Rasha. It is only someone who knows that he deserves nothing that is able to have hakarat hatov for what he gets.

Rav Brevda says that the concept of Hakarat Hatov comes completely from the neshama. The guf cannot comprehend the idea of thanking someone for an object, why should you thank someone for giving you something that you deserve? It is only someone who knows that he deserves nothing who can be appreciative of what someone does for him.

This is the difference between Yaakov and Lavan. We already saw Lavan's side but now let us see the hakarat hatov of Yaakov. After the dream in the beginning of this week's parsha Yaakov says (28:22) "... and this stone that I placed here as a pillar will be a house of God and everything You give me I will give a tenth to You." Notice the wording of the pasuk "everything You give me" Yaakov does not say 'everything I get' because he knows that anything he gets is really from Hashem. Once you have that mentality then it is clear that you must be thankful for what you get. I heard from Rav Brevda a few times that even though all of the Gedolim he knew were different in everything they did there was one trait that they all did exactly the same, hakarat hatov. If you did even the smallest favor for them they would thank you for all of the things you did for them.

It is only possible to be thankful for what you have if you really believe that you do not deserve it. Once a person thinks that he deserves something he is unable to truly be thankful for someone giving it to him. Not only that but even when a person like this shows appreciation he is only doing it so that the other person would be willing to give to him again. Therefore, when someone who has this mentality is giving this giving is really taking. But, someone who knows he deserves nothing will be giving enough when he is receiving.

Rav Dessler explains in Michtav Ma'Eliyahu that the only true way to love is through giving. The reason for this is because the act of giving is an idea that only exists by the neshama. When a person is giving to another it is forming a connection true love between the two people. But someone who 'loves' on a guf level does not really love the other thing, for example saying you love fish. If you really loved fish you probably would not be eating it, you would bring it back to the ocean and let it live. This form of love is not based on giving it is based on taking. A love based on taking is only skin deep (no pun intended). Once the person has nothing left to give, the love is gone. In this formula all the giving that you do is only so that you can receive more later.

Let us all be zoche to be on the level where all of our taking is giving and with that we can truly know all of the good that Hashem gives us.

Have a great Shabbat!

Toldot 5771

Darkness:

Rav Brevda in his sefer Lehodot UliHalel (on Chanukkah) quotes a Berieshit Rabba (2:4) on the pasuk is (1:2) "... And the darkness is on the Tehom" The midrash explains "'and the darkess'" means the galut of the Greeks that darkened the eyes of the Jews with their Gevairot..." In the footnotes Rav Brevda quotes an amazing Mesillat Yesharim (3rd perek) "In the darkness of night there are two types of mistakes a person's eyes can make. 1) That it is so dark that the person cannot see anything at all. 2) That the person mistakes a pillar for a man and a man for a pillar. This is the pleasures in this world, the darkness of the night for the person's mind, which causes these two mistakes. The first one causes the person not to be able to see the stumbling blocks in front of him and he will trip up a lot. The second one is much more difficult than the first. He is so convinced that he is seeing clearly that he is confident that the bad is really good and that the good is really bad and he will work very hard to convince himself that what he is doing is correct."

Nowadays, we live in this galut. We are so used to the way we live that we have convinced ourselves that it is how it is supposed to be. Meanwhile, the true good is still hidden from us.

In this week's parsha we know that Yitzchak is blind. It is possible to say that this blindness is not just a physical blindess but also a blindness of the truth. The pasukim say (25:27-28) "... Esav was a man who knew hunting, a man of the field... and Yitzchak loved Esav because of the meat in his mouth." Rashi explains in (25:27) that Esav knew how to trick his father, Esav would ask him 'Father, how do I give Ma'aser for salt and animal feed?' So his father thought that he was very strick in mitzvot."

Yitzchak was so blind he could not tell that his own son was lying to him. We know that the Ramban throughout these parshiot say that every thing the Avot did was a sign that we would do it in the future. So the Ramban shows how every act that Avraham did was a sign for either a war or a sin that the Jews were involved in. So Yitzchak is a hint for the time of the Galut were we are living in the darkness. We must know how to know between was is good and what is not. If we allow our emotions to get in the way then we may end up going after the bad.

So we can learn from Yitzchak from the way he lived to know how we can survive this darkness. Throughout the parsha Yitzchak does almost the exact same actions that his father, Avraham did. First during the famine he tried to go to Mitzriam but Hashem told him he could not go. Then when he went to Grar he told the people that Rivkah was his wife, just like Avraham had done for Sara. Then he dug wells and the pasuk (26:18) even says "... and he dug the wells that were dug in the time of Avraham his father.

We see from here the trick on how to survive the galut. Since we live in a time when the Torah learning is not as great as earlier generations and our mitzvot are not as good as earlier generations we do not really have any idea what we are doing. The only thing we can do is look back at what the earlier generations did and hope that by following in their ways we will be able to get out of the galut.

This shows us the importance of Mesorah and that is exactly what Yitzchak was showing us by following the path of his father. But now we can ask a question, if we are supposed to follow everything the last generation did then why was Yiztchak told not to go down to Mitzriam? The reason is because mesorah is not just simply following the exact movements of the previous generations, it is much broader than that. Mesorah requires us to understand how the people of the earlier generations lived. Once we can understand why they did things than based on how they reacted we must know how to asset the situation and get a result that makes sense for our times. But how does one know what to do and what not to do, how do we know what the earlier generations would do? The answer is to find yourself a rebbe we has a mesorah back to Har Sinai. Once, you have that then you know that everything he tells you is straight from Mesorah.

These are the lessons we learn from our Av, Yitzchak, in times of darkness one must be careful about what he believes and one must know that what he is doing fits into the realm of Judaism. If we convince ourselves that the bad is good then we will only notice after it is too late.

This explains why, it was only after Esav tells his father that Yaakov had stolen both the Bechor and the bracha that Yitzchak realized how wrong he was. He realized that Yaakov was the better son and that Esav was not really as good as he seemed. But then why did he give him a bracha? If you look at what the bracha is it is quite revealing. The bracha is that Yaakov should rule over Esav, but if Yaakov sins then Esav will be able to control him. This is showing us yet another lesson. As long as the Jews follow the Torah the evils of the galut will not be able to touch them, but once they begin to allow the darkness in they will begin to mess up what is good with what is bad.

As long as we keep the Torah and the mitzvot nothing will be able to hurt us.

Have a great Shabbat!