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.