Due to our attendance at a wonderful family simcha (which coincidentally took place about a mile from the shiur) as well as our not so wonderful requirement to be back at work the next day, I was unable to view the Thursday Night shiur live and did not get a chance to hear it in its entirety until Sunday. Still, the vort was a tremendous vort on both Vayishlach and Vayeshev and for that reason I am belatedly summarizing it here. As always, I have I attempted to reproduce the vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
Rabbi Frand began the vort by quoting the pesukim in Bereishis 33:6-7, in which the wives of Ya'akov and their children approached Esav. The Torah indicates that each of the wives approached Esav with their children behind them, except Rachel, who was preceded by Yosef. Rashi explains that Yosef did this in order to prevent (mi'akev) Esav from seeing his mother.
However the obvious question is - what could Yosef have accomplished? As he was no more than six years old, he could not have shielded his mother from Esav's gaze. At most he could have just impeded Esav for a short time!
R' Frand quoted the Tolner Rebbi who explained that this was exactly what Yosef was doing and that this was the essence of Yosef - that he was going to try whatever he could to delay Esav. Because sometimes just making any effort is better than no effort at all.
R' Frand illustrated this with a story that Tolner Rebbi told about himself. After his wife gave birth to a son, he wanted to name the boy after his father in law. The problem was that both he and his father in law had Yitzchak as one of their names. Thus he could not use his father in law's exact name as he could not use his own name in naming the boy. Further complicating matters, his father in law was known to have professed the opinion that not using the complete name when naming after the deceased was "gornished."
The Tolner Rebbi wrote to the Gerrer Rebbi to ask what to do. He received the response that sometimes nothing is better than a greater nothing [if I correctly understood the Yiddish expression R' Frand used]. Even if his father in law had stated that not using the full name was "nothing" it was still better to use part of the name than not to use the name at all.
R' Frand linked this to the concept of a doctor who is performing surgery. Doctors told, just perform a good procedure, don't try to make it "perfect." He explained that the longer the body is open, the greater danger of infections, so doctors are told - do a good job and close the patient up. Don't leave the patient open for an unnecessarily long period of time while you try to do the perfect job.
R' Frand also linked this to shidduchim as he sometimes sees boys who look too hard for "Ms Perfect." He then tells the boy - "don't look too hard for perfection as I have news for you - you're not perfect yourself."
R' Frand also tied this concept to Yosef in this week's parsha. In Parshas Vayeshev we see that the wife of Potiphar tried day after day to seduce Yosef and he resisted. R' Frand quoted the Tzror HaMor who cited a Medrash that the wife of Potiphar said to Yosef - you know this is going to happen one day, so why not be with me now. Yosef responded - yes, its inevitable that will happen someday, but its not going to happen today.
This is the essence of Yosef, to focus your efforts and do what you can now.
R' Frand linked the vort to a Gemara in Yoma which discusses three people who will be asked at the end of their lives why they did not learn Torah - the rich man, the poor man and the evil man. The rich man will respond - I had no time because I was too tied up with my business. To this he will be asked - are you richer than R' Yosi Ben Charsma - he found time!
The poor will similarly respond that he was too busy trying to find food and support for his family. To this he will be asked - but were you more indigent than Hillel -and he found time to learn.
Lastly the Rasha will be asked why he did not learn. He will respond that he was too tempted by his evil inclination, to which he will be asked - did you have greater temptation than Yosef HaTzaddik?
R' Frand then asked - but can't the Rasha respond - there are precious few people who are called "HaTzaddik" - I'm not Yosef!
However with this understanding of Yosef's mindset, there is nothing for the Rasha to say. You may not be Yosef HaTzaddik, but couldn't you have held out for one day?
However the obvious question is - what could Yosef have accomplished? As he was no more than six years old, he could not have shielded his mother from Esav's gaze. At most he could have just impeded Esav for a short time!
R' Frand quoted the Tolner Rebbi who explained that this was exactly what Yosef was doing and that this was the essence of Yosef - that he was going to try whatever he could to delay Esav. Because sometimes just making any effort is better than no effort at all.
R' Frand illustrated this with a story that Tolner Rebbi told about himself. After his wife gave birth to a son, he wanted to name the boy after his father in law. The problem was that both he and his father in law had Yitzchak as one of their names. Thus he could not use his father in law's exact name as he could not use his own name in naming the boy. Further complicating matters, his father in law was known to have professed the opinion that not using the complete name when naming after the deceased was "gornished."
The Tolner Rebbi wrote to the Gerrer Rebbi to ask what to do. He received the response that sometimes nothing is better than a greater nothing [if I correctly understood the Yiddish expression R' Frand used]. Even if his father in law had stated that not using the full name was "nothing" it was still better to use part of the name than not to use the name at all.
R' Frand linked this to the concept of a doctor who is performing surgery. Doctors told, just perform a good procedure, don't try to make it "perfect." He explained that the longer the body is open, the greater danger of infections, so doctors are told - do a good job and close the patient up. Don't leave the patient open for an unnecessarily long period of time while you try to do the perfect job.
R' Frand also linked this to shidduchim as he sometimes sees boys who look too hard for "Ms Perfect." He then tells the boy - "don't look too hard for perfection as I have news for you - you're not perfect yourself."
R' Frand also tied this concept to Yosef in this week's parsha. In Parshas Vayeshev we see that the wife of Potiphar tried day after day to seduce Yosef and he resisted. R' Frand quoted the Tzror HaMor who cited a Medrash that the wife of Potiphar said to Yosef - you know this is going to happen one day, so why not be with me now. Yosef responded - yes, its inevitable that will happen someday, but its not going to happen today.
This is the essence of Yosef, to focus your efforts and do what you can now.
R' Frand linked the vort to a Gemara in Yoma which discusses three people who will be asked at the end of their lives why they did not learn Torah - the rich man, the poor man and the evil man. The rich man will respond - I had no time because I was too tied up with my business. To this he will be asked - are you richer than R' Yosi Ben Charsma - he found time!
The poor will similarly respond that he was too busy trying to find food and support for his family. To this he will be asked - but were you more indigent than Hillel -and he found time to learn.
Lastly the Rasha will be asked why he did not learn. He will respond that he was too tempted by his evil inclination, to which he will be asked - did you have greater temptation than Yosef HaTzaddik?
R' Frand then asked - but can't the Rasha respond - there are precious few people who are called "HaTzaddik" - I'm not Yosef!
However with this understanding of Yosef's mindset, there is nothing for the Rasha to say. You may not be Yosef HaTzaddik, but couldn't you have held out for one day?
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