Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Beshalach

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts 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.

In Shemos 13:19, the Torah states וַיִּקַּ֥ח משֶׁ֛ה אֶת־עַצְמ֥וֹת יוֹסֵ֖ף עִמּ֑וֹ כִּי֩ הַשְׁבֵּ֨עַ הִשְׁבִּ֜יעַ אֶת־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר פָּקֹ֨ד יִפְקֹ֤ד אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְהַֽעֲלִיתֶ֧ם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַ֛י מִזֶּ֖ה אִתְּכֶֽם

Rabbi Frand quoted a Medrash which states that Moshe wanted to bring Yosef's bones out of Egypt, but did not know where he had been buried, so Moshe went to Serach Bas Asher and asked her where Yosef was buried.

An additional Medrash comments about Moshe that a Chacham Lev takes Mitzvos -- that Moshe was a Chacham because while the rest of the Jews were gathering gold and silver from the Egyptians, Moshe was involved with reclaiming Yosef's body.

R' Frand quoted a Sefer from a Rav Doan (sp?) which asked three questions about this story. The first question was why does the pasuk use the double term הַשְׁבֵּ֨עַ הִשְׁבִּ֜יעַ when Yosef in Parshas Vayechi only uses the term once? 

The second question asked was why is Moshe called a Chacham? He could be called a Tzaddik as this was a righteous act. or even a Chassid as this was a pious act. But why is he called Chacham?

The last question was based on the pasuk in Vayechi 50:24, where Yosef tells his brothers וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹסֵף֙ אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו אָֽנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת - why does Yosef say this he is "dead" instead of he is going to die?

R' Frand answered these questions by first referring to a Gemara in Shabbos 152b which tells an interesting story about some farmers who were plowing R' Nachman's field when they happened across the grave of R' Achai and when they unearthed it, he cried out. They came and asked R' Nachman about it and he investigated and observed that R' Achai's bones had not decomposed. He then asked R' Achai - your soul has gone to heaven and why is your body here? R' Achai responded that someone who is jealous has his bones rot. Since R' Achaie was never jealous, his bones did not decompose. 

The Maharal offers insight on this difficult story. He explains that a person who is jealous sees something that someone else has and feels that he is lacking that object, trait or quality. A person is not jealous of someone else if he already has the same item. Thus the jealous person has a feeling that he is lacking which eats away at him and causes his bones to rot while he is still alive and this continues after he dies.

R' Frand then quoted R' Doan's answers to the questions based on this concept. He first quoted a Medrash which states that the double lashon of הַשְׁבֵּ֨עַ הִשְׁבִּ֜יעַ was because there were two oaths - Yosef swore that he had no animosity towards his brothers and they swore that they did not have towards him.

That the brothers did not feel anything against Yosef is understandable, but why did Yosef not have claims? R' Frand quoted R' Akiva Eiger who writes that a person can have jealousy, but if he is aware of his own mortality and thinks of himself as dead,  he will not have jealousy. He tied this to the Gemara in Berachos which states that if a person is feeling that his Yetzer Hara is getting the best of him, he should think of the day of his death.

Thus Yosef was thinking that about his already being dead and wanted to have rest in his grave without his bones decomposing, so he verbalized this by saying he "is dead."

Similarly, Moshe was a Chacham because he was not fixated on gold and silver and would not become jealous of the possessions of others. His giving up the chance to pursue riches was not an act of piety or tzidkus, it was an understanding of the true priorities and how to avoid becoming jealous.

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