The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Dovid Heber as R' Frand had a back issue which prevented him from giving shiur 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' Heber.
R' Heber began his parsha vort by asking why Yosef did not send word back to his father that he was alive once he was made the second in command? It was understandable why he did not send a message when he was enslaved to Potiphar and later when he was in prison. But why not tell his father that he was alive and well and Pharaoh's number 2?
R' Heber gave an answer by the Shvan HaSofer in the back of the Yerushalmi in Zeraim. He said that when Yosef was sold into slavery after being thrown in the pit, he never had a chance to discuss the issue with his father. As a result he thought that maybe his father was involved in the sale and that his father was upset at him for telling loshon hara about his brothers.
Once he spoke with the brothers and they told him that his father was mourning his loss and that he would not allow Binyamin to go down to Egypt, he knew that his father was not involved.
R' Heber tied this to a famous gemara in Gittin where two siblings were thrown into a jail because their masters wanted their slaves to mate. They cried all night until in the morning they realized that they were siblings. There was such Agmas Nefesh because they did not realize that they were siblings but could not see it because of the galus. So too, Yosef because of his galus in Egypt could not see the truth that his father was not involved.
R' Heber linked this to the tragic story of the hostages in Gaza who were accidentally killed because the soldiers could not tell that they were Israeli hostages and not terrorists. This due to the pain and cloud of Galus. During Galus there is confusion as Yavan is Choshech - they mistranslated the Torah and distorted it (with the anniversary being earlier this week) so that other religions could miscast the truth.
How do we rectify this? Only through Shalom as the Sinas Chinam comes from misunderstanding and confusion. The offset to this is Ahava, where we love fellow Jews without condition.
R' Heber closed the vort by saying that the only Friday afternoon that we ever lain is when Asarah B'Teves falls on Friday. He then noted the gemara in Eruvin which states that Eliyahu HaNavi will never come on Friday because everyone is busy getting ready for Shabbos. Which means that every time that we fast for the Churban we know that Eliyahu HaNavi can come that day, except for tomorrow.
On Asarah B' Teves which falls on Friday we know that Eliyahu HaNavi cannot come. But we also do something unique. The Rama (251) states that on Friday we are supposed to minimize our learning in order to prepare for Shabbos. This is why we never lain on Friday. But the one time that we do lain is that one moment that we are fasting for the Churban but knowing that Eliyahu HaNavi cannot come now. In so doing we are saying to Hashem, every other Friday we don't lain, but today I am ready for Shabbos - because we are coming to Shul in lain. We are showing that there is no tircha because we are ready for Shabbos and sitting in Shul doing something that we never do. In so doing we say to Eliyahu HaNavi - we are ready for you to come now, there is no tircha - so Hashem now that we are ready please send Eliyahu HaNavi.
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1 comment:
You wrote "Shvan Hasofer", but actually it's Shafan Hasofer, which was a sort of acrostic for his real name, Shmuel Shraga (Feibush) Feigenzen.
I've been searching for where he says this idea about Yosef thinking his father was against him, but I haven't located it. Rav Heber said it's in the glosses at the back of the Yerushalmi Berachos/Zeraim.
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