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Rav Shlomo Katz explores the teachings of Rav Shlomo Carlebach zt"l on the Parsha with the sefer Even Shlomo
Okay, good morning chevre. Good morning in the month of Kislev. Le'iluy nishmas Livi ben Yosef, for the refuah shelemah of Shoshana Yona bas Aidel. Le'iluy nishmas Basya Fega bas Yisrael.
Le'iluy nishmas Shlomo Leib ben Foll Gedalia, in honor of Leana Gontavnik's bas mitzvah, and for the refuah shlemah of David Natanel ben Ayala, Ayala Ahuva, Tzvi David ben Tamar Malka, Roy Chaim ben Meirav, Achia ben Yael Chaya, Tov Shmuel ben Avia Nava, Avram Yaakov ben Dvora Fega. I also want to dedicate this shiur today le'iluy nishmas Yitzchak Meir ben Dov. Yitzchak Meir ben Dov, the father of friends of ours who was just niftar recently in Cleveland. All right.
There's so much to there's so many different things to speak about right now but I wanted to, I want to learn, I want to learn some deep, deep Torah right now.
ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. Amen. I'll just tell you, chevre.
There's one thing on, before we go inside. When you're with tzadikim, when you're with tzadikim, there's always this yetzer hara about what happens when you're not physically with them after you're with them. There's always like this downer or this possible downer, I would say like that, more like that, possible downer. Last few days we've been privileged to be sitting by some, by just by, by very, very big people.
I'll tell you, last night, it just to be in the presence. I was by Rav Ginsburg in Kfar Chabad. And the rav starts, he starts at about, what time was it, maybe nine, quarter to nine, nine. The rav's 81.
The rav went through a kidney transplant last year. He had a, he had a rachmanus on us, so at 2:30 he ended. But I think it's only because he had rachmanus on us. Mamash.
2:30. Rav Ginsburg ended. And he could, he saw, you could have gone on, there was a zone there, something happening, so so special and it's so, it was so special. It was so special, two nights ago was so special.
It's been it's been so special. But for me, this is more special than anything. I'm not I'm not kidding. For me to sit and learn with my chevre.
and and the learning here, oh. To feel like the luckiest guy in the world. So I just want to say thank you for showing up every, every time we have a shiur and who knows, who knows, like, who needs to hear what in any given moment. It's one of the things we're trying to do today, to ufaratzta, to get the word out as much as possible because everywhere I'm going, I'm telling you, everywhere I'm going, chevre are learning with us all over the world.
Mamash. All over the world. I told you, they're already recognizing some of your voices. Back in the day when we were just starting long time ago, people, Jerry used to, when Jerry was coming to shiur, people would recognize his cough when they, when they...
They would, be'emes.
באמת אני אומר את זה. So, I just want to give us a bracha to have a lot of siyata dishmaya and hatzlacha. First of all, all of us should have a lot of hatzlacha with our parnasa at home.
Every person here. Everyone, everyone's going through, everyone is always going through so much. You know, the people that things are going great but in their mind they're still going through so much. I have certain friends, they've apparently, according to their assessment of how how their parnasa has been going, they should have been bankrupt like 50 times because every time I've asked them how's it going, it's been horrible, they can't believe they're not in jail yet or whatever it is.
And apparently, there's always food in the fridge, things are fine, they find ways to make things work. But in their, but when I'm saying parnasa b'shefa. And it should be סמוכים וקרובים לעיר, which is, I've never appreciated that bracha more than these days. It should be סמוכים וקרובים לעיר.
Very karov l'ir. Very karov l'ir. Mamash karov l'ir. Okay, chevre.
So today what we're going to be saying today is one of my, one of these pieces from Reb Shlomo that's going to take stories that we grew up on, Parshas Vayeishev. What a story, Parshas Vayeishev. And what it's going to be doing is it's going to be taking the story the way we thought we understood it of the brothers, they sold Yosef, there was jealousy, there was a multicolored, what do you call it, Technicolor, multicolored, Technicolor dreamcoat. Why not? Why not? Why not? A dreamcoat.
And then he goes into jail and then we have this whole drama. Comes Reb Shlomo and he and he goes through all these amazing, amazing secrets from the Kabbalah and from Chassidus, from all the, all the, all the tzadikim, all the rebbes and. and paints for us a different picture than what we're used to. That's what I'm going to say, a different picture than what we've been used to so far.
I don't know how far we're gonna get with all this, but there's a lot I wanted to get through. And you have to understand the following, especially when it comes to Toras Ishbitzer. In the world of Ishbitz, the two main characters in the world of Ishbitz are Yehuda and Yosef. It's always like this.
Or I should say like this, Yosef and Yehuda. Yosef represents the tzaddik, tzaddik yesod olam. And Yehuda is the baal teshuvah. Where does Moshiach come from? The tzaddik or the baal teshuvah? The baal teshuvah.
How it unfolds in our parsha is very, very interesting. We're not even getting to the pnimius of the tzaddik and the baal teshuvah, because that's more Miketz and Vayigash. According to the Zohar haKodesh, Miketz and Vayigash, next week and the week after, are actually one parsha. It was divided into two in order to give focus on the kedusha of the tzaddik in Miketz, Yosef haTzaddik making it out there.
And then Vayigash is obviously the kedusha of the baal teshuvah. Vayigash eilav Yehuda. But before the tzaddik and the baal teshuvah come and shine, we're going to understand here something that ממש יוצא מן הכלל. Something a different way, a different approach of looking at everything.
So let's look inside over here, shnei melachim, Even Shlomo on page 272. shnei melachim. Two kings.
יוסף הצדיק היה היהודי הראשון שירד לגלות שנעשה עבד.
Yosef haTzaddik is the first Yid that went down into galus and became an eved. Avraham Avinu went down to galus too. He didn't become an eved. Yaakov Avinu maybe you could say he was a shtickel eved by Lavan, but that's not exactly the same thing like Yosef haTzaddik going down and becoming an eved.
Now, was this preordained that we would go down into galus and be an eved? 100%. Who knew this? Avraham Avinu knew this.
כולם ידעו את הנבואה שכל בני ישראל עתידים להשתעבד. They all knew this was destiny, this is what had to be.
ויוסף התפלל כל חייו להיות עבד במקום האחים שלו. And Yosef davened his whole life to be the one to go down and be an eved instead of his brothers. I'm going to say this again. This is not how they taught it to us when we were learning parsha, right, when we were kinderlach.
Yosef haTzaddik, since all the brothers knew that they were destined, that they had to be avdus, Yosef haTzaddik was the one that said, I want it on me. I'll take it. I'll do it.
הוא התפלל שהשם לא יכניס את אחיו ואביו לשיעבוד הזה.
And he was davening, Hashem, please don't let it be my brothers, and for sure, let it not be my Abba, Yaakov Avinu, that has to be the one to go down into galus and become an eved. The Gemara omeres, this is a Gemara from Maseches Shabbos, ראוי היה יעקב אבינו לירד למצרים בשלשלאות של ברזל. The Gemara says, really what was supposed to be is that Yaakov Avinu was supposed to go down to Mitzrayim in chains. Aval bizchus Yosef, in the merit of Yosef haTzaddik's davening that it shouldn't be his Abba, אביו ואחיו ירדו למצרים בצורה שונה לגמרי, הרבה יותר מכובדת.
They ended up going down to Mitzrayim, not in sharshelo'os shel barzel. Yaakov Avinu comes down to Mitzrayim like a melech. Mamash like a melech. So now let's go, let's go deep down inside to the story.
And I was so bothered by a new book that just came out with the title Yosef on the Spectrum. Did you see this? Last year I saw it. He's also on the fine. He's also fine, but...
Now, we're Baruch Hashem, right? It was always, we always said Yitzchak Avinu. No, no, no, he's there too. Now, I want to say like this, I want to give it a kaf zechus, but then also push it away. Okay, so listen.
Obviously, today, as Naftali says all the time, he's quite certain that 95% of us are on the spectrum because we've changed the definition of it and, nachon? Is that what you had said, right? He's saying only 95. No, because what we're saying is spectrum is not really what, when we were younger and you say the word spectrum, there was this taboo about it. Today we're seeing, I mean, there's people that are, connected, I guess. Well, yeah, we're changing the the connotation of it, right? So you can say spectrum is ein bayah.
Choose a different title. You know what I mean? Like. We're talking Yosef HaTzadik. Yosef HaTzadik.
Tzadik yesod olam. Tzadik yesod olam. So here Reb Shlomo is going to explain to us how what appears on the pshat as if ke'ilu he's on a spectrum, look how he's going to say it.
מדוע סיפר יוסף את החלומות שלו לאחיו? So why did he tell his brothers his dreams? Why did he say it?
האם הוא היה מין פטפטן? Was he a blabberer?
האם הוא היה מין פטפטן שלא יכול לשלוט בעצמו? He couldn't control himself.
או שמא אחד מאחיו היה הפסיכולוג שלו? Was one of his brothers his shrink?
והוא סיפר לו במסגרת טיפול and this was part of his treatment so he's telling his brothers, I need to talk to you about my. Kamuvan shelo this is not the story.
יוסף ידע שכיוון שהוא מקבל על עצמו להיות העבד היחיד. He knew, he was taking upon himself to be the only one to have to go down to Mitzrayim the way that he ended up going down to Mitzrayim.
הוא היה צריך להיפרד מהאחים שלו וללכת לבד. So he knew and it killed him, but he knew he needed to separate himself from his brothers and to go alone.
לכן הוא סיפר לאחיו את החלומות שלו. That's why he told his brothers his dreams kedey sheyichasu alav so that they get angry at him וישלחו אותו משם and they send him away.
You understand what's going on over here? This is a complete flip of the way we've normally we normally approach this story.
למה התכוון יוסף כשסיפר את חלומותיו לאחיו שהוא עתיד למלוך? What did he mean? What was he speaking about? What was he referencing when he told his brothers one day I'm going to be a king?
הוא באמת רצה לומר להם שהוא מוכן לקחת על עצמו את כל הסבל עבורם. What he was really telling, this is malchus, okay? Even though the malchus was really by who? Yehuda. Yosef said, I am willing to bear the pain of whatever anyone has to go through in this family.
And he said he explains, you're כי מלך שאיננו קדוש מנצל אנשים אחרים. An unholy king uses other people. Hu choshev thinks to himself אני המלך ואתם עבדי I'm the king, you're subservient to me.
אתם תעבדו בשבילי You'll work for me.
Aval melech kadosh. A holy king הוא מי שמרגיש שהוא עובד עבור נתיניו ולא הם עבורו. A holy king is someone who feels that he works for his netinav, his subjects, constituents. Eli, you got to be careful in this shiur.
Eli's the dictionary, I'm sorry. You can give him nachas after shiur. Eli, you okay? You're taking it personally? Okay, okay. Nachas.
Jewish general versus non-Jewish where they lead in. So, so this is this is really the etzem of what a melech Yehudi is, and obviously, look what he says over here.
ירושלים שייכת לדוד המלך. Shlaim is belongs to David HaMelech.
היא היתה רכושו הפרטי this was his private property. It's called, Yerushalayim is called ir David.
וגם סוכת דוד הנופלת.
מה משמעות הקשר העמוק בין ירושלים לדוד המלך? So what's the connection between Yerushalayim and King David? Ha'tshuva ha'pshuta.
יושבי ארץ כנען היו לוחמים גדולים וחזקים. The dwellers of the land here before we came back, strong, fierce warriors.
הם ישבו בערי ירושלים and they sat on the mountains of Yerushalayim.
ולכן אי אפשר היה להתקרב ולכבוש את המקום.
The way they were situated, you couldn't come close, you couldn't conquer it.
שלוש מאות ויותר שנים אחרי שנכנס יהושע לארץ ישראל, איש לא כבש את ירושלים מידם. Over 300 years after Yehoshua comes in the beginning of Nach, the beginning of Nevi'im, it was still more than 300 years until you could actually touch Yerushalayim. It was something else.
Hoshana Rabba הוא היום של דוד המלך.
ביום הזה החליט דוד המלך שהוא הולך לכבוש את כל ירושלים לבדו. Yerushalayim is a place where David HaMelech puts his eye on and he says, I am going to conquer Yerushalayim. im ma'aminim b'Hashem if you believe in the Ribono Shel Olam.
היש מעצור להשם להושיע ברב או במעט באדם אחד או באלף. This is mamash Chanukah. Saying if we believe in the Ribono Shel Olam, does it matter if it's one person or if it's hundreds or thousands of people that can do the job? Ma pitom.
דוד המלך הלך לירושלים בהושענא רבה וכבש את כל העיר.
On Hoshana Rabba, which is his day, Dovid Hamelech goes and conquers the whole city. He didn't say, chevreh, go, I'm going, I'm the king, I can't be touched. I have to keep on, you know, I have to keep on conducting from above, untouched. You go in.
He says, ma pitom, this is what David, this is what, like you're saying, this is what a Jewish king is all about.
קדימה חבר'ה, מלך לא אומר, a king doesn't say, קמה חבר'ה, תתחילו לזוז, אני אשב במשרד שלי ואכוון את התנועה. I'm gonna sit in my office and I will conduct, I'll take care of traffic.
דוד המלך הולך לפני כולם וקורא להם לבוא אחריו.
הוא משהו אחר. Now what's the problem with this Torah, chevreh? Ah, we have an inyan here. This is Yehuda, or it should be Yehuda, and this is not, Yosef is not, Dovid Hamelech doesn't come from Yosef. Who come, Efraim and Menashe have have a different offspring.
I mean everyone's family, obviously. But this sounds like this is, this is David's, Yehuda's story. This doesn't sound like, like, like, Yosef Hatzadik's story. But Yosef Hatzadik understood something very, very essential.
He understood that in order for a lot of different limudim, teachings, to come down into the world, he had to take on things that maybe at the moment weren't even shayach to him, but he understood that since his Abba put something into him so deep, he had to be a role model for his brothers, even if his brothers couldn't see it at the moment. But gevalt, that they end up seeing afterwards, like we know the end of this story. And what we could already say now is that the brothers knew when they looked back, and especially Yehuda, they say, wait a second. Wait a second.
Was there any other way that Yosef, that Yehuda could have ever had the courage to do Vayigash Eilav Yehuda and say what he said in parshas Vayigash if he didn't first have an example in front of him that went into his kishkas by his younger brother Yosef Hatzadik? So the meeting, the meeting again, the meeting, the, the Navi says this, I forget which haftarah it is, about Efraim and and and Yehuda getting together. I think, remember this haftarah? I forget. It's in Vayigash. It's the haftarah of Vayigash.
עץ יהודה ועץ אפרים. Oh, Yechezkel with the, with the tree. We read it on Chol Hamoed Pesach. But Vayigash is the...
That's why I was confused because we do it twice. Nuchun, nuchun. It does come together. It does come together at a certain point.
There's a limud here of them coming together. It takes a lot of time, but the seeds were already, already were planted already in parshas Vayeishev, that Yosef understands fate has it, my family has to go into galus. Over Shabbos, I met, I met a, I met a Yid that's still holding very strong. He's holding very strong by Yosef Hatzadik's inyan of, the fate is that we have to go into galus, you know.
Only one person like that I met. Okay, now turn the page. Now this is a continuation. Just a quick question, I didn't understand.
With Yehuda with the meeting with Vayigash, you just said, but he didn't, Yehuda didn't know, didn't know that it was Yosef then. First of all, there's, that's also a, that's also a shailah but I mean, al pi pshat, one hundred percent. Al pi pshat, one hundred percent, but what we're saying is something went into their kishkas subconsciously of taking areivus, being a guarantor. That for sure was a result of something that was happening subconsciously throughout the whole story of mechirah Yosef.
He knew it was coming. I mean they say that Gavriel said, oh those guys are in Dotan, like, they're planning against you. I heard them working on trying to kill you. And bechol zos.
He knew what it is. Bechol zos, it is what it is. He has to go. So Yosef going down, that's Yehuda leaving his brothers, which led to him going and getting married, which led to Tamar, which leads to Dovid Hamelech, doesn't happen without that.
Nuchun. And it only starts from Yosef Hatzadik separating himself from his brothers because he took on himself that chas v'chalilah, my Abba, Yaakov, and my brothers shouldn't have to be the ones to go down like that. So Yosef Hatzadik goes down like that. Now the Eibishter obviously sees that Yosef Hatzadik is tuned into this.
Did Yosef Hatzadik go down in b'shalshalaos shel barzel down to Egypt? No. What does Rashi tell us about the way that he went down to Egypt? With the bsamim. Right? The spices that were in that, whatever you want to call it, the caravan. Now, now, now, now look at this.
Now, now, now, now, now, now I could, this is if Rav Shlomo on on on, it's just it's just beautiful. It's just, there's no other way for me to say this. The next page, 274. Misibah kol shehi, from some reason, I know.
It's 274.
מסיבה כלשהי החליטו האחים למכור את יוסף לעבד The brothers chose to sell Yosef Hatzaddik to be a to be an eved.
אבל איך הם הרגישו ברגע המכירה You ever think to yourself, without the illustration of a little Midrash says, okay? Without that for a second. How many of you grew up on that? It's weird.
Yeah, it was there, no? Was it Busha but maybe? You you were too… No, he's like, he's, it was like, it wasn't shtark to have little Midrash says. That's like Artscroll in in in if you go to Mir, you walk in with an Artscroll, right? Right, the frummy houses, you don't have little Midrash says. Modern Orthodox kids have that. No pitom.
Everyone had a little Midrash says. You know, I'll tell you a quick story, sorry. I have to say this. I was I was close to Reb Shlomo's sister, aleha hashalom.
I we spoke about this a few weeks ago, right? Shlamis Levovitz. She lived on 10 Harick Road in Monsey. I used to go visit her in Monsey. Her and her husband, Reb Simcha Zissel Levovitz.
Reb Simcha Zissel was the son of Reb Yerucham, the mashgiach from Mir, right? That was Reb Shlomo's brother-in-law. So he had passed away while I was while I was still knew the family, like she was still alive, or maybe he was very, very ill, I forget. And one of the times I came to visit, she said, she used to call me Shlama. Shlama.
It was funny, she got my she had my number and she would call me in Los Angeles. I was like a kid, I was a teenager. I was living in L.A. in my my parents' house.
And my mother would answer the phone sometimes and this woman named Shlamis Levovitz from Monsey would call me. I didn't tell my mother who she was in the beginning, right? And she said, "Who who do you want?" "Shlama." Like that that was her accent, right? So and she said, and my mother would say, I remember one time, "Shlomo, there's a woman, an old old woman from Monsey that's calling, they want..." Who is it? She said, "Shlamis Levovitz." "Mom, that's Reb Shlomo's sister!" I was so excited whenever she'd call. We had great conversations, and I and one time when I went to visit her them, so she was a shtark Monsey. She said, "Come here, I have something for you." She took me to a like a side room in the house.
She opens up, there's like a there was a like a a closet. She opens up the closet door and she pulls out an old the an old television. She looks like an old TV and she said, "One of my sons just got me this the box, the VCR, right? The box." And Meir, you you guys know VCR? Yeah. I just missed that.
Okay. Right. Gavriel? No. Right.
FBI warning. Right. That's why I live here. Right.
She pulls and she and she puts in this tape, says, "This is I I want you to see this." Thank you. What is she what is going on? This was so weird. And it was somehow one of her someone, one of her friends or family, I don't know what they did, they had on a slil, on a reel, the CD release, the the album release of Barchi Nafshi which came out in 1960. Like the party where where when his Reb Shlomo's second album came out and a video of it in the I I couldn't believe it.
It was the oldest, it was I was so moved. It was so bizarre. It was so weird, but it was almost like, shhh, you know. And then like we were finished, put it back, closed the thingy, Lo kayam.
So that's how some people are like with their Artscrolls when Rabbonim come over, they they they close, you know. Mention running across the microwave. What's? Yes, nachon. So, how do we even get here? Little Midrash says story.
The illustrations, nachon. How did the brothers feel during the mechira? He's asking, האם הם חייכו זה לזה You know what I love about Reb Shlomo? He makes us think of things that we just bechlal don't think of when we learn the story. Like you ever think that the brothers what they look like while they sold, while they sold their brother? Were they, were they smiling? Or, אולי פלטו אנחת רווחה, which means maybe they finally let a big exhale, על שסוף סוף נפטרו מיוסף המעצבן הזה, that they finally got rid of this, this, this younger brother that, you know, not that any of you have have this at home, but a younger brother that שפשוט שיגע לכולם את השכל. Ha'emet she'lo, but the truth is different.
Now, now he says something so deep. Reb Shlomo is saying something so deep.
נסו לדמיין את הבכי שבכו היהודים כשנחרב הבית המקדש והם הוגלו מארצם. Try to imagine the the pain and tears that Yidden had when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed and we were sent into exile.
זה בוודאי היה בכי נורא. Must have been awful, awful cries.
אבל הוא לא משתווה לבכי של בני יעקב הקדושים. That doesn't come close to the cries of the brothers of Yosef when they sold Yosef.
Cries? What do you mean? They hated him. They were so happy. They had a meal afterwards. Huh? They sat down and had a a fress, a feast.
No. No, mashu acher legamrei. So now let's relearn the story.
הזוהר אומר דבר קדוש מאוד.
The Zohar says like this.
שני מלכים יש לנו. We have two kings, Yosef and Yehuda.
יוסף הוא מלכם של הצדיקים, של האנשים שלא חטאו מימיהם.
Like we said before, Yosef is the rebbe, he's the king of the, of those that never sinned.
ואילו יהודה הוא מלכם של כל מי שטאו ופגמו. And you know but Yehuda is the rebbe of all those, I know it's hard for you guys to imagine because we're obviously all Yosef Hatzadik chasidim, but there are those that feel more connected to Yehuda. Just want to make sure.
I know, I was, I just wanted to see who's paying attention.
יוסף נותן לנו את הכוח שלא לעשות רע, להמשיך ולחתור הלאה בלי ליפול. Yosef Hatzadik gives us the koach to not do bad, to keep on going strong and not to fall.
יהודה לעומת זאת נותן לנו את הכוח לתקן את כל הטעויות שטעינו אי פעם.
He gives us the strength to fix all the mistakes we've ever done.
ואנחנו זקוקים לשניהם. We need both, Yosef and Yehuda.
שני המלכים האלו הם עמודי התווך של כל עם ישראל.
Eli, Yuli, amud tavech? I learned my lesson from last time. Pillars. Let's say pillars. Well, Naftali is getting in here now.
They're the pillars of all of Am Yisrael. Kacha chashvu ha'achim. This is what the brothers thought. Now listen, he this is reshaping the story, but but listen, this is the pnimiyus of the story.
This is what the brothers thought.
איננו יודעים אם יוסף הוא אכן צדיק או לא. We're not sure if he's a tzaddik or not.
לכן, נעמיד אותו במבחן.
We'll put him through a test.
אם ירד למצרים ולמרות הכל יישאר יהודי קדוש, מוכרח הדבר שהוא אחד מאיתנו. We're gonna make sure that he goes down to Egypt, and if, despite everything, he remains a heilige Yid, what does that mean? He's one of us. Bnei Yaakov.
בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב. Right? Then he's one of us.
אבל אם ילך לאיבוד, but if he gets lost, יוכח שהוא לא אמיתי. If he doesn't make it down there, it'll be proven that that'll show us he's not one of us.
Mipnei shemibchinat ma, because on a certain level, האחים חשדו שיוסף איננו אחד מהם באמת. They actually weren't sure, are you really one of us or not? They weren't sure about it. Why?
הרי אם אתה אכן אחד משנים עשר השבטים, איך תוכל לקרוא לעצמך מלך ולדבר רע על אחיך? You see, the brothers weren't aware of what Yosef Hatzadik was doing, doing in the pnimiyus of it, that he was trying to take the toll on himself and sending himself down to Egypt so that they wouldn't have to do it that way. But the brothers weren't certain of that, but what they were concerned with is like this doesn't, mashu po lo, something's not adding up.
If you're really one of our brothers, why would, one of our brothers wouldn't come to let us know that he's gonna govern over us and he's gonna be our king? And then speak, speak bad about it, it doesn't make sense. So they weren't sure. So Reb Shlomo is saying the brothers were putting him through a test.
הם לא ידעו שיוסף יתנתק מהם רק מפני שרצה לקבל על עצמו את עול גזירת השעבוד.
Exactly. They didn't know. Yosef HaTzadik distanced himself from his brothers because he didn't want to take upon himself the yoke of the decree of shibud of being of going down to Egypt the way we described.
לכן הגיעו הדברים עד כדי כך שהאחים אמרו לו.
Therefore they reached such a place that the brothers said to Yosef HaTzadik, not literally, but deep like inside, inside the way he was inside inside talk here, the brothers were saying to Yosef, אם אתה אכן אחד מאיתנו. If you're one of us, then no one shouldn't be worried.
אתה תשרוד את זה. You'll get through this.
Why? Because you're one of us. We're bnei Yaakov. We're בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב. You'll you'll get through this, don't worry.
ואם תלך לאיבוד אתה אבוד. And if you get if you don't make it, that's a siman that that suspicion that we had that you're really not one of us, we were right. The suspicion. You it doesn't make.
Chevre, you with me so far? Is this from the Zohar? This is all, listen, everything, all chasidus, everything chasidus is from the Zohar HaKadosh, really, essentially, right? What the way Reb Shlomo learned is that he would he would hear one line from the Zohar HaKadosh. It planted a certain seed of of of olam hamachshavah. And from there, he he stretched it out to to shamayim v'aretz. And sometimes I, you know, you you think like, wow, his sense of imagination and visualization was was was so like Reb Zalman once said Reb Shlomo was the master of virtuous reality.
What a line, huh? Virtuous he was the master of virtuous reality. Listen, God is also the master of virtuous reality. Look at this world. I mean look at the story, look at this, look at the bria.
So to say this comes from this line is hard, but to say that this is from the Zohar 100%. Not to not to bring back the little midrash but. So don't. No, no, b'emet.
Im zeh if it's gonna, if it's gonna steer the whole thing away from the way he's building it, then don't. But if it's l'hosif. No no, according to this mahalach, why did they have to put him in the pit? What was the purpose of that? What would be the problem with that according to this mahalach? According to this mahalach they wanted to send him to Mitzrayim and see if he remained a Yid. Why did they need to first put him in a pit? What's the, yeah.
The beginning of the story, yeah. Actually that's even thinking about it, it's almost a proof that of this mahalach because they're not, they didn't kill him. They didn't sell them in shackles. They put him on this amazing, you know, whatever, whatever that was, yeah.
Spice train. Whatever that. It's a great name of an album, the spice train. Going down on the spice train.
Yeah, doesn't sound so torturous. I mean, it's not obviously, nuchun. Just to build what you're saying though, it was a half a step back to put them into the pit to to to that in itself could have been the brothers saying, well, you know what, we're gonna throw him into this bor and oh look, if there are scorpions and whatever and they get him, then we knew that that's a siman that he's not one of us. Meaning the the tests of what they were trying to see started already from that moment.
So it does it does it does shtim. And you know like like my my love of Shimon v'Levi last week was like, wow, you guys get it. You guys protect the family at all cost. Anyone does this even has a mahalach to do this to your to your sister.
This is what you do. And then she doesn't even want to come out and Shechem wants to say, don't worry about it, I'll like marry you, I'll make it work for you. You'll be like this guy's all in on the family and gets it and gets the destiny. And then, Shimon v'Levi.
Shimon v'Levi. And these same two guys do this to the brother. Like like the a week later like and and I'm I'm like how does this happen? And but I mean but it it it actually it's it's perfect now because they're all in on the family. kavod hamishpacha, nuchun.
That's why he keeps on saying the language of, are you one of us or not? Are you one of us or not? Now what's interesting even like crazier deep is that where's Yosef HaTzadik buried? Shechem. And that's where he went. And and that's where Shimon v'Levi like the whole... That's not my it's not my chiddush.
The sforim speak about this like it was full circle over here. This is a little bit of a hemshech of the of the tikkun of what was happening in Parshas Vayishlach. This this whole story in obviously the malach Gavriel, first Emek Chevron, Dotan, Shechem, it's all. But it very good meaning kavod hamishpacha is a real is a real, real thing in these parshios.
And if you'll take one for the team, but it's about kavod hamishpacha, the world may think you're crazy. But if it's about kavod hamishpacha, like we learned, I was going over this on the plane, the shiurim we did. where we learned about the story of of of of Shechem, remember we did a few shiurim on understanding Shimon and Levi and if Yaakov Avinu was really angry or not. And we dissected the whole thing, the whole story.
You remember that one? a year ago. two years ago. was already two years ago. two years ago.
yeah. Vaiter. Bottom paragraph. Now he goes the master of religious reality asks us the the the final question over here.
איך אתם מדמיינים את פרידת האחים מיוסף. How do you imagine the separation of Yosef from his brothers?
אתם באמת מאמינים שעמוק בפנים הם שנאו אותו. Do you really think that that deep down inside, and I know, don't, I know I could hear Lenny Solomon hit me with your best pshat right now, right? I know, I know, but hold on. He says, do you really think deep down inside they hated him?
האמת היא כשהאחים נפרדו מיוסף, when they when they when the brothers said goodbye to Yosef, יהודה שהיה המלך אמר לו ראה.
אנחנו מוכרים אותך לעבד. We're selling you as a slave. Yehuda's saying this to Yosef, ואתה צריך להוכיח את עצמך. And you got to prove yourself.
אתה צריך, next page, להראות לנו אם תצליח להישאר צדיק או לא. You have to show us, you have to show yourself. Will you remain a tzaddik or not?
ויוסף ענה ליהודה, אחי הקדוש, my holy brother.
אנא ברך אותי שאשרוד את זה.
ברך אותי שאשאר קדוש. Yosef is asking Yehuda for a bracha to make it. Give me a bracha that I should make it.
והנה הפלא הכי נפלא.
יהודה בירך את יוסף שיהיה צדיק. Yehuda blesses Yosef a tzaddik that he should before he was Yosef a tzaddik, that he should be a tzaddik.
ואכן בזכות הברכה של יהודה יוסף נשאר בקדושתו. How did Yosef HaTzaddik make it throughout galus? Because of whose bracha? Yehuda's bracha.
ומה ביקש יהודה מיוסף? And what did Yehuda ask from Yosef?
כל כמה שהיה משוכנע שהמכירה נכונה, as much as he knew this sale was the right thing to do, it had to be done for all the reasons we we already said.
הוא ידע, he also knew, שיהיה עליו לעשות תשובה על מעשה המכירה הזה. He also knew that even though he had to do this, he also knew he's going to have to do teshuva over doing this. Yehuda knew, I'm gonna have to do teshuva even though this is the right thing.
Listen, there are many things that we do that they're the right things and we still have to do teshuva over them. Yehuda knows I'm gonna have to pay for this one. I have to do it, but I have to pay for it.
לכן ביקש יהודה מיוסף, so therefore Yehuda asks Yosef, אנא ברך אותי שאזכה לעשות תשובה.
Give me a bracha that I should be a baal teshuva.
כך בירך יוסף את יהודה שיזכה לעשות תשובה. And this is Yosef blessing Yehuda he should merit to do teshuva.
ויהודה בירך את יוסף שיזכה להיות צדיק.
And Yehuda blessed Yosef that he should be a tzaddik.
שני עמודי התווך של עם ישראל בירכו זה את זה. The two pillars at this epic moment in Vayeshev are giving each other brachos.
ובאמת יוסף היה צדיק רק בזכות ברכת יהודה.
So the truth is Yosef was a tzaddik only because of the bracha of Yehuda.
ויהודה זכה לעשות תשובה רק בזכות ברכתו של יוסף. Lo ye'uman. And Yehuda merited doing teshuva only because the bracha of Yosef.
This is exactly how we were taught. This is exactly how we learned. how we learned. No? But the part of when when Yehuda approaches Yosef and he says, I'm ani Yosef, I'm still the same כסרתי את כל הדבר הזה and I'm the same Yosef that I was, I'm part of the family.
So now we could understand it so beautifully because when does he say this? When he sees that his own bracha to Yehuda was misgashem too. He sees Yehuda comes, the baal teshuva comes. Vayomer bi adoni. Right? He's like, wow, my bracha was miskayem, your bracha is miskayem, time for revelation.
Tada. I'm, you know, I'm Yosef. That's good. I'm Yosef.
Because the brachos lasted, the brachos were miskayem by both of them, by the tzaddik and the baal teshuva. Anyway, chevra, I I just wanted, you know, there's obviously we were in very heavy Lubavitch mode. because of the yom tov. The Rebbe always ended off his torahs if you look at any all the sichos, veha'hora'ah mikach, and the instruction from all of this, the application of all of this, right? It's a very deep application of this, it's like a very deep hora'ah mikach from this over here.
Sometimes we have to do things that are very, very difficult that are both by Yosef and Yehuda. Yosef, saying what he said, distancing himself from his brothers because he knew what he was doing and he had to do, you wanted to take it on himself. It's a very hard thing. Sometimes we do things and it's very, we know it'll be hard for people to understand, but we know we have to do it.
We have to daven at that moment to not judge people that won't maybe understand us right away. That's one hora'ah mikach. The other hora'ah mikach is that, and Yehuda, it's the same thing about Yehuda as well, with the mechira, he knew it had to happen. But still, he and he knew he had to do it, he knew that he'd have to do teshuva over it.
But our lives are a culmination of living with the brachos of both Yosef and Yehuda. The koach to keep on going strong no matter what, and the koach that when we fall, we could also get up. This comes from these parshios. This is the tikkun achim.
The whole tikkun is, like we always say every year, Torah from Reb Simcha Bunim miPshischa, Vayiruhu echav meirachok is what the pasuk says. The way that the balagan may have happened al pi pshat is because they saw him coming and the word that the Torah uses is meirachok. Brothers that see each other from far, from distance, if we're not seeing what they're really all about, will end up doing things that look like destruction. The tikkun obviously is to see each other from closeness, to see each other from up front, up front.
So b'ezras Hashem we should, we should see each other, we should want to see each other, we should express to each other that we actually want to see each other, up front, up close. And b'ezras Hashem like that, the two melachim, Yosef and Yehuda will reunite once and and forever permanently with obviously the coming of Melech Hamashiach, techef u'miyad mamash. Amen.