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A refreshing and clear review of each Parsha in the Torah presented by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe
00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.
00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Alright, welcome back everybody. Good morning, it's so wonderful to be here. Parsha's Vayeshev, parsha's Vayeshev, we see about the story of the brothers and their hatred of Yosef. Now, who are these? Who are these brothers? Who are these tribes? These are the fathers of the nation. Twelve holy tribes, shiftei Ka. The name of Hashem rests upon them. Really, really holy, the children of Jacob. And they are described in our Torah portion in very simple terms.
00:45
Let's look at chapter 37, verse number four. And the brothers saw that it was he whom their father loved most of all. So they hated him. They could not speak with him peacefully.
01:12
You know, there's so many questions to ask. There's so many questions to ask how is it possible that people so holy can act in a way that seems to us, again, we don't even come close to understanding? You know this whole Bible criticism, generation of arrogance, where we're going to criticize Moses and we're going to no, no, that's not. That's not what we're trying to do here. What we're trying to do is understand, because ma'aseh avos, simon l'abadim, what our sages experienced is a sign for what we will experience. Their challenges are going to be our challenges. So what is going on over here? Why would the Torah tell us in such great detail the flaws, so to speak, of Abraham, isaac and Jacob? That's number one. Number two what in the world is going on over here With the Torah? I mean, the Torah is the document that God gave the Jewish people as our manual for living. Wouldn't you want to hide some of the flaws of the Jewish people? Wouldn't you want to put it aside? You know what. Nobody needs to know. That part, okay, that's the part we don't talk about. But instead we see that it's out in the open. We see the flaws, potentially, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of the tribes of Moses, of Aaron. We see their flaws. They're out in the open. Why would the Torah not hide it? Why would the Torah not make an exemption? Oh, you're a member of the House or the Senate? We just won't publish the report. Nobody needs to know what you did. Nobody needs to know what you did. Nobody needs to know how you behaved. There's no such exception of the Torah, and we know we mentioned this previously. There's not either, any anonymous sources in the Torah. The Talmud doesn't have ever. Well, someone said, but I can't tell you who. What's going on over here? Why is the Torah including this Say just tell us something which is so important.
03:35
It's, you see, what is the essence of all of the Torah. Everything that we have in the Torah has one fundamental principle that rides through it all Truth. Here we go Honesty. We want the truth. That's it. Don't give me nice, don't give me beautiful. Give me truthful, give me honesty.
04:02
The Torah says listen to what Rashi says. From their degradation, so to speak, of our tribes, we see their greatness. They weren't two-faced. They weren't two-faced. They weren't two-faced. You know what the Torah tells us Hanufa. What is Hanufa? Hanufa is when someone is a flatterer I want something from you, but I really hate you, but I need you. So I'm going to say something nice, just so that I can curry favor with you get what I want. But then turn around and stab you in the back Like, as we mentioned, politicians.
04:49
Politicians do this professionally, right. They tell you whatever you want to hear. Yeah, we're going to fix the roads. Yeah, we're going to take away all of the extra spending from the government, we're going to tighten up the ship. Just give us money. Just give us money. They go into office and what happens? Nothing happens. They don't even know you're who I'm sorry what, and when they're running for election again.
05:14
This is what the Mishnah tells us. The Mishnah was written 2,000 years ago. The Mishnah tells us this is what's going to happen, because we're not living in a truthful world the Torah is a truthful world where it's not hidden, the flaws of our ancestors. Now again, we have to, with trepidation, we have to say even those words flaws. Who are we to start criticizing? But we look at what our sages tell us.
05:48
There was one incredible virtue that is taught to us in this Mishnah, in this Parsha, and that is there's no being two-faced. There's no being two-faced. If you like something, don't make believe you don't, and if you don't like something, don't make believe you do. Oh, does that mean I have to go and start criticizing every person around me, because I don't like the clothes they're wearing and I don't like the words they're using, and I don't like their political leanings and I don't like who they voted for, and I don't like the political leanings and I don't like who they voted for, and I don't like the way their front lawn looks. No, that's not our business. It's not our business.
06:31
The Torah, though, tells us you can't live two-faced. What is Hashem Echad Hashem Elokeinu Hashem. Echad Hashem is one, hashem isn't two. Hashem doesn't have two faces. When Hashem is happy, we know he's happy. When Hashem is not happy, we know Hashem is not happy. There's no two-faced. I'm really upset but I'm going to show you as if I'm not upset. Or I'm really happy, but I'm going to make we don't work like that.
07:09
The Torah doesn't hide the flaws of our sages, because the Torah wants us to learn from our sages, from our ancestors, from our patriarchs and our matriarchs. The Torah wants us to learn from them, for us to take a step, to take a step, to take a stand and make change. You see, joseph and his brothers were unbelievable people. What they were speaking was words of prophecy. And if you look and you look in the Midrash we have plenty of amazing books here in the magnificent Levitt Family Library here in the New Torch Center it's unbelievable. You look at the words of our sages and you are able to see exactly what those words that the Torah describes.
08:11
The father loved him. The father loved him. Who is that referring to? Referring to our father in heaven had a special love for Joseph. So what does he do? I mean?
08:23
Imagine this if you loved someone, would you throw him into a dungeon in Egypt? Would you throw? It's someone I love, it's someone I love. Why it's someone I love? Why would I throw him into a dungeon? Ah, there's something more to the love that God has for Joseph. Because I love you, I'm going to put you through a challenge that'll elevate you, not that'll knock you down. That'll make you even greater.
08:52
You see, we sometimes look at challenge and we turn to Hashem and we say, hashem, why are you doing this to me? Why, why, what did I ever do to you? Why? Why are you doing this to me? You know what we see from the Torah. Who was the greatest of all the brothers? Joseph? Who had the greatest of all the brothers? Joseph? Who had the greatest challenges of all the brothers, joseph? Ah, we see a common thread here. We see that when Hashem wants to bring goodness out of you, he's going to challenge you.
09:29
Anybody who's ever been a teacher, a school teacher, you'll have different levels of intelligence among your students, but you'll also find that the child who is smarter needs to be challenged more for that intelligence to be brought out. For that intelligence to be brought out, why are you picking on me? I'm not picking on you. I'm trying to bring your intelligence to the level it can be. I'm trying to bring your potential to the level that it can be.
10:07
We look at adversity, we look at challenge and we're like, oh, hashem must hate me, hashem has it in for me. Look at all the problems he brings to me. He brings you the problems because he knows you can solve the problem. He brings you the problems because he knows that you will take it and you will sharpen. You know what do you do to sharpen a knife. You take another knife and then what happens? They both become sharper. What are you bringing a knife to me? What are you bringing a knife to me? Only going to make you sharper. If we don't have a challenge, we're not going to be tested with our abilities. It's only because we have these challenges that we're able to bring our abilities to our greatest potential.
11:06
What we're seeing here is the process of a prophecy coming to fruition. Joseph, what is he? A dummy. He doesn't realize that his brothers don't appreciate what he's saying. You're all going to bow down to me. I had these dreams. Come on, have some sense. What is he talking about? He's talking about a prophecy. I'm letting you know. There's something going to happen, and this is the story of the Torah. The story of the Torah is not telling us oh, these guys were a bunch of lowlives. Look how they started up with their brother. No, yeah, they were jealous.
11:55
Everybody wants to be the hero. We all want to wear the cape. We all want to be the hero. Why? An amazing attribute of the male gender? We all attach ourselves to heroes. We all want to be a hero. What does a female want to do? She wants to be a princess. She wants to be a princess. She wants to be pristine. We want to get into the trenches and we want to save the world. We want to be the hero. Totally different agenda. The brothers are jealous. What are they jealous of? Yosef? Yosef is going to be the hero. We want to be the hero. We want to be able to bring Hashem's light to the world. They were jealous. I think they were jealous because he got a coat. Really, they didn't. Do you understand how wealthy Abraham Isaac and Jacob were? They couldn't buy a coat Right To go to Nordstrom, couldn't buy a coat Right To go to Nordstrom and go buy a coat. What were they jealous of? Look at the light that Joseph is going to bring to the world. Look at the redemption that's going to come through the hand of Yosef. Everybody wants to be the hero. They weren't jealous because of a coat. They weren't jealous because of a coat. They weren't jealous because of his dreams, because of his nonsense. They each were vying for the position of being the messenger of Hashem to bring the redemption to the Jewish people.
13:47
We see that our sages guide us through the words of the Torah, to learn, to grow, to connect on a higher level. We see that the sages teach us how Judah, the other tribes. Later in this week's parasha, it says Judah went down, he descended. What does it mean? He descended? Where did he go down? Spiritually? He went down why? Because he caused his father pain. There's a reward and punishment. Let's understand.
14:38
There's a bunch of important things here. Number one we don't hide the truth. It has to be the right way to present it. But you don't hide the truth. We're not two-faced. The Torah is very, very, very clear this is Joseph, these are his brothers, these are the mistakes they made and we have to learn to not be two-faced about it. You know, the Torah says a very important mitzvah Do not cause pain to your fellow. Do not cause pain.
15:19
So if anybody doesn't like the color of someone else's shirt, you don't go over to them and say, no, that's an ugly shirt, that's not the way we talk. It'll make someone feel bad. Before I started wearing only white shirts. There's a reason I started wearing only white shirts because you can match any tie with it. I was very bad at matching shirts and ties. It was terrible. So I asked my daughter. She was about six years old. I asked her. I said does this match? This is a clever girl. She didn't say no, it doesn't match. She says come, let me find a tie that matches better. So if someone says do you like my shirt, let me find a shirt that matches a. So if someone says do you like my shirt, let me find a shirt that matches a little better, that looks a little better.
16:16
We don't have to hurt somebody. We don't have to harm them, harm their feelings. But also we see that there is reward and punishment. Our actions have reactions and there's an accountability. But also we see that there is reward and punishment. Our actions have reactions and there's an accountability for everything that we do. The good things that we do will be rewarded in the most incredible way, and the unfortunate things that we do will also have their result.
16:49
Even though Joseph was sold to Egypt and we'll see in the coming portions Joseph didn't hold a grudge against his brothers. What did you do to me, for example? Modern day Joseph, you get fired from your job. Been dedicated for years to this company, you get fired. Yeah, it turns out, you end up rewriting your resume. You get a better job and now you look back at your old place. You guys are a bunch of losers. You fired me Instead.
17:30
The Torah teaches us from Yosef what it means to be a winner. When they came and they said we're so sorry, how did we fire you? How did we sell you to Egypt? He says no, no, no, it wasn't you, it was Hashem, it wasn't you. Someone fired you from your job. Have gratitude that propelled you to your next step. Be thankful. Don't be hateful. Realize that there's a big picture and they're playing an essential role in that big picture of your life.
18:08
My dear friends, let's take the Parsha and learn it and understand it. Read through it. I'm telling you, it's a mesmerizing story and there's so many lessons. Look in the commentaries. I highly recommend I use the Schottenstein interlinear Chumash, where every word is translated beneath it, right the line, right beneath it. You see the translation for each word. Or you can use the stone edition Chumash, but on the bottom there are all these beautiful commentaries that explain every word so beautifully. They explain the concept. What's really going on behind the scenes? Utilize the time that we have on this earth to learn to enhance our lives, to fill our mind, our body, our soul with as much Torah as possible. Amen. Have a beautiful Shabbos, My dear friends.