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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.
00:11 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Parsha Review Podcast. In this week's Parsha we have to me my personal favorite Parsha of the entire Torah and I love the entire Torah. But the story in this week's Parsha of the entire Torah, and I love the entire Torah, but the story in this week's Parsha, the drama, is better than any Disney, better than any Paramount, any. You name the producer of any movie, the script, the screenwriter. There's nothing like the Torah's tale of how Yosef and his brothers meet up, and the more we look into it, the more we are mesmerized by the greatness of Yosef, his brothers, the family, jacob. I mean it's just amazing. But listen to what happens here. It's all. The drama Starts off this week's parasha.
01:06
Yehuda steps up to Joseph and he says okay, this is crazy, I gotta put my foot down here. He says we didn't steal your goblet, we came back. You took our brother Benjamin. Like, what else do you want from us? What else do you want from us? What else do you want from us? And imagine last week was a cliffhanger. And now we come right into this Yehuda negotiation with his brother Joseph, not knowing it's Joseph, his brother Joseph not knowing it's Joseph. So Joseph says okay, the time has come. I see that they care about Binyamin, his biological brother. They care about him properly, they're protecting him the way they should have protected me, meaning they've done teshuva, they've repented. So Yosef says okay, now is the time to tell my brothers that I am really Joseph, I am really their brother. Until now there was sort of this veil of hiddenness. It wasn't revealed. They didn't realize that this was their brother. So he kicks everyone out of the room and he says V'lo yachol Yosef lehisapik.
02:36
Yosef was unable to restrain himself. L'chol enitzavim, in the presence of all who stood before him, v'yikra ho tziu kol ishme alay. He says take everyone out of the room. I need everybody out. Nobody was in the room when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and he gave out his voice in weeping. And the entire Egypt heard this cry. The whole household of Pharaoh heard this cry from Yosef. And Yosef says to his brother the first question he asks is my father still alive? His brothers could not respond. They were in shock Because they were dismayed, they were frightened before him. Now listen to the next two verses. And Yosef said Elahov to his brothers. Next two verses and Yosef said to his brothers he says come close. And they get close to him. I am the Yosef that you sold to Egypt. Come, come, let's group hug, let's huddle around together. I am the Yosef. But listen to the next most amazing verse Ve'ato. And now my dear brothers, al te'otvu, ve'al yichar, be'enechem ki mechartim osi heina Don't get upset.
04:25
Don't get angry in your own eyes because you sold me to Egypt, to this place. He doesn't say to Egypt to this place, for it was to be a source of sustenance, that God sent me ahead of you. You know, the brothers were, like all of us, much greater, much holier, much more special, but they were going to beat themselves up. Can't believe we did this. I can't believe it. How could we have done this? You know, the entire time that the brothers came into Egypt and suddenly they call the attention of the viceroy, they get imprisoned, they get questioned, interrogated. What did they say the whole time? They didn't say he's such an evil dictator. They didn't say he's such an evil leader of Egypt. They said Hashem, you're doing this. What do you want us to do? What do you want us to do? What do you want us to learn? Meaning the immediate response was correct. We know people who, everything that happens to them in their life, everything that happens to them in their life, they say Hashem, what's the message? What do you want me to learn? How do you want me to grow from this? Hashem? I realize you're communicating with me. Hashem, it's you, but you know where it gets difficult. See, that can happen if it's a tree that falls on your house, hashem? What's your message? What do you want to tell me? See, that can happen if it's a tree that falls on your house, hashem, what's your message? What do you want to tell me? That's very clear. It's the hand of Hashem. Rabbi, are you going to also tell me that when my boss fires me, when my employee steals from me, when my neighbor, when my friend, when my spouse or my child when they do something to me, when my neighbor, when my friend, when my spouse or my child, when they do something to me, am I supposed to think that that's also the hand of God? Joseph teaches us yes, absolutely my brothers, you're the ones who sold me to Egypt. You evil brothers? No, not you. Hashem sent me there. Hashem sent me there to feed you food.
07:14
You understand that even an act that was done by another human being, a great person like Yosef attributes it it's the hand of Hashem. That person would never have done it on their own. Hashem did it. Hashem sent them to do it. Yes, that also means that when you're driving in your car and the car in front of you makes a gesture towards you because you're driving too fast or too slow. Just go to New York for two minutes and you'll see it. You'll see what I'm talking about. Know what I'm saying. Forget about it, right? We think like oh, these people, this person, that person, no, these are all messages from Hashem. Hashem is the one who's giving us all of these messages, sending it through his quote angels to send us these messages.
08:25
Yosef recognized this right away. Yosef didn't have one iota of anger towards his brothers. You see, we're dealing with a balance, a humanistic balance, with a godly balance of like is it human, is it God? Is it human, is it God? Because we see later on, when Jacob dies, the brothers are concerned about Joseph and Joseph reassures them. He says guys, guys, guys, don't worry about it, I'm not going to hurt you. What happened? Joseph, already here, tells them. He says guys, guys, guys, don't worry about it, I'm not going to hurt you. What happened? Joseph, already here, tells them it's all the hand of Hashem, don't beat yourselves up. What suddenly happens now, when Jacob's not there. They're like well, maybe because Jacob was there, therefore you didn't harm us, but now that Jacob is gone, you're going to come harm us, like, no, no, no. Live on the godly route. On the godly side of life, you have nothing to worry about, nothing to fear, nothing to be concerned about. How many times do we're like? You know what that person did to me? That person stole my business. That person stole my clients. That person no, that person didn't do anything to you. The Almighty tested you to elevate you. I told you a story. I've said this story before. I'll share it one more time. I told you a story. I've said this story before. I'll share it one more time.
10:02
My wife and I that's almost 20 years ago moved to Houston and my wife was she's an entrepreneur and she decided to open up a little business. And that little business slowly, actually quickly, grew. It doubled, it tripled, quadrupled, tenfold. It grew in size, in inventory. It was growing very, very nicely and then it got burdensome. It's a lot of work, it's a lot of inventory, it's a lot of schlepping, it's a lot of boxes. So we decided that it was time. She wanted to sell the business, put it up for sale. Someone approached us, they wanted to buy it, put a contract together, had a lawyer draft the document and then what? We sold the business. Amazing, and the person never paid a penny, ran off with the business Amazing and the person never paid a penny. Ran off with the goods, sold it off Off the back of the truck, disappeared from town, Gone.
11:07
Who did it to us?
11:09
Did Hashem do it?
11:11
Or did this quote thief stole?
11:17
Who did it? All the hand of Hashem. My wife was a little upset, to say the least, and we had a heart-to-heart conversation about this. He said we believe in Hashem, right, we believe that everything is the hand of Hashem. So we can take this person to court, hire lawyers, fight, yell, kick and scream, or we can recognize that's the humanistic side, or we can recognize everything is the hand of Hashem and if the hand of Hashem wills it, we'll get paid. If the hand of Hashem does not will it, we won't get paid. Through him, through that person, they're just pawns in Hashem's game. My wife said I prefer living on the godly side, I don't want to fight with the humans, I want to deal with God and Hashem turned events, not with this individual.
12:29
Something else came up and within one year, within one year, all the money that would have been earned through that sale was earned a different way. Earned through that sale was earned a different way and all the debts were paid and everything. We got paid quicker, we got paid easier, we got paid without the hassle, without the headache. There were different means. We feel like we need to control our destiny or me. We get very caught up in ourselves, arrogantly thinking that we're in control of everything. All we need to do is let go and let Hashem, let Hashem handle it.
13:24
If we realize that everything is the hand of Hashem, it's not this person telling you that, it's not that person harming you like that, it's Hashem guiding you, directing you. Oh well, how can you say that? My sister-in-law told me this and my husband said that and my nephew insulted me like this. That's if you live in the human world. But if you live in the godly world, you realize that Hashem is sending you a message. What's the message? Only you can interpret that. You can ask someone who's very, very, very wise. Perhaps they can shed light to what you're experiencing. They can shed light to what you're experiencing. But the challenge if a person lives on the humanistic side, if we live as humans alone and everything needs to make sense, we'll be devastated day after day after day and our entire life will be one big, sad life. But if we realize that everything is the hand of Hashem. It's such a great joy, it's such a great privilege, it's such an absolute delight that every single day, we see the hand of Hashem and when someone makes a comment we're like ah, I got the message, hashem, thank you. Hashem is communicating with us.
14:56
I had someone tell me it's like, rabbi, you said that God communicates with us. In what words to use? In what words? He was upset about a specific issue that happened, needed a clear answer, and someone who he trusted said something to him. He says do you understand what that person meant? That maybe they're a mouthpiece for Hashem, maybe they're telling you exactly what you need to hear for this moment, that you're challenged, that you don't know what to do. And you said Hashem, give me the words. Hashem sent the person to tell you that I have found even more. I have found that sometimes someone will say something to you and it will seem odd, like, what are they saying? Why are they saying Do they know? Do they know? And then you go back to them, you ask them what did you mean when you said that? Like, I never said such a thing, meaning they were literally used as a mouthpiece of Hashem. They don't even know what they said.
16:14
We're living in a world where we have these choices. We have the choice of whether or not we live with a vibrant recognition that every single word, every single experience is a message from Hashem. We're living in a life with Hashem. Hashem is living, as we will see shortly in our prayer podcast. We're talking about Yigdal this week. Elohim Chai, god is a living God, right here, dealing with us right now, a living God, not somewhere out there in the ether. God is. I believe there's a God, maybe there's a God. No, elohim Chai. He is living with us right now, communicating with us right now. This is the lesson that we can learn from this week's Parsha Joseph, and it takes a great power, someone who really is godly, to recognize my brothers did not sell me to Egypt. Read the words, verse number five Al teyotzvu, don't be upset.
17:37
Ve'al yichar be'ineichem, don't be angry. Ki mechartem osi heina. Because you sold me to this place. Ilimich yashlochani, elohim lefneichem, because you sold me to this place? Because Hashem is the one. Hashem is the one who has given me, who has placed me here. Hashem is the one who brought me here to feed you. Meaning, what is he doing by saying that, yosef, he's not only taking the blame off them. I'm on a mission. Hashem sent me here on a mission. You think I'm upset at you? I'm just like saying it's okay, it's all the hand of Hashem. Hashem put me here for a purpose Feed you. He's justifying his being sold there. This is a great person.
18:38
Yosef is called a tzaddik, one of the only two people in the Torah called a tzaddik. Noach was called a tzaddik and Yosef is called a tzaddik. Noach was called a tzaddik and Yosef is called a tzaddik. We'll get into that another time. Why specifically these two great men were called tzaddik and pious, righteous.
19:01
We have the opportunity, we have the choice to live in a world that's godly, in a world where we realize that everything is the hand of Hashem. We don't understand it always, it doesn't always make sense to us, it doesn't always add up to our calculation, but if we live in that world, we're living in a very good place. Hashem should bless us all. We should merit to live in that world. We're living in a very good place. Hashem should bless us all. We should merit to live in that existence, an existence of closeness, of comfort, of connection, where we know that everything that happens to us, even the things that another person afflicts upon us they did it to me when it might be difficult to attribute it that's the hand of Hashem. Yes, that too is the hand of Hashem. We should all succeed in gaining wisdom from Yosef, from his example, and to be close, confident in our relationship with Hashem every single day of our lives. Amen.
20:09 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.