Archive for the ‘Alshich’ Category

It’s for the Best

Upon meeting Pharoh for the first time, Yakov and Pharoh have this conversation:

וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה, אֶל-יַעֲקֹב: כַּמָּה, יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֶּיךָ. וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב, אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי, שְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה: מְעַט וְרָעִים, הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי, וְלֹא הִשִּׂיגוּ אֶת-יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אֲבֹתַי, בִּימֵי מְגוּרֵיהֶם – And Pharaoh said to Yakov, “How many have been the days, the years of your life?” And Yakov said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojournings are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and miserable, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers, in the days of their journeys.” (47:8-9)

Yakov lived a tremendously difficult life. He had fled his family to live in hiding from his brother; been cheated and overworked by his father in law; been denied marriage to the love of his youth, been betrayed by his firstborn son; seen the rape of his daughter; seen his sons bickering result in Yosef’s disappearance and presumed death for 22 years; and seen Rachel die in childbirth. This was not the future he had sought to create for the Jewish people.

Mishlei 3:2 advises that תורתי אל תשכח….. כי אורך ימים ושנות חיים – my son, don’t forget the Torah… Because it lengthens days and years of life. Life is lived through peace, wholeness and Torah – pain and suffering are not true living. It therefore stands to reason that Yakov says מְעַט וְרָעִים, הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי – “The days of the years of my life have been few and miserable,”.

However, the opening of Parshas Vayechi, which addresses the conclusion of Yakov’s life, states:

וַיְחִי יַעֲקֹב בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, שְׁבַע עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה; וַיְהִי יְמֵי-יַעֲקֹב, שְׁנֵי חַיָּיו–שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים, וְאַרְבָּעִים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה – And Yakov lived in Egypt for seventeen years, and Yakov’s days; the years of his life; were a hundred and forty seven years. (47:28)

The Torah asserts that at this juncture, just 17 years after “few and miserable”, that וַיְחִי – Yakov truly lived, “living” being the thing he had lacked his whole life, what with all his suffering.

This marks a significant change. Before reuniting his family, he felt his life had been a failure. Now they were together, living in harmony, fulfilling Yakov’s ambitions for creating a nation, יְמֵי-יַעֲקֹב, שְׁנֵי חַיָּיו – Yakov’s days and years became years of life, to the extent that שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים, וְאַרְבָּעִים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה – he could look back, and his entire life had been worth it in the end, having achieved the harmony he sought his whole life.

The Midrash and Gemara in Shabbos say that a real exile begins in chains and handcuffs; Yakov was spared this in his exile because of his merits. The Nesivos Shalom explains how the brothers could attempt to murder Yosef and then sell him, whilst seeming incredibly evil, was actually their bodies expressing what Hashem wanted, that they eventually wind up in Egypt. The people Yosef was sold to we’re traditionally salesmen of foul scented products, but Yosef was “fortunate” that they were carrying sweet smelling spices on that day.

But it was not just “fortune”, and it was the same with Yakov

There had to be an exile to Egypt. Everything had been calculated precisely. Yakov recognised at the end of his life, that every event in his life had led him to where he was.

Having recognised that all his negative experiences brought him to where he was, he was finally content, satisfied and fulfilled.

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‘Gender’ally Speaking

יוסף בן שבע עשרה שנה כו’ והוא נער כו’ (לז:ב) – “Yosef, at the age of seventeen years… But he was a youth etc.” (Vayeishev 37:2). Rashi cites the Medrash (בר”ר פ”ד ז’) that Yosef would practice “youth-like” activities, including beautifying his eyes and fixing his hair. Rav Schwab has a very nice explanation of Yosef’s behavior in his sefer. We will attempt another.

The Alshich HaKadosh in Parshas Vayishlach (34:1) writes a very elemental idea. ”ותצא דינה בת לאה כו’” – “Dina, the daughter of Leah, went out etc.” Rashi says that the passuk specifically calls her the daughter of Leah and not of Yaakov Avinu, for Leah also was a יצאנית – a woman who “goes out,” and “like mother like daughter.” The Alshich asks, however, that the cases are not similar. Leah went out to greet her husband, which presumably should not categorize her derogatorily as a יצאנית, unlike Dina who seems to unfortunately fit the bill. Which intrinsically begs the question of how Dina could be a יצאנית, a deprecating description for a girl of her stature? “כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה” – “Every honorable princess dwelling within etc.” (Tehillim 45:14). It is honorable and proper for a Jewish girl to keep to her privacy!

Says the Alshich, we know (גמ’ ברכות ס.) that Leah was pregnant with what was supposed to be a male. Yet since that baby was to be the eleventh born to Yaakov Avinu, even if Rachel were to be blessed with finally having a child (to be number twelve), both Bilah and Zilpa, the “Shfachos,” would have more of the Shevatim (two each) than Rachel. Leah therefore davened for Rachel, and Hashem turned Leah’s unborn male child into Dina. It is therefore no wonder, concludes the Alshich, that Dina was a יצאנית. Since her roots were of male origin, she possessed this male characteristic to be one who “goes out;” which is not a depreciating characteristic for men.

The Alshich, however, is learning the story according to the Gemara Brachos (60a), namely that what took place after Leah’s tefilos was that the male fetus became the female Dina (this view is also held by: ירושלמי ברכות פ”ט הל”ג (סו:), בר”ר ע”ב ו’, ותנחומא ויצא ח’). There is another opinion in Chazal, that of the Targum Yonasan (30:21, also shared by רבי צדוק בגמ’ נדה לא. לפי המהרש”א ח”א שם בשם פענח רזי) who learns that Rachel herself was pregnant with Dina at the same time that Leah was pregnant with Yosef. According to this opinion, Yosef and Dina switched places due to Leah’s tefilos, with Yosef going to Rachel and Dina going to Leah.

The Chida (ראש דוד, הובא בספר “תורת החיד”א” וישלח אות ס”ט) learns the story like the Targum Yonasan, that the babies switched wombs, yet says the exact same idea as the Alshich to explain the יצאני tendencies of Dina. Yet instead of learning that the roots of one’s own neshama being of a different gender can thereby effect one’s tendencies, like the Alshich, the Chida has to understand (and so he writes, according to how he learns the story) that Dina obtained male tendencies by entering a womb once occupied by the male Yosef.

What we are about to say is NOT “pshat,” and only possibly “drush.” Now, the advantage of learning in accordance with the Chida is that in the say way that the Chida says that Dina’s being in a womb formerly occupied by a male influenced her in a masculine way, so too did Yosef’s being in a “female womb” influence him in a feminine way. This would explain why Yosef had the tendency of beautifying himself. It would also shed new light on the Gemara Sota 10b that highlights a difference between Yosef and Yehuda. Yehuda sanctified Hashem’s name in public when he admitted to his being with Tamar. Yosef sanctified Hashem’s name in privet (when he refused to have anything to do with Potifar’s wife – Maharsha). Here we see in Yosef the attribute of doing great things specifically in private. As we mentioned, “כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה” – here we see this honorary “feministic” trait in Yosef.

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Man: pinnacle of Creation or anticlimax?

The Parsha begins with elaborations on laws pertaining to human purity:

דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר אִשָּׁה כִּי תַזְרִיעַ - Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives…. (12:2)

Rashi comments:

אשה כי תזריע : אמר ר’ שמלאי כשם שיצירתו של אדם אחר כל בהמה חיה ועוף במעשה בראשית, כך תורתו נתפרשה אחר תורת בהמה חיה ועוף – If a woman conceives: Rabbi Simlai said: “Just as in the Creation, man was created after all domestic animals, wild beasts, and birds, so too, the law [concerning the cleanness] of man is stated after the law [concerning the cleanness] of domestic animals, wild beasts, and birds.”- [Vayikra Rabbah 14:1]

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 38a) explores why the creation of man followed the creation of birds and beasts. It concludes that “אחור קודם צרתני – you were formed first and last” (Tehillim 139:5). What does this mean? If a man is worthy, we say he preceded Creation, but if he is a sinner, we say that even a mosquito was created before him, so he has nothing to be arrogant about, given that even minuscule entities such as the mosquito were created before him.

However, this is difficult to comprehend – “If a man is worthy, we say he preceded Creation” – if we examine the reality, man was created last, on the 6th day of Creation, so how are we to understand the Gemara?
(more…)

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What is money for?

In the part of the Parsha that discusses the way one should treat others, the monetary law mentioned explains that one must take care of the needy. The pasuk (22:24) says אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת עַמִּי אֶת הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ…… – When you lend money to My people, to the poor person with you….

There is a slight difficulty in interpreting the word עִמָּךְ - with you – in the context.

The Alshich explains that money is not ours, it is merely deposited with us by G-d. We are given the privilege of having money in order to share it with people who are less fortunate. He explains that the pasuk is telling us that אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת עַמִּי – when we lend money – אֶת הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ - it belongs to the poor, it just happens to be with you. This is a lesson we can certainly take on board, that nothing is really “ours”, and we should therefore take great responsibility and care of it.

The Vilna Gaon explains that the pasuk is alluding to a standard monetary law: loans are done before witnesses to prevent unscrupulous activity, whereas charity is done in solitude, and no-one needs to know. אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה – When you lend money - אֶת עַמִּי – do so before My people – אֶת הֶעָנִי – the poor however – עִמָּךְ - do it alone. This is certainly the correct way to give charity – in secret.

The Kli Yakar explains that when a person gives charity or a charitable loan, all good deeds and benefits resultant from it are credited to the person who financed the good deeds and actions. אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת עַמִּי אֶת הֶעָנִי - If you lend/give money to my people or the needy – עִמָּךְ (all the merits that result) are with you too!

We can certainly incorporate all these ideas when we give charity, that the money is not ours to begin with, that we should do it in secret, and that the merit of charity does not stop once you’ve given it, you still receive all resultant merits performed as a result of your kindness.

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This Weeks Parsha

Israel: Bechukosai

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