Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua — Parshat Vayechi is being sponsored by Yitzchak and Leyla Gross of Wynnewood, PA to commemorate the Yarhtzeit of Yitzchak’s Mother: Chaya Yita Sarah Bat Aharon and dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all remaining hostages and their return home home without experiencing any further harm, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To Mishpochat Gross, many thanks for your sponsorship, your kindnesses through the years in helping to facilitate Sefer Torah recycling and for your continued kindnesses.
By the way, two dear friends of mine and fellow members of Beit Knesset Beis Tefillah Yona Avraham, Rabbi Rabbi Joel Padowitz and Rabbi Jonathan Sassen have co-authored a great Sefer, “The Science Behind The Mishnah.” The Science Behind the Mishnah engages inquisitive minds with fascinating explanations of scientific topics encountered in Mishnayos Berachos.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
******************************************************
As Yaakov pronounces the Brachot to each of his sons, Torah records his Bracha to Yehuda:
“Yehuda — you, your brothers shall acknowledge; your hand will be at your enemies’; your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you. A lion cub is Yehuda; from the prey, my son, you elevated yourself. He crouches down like a lion, and like an awesome lion, who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Yehuda nor a scholar from among his descendants until Shiloh arrives and his will be an assemblage of nations.” Sefer Breish’t, Perek 49, posukim 8 – 10 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash provides commentaries on Yaakov’s Bracha to Yehuda (pages 277 – 278) :
When Yehuda heard Yaakov’s rebuke of his three older brothers, he drew back, afraid that Yaakov might chastise him over the affair of Tamar. So Yaakov called him soothingly, “Yehuda — you [spoken emphatically] are not like them. You, your brothers will acknowledge!” (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Midrash; Rashi) Yehuda would be the source of Jews’ leadership and royalty, of the Davidic dynasty and Moshiach)
So admired will you be by all of your brothers that Jews will not say; I am a Reuvenite or a Shimonite, but I am a Yehudi – Jew! (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Midrash)
“The scepter shall not depart from Yehuda…” The privilege of providing Israel’s sovereign ruler — symbolized by the royal scepter — shall not pass from the House of Yehuda. (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Onkelos) The blessing did not take affect immediately, as the first king of Am Yisrael was Shaul, a Benyaminite. However, Yaakov’s Bracha applied uninterruptedly from the time that the Malchut went to David, and it continued even after the demise of the royalty, for after the destruction of the the Second Beit HaMikdash, … the heads of the Bavli exile were appointed from Shevet Yehuda. (Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash citing Rashi)
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin provides context regarding a more hidden struggle for the ascent to leadership of the Jews towards the end of Yaakov’s life in his sefer “Unlocking the Torah Text” on Sefer Breish’t (pages 273-274):
A hidden struggle courses beneath the surface… as… each of Yaakov’s sons strives for a prize of overwhelming responsibility and inestimable value.
….Who, from among the sons of Yaakov, will rise to leadership of the Jews?
Three possible candidates emerge from a crowded field, each a complex figure with strong positive credentials.
1/ Reuven — firstborn to Yaakov; the leadership role is Reuven’s birthright and, thus, his to lose. He, alone amongst his brothers, attempts to save Yosef and return him to his father’s home. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 37, posukim 21-22)
2/ Yosef — a born leader; Yosef rises to the top of any environment into which he is placed. He becomes a powerful leader who is able to manipulate circumstances and the behavior of others in order to achieve his goals. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 39. posuk 1 through Perek 47, posuk 27)
3/ Yehuda — powerfully persuasive; Yehuda convinces his brothers to sell Yosef into slavery, rather than allow him to perish in the pit. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 37, posukim 26-27) Yehuda rises to protect his younger brother, Binyamin, when Binyamin is threatened by Yosef with imprisonment. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 44, posukim 18-34)
When Yaakov blesses his sons from his deathbed in [our] Parshat Vayechi, he clearly indicates Hashem’s verdict, Yehuda is to be the progenitor of leadership within the B’nei Yisrael. “The scepter shall not pass from Yehuda nor legislation from among his descendants until Shilo (the Moshiach) arrives and his will be a gathering of the nations. (Rabbi Goldin rendering to English Sefer Breish’t, Perek 49, posuk 10)
We see that Yehuda appeared flawed and, at one point, was viewed by his brothers as responsible for his father’s suffering due to what appeared to Yaakov to be the loss of his then youngest son Yosef. And then, once separated from his brothers, there was the humbling affair with Tamar referred to in the previous Artscroll Chumash citing. The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash, in Parshat Vayeishev, cites Rashi (page 208):
“That Yehuda went down…” His descent was figurative, in the sense that his brothers deposed him from his position of leadership. Yehuda’s brothers lowered him in esteem because of the incident with Yosef, for when they saw their father’s intense grief, they blamed Yehuda for it. As a result of their disenchantment with him, Yehuda moved away from the family and settled in Adullam.
Rabbi Goldin writes of Yehuda (sefer “Unlocking the Torah Text” on Sefer Breish’t (page 277 – 278) :
Yehuda…. rises from… a persuasive leader at the time of Yosef’s sale into slavery, … separates temporarily from his brothers (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 38, posuk 1), only to return to their company, His leadership is cemented when he convinces his father to allow Binyamin’s journey to Egypt (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 43, posukim 3 – 14) and when he rises to with [the Viceroy] Yosef on Binyamin’s behalf. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 44, posukim 18 – 34)
Immediately before Yehuda’s defense of Binyamin, the text… foreshadows Yehuda’s rise to prominence from among his brothers by singling him out with the phrase “and Yehuda and his brothers arrived at Yosef’s house. (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 44, posuk 14)
…Yaakov, on his deathbed, acknowledges Yehuda’s journey to popular leadership: “Yehuda — you, your brothers shall acknowledge.” (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 49, posuk 8)
Yehuda learns to take full responsibility for his actions. The incident with Tamar marks the beginning of Yehuda’s journey towards personal responsibility. Confronted with Tamar’s claim that he is the father of her unborn child, Yehuda openly states, “She [Tamar] is right; it [the child] is from me.” (Rabbi Goldin citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 38. posuk 26 and Rashi on the same posuk)
Finally, Yehuda emerges as the prototype for the process of teshuva… when he rises to fight for Binyamin’s safe return [to his father]. The very individual who suggested the sale of Yosef now stands before [the Viceroy] Yosef arguing on behalf of his youngest brother!
There are no coincidences in Judaism’s history. Yehuda’s journey has brought him to this point… Faced with the same circumstances which previously led to failure, Yehuda courageously rises to leadership as he addresses the past and accepts full responsibility for his brother’s fate.
Rabbi Goldin presents the overriding theme of Yehuda’s journey (ibid, page 278) :
Yehuda, you have risen from within. You serve as a model to your brothers and have earned, through their acclaim, the mantle of leadership.
Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, in his sefer “Growth Through Torah” on our Parshat Vayechi (page 135) cites Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz who cited the Kuzari in Daas Torah, Breish’t (page 278) regarding Yehuda :
The righteous person is one who rules over himself and all his impulses. Such a person is worthy of being a ruler over others because he will rule over them with the same righteousness as he rules over himself. Such a person can be a ruler because of his own inner strength and not merely because other people happened to choose him.
This author observes the never-ending attempts by deep state leftists; politicians, Israel’s “mainstream media,” bureaucrats and the IDF’s No Win high command echelons, to advance nothing burger legal proceedings against a sitting Prime Minister, to evade providing the Prime Minister’s office with crucially important security information vital to Israel’s defense, to scheme ways toward a coup d’état against this Prime Minister and his government.
This Prime Minister has had his flaws, as Yehuda had. Witness the Wye River Memorandum where the current, and then Prime Minister’s signature led to Israel’s further cede of territories in Yehuda and the Shomron, including, as this author recalls, 80% of Hevron. And in 2004, as an MK in the then-Likud coalition government of then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, the current Prime Minister was photographed voting in favor the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and Shomron Yishuvim. More recently, he unfortunately accepted the high command and political conceptia regarding the purported aims of Hamas in Gaza in the years before the War of Simchat Torah.
But, the current Prime Minister seems to have shown himself to have risen above his past errors, much as Yehuda had, in this current matzav, during this War of fourteen months duration. He has been a most savvy and articulate leader and strategist in standing up to immense American and world pressure, as well as pressures from a multitude of internal pressures within Israel from deep state leftists of all stripes. And yet he is leading Israel’s military, despite the IDF high command machinations, to wreak heavy, maybe even catastrophic military and leadership losses upon Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups in Gaza as well similar catastrophic military, weaponry and leadership losses upon Hezbollah and Iran itself.
As this vort is being written, various terror groups in Syria have conquered large parts of that country and have overthrown president Bashar al-Assad. Israel, so far, has taken military steps to destroy Syrian weaponry insuring that these Syrian terror groups can’t access such weaponry and that these terror groups aren’t able to attack Israel.
This author sincerely hopes that the possible parallels regarding leadership between a current Prime Minister of Israel and Yehuda prove warranted.
May it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of their high command, emerge totally victorious — eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, their terrorist buddies and the so-called “innocent civilians” of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds, that the Chayalim return home whole — physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fifth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5785, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
———————————————————
Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
*********************************************************