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Parshat Vayeshev and Chanukah 5784 by Rabbi Baruch Taub
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
thank you thank you for everything okay
uh let's learn a little bit so I put
down here V K I'm going to do something
from the
para um which these two items on the
sheets it will not be
uh uh it will not realize immediately
what the the connection has to do with
um our matv but I think we'll we'll see
a connection okay
umov this is the number one on the sheet
um when they brought back uh the
brothers the brought back the coat of
many colors in
blood um they thought he was
dead he tore his
garments he he started to
mourn and he mourned many many days
actually he mourned
22 years for uh for uh
yoseph and uh the question the question
here that the
balvi uh deals with um the
balvi
um is uh actually the grandfather the
great-grandfather of the great great
grand father actually R salic of Our
Generation and um he is he's asking a
question here that Yehuda in this
para um had a lost
uh uh two sons and a wife and yet it
doesn't say by Yehuda that he mourned so
much so what what was the tragedy of the
death of Yosef more so than than the
other tragedy in the par yoseph you UD
losing two sons and and his wife um so
let's see what he says concerning
that now we picked up in the middle of
this piece it's a very long piece from
the Bas
Bas the the
extraordinary uh pain the suffering of
Yakov ainu the loss of the seeming
assumed assumed loss of assumed loss of
Y I don't get
it if you look in
the and here he
goes He
mourned so he mourned he finished
Mourning
so what what's the tragedy here the
tragedy here is that he lost
12im he thought he was going to have
12im this was the last this was
from from uh from
uh Rael right the minions there
who
melis um this is a a
fundamental number 12 we'll see he's
going to go into it a little bit the the
basis of is is the 12
tribes and this is the language of the
med for example he took 12 Stones
remember the dream not he took 12
Stones um the K who was go that there'll
be 12 tribes based on the 12 Stones that
he
took so was not to have the 12 tribes
which we were foretold we were going to
be did
not if I put these 12 Stones
together
so I know that I will be the one who is
who privileged to raise the 12
tribes and this was his his desire his
dream his spiritual
Quest all of his life not to build up B
is laon sh because of that he was
willing to work 20 years in the house of
laon excuse me I just want to get aish
and check something um the Isel one
minute
please okay sorry so this was this was
his whole
onra
um all of the the suffering that he he
had to endure from his brother
as was only
[Music]
foram that he would he would gain the
bras he would receive the bras of abah
and
Ison caronus you also have the number 12
is involved in carbonis doesn't go
through explain how but um but but in
carbonis there there is a series of 12
also Y and now when he saw that ysf was
assumedly
dead
so he doesn't have the minion of 12 the
whole basis is is 12
right everything that he worked for is
is is is
gone so therefore 12 years 20 years he
22 years he suffered I mean 12 months of
the year 12 signs of the zodiac the
number 12 is a very significant
Yus number in in the world
right
he I'm going to die in suffering and
mourning all my life for my
son because this this put an end to
everything every dream that ysep had for
building up Israel so now the Bas ask a
simple
question
why did he do this why did he suffer
right he lost his son nothing worse than
losing a child and he'll he'll feel it
for the rest of his life
but
far it's true that the imos had finished
giving birth they could no longer have
children and they were not it was not
for them to have more children
simple
question let him take take another wife
right this is not an uncommon feature by
the Yos and the we see in in the Kish
let him take another wife I mean
incidentally we're all aware of the fact
that according to the Torah one can have
more than one
wife forbids it at this point in time so
um not that I'm complaining but that's
the situation he could have taken
another wife why didn't he take another
wife he could have a 12 son and save the
day and and back to the building of the
12 tribes based upon the TW signs of the
zodiac the constellation of the cosmos
right and uh
Etc and can come back first full circle
to the fullness of
why why couldn't he do it now this is
absolutely an astounding idea put forth
by the
B he swore to love on love on he swore
to love
on that I I will not take another wife
other than your to daughters
right he promised this to love one and
because of
that he he couldn't he would be breaking
his promise to
love I found
another
qu uh the the whole
Covenant of the tribes has fallen
apart how hard I I I worked to make 12
beautiful perfect tribes UD base maos 12
signs of the zodiac the
constellation 12 hours in the
day 12 hours of the
night 12 months of the
year it all started with the 12 stone
that I took and 12
Stones the the a the a had 12
Stones it fell
apart but he didn't want to take another
wife to have a
child because he promised he swore to to
love on harha that he's not going to
take another wife now could you think
maybe he could go around it
somehow and he suffered 22
years he didn't want no you know there's
you can go to we know there's a thing
called and we do it on a russan sh and
if the women can't make it the husband
does it for the wife also we're
M
and what's the obvious the easiest way
to be M you find a p an opening the
opening is if I would have known that I
would lose one of my sons so maybe I can
be out of the N of not taking another
wife he had a way out he did have a way
out
right he didn't want to get out of
it was
fearful be
to
love so this was a a tremendous test for
him you know this is even harder we can
we can surmise the B says this was a
more challenging test for Yu than the
actual the AA right that there was not
all over yet here you know here's
sh he felt he
concluded all of
his all of his promises hopes
desire 22
years and he didn't want to
be Z shov Etc goes on that he whatever
whatever the Met says this is an
astounding thought now why am I bringing
this well maybe I'll hold back let's do
the second piece that I have here on the
second page and we what does this have
to do with the mat okay with what we're
going through now so number two this is
um a saer called diona This is written
uh by a a
talmid of um
of uh R Weiss
Mandel M Weiss Mandel that's all I'm
sure many of you have heard of him he
was one of the sadim who survived the
showah and um he built a community in
Mount kishko New York of all places and
but he was a very holy Jew in fact he he
the famous story that he went to akman
he went to Amman and asked him to
arrange for trains to not to go to aitz
to return from aitz to bring back to
Germany Jews from aitz Imagine the the
the courage and actually akman Rene but
he sent one train there was one train of
Jews that came back from aitz and I
happen to know uh children and
grandchildren of of people who were
actually on that to Hungary rather back
to Hungary who were on that that train
back to Hungary so you know what I don't
know what he saved the Thousand there
were a thousand Jews that he saved out
of 600,000 but can you imagine what he
did the what he did so he was a a
great um a great person and this a
student of his rights uh brings a mice
something from him now if you go this is
called number three on page two and skip
the first paragraph it's the second we
start in the second paragraph
um you know um he was talking about a
certain period in time in Europe when uh
the our hosts host countries were very
cruel to us and uh took everything from
us and European Jews devised ways to go
around the government right to
circumvent the government um G stealing
from a non-jew
right notwithstanding the fact that the
UR who was
Aon actually brings this
in if if a non-w makes a mistake let's
say you're at the cash register
and the non-jewish cas we're not talking
about a Jewish own store right you're
you're in Foods whatever and and the
cash makes a mistake right the mistake
of mut that the the technically you
don't have to give the money back right
however
the the writes this is not really yours
in fact there's a commentary called the
bear hative uh which is um or the I
think it's on in the no it's not in the
be hative I don't have I'm not going to
open up a to find it but there's a
commentary on the side which generally
brings the sources of the in the gamar
of where this is coming from in the and
it's usually very short and tur but here
this particular
commentary um goes to Great length he
writes a whole thing that even though we
have the basic technical thing that you
could keep it if the go makes a mistake
the non-jew makes a mistake it's
a we we should not do it is we should
not do it never do it return it that's
what you have to do you have to make a
kesem so very strong right but remember
we're dealing with communities in Europe
that were suffering Terrible by from the
governments and this was the only way
they could survive right so they relied
on this this heter this basic technical
Al
I want to tell you something I once
heard from
Mand he wanted to
explain during the the
Holocaust even though the beginning of
this was in Germany Germany was the
source and then it spread to all of the
other countries all of the other
nations Yer but the Jews in Germany were
were privileged to to get out more than
any other Europe Eastern European comp
country they were allow get able to
escape and escape with their possession
more so than Jews in the other
countries German Jews were able to pull
out much more of their property and and
money and possessions than the Jews in
other countries
Mas everything was left the non-jews
took it our hosts took all of our money
all
everything they took
everything what's the reason listen to
what he
says the German Jews thei
Jews the German Jew as is well known
were much more ethical very ethical and
very particular in their in their
handling with the non-jewish their
non-jewish house in business their
business ethics were
pristine they never try to deceive in
business the non-jewish hosts of their
their
country so their money was really more
theirs than any other part of
Europe it didn't mix in with any of the
the non-jewish money that was let's say
stolen
right nor those other countries the
poverty was beyond the German Jews were
not the the the level of their existence
was on a much higher level socially but
the other countries were tremendous
poverty and the suffering that they
had the second
call so they they relied on this heter
they relied on this this poetic license
to skirt around the law in in this area
um so therefore not going to read it
inside but uh basically he says that's
why the German Jews were saved more so
and came out with more property and more
money than the other Jews not he's not
saying this is the reason why the others
were punished right not we don't give
reasons for what why the Holocaust
happened he is giving a suggested reason
why the Germans came out better off than
the those who came out the from the
other countries and and he wants to say
it's because of this
extraordinary
um ethics of the German Jews and going
back to the Bas
right that he would make
AEM to uh to love on so what do I want
to say with this what do I want to say
with it or we go on to
Kan look what's going on in the world
today the accusations the
lies that are being perpetrated against
the Jews the demand calling it genocide
genocide right the fact no one knows the
facts the anti-Semitism in the United
States is Beyond if you would ask nine
out of 10 people where Palestine is they
wouldn't even know uh what sea what
river they wouldn't know somebody
actually did went out and spoke to
people and they didn't know what they
were talking about so it's beyond I mean
it's out of control and yet we know that
no other Army in the history of warfare
ever did what that sa is doing to send
out to drop leaflets from the sky that
were coming get away to to send messages
all kinds of stories how they got
telephone numbers of of uh of
Palestinians to get out of the of the of
the north go to the South get out of
here and now that they divided up the
area of sou of Gaza they divided up
South Gaza now into four they put four
areas areas where they can go and escape
and they'll tell them to go here when
we're tracking here there's no other
nation in the world there's no no other
no other Army today or ever as moral and
as ethical of the Jewish people and you
can say to yourself why right believe me
the Americans bombed schools in
Afghanistan right they they didn't they
didn't they killed thousands tens of
thousands of innocent
civilians um it it's it's War it's a
terrible tragedy but it's War you have
to save yourself and here we're dealing
with we're dealing with people they're
not people we know what we're dealing
with so certainly you would think that
but here we we have to be so we are
sensitive because that's that's what
that's what the B taught us this comes
from Yakov ainu not to make a not to
make a to love on the Russia and that's
what we have that's what we're doing
right now so we won't make aill AEM for
Love on the Russia right and every
country including our our greatest
friend the United States are already
pushing back on pauses and ceasefires
and we're watching what you're doing and
it's you know others to R nations are
saying that we're we're genocidal it's
all genocide it's genocide in Palestine
genocide in Palestine I mean we we it it
makes our blood boil and really it's not
healthy to watch the news because
because we know the truth we know what
the truth is and we have to rather than
watch the news
doru right that the that like Ms like
oil speaking of kah Rises to the top and
and the the truth will come out so
that's why I I brought this here okay
let me conclude with a little bit of a
discussion about kanuk I want to ask
eight
questions uh
symbolically and um and give an answer
to these questions uh I think the
questions are are interesting
um the first question is um the miracle
of Kan took place in the B mikdash so
why isn't the principal Mitzvah of
lighting the candles in sh
mikash um why is the why is the it has
to be done in the house why is it in the
B why not in sh and not only that but we
light Manor in the but it's it's only
it's only a Min it's not we're not y the
Mitzvah of nous if you go to Sho and oh
I heard I heard luus nous I was there I
don't have to light at home no you have
to light at home have light at home this
is only for the people let's say who
used to live in the Sho that we continue
there you know people less fortunate
would would be put up in the Sho that
was the custom of many communities but
also it's it's a minut right P to uh say
just like kabad you know kabad does
extraordinary things they light a
manur in the cities all of all the
countries they go out they light a
minora um that's a wonderful thing for
puma and to bring people back to yish
kite right but it's not the the Mitzvah
of lighting the minur there's Puma
they're celebrating that that's an
important part of the N of the of the Y
but the actual of lighting has to be
done at home okay that's question number
one
um
question uh
number
two
um question number two is it says in
in talking
about that
says your children came your your sons
came
uh the of the whatever the exact is in I
ask you a question there are two ways of
describing Jewish people we are Bim to
hasem we are his children but we're also
aim we're also servants if you're
speaking about the kohanim in the bikash
if you were writing Alim how would you
how would you write um the words of
Al right these are your your servants
the they're theim are doing the a the
right
so um I actually I actually thought I
had all the the questions in front of me
and I don't on second one second oh here
it is okay so that's question number two
okay
um next question the rambam says in the
lighting the Kana candle he says that
the candles have to be
lit why does he have to say what's the
emphasis now please bear in mind that
the rambam any extra word in tonim in
Russia and the rambam it doesn't exist
there's no such thing as an extra word
in in the R so if the r is repeating
it every house and house has to light it
there has to be a reason for it right
also the MIT of is the next question is
is we say a candle for every man and his
and his b right and we do mahad mahad we
light one 2 3 to eight right but the
basic Mitzvah is is why is it said just
the one for like a mza it's Mitzvah is
for the house what do you mean n what
what what's the
emphasis um
also
hilus there's an
interesting that that if one does not
have enough money for either for both
shabas candles or Kana candles then you
have to light use the money for shabas
candles right because of shom right shom
that's why we like shabas CS to have sh
shom in the house create an energy of we
can see what we're
doing this is brought
in in the ra why isn't it brought inab
now in the it's brought in two places
but in the r he only brings it in why is
this that if you have only money for
shabas candles and Kan you like shabas
right next question the laws of Kana are
not we there's a there's a tractate A in
the called Manos
inos that's where you have the laws of
the minur but the laws of the kanak Min
are in chabas when the gorah talks about
the Wicks that are used for the chabas
candles so the gorah kazal the rabbis
chose to put Kaneka after that
discussion rather than in the discussion
about the minora itself why what's the
reason what's the the reason for that
also at the end of Hil and the r and we
know that the rambam generally the end
of many of his discussion discussions he
says something hash he says something
because he says something defining what
the essence of this whole chapter this
whole section of my book is all about
and he writes at the end
of that shom is is a very special thing
very important very important thing
that's his emphasis at the end of H what
why is why is that emphasis there okay
next question I think this is the last
question I think we've we've got the
eight is that every other y has an all
consuming Mitzvah all all week you go
through during the day
lul you can take you can take Suka it's
all day you have to be in the Suka right
p is is matah right
right there's only one Mitzvah and it's
it's when is it it's like a half hour at
night essentially the Mitzvah is the
time you have time to light the
candles until the last person gets home
and the street is empty there's nobody
in the street that's when you have to
light it right in other words it has to
be light at home but you have to wait
till everybody gets home to light them
in so what what's this all about I want
to say what is kanuk what is Kaneka
really all about Kaneka is about it was
not physical destruction to kill us that
was purin Kaneka as we know is was
spiritual destruction they wanted to
destroy Tores shabal they wanted to
destroy the teaching of Torah and
teaching of Torah that's why we have
this custom of Sona gelt giving money to
children because they returned to the
ability to learn Torah once again we
want to encourage them um where is how
does tar actually work right the gamorra
says that
rishin raan gam rishin gam was was will
be remembered forever because he
established a school system for the
Jewish people he established teachers in
every town right famous gamar right um
and in fact uh people say sociologists
point to this the T of the Jewish
tradition that the Jews were ahead of
the their the of the times right an
official system of public schooling for
example in England didn't happen until
the 19th century right so we were ahead
of our time with education right with
pass passing on Torah from parents to
children comes along Rev hutner and he
says the world is the sociologists are
making a big mistake this idea of
setting up schools that Rua B gum did
was a Bev it was not the the ideal
situation the ideal situation was B and
Bim the bay the home that's where Torah
was taught to children but because of
the growing ignorance that parents were
themselves not equipped to teach their
children the reishu B gumy established a
school system to augment to give the
children the message the lessons of
Torah so an educ a complicated
sophisticated educational system of
schools was a Bev it it was a necessary
thing because the Original Classic way
of giving over Torah was not we were not
able to do it so and they knew that the
Greeks knew that they tried to destroy
the home home they they did not allow us
they made us build our homes that the
doorway should be facing the doorways
and the window should be facing the
windows the M says of their neighbors
there was no
privacy right they wanted to make make
the
the the privacy of the house should be
the street right to bring the street
into the house right this is what they
wanted to do destroy destroy the house
the bay and really that is the Mir
that the that we were able to restore
the sanctity of be Israel that which
Greece really they understood this was
the source of our strength and they
tried to destroy it that's why that
really answers all of these questions
that the emphasis is the bay it and
therefore the Mitzvah is not in shul
where the miracle took place yes but
that's that was a public demonstration
of the of the miracle but what really
happened here was not you know it's not
just about the oil right um it's about a
metaphor great metaphor for Torah by the
way is oil and uh it was about the
attempt of Greece to destroy our whole
tradition which is based upon the the
the sanctity of the house the parents
giving over to their children and that's
why the actual Mitzvah has to be in the
house it has to be lit in the house
that's why the rambam emphasis izes it
and he
says every house and house that's what
the r is saying that's why in we
say
right right that the and his sons even
though it should say right but twice an
emphasis in on on on children and that's
why that's why uh we have this in in in
h khah that if you only have enough
money for shabas candles or Y of candles
shabas candles come first because it's
all about Shalom Bas right that's why
the ram ends his whole discussion of H
KH with with the the greatness of Shalom
and that's why the laws of kanah and the
lighting the minur are not in Minas with
the with the minur but they're in chabas
with the lighting of the chabas candles
and right after that the lighting of the
Kaneka candles because it's about shom
by it's about the the return the victory
the miracle of establishing
reestablishing The Jewish Home Again and
finally the only time we have this
Mitzvah this little Mitzvah of lighting
the minora not during the day yes we
light it in the morning and Sh without a
br but again to celebrate to celebrate
the miracle but that's not the the is at
night that that little window of time
that we have at night to light the
candles right right what nothing nothing
extraordinary the entire time so why is
that two things I would say number
one this is the emphasis on normaly in
Jewish life we return to normal the
normal healthy environment of a Jewish
Community mothers fathers Sons daughters
living Torah doing Mitzvah learning
transmitting the m normal SE not a
special Mitzvah like a lul and or Suka
right or a matah right something special
something unique no the the greatness of
Kaneka is normaly nothing unusual we're
back to normal and therefore why that
only that little half hour period
because that to the last Jew comes home
then we have to wait till give the to
the last Jew comes home to the bay
that's the time for the Mitzvah again
it's an emphasis on this whole idea that
this is really the essence of Kaneka so
everyone should have
a and
uhem the light of our manora will will
bring light for all of Cl Israel and
Willem get out of this m that we're in
very soon in the of our
MIT all the best