Parshas Vayechi (4) - Yosef HaTzadik, one of the Avos

This week's para is parasi and we have holding at the fourth and final share of paras nun puk tesv. So, Yseph and his brothers and the entire entourage of Mitzim that had gone to Cananan to partake in the royal funeral of Yakovu had returned. And really now for the first time Ysef is going to be living alongside his brothers with the Tata Jacobu no longer alive says the brothers of Yseph saw that their father had died and they said to themselves it's very possible I don't know but what happens if Ysef decides to hate on us now and he's going to decide to even the score and to take revenge for all the bad things that we had done to him. We made a big deal about this in the beginning of parishes vayash the reaction of yafatic to the brothers when they all realize who's who and what's what the incredible guru the incredible midas how despite the fact the brothers did to y what they did but ysef acted like the he was in terms of the way he responded but the brothers were a little bit concerned that maybe the Only reason Ysef had reacted that way was because of the fact that Yakov was alive. But now that Yakov is not alive anymore. So maybe Yseph is going to suddenly interact with us differently. Maybe he was waiting for this moment and all of a sudden things are going to start going ary. In fact, Rashi says that there was one thing that Yosf started doing a little bit differently once Yakabinu had passed away that he hadn't done previously. When YaKob was alive, the brothers would often sit at the table of Ysef. Ysef is king. So that's quite the table, quite the banquet. But like as soon as Yakavino passed away, that custom stopped and they attributed it. Maybe this is some raglud some credibility to our paranoia to this that we're a little bit concerned about either way. So the brothers decided that they're going to preempt this So they sent the following message to they said you should know that before your father died this is what he said give over the following message to and this is not just a message this reads like a please forgive the terrible deeds that your brothers did to you do not take revenge Now being that this was something that the Tata said before he died. So we're requesting you should fulfill this. Can you please forgive us? And when Ysef heard what the brother said, he began to cry. By the way, underrated. One of the themes of is how emotional he seems to be, how often he cries. But when the brothers said what they said to so began to cry. Now there's a very important rash rashi says that this spiel of the brothers never happened. This wasn't true. Never happened. It was fake news. Why did they say it? They said it because they were scared. But really it never happened. I how could you tell a lie? This is one of the that you're allowed to be right. Sometimes you're allowed to deviate from the truth. We have a from the banish right exactly who he was. But the rabbi was on where he brings all the different from different times where a person's allowed to lie. But this is the most notable one is a time that a person is allowed to lie and as a result it was because of that they felt they had a license to do this. Now truth is this is still a little bit of aesh because usually when you think of the idea of being those are the words it means maybe you tell a white lie but to go ahead and say lie that's already something that's you would think not okay even even but either way they made up this story because they were trying to make sure there was going to be shalom and of course reacted the way yf always reacts like a sadic first things he began to cry when they saw Yseph's reaction. So they went and they fell in front of him. They said, "We're willing to be slaves for you. Aliro, what are you doing? Why are you afraid? You're going to be my slave. What do I look like? I'm the first ones to utter those words." And who did he say it to? Said it to He said it to Ysef's mother. Over here, Ysef is saying those words. He's saying it to his brothers. And he continued, he said, Right. You tried doing bad to me. In your mind, you thought you were going to kill me. You were going to sell me as a slave. But ultimately had the right thing in mind for me. He had something good. And the reason was for me to end up being here. So what's telling the brothers? He's telling the brothers that why would I even take revenge anyways? Oh, because you had you had the end of the day. Look at all the good that came from it. So there's no basis for me to even take revenge from you. Which by the way, this is this is exactly what Ysef told the brothers the first time when he said and they were all scared, right? They couldn't even say one word. He said this exact response and this is saying the same thing. If you look at Rashi, Rashi has one. Rashi says that what Ysef was also telling the brothers was is you think that I'm going to try to harm you? Let's be honest. If there's anyone that knows that you could try to harm someone from today till tomorrow, but if a doesn't want the person to be harmed, he's not going to be harmed, it's us, right? So, we know that it doesn't even make sense for me to think to try to harm you. If you deserve punishment, is going to deal with it. But I'm certainly not going to get involved either way. Said again, now you have nothing to fear. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to support you. I'm going to support your children. He gave them and he spoke, right? He made them feel much better. Ysef settled the together with right his father's family. And lived 110 years. The says that was to see from. So what does that mean? It means his grandchildren had children. Right? So she would be the third ben means the children of the third. Ysef's son Manasha had a famous son Mah. And the Ben Mer also had children. So he's seeing multiple generations come from him. [snorts] Then turned to his brothers. He said, "I'm going to die." But one day is going to remember you and he is going to take you up from this land to the land that he had promised. And then Yseph did to his brothers exactly what his father had done to him. He made his brother swear and he said one day who's going to remember you. He's going to take you from here and when you ascend I want you to take my I want you to take me with you says the bos and after that close his eyes died then he was 110 years old and the mitz the Egyptians did this process of like they had done to and they placed him in And this is the famous and they left him in the interim. And with those words, a little bit of raid, but with those words we say. We'll get back to the Kazak Kazakh, but just one before we walk away from Kasha and we pivot into the second phase of really and that is if you take a look at the Ramban the Ramban at the very very end of his perish. This is not the last Ramban but it's the postcript. It's a little bit of a poem that the Ramban wrote after the last Ramban. He says as follows. He says was just concluded by telling the story of the and what's the it's to tell the the idea of learning the is knowing the future before the future is even going to happen. It's to be able to foretell what's going to take place before it actually happens. This is the this is an idea that the Ramban says countless times throughout his and that is the reason the was so with all the stories of the it's because the first time said it was in he said I'm going to tell you a principle they It's not true. So who said that the whole story of the office is to tell us the future before it even happens. And then he says beautiful poem that Raan concludes his purish on safe with. But Ramban says you want to understand what safe is it's and you want to know why it's important to know it's these are not stories. These are little hints and remining CL Israel into understanding the future of Claw Israel. But I had a and this is very very subtle but it bothers me a lot and that is if we go back and we do a little bit of a of so the story of the office begins in the end of parish right that's where it begins obviously and then you have the vlog and then at the end of parish we're introduced to Abrau and the story of Abramu starts from the end of vo Inasur we overlap together with and that goes into Tlus in the beginning of Tlis. Yakov is born. Yakov is of course the primary subject of Parish Viet and Vaylak and into the final parish as well stating that who is the main character so to speak of Parish Vesv. My vote it's not Yakov it's Ysef. For sure it's Ysef. The para begins with Ysef's dreams and then Yseph is almost killed but ultimately he's sold and then we have the story of Pifar and we have the story of the Mashk and the Sim when Ysef is in Bas. Now of course who sold Ysef the brother sold Ysef and who was bits over it? It was Yakov. Yakov was the one who sent YV to Shrem. We also interrupt the program with the story of Yehuda and Tar. But the main character of parishes viatic. Who's the main character of Paris Mikates? For sure it's fatic. [snorts] What's even the question plays a role? We'll send but ultimately who's the main subject of the para? It's the same is true for sure for the first half of para's. really even the end of parash even it's the story of it's a story of how does the par end what are the last words of say the says that is a it's supposed to be the story of the obviously it's not going to be exclusively the story of the office but it's the story of the I don't know it feels like there's too much y at the end is for sure the theme of the end of say bes is not one of the he's one of the so how's it possible then if that there's so much print so much related to the story of just to bring out the question a little bit better if we go back down memory lane and we kazer a little bit it's incredible to me how little The talks about theatim we know so little now theatim we know maybe a little bit more but think of the individual let's start from the beginning what do we know about Ruv so Ruv was a little boy he found dudam and he brought it to his mother Leia that's Ruain okay it's part of the story we know the story of Billah we know Ruvane was the one brother that very much didn't want ysef to [snorts] be killed Ruvane told Yakov I'll take a over bringing back which didn't even accept right we know very very very very little about what do we know about right that's pretty much what we know about Shim and Ley were involved in the story of we know from Rashi brings many times they were the ones that were involved in these we know Shim was taken as collateral Right? He was taken as a a hostage until the were able to bring binyam back. We know shim and levy didn't get bro. Right. Ruin also didn't get a bra. By the way, we know so little about shimi. Yehuda maybe we know it dropped more about. So we know about the story and right obviously of Yehuda. Yeudas was the one that said Yehuda was part of the advanced team. He went to Right. Yehuda gets a disproportionate amount of uh shout outs. He seems to be a leader. That's why, right? He's the one that's ultimately going to be the king. Yehuda. So again, we know a little bit about Yehuda Zulen, Don, Napali, God, Asher, even Binyam. Beyammen, we know about him passively. They're going to bring Beyamin. They're not going to bring Beyamin. Is sees beyammen. He cries on. There's so little we know about Beyamin. BUT THE LAST FOUR PARAS is there's something different about Yseph than there is about the other brothers. I think it's posh and it's so I just want to share with you an incredible it's a it's a says if somebody enters a city and he's worried about an so this is what he should do he should take his right thumb and put it in his left hand and he should take his left thumb and put it in his right And he should say the following. I come from and he's exempt from the says there's a different is somehow exempt from because it says that was the gave not the he gave ain't So if somebody's afraid of an he enters a city, put your right thumb in your left hand, your left thumb in your right hand, you should say, says the what's the mart to saying such a comes from a that's mentioned a few times with the great used to sit in the front of the and all the women that went to the mikah would see him. He was very handsome. They said you're not worried about an iron. He said when said he said it because it was true because came from he knew that in fact said he was guild of that's why those 10 sons connected the 10 of but as relates because it was real but how could it be that any person that enters a city that's worried about is going to say I know misarfina that would be good if you were really misar but what if you're misar the god casino whose braha was not nois was god who okay right you're good okay that was his braha WAS A WHOLE DIFFERENT so how could he says the first says could be this is an incantation. That's all it is. It's an incantation. The of the incantation is you don't mean that you're literally but these are just the words that you're supposed to say that's going to make this concern of the go away that every single is called every single on some level is like the says in the capital and so what's capital and what does Rashi say over there? So the PIC says so every single year is considered to be from it's because and he was the when they were in a state of hunger. So because he took care of us and he sustained us. It's for that reason that when the truth is this idea that is called you find in as well a few earlier and this is you redeemed your nation. Who's your nation and the ben? How did we come to Ben the ter is one more this is in the of it's only one per now we know say over there means and it means the shape of but it's being referred to as and it's being referred to was based become the terrace is an idea of and that's why every single can recite this the truth is that if you take a look at the what does it mean says Evanzra Every single is called every single is called every single will have a connection to you said meant what it meant was that even though you're one of my sons but despite the fact that you're only one of my sons you're going to see you're going to be called alshame name will be they're going to view you a LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY. YOU'RE GOING TO BE SOMEONE that they're going to be Nicar and then Deanzra in a half a sentence asks Aasha that I think is one of the best kashes that have infrequently been publicly asked. I was going to say never but infrequently and that is everyone knows brings in par that why was buried on the side of the road because then when it was rush is going to come and in the Eden and they're going to be in and they're going to pass by and they're going to dive into and is she's going to cry. She's going to cry and is going to say, "Right is going to answer the prayers of who's crying for let me ask you a question. We're the sons of Rahul. We're the grandchildren of Rahul." Again, we're doing over here. Yakov had four wives. Through his four wives, he had 12 sons. Only two of those 12 sons came from which means 56 of not what does it even mean? made this. You ever THINK OF THAT? THAT'S GOOD news for it's good news for but what if you're right? What if you're what if you COME FROM ONE OF THE OTHERS? It doesn't help you very much because crying for her children. Where is the rest of included in the terist? Because if every single Yid could say, if we all COME FROM YADI, THEN BY DEFINITION we all come from because Yseph's mother. Tell you another fascinating thing. What did Yakov tell Ysef? Your two sons are going to be. How could Yesef sons be? You would think that in order to be a what you need is that your father should be an av, right? An av has a shvet, right? Obvious there's an idea of an a has a Where does come that his sons are going to be? Don't you have to be an av to be a The terret says because yatic wears two hats. On the one hand, is one of Jacob's 12 sons. But on the other hand, is true for every single because just like every single comes from and every single comes from and every single comes from on some level that's above our pay grade, every single comes from as well. We're that means Yseph was an avo. And that's the of this of auac of when he gave the he went through all the sons and everyone got a bra until he came to he was maf with his bra. What was the that he gave Yseph I think this is endless. He said, he said, "You should know the gave me, I'm your father." That's is greater than the that my got the GOT BECAUSE THEY got that my WASMA I'm taking those says and I'm putting them on your plates. I'm giving them to you got AND HE TOOK THE AND HE GAVE the to Isn't this exactly what happened throughout and then says those I gave you it's going to go to and then gets and the is it going to be or is it going to BE AS NO THE are going to go to tok it goes from a to a to a yak who had the brah and yaku didn't give them to all his sons the reason he didn't give them to all his sons cuz his sons were only sons. They were nothing. They were just branches of Claius. But Yseph is not just a branch. Yseph is a shy is a tree himself. Ysef is ONE OF THE OTHERS. EVERY YEAR IS AN EVERY IS CALLED BASE. WE'RE all considered from the family of the family of the family of Jacob and the family of Yseph. So that's what said. He said, "Not to get too crazy, but maybe this is where it was even this was where you're not just going to be one of the brothers. YOU'RE not just THESE is one of the he's on the spectrum of now he's also one of the and it's a little bit tricky. HE'S A LITTLE BIT BOTH. Yafl wears two hats so to speak. BUT THE IDEA is that is not just is not just one of the is one of the could be there's even a bigger to this and that is we know that was the now Ruv was originally the Bkar but then Jacob took the Bkar and he transferred it over to Ysef. A person has to honor his father. Person has to honor his mother. is and all the say that the on some level it's like a father right the oldest brother is a little bit like the father that means was really for that means on some level just because of the fact that he's the but the bottom line is of course he's also another hat was also one of the others and that's Why are these and that's why you find throughout the cabala this idea that is referred to as Bak we're also referred to as B and that's why is true for every single year because if we all come from then by definition that means we come from as well and that's the because to have sons that are means on some level you're enough and on some level was enough and that's why that those that I got which really come from that come from those I'm taking those and I'm giving those to you if on some level is like an that it's very moving why in the of in the we end with the story of the last words of This vom is the fact that yphadic passed away because y sadic goes down as being not just our very famous very righteous uncle he goes down as being one of our zedas every single year as the marsh could say so when it's the story of as well. It's a big mean because that means story is of that means of it means the fact that lived with in the darkest times but was able to ascend and climb until he rose to the top of the world. The fact that was able to overcome his physical niss and his spiritual nioness. The fact that was able to raise a generation of in these are not just stories that we get inspired from. These are stories that are our story. These are stories that are it's the story of the Jewish people. The story of is the story of Israel. The story of the story of and the story of and all his and all is and all and all his that too is our story. It's the story of the doesn't matter what matz he's in. Doesn't matter what throws on us. cleave and we're going to be we can have the success the same way did the ends with the story of because in the story of Yseph is also the story of Israel. the way we embarked upon this journey not really knowing where it was going to lead us and we have today to say and just to end with the words of Dan at the end of his beautiful poem after he gives he says taking us in a should be the should to be able to go to voice. And on that note,