Vayeishev - 4th Portion

Join as we learn together for Wednesday Paresv, the fourth Torah reading. Yesterday we learned as Yseph was sold by the brothers to the Yeshalites, then to the Midionites, and then he was sold down to Egypt to Potifar, the chief of the butcher. At the same time, Yakov was mourning the loss of Yoseph and refused to be comforted and he was we and was unable to continue and seeing how he would be able to make it without Yoseph. The Torah now tells us about Yehuda as we going to see is Rashi tells us why do we know about Yehuda now? And that is because after the brothers saw the pain and agony that y that was caused to Yakov not seeing Yoseph and that Yseph was no longer around the brothers turned to Yehuda whose idea was to sell him to Egypt. And because of that they shunned [snorts] Yehuda. Though Yehuda was saving them from being killed, however, they believe that being that they listened to Yehuda, if Yehuda would have told him to return him to the father, then they would have listened as well. And thus blaming Yehuda for the fact that Yakov was going through such pain and suffering. Verse 1, chapter 38. And it was at that time and Yehuda stepped down from the position of leadership over his brothers from the leadership of his brothers at the time and he moved away with a man from and his name was Rashi explains what happened here. Why does it tell us about the story of Yehuda? In this case, it interrupts in the story of Yoseph to tell us the brothers demoted Yehuda from his leadership role. When they saw their father in great pain, the brother said, "You told us to sell him. If you would have told us to return him back home, we would have listened to you." Therefore, he went away from his brothers. What does this mean if you may? He became a partner and friend with a fellow by the name of and Yehuda saw the daughter of a certain merchant, renowned merchant. This the caseani doesn't mean aanite, but it means a merchant and his name was Shua. and he took her by and he married her, cohabited himself. Verse two, Rashi kanani, the word kanani means tagra, a merchant. Verse three, and she became pregnant and she gave birth to another to a son. And she called him and he called him heir. Verse five, she again conceived and gave birth to another child and she called him sorry verse four and she conceived again and she gave birth a son and she gave him the name. And then she once more gave birth to another child and she called him. And she was [clears throat] and she and she gave and she was in a place called when she gave birth to that child. It's a name of a place the I say led us for the very fact that you stopped giving birth it's called which the word means to stop when something was to me but then he interrupted and it was no longer so that its water doesn't stop which also that its water doesn't lie meaning that it doesn't stop the came because if so why then does the verse have to tell us where she was giving birth if not for the fact that she stopped giving birth there. We see that she called him Shayla piscas meaning the word stopped also as well that the word means to stop. So we see from here so far that Yehuda marries this daughter of the merchant named Shua. They have three boys and they're in a place called Kiev as well. And Yehuda took a wife for his for his son heir, his firstborn. And what was her name? Tamar. Her name was Tamar. Verse seven. And heir was the firstborn, the Jew, Yehuda's firstborn. He was doing evil in God's eyes. say to Hashem and Hashem made him therefore die. What? What was he doing bad? As the Torah tells us verse seven, Rashi explains what was he doing bad. Like the evil of what is the evil of he was wasting seed that it says by that he also killed him the same way like the death of air the death of was the same cause of the death of air. Why did air waste seed? He was into the looks of his wife and he didn't want to ruin her looks by giving her by her becoming pregnant and therefore he did not want that she should become pregnant. eight verse eight you should marry your it is your duty that you should cohabit with your brother's wife the and you have the the the obligation to fulfill the duty of your brother's deceased husband to her in this way you will produce offspring to your brother the law of yum which is that Leverite woman that if she does not have children then the next brother has to marry that woman so therefore she can have children in her brother's name. Verse eight, the name of your brother should now be called on the one that passed and therefore you should marry your brother's wife. Verse N. And Ona knew that the offspring would not be considered his because it was from his brother. Right? And therefore whenever he would cohabit with his brother's wife and he would waste the seed, he would let the seed go to the ground. This way he would not produce an offspring for his brother. Rashi translates He would thresh inside and disperse it outside. Verse 10. And so too this was bad in the eyes of Hashem for what he done and God made him also die. Verse 11 said to Tar, his daughter-in-law remain a widow in your father's house until Shayla will grows up he thought and he said to himself maybe he might die just like the rest of his brothers and went and she went to live in her father's home meaning to say he was finding excuses to be able to delay to finding excuses, lame excuses. That's why he uses the terminology he would push her off with straw like a lame excuse. He would say this is uh this is he really did not have a tent that she should even marry him even when he grows up. She is now considered a person that the men will die. Like it says in the tract of that a woman that two of her husbands died. She's called a catlanis like a murderer that she will then that third person might die as well and therefore Yehuda did not want that his younger son should marry her and the days many days passed and the daughter of Shua now died Shua's daughter as we mentioned before Yehuda's wife he married the daughter of Shua the merchant and now the daughter of Shua died and what happened? So now after that was consoled he went up together with to the supervise the shearing of his flock flock who did he go with his friend to Timna so my friend went with him together to supervise the shearing of the wool of the sheep says verse He went up to Timna to supervise the shearings of the wool for the sheep and to make sure the work was going getting done. Verse 13, you got and was told to lear saying your father-in-law is now going up to share his flock. Interestingly that over here we say he's going up to Timna. But by it says way he went down to Timna. So which way was Timna? Do you go up to go to Timna or you go down to go to Timna? So the sages explained that from here we know that it was on the tip of the mountain. You can go up from one side and you go down from the other side. So what did she do? She removed her widow's garb may Allah from upon her and she covered herself in a veil wrapping it and she sat in the um at the crossroads of the way of Timna that's on the way to saw Shayla grew up has grown up and she has not been given to him for a wife. What does the word mean? She covered her face that he should not recognize her. And she sat at the crossroad in a place which is open and revealed for everybody to see where she was sitting. In a place where you have to veer either way in a crossroad which is on the way to Timn the rabbis explained that where was she sitting? She sat at the entrance of because all the people were there usually would come there to be able to see and that she was there also like this she would hoping that this way would come there as well and he will see her she saw that shog was grown up and was not given to her as a wife. Therefore she allowed herself to be out in the open. She really had a desire that the children should come from Yehuda. And being that Aaron died, the only other left option was Yehuda himself. Verse 15 and he mistook her for a prostitute because she covered her face. Why did he think that she was a harlot? Because [clears throat] she was sitting at the crossroads together with all the other harlots in the places where they sit. He was not able to recognize and identify her. One day rabbis explain she covered her face when she was in her in-laws home. She always covered her face when she was very modest and therefore did not know what she looks like. Therefore, because she was such a modest person, Yehuda would never imagine in his wildest dreams that it will be his daughter-in-law sitting here at the crossroads. And Yehuda then he turned aside to her to her on the road and he said, "Please prepare yourself so that I may come with you." He did not know that this was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What are you going to give me as payment for you to cohabitate with you? For me to cohabitate with you verse 19, verse 16, I'm sorry." Meaning he went off to the side, not in his regular way. Turned to the road that she was at over here. doesn't mean give me literally prepare yourself and have in mind for me anytime we have the word means to prepare except for certain places that you can translate it to give even those where it means prepare yourself to give to somebody that you know or introduce yourself to somebody and so to in this case has a different translation where it may be in this case it means to prepare and he said I will send you a kid goat from the however she said you have to give me a pledge for security you have to give me a collateral until you send it word translates mashkin that we found usually in the mish the terminology mashkin which is a collateral where somebody gives something to somebody on condition that until they get the actual item that they promised. What's he going to give? So she says verse 18, so he asks her, "What kind of pledge do you want me to give you? What kind of collateral do you want?" She said, "Your signate ring and your special cloak that you're wearing and the staff that's in your hand. He gave it to her and he cohabited with her and she became pregnant. Verse 18, which is your signate ring that you sign with that your name is on it. The garment that you wear. Why does the Torah say and she con conceived with him? meaning that she was going to have strong like him and righteous like him. Verse 19. And she arose and she went and she took a may Allah from her. She put back on her widow's go who her widow's garb. Verse 20 sent the kid goat with his friend as he was keeping to his promise that he said he was going to give it to her in the hands of his friend because he wanted to get back also his collateral from the woman but he didn't find her and they asked he questioned the people there the people of the place are saying where is that prostitute that harlot that was that was sitting at the crossroads on this road and they said there was nobody sitting here. There was no prostitute here. The terminology which comes from the word holy sanctified or set aside that she was ready to be with any individual ready for promiscuity. Verse 23. So Yehuda said, "Let her keep what I gave her lest we become scorn. Look, I sent her the skid coat, but you didn't find her. What does this mean? Being that she already got the collateral, let it be hers. Whatever she has, and there's no need for us to continue looking for if she's going to ask him more, people are going to find out. And this is going to be embarrassing for us. And therefore, it's better that we just give up on the collateral. What else can I do? I sent the goat. I wanted to keep to my word. There's nothing else I can do to be able to keep to my word because tricked his father with the goat's blood that and saying that this what happened to Yoseph that he dipped the garment of goat's blood. He was also cheated with a goat saying I'll take the goat as a collateral. Verse 24. It went by three months to the labor saying your daughter-in-law's she is guilty of of promiscuity and she is also now pregnant. She's even pregnant from it. Yehuda said take her out bring her forth and she should be burnt. verse 24 months over here doesn't mean literally three months most of the first most of the last which is about and the middle one complete so it's about three months so it makes as if it was around three months we have this terminology found in other places as well she became became pregnant as well. Shame. This is like a noun on something that's already uh explaining it's an is explaining something that already happened. She is pregnant a pregnant woman as well. Other explanations showing the same terminology and she should be burned. What's the reason why she was given such a severe punishment of burning explain says in the name of Rabi Mayor because who was this woman? She was the daughter of Shame, the son of Noah. And Noah ashame was considered a as we say earlier in the Torah that he was because of that he judged her that she should have which is one of the four punishments that a person is that best in the rabbitic tribunal would give wasa which actually was pouring burning lead down a person's throat in this case was only done for if a daughter of a cohen was promiscuous and in this case because she was a daughter of a cohen the daughter of shame yehuda felt that that should be her punishment as well. Says she was being taken out as she was being brought. She sent the message to her father-in-law to the one who these belong to I became pregnant with and she said please identify whose does the signate ring and cloak belong to and the staff these that I'm sending rashi says she was on the way they were taking her out to be burnt From here we learned she did not want to embarrass him. You are the one that made me pregnant. Hello. She used a very nice respectful language. The ones who this belongs to I became pregnant. She said on his own great if not let meself be burnfeld. I'll be pun but I will not embarrass a person. And Rashi says, "From here we learn a very important lesson. From here our sages learn, a person should rather to be thrown into a a fire and don't embarrass your friend in public. What does it mean? Please identify is saying please recognize your creator. Recognize who you really are. do not destroy three people, her and her two twins that she was pregnant with. Torah now continues with verse 26 recognized with these things and he said she is correct. It is my fault I did not give her to my son Shayla and he never again was intimate with her. Rashi satka. She is right. Many. I am the one that she became pregnant from. A voice of heaven came out for me. And because of me, this happened. This was all on purpose. God said, "I made it all happen." Because she was modest in her in-laws home. I decreed that from her should come the kings and so too from the tribe of Yehud. I've decreed that the kings should be. Where will the kings come from? From her from the Jewish people and from my daughter-in-law did the right thing. She did not I did not give her to Shayla. And because of that, who was the next one that was responsible and never ate marriage that she should marry? It was me. And over here, what does this mean? He didn't continue. So there's an there's a two opinions. Some people say, some say that he did not continue and some people he didn't stop. What does that mean? And we find this also as well. But with the same usual terminology it says when Elder were giving prophecy and they did not continue and they did not stop. So we don't know some can translate it they he never was back with her or he didn't stop being with her. Either one of the different terminologies or translations of what this word can mean wasn't the time when she was giving birth and she had twins in her womb. Rashi 27. It says that it came the time for her to give birth. They completed their full nine months of pregnancy. However, that she was only b they were born to seven months pre-term before they were ready and they were twins. Over here we find the word has alumka gave birth to twins. It's missing the Jacob and of one was a Russia. So therefore one was evil. So therefore it says without an olive over here they were both righteous and therefore it says with an olive. Verse 28 was while she was in labor and they and one of the babies stuck out their hand. And the midwife took and tied on his hand scarlet thread symbolizing saying this one emerged first. Verse 28. One of the twins took his hand out. After he put his and after she put that little thread on his hand, he stuck it back inside. And it was, but as soon as she put on the thread, he withdrew his hand. But as soon as he withdrew his hand, but his brother emerged, and she says, With what vigor have you pushed yourself ahead? And she called him, she named him parrots. What is the word? With vigor you pushed yourself ahead. With strength you were able to get through. Verse 30. Even afterwards his brother came out that on his hand was the threat and she named him. Over here we see as well. There are four times the word yad is mentioned here. who was from the grandchildren of Zar. He went and when Joshua said nobody should take from the runes of Yiko, he went and took from the runes of and because of that Yeshua cursed him and there were four different bands that were against him and what he did and what he did wrong. Others say the four things that he took. So either was the four things that took from Jericho or the four bands that he would transgress that he was not supposed to touch and he did anyways of as it says in Joshua that what did take he took the two silver golds that were worth 200im a tongue of gold and some other items that he took from Jericho that he wasn't supposed to. marries a hashi because of the shining thread that came out when he was the one that emerged. Over here we see the two boys that came out. One was Zerakam was Perro. The one that King David came from was Parrots. And this is teaching us that though Zerak which means to shine light like the sadic the righteous mashiach comes from David comes from king d from king mashiach comes from king David who comes from per which means you need vigor to break through the walls of exile it's not always the easy and straight way what comes and brings about the coming of Msiah is a person's energy and effort to go beyond the challenges that he's given though with notwithstanding the challenges he's able to overcome them and that's what brings about the coming of Msiah This concludes the fourth Torah reading of parases.