Haftarat Miketz: the Yosef and Shlomo Connection by Rabbi Avi Herzog

good morning it's good to see all of you this morning um we all are aware of uh the news of the unfortunate uh tragedy uh over the course um of the weekend of the three um Kim or the hostages that were killed inadvertently uh by our own it's unfortunate news it is the reality of War but it is very very unfortunate of course and disheartening um our thoughts and our go out to all of the families um for me in particular I can't help but constantly think of those that were involved in the inadvertent uh killing of our own Kim because they have to live with this forever even though at the moment they felt as if they were doing the absolute right thing to protect themselves in am Isel and of course it's something that they will never ever be able to live down so our thoughts are with all of them this morning and I would like to uh dedicate uh this morning's uh Shure in particular to those three um that were killed um inadvertently over the course of the weekend um again for those of us that are just uh joining in now good morning to all of you some of you I have not yet met before neither on Zoom nor in person as this is my first opportunity uh to give this series of shim um on a Sunday I usually am doing Monday or Wednesday um once we do get back to the regular shig uh the regular uh schedule I usually have been at least for the last year or so been presenting on late Wednesday mornings at 11:45 a.m. whether or not that will continue or I will continue in that slot or a different slot remains to be seen but in any event please all of you keep in mind that all of the OU Israel shim are recorded and they are archived um at OU Israel and many of them are to be seen on YouTube and there's a link in toora tidbits for this particular series of as well but again good morning to you all and it's good to see all of you I'm going to ask you Shai to please um yeah thank you if we could all just stay muted that would be the best thing thank you okay we're ready to begin today since we are on the heels of yesterday of Shabbat I would like to uh devote our learning today to the ha of yesterday and the particular reason is that this particular ha is rarely read why so because people are under the the misimpression that parat Mikes always falls on Shabbat kanuka that's close to correct it doesn't always fall close to shabbat kanuka excuse me on Shabbat kanuka it virtually always does or almost always does there are rare exceptions when Mikes does not fall on Shabbat kanuka since there is a special for Shabbat kanuka on those rare occasions when par Mikes is not read on kanuka such as this year when it's read the week after kanuka we read the which is clearly very rarely read based on what I just mentioned so just to give you an example this year in the year 2023 we actually read parat Mikes the week after Shabbat hanuka and we read thees the last time was three years ago in the year 2020 but the last time before that was 20 years prior in the year 2000 and then four years earlier in 1996 we read the regular Mikes yesterday since it was nauka the next time if I'm doing the math right will be 177 years from now in the year 2040 so it really rarely happens and because it rarely happens even though as we we will see it is a story with which we are all familiar is one of the more famous stories I believe in all of tanak uh who does not know this story since it's virtually never read as the after Shabbat of Mikes I would like to uh devote our learning to that story this morning there's some very interesting background to the story and the background is as follows and I'm going to read it to I apologize I did not have a chance to it's my fault I did not take the chance I should say to prepare an actual an actual sheet uh to share with you on the screen this morning but I would like just to read for you just a brief piece of the introduction schl has just been anointed kingad appears to schl where he is at the time in G and again this backstory we also know but I believe the wording here is very important appears tol and he says to him ask me what you would like what would you like to wish for I am your Jour your genie today I'm with a capital G because I'm God two Capital G's of course the G for God and the g for Genie and I will grant you not three but one wish of your choice and schl answers as follows he doesn't begin with himself and I think that that's very telling he could have said I wish for the following in order to be to be accepted as the Mel of the people or in order to be successful as a m he doesn't do that he begins with a preface and that is you did a great a great kindness for my father for he went before you he was a just person before you and therefore you did things for him and you gave him the great what was the great the that he had wanted you provided for him a son who now sits on the throne in other words you grant my dad the Mel of course the Genesis of the davidic dynasty hence called the divic dynasty at least in English or in the Hebrew and now it continues through me that was a gift that you provided to my father sh could have begun with himself he didn't he begins with his father and so to me it's already very telling that understands that he now has the privilege the opport opportunity and the responsibility to see to it that the davidic dynasty continues and that it has stability going forward and that will be very telling we all know what he asks for who doesn't know the story and so therefore he asks as follow several later please give to your servant meaning to me a listening heart everybody thinks that he asks for WI he does but it's not put so succinctly by a a that listens to be able to judge your people to discern and that word is also very important to discern BTO to discern between good and bad anybody could be born brilliant and SCH is considered to be among the most if not the most brilliant man man that ever lived and maybe he was born as the most brilliant simply in terms of for example being able to solve every single math problem that ever arose in Split seconds before the Advent of modern technology that's one level of Brilliance that's not what he's asking for even if he was provided that he's asking for the ability to discern because who is able to judge this very difficult people not only are we very stubborn we at the time were also a large enough of a nation that realized that it would take a special gift from to be able to be successful in that particular Endeavor what does say to him since you schl asked for this gift of wisdom and you did not ask for wealth and you did not ask for Glory I'm going to Grant do your wish and all of the others too that of course you clearly want and we know that indeed does become exceptionally wealthy for example in addition to that and then adds to if you follow on my path if you walk on my ways just like your predecessor your dad DAV did also allow you to live a long life that's the backstory in the immediate aftermath of that story we have the ha of yesterday and that is the story of the two women we sometimes forget the detail that these are two prostitutes they're referred to as zote in the text these are two prostitutes that were living in the same quarters that each of them had a baby and they come to sh and the story just to be clear is really very simple Le one woman un inadvertently lied upon her son in the middle of the night and her son therefore died the other woman had a son who lived the one whose son died switched the babies in the middle of the night and now the two of them came to sh arguing whose baby is the one that was living and whose baby is the one that had unfortunately passed away due to an inadvertent accident on the part of his mother who clearly even though she was an is even though she had been a prostitute and it's I think very possible if not probable that neither one of them knew who the father was of their particular child nevertheless she clearly loved her child dearly they come to schl and SCH hears their story hears their discussion their argument and and he needs to be able to discern and that's the same word that I used before in his request from for wisdom to be able to discern which one of these mothers which one of these mothers is the true mother of the child that is still living how does one discern that and so what he did was as follows the king commanded his servants and he said take for me a sword bring me a sword they brought the sword to the king what does the king do he says as follows now take that sword and again we all know the story and literally slice it's a little bit gory so I apologize for this but this is the text nevertheless slice the baby in half the living child in half well split it evenly you give half to one you give half to the other the one woman one woman responded with no don't do that give her the baby don't dare slice the baby in half The Other Woman discern decided no SCH you the king are absolutely correct we both claim to be the mother of the baby give each of us half of the baby and we'll share the baby of course realized that that woman must be a liar because no mother of a child would wish for her baby to be killed but rather the one who's willing to give up her child clearly is the real mother that seems to be the story on the surface level not so says donel Abel says as follows pay attention to what schl asked for in his dream because this story follows in the immediate aftermath he did not ask for wisdom he asked for the ability to discern but more importantly the backdrop as we mentioned before when aad granted him his One Wish whatever he wished for he began with his father David he began with whatever I am asking you to grant me whatever that wish is which happens which happens to be to be able to discern is with that in mind of my father's Dynasty that's what I have in mind and therefore says Abel that was able to look at these women and he was able to discern just by their physical appearance by what he calls their parts which literally means their face and I believe what he's referring to is their facial expressions he was able to tell by hearing their story and by their appearance which one was was telling the truth and which one was lying before he even asked for the sword to be brought before him to him it was as clear as night and day he knew which one was the liar he knew which one was the real mother but he had something else in mind according to abar benel he wanted to get the word out there he needed for his people to believe that he had this ability to discern and if he simply have heard their story and would have said this one is the real mother and I can tell by looking at her and this one is the liar and I can tell by looking at her facial expressions either that she's embarrassed or that she's stuttering or whatever it may be then yes word would have gotten out but it would have not necessarily spread like a wildfire like it did and he certainly would have not have been been accepted by all of the people as the true inheritor of his father's Dynasty and so provided with This brilliant plan to bring for him a sword so that he could say to his servants in front of the women slice the baby in half when people heard of This brilliant solution he was accepted Countrywide as the successor of his father schl then by definition if I'm understanding abarbanel correctly and if I'm not understanding abarbanel 100% correctly then maybe some of this is my own idea but I'd like to give credit to abar benel because he only says it in so many words and succinctly and that is that he was looking for a solution not just to the problem that these two women had and in his original request from God he was not looking for wisdom for himself but in the solution to the problem that the women women had he was looking for a way for his father's successor to be excuse me to be accepted by all of the people and thereby guaranteeing the future the smooth transition as he is now the new king but the smooth transition and the continuity of the davidic dynasty into the future that's what's main concern was that was the backdrop of his asking for wisdom and that indeed was what was provided for him in This brilliant plan that he came up with through excuse me through the aid through the assistance of a of bringing to him the sword it was all about the future it was all about the stability it was all about realizing that my people are going to be okay that things will be be able to continue into the future just as they did during the time of my father of David H keeping that in mind we are now ready to connect the to this week's on a very simple level meaning yesterday's on which is read on a very simple level both of these excuse me and the involve a dream who had dreams himself y who had already interpreted the dream of the S mash and the Sim this same yfe is now summoned to interpret the dreams of par Story begins with a dream in which appears to him and says to him I will grant you one wish what do you wish for so there's that common theme as well that common denominator of dreams but there's so much more to it and that is the link between the personality of Y as he interprets paro's dreams and schl as he interprets as it were or discerns who is the real mother in the case that came before him of these two um women of these two prostitutes who each claimed to be the mother of the living baby and listen carefully to the text that we find by yose yose comes to parau as he is summoned but prior to that the text tells us that parau gave the opportunity to others to his um to his to his the Torah uses the word he uses the the Torah uses the word his wise men to interpret his dreams for him in other words his interpreters he came to them and he said I've got a problem I had this dream please tell me what the dream means please tell me the interpretation the meaning of the dream and the Torah text tells us he told them his dream far and there was nobody who was able to interpret them to far ask yourself a question is that last word Li really necessary all the Torah needed to say to us was nobody could interpret the dreams properly the text doesn't say that the text says and that there was no one that was able of all of his and not one of them was able to interpret them picking up on that word Rashi quoting a m explains that what the text is telling us is not that they were're not able to come up with interpretations there were interpretations there were ponim or interpretations a plenty they came up with many wild and crazy ideas but none of them were Li parau none of them were were accepted by parau none of them were interpretations that par could say thank you that must be the P the interpretation of my dream and I thank you very much for interpreting my dream for me and so Rashi brings one example of many and that is since the dreams involved seven years of healthy cows and then seven years of unhealthy cows and since the dream the second dream involved or maybe it was the other way around the first Dream involved seven healthy stocks and then and then seven unhealthy stocks the unhealthy ones in both dreams eating or consuming the healthy ones therefore the interpretation Rashi brings down that was provided for him by the excuse me and was that's in correlation to the seven healthy ones and the Seven unhealthy ones and that the healthy Ones Will consume the unhealthy ones you will have seven daughters but you will also bury Seven Daughters now whether or not that really means you will bury the same daughters that those Seven Daughters will die or whether it means you will have seven daughters and in addition to that seven other of your daughters will die either way the Torah tells us the PO for the many years that I taught this in the classroom when we were still living in the states I would teach my students or ask them to come up with an idea of why they thought parau could not accept this as the interpretation and one after the other after the other down the line said it's very simple and they're not wrong and that is and my kids came up with this these were fourth graders who wants to hear news like that when you hear something like that your immediate reaction at least parro's immediate reaction was wait you're telling me I'm going to have seven daughters and my daughter's going to die I don't want to hear it get out of here maybe that's what it means but I think there's more to it than that I think that with the Insight we had that was provided for us by the the backdrop the backstory to schl and's understanding of SCH we can use that to discern precisely what it was about those dreams that par was not willing to accept or those interpretations and why he was willing to accept y's interpretation and we all know what y's interpretation was y's interpretation was there will be seven years of famine excuse me seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and Y said to par that not only am I able to provide for you the interpretation and he said hello this interpretation you should know this isn't even about me it comes from God and please tell me your dream does and responds with the p with the interpretation that I just mentioned a moment ago and then he adds a solution to the problem of how to get out of the problem and I believe therein lies the secret to why it was that according to Rashi par was not willing to accept the other interpretations the other interpretations were about parro and only about parro you will have Seven Daughters those Seven Daughters will die end of the story it's a tragic story but it has nothing to do with the message according to y nothing to do with the message that was being sent to par in his dreams number one the dreams were about the land the dreams were about livestock they were about cows they were about produce number two in addition to that they were about the land of Egypt they weren't about the private land of parau the dreams had nothing to do with a personal message being sent to parau but rather y safe understood the dreams were representative of something that is going to be taking place on a national level and it is going to be a national tragedy a national travesty but unlike past famines which were relatively rampant then in Egypt and still are to some extent in the Middle East when there's a famine in certain regions this time parau is being given a dream in other words he's being pre-old or forwarned of what is about to take place so that he can have somebody come in as The Interpreter and to provide a way out to provide a solution this time around for how to survive that particular famine that is the responsibility that is the gift with which has provided me and so I safe will do my best to fulfill that role did not understand that understood that that was his responsibility to continue the davidic Dynasty and to convince his people that David Ham's reign will indeed continue relatively peacefully through him unfortunately after that time had no control over it and indeed things weren't exactly peaceful even leading up to that but at least for there to be a smooth transition and for the people to believe that sh is the true inheritor of his father's Reign y similarly understood that right now the nation of Egypt is going to go through a similarly very similarly but different very difficult period and parau and his people the Egyptians needed to realize that we are going to survive this we will survive this transition of sorts will survive this famine and we will Thrive and that is indeed what your safe provides for parau today we are going through a very similar scenario we're unfortunately going through a very similar scenario that metaphorically that Egypt was going through then then it was a literal Famine of the land today on one hand just as we mentioned that all of this begins with dreams that that's the common theme tying everything together in the parasha and in the Y had his own dreams he had become already an interpreter of others dreams now he is interpreting the dream for's uh wish was granted to him in a dream and similarly weem those of us living here and Jews worldwide who are not yet living in Isel we are able to live our Dream as we say in we are living our dream of returning to is but nobody said that was going to be easy and just like we have the devastating story that we read of yesterday in the ha of two women one whose child had died tragically and just like e Egypt was now on the cusp when parau had his dreams of utter Devastation and also of tragedy of famine which they normally would not have been able to survive with ease had yosa not come along to not only interpret but to provide a way out for similarly today we are going through once again another one of our national travesties another one of Another War another tragic situation where enemies wish for nothing but to destroy us and really it's in their Charter to destroy jwri worldwide both scho and y's approaches to their challenges with their eye to the Future their eye towards stability they I believe inform our current challenge not only do we am Israel have a responsibility of course of course to destroy Kamas because of the Havoc that they which excuse me that they the havak that they wish to bring to the entire world and not only to Jews because who knows who they have in mind next but also we have the responsibility of Paving the road towards stability for our region and to alleviate the threat that is posed uh not only to our beloved Israel but to the entire Western World hasem while there are setbacks along the way such as this tragedy over the course of the weekend uh to which I devoted arur this morning or dedicated excuse me our this morning to the three to the three uh to the three excuse me that were killed over the course of the weekend in addition to that we know that every single person involved whether it's or others involved are not only acting in a way that they feel is the right thing to do at the moment but they are doing so of course with the blessings of and we pray to that just like he provided for in the story of and in y in the story of the the yesterday mes not only the Insight that asked for not only this ability of discernment discernment that y himself realized was indeed his very Mission and that is to provide an immediate solution to the immediate problem but just as both of them realized that they have an opportunity and a responsibility to provide for the transition to the Future and to see to a brilliant and bright future for par as for his people for y meaning through y for it was for the future of our very people of Isel and their success going forward similarly we pray to aad that he will give all of those in whom we trust to lead us be it our political leaders and be it our leaders on the ground in this particular War be and and all of those that are daytoday fighting in our behalf to not only be successful in defeating Hamas now in defeating the en enemy that we have now but into seeing our way into the future into a peaceful continuity of am Israel just like provided that insight for y and then in turn provided it for May indeed we witness more peaceful times and be able to just sit back and bask in the glory once again ofad not only protecting us but into realizing our dream of okay we will stop our here for this morning I wish all of you a good week and may this week provide us with good news ahead be well