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The Reconciliation of Brothers & the 10th of Tevet by Rabbi Jeffrey Bienenfeld
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well good afternoon early evening
everyone um I'd like to discuss um two
things um one uh we'll deal with one of
the many interesting topics in in in in
the
paraa we know this is a very climactic
para when ysf reveals himself to his
brothers and uh and the very emotional
Rondevu that yoseph has with bamin his
younger brother and uh then later on
when yakob comes down and uh you know
Yakov and Yosef you know come together
it's you know it's really a very when
you read it no matter how many times you
read the para this becomes a really an
emotional experience you can how many
times have we read this paraa but at
least for me every time I read it you
know you could almost
feel how the various um you know the
various individuals who participated in
this coming together of the brothers and
Reconciliation and Yosef meeting with
his father this you know it really is is
really is quite something I I want to
focus on on one PK uh you remember when
the after the reveals himself and yoseph
says please go back and bring our father
bring yakob and the entire his entire
household down to MIM and I will take
care of them because there's going to be
this was the second year of the famine
there's going to be five more years
turns
out Rashi quot the medish that when yob
came down there was a what shall we say
a miracle of sorts and the famine ceased
which is one of the reasons that parro
was so impressed with Yakov but at least
at this point we don't know that the
famine is going to cease so Yakov
encourages and asks uh the brothers to
bring the father down and of course
Yakov agrees but before he agrees we
have the very famous P when they when
they tell yob that Y is alive
say you know uh he so originally when
they tell him
that is alive and he is the ruler over
all of Egypt his heart started to
beat but he he didn't believe them and
then it says
and he saw the wagons
that and yov and yakov's Spirits became
revived Rashi says all of a sudden R KES
that had escaped him all those years
returned and he was ready and he was
ready to go what's this about he saw the
wagons in other words it certainly seems
from the P that when he saw the wagon
that clenched it before then he didn't
know whether believe he didn't know
whether to believe the brothers how
could it
Beed uh and then he sees the wagons and
he realizes that this is true what the
brother said is true yph is alive so I'm
sure we're
familiar with Rashi quotes the medish
that what that the last the last um you
might say
conversation that um that jakov had with
his son ysph
remember after ysep has the dreams the
brothers are out in the field Shepherds
and yakob says to ysep I want you to go
and check out shalom
shalom I want you to seek out the Peace
of your brothers and basically y was
telling ysep look you know uh there's a
real issue here between you and your
brothers you need to make Shalom so he
told to go you know go and make
shom and then he said
I want you to get back let me know what
happened of course we know what happens
y goes and of course he is you know
thrown into a pit and then he's
eventually sold to MRA Yosef never gets
back to yakob so
far now what happens is that uh the last
conversation that Yosef had with his
father before he left to find his
brothers was this para of egla arua now
I'm sure we're familiar with egla
arufa which is that when a you know you
know when a person is uh is found
murdered between two cities so uh they
measure and they see which city is
closest and then the elders come out and
they have to decapitate a
CF and they
say you know we weren't you know they
beg AEM they beg AEM to forgive them
because how could it be that a Jew
should leave one city and that he should
be killed and that they didn't do what
they were supposed to do
so the MAF the G talks about this they
should have escorted him out and they
should have given him food and so on so
apparently if they didn't do that then
this individual was prey to robbers and
murderers and so on and so they had to
ask Hashem for forgiveness and and they
and the sacrifice is this egla arua
where they decapitate uh you know a um a
calf so this was the last conversation
that Yakov had with yoseph so when
yoseph sends the agolos the word agos is
wagons but it could also mean AEL it can
also mean a CF so ysf was sending his
father a message a subtle message Father
it's me because the last conversation we
had dealt with eg arua and no one else
knows about it because it was a
conversation between you and me and now
I'm sending you these wagons and and
Yakov apparently got the hint and uh and
he believed them and his Spirit was
revived then he goes down to M that's
probably the standard
interpretation that uh that we generally
understand uh as to why Yakov ultimately
believes that ysf is alive there is
another interpretation less known which
is Advanced by the sperno one of the
great Italian commentaries on Kish and
the sperno says something as follows he
says the the aalos the wagons that Yos
sent to bring his father down had
nothing to do with the roof it's
something else and what he does is he
refers us to uh in the book of B midb
when the mishkan you the Tabernacle was
erected and the Jewish people had to
travel different places they had to uh
they had to dissemble the uh the mishun
all the various parts and how did they
uh you know how did they transport the
various parts of the mishun so it was
that was done on wagons except for the
Aro it was done on wagons so how many so
and so the Torah
in pases noo says how many wagons and
they say well there were six wagons
there were six wagons and each wagon had
two oxen to pull the wagon so this Ferno
says six wagons you know six wagons one
out 12 you know for all the tribes one
out 12 so fno comments that each that
that each tribe joined partnered with
another
tribe so that we only needed six wagons
let's say you s you know partnered with
zabul and so on and so forth only six
waget so the sperno says and why you
know what was the reason for that
because the sperno comments and says it
demonstrates the the brotherly love that
existed between
the you know in the wake of the building
of the Mishka that they shared one
wagon this is what this F says remember
remember what did yob what did yob tell
ysep yob said Ys go and seek out Shalom
the Peace of your
brothers th says and and let me know
come I want to know if you were
successful
well it takes uh some 22 years before
Yosef gets back to yakob how does he get
back to yakob he sends him the wagons
and what's the message according to the
sperno what's the message of the wagons
there has been a Reconciliation between
the brothers which is exactly the
mission that yov sent yev out it's a
very very creative interpretation of the
sperno and you know and it sort of makes
sense wagons wagons two two tribes
joining with one wagon indicating a
certain Fellowship among the tribes and
Yosef was telling his father you wanted
me to seek out the Peace of my brothers
it took a long long time a very long
time 20 22 years but we've succeeded now
there is brotherly love this fraternity
between us and when yakob hears that his
spirit is revived and he's ready to come
down to MIT because one of the comments
that ra salvin
makes you know this was going to be um
you know the uh there was a prophecy
that Hashem told AB Way Way Back
inm tells from in the middle of the
night in this very almost you might say
a terrifying dream that your descendants
will be will be slaves in a land that
they do not
know be there for a long time but Hashem
didn't tell AB what land where were they
going to go but this prophecy that
Hashem told ab ab passed that down to
passed that down to yob yob passed it
down to his should so they knew that at
some point there was going to be a
fulfillment of that prophecy that the
family of Yakov would have to dwell in a
land that they didn't know which it
turns out is going to be
MIM and they will be there for a long
time that Egyptian
experience says will grant them will
transform them it's called a kurza like
a FR will transform them into a great
and Noble Nation
baras alichi points out what guarantees
did the Jewish people have that they
would survive that first Exile in the
they were there for a long time there
were many things about Egyptian culture
Egyptian society which were very
tempting and contradicted the morality
and ethics that abam toward his children
and grandchildren great-grandchildren
besides aara there was sexual immorality
all sorts of things Torah says in kosim
Kim
and don't follow the ways of the
Egyptians so how would they survive so
salic says one of the key prerequisites
to survive would be that there would
have to be Shalom there would have to be
peace among the tribes if they would
Splinter if they would uh you know
polarize to all different groups then
they would not survive the gos so when y
so when yob saw when yoseph sends back
that the brothers
reconciled then Yakov understood that
this is it this is the Fulfillment the
Fulfillment of that dream of that
prophecy but he knew that as long as the
brothers were together and the families
would stay
together then they would survive that
Gus which they did and took them out of
course that's the PES story any so
that's one idea that I I wanted to share
with you which of course has
you know has great significance today
when uh in this terrible situation that
we're in uh some uh I came across an
essay by a you know by a Christian who
was apparently a journalist who comments
and says that Hamas did what Nano
couldn't do and the point that he was
making ifas did it brought the Jewish
people together the tan before this we
were split because of judicial reform
and uh of course we paid a heavy price
we're still paying a price but now we
we've come together there's an Aus
there's people understand how important
this is and how without that we're not
going to be able to survive we will be
victorious with hashem's help but that
there should be brotherly love you know
peace Harmony among the brothers among
the Jews even though we have our
differences that becomes critical okay
that's that's Point number one there's
another uh somewhat different that I
want to share with you and that is that
this coming Friday as you know is uh
assar asares commemorates the beginning
of the threeyear siege around y
by which of course ended in the
destruction of the first
temp there is there is significance
about this because it falls out on
Friday and normally no fast could fall
out on Friday because the gimar in
shabas says that we're not allowed to
enter
shabas one is not allowed to enter
shabas on an empty stomach you know
you're irritable you know how we feel
towards the end of the fast we have to
enter chabas in a good and optimistic
mood so that's why no fast can fall out
on Friday it's
impossible this is the only fast that
can fall out on Friday and the g learns
out because the when he talks about this
day he uses the
expression on this very day and there's
only one other holiday where that
expression is used and that is y and we
know y falls out on chabas WE fast
because on this very day y yipper can't
be pushed off either before or after so
because
the also uses that
phrase regarding the tent of that
whenever the tth of Tav comes out you
have to fast and the one of the early
Ron who discusses this he says and if he
says this cannot happen in the count but
if fell out on chabus we would fast not
just for your own keeping so we do we
fast on this uh Friday and the fast is
over when you come when people come off
sh you make Kish and basic but it's a
full it's a full day fast I think it
begins here in y about like a quarter to
five something like that and uh when you
make kidish the fast is own so it's very
interesting the
uh there's a lot about AAR just to share
a few insights number one there is a
medish that says the sale of ysf took
place on the tent of
Tes the sale of Yos took place on the
tenth of Tavis that is sort of
significant and then and then uh theam
you know theam s comes up with something
really really amazing he bases it made
probably on cabala but I saw it quoted
Kasam s
says that on the tenth of Tes Hashem
makes decision whether Tish above which
will fall out months later will be a
fast day or will be a
holiday we know that when mashia comes
all the fast days will transform into
holidays it's on
a this coming Friday that hasem examines
the Deeds of the Jewish people this is
what the says examines the Deeds of the
Jewish people and
decides whether the upand cominging tiub
will be a fast or a holiday which is
quite something it lends a certain lends
a certain significance to this
day um there's another you know there's
something else
about that a number of people appointed
out notably the one the Essa that I read
about this was by the great
rste son-in-law and uh the
rash in in in
Al and he made a comment and he said
it's interesting all the fast days
except commemorates something that
happened something that happened you
know Tish the Bas on me this was
destroyed you know things like that uh a
s ofes commemorate something that will
happen was three years later that's when
the base H should be destroyed right
now we're commemorating a fast that
reminds us that in three years that's
the Bas was destroyed so it
says he says like this he says is a
Siege places a Siege around Yus you
think you think the Babylonians are
surrounding Yus You' think that at some
point and they when n there that the
Jewish people would get it and they'd
realize you know this b i is going to be
destroyed we better do Chua we better
and and there were you know the other
who told the people that
and yet for three years they ignored the
warning they ignored the warning and
what happened was tragically the Bas me
was destroyed soar lonstein makes an
interesting point he
says he says you know he says in pus it
says that the Jewish people are Ro hanol
we are supposed to anticipate the future
says we have to realize that what we do
now will affect what could happen in
years ahead very often we don't think
about that we live for the day and we
don't take into consideration what might
happen What might happen down the road
so he says is an opportunity to do a
little chu but the chu in the sense to
realize that our future depends upon
what we do
now and you know everyone in their own
way has to ask ourselves the question
you know the Raam says all fast days
were time for chuva but what raan lensin
is saying that the fast of specifically
of yud Taves is telling us to consider
long term that what we do now the the
effect you know the you know the um you
know the you know what what might happen
as a result of our Behavior now and then
of course each of us in our own way we
can change certain things who knows it
could make a big
difference look we pray every day that
mhia should come and why not you know
maybe this coming tissue BG will be a
holiday but it all
depends on whether we take this fast on
Friday seriously and there's a lot to
think about so anyway uh should have an
easy
fast and I hope some of these insides
can be helpful to take the fair
seriously and uh so wish you a good
shabas God willing we see each other
next
week thank you very much for listening