Vayigash: Service of the Heart | Rabbi Baruch Taub | December 25th 2025

Good morning everybody. Parash >> thank you. But in um since we're in the wake of Khanek I wanted to say a few things about Kaneka that uh the might be gone but the taste of Khan is still with us. I I just want to talk about a few things with Kaneka that interesting Shiloh that the Shukhanor actually brings down. Sounds strange but let's say a person lights his minora and it's the fifth night it's the seventh night and he lights five candles and he sits down to eat right and he says oi I didn't make a braha did make a braha on the c five candles can he make a brah on the last two candles now what's the question the mitzvah of bas the basic mitzvah is one candle all the other candles that we do is called hedor mitzvah it's beautifying the mitzvah The whole question whether you can make a bra on mitzvah or only on a mitzvah itself right it's a big discussion I don't want to go into it so there puskins and that's the way the mishnab puskins that if your first candle is still burning you can make the braha because the braha will go on all the candles including that first braha so that whole question whether you can make a brahim is there's third position and that's the fasis that's what I want I want to talk a little bit to you about say is not a question each candle that you add if you go from 1 to 8 each candle is not a hedur it's the it's the mitzvah in other words what is the of going 1 to 8 is that kazal give us choices how to do the mitzvah right um you have like you have this by other mitzvah by yu you can do khalitzah one could do khalita or one could do You have a choice by the mitzvah. So why is that? What does he where does that come from? So we know that Kaneka is our thanksgiving, right? This is real thanksgiving is Kaneka. You may be, right? Saying thanks to Boru, right? H how do you say thank you? You can't if you're for you have to say you have an obligation to say thank you. That's not saying thank you. Thank you is I want to say thank you. I I have a desire to thank you. You've done something for me. Not okay, I'm it's obligatory. I'm going to do it. I'll I'll say thank you. Khan is is unique because it's it's that that's the notion of thanksgiving. Therefore, you have choices and and really it's very strange. This is the only y that we have that you have to do. We do mahadrin and mahadran mean a mahadrin, right? The basic mitzvah is one candle. And the doesn't even bring that, right? It says one candle for everybody in the house, you know, for everybody lights and or one to eight for one for one house, one to eight for everybody, right? Or like Bami says the opposite. But why is it that that Khan is the only only has that that the idea of of Mahadrin, right? And furthermore, mahadran is generally not a quantitative uh notion like it's qualitative. It's not that I do more. Oh, I'll add I'll add a candle. I'll add three candles for that's not mahadra. Mahadran is we learn it out actually from the laws of lulov and es you get a hu mitzvah. It's not about how much money you pay. It's how it's the beauty of it. You this estra is more beautiful. It's more refined. So it's a it's a qualitative hu is qualitative. How come by Kaneka the the Hu is quantitative and how come according to this that's why the FA says it's not a hither every day is another mitzvah because you have choices because what what the is saying because it's thanksgiving it has to be that I want to say thank you not that I have to lighting one candle I have to light one c I want to do more so we have choices so therefore if You spent five on the seventh night you lit only the fifth candle and you didn't say right can you make the bra on the other two absolutely because there also it's you want to do it it's the mitzvah of thanksgiving now add one more piece to this says and I think everybody knows this there's no surah mitzvah on purim on on kaneka the suras mitzvah one of the five mitzvah on purim is to have a suda right but there's no suda for kaneka So the classic answer is is that purim we were saved. The miracle was the the physical the threat of the physical annihilation of Kai Israel. So we do something physical to celebrate that we have a suda right. Purum the the salvation of Purum was I mean Khaneka rather was was spiritual that they the Greek the war with the Greeks versus Greeks versus Torah was was to destroy the spirit of clothes to take away our Torah. That was the goal to the Greek wisdom should be the wisdom not the wisdom of of Torah right and that they they wanted to take away from us. That was the miracle is that we we were restored to Jewish normal living, right? To do be doing all the mitzvah, the beta mikdash and learning Torah was restored to us. This uh is is Kaneka. So that's the classic answer why there's there's um there's no suda. But I'll give you another answer. There's an answer from Rafimal. Who was Rahim? Say for Salah was the Rabbah was the brother of the Morali Prague, right? We all know the moral. We've done the moral many times here. Um and um but you know, it's interesting. He was known as the brother of the moral mira. I mean, how would you like to go through life? You're so and so's brother, right? And he was he was not a pushover. He was a very special person. He was the of the Ram. But in any case, he says something absolutely beautiful and it really ties in with what we're saying. Why why is it that on on Kaneka the says the the meals that we make the parties that we make on Kaneka are they're optional. They're not. So what does that mean? What does that mean? So you just you make a party. You don't you don't have to. If you don't want to, you don't have to. And another strange thing, I think that Kaneka is the Yam that we have where there are more parties than any other YT. Everybody's going to a Kaneka party. Every night there's another Kaneka party to go to, right? So why is that? So what he says is what does it mean? It's rash it's optional. It's exactly what this said. It's optional in the sense I want to party. I want to say thanks to the rebon because this khan is is our thanksgiving and it's thanksgiving for the whole picture of Torah of learning Torah of living Torah of the mitzvah the bdash the res restoration of of a normal that's why there's no special mitzvah on on you can go through the whole day except for a half hour at night you have a mitzvah the half hour at night but the whole day like pes you have you have right matzah uh sukas you have the suka Right on Khan. Oh, except for a half hour at night, you wouldn't know it's a yont, right? Why is that? That's the of Khan is about returning to Jewish normaly that we we won the day. The victory was that Torah reigns supreme that we now can learn our Torah again. We can live our Torah. We can do mitzvah. We have the B mikdish back. It's about normal Jewish living. So there's no special mitzvah. Every mitzvah is the mitzvah of Kaneka. But the suda is a suda of rashus. It's optional. Not that you don't want to do we want to do it. So that's the u that was my thought that I wanted to share with you. Okay. After because we're taping. Please remind me Rosanne. Okay. Let's go to page one on the sheet. And I think we're going to we're going to do we're going to do uh I don't know if we'll get past page one, but let's see the >> Yeah, sure. Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Okay. So, um this is from um Safer Mira from uh Ravi and David. We we done some of his Torah in the last few weeks. Um he he he titles this Ysephic. Yseph said to Yakov, that Yoseph sent a message back to his father Yakov that he wants that he is he has maintained he is a good son he has maintained who Yakov was and he has become his son now what does that mean we'll see what that means right now what's he talking about the para now this is probably the most dramatic moment in all of Tanakh right this moment this part when Yseph reveals himself to his brothers, right? It should have been a movie, right? Not Yseph and his multicol technicolor dream. This is this is this scene the scene of his revealing himself to his brothers. The whole the whole thing is right now. We've talked about that over the years, but we're going to go past that now. Right? So, they got past that moment. Right? And there's everybody's recomposed and everybody's relaxed and Yseph says, "Okay, you got to go back to to Jacob, you got to go back to our father." So the par after he revealed himself, tell my father, all of my honor, hurry and bring him back here. And there's other assumes tell them that you know I'm the viceroy of Egypt. Tell them tell them my position here. I'm running I'm running Egypt. I'm actually like almost like the president the vice president right and everything I've done here. So the question is what what is this all about? Right? Why did you what was thinking? Was he so happy about the he got and that's what he wants to tell him? you know, I'm the president of Egypt. Is that is that really what what's going on here? Right. What was the message that he was that he was sending to his father? >> Dreams came true. >> We'll see tell afterwards, right? Let's see till afterwards because we're Okay. So, um that's good. The dreams came true. That's that's nice answer. But I I want to share with you before we see what he says something something more to the point. Um, you [clears throat] know, in in 1807, Napoleon made a Sanhedrin. I don't know if you know the story. He made a Sanhedrin. Um, he was a friend of the Jews and he he made a a he wanted to make a Sanhedrin, like a Jewish court, and he brought all these rabbis and leaders together so they would decide the how the Jewish community should function. Fascinating moment in Jewish history. Um the head of this court was a rabbi u Ysef David sins right. So, you know, everybody probably thought it was like a state rabbi, right? So, what does he know? You know, he appointed the state rabbi like we had in Europe period where they were called a Ravme. You would have in towns like Vilna famous cities you had an official governmentappointed rabbi, but the Vil Neon was the Vil Neon, right? So, everybody thought, you know, he was, you know, he was acquainted by Napoleon, right? So when he died theam it was on parash and theamur gave a hespit and in the hespit and he he said he said the he asked this question. Now by the way you should know that Rio David Zinsheim wrote a safer on on the Gmorra called Yadavid which particularly in is learned in every yeshiva it's a it's a classic and necessary safer to learn many in so he was anoro so so that's what he asked the question he asked this question what was Yseph telling Yakov right he was telling him an Yseph I know I'm still Yoseph even though I am the head of Mitraim even though I have so much covet I have maintained who you made me into that's what he was telling him with all my greatness I have synthesized the whole world together with Torah okay so that kind of dovetales to what he wants to say number eight here was sent a So besides the the waves and the currents that he had to fight against and being away for so many years and be Egyptian culture, right? And how I've been so many 20s something years away from you. I reached your level. Everything that you wanted to what you were and you taught me to be I am doing what you do meaning what was that everything was for the glory of it's not about me it's about Israel and about the raon he was able to reveal to the world the greatness of God In everything in the world itself, in the physical world, he brought out everything in this world is godly, right? A man's purpose in this world is not just to go to work, right? It's not it's not just to to physically physical labor. Even mitzvah, it's not just to do the mitzvah, right? But the purpose of man is that the to get it is nothing in this world that's not important. Everything is important. Every single you every single person is important right and one should not think and be dismissive of anybody. And there's nothing in this world like water, right? There's nothing in this world does not have a major import because everything is godly. Everything is is to be honored. Everything has enormous enormous importance. This was the level of Jacobu. Now what is that called? It's called in the world of Kabala, right? You know there are different levels in in man. In cabala we're not it's a little beyond our pay scale. We're not going to get into it. But terret represents the heart. It it literally is beauty. Beauty. Ter is translated as beauty. It's beautiful. Right? But terret in cabalistic literature is the heart. Right? Ker the crown is the head of a person. Right? But ker the buter is the heart. The heart sees beauty. that there's an emotional there's an intellectual and an emotional component to the heart and everything that from the heart we tie everything together right so that was and he's telling him that I got this right so next paragraph's and we say it [clears throat] every time we take out the saf return the safer to the You are all of these qualities. So the rabbis explaindah you are greatness. You brought us greatness. He connected Abraham. This is Abraham who was love and kindness. Right? That's a he gave the bra that I'm going to make you god. Right. Power strength. Midatira. That's fear. What's right? What's what's what's right is is that he mastered the ability of fearing God who was really ready to sacrifice himself in the for the right. This is this is what we say bringing everything together. So you have after a which is a is love you're a fear of God. This is then you have which is to take everything that is in the concept of loving God the midst of loving God the midst of fearing God having resonance from God right reticence right and tying that together. And that's not just about God. It's about the world he gave us. And to see godliness in everything and to see godliness everywhere. I want to tell you a story. Okay? I'm going to tell you a story. We don't usually tell stories here, but I I want to tell you a story um about about a god borra. What what is greatness in Torah? You know, we speak about gdole Torah, right? We people who have all their whole life is Torah. They they essentially know everything there is to learn in Torah and yet they their humility is outstanding. I want to tell you a definition of R. Rav Steinman who passed away a few years ago was one of the great Gdole Torah, right? One of the great Gdole Torah and um he was he was a very humble person and uh and he suffered. I mean, you know, he he was behind um the the Karedi nared, the first, you know, battalion in the army of Karedi boys. And some he was already close to 90 and some maniac fanatical fellow broke into his house and physically beat him, right, for this. I mean, so you know, he didn't really make the news. A lot of people didn't know this, but it didn't change his position, right? But I'm just trying to give you an idea of but listen to this story. On his street there lived a famous Russ and he he is still alive. Okay, this is and he had a son and the son went off to Derk. son really as a already as a kid was not paying attention in school and and he slowly but surely was just falling falling off the the wagon and um had a bar mitzvah and so on. But when he got into his um late teens years, he said, "I'm out of here." And he moved to Tel Aviv. And here he is. He calls his mother uh that this Sunday he's getting married. Uh Katunat Capricin what what's Capri? A Cypress marriage, right? We know that we know that uh you you want to marry a non-Jew. One cannot marry a non-Jew in Israel. So you go to Cyprus, right? That's So he was going to Cyprus to marry a non-Jew and um and he called his mother. He said, "He wants to come for Shabas. He's getting married on Sunday." So his mother, right, you know, says, "Come for Shabas. I want you to come. I want you to come for Shabas. Come for Shabas. We won't discuss anything. Be here. There's your family. We love you. Just come." So he came for Shabas with the the hair, the ponytail, the tattoo, whatever he had, right? And he came there for Shabas. So um after Kdesh, the father used to go visit Ryman every shabas for a few minutes after Kdesh. So um he says I'm going, you know, I go to Rimman. So he says, you know what? I want to go to Ryman. You want to go to Rim? Yeah. Yeah. Rimman is the only rabbi that I have respect for. Why? Because when I was in when I was before my bar mitzvah. So he came in a couple they came in to test us to hear us learning and I of I didn't say a word. I was probably the only one who didn't say anything. And afterwards when we left the class we walked by and to say shalom to and he took a hold of my hand with both his hands and he said it's so wonder if you come to learn and you don't always have to say something or ask ask a question or answer a question to learn. It's important you're here and I'm so happy you're here. That was he says I want to go to shine with you. I want to get a bra from him. I'm getting married on Sunday. You hear this? So he says, "You want a braha from him because you're going to marry this non you're going to marry this non-Jewish girl in Cypress and you want a braha from Steinman?" Yeah. His father says, "Okay, let's go." Now he's sitting by Steinman and they're talking and he turns to him, "What what will you come to ask me something?" Now I want to ask you a question. I mean, we've all maybe some of us have had a little more a little less experience in dealing with kids who are off the derek with with Jews who are struggling whether they're young, whether they're old, whether they're struggling with their Yiddish card, right? How would you answer such a question? Guy wants a braha cuz he's married. How would you deal with that? Right? So, I want to show you an I want to show you that that that the terret to see the goodness, the greatness in every single person, right? She says to him, "What do you want?" He said, "I'm getting married on Sunday to a non-Jewish girl in Cyprus and I want a braha that I should have a good life." So Steman sits there silently and he says to him, "You want a bro?" She said, "I want to ask you a question. Was there ever a time in the years in Tel Aviv that you thought maybe you're doing the wrong thing and maybe you should return to Torah and not marry a non-Jewish girl?" So he thought for me he says yeah I did but you know was that fleeting thought he said how many times did you have that thought maybe three times three times so says to you had a thought the lifestyle you're doing of chuva three times you want a braha from me I want a braha from you you have such an ashama that you what you the way you were living you still had that connection you wanted to connect to the even it was fleeting moments three times I want to broken from you well you can imagine what happened afterwards and this this boy broke down there was no wedding now I heard this story from a rabbi who was speaking in yeshiva up north on Rashstein's yurt site And they brought him in to speak about Rosh Diamond. And one of the rebayam in the yeshiva, one of the ramen, one of the rabbis of the yeshiva young rabbi after he finished said, "I have a story about rushimon I want to tell also." And it was this boy. This boy, the rebha today, right? So what am I telling you? First of all, you see what a real godo be Israel is, right? He where did he get that answer? Where did that answer come from? It wasn't Rua that Ravimman was such a pure person. He understood what Chuva was. He understood the power of Chuva. He knew it. He learned it. He knew it. He lived it. And he he said that's what he saw in this person. It wasn't like a miraculous answer to the question. That was his greatness of Torah that he really understood what was going on in this world, right? And um I'm giving a shear now. And um okay. So that's that's but this is what I want to say. This is what Yseph sent back to. This is terret. This is the level of terret of the heart of a pure wholesome Jewish heart, right? and the the nexus between uh this world and the world of Torah to to everybody's important every person everything is important in fact you know the Kskba once said there's nothing more whole in this world nothing more complete than a broken heart nothing more complete than a broken heart because you can feel all the emotions and identify with everything and everybody okay let's continue so this is what let's go back to Back to Yoseph now. This is number this idea requires a great deal of work. It's a lifetime work to be able to deal with to have that real which which we saw by Diamond, right? This is a lifetime work, right? Many ways to get there. I want to you're uncovering you're this is uncovering things that you never realized were there right so let me give you one example zoo right you have to give cover to somebody right and we said that's the essence here is giving honor giving respect and honor to somebody else the idea of is one of the things that we have to develop right but he he throws a curveball here giving There's also a me of receiving right for example when comes into the into the yeshiva everybody gets up for him everybody gets up they stand right they're they're fulfilling the midst of righty Let's think about this. What's the what's should be the mindset of the rabbi who's getting this honor, right? It's not because, you know, he's good-looking, right? So, you know, or he's a great athlete, right? We're honoring that person because of the Torah that he's carrying. He's a person of Torah. It's about his Torah, right? Which brings to the world, right? That is the work of receiving that the person should realize that it's not meish. I have to really understand every honor that they're giving. They're honoring the see the what I'm doing. It's it's not me. It's the Torah. And it's not the Torah. It's it's the Torah. I'm I'm just like I'm the silver whatever the fancy container that holds the wine, right? But if he feels that it's me, you know, right? This is this is a terrible thing, right? But a person who sees it, it's not about me, right? I'll tell you another story, right? the story of Hutner used to say this and he actually brings it in one of his that um there's a there's a puk in Mish I think it's perov in Mish and the puk says how do you purify silver you have a certain thing to you fire it up rightav you put gold I guess in a kilm or however you you melt gold um ish how do so you perfect silver that way you perfect gold this way what about ish How do you perfect? How do you get a perfect man? Lefi mahalalo. Um, according to what people say about him, right? According to what people say about him. So that tells you how perfect the person is, right? But Rabenu Yona was one of the rishonim says a different shot here. Is Mahalalo is not about what people say about him. It's what does he give covet to? What does this person give covet? Right? So he set an example. There's two Jews sitting in a base mish. You have a kum sitting in the corner and he's learning Torah and he's a great Torah scholar. And then you have a simple Jew a till Jew that he doesn't know how to learnish even but he says till every day after do he sits there and he recites till in walks a great another rabbi comes in. Right. The rabbi who's sitting there, no, he sees him there, doesn't the tieum Jew sees the rabbi come in, he stands up for him, right? Who is the greater person of those two? According to Rabena, Ish lefi mahalo, the the measure of a man of a mench, of a persona is what he honors. He's honoring Torah scholarship and Torah and the Rabonto. the Torah so-called Torah scholar is honoring himself. He couldn't stand up for another rabbi, right? So, this is this is already this is the the not easy, right? Okay, let's go to the second column. Oh, so let me take let me take this to the next stage. He says, so we say a person has to be anov, right? You have to be humble, right? It's not about me, right? So people make a big mistake about humility. He says, right? What's that? Ain't no clue that a person on modest prison says, you know, I I'm a nobody. I'm just I'm just a nobody. I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody. Again, there's a there's an old joke that, you know, the Nazis came in and there's a and they they take the rabbi and the khazan and the shamas up and they're going to shoot them. So, they say, "You have any any last words?" So, the rabbi say, "I just want to speak to God for a minute." So, the rabbi says, "I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody. And if you're going to shoot me, I'm doing this hashem." So, okay. And then they go to the he says the same thing. They go to the shamus and he says the same thing. So, the rabbi turns to the says, "Who does he think he is?" Right? Who does he think he is? Right? So humble, right? So that's not humility. Right? That's what he says. But it's not fitting to honor me. I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody. This is a mistake from from the beginning. The idea of humility is not to deceive myself that I'm I'm humble. I'm a nobody. Right? No. Raosha Feinstein one of the great pose adore for us right he he passed all the shilas for for the world one of the great authorities right he writes in the beginning of his first volume of chuvas right people are asking questions right people are asking questions and nobody's answering them so what can I do I have to answer the question right Moshe didn't know who he was he knew who he was he knew exactly who he was in fact I'll tell you who he was my revi when he came from Israel as a child with his father was living in the lower east side and from time to time his father would send him with a chicken for a shila to the rabbi right that doesn't happen today too often right everything comes the butchers cusher everything right but sometimes it happens so he said there were three kinds of rabbis on the lower east side at that time the first rabbi I would take the chicken to he sat with a gamura and there was a plate in front of him and he didn't move out of the gamora until he heard the tinkle of the coin in the plate. And then he would look up and say, "How can I help you?" Okay? >> Right? That was one rabbi. Then there's another rabbi. They'd sit there and he'd learn and he'd push the plate towards you. There was only one rabbi on the lower east side at that time and he was poor. I mean, you excuse the expression as a church mouse. R Mosha when he came Rob Rehosha Feinstein he was the only Ro that did not have a plate on his table when you came in and you asked him a Shiloh right so and he was the one that could possibly better than anybody else right so this is the point you it's not about you have to know who you are a person a real humble person knows who he is but he also recognizes where it came from right next paragraph we got Mosha Rabenu Mosha Rabenu Yadashu Rabenu Mosha knew he was Mosha Rabenu he was raunch shall call you Israel, right? But the Torah tells us that he was the most modest, humblest person in the world. The fact that he knows it does not take away this is this is real humility. The opposite. The real humble person understands where this is coming from and why it's coming to him and that his purpose in life is to reveal godliness under every rock everywhere every single person every single thing right the heartav to reveal the glory the cav of heaven in this world okay forget this he's talking about just go to we have to establish um ego ego ego ego, right? Egoism he puts in brackets, right? It's not egoism, right? That's not what it's all about. Real is it's like not right. This is a work a lifetime process of working for right proper is a lifetime of understanding what that mean what real honor is and where it belongs to look at honor understand the real honor the real power the real glory is Torah and mitzvah Now back to square one. The last paragraph shall the me of Jacob Ainu was covered. That's who Jacobu was. This whole this world Torah everything is everything is from the everything is special right he could accept and understand and reveal at all the beauty the wonders the beauty shavim of the glory of God of godliness into this world through this this forget getting this point that it's not about me. It's not about me. I'm only a vessel. I'm carrying the briefcase of this. That's real. And this is what Yseph sent to Yakov, right? Lelaymore, you know, I'm Tell him that I'm the viceroy of Egypt. Tell him what you've seen here. Tell him what I'm doing. Everybody's the whole world's coming to me. He made me the the vice president of the whole I'm get I'm like a king, right? I'm next to the king. But don't think for a moment I'm taking myself seriously. That's what he told him. I'm doing this. I know this is what wants. I know that this whole thing of my coming here is and I came here with everything I learned from you and I'm doing this. It's me. It's uh your son, right? I t I learned well from you how to receive and how to give and to understand where it comes from from the koshala was the totality in a in a in a of all of the creation of the world again this gmorra tells us that that's image of Yakov was in the on the throne of glory that by by kavul's chair of glory a picture of Jacob au was engraved so he's what Yseph was telling his father I did it right so this is what I've accomplished and I and that's what he was telling Right. Okay. That says a a story. Okay, that's it. I'm going to save this next week for next week for next second page for next week. Really, it's apply next week is is next week is a tinus by the way. Tenth of t. So, we're going to talk about that a little bit.