Rising Above the Norm | Rabbi Shlomo Landau

Almost daily, people stop me in Shul, at the grocery store, as I travel in Europe, in Eretz Yisroel, and they’re, like: Oh, Vayimaen. Changed my life. And the truth is, we're a movement of people who are changing our lives, upgrading our lives, בקדושה וטהרה. One fellow this week sent us something which is so beautiful and meaningful, I want to share it with you. Everybody knows about the Vayimaen with Yosef. The whole world knows about Vayimaen because of Vayimaen. Almost nobody knows that Vayimaen is in Parshas Vayechi. Here's a drop of background. Yaakov Avinu was בסוף ימיו, he’s at the end of his days. He calls Yosef in. He says to Yosef, I never would have dreamed that I would see you, and now, not only you, I'm seeing Efraim and Menashe, יראים ושלמים. I want to give everybody a Bracha. Yosef takes his two sons, Menashe, the older one, he puts under Yaakov’s right hand, Efraim, the younger one, under Yaakov’s left hand. And we all know the famous gesture, Yaakov switches his hands. Yosef says to his father: No, he's the older one. He's the younger one. And then Yaakov says, וימאן יעקב, Yaakov refuses. And he says to Yosef: ידעתי, בני, ידעתי. I know. Why Vayimaen? How does it fit into this story? So this member of the Vayimaen family shared something magnificent. He said: The Torah uses the word Vayimaen whenever somebody does what's not the norm, what's not the expected. He refuses to be comforted. Everyone says to him: Your own children say he's dead. So many years have passed. Focus on the eyniklech. Focus on the people that are alive. וימאן יעקב להתנחם. Maybe regular people stop believing, but I'm continuing to believe. In this week's Parsha, as well. Maybe the regular and the norm is to put the right hand on the older one, the left hand on the younger one. Yaakov Avinu says: I am not doing the norm. I know, my son. I have a Cheshbon. And then there's our Vayimaen. The Vayimaen of Yosef HaTzaddik. He's away from his own Mishpacha, sold by his own brothers. He could tell himself: The normal thing, periodically, one time, is to slip up. What happens in Mitzrayim stays in Mitzrayim. It's okay, I'm only human. Vayimaen! I am not going to do the norm. I'm going to rise above it. And at that moment, Yosef gets the title of Yosef HaTzaddik, because a Tzaddik is someone who doesn't do what everyone else does. He rises to a different level. Now, here's the kicker. Every Friday night, I put my hand on my son's head and I say, The pasuk after וימאן יעקב. And I tell my children, My dear children, I don't want to settle for regular. I don't want you to be the norm. וימאן יעקב. I want my child to rise above. I don't just want a child. I want a child that’s a Tzaddik. And there's no better way to guarantee that Vayimaen, than by clinging to the Vayimaen way of life, to rising above in our own קדושה, our own טהרה. And the result is children who are בנים ובני בנים עוסקים בתורה ובמצוות.