Vayechi: Yaakov’s Brachos, Each Person’s Unique Potential, and Ephraim and Menashe’s Unity

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I'd like to, be'ezras Hashem yisbarach, discuss brachos. We have in the parsha Birchas Yaakov, that Yaakov gives his children. We have the bracha to Ephraim and Menashe, Bechayevarech Yisrael, and that Klal Yisrael is supposed to use the bracha and give it over to the children, Bechayevarech Yisrael, bracha with bracha with bracha. What is bracha? What is it? The whole parsha, in yeshivas, little kids are taught Birchas Yaakov. It's a whole limud, special. They learn Birchas Yaakov. What is Birchas Yaakov? And it's interesting, what is Birchas Yaakov? It's actually the brachos from Yitzchak and from Avraham, brachos with brachos with brachos. So much is allotted to the inyan of bracha in Bereishis, right? Yitlachalekim is Birchas Avraham. There's so much, the bracha, what is bracha? So I'd like to begin by pointing out that each one of the shevatim got bracha, their own individual bracha. Yehuda, you're this, you're this. Each one separate. Rashi says, On the pasuk, Ish asher kibirchaso beirach osam. Each one, according to their bracha, he benched them. So the truth is, what does it mean, kibirchaso? I mean, each one like his bracha. I mean, every person got his bracha. What does it mean, Ish kibirchaso beirach osam? So I would have said, kibirchaso, according to the bracha which befits him. For example, if I take a person who sells shoes, and I give him a bracha that he should be zocheh to be matzliach in selling oranges. But that's not what he does; he sells shoes, right? Kibirchaso, like the bracha unique for him, which befits him. For example, Yissachar learns, he gets a bracha in learning. Zvulun does business, he gets a bracha in business. Rashi doesn't interpret the pasuk that way. Rashi doesn't explain the pasuk, kibirchaso, to mean like the bracha that befits. Rashi says, bracha ha'asidah lavo al kol echad. Ish, every person, like the bracha, which is asidah. Asidah means that is destined to come. The bracha that's destined to come on this person. That's how he was beirach osam. The question is, what does Rashi mean? Of course, he gave them the bracha which was asidah. Which was destined to come. I mean, of course, what, he gave him a bracha that wasn't supposed to come? Of course it was supposed to come. Bracha ha'asidah, the bracha that is destined to come on each one in the future. Well, of course, he gave him the bracha, and im yirtzeh Hashem, that bracha was going to come. But the pasuk has to stress that it's a guarantee it was going to happen. Is that what Rashi means? Yeah. That's what it means, that the pasuk is saying that it will definitely happen. Yaakov gives a bracha, it will happen. Birchas tzaddik, of course it's going to happen. What I think Rashi means is, Ki birchasai, ha'asidah lavo al kol echad. Each one was destined to get a bracha. But in order to get that bracha, you have to realize your potential. You have to realize what your kochos are, what your capabilities are. So, ish asher kivrachaso, ha'bracha ha'asidah, the bracha that was destined to come on each one of them, he gave him that bracha. Which means—

What Yaakov did was to identify. He was to clarify, to bring out and explain to each one what his bracha, what his future, what his potential is. That's bracha asida lavo. It was destined to come. Each person is born with ma'alot. Each person is born with bracha that's supposed to come to him, kishronos, capabilities, koiches. So he gave them the bracha according to that, meaning the bracha that's asida, he pointed out to them. And that could be the biggest bracha, say baalei mussar. For someone to recognize his capabilities is in itself the biggest bracha. We live in our lives, and sometimes we don't even realize our koiches, our potentials. To be able to realize that is a tremendous thing. The Gemara says that when the chachamim used to leave part from each other, when they left the yeshiva, they would give each other brachos. So what was the bracha? One of them was, Olamcha tira b'chayecha. Your world you should see in your lifetime. What is olamcha? Your world you should see in your lifetime. So my uncle, Reb Chaim, and other baalei mussar discuss that every person is an olam malei. Every person is a world for himself, with his koiches, with his feelings. Olamcha, your world should come to fruition, b'chayecha, in your lifetime. It should come mikoach el hapoel, in your lifetime. Olamcha, your world. Each person is a world for himself. His machshavos, his capabilities, his tafkid. You should see your tafkid, olamcha, your world, b'chayecha. And that's a bracha. That's a bracha that one gives to the other person, because that is the biggest bracha. The biggest bracha is to be able to fulfill the goal that you have to fulfill in life. You know, the Mesillas Yesharim writes, sheyisbarer v'yis'ameis eitzel ha'adam ma chovaso b'olamo. It doesn't say b'olam. It's not the chov of the world. Chov b'olamo, in his world. Every person is a world for himself, and every person has a chov, has a goal, has a tafkid. So bracha is olamcha tira b'chayecha, and that's possibly what Rashi means, bracha asidah lavoi, the future that's destined for each one. He gave him that bracha, olamcha tira b'chayecha, that you should be able to recognize and identify your goals and tafkid and your koiches and your kishronos and your olam, and you should be able to therefore work towards that. And that's the biggest bracha you can do for somebody. It's interesting. Part of the brachos was also tochacha. He gave mussar. Reuven, Shimon got mussar. Rashi says that Yehuda was moving backwards when he heard; he was scared, he was trying to run away. He heard the mussar that he gave to Reuven and Shimon. So we see that part of Birchas Yaakov was mussar. As a matter of fact, the pasuk says, Hei asfu v'shimu bnei Yisrael, v'shimu el Yaakov avichem. It says it twice. You know, bring me the pasuk. We'll read the exact words of the pasuk. Yeah, give me Chumash for one minute. Not this one. Give me the Chumash. Any Chumash. There are Chumashim. Okay, okay, bring me. Okay, bring me any Chumash, come.

All right, yecholesh. Okay. It says like this. Vayikra Yaakov el banav, vayomer, Hei'asfu v'agidah lachem. Then in pasuk beis it says, Hei'asefu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, v'shimu el Yisrael avichem. What are the two leshonos, the repetition? Hei'asefu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, v'shimu el Yisrael avichem, saying the same thing twice. What's the keifel lashon here? The Brisker Rav says, because there was two things here. There was mussar, and then there was also bracha. So, Hei'asefu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, which is a lower level, Yaakov, that was the mussar. V'shimu el Yisrael avichem is the bracha. Hei'asefu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, v'shimu el Yisrael avichem. Now, it's interesting, the Targum actually says on both that you should listen, you should come together and listen ulfan, which is mussar. But the Brisker Rav says that from the pasuk we could separate. Hei'asefu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, stop. V'shimu el Yisrael avichem, two things: mussar and bracha. Now, why mussar and bracha? So we could say one of two things, because actually mussar and bracha is the same thing. If a person guides another person to understand his koiches, his kishronos, and he helps him. He helps him realize his tafkid, so mussar is also bracha. We might not feel it's bracha. We might not look at it as a bracha, but the truth is it's bracha. The best thing you can do for somebody is to teach him and guide him. Of course, it has to be done b'oifen of bracha. It has to be done in a way that just like you give bracha, it's b'ahava, when you give mussar it should also be b'ahava. So it could be it's relative, it's together. There's bracha and mussar. Or maybe that actually when you give mussar, you should give bracha afterwards. Maybe it's supposed to be yemin and smile, smile docha, yemin mekarev. So when you do the mussar, he kavtzu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, the next thing is v'shimu el Yisrael avichem. Maybe that's the pshat. See, we're trying to understand if it was brachos, so why did the first two, three get mussar? Is it fair? You tell everybody, Come, I'm giving brachos, and then when they show up, they get mussar. Imagine if a Rebbe came to town and they announce, The Rebbe is giving out brachos. People show up, and what do they get? They get mussar. They come for brachos. So which one is it? And the answer is bracha and mussar are together, because what is bracha? To teach and to help the person to reach his potential in avodas Hashem. So tochacha is the same thing if it's done properly, tochacha. But it's two different things: he kavtzu v'shimu bnei Yaakov, v'shimu el Yisrael avichem, or maybe. That there's a rule: yemin and smile, which means the smile pushes away and the yemin is mekarev. And so, hikaftu v'shimu. We do both. Shimu bnei Yaakov, v'shimu Yisrael avichem. First I give you the mussar, and then I give you the bracha. It's interesting that, l'choira, there's a question. How is it that Reuven and Shimon get mussar, and Yehuda hears it? Are you allowed to give mussar in front of somebody else? It says, Yehuda—Rashi says—Yehuda started to go backwards. Why is he—he heard it? Why was he allowed to hear it? You don't give tochachah in front of other people. That's how you give mussar? And I don't think that Yehuda was sitting with a glass by the window to listen, to hear. I don't think he was eavesdropping, and that's what he heard. If he heard it, he was allowed to hear it. And how could he hear it? Unless we could say that he didn't hear it, but maybe as they left, Reuven left, and Reuven left with a sour face, white like a ghost. What happened? You don't know what he just told me.

And then Shimon left. Oh, you don't know what he just told me. And then Levi, oh, you don't know. So it's not pshat that he gave the mussar in front of Rehuda. Yehuda realized that there was mussar to Reuven, Shimon, and Levi. Maybe, maybe that's the pshat. I would say something different, and that is, if you notice later on in the parsha, it says that he calls them all together. Ish asher kivrachasoi. Here he calls them together. He tells everybody to come together. And then later on it says, Ish asher kivrachasoi, beirach osam, right? So Rashi says, what is the beirach osam? It should say, vayevarech osam. Ish asher kivrachasoi, finish. Why does it say beirach osam? Says Rashi, kolulam kulam bivracha, which means he joined them all together, and he said that all the brachos are for everyone. You hear? That all the brachos are for everybody. You remember such a Rashi? Ish asher kivrachasoi, beirach osam, kolulam kulam bivracha. So I saw in the Kesef Mishnah, in Perek Aleph, Halacha Beis in Hilchos Kriyas Shema, he brings a sefer that the mussar was given kol echad v'echad. Each one got mussar separately. Each one got mussar separately, and then he called them, come together. And I'll say for what. Just come together. So he's—what is the Kesef Mishneh bothered by? The question. Why is he giving mussar? The Sifri that the Kesef Mishneh is quoting is bothered by this question: how could you give mussar one in front of the other? And the answer is, he didn't. The mussar was separate, but the bracha was together. The mussar was separate, but the bracha was together, okay? Now, the question is, why is the bracha together? Why did they have to stand together and get the bracha together? The mussar was separate. The bracha was together. Why did it have to be together? And I have a question for you even better. Ready? If everyone got all the bracha, so then what's the individual, that each one got an individual bracha, if anyone got everything anyway? If I tell you, you get ten dollars, and you get ten dollars, and you get ten dollars, and all of you get ten dollars, so then what's the—you, everybody gets ten dollars. That's—it's all the same. Kolam kulam bivracha achas. He put them together with one bracha. So then what's the individual? Why did each one get separate? And the pashut pshat is, what do you have to say? Yehuda is strong, and Shimon is zevulun, Levi. That's each one unique. But everyone in Klal Yisrael has shaychus to it. Az kano merotz, katzvi gibor kari. You know what? You come and say, Yeah, but I'm not from that shevet. Imagine a person reads the first din in Shulchan Aruch, where it says you have to be az kanamer, gibor ka'ari. I can't, I'm not from Judah, so I'm a weakling. What am I going to do? And the answer is, Yehuda was ari, the ari, but everybody has, be'erach kulan, somewhat of ari, somewhat of namer, somewhat of ratz ka-tzvi. What do you mean, ratz ka-tzvi? How can I do it? I'm not Naftali. I come from a different shevet. And the answer is, be'erach kulan, that everybody had a little bit. Or maybe we could say a little bit deeper. Klal Yisrael functions: individual, the prat, and the klal. I'll give you an example. If somebody is strong, it's a contradiction to someone who's completely weak, right? The ma'alos of the strong one, the weak one doesn't have. The ma'alos of the weak one, the strong one doesn't have. Correct? But the problem is, let's say they come together, so they contradict each other, no? A plus and a minus, you can't put them together.

The bracha of Yaakov Avinu was that the plus and minus could come together. Kalalon kulam bivracha, that Klal Yisrael works in a way that each one has his maila, yet it's not a contradiction when it comes together with the other maila, that they could all work together, like a bouquet of flowers. Imagine a person says, Wait a minute, pink, pink is not yellow, so you know what? I can't put it together. But that's what a bouquet of flowers is all about, that you take the pink and the yellow and the green and the orange, and when you put it together, that's when it turns into a bouquet of flowers. Could you have a bouquet of flowers of all pink? It doesn't look nice. The opposite. The fact that it's different, that's what makes it one. Kalalon kulam bivracha means that he went and he took them and he said, You're all bivracha. Yehuda, you have koiches of Yehuda. Now I want that all of Klal Yisrael should have from your koiches, should have from your capabilities, and it shouldn't be a contradiction to the Rach Kakana, the Rotz Katzvi, shouldn't be the Gibor Kanamer. It shouldn't contradict. There should be harmony between the different koiches. This is bracha. You know what bracha is? When everything works together in harmony. You know, Moshe Rabbeinu gives a bracha. Yiratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'maaseh yedeichem. How is there hashra'as haShechinah b'maaseh yadayim? What's the expression, Yiratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'maaseh yedeichem? And the answer is as follows. You know, a person could build an entire structure. In order for it to come together, it's very difficult. In order there should be harmony. Do you know, the Gemara even tells us that the Makom HaMikdash, the Kodesh HaKodashim, it was eino min hamidah. The measurements didn't work out. So how come it didn't work out? So the Maharsha explains, because the Shechinah was there. And when the Shechinah is there, it can't have a measurement. Tell me, could you have a building where the main room doesn't have measurements? Could you work such a building out? I just want to know. You know what? Try to build yourself a house and say that the main room, what I would call the living room, the living room, no, there's no measurement. It's just—it has to fit, right? And the answer is, there's a special brachah of Shechinah to make it work. You know, I think that's the pshat: Ish v'ishah, shalom, Shechinah beineihem. Why does the Shechinah have to be there? Let me think about it. Why does the Shechina have to be there? And the answer is harmony is only of the Eibishter. You take two opposites. You take a husband and a wife. The only way that the husband and wife can come together is if there's Shechina ביניהם. You hear, my boys? I'm telling you a deep yesod. The only way that a husband and a wife, which are two opposites, can be able to come together, live in peace, live in harmony, if it's Shechina ביניהם. Did you notice that the word Shechina is shalom is the same word? What's the Eibishter's name? Shalom. עושה שלום במרומיו, הוא יעשה שלום עלינו. Shechina makes shalom, makes harmony. You hear? This is the pshat, brach. Beirach kulan. He benches them. What's pshat?

He benches them. He benches them that there should be harmony between the different koiches, the Shechinah should be there. Bracha, shalom, harmony, and Shechinah is all the same thing. This is the pshat, kara kulam k'echad, that he calls them all together. How do you bring together? Shiftei Kah. How do you unite them? And the answer is through bracha, through Birchas Hashem, the bracha of the Eibishter, you hear? That you put the Ribono Shel Olam's name there. What is Birchas Kohanim? Yevarechecha Hashem v'yishmerecha. Ya'er Hashem panav eilecha vichuneka. Yisa Hashem panav eilecha. Hashem should put His face to you. V'yasem lecha shalom. So what is bracha? The Eibishter, yisa Hashem panav, that the Eibishter should be there for you, and m'meila you'll have shalom. That's bracha. Bracha in the home, bracha in the Beis Hamikdash. You want to shetishreh Shechinah b'maaseh yedeichem, that the Ribono Shel Olam should be there. And if the Ribono Shel Olam is there, then there's shalom, harmony. Bracha means Hashem. I bench you that the Eibishter should be there with you, yisa Hashem panav eilecha. And when that happens, m'meila what you have is kulam kulam b'bracha. Not pshat that every person has to be Yehuda. How can every person be Yehuda? Yehuda's Yehuda. But that Yehuda should be able to be with Naftali, and Naftali should be with Yissachar, and Yissachar should be with Zvulun, and it should be kolam kulam b'bracha. That is, that's the inyan of bracha. That's the inyan of bracha by the shevatim. With this, rabosai, I think we can explain the bracha to Ephraim and Menashe. You notice that there was a special bracha to Ephraim and Menashe, a special bracha. B'cha yevarech Yisrael, yesimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'chiMenashe, that all children should be like Ephraim and Menashe. When do we say this? So there's three times when we say this bracha. The first time we say this bracha is Erev Yom Kippur. It's Birchas HaBanim; we bench the children Erev Yom Kippur. Another time is Shabbos Friday night. Some had customs, and minhagei Vermiza is brought down, that they used to do it in the morning also, before the meal, Shabbos. The first time—I'm sorry, the third time—is the day of the bris milah. And it's interesting that the one that we don't do, that for some reason we don't do, is the one that's actually brought by the Rishonim. To do it on Shabbos, there's no mekor for it. Rabbi Yaakov Emden brings it down later. Acharonim talk about it. It's brought down in the minhagei Vermiza. It's brought down Yom Kippur also. Some brought down anyway; it's a minhag. It's a minhag. The one by the day of the bris milah, which we don't do, is brought in Targum Yonason. In Targum Yonason on the pasuk, B'chol yevarech Yisrael, zogt the Targum Yonason, b'yoma d'mila, on the day of the bris milah. Now we do say Hamalach Hagoel. We say it the night before. We call the vachnacht, when we sit with the baby, we say Hamalach Hagoel, but that's not Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe. We don't say that. And it's not the day of the bris milah; it's the night before. Maybe the night is the same thing as the day. For some reason, we don't keep this. I don't know why. My grandfather speaks about it a lot. He used to talk about why we don't keep this minhag. But on the day of the bris milah, B'chol yevarech Yisrael. Why these three times? What's unique about Erev Yom Kippur? What's unique about Shabbos? What's unique about the day of the milah that we give this bracha, Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe? So I'm thinking, rabosai, there's many reasons why Efrayim and Menashe. What's wrong with Reuven and Shimon? Be like Reuven and Shimon. Why Efrayim and Menashe? So there's many terutzim that are said. One teretz that's said: Efrayim and Menashe...

Ephraim was a tremendous ben Torah. Menashe was an oisek btzarchei tzibur. He was a true leader in tzarchei tzibur. Rashi says clearly he was memuneh al beiso; he was in charge. Menashe took care of the house. He was the memuneh. Everything had to go through Menashe. Mimeila, we give a bracha to a child, says the Netziv, the day of his bris. You know what we tell him? We tell him, here, you have two roads ahead of you. You could either be like Ephraim, or you could be like Menashe. There's two derachim, there's two paths for the person who wants to be oved Hashem. He could either be like Ephraim, a ben Torah, which is preferable, and if not, to be like Menashe. But then why Shabbos? Why Erev Yom Kippur? He explains the day of the bris milah, maybe, the Netziv. But why is it that we say this Friday night? Why is it that we say this Erev Yom Kippur? So I want to tell you that there's another pshat. Why do we speak about Ephraim and Menashe? And the answer is because Ephraim and Menashe had tremendous achdus. You notice Ephraim is being elevated over Menashe. Does Menashe complain? No. They lived in harmony. You know, Yaakov Avinu sees in Ephraim and Menashe what he wanted to see in Reuven and Shimon. He wanted to see Reuven and Shimon to get along like this. And that's why he, bedavka, while he gives the bracha, he points out Ephraim is bigger and Ephraim is the right hand. What are you doing it for? Why does he need all that? Good, let's say in the future he's going to be bigger, so what? So you have to now make it bigger and smaller? The answer is he wanted bedavka that Menashe should not say anything to fix the jealousy, the inyan of the jealousy. You hear? You know, mefarshim say beautiful pshat in the pasuk. Yadati, beni, yadati. I know that he's the younger one. Achiv hakatan, the pasuk says. The pasuk calls him achiv hakatan. One minute, it says like this. Okay, says the pasuk like this. Vayomer, yadati, beni, yadati. Gam hu yihyeh l'am, v'gam hu yigdal, v'ulam achiv hakatan... Katan because he made himself smaller. That even though, says the mefarshim, Ephraim knew that Yaakov was elevating him over Menashe, he didn't walk around like that. He walked around, achiv hakatan, I'm the smaller brother. And then the mefarshim say, what's the pshat in the end of the pasuk? V'olam achiv hagadol mimenu, v'zar'o yihyeh melo hagoyim. What's yigdal mimenu? He'll become greater from him, meaning Menashe will make Ephraim bigger. Yigdal mimenu, from him, from Menashe. Menashe walked around saying, Look at my brother Ephraim, and Ephraim walked around saying, Look at my brother Menashe. Says Yaakov Avinu, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe. We bench the children that they should have this midah of Ephraim and Menashe, k'Reuven v'Shimon yihyu li, that it should be like Reuven and Shimon. Now what's the pshat, rabosai? That, I think, explains why we say this Erev Yom Kippur. Erev Yom Kippur is a time of achdus, where we want Klal Yisrael to forgive and unite, the Klal Yisrael. So we bench the children, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe. Why Shabbos? Shabbos is the time of shalom. The malachim come and they look in the house to see if there's shalom in the house. So we bench the children, the Shabbos, the shalom, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe, the shefa of Shabbos, the achdus of Shabbos. Lo sevar'u eish b'chol moshvoseichem b'yom haShabbos, the inyan of shalom of Shabbos. It should find its way, Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim u'cheMenashe. Why the day of the bris milah? You know, Yosef...

When he wants to reveal himself, that he's Yosef, pasuk says he showed them, come close. What does he show them? Bris milah. Says the Sifsei Chachamim, why bris milah? What does it prove? It doesn't prove anything. So we spoke about it because all the Mitzrim really had a bris milah. Okay. Says the Sifsei Chachamim, Ki habris hi os achvah bYisrael. The bris is a sign of achdus in Klal Yisrael. One to another, it shows brotherliness. So he's telling them, come, I'm your brother. Look, I have a bris milah. So the day of the bris, we give you also that bracha, Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe, that you should be able to come together b'achdus like Ephraim and Menashe. The child, that the child should learn to come together with Klal Yisrael. He should learn, like Ephraim and Menashe, os achvah. He's coming into Klal Yisrael. He's becoming a part of a tzibur. So he has to learn Yismach Elokim k'Efrayim u'cheMenashe. Azoi meinach is the pshat. According to the pshat, why do we say Ephraim and Menashe? Because of achdus. That's why it's Erev Yom Kippur, that's why it's Shabbos, and that's why it is also on the day of the bris milah. Third pshat: why do we pick Ephraim and Menashe? So the mefarshim say because Ephraim and Menashe in Mitzrayim turned into Shvatim. That's something special. Ad boiei lecha, they didn't have the zechus of Yaakov Avinu to teach them, and still they turned into... Shiftei Kah. So that's a tremendous maila, and Yaakov Avinu sees that throughout the Golus, Yiddisha kinder, that they should have been able to survive the Golus and remain pure, innocent, Jewish Yiddishe kinder. The bracha, Yismcha Efraim v'Menashe, the Eibishter should put you like Ephraim and Menashe, who in Mitzrayim remained frum, ehrliche, gute kinder, Yiddishe kinder. And that's why, bedavka Ephraim and Menashe, not Shimon vLevi. With this pshat, I think we could go back to explain why Shabbos, why Bris Milah, why Yom Kippur. And that is, what is it that kept Ephraim and Menashe in Mitzrayim? What did Yosef do? Obviously it was Yosef. Yosef did something right, as they say, in the chinuch of the children. As a matter of fact, meduyak in the pasuk, it says, Vayevarech es Yosef. He benches Yosef, but it doesn't say what he benches him, and he goes right into the bracha to Ephraim and Menashe. All the mefarshim ask, I thought you're benching Yosef, Vayevarech es Yosef. And the answer is, because when you bench the children, you're really benching the father. And the Chasam Sofer and others bring, Ilan, ilan, bameh avarechecha? Sheyihyu kol peirosecha kemoicha, that the children should be like the father is a bracha ready to the tree. The way we're learning, we can say a little bit deeper. If the whole bracha is that Ephraim and Menashe remained Ephraim and Menashe in Mitzrayim, so whose credit is that? The father. So, Vayevarech es Yosef, I think the pshat is that it's actually a bracha and a praise to Yosef. It's not that the children's bracha is a bracha so the father gains from it. That's the pashut pshat in what the mefarshim are saying, that since the child gets, so the father is getting, because the father doesn't care who gets it; it's me or my child. The way we're learning the pshat, that we're trying to say, Becha yevarech Yisrael, because the chinuch was proper in Mitzrayim, that they survived, they remained frum and erlach, good Yidden in Mitzrayim, so Vayevarech es Yosef. This is actually the credit, the blessing, the praise of Yosef. Yisimcha Elokim k'Ephraim v'cha'Menashe. So what did Yosef do? What was it? What is the secret ingredient in chinuch? And I believe, rabosai, you know Yosef made sure that there was a bris milah. Every one in Mitzrayim had a bris milah. The mefarshim say, why did he do this? Why did he do it? Why did he make everyone have a bris milah? You know what? Make them cut their fingers off. Why think of a bris milah? Well, as a matter of fact, lahalacha it's not even so simple. The Rama brings down in Hilchos Bris, in Yoreh Deah, you can't tell a goy to do a bris milah. It belongs only to Klal Yisrael, bris milah.

There's a whole question how a mohel—there's a lot of practice on goyishe babies to do bris for klal Yis, to become a mohel, you know, do a bris on a goy. Bein yehudim u'vein Bnei Noach, it's only for Klal Yisroel, the bris. So the Shach and other Acharonim talk about it. How did Yosef—how did Yosef make a bris in Mitzrayim? So they say a few different terutzim. One is that he did a complete bris on the Mitzriim; he did milah without priah, milah without priah. And that's what Yosef shows his brothers: I'm a mohel, not a mohel like the Mitzriim. I'm a mohel kohen, that I have milah and priah. That's what he was showing them. Another pshat is that I'm allowed to do a bris milah if it's for the tzorech, for the need of Klal Yisroel. So if I'm allowed to practice on a goyishe baby, so to speak, because I need to learn to do milah on a Jewish baby. Here Yosef did it on the Mitzriim for the purpose of the Klal Yisroel. Why? If there wouldn't be a bris milah, Klal Yisroel would come down to Mitzrayim, and they wouldn't want to do bris after many years. Why? They look strange, something's wrong. They would look at them as a— So in order to make it the norm, he made that even the Mitzriim had a bris milah. It's very interesting because the truth is the world does it, circumcision. It's something that the world does. For example, female circumcision. We in America, whoa, it's a terrible thing. There are countries that do it. So if in America a Jew would have to do it, they wouldn't even let it. If, chas v'shalom, I mean, we, Baruch Hashem, it's not the mitzvahs haTorah, but if it was, we wouldn't even be able to do it. It's illegal. It's illegal in the States to do it. Female circumcision. So what's the pshat? The Ribono Shel Olam set up that the goyim should do it, and like this it's accepted as a health thing almost, and ממילא it becomes that Klal Yisrael is able to do it; otherwise we wouldn't be able to do milah. So Yosef, that's the pshat. Yosef knew this. So he had to set up that everybody has a bris milah, otherwise it would be illegal. What are you doing? How can you do a bris milah? Like in Russia. How can you do a bris milah? You're not allowed to do it. It's illegal. Okay. With this, I understand that Yosef went and set up bris milah in Mitzrayim. You know another thing he did in Mitzrayim? It says that when the brothers came to Mitzrayim, Tavoiach tevach v'hachein. He made a seudah. He made a seudah, right? Made a seudah. What was the seudah about? You know, the Eliyah Rabbah in Shulchan Aruch brings down, Eliyah Rabbah in halacha in Shulchan Aruch brings down, from the Matzei Moshe, that Chanukah is b'schus this seudah. Yeah, yeah, it's Eliyah Rabbah, that the hachein, Tavoiach tevach v'hachein, if you look, is osiyos Chanukah. Tavoiach tevach is Chanukah. Chanukah has to do with this seudah. And the Neimeli Malch explains, Chanukah and Yosef. Yosef has to do with Chanukah. Yosef, Chanukah, what does that have to do with anything? I think the pshat, rabosai, is as follows. There were two things in this seudah. The first thing in the seudah was there was shechitah, shechitah. The second thing I found in Reb Tzadok HaKohen, it was Shabbos. It was a seudas Shabbos, says Reb Tzadok HaKohen. The two things which are mesorah and unique for the chashivus of Klal Yisrael: Shabbos and shechitah. Shechitah is all b'mesorah. You want to know if a Jew is a Jew? Does he keep kashrus? Does he keep Shabbos? Does he have a bris milah? Not interesting? Does he keep Shabbos? What do you ask? Is he a Yid? There's three things: you ask kashrus, Shabbos, and milah. Milah, Yosef says, Milah Mitzrayim. Shabbos, Tovah teva v'hachein. Shechitah, he made shechitah, he made. What was Yevanim? Yevanim wanted to uproot chelek b'Elokei Yisrael, that Klal Yisrael shouldn't be connected to the Ribbono Shel Olam.

They could be intellectual. They could learn parts of Torah which are intellectual, but they can't learn as Yidden. Ein lachem chelek b'Elokei Yisrael. So they try to uproot what? Milah and Shabbos. Tavoir tevach v'hachein. This seudah, I believe, Yosef already planted the seeds that in Golus, how do you fight the Golus? You fight the Golus with Shabbos, milah, kashrus. You hear? How do you fight the Golus? You fight the Golus. How do you remain Yidden in Golus? How do you keep your identity in Golus? Milah, shechitah, and Shabbos. And so, this seudah of Tavoir tevach v'hachein, which Reb Tzadok tells me was on Shabbos, was the hachanah, the preparation, the seeds, the planting the seeds for the koach to fight in the times of Yavan. Now, I understand how Menashe and Ephraim remained in Mitzrayim. How did they remain in Mitzrayim? Ephraim learned Torah. There was a Shabbos table. There was kashrus. There was milah. So they survived in Mitzrayim. Now let's go to Yom Kippur, Shabbos, and milah. Three times when we say what? Yismichu Elokim, Ephraim u'Menashe. Erev Yom Kippur. You know what the one identity of a Yid is? Comes from Erev Yom Kippur. The most farthest Yid, the most lost, the one thing that still keeps a Yid attached: Yom Kippur. They used to call Yom Kippur Yidn. They used to call, least Yom Kippur used to come. V'simcha l'chem k'Efrayim u'cheMenasheh. The bracha of Efrayim and Menasheh. Even no matter where you are, to be connected. The next time we say it is Shabbos, and the other time we say it is what? Milah. It's the three yesodos, v'simcha l'chem k'Efrayim u'cheMenasheh that kept Efrayim and Menasheh. Here, rabosai, it's meyudik, reid, meyudik, it's meyudik. Why every Yom Kippur, v'simcha l'chem k'Efrayim u'cheMenasheh? Why Shabbos? Why milah? And the answer is, why do we say בכלל v'simcha l'chem? Why Efrayim and Menasheh? The answer is because Efrayim and Menasheh remained connected to the Eibishter in Mitzrayim. And how did they do that? Through the yesodos of milah, Shabbos. These were the yesod bris. You know what bris is? Connected to the Eibishter. You know when a person is in galus, the number one thing that he needs is to remain connected to the Eibishter. That's the number one thing you need. You're connected, then you're not going to get lost. You're not connected, you get lost right away. You always have to be connected, connected, connected to the Ribono Shel Olam. You know, we say, Ashreinu, ma tov chelkeinu. U'ma noyim ge'oraleinu, u'ma yafah yerushaseinu. Unbelievable. Ma noyim, ma yafah, ma toiv, a chelek yerusha. You know, it's referring to many different things. The mefarshim say maybe Shabbos, maybe Eretz Yisroel, Torah, mitzvahs, a lot. And then we say, Ashreinu she'anu maskimim, marbim b'vatel. That's all. I don't understand. You just finished building it up. Ashreinu, ma toiv chelkeinu. Ashreinu, then we say Kriyas Shema once in the morning, once at night. Unbelievable question. I was thinking about it a lot lately. You know, the Gemara even uses such a lashon. The Gemara says that as long as they say Kriyas Shema in the morning, it's enough. It's a lashon of the Gemara. The Gemara says if they come and they say, די, it's enough. It's enough. That's it. That's the whole business. What's the pshat? I'll tell you the pshat. Why twice a day do we say Kriyas Shema? Iglei Tal explains it's not really twice a day. Rav Nezik explains it's not really twice a day. It's actually all day. You ever take a pill? You have to take every minute the medicine? You take it twice a day, and it collates, which means that every few... the body gets...

Constantly sustenance from that. Kriyas Shema is the same thing. You say it once in the morning, you say it once at night, and that keeps you going. A 24-hour dispenser keeps on going. Injection. You're getting 24 hours, okay? But what we're saying in davening is, with all the Torah and mitzvahs, it's all good. But the one thing that keeps us, Ashreinu, mah tov chelkeinu, mah na'im, ... it's all true. But Ashreinu, at the end of the day, you know what our oisher is, the biggest blessing that we have? We come and say, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. That's it. It's an antibiotic to be connected to the Eibishter all the time. With this, rabosai, yeah, I think that's the pshat in the Gemara. The Gemara says that when Yaakov Avinu wanted to tell them the keitz, nistam. It became—he started to tell them other things. So the truth is, there's different Chazal. The Rambam brings this, that you know what he started telling them? Maybe there's something wrong with you. Maybe the Olam is not holding in emunah. Maybe the Olam is not together in emunah. So what did they answer? No, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad, and they all said, Baruch shem kevod malchuso l'olam va'ed. Beautiful, right? And that's why we say Baruch shem kevod malchuso l'olam va'ed. Good? Okay. What's the connection? You see, all of a sudden, nistam, and he wanted to tell us the keitz, and he started speaking about other things. So the mefarshim say two points. First of all, why did the Shechinah leave him? So pashut pshat is because it's not good to know the ketz. Some sefer says why? Because if we know when the ketz is and it doesn't come, then we'll have yiush. We'll feel very bad. We'll say, Ah, something's wrong. Gemara says, Tipach ruchan shel mechashvei kitzin, that those that come and tell us the end, it's a curse, it's a terrible thing, because then we have yiush. When it comes and the time comes and we don't have it because it could be that we're not going to get it, it turns into what? Yiush, that people feel fallen, that the Mashiach didn't come. Some sefer says that's pshat, Baruch shem kevod malchuso l'olam vaed. In order it should be l'olam vaed. That's why we said when he couldn't tell us the ketz, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu... Baruch shem kevod malchuso l'olam vaed, like this will be forever and ever, because otherwise people will fall away. Yiddishkeit, people are going to say, you know what, like this every day we wake up, maybe it's today, maybe it's today. Yachud knew that. So I'm thinking, so what's the Shema Yisrael then? In the context of to make sure that Klal Yisrael remains, what's the Shema Yisrael? Another point. So I understand the Baruch shem, so how did the Shema Yisrael fit in this? Another point. Why did he lose the Shechinah? He said because it's not good to say the time. Other mefarshim say is because he started to think about the ketz, and he started to realize all the tzaros, and he got ba'atzvus. It broke him somewhat. When you're b'atzvus, the Shechinah leaves you there. He started to think about the keitz. Which keitz? The end, the end of times. All of a sudden, he started to... because why? B'atzvus. He started to get broken from it. So the mefarshim say, so what did he do? Instead of telling them when it's over, he told them how to bring the geulah. He kavtzu, come together, kibbutz galuyos, achdus. I'd like to add another point. He was teaching them Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu. Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu was an answer to the yi'ush, to the galus, to the fact that we might get lost and broken in the galus. See, he teaches Klal Yisrael, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad, like we spoke, to be connected with the Eibishter. And that's what's going to get us through the galus. Achdus, yes, but in what? In emunah. Emunah, emunah, emunah. The fact that we have Shema Yisrael, that a person wakes up...

In the morning and at night, he says Shema Yisroel, which means he's connected all day to the Eibishter. You know, one of the biggest nisyonos is to constantly be connected to the Eibishter. It's easy to wake up and twice a day say Shema Yisroel. Yeah, you wake up early. What about throughout the day? That's the hard part. You know, if you take a look at next week's parsha, it says, the parsha says clearly, Yosef... Yeah? It says the pasuk like this: V'Yosef hayah b'Mitzrayim. Says Rashi, what is V'Yosef hayah b'Mitzrayim? It's a chiddush. What's the chiddush? Of course Yosef was in Mitzrayim. And the answer is, Yosef stood omed b'tzidkoi. Hu Yosef haro'eh es tzon aviv, hu Yosef shehayah b'Mitzrayim v'nasa melech, v'omed b'tzidkoi. What does he want, Rashi? You know, it's one thing to be a tzaddik. It's another thing to be omed b'tzidkoi, to pursue constantly and not fall. That's a chiddush. To omed b'tzidkoi. It's very easy for a person to reach great madreigos, elevation. Yosef, tremendous. But it's a bigger thing is Yosef hayah b'Mitzrayim, to be in Mitzrayim and remain that way. And that's Shema Yisroel, to be connected to the Eibishter constantly. And he knew this, Yosef, and therefore what did he do? Shabbos, milah, all the brisin. You know, milah means you're connected to the Eibishter even if you can't do anything about it, like Dovid HaMelech, he was in the shower. He knew he has a bris milah. You're connected to the Eibishter. There's not much you could do. 24/7, you're connected to the Rabbeinu Shleilam through milah. Shabbos also is 24/7, you know that? The Gemara says that in Beitzah, machloikes Beis Shammai, Beis Hillel, should you shop a whole week for Shabbos? So the Gemara says that actually even Beis Hillel would hold that way. That theoretically, as a matter of fact, it's brought down in the Darchei Moshe, Shulchan Aruch, that we don't pasken like Beis Hillel. The Rema in Darchei Moshe says we actually pasken Beis Shammai; they should be doing shopping already from Sunday. Michad b'Shabbos l'Shabbos. From the first day, the Gemara says, of Sunday, we're already looking for Shabbos. Why? Baruch Hashem, yom yom is Beis Hillel. What is Rav Shammai? Zachor es yom haShabbos. You have to remember the Shabbos always, l'kadsho. Constantly. There's a constant remembrance connected to the Shabbos, connected to the Shabbos. The yesod is, in galus, you have to search to be constantly connected. Constantly connected. And that's why Shabbos—you know, the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Moshe zecher tzaddik livrachah, writes, why is it that Shabbos is more important than the Beis HaMikdash? We don't build the Beis HaMikdash on Shabbos. I would think Beis HaMikdash. Says Rav Moshe in Parshas Bechukosai, because without a Beis HaMikdash we could survive. In galus we can be without a Beis HaMikdash. Without the Shabbos, you can't be. Can't be without the Shabbos. Shabbos means bris. Bris means connected to the Eibishter. Without being constantly connected to the Eibishter, you can't make it in galus. It's impossible. The nisyonos. And the pitfalls and the choyshech of galus, can't make it. Ve'emunascha baleilos. In order to survive the galus, we need strong emunah. It says by Shabbos, Menuchas emes ve'emunah. Menuchas emes ve'emunah. And so we benched the little children Friday night, Yismichu b'kim Kefraim u'Menashe. The Shabbos, that's what kept Ephraim and Menashe in the galus. You know, we say in the zemiros, Le'oir libi b'galusi. I change my clothing for Shabbos, lachein esbo, boi esbo, kashes tzvisani, v'chein agig gedulasecha, shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid, sheto'ir libi oid b'galusi. Shabbos is supposed to be the light in the galus. Personal galus, physical galus from the outside. When a person's in galus, you know what his light is? Shabbos. Shabbos is light. Shabbos is light. Shabbos light. Could be that's the pshat. Haragil b'ner, the Gemara says, if you're ragil, you're careful in the ner, havein lei banim talmidei chachamim.

Which ner? So Rashi, mishonim, is ner Chanukah, ner Shabbos. Parshas Tzav is ner Shabbos. If it's ner Shabbos, what's the pshat? This is the pshat. Shabbos is the taich that in the galus it lights. The Shabbos is the ohr of the galus. It's the ohr, and where does it affect? It affects the children. Shabbos affects the children. Yismichu Elokim kefrayim, not the children. V'havlei banim b'chalal Ephraim, Menashe. The Shabbos. The Shabbos creates in the galus, in the galus it creates that there should be bonim talmidei chachamim, children of talmidei chachamim. In the time we had a Sanhedrin, you're right, children turned out to be talmidei chachamim from seeing Gedolei Torah. What's important, you know, if I may use a moment just to say something which I didn't say, they say over Rav Shach said, that Rav Shach said that with his children, they didn't turn out the Gedolei Yisrael that he thought they would turn out to be, and he blamed it on the zmiros at the Shabbos table. He blamed it on the fact that they didn't have enough zmiros at the Shabbos table. The light of Shabbos, the song of Shabbos, Havlei bonim talmidei chachamim, Shabbos, Shabbos. Simchu Elokim kefrayim u'cheMenashe, on the start of Shabbos. It's interesting, the malachim come and they see the neiros of Shabbos. It says over there, if they see the neiros and they see their shalom, then they come and give a bracha. The neiros of Shabbos represent the ohr of Shabbos. And that ohr of Shabbos represents the talmidei chachamim in the galus, the ohr, the ohr, the ohr in the galus, the ohr that flickers in the galus, just like the ner Chanukah, which represents the ohr in the galus of Yavan and the choshech of galus. This, rabosai, is bracha. Now we understand what bracha is. Bracha is to be able to bring out hidden things, koiches, hashraas haShechinah, where there is darkness, where there is no hashraas haShechinah, to bring Shechinah. That's bracha. L'havi bracha el boteichem, to bring bracha into your home by bringing Shechinah to your home. Ish v'isha, Shechinah shruyah beineihem is bracha. You know, it's interesting, I was once thinking to myself, how many brachos do we, when you marry a woman, how many brachos do you make? Why seven brachos? The only thing you have seven brachos... you know anything else that you make seven brachos for? Shabbos, you make seven brachos for Shabbos? What? Right, in the davening, the seven brachos, but there's no seven brachos, Baruch Atah... I mean, when you make a mitzvah, do seven, huh? Connection fusion, seven. Also, you can tell me all the deep stuff. I agree with you on whatever you're going to say, but I think there's a pashut thing here. You know why? It's bracha, Shechinah. L'havi bracha el boteichem. There's a lot of bracha. Ish v'isha is bayis, it's the home, it's the Shechinah in the home. And that's bracha. It's the seven nights of seven brachos. Talks seven nights of seven brachos. You understand the amount of bracha? Because it's bracha, bracha. The biggest bracha is the home, to be mashru the Shechina, to bring together Shechina between a person, to bring Shechina to himself. Bracha and bracha and bracha and bracha. That's how to be zoche. Brachos, birchas kohanim. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.