Vayigash: Yosef’s Forgiveness, Mechiras Yosef, and the Asarah Harugei Malchus

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We're discussing Mechiras Yosef in the context of mechilah and not mechilah, which means at the end it seemed like they got together, the brothers. They were kissing each other, the pasuk says, and they were crying, and it seemed like Yosef was telling them not to be afraid and not to be bothered, Al tiratzu, v'al yichar b'eineichem. It seemed like a very happy ending to Mechiras Yosef. Is that the true and proper understanding of the ending? Was that really, really the end of Mechiras Yosef, as they say in English, let bygones be bygones, it was over? That's what would be mashma from the pesukim, and that even when the brothers come later and they arouse again suspicion that Yosef will take revenge, no, chas v'shalom, says Yosef, I would never take revenge. Hatachas Elokim anochi? It's Elokim chashavah l'tovah. The Ribono Shel Olam, it was all for the good. It sounded like a very happy ending to a very sad story of Mechiras Yosef. Is that the true and final ending of the story? Is a machlokes Rishonim. We know there was something in the history of Klal Yisroel which we bring up twice a year on Tisha B'Av, Yom Kippur, and that is Asara Harugei Malchus. It's clear that they had to go as a kaparah for Mechiras Yosef. The question is, but I thought Mechiras Yosef ended. I thought Mechiras Yosef was forgiven. It was all, so to speak, the past, finished, cleaned, forgiven, nimchal, happy-go-lucky, each the brothers together. So how and why is there something called Asara Harugei Malchus? Excuse me. It says Rabbeinu Bechaye in Parshas Vayechi that it is obvious that it wasn't finished. Mechiras Yosef hangs as a very painful event throughout the doros, which needs tikkun, which needs kaparah, and that every generation it becomes incumbent to be mechaper. It becomes incumbent to clean up Mechiras Yosef. Ah, you'll ask, it seemed like Yosef was very forthcoming and forgiving, and says Rabbeinu Bechaye, if you look clearly, he was never actually mochel. With all the beautiful words and with all the flowery, you know, Great, don't worry, it never said that he was mochel them. Now, it's not clear, Rabbeinu Bechaya, does Rabbeinu Bechaya mean that he never said the words, I'm moichel you, which is a big question in halacha. Maybe when a person asks mechilah, it's not enough that the other person says, Ah, don't worry about it. You need to hear specifically, expressingly, yes, machulach, machulach, machulach. You know, a lot of people every Yom Kippur, they go over to their friend and they say, Say three times, Yeah, I'm moichel you, I'm moichel. Why? Because could be this Rabbeinu Bechaya, that even though Yosef seemed to make nothing of mechiras Yosef, and he seemed to give them, so to speak, comfort that they shouldn't worry about it, yet he never said what? Moichel. Maybe that's what Rabbeinu Bechaya means. Or possibly, Rabbeinu Bechaya means a little less than that, that it's not even that he didn't specifically say that he was moichel, but if you look at the words of the pesukim and everything that he comforted them with, it wasn't really words that I'm moichel you. It was words of, Don't worry, and Hashem meant well.

Which could all be interpreted as changing the subject, so to speak. It wasn't addressing directly, Are you moichel me? Yes. Yeah, don't worry, it's okay, don't be scared, everything but, I'm moichel you. So it's not that he didn't specifically say it, but that he didn't even allude to it. It was actually everything that he said, it was saying that till mechilah. Don't worry, don't be nervous. Or, as we're going to soon explain, even the words of the pesukim themselves could be translated that he was expressingly telling them, I'm not moichel you. With all the flowery lovey-dovey language, as they say in English, lovey-dovey language, if you read into it properly and you analyze the words, you'll notice that the opposite is actually the truth. Not only was he not moichel, meaning directly, but actually he was not moichel them, and that's what's laying behind his words, as we soon will bring from other mefarshim. But this is the pshat of the Rabbeinu Bechaye, that the reason for harisar arugei malchus is because mechiras Yosef was not forgiven. Mechiras Yosef looms in the background as a chet that needs kaparah, and throughout the doros we have to be mesaken chet mechiras Yosef. Le'umas zeh, on the contrary side of the Rabbeinu Bechaye, we have the Sefer Chassidim, os yud aleph, where the Sefer Chassidim writes clearly Yosef was moichel the brothers. Yosef was moichel the brothers. What's interesting about the Rabbeinu, the sefer Chassidim, Rabbi Yehuda Chassid, he doesn't explicitly say that he was moichel them because there's a halacha to be moichel, but he was moichel them because it's a middah of chassidus, lifnim mishuras hadin, that he was moichel them. Rabbi Yehuda Chassid tries to bring out that a person is supposed to go lifnim mishuras hadin. A person is supposed to try to overreach to make shalom, where even maybe the halacha doesn't require it. Still, it's lifnim mishuras hadin to be moichel, and he brings the raya from Yosef and the brothers that Yosef was moichel lifnim mishuras hadin. The question is both on Rabbeinu Bechaye and on Rabbi Yehuda Chassid, maybe of course more on Rabbeinu Bechaye, maybe a little less on Rabbi Yehuda Chassid. They did ask forgiveness. It's clear they came and they said, Ana, sa na pesha achecha vechatasam, forgive us. In Parshas Vayechi, clearly they begged forgiveness. By halacha we know that if one asks mechila, you must be moichel. This is clear in the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch. So if the mechila was asked, so how could Rabbeinu Bechaye say he wasn't moichel? And on Rabbi Yehuda Chassid is still also questionable, because even though he says he was moichel, but why is it lifnim mishuras hadin? Why do you make it into a chassidus? It's a halacha. That's the halacha. So possibly we could say, ona, sona, pesha, achecha, maybe they asked from fear. They were afraid that Yosef will take revenge. Notice that they didn't say ona, sona, pesha, achecha in Parshas Vayigash. When they meet up, they should have said ona, sona, pesha, achecha. They don't ask that here in Parshas Vayigash, but rather in Vayechi, after we give an introduction that they're afraid that Yosef will take revenge, now you ask mechilah. Now, after the father dies, you ask him. Well, why now? And the answer is, you're afraid. Okay, that's not called asking mechilah. Mechilah means you ask because you want to make up with the person. You want the person to become in peace with you, not because you're afraid of something. Maybe that's why Yosef didn't have a halacha that he was mechuyiv to be mochel them. You know, there's in the Rambam in Chovel U'Mazik, where the Rambam writes clearly, perek K, halacha yud, that it's not enough that the person asks mechilah, but he has to be shav mecheto, v'nicham al aso, which means he has to show—

That he feels bad that it happened. At some level, he has to show sincerity that there was a chet. So says the Rambam clearly in Chovel U'Mazik, Perek He, Halacha Yud, he discusses where a person does damage to another person, and the person comes to ask mechilah, he should be mochel him. But he explains, the Rambam, when? Rambam stipulates when he sees that the person was shogeg and nicham. Okay, maybe ona, sona, lepesha achecha, it didn't rise to the level of true regret. Maybe they were just afraid. Maybe. And so Rabbeinu Bechaye is right, wasn't mechuyiv to be mochel them. And according to Rabbi Yehuda Chassid, even more, even if he was mochel them, it was what? Lifnim mishuras hadin. I'd like to discuss, first of all, is there a halacha that you're mechuyiv to be mochel if the other person doesn't ask? Maybe I'm mechuyiv to be mochel even if the person doesn't ask mechilah. Is it only if the person asks mechilah? So if you look at the Rambam in two places where the Rambam discusses, in Hilchos Teshuva, perek beis, halacha yud, the Rambam there talks about how you should forgive one that comes to ask mechilah, and the Rambam doesn't stipulate clearly that it has to be with a bikkush of mechilah. But the Rambam in De'os, perek vav, halacha vav, there the Rambam stipulates clearly that it's only if the person comes to ask. Stam tvi meichel, v'lo chayivti meichel. So could be, could be, there was lacked the din of mechilah here, because no one asked. Aye, they asked in parshas Vayechi; that wasn't a proper asking. That was only asking from fear. So I would have said is the pshat. The problem is, there's a very interesting Medrash. The Medrash brings down that Yosef swore to his brothers, she'ein belibo aleihem. He has no whatsoever, any animosity towards them in his heart. L'choira, that's called mechilah. If you have no animosity, if you're saying clearly, I swear, that means it's a very strong statement. It's not just that, like we're saying, Ah, he really wasn't. It says clearly in the Medrash that he swore, she'ein belibo aleihem. So then how could the meforshim question? Yes, he was mochel, he wasn't mochel 100 percent? He says clearly, ein belibi, I have no complaints against you. So I want to explain what happened here according to the Rishonim. On one hand, we find that it seems like he forgave them, yet we still need tikkun and the thing is not forgiven completely. You know, I told you the Rambam says in Chovel U'Mazik that you have to do teshuvah. Every time I do a chet bein adam l'chaveiro... Is it enough just for the person to forgive me, or I have to taka do a proper teshuva, like we do on Yom Kippur? Is it enough to come and say, ‘Yemochal me,’ or now I have to come back and say I do hilchos teshuva: charatah al ha'avar, kabbalah al ha'asid? Maybe I have to do regular teshuva now. Like I told you, the Rambam says that you have to see in the person that he was shav v'nicham. Is that only for the person to be moichel, to see that it’s sincere, or do I actually need also v’shav v’nicham, hilchos teshuva? Maybe after the person is moichel, now you have to sit down and learn Shaarei Teshuva, how to get mechilah. You have to clap al cheit shechatanu lefanecha. Tell me, on al cheit on Yom Kippur, are some of them bain adam l’chaveiro? Some of them are bain adam l’chaveiro? Here’s a manefshach: if the halacha is you have to ask mechilah, so I have to ask mechilah. And if the halacha is that once he’s moichel me, I don’t have to say al cheit, then why am I saying al cheit? Manefshach, I have to ask mechilah. Otherwise it doesn’t work, the al cheit. But once I ask mechilah, the person is moichel, I don’t need to say the al cheit.

Right, it's mashma you need to do both, and I want to tell you there's a beautiful Sfas Emes. Sfas Emes points out that there's twice in the context where Yosef reveals himself to his brothers the word v'atah. Twice the pasuk uses the word and now. V'atah, and now it's Hashem who brought me lechalkel lifneichem. V'atah, now don't feel bad, I became an eved l'Paro. Twice it uses the word v'atah. What's the emphasis of v'atah, right? Now. What's now? I have to keep on saying now? First of all, even once is extra, but twice? See the lashon of the pasuk, rabosai. Says the pasuk, v'atah al tei'atzvu. Pasuk hey, mem-hei, pasuk hey. Then it says again, pasuk ches, v'atah lo yei'atzev... What's v'atah say? Don't feel bad. What's v'atah? Why did he have to stress now? Says the Sfas Emes, it says v'atah by teshuvah. V'atah v'shavta ad Hashem Elokecha, v'shav b'chol levavcha uvchol nafshecha. Says the Gemara, ein v'atah ela lashon teshuvah. V'atah is a lashon of teshuvah. Why is v'atah a lashon of teshuvah? Teshuvah means to not live in the past. Teshuvah means to live in the present and fix it. You know, one of the mekoros that we have, Ba'asher hu sham, that Hashem judges the person the way he is. So the Gemara learns it from Yishmael. Hashem heard kol hana'ar ba'asher hu sham. But if you look at the Rach on the side of that Gemara, he quotes Yerushalmi, Im zach, ata. If you are now clean, by Iyov it says that if Iyov did sin, but Iyov now, the way he was, ata, so we darshen the way you are. Hashem listens, and we don't look at the past. Ba'asher hu sham means we don't look at what? The future. Im zach, ata, we look at the present. We don't look at the past. What the Yosef was telling the brothers, V'ata al teyatzu, don't look at the past. V'ata, lo atem shelachtem osi, don't look at the past. Do teshuva and look at the present. This, l'choira, is what the Sfas Emes means, that there was teshuva. According to the pshat that we're saying, it's gevaldige halacha. Why? Because he was telling them, do teshuva. It's not enough for me to be mochel you. V'ata, you got to do teshuva. Did they do teshuva? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. They did do teshuva. How do you know? Because it says in the pasuk. How do you know? Right. Well, you argue with Rabbeinu Bechaye. Rabbeinu Bechaye seems to say—listen, you're not going to argue with Rabbeinu Bechaye. If that's what you came here to do today in the shiur, then you came to the wrong shiur. Rabbeinu Bechaye says clearly that the sin remains. Now we have to explain how did the sin remain. So don't come and tell me the sin doesn't remain. Please don't do that. I'm just trying to explain, maybe. I mean, Yosef forgave them, so what happened? And the answer might be that the teshuva part of it was needed. You know, it's interesting, al tigzu baderech. Yosef tells them, don't fight on the road. What would they fight about? So the mefarshim say they would fight about mechiras Yosef, who was at fault. You know, I learned a big lesson in my life, that when you fight to blame the other person who's at fault, you don't really do teshuva. You're supposed to blame yourself. There's a very famous Medrash. The Medrash says, the Medrash says that when Adam Harishon ate from the Eitz Hadaas, HaKadosh Baruch Hu came to him and told him, Did you eat from the Eitz Hadaas? He answered, Ha'isha asher nasata imadi, hi nasnah li v'ochel, and I ate. Now, the word v'ochel is an interesting word, because if you want to say I ate in the past, it's just an achalti.

He nasn li min ha'etz, v'ochalti. It doesn't say, v'achalti. It says, v'ochel. V'ochel can have many different meanings. Ochel means in the past. Ochel can also mean I'm eating right now, and ochel can mean I'll eat in the future. So Chazal say, achalti v'ochel, that he told HaKadosh Baruch Hu he's going to do it again. I'll do it again. Ask the Baalei Mussar of Leib Chassman and others, I mean, listen, you do an aveirah is one thing, but you can't be completely crazy. If HaKadosh Baruch Hu comes to you and He complains to you, what's the pshat? You ate from the eitz hadaas, you tell Hashem, I'll do it again? Don't forget, he was afraid, vayira. He was hiding from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so what's he—he was that brazen that he could tell Hashem, I'll do it again? Say the Leib Chassman and other baalei mussar say this yesod: the fact that you blamed the ishah asher nasata imadi, you blame her. You didn't take responsibility for it. That means ochel v'ochel, that you'll do it again. It's not that he said the words, I'll do it again. That you've got to be completely crazy to say. The point is, since he came, and instead of saying, instead of saying that I take responsibility, I did it, you blame the wife, you blame somebody else for it. In other words, you'll do it again. You'll do it again. When you start blaming, al tirguzu ba'derech, I believe, is the same thing. Instead of them sitting back down and saying, you know something, it's not your fault, Yehuda. It's not your fault, Shimon. It's my fault. And Shimon should say, It's not your fault, Reuven, it's my fault. What are they fighting about? They should all take responsibility. Mimeila could be they didn't do the proper teshuvah. Maybe, maybe. I was thinking about this for first—this is a chiddush from this year's chiddushim. Yeah? What's the pshat? Why was there no mechilah on the mechilahs Yosef? So we're soon going to learn, many learn because he wasn't actually mochel them. It lacked. If you read the words, there was things that were mashma that he was angry at them. But if we take on kipshutoi, it was full of love, and like the Medrash says clearly, Ein bilbi aleichem, that he swore to them, I'm not angry. So then what happened? And the answer might be, like the Rambam says, chayav l'mazik, that you need that the person should be shav v'nicham. So we can learn it's not only shav v'nicham to show the person that they're sincere in the mechilah that they're asking, but actually they need plus shav v'nicham. You need teshuvah also. It's not enough to ask mechilah, and that's v'atal ti'atzvu, v'atal yichar b'eineichem. Why? Do teshuvah, like the Sfas Emes says, and maybe they didn't do the proper teshuvah. Al tikra zu baderech, you see that they didn't take responsibility, which is a way of doing teshuvah. You know, there's another way how to interpret v'ato. When you tell a person now, don't feel bad, you know what now don't feel bad could mean? But tomorrow you should feel bad. Right now, don't worry about it. You know what a person hears, right now, don't worry about it? You know what it means? Tomorrow you should worry about it. In Tzeror HaMor, from the early kadmonim, he interprets the pasuk actually that way, that if you read properly the pesukim, Yosef was not only not telling them that he's mochel them, but the opposite, he's not mochel them. V'atah, don't worry about it. The Bnei Yissaschar says, if you look at the words of al teyatzu, right? V'atah, al teyatzu. Munach, revi'i. We know from the Gaon, the trop, everything in the trop gives pshat to the pasuk. Bnei Yissaschar says there's a pshat here too: munach, revi'i. It's kept dormant. It waits till you know where? The fourth galus. When is Asara Harugei Malchus going to take place? In galus Edom, the fourth galus. So munach. You're right, don't, atah now, don't worry about it. When is it going to come out again, says the Bnei Yissaschar? Munach, revi'i. It stays in the fourth, Harugei Malchus. Eventually we're going to have to pay for it. I want to tell you even more. Could you imagine when a person...

Knows that something is a very touchy subject, right? Something which is a very sensitive subject. And finally, they make peace. For example, you have a husband and a wife, just a mashal, something which caused major animosity, major, and almost the whole marriage broke up. Years later, when they come to an anniversary, the marriage survived, they come to anniversary. Imagine getting up and saying, Ah, you remember 20 years ago we had this big fight, and this big fight, oh, what are you bringing it up for? Unless what? Unless you really, what, not ready to swallow it. If you're ready to swallow it, then you wouldn't bring it up. The first thing, what does Yosef tell the brothers? The first thing, Ani Yosef. What am I Yosef? The first thing, yeah. Ani Yosef achichem. Hashem mechartem osi Mitzrayimah. Hashem mechartem osi Mitzrayimah. Oy vey, oy vey. Who brings it up? What are you bringing it up for? Leave it alone. So many mefarshim learn that the reason he was trying to say this is because he wanted to show them that he's really Yosef. Who else would know about it? There was nobody there. The only person that would know about it is Yosef, right? So, Ani Yosef asher mechartem osi Mitzrayimah. So therefore he brought it up. He didn't bring it up to dig at them or to show that he's still angry. I once thought to myself, how do you know that maybe Yosef went and told somebody, and this guy's playing Yosef. My brother once told me a nice story. My brother told me that there was once a guy that saw a tremendous car crash, a tremendous thing, that the car went off the cliff and rolled over and it burned, and the guy from the car survived it. He tells over the story once, twice, three. After a few times, he figures, why do I have to say over that it happened to somebody else? I mean, who cares? Nobody knows who it is. He's not saying it over like it happened to him. What's the big deal, right? He's not saying it over like it happened to him. You know, a car crash, it's a great story. Everybody likes the story. Finally he meets a guy and he tells the story to the guy, and the guy looks at him and goes, What are you talking about? It happened to you? It happened to me. I mean, I was the guy in the car. What are you saying? So the guy goes, Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Forgive me. I thought it happened to me. I made a mistake. I got confused. For a minute I thought it happened to me. It's very possible that he went and told it to another guy, yeah, and that guy told over on Yosef. I'm saying, where is Hashem echarted, the proof that someone knew about it? And you know what the answer is, rabboisai? I'll tell you gevaldik. We know that Chazal say that there was a cherem. Not to repeat to the father what happens with Mechiras Yosef. The shevatim knew that Yosef would never talk about it to Yosef. Whoever Yosef was, but one thing: a sod is a sod, a secret is a secret, lashon hara is lashon hara. He wouldn't repeat it, and that nobody would know about unless it was Yosef. Otherwise, what's the pshat? You know that it's Yosef, because who else would know about it? What do you mean? Maybe Yosef talked about it. Maybe Yosef went to therapy for many years after that, and he spoke to fifty different counselors, and they spoke to their friends. I mean, how do you know? And the answer is, that's the greatness of Yosef, that only Yosef would have known about it. And they knew this, and Yosef knew that they knew this, and therefore when he tells them, Ani Yosef asher mechartem, you know it's got to be me because nobody else would know about it. Sar haMashkim never told that he was sold. He didn't say, Mechir from the brothers. He didn't say, They sold me. Fakert, you see beautiful, Gunuv gunavti me'eretz haIvrim, the opposite, I was robbed. Fakert, he was so nizhar in lashon hara, fakert. It's a raya to what I'm saying. It was one of my rayas that I had. You see clearly, gunuv gunavti me'eretz haIvrim. You see how careful he was not to say nimkarti, I was sold, because—

Then he would say, Who? By what? No. I was kidnapped, doing a genivti. The opposite. Pshat from pshat, mechiras Yosef, only Yosef would know. You hear, rabosai? This is the level of tzidkus of Yosef and the mishpat emes. And Yosef knew the mishpat emes. And don't forget, this is in backlash of what they were choshesh him, that he speak dibasam ra al avim. And that was because it was l'shem shamayim. That was to bring it to the father. But stam to say lashon hara, stam to be megaleh sod, stam to say I was sold, that they wouldn't have done. He used to talk lashon hara about them. That was the whole story. Yeah, but that was obviously for a reason. That was to bring it to the father. So even if they were upset at him about the lashon hara, but they knew it had a reason. But this was for no reason. And even though it would have a cheshbon to speak about it, to get it off your chest, so to speak. A person who is sold, he had no right to talk about it. Yeah, he would be a tzaddik and he wouldn't talk about it. He wouldn't say a word about it. That's who Yosef was. But al kol panim, many mefarshim say that fakert, the fact that he spoke about, Ani Yosef asher mechartem osi, is a raya that he still was thinking about it. And he had it on his chest, so to speak, and he wasn't mochel them. The Kli Yakar says something very interesting. The Kli Yakar says, Ani Yosef asher mechartem osi Mitzrayma. Who cares where he sold him to? And as a matter of fact, they didn't even sell him to Mitzrayim, which is a different question I have. But who cares where they sold him? Ani Yosef asher mechartem osi. Why is Mitzrayim a part of the conversation? Says the Kli Yakar, he was complaining to them, If you had to sell me already, you had to sell me to Mitzrayim. From all the places in the world that you wanted to get rid of me to, you got to send me to, you know, Mitzrayim is shtufei zimah. It's like taking a good Yiddishe kind and putting him in the worst places of znus. That was the taina. Ani Yosef, asher mechartem osi. He wasn't even complaining on the mechirah as much as, Mechartem osi Mitzrayma. How did you sell me to Mitzrayim? From all places, Mitzrayim. So you see that he was what? On one hand saying things which seemed to be that he was mochel, but if you dug into the words, it was tartei mashma, that he was actually complaining to them. He was actually complaining to them. L'umas zeh, there's a beautiful Sfas Emes on the other side of the spectrum, as they say. You know, there's an extra word again in the pasuk, Ani Yosef. What's the next word? Asher. You should say, Ani Yosef shemechartem. What's asher mechartem? What's asher? That you. It's extra, in dikduk it should be, Ani Yosef shemechartem. Says the Sfas Emes, we find the word asher have a meaning for itself. The Gemara says on the pasuk that the Ribono Shel Olam says, Deluchos asher shibarta, that you broke. Says the Gemara, why does it say asher, that you broke? It means, yasher koach sheshibarta, thank you. Yasher koach, thank you for sheshibarta, that you broke it. The word asher means ashrei, thank you. Says the Sfas Emes, this is what Yosef was saying: Ani Yosef, asher mechartem, sholchecha Yisrael. מאפי, thank you. The best thing you could have ever done for me was that you sold me. You know why? Because it was all min haShamayim, it was all l'tovah. Great. Kilu mechiach. Asher. It's all. Asher means thank you. Ashrei, yashar koach, just like Hashem tells by the—it's beautiful, huh? Sfas Emes, asher shibarta. So we have over here a dual conversation. On one hand it's mashma, thank you for selling me; on the other hand he's angry. Stirah, contradictory. The Aruch HaChaim says that there's another word in the pasuk which is extra: Ani Yosef. What's the next word? Achichem. Just see, Ani Yosef, Hashem mechartem. Why achichem? They know who it is. And the answer, says the Aruch HaChaim, that even when you sold me, I still had brotherly feelings for you. I had no anger whatsoever. You sold me, and while you were selling me, asher mechartem, while you were selling me, achichem, I still felt I'm your brother. I had no problem with it. I had no hatred, no anger, no sinah. You hear? As a matter of fact, the lashon of the Aruch HaChaim is so unique. He says he was telling the brothers, ki'ilu—

V'lo haya davar, nothing happened. There was no mechiras Yosef. What? What? Nothing happened. There's no mechirah. It's fine. Everything was wonderful. There's a beautiful Maharal. The Maharal explains: what did the ankeiv ofinu receive from Yosef to carry him? How many ox—what does it say over there? I'm sorry, how many donkeys? Ten. Ten chamorim. And it says, Le'aviv shalach kazos. The pasuk says, like this. I mean, what's the emphasis? He sent him like— I mean, he sent him whatever he sent him. Kazos means that it was like a unique, this, this package he sent him. What was the package? Ten donkeys. Ask the Maharal, why ten donkeys? What's the significance, Le'aviv shalach kazos? Says the Maharal, moiridik. He was being meramez to his father: don't look at the brothers who sold me, that they did anything. You take a chamor and you put on a chamor a heavy load, it goes. Tell me, can we blame the chamor for anything? It has nothing to do with the chamor. Chamor didn't put the stuff on his back. Whatever you put on the chamor's back, that's what he does. The brothers, when they sold me, were like chamorim, and we don't mean in a bad way, but that the Eibishter did it. It has nothing to do with it. The baal habas is behind it, not the chamor. Le'aviv shalach kazos. He sent him this package of ten. And why ten? How many people were in mechiras Yosef? Nine of the Eibishter, ten. Ten were involved, so to speak. Don't blame the ten. They're no different than a chamor that carries the load. They were considered shlichim of the Eibishter. It's exactly what the Eibishter told them to do. If you look at the Malbim, the Malbim goes as far as to say they were mishlulei bechirah. The brothers had no choice. They didn't make a decision to sell him. It was done in a way as if they had no choice, because the Eibishter took away their bechirah. You hear a Malbim? Rabbi Weiss, you hear an unbelievable Malbim? They were mishlulei bechirah. That's the question: why yechayev? So why yechayev? What happened? On one hand, we're saying mechilah and there was no bechirah, so what happened? And the teretz, rabosai, could be as follows. Maybe, maybe, a few things. First thing I want to bring out is, we find that a person could be fully right, and almost mishlulei bechirah, he had no choice to do something, yet his actions have consequence that they need tikkun. Mordechai. Mordechai stole—sorry, not Mordechai, excuse me—Yaakov Avinu stole the brachos from Esav. Let's not say stole; he tricked to get the brachos. Now, who was the one who told him to do it? His mother. Where did his mother get it from to do it? It's, it was beruach hakodesh. So did Yaakov do anything wrong by taking the brachos? Nothing. The Eibishter told him to do it. Yet years and years later, the Gemara tells us, the pasuk says that Mordechai and Haman, in the times of Mordechai and Haman, Mordechai went out vayeitzei, he went out vayizak. Zakah gedolah l'marah, which is the same lashon that Esav used when he found out that he lost the bracha. Says the Gemara, because Yaakov caused Esav, vayizak zeakah gedolah l'marah. Years later, we have to pay it back. Vayeitzei b'soch ha'ir, vayizak zeakah gedolah l'marah. Yeah, but he did the right thing, Mordechai. I'm sorry, I keep on saying Mordechai. Excuse me, Yaakov. Yaakov did the right thing. He did what Hashem told him to do. And the answer is, we spoke about it many times in the past, that even if you're 100% right, and it's not a chet, but it needs tikkun, consequence, ma'aseh consequence. It caused Esav tzaar, so the tzaar needed tikkun years later. Mechiras Yosef needed tikkun. Now the truth is, maybe that's why the asarah harugei malchus didn't know if they should accept. Why did they say, of course it's min haShamayim. You come and tell me it's about the badnalayim because of the shoes that we sold the brother. You hear? If it's badnalayim because of the shoes that we sold the brother, accept it. And the answer is, they knew there was a mechilah, so they didn't understand why asarah harugei malchus. So the Ribbono Shel Olam told them it's a cheshbon. What is the cheshbon?

Tikun. The Rabbeinu, the way he runs the world, things have to fix. Generations later fix things that were done generations before. That's what he means. We'll start the world all over again. Efes oilam l'tohu vavohu, and then you'll understand. It says the malachim came and they said, We don't understand. How could you do this to these great tzaddikim? So Rabbeinu says, If I hear one more, I'll turn the world upside down. Frekt the goyin, That's an answer? What kind of answer is that? Be quiet or I'll turn the world upside down. Says the Gra, he did give them an answer. Hashem was saying that if you want to understand my actions, there's no way to understand it unless you understand the whole world from the beginning to the end. I'll start over again. You know what? We'll start the world over again, and you'll follow it step by step, and I'll show you why A leads to point B, and B leads to point C, and this event leads to this, and this event connects to this event, and then you'll understand. Yeah, but I never understood this goyin. Just say that there was a mechiras Yosef. What do you mean? What was he telling them? I don't understand what he's telling them. Just say that there was a mechiras Yosef, and mechiras Yosef needs to be paid for, and these people are being mechaper on mechiras Yosef. What do you have to talk about the world turning it upside down, starting over again, connecting events? And the teretz is, in the mechirah could be there was kaparah, because he was mochel. Yosef was mochel. But in tikun, the tikunim that came, that's more complicated. That's not one event that causes a result. Tikunim. It's based on many different things. It comes to, it's the shleimus of the briyah. It's much deeper than just, I do an aveirah and I need a kaparah. It's tikkunim. So that's what he was saying: come, we'll start the world all over again, and you'll understand the tikkunim in Asarah Harugei Malchus, and then they accepted. Point B, that it's possible in the actual chet, you're right, there was mechilah, and mechilah was good enough. But in tikkun, for there could be such a thing that a brother was sold, badna layim, that needs tikkun. That needs tikkun. That's the Rabbeinu. That's what he was trying to say. To explain the tikkun is complicated. To explain, to explain the tikkunim needs to have all the information. You need all the information in front of you to understand. But this is the pshat in mechiras Yosef. Another pshat I was thinking maybe, you notice he says, I am Yosef that you sold me to Mitzrayim. So it could be he was mochel them for the Mitzrayim part. Everything from Mitzrayim and on, I am Yosef, you sold me to Mitzrayim. Good, Mitzrayim was had a point. But what about, Ani Yosef shemachartem osi l'Midyanim, Midyanim to Yishmaelim, that you sold me for the shoes, that you sold me even though I was trying to be your brother and you came and you betrayed me when I was a little boy, when I was 17, maybe that he wasn't mochel for. Huh? Ani Yosef asher mechartem osi Mitzrayimah. Amoichlu you, because the truth is they never sold him to Mitzrayim. They sold him to the Yishmaelim. They sold him to the Midyanim. So why doesn't he come and say, I'm ni Yosef shemechartem osi? And the answer is, on the mechirah part and all that went into the mechirah, I begged you. You took me as a little boy. That I'm not moichel for, maybe. What you did in my father's home to me, that I'm not moichel you for. I'm only moichel you on the part, the hezek that came to me from the fact that I was in Mitzrayim, because that I know is from Hashem. That part I understand is l'michya, of l'paroi. That part of it I hear. But the beginning, what you were rodef me, and that's what they said, bandalayin. The fact, the how you sold me, the how you sold me is the hasarah rugza malchus, not the Hashem mechartem osi l'Mitzrayim, maybe. With this, I think we could go one step further. Pshat. If you notice, he tells the brothers, V'atah al tiatzvu, v'al yichar b'eineichem. Don't be angry. Angry about what? It doesn't say. It's not clear.

In the pasuk, what did he tell him not to be angry about? So al tiotz, we understand, don't be upset about the mechirah. But what's al yichar? So some told me that they learned the pshat, al yichar, amongst each other. Don't be angry at each other. But it's not mashma. The word b'eineichem is mashma that Yosef is saying something about himself. Don't be angry in your eyes about me something. It has nothing to do with between yourselves. It should have said, al yichar be'eineichem. Don't fight between—don't be angry between yourselves. I would say pshat's like this, rabosai. Yosef made it sound so much like the mechirah was just to the point that he was turning the tables. You know something? I owe you yashar koach, like the Sfas Emes says, asher, thank you for selling me. So then why am I giving you such tzaar when you came? Why did I lock you up? Why did I cause you so much trouble? Al yichar be'eineichem, to the point that he made it sound like he's asking them mechilah. Don't be angry at me the way I treated you when you came to Mitzrayim. Instead of Yosef coming—and this is the daas Torah, Reb Yerucham speaks out—that not only he doesn't show them that he's angry, he makes it sound fakert: You did nothing. You're the right one and I'm the wrong one, and I'm adding to this. That's pshat, al yichar be'eineichem. So don't be angry the way I treated you. If you looked at Yosef was wronged, so it's nothing compared what they did to what he did to them. He didn't do anything to them, right? He locked them up. He treated them roughly a little bit. But once you come and tell the person, You know something? Asher koach, thank you for selling me. Thank you, mezal, you did nothing wrong, so why am I treating you like this? Yicha beineichem. He said, Please don't be angry. That's how far he showed them that they're right and he's wrong. My zeidy was a very big baal shalom. Everybody knows he was very, very shalom. You weren't able to fight with him. Rabbi Gavriel Ginsburg, zecher tzaddik livracha, he was a neighbor of mine. He later became a Rosh Yeshiva in Ner Yisroel, Toronto. So I called him up and I asked him, Tell me about my grandfather's stories. You were our neighbor. You were a mashgiach, a menahel of a yeshiva, Chofetz Chaim, a talmid chacham. So he told me about your zeidy. You weren't able to fight with him. It wasn't possible. You couldn't have a machlokes with him. Why? Even if you wronged him, he would make it sound like he wronged you, and therefore the machlokes was over. You couldn't fight with a person like that. He made it always sound right away that it was his fault. Whatever happened was his fault. And I want to add that beautiful story I heard my father told me. There was once a person in our shul, the baal tefillah. He was the gabbai also. He was very close to my grandfather. But in the beginning years, before he became the gabbai and baal tefillah in our shul, he wasn't close to my grandfather. He had a sichsel, he had a story with my grandfather. And he was very disrespectful. He was very disrespectful. He was sitting shiva for a brother of his. So the morning that he began to sit shiva, my grandfather tells my father that we have to go be menachem avel this person. My father said, Him? You can't, you can't be... You're not going to go to him. I mean, if anybody in life ever hurt you, it was him. He embarrassed you in public. It was a tremendous... My zeide said that there's a time and a place when a person should keep score of who did what to who. Yidden don't keep score when it comes to aveilus. Another person sitting shiva, it's not the time and the place to say, Oh, you remember what he did to me? Yeah. It's a time where people should come and help others and be menachem avel others. That's what it is. And he went. This person was so surprised that my grandfather was able to come to menachem avel him after what happened, that he became such a devoted friend to my zeide, the gabbai in the baltefillah in the shul, and he became a chassid, a real chassid of the zeide, mamash. At his levaya, his son got up and said that my father used to tell me all the time that if Rav Wolkin, the zeide, my grandfather, didn't bring Moshiach, he doesn't know who could. You see how a person turned the tables. Instead of coming and saying, Look what you did to me. Look what you did to me. No. He came as if nothing happened.

He had this tremendous koach that he showed the brothers, you didn't do anything, like the Aruch HaShulchan says, like, lo na'asa shum davar, nothing happened. To the point that he turns around and he asks them mechilah, like we know by Leah and Rachel. What happened by Leah and Rachel? Amat kachti chashishi, you took my husband. That's how Leah talks to Rachel? Who took whose husband? Leah, Rachel took your husband? The opposite. You Leah took Rachel's husband. Say the Rishonim that he made it so much, Rachel made it so much that it was her, Leah's husband, that Leah felt like she could turn around to Rachel and say, Listen, it's my husband. What are you doing? How can you take my husband? The tzidkus, the tzidkus of Rachel was so much that he made Leah feel that Yaakov was her husband to the point that she could turn around and say, Whoa, how can you take my husband? The same thing here too. Yosef made them feel so much in the ride about mechiras Yosef that nothing happened, that he could even ask them mechilah. Please be mochel me the way I treated you, al yeichar b'eineichem. Please, please be mochel me. I should be mochel you? What? The shvatim should be mochel Yosef? The opposite. Yosef should be mochel the shvatim. What are you talking about? And the answer is that was the greatness of the ma'avor al hamidos of Yosef, to the point, to the point, that he showed them that they were right and he was wrong, that he's asking them mechilah, al yeichar b'eineichem. I think we could say a mefurashdike pshat according to this. You notice that he shows the brothers that he's a mohel, that he has a bris milah. The question is, everybody in Mitzrayim had a bris milah. Yosef made sure that if you wanted to get to eat, you needed a bris milah. So what was the raya? What was the proof that Yosef was a Yehudi, a Yid, a brother, from the fact that he had a bris milah? So I want to say pshat like this, you hear? Be'emes, there's a very famous question: how could you come and make bris milah to the Mitzriyim? The halacha is, the Rambam brings down in the Yad HaChazakah, you're not allowed to give a bris to a goy. There's a whole question if you want to practice on goyishe babies bris when they die, in order to know how to do bris milah for a Jewish child. You're not supposed to give a bris to a child. So how did Yosef go and give a bris to goyim, Mitzriyim, for food? You're not allowed to give a bris to a goy. So the Shach answers two terutzim. One teretz is, this is stated by Rishonim, Acharonim, that if it's l'tzorech Yisrael, if it's for the need of Klal Yisrael, you're allowed to do it. So for example, if I want to practice on a goyishe to be able to do a bris on a Jew, you're allowed to do it. Here too, there was a tzorech. Why was there a tzorech? Why did Yosef come up with the whole idea to make a bris milah? Why? The answer is because he knew that Klal Yisrael is going to have to come down. It's going to be so bizarre that the fact that they have a milah, they're not going to want to keep milah in Mitzrayim. It would be such a, like, what? What, are you crazy? Like this, he made it that it's a normal thing to make a bris. He was preparing it, say the mefarshim, for the generations later that they could do a bris. If you look at the Baal HaTurim, Baal HaTurim says, Eileh shmos bnei Yisrael haba'im Mitzrayimah. The techilas teivos and the end, the sofei teivos, is all milah. All the words milah. Eileh shmos bnei Yisrael is milah, milah, milah, milah. Pshat, they came that they could do milah. This was prepared from Yosef, that Yosef made it a normal thing of bris milah. So, A, we could come and say that that's already the pshat, what he was showing them. He was telling them, Look, I'm Yosef. I prepared for you, just like I prepared for you the food, Ki l'michyah shelachani Hashem lifneichem. Hashem brought me here to prepare that you should have food. Hashem brought me here to prepare that in Mitzrayim, bris milah, that you should be able to make a bris milah. It's all the plan, the master plan of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, good? That he was telling them that, again, don't feel bad, it was from the Eibishter. Another pshat we could say, based on the second pshat, Ayin aleph give a goy bris milah. He gave them bris milah, but he didn't give them pri'ah. The actual cutting he did for them. That he was mechayev them, but he wasn't mechayev them pri'ah. That's only for Klal Yisrael.

Yosef shows them, Yosef shows them that he's a mohel, the lashon of the Medrash, kochem like you. It's not enough to show that he had a bris milah, because all the Mitzrim had it. I'm a mohel kochem like you, that I have priyah, I must be a Yid. Well, maybe we could say one step further. You know what the difference between bris and priyah? The Shlah says, bris is to take away the bad. Priyah is to uncover the good middos. Goyim can have something called chituch, but they don't have priyah, that it uncovers the tremendous kedushah and middos tovos that a Yid has. This, I think we can explain what happened over here. He's showing them that he has a bris. What kind of a bris? Priyah. Priyah means to uncover the good. There's a Rambam in Hilchos De'os where the Rambam writes that lo sikom v'lo sitor. You're not allowed to take nekamah. Only goyim take nekamah. Says the Rambam, because goyim have arelei halev. They have arelus. They're arelah. They're considered people who have arlah, so they fight to the end. They fight to the end. Who is a person who is mevater and moichel? Only Klal Yisrael, zera Yisrael, libam hanachnik, because they have a good heart. Arelus means to fight and not give in and to take the nekamah. Not having arlas halev means that you don't fight and you don't take the nekamah. When he was showing them, Yosef, you're scared that I'm going to take nekamah. You're scared that I'm not going to— I'm not gonna make shalom, peace with you. I won't be moichel you. Only a goy does that. But a Yid that has priyah, that uncovers the good middos toivos of the Yid, priyah is the middos toivos, that, that is the proof that I'm gonna be moichel you. It says that they were afraid. That's what the Medrash says, nasogu achor. They started moving backwards. They were afraid Yosef's not moichel them. Yosef will take the kama. Yosef shows them that he has a bris milah, and bris milah, like the Rambam says in Chizkayis, is a sign that he's a moichel and mevater. Beautiful vort, no? Classic, it's me. And I want to tell you a little bit more. If you look at the Sifsei Chachamim—listen, I'm not telling you your Torah, right? Otherwise I'd come to your shiur. I'll tell you over a meirdike zach. You look at the Sifsei Chachamim, I noticed it last night. He says something interesting. Bris is a siman of achvah b'Yisrael. That's what he says, it's an interesting lashon. He throws it in, that the bris is a siman of achvah b'Yisrael. I think this is what he means. He means this Rambam, that the Rambam is saying that orlas halev, which of course we know the bris takes care of orlas halev, that's the whole inyan of the bris, the beis halevi, that the bris itself on the outside is what really cleans up on the inside. So the inyan of bris, which the Rambam says means that you fight till the end. He says a goy fights till the end. You know, goyim never back down from a fight. They'll kill each other till they're bleeding over what? Over a cup of coffee. In a bar, you sat in my chair. They'll kill each other till bleeding. That's goy. That's harei li alei, says the Rambam. A Yid is moichel, levad. The mechilta, Parshas Mishpatim, says clearly that lo sikum v'lo sitor. Who was the first person to not be over lo sikum v'lo sitor, says the Mechilta, Parshas Mishpatim? Who was the first person to not take nekamah? No? Yosef. It's mefurash in Mechilta. The Rambam says clearly that has to do with harei li alev. Only harei li alev take, take, take, take nekamah. Here Yosef is saying, I'm a machul lachem, I'm not going to take nekamah. That's what he was showing them. And with this I can go one step further. If you notice, it says, v'atah lo atzvu. It's from Hashem. The Eibishter said, the Eibishter did it. It was all for the good. The Rambam—I'm sorry, the Chinuch in mitzvah reish mem aleph says, why shouldn't you take nekamah? Mishorשי המצוה, a person should think to himself it's all from the Eibishter. Even if that guy did it, the Eibishter is behind him to do it. And he brings a raya from David HaMelech. David HaMelech says, Hanach lo, ki Hashem amar lo lekalel. Shimi ben Geira cursed David HaMelech. David HaMelech says, Leave him alone, Hashem said to do it. So you see that a person should say it's all from Hashem. It's so right, the Chinuch, I believe, since we're learning that here Yosef is trying to—

Tell the brothers he's not going to take the kama. So what's he saying? It's all from the Eibishter, like the Chinuch wants, that you should say that the Eibishter is behind it all. Now I understand what it means, V'atah, don't look bad at the whole story. Why? Because look, Hashem put me l'adon, l'paro. Who cares? That's so important? Bishlom, Hashem sent, right, l'michya lifneichem, that I hear. What's the second part? You see? Here. Ki zeh shalachani Elokim lifneichem. Here. Vayesimeni l'av l'Paro. The second v'atah, l'adon l'chol beiso, moshel b'chol... Who cares? What's he trying to bring out? Da, Hashem. So I always understood he means the dream. He's trying to tell them there was a dream that I should be the melech. So you see I'm in Mitzrayim, that I'm the melech. Or it could be, you know, what's the pshat, Hanachloi ki Hashem amar lo... You could always say that. Every guy, a person does an aveirah, says, Hashem told me to do it. You know, there was a guy, he lived in Queens. He was a Queens guy. Berkowitz, Jewish guy. You know who Berkowitz? Son of Sam. Shugener. He went around killing people. You know what his excuse was? God told me to do it. So everything is like that. Hanachloi ki Hashem amar lo... Hashem told Shimon. Hashem came to Shimon Meger, He told him to do it. So we once said pshat years ago, when something is very strange, the more strange it is, the more it's a siman from Shamayim. Why would Shimon Meger curse Dovid HaMelech when there's no army? Backy shimmi, no protection, out of nowhere, in front of Dovid HaMelech's arm, he's got to be crazy. And that's what the meyoyev says to him, Ish maves hu. The guy's dead man, he's crazy. What's wrong with him? Because of that, says Dovid, it's so obvious, hanachloi ki Hashem omer likal, that it's so bizarre that it had to be from the Eibishter. That's maybe what he's saying over here too, Yosef. Look what happened. I ended up in Mitzrayim, and I became here, I became a... here. Ki... says, meini l'ov u'paroi, u'l'ov u'l'chol beiso. How much more strange could you get than that? So it's from the Eibishter, and if it's from the Eibishter, lo sikum v'lo sitor. Hakei teikeh nikamah, like the Chinuch says. The more strange it is, the more it's a siman it's min haShamayim. This is what he's telling them: I don't want to take nekamah. With this we can come and say a meiridike pshat, boys. You ready? Here we go. You notice that before, before... here. Oh. Before... you know what? Let's say one other thing before we get to this before. Ready? With this I think we can explain two things. When it talks about nekamah in Parshas Kedoshim, it says, Lo sikom v'lo sitor. Does it say achicha? What does it say? Bnei amecha. And the meforshim right away zoom in and say, why doesn't it say a chicha? It should say a chicha. I believe the pshat is very simple. V'lo sikam v'lo sitor, I tell you has to do with the bris milah. The bris milah is a sign of achvah b'Yisrael, which means there's an inyan of lo sikam v'lo sitor for two reasons. One reason is on a personal level, bein adam l'chaveiro. But then on another level, Klal Yisrael, bnei amecha. It has to do with the fact that Klal Yisrael doesn't take nekamah one from the other. It has to do with zera Yisrael. It has to do with Yidden versus goyim. A goy takes nekamah; a Yid doesn't take nekamah. It's not about a chicha. A chicha, lo sitor, maybe in a chicha, maybe there's halacha, okay, he's my brother. I'm allowed to bring up to him the fact that he did something bad to me. But bnei amecha, it's a different yesod. It has to do with the fact that Klal Yisrael has to live b'shalom. And Yosef was put to the test here now. Yosef is being put to the test: lo sikam v'lo sitor bnei amecha, will he keep the shalom? Will he be mochel or he will take nekamah? Bnei amecha, the shevatim, and therefore Yosef passed the test, so to speak. He knew that he—

He had to do this. With this, I can understand what the Rabbi Yehuda Chassid means, that he went lifnim mishuras hadin. Because the Mesilas Yesharim says, what's the end of lo sikom v'lo sitor bnei amecha? You know what the next part of the pasuk is? V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. That's how the pasuk continues. So pashut, it's two different things: lo sikom v'lo sitor bnei amecha, and v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. One has nothing to do with the other. The Mesilas Yesharim in perek yud aleph talks about the midah of nekiyus, and there he says, you know how far lo sikom v'lo sitor? It's not only that a person shouldn't tell the person, I'm not doing you the favor, or I am doing you, but don't forget what you did. But it has to go as far as v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, that you consider as if it never even happened. You hear? It's a chiddush of the Mesilas Yesharim, learning up the pasuk, that not only lo sikom v'lo sitor, but lo sikom v'lo sitor to the point v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. That's what Rabbi Yehuda Chassid is saying, that Yosef was mekayem with the brothers. It's not only that he was mochel them and he didn't take nekamah. He went the next extra step in the pasuk, lo sikom v'lo sitor bnei amecha, v'ahavta l'reacha, and that was lifnim mishuras hadin. That to make it as if nothing ever happened, like I don't even know of anything, that's way above and beyond. With this, I think we can explain the kriyas shema that Yaakov reads when he sees. Yaakov sees him, he reads kriyas shema. Yosef is not reading kriyas shema, so they all ask the question, why is Yosef not—if it's the time to read kriyas shema, Yosef also should read kriyas shema. So Reb Chaim Brisker, ... shishivah, shetared halacha. He was traveling, and he wasn't. He had all day to say Kriyas Shema. He was traveling. He didn't want to read Kriyas Shema while he was traveling. The minute he came to Mitzrayim, he was able to read Kriyas Shema. So Yaakov read Kriyas Shema; Yosef already finished before he davened the early minyan. So says Reb Chaim. Maharal says a little differently. Maharal says that he wanted to unite the love of his son together with the love of the Eibishter. That that given moment that he saw his son for the first time in 22 years, it was tremendous love. So he wanted to take that love and say, It's for You, Ribono Shel Olam, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. I would like to introduce a third pshat. You ready? I would like to say pshat. You hear, baisi, listen good. You know, what is Shema Yisrael? Hashem is midas harachamim; Elokeinu is midas hadin. We learn from here, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. It's all one. You know when Yaakov noticed that? When he sees Yosef. All the yissurim, all the midas hadin, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu—there's Hashem and there's Elokeinu—it's all one. Because you see from all the midas hadin, everything I suffered, look how it ended up. So Yaakov, at this given moment, when he sees Yosef, understands it's all Hashem Echad. If you notice in Aleinu, what do we say? V'hayah Hashem... right? No, Hashem Echad, Shemo Echad, with that we know. But also it says, ... ki Hashem Elokim... No, ki Elokim... Aleinu, I'm getting tired. Take out Aleinu. Hello? ... Yeah, it says like this here. Ah, ah, ah, ah, here. Right, I'm saying, what does it say? Oh, no, I'm saying, Hashem hu Elokim. Right, this is what I want. So l'choira it should be the other way, Elokim hu Hashem. Why does it say Hashem hu Elokim? It should be the other way around. So I was thinking one of two pshatim. Either it's read that way, maybe that's what it means. Hashem hu is the Elokim that we saw. It doesn't mean Hashem that we see hu Elokim. When Moshiach comes, it's not that we'll see that Hashem was actually Elokim. Maybe the other way around. Maybe the pshat is Hashem will see who that we thought was Elokim. It's actually Hashem, maybe. Or maybe the pshat is, ha-gufa, when Moshiach comes, everything will become clear. Din will be rachamim. Sometimes even the...

The good things was actually in din. It had to do with din, maybe to give reward for now, and later on it was to take away. We're going to start to understand rachamim and din in different contexts. Maybe that's the pshat, I got... But the point being, Yosef learned this lesson. You know when Yosef learned this lesson? In this pasuk: V'atah lo atem shelachtem osi heneh ki haElokim. Why does he use Elokim? I thought it's a good thing. Tzemach Tzedek asks this kasha. It should have said Hashem. Why does he keep on talking about Elokim? Elokim chashavah l'tovah. Why Elokim chashavah l'tovah? Just say Hashem, Hashem midas harachamim. So the Tzemach Tzedek says a pshat, which it's a little bit late, so maybe we'll just skip the pshat of the Tzemach Tzedek and we'll get straight to this pshat that we want to say according to what we're learning, and that is: Elokim, the midas hadin that we thought was chashavah l'tovah. Yosef started to recognize throughout the years there was a lot of midas hadin, but actually it was l'tov. So he actually saw all this. That's pshat: V'atah lo atem shelachtem... ki Elokim. The midas hadin was actually rachamim. That's what he's trying to say. Mimeila, Yaakov Avinu, when he sees Yosef for the first time, he comes and says, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad, and that's why he read Krias Shema. Yosef saw it already. Yosef throughout the years was seeing in Mitzrayim the chesed of the Eibishter, but Yaakov never saw it till this moment. So this moment he says, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad. Just to conclude, rabosai, one more nekudah I think it's important, and maybe the oilam will have an appreciation. We all know that Yosef was oleh leyom hadin, oleh leyom hatochachah. He brought out a big musar shmooze when he said, Ha'od avi chai? and he, Yosef, oleh leyom hatochachah. Why? Because it says, Ki נבהלו מפניו. They were completely taken back from in front of him. Rashi says, from the Tanchuma, they were bushah, because they were embarrassed. Medrash says, Ooh, when Moshiach comes, oh, terrible, right? They all ask, Where's the musar? So we all know the Chofetz Chaim, the famous Chofetz Chaim, and Hashem, that Hashem will also come and announce, Ani Hashem, and everything will become clear, and all the folly and stupidity that we were busy with in this world will become nonsense, and we'll be embarrassed and it'll be tochachah. There's a chiddah that learns that the pshat in the musar was, Ani Yosef. Don't you see it on the face? I look exactly like my father. Imagine a guy walks in, looks exactly like your father, good, with a little more whiter hair, but—and that's what he means, Ha'od avi chai. You know, I don't believe my father's alive, because if he'd be alive, you would have recognized me. There's no pictures. Today we have pictures and videos and movies, so even if the father died 500 years ago, you would still recognize what he looks like. But those days there was no pictures, so you must have forgotten how he looks like, because you would have recognized—the minute you saw me, especially you came looking for me, you came looking. Baalei mussar say that what's takah pshat? Because negius—when you don't want to believe something, it can be right in front of you, you won't believe it, right? They didn't want to believe that Yosef was the melech. They wanted to see him as an eved. So this is the mussar: Ani Yosef, ha'od avi chai, and that's kinevhalu mipanav, maybe from the face. So it said, nivhalu milfanav. What's nivhalu mipanav? Because they saw his face. Whoa, you're right. His face looks exactly like Yaakov. How can we didn't catch it? And the Torah says, Negias, eileh liyam din, eileh liyam techachah. Okay. I want to say another pshat, rabboisai. You notice it says two things: Yom hadin and Yom hatechachah. What's the difference between Yom hadin and Yom hatechachah? What does that mean? The Chasam Sofer speaks about it. What is eileh liyom hadin, eileh liyom hatechachah? So I want to say pshat like this. Listen good, listen good, rabboisai. My zeide once told me a yesod: people can do things and they seem like they're kosher, but when you delve into their actions, you realize that it's a lie. They're actually contradicting. They say this, and it looks like they're okay with this. No, but actually it's not true. It's called a stirah. It's called a contradiction. Rav Naftali Trop said over about the Chofetz Chaim, no stiros. There were no contradictions in the Chofetz Chaim. He was—in Yiddish they would call it oysgehalten—which means what he was was he was right that way.

All the time, who he was, he was all the time. It wasn't one time he looked, ah, you see this side of him, you see that side of him. It wasn't. It was who he was all the time. It's called oisgehalten, which means completely miyushav, belistigot, without any contradictions. And they said it over by the Levaya, the Chofetz Chaim. Fine, okay. So they said there's a Gemara. The Gemara says that when we come l'asid lavo, we'll ask a question, three questions: nasata v'nasata b'emunah, did you do kosher business? Kavata itim laTorah, were you kovea itim laTorah? And the third question is going to be, it's a piece of l'yeshua, did you believe and hope for Mashiach? Why are we asking, says the Zeidah, first nasata v'nasata b'emunah? We should ask first kavata itim; it's more important about Torah, no? Did you learn? That should be the first. Did you daven? Did you learn? Then we can ask, what were you like in business? Why do we ask first about what? Your records in business. Take out the records. Why? Says the Zeidah, you ask him kavata itim laTorah, you know what he's going to answer you? He didn't have the head for it. He didn't have the patience for it. He wasn't capable. He wasn't this, blah, blah, blah, blah, a thousand excuses, right? So we take out the business records and we say, ha, over there you were very capable, huh? Over there you knew all the tricks, and you 24 hours a day, you didn't even sleep at night. You were able to go 24/7 business and more business and vayter business. Now let's see, kavata itim laTorah. I think that the worst part of a toichacha... Is yoyma din, yoyma tochacha, the contradiction. Yoyma din means we judge you. But then the guy comes with his excuses, so then we have tochacha. Tochacha means, eichichacha leinecha, which means we prove you from A to B. If you're saying that this is A, like a prosecutor, how could it be that you say that this, but look at this? How could you say you didn't, but look at here? How could you say that you couldn't sit for five minutes to learn, if when it came to business meetings you were able to sit for forty hours? That's called what? Tochacha. Okay? Oylei l'yoyma din, I think that's the pshat, yoyma din and yoyma tochacha. What was Yehuda's screaming about the whole time? Oh, v'nafsho keshurah b'nafsho, oh, Yaakov's gonna die, oh, terrible. And Binyamin, look what happened to Binyamin, and Rachel's child, and it's terrible, and nefesh keshurah b'nafsho, right? Says Yosef to Yehuda, to the brothers, ha'od avi chai? You didn't care about him then. Ani Yosef asher mechartem oti Mitzrayma, you didn't care about me. You're contradicting. You're a stira. You're a stira. You are a contradiction. On one hand you come and say you care so much about your father, you care so much about Binyamin, ani Yosef asher mechartem, achichem, I'm also your brother, you forgot about me? Ha'od avi chai? You forgot? All of a sudden you don't care about—he's alive or dead? What happened? That's called oilai liyom hadin, oilai liyom hatochachah. We once had a story over here. I think it's from the Ben Ish Chai. You probably know better than me, but I think it's from the Ben Ish Chai. The Chai says a story of a dayan who—you were able to buy him. He was up for sale. So there was a guy who was losing a court case by him. The dayan was paskening against. So he goes over to the dayan and he tells the dayan, What can I do that you'll be able to, you know, swing it my way? So he says, The morning of the judgment, you'll take an envelope, and you'll put money in the envelope. You'll wave the envelope in front of me to remind me that you're... and I'll let it go your way. Nope. The morning of the judgment, everybody's waiting for this guy to be chayiv. You hear? Because it was so clear that he's chayiv. The guy takes the envelope, he waves it. The guy paskens that he's patur. He passes by the dayan, and he says goodbye to him, and he slips him the envelope. Dayan, all excited, takes the envelope. He goes to his private chambers. He opens up the envelope, and there's nothing inside. So what does he do? He starts to scream, Oilem a sheker!

It's a bunch of ganovim liars. So you take the story and you laugh. I once spoke to my Rebbe of Palm about this story, and I explained to him, and he was maskim to me. You know where the problem is? Not the lie. Because the truth is, let's say a person has stiros, let's say a person has contradictions. So what's the big deal? When he's right, he's right; he's wrong, he's wrong. Is it worse that he has stiros? Is it worse that he has contradictions? No. So how could it be a taina, a complaint, that he has contradictions? When he's right, he'll be right. When he's wrong, he'll be wrong anyway. What does that have to do with the contradiction? Who cares? And you know what the answer is? When a person has contradictions, even when he's wrong, he thinks he's right. That's the problem. The problem is that when a guy is wrong, he doesn't realize that he's wrong, because he's a contradiction. Contradictions make it that a guy thinks he's good, he's right, he's fine. He thinks he's a good Jew. He thinks he's the right. He's doing what's right. Therefore, it lets him do what's wrong sometimes, thinking, I'm not a bad guy. You see, I'm right. If the guy knew he was wrong the whole time, that's nisvar. He thinks he's a kosher yid. He's so angry, Oy vey Hashem, what are you—you're—what are you talking about? L'havdil elef havdalos, so to speak, this is what Yosef was telling Yehuda. He was telling Yehuda, Ani Yosef asher mechartem oti, I'm achichem. What happened to that? You're so busy with Binyamin. You're so busy with Yankiv. This is ha'od avi chai. Vayochlu echav l'anos oso mipanav. What am I trying to bring out? A lot of different things. The first thing is, you have to understand a Yid is a moichel umevater. That's the first thing you have to know. Bris milah means, achlin klal Yisrael, that if somebody does something to you, you let it go. You let it go. You look the other way. You moichel. Libo matoiv, like the Rambam says, libo manachin is to be mevater and not take nekamah. Another point, I want to show you the contradiction in human nature. Here, you're angry at the other guy, right? You speak lashon hara about the other guy because he did something wrong. Yeah, but speaking lashon hara is also wrong. Contradiction of humanity. It's such an unbelievable thing. You don't realize the way you contradict yourself. He did this and this. Yeah, but you're doing the same thing now. By talking about it and fighting with him, you're doing the same thing. How many machlokes does a guy make with a guy because that guy is making machlokes? Yeah, but you're also making machlokes. When you're a machzik b'machlokes, you know what it is? You're doing the same thing that guy did. You're a stirah. You're a contradiction. It becomes a stirah. It becomes a contradiction. This, rabosai, is the lesson, the lesson of mechiras Yosef. The lesson of mechiras Yosef is, and I just want to end with one last thing: how's the tikkun? What was the tikkun of Asarah Harugei Malchus? The way we're learning that the pshat in lo sikom v'lo sitor has to reach a level of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, like the Mesilas Yesharim. That means that when a guy does you wrong, not only you don't take nekamah, but you go one step further and you do what? You know, what do you do? You go v'ahavta kamocha, like the Mesilas Yesharim says. What was the Asarah Harugei Malchus? It was the epitome of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. They all had to die. They took lots, lots. Goralos who should die first. They didn't want to see the other one die. And when one died, he picked up his head, he said, I wish I didn't have to see this. It was a tikkun of the lo sikom v'lo sitor, because it reached the ultimate level of a v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. That's where the tikkun of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha came. Because they showed, asarah, the ten showed such of a v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha through Torah. They were b'deilei Torah. They showed such middah of ahavah, middah of love for each other. And that was the tikkun for the asarah harugei malchus, hakadosh baruch hu zoicheh, l'mesaken l'chiras Yosef, and with this we'll be zoicheh, Klal Yisrael, Moshiach, bimheirah b'yameinu. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.