Rabbi Frand on Parshas Vayeishev
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi
Yissocher Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion:
Tape # 125
Hamalbin P'nei Chaveiro. Good Shabbos!
Nice Guy's Finish Second -- Second in Command to Pharoah!
(Rabbi Frand quotes both insights this week from the book Shemen HaTov
by Rabbi Dov Weinberger.)
This week's parsha contains four words that changed the course of
history. We all know the story of Yosef's arrest and imprisonment.
Shortly afterwards, two members of Pharoah's Court were also thrown
into jail.
We need to understand what it was like to be in jail with two officers
of Pharoah's Court. To give an analogy, this would be like having a
two-bit drug dealer in jail together with two members of the
President's cabinet. We are dealing with 'Cabinet level' positions in
the Egyptian government -- the person who brought Pharoah his wine was
a trusted individual. He was the wine taster, a person in whom the
King had implicit trust. We are dealing here with people who could be
compared to the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. They are
sitting in jail with a Hebrew slave -- the lowest rung of society,
someone who is serving time for a petty crime. We can be sure that
there was not a lot of camaraderie and social action between Yosef and
Pharoah's officials.
They had their respective dreams, which upset them. Yosef saw that
they were depressed and asked them "Why are you depressed?" The "drug
dealer" (Yosef) comments to the "Secretary of State" (Wine Butler),
"You don't look so good this morning!" Because of that remark, because
of those four words, what happens?
The dreams are related to Yosef. Yosef interprets the dreams. The
Butler sees that Yosef has special powers. The Butler is eventually
released from jail and, in the time-honored tradition, gets put back
on the 'Cabinet'. Years later, he remembers Yosef. Yosef is brought
out of jail. He interprets the dreams of Pharoah correctly. He becomes
the second in command. He feeds the entire world including his own
brothers and father. And the rest -- as they say -- is history!
Why? Because of four words: "Madua peneichem ra'im hayom?" (Why are
your faces troubled today?)
What is the ethical lesson to be learned here? The lesson is that it
is incumbent to be a "nice guy". Yosef was concerned about how they
looked and how they felt, even though we have to assume that these
were people who did not give Yosef a second look. Merely saying a
nice, kind word makes such a difference!
Four words changed history. Two words can change history -- "Good
Morning" "How are you?" "How are you doing?" "How was your holiday?"
"How is your wife?" "How are your kids?" These are the types of words
that can make a difference. They made a vast difference in Yosef's
life and for Klal Yisrael's [The Jewish Nation's].
The Significance of 'Eight' -- Outside the Forces of Nature
Earlier in the parsha, we learn about the incident of Yosef with the
wife of Potiphar. She tried to seduce Yosef. Yosef refused -- "...How
can I do this terribly wicked deed?..." [Bereshis 39:9] Finally, when
she cornered him alone and grabbed hold of his garment, rather than
accede to her will, he fled and ran out of the house (va'yanos vayetze
haChutzah).
There is a very famous Medrash in Tehillim on the verse "The Sea saw
and fled..." [Psalms 114:3] The Medrash says that when the Jewish
people came to the Red Sea, the Sea saw the coffin of Yosef and fled.
In the words of the Medrash, "It fled because of the one who fled." In
the merit of the one who withheld and did not succumb to his passions,
the Sea split for Israel.
What is the connection between the merit of Yosef and the splitting of
the Red Sea? If one looks in the parsha one will notice a peculiar
thing. The expression "va'yanos haChutzah" (and he fled outside) is
repeated four times in the narrative. What is the significance of
this?
We should all be familiar with the term "Vayotze oso ha'Chutzah" (and
He took him outside). That terminology was used in Parashas Lech
Lecha in the Covenant between the Pieces [Bereshis 15:5]. We find
there that G-d took out Avraham -- haChutzah (outside). The Medrash
comments that G-d told Avraham, "Go out from your constellation" -- go
out from the normal forces of nature. "You, Avraham, are above nature.
You are not beholden to the powers of nature. Even if by nature, you
shouldn't have children, you will in fact be the father of great
nations. You are bigger than nature."
Implicit in the words "Vayotze oso ha'Chutzah" is the power to
overcome nature. That ability of a Jew to be superior to nature and
nature's dictates was the attribute that Yosef employed over here.
When everything in nature would suggest that he had to succumb to the
seductions of Potiphar's wife, Yosef was able to invoke the power of
Avraham his great-grandfather, who was outside the power of nature and
Yosef too overcame his particular nature and did not succumb.
Therefore, when his coffin came to the Red Sea, whose nature it is to
flow, in Yosef's merit, the Red Sea split. Nature was suspended. The
sea fled before the one who fled. The one who overcame nature has the
power to suspend the nature of the sea.
The Shemen HaTov goes one step further. He brings a Sefer HaPardes
who says a fascinating insight. (We are delving here onto the fringes
of Kabbalah and we can only speculate what the Sefer HaPardes means.)
The Sefer HaPardes says that there are 112 verses in Parshas
VaYeishev. Out of those 112 verses, every single verse begins with a
vov, with the exception of 8 verses! [Note: The count of eight verses
begins only after Pasuk 3 where the series of Vov verses actually
begin. Do not count from the beginning of the parsha, but rather from
Pasuk 3.] The Sefer HaPardes says the 8 verses that do not begin with
a vov correspond to the 8 days between the birth of a boy and his
circumcision. They allude to Milah, which is done on the 8th day.
The Shemen HaTov suggests that all the incidents of Parshas VaYeishev
are one big vov. And this happened, and this happened, and this
happened... It is all one big story -- one event emerging from the
other. It is all one big cause and effect.
The Torah tells us that this may be the way things work in the outside
world. History is one thing leading to another to another. But the
life of a Jew is above nature. The 8 verses correspond to Milah.
According to traditional literature, 7 connotes nature -- the number
of days in a week; while 8 connotes the property of being above
nature. That is why circumcision is on the 8th day, because Milah is
l'maaleh min haTeva (above nature). Jews are above nature, because
that is what G-d told Avraham Avinu. He took him outside and told him
"You are above nature."
The 8 verses that don't have the vov tell us something about the
entire remainder of the parsha. None of it is a 'vov'. Nothing is just
cause and effect. It is not just a story. It is not just natural
happenstance. It is all above nature. There is, in effect, a grand
plan. Nothing in history is just coincidence. Israel has no Mazal --
we are above all that!
One does not have to be a genius to make the connection to the 8 days
of Chanukah, which are also supra natural. We all understand that the
miracle of the jug of oil was a miracle. But we also have to know that
the miracle of the oil reveals that the victory in battle is also not
nature -- because nothing is nature. The Jewish people live a
miraculous existence -- outside the forces of nature.
Personalities & Sources:
Sefer HaPardes -- Halachic compendium, from the school of Rashi,
includes some of his legal decisions.
Glossary
Avinu -- Our Patriarch
Mazal -- ('Luck' determined by the) constellations
This week's write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi
Yissochar Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah
portion #125 The corresponding halachic portion for this tape is:
Hamalbin P'nei Chaveiro. The other halachic portions for
Parsha Vayeishev from the Commuter Chavrusah Series are:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
