‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Vayechi
(49:5-7) “Shimon and Levi… accursed is their rage for it is intense… I will separate them within Yaakov, and I will disperse them in Yisroel”
Rashi explains that Shimon was destined to become the teachers and scribes, while Levi would travel to collect terumah and ma’aser.
Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt’l explained that Shimon and Levi’s strong inner zeal and passion led them to act on behalf of Dinah. Although Yaakov rebuked them for their actions, he knew those emotions – if channeled and utilized properly – made them fit to become the teachers and leaders of Klal Yisroel.
In the ensuing generations Shevet Levi was successful in fulfilling the role Yaakov charted for them, while Shevet Shimon failed. The reason is that throughout the over two centuries of Egyptian exile while their brethren slaved, Shevet Levi engaged in intense Torah study. For one to properly exercise kana’os– zealousness he must be well-versed in Torah, in order to know when it is admirable to act zealously, and when it is necessary to exercise restraint, and not allow one’s inner fire to dictate his actions. Therefore after the Chet Ha’egel, it was Shevet Levi who rallied to Moshe Rabbeinu to avenge the honor of Hashem. And when Zimri, a descendant of Shimon sinned with a Moavite Princess, it was Pinchos, a descendant of Levi, who zealously avenged the honor of Hashem.
Shevet Shimon lacked that intense level of Torah study that Shevet Levi had, and therefore they never learned how to properly channel their inner passion to achieve greatness, as Yaakov Avinu hoped.
When he was a bochur in Telshe, Lithuania, Rav Mordechai Gifter zt’l, once entered an auditorium where a meeting was being held to promote anti-Torah causes. He stood by the door and yelled ‘FIRE!’ There was an immediate stampede toward the exits and the crowd dispersed. Luckily no one was hurt.
When Rav Gifter returned to the yeshiva his rabbeim severely chastised him for his actions and ordered him to learn in a different Bais Medrash for three days. His rebbe explained to him that his act did not constitute kana’us but pera’us – wildness. Kana’us requires thought and wisdom prior to acting. Endangering people’s lives is not zealotry. The future Torah leader, legendary for his zealousness and passion for Torah, never forgot that lesson.
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(48:20) “He blessed them that day saying, “By you shall Yisroel bless saying, ‘May Hashem make you like Ephraim and Menashe’.”
Why did Yaakov enact that every father forevermore would bless his sons that they be specifically like Menashe and Ephraim?
Rav Shmuel Hominer zt’l explained that Menashe and Ephraim grew up in Egypt, the seat of immorality and idolatry during that time. They were constantly subject to heretical ideas espoused by such a society, and they invariably had many interactions with magicians and other officers. Yet despite all the negative influences that surrounded them they grew and flourished into righteous and holy G-d-fearing Jews. They had enough inner fortitude to ignore all of the luring influences that surrounded them and they were able to maintain the lessons their father had clandestinely taught them, which he learned from his father.
There is no greater hope that a Jewish father has for his child than his having the inner fortitude and courage to maintain his faith and not be swayed by the antithetical values that surround him. When a father blesses his sons that they be like Menashe and Ephraim, he is blessing them that they be able to maintain their faith and never be swayed by the ideas and lifestyles of the outside world. Menashe and Ephraim are the symbols that it can be done.
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(47:31) “Yisroel prostrated himself toward the head of the bed.”
Rashi notes that Yaakov turned towards the head of the bed because the Shechinah rests above the head of one who is ill.
Rav Shlomon Wolbe zt’l explained that the more one believes that he is powerless and that it is only Hashem who can help him the more potent his tefillos will be. One who is sick and weak feels vulnerable and therefore his prayers are far more sincere and with a sense of greater urgency and faith in Hashem. It is for that reason that the Shechinah rests above the head of one who is sick.
The more humility one has the more he will believe in Hashem and the more effectual his tefillos will be.
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Sources: Emes L’Yaakov; Rav Gifter – Artscroll (R’ Yechiel Spero); Rav Shmuel Hominer – Eved Hamelech; Rav Wolbe – Shiurei Cumash