‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Vayigash
(44:18) “Yehuda approached him…”
What was Yehuda’s message to Yosef here? He seemed to have merely reiterated what he told Yosef at the end of parshas Miketz?
Rav Nissan Alpert zt’l explains that until this point there was an interpreter between Yehuda and Yosef, and Yehuda spoke to Yosef with diplomatic cordiality and formality. But at this point words were no longer sufficient. Yehuda wanted Yosef to hear the passion and emotional urgency in his voice. He approached Yosef so Yosef would feel his words, not just hear them.
During the Holocaust Rav Aharon Kotler zt’l worked tirelessly to save Jews from the Nazi inferno. In February 1945, the Vaad Hatzalah collected a million dollars which they were ready to transfer to the Nazis in exchange for Jewish captives.
Mr. Irving Bunim a’h accompanied Rav Aharon to Washington D.C. to meet with Henry Morgenthau, the US Secretary of the Treasury. When they informed Mr. Morgenthau of their intentions, he replied that sending money to an enemy was illegal and he could not help them. Rav Aharon turned to Mr. Bunim and with fire in his eyes excitedly replied, “Tell him, perhaps he is afraid of losing his post; he should be mindful that the life of one single Jew is worth more than his prominent position!”
At first Mr. Bunim didn’t want to convey the harsh words, so he began to reiterate the importance of their mission. Rav Aharon was emphatic, “Nein nein Bunim, zugt em vus ich hub gizugt – Tell him what I said.” Hesitatingly Mr. Bunim conveyed the message.
When Morgenthau heard the message, he put his head down on his desk for some time. Then he rose from his armchair and replied, “Tell the Rabbi that I’m a Jew. Not only will I sacrifice my position, I will sacrifice my life for my fellow Jews.”
Sometimes it’s not the words, but the passion and emotion that create the most potent lasting effect!
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(47:4) “And they said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to sojourn in the land… and now, if you please, allow your servants to dwell in the region of Goshen’.”
The brothers told Pharaoh that they were only sojourning in Egypt temporarily. But then they requested that he allow them to dwell in Goshen, which implies that they planned to take up residence there?
The Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum zt’l explained that throughout our exile our ancestors have struggled to create an infrastructure of Jewish life. At the same time however, they never lost sight of that fact that they were in exile, strangers in a strange land.
This is what the brothers told Pharaoh. ‘We need to be able to feel settled so that we can grow and flourish spiritually. In the land of Goshen where we have our Batei Midrashim and Yeshivos we will be settled. But, as far as the Land of Egypt is concerned, no matter how many decades we remain here, we are only sojourning; we will never truly feel at home.
This idea is expressed in parshas Vayigash, and again in the opening words of Chumash Shemos: “These are the names of the B’nei Yisroel who are coming to Egypt.” At that point they were in Egypt for a number of decades, but their attitude was that they were still only coming to Egypt.
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(47:9) “Yaakov answered Pharaoh: The days of my sojourns have been a hundred and thirty years; few and bad have been the days of the years of my life…”
Why did Yaakov differentiate between the “days of my sojourning” and the “days of my life”?
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that ‘sojourning’ refers to a physical existence, whereas ‘life’ refers to spiritual life, and a life of accomplishment.
When Pharaoh asked about Yaakov’s years, Yaakov clarified that what Pharaoh meant to ask was about his ‘years of sojourning’, i.e. how old he was. The answer to that question was 130. But if he wanted to know about the years of his life – his spiritual accomplishments – Yaakov replied that they were too few. In Yaakov’s humble opinion, his suffering had diminished his ability to serve Hashem on the same exalted level as Avraham and Yitzchak.
Yaakov’s response gives perspective to the question of how we define living. Life isn’t about physical years. Rather, it’s about spiritual accomplishment and growth, the quality of true living.
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Sources: Rav Nisson Alpert – Limudei Nissan; The Legacy of Maran Harav Aharon Kotler (Feldheim); Satmar Rebbe – quoted in Mata’amei Shulchan Shabbos.