Emor: 5783 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld: Yosef merited and the letter "ה" was added to him - Yehosef - thus the Name of Hashem is in his name, while Yehuda has the entire Name of Hashem [in his name]. And why did Lot merit…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:02 Speaker 2 Two days ago, we learned in the Gemara that Yosef sanctified Hashem’s name in private, so only part of the name Havayah is alluded to in his name. Yehudah, on the other hand, sanctified Hashem’s name in public, so the entire name appears in his name, Yehudah. And in connection with this, they ask: Moshiach ben David descends from Ruth the Moabite—yes, from Moav. So what merit did Lot have, that Moshiach would descend from his son? What merit did he have? He wasn’t such a great tzaddik, yet Moshiach comes specifically from his descendants, through Ruth the Moabite. So the Gemara says—In the book of Bereishis, we’re told about Avraham being thrown into the fiery furnace. He had a brother, Haran, who was Lot’s father. Haran sat on the fence, unsure whether Avraham was right in proclaiming that G-d exists, or whether perhaps the idol worshippers were right. So he was undecided. When they threw Avraham into the fiery furnace, he said, “I’ll see what happens. If he’s saved, if a miracle happens for him, I’m on Avraham’s side. If, G-d forbid, he isn’t, then I’m with Nimrod.” When a miracle happened for Avraham Avinu and he came out of the fiery furnace, they came to Haran, and he said, “I’m on Avraham’s side. I don’t worship idols.” They threw him into the fiery furnace, and because he had wavered, he was burned. So they say that, after all, he was burned for kiddush Hashem. It happened because he declared, “I’m on Avraham’s side,” and for that he was burned. When a Jew is burned for kiddush Hashem, it doesn’t go to waste. That is why he merited to have Moshiach descend from him: because he was burned for kiddush Hashem.

02:30 Speaker 1 Beautiful.

02:31 Speaker 2 Have a good Shabbos.