Vayigash: 5785 - Where did Yehuda get the strength to stand up to Yosef, who was the viceroy of Egypt? And also: the special connection to the famous sicha "Do everything within your power". Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:02 Speaker 2 I once heard Reb Leiby Pressman explain the first verse of Parshas Vayigash.

00:08 Speaker 1 This week was Yosef.

00:10 Speaker 2 This week was Yosef.

00:11 Speaker 1 It will be, it will be the week after Shabbos.

00:14 Speaker 2 He heard this explanation of the first verse from someone in Russia. “And Yehudah approached him”—there are cantillation notes, and the notes add to the meaning of the verse. So he expounded on them. The first verse begins with “Kadma Ve’azla Revi’i”—those are the notes—and then comes “Zarka Munach Segol.” This is how he explained what he had heard: Yosef says to Yehudah, “Kadma Ve’azla Revi’i.” Why are you pushing to the front? You’re only the fourth. Why are you—“And Yehudah approached him,” speaking to him forcefully. You’re only the fourth. So Yosef says to him—ah, Yehudah answers Yosef and says, “Zarka Munach Segol.” I cast aside, I set aside my treasure, my World to Come, for him. He had pledged to Yaakov, “I will have sinned against you for all time.” That includes both this world and the World to Come. And it is at this point that Yosef reveals himself to his brothers. Why? As the Midrash relates at length, Yosef saw that Yehudah was angry. When he became angry, as the Midrash describes, three hairs would stand on end and blood would run from his eye. Yosef saw that Yehudah was in such a state that he was capable of destroying all of Egypt. And the Midrash relates that Yehudah told Naftali, “Run and count how many marketplaces there are throughout the land of Egypt.” At that point he was capable of it, and Yosef understood that something had to be done here, as they say—otherwise, if he stretched the rope a little further, then... Hashem protect us, Yehudah could destroy Egypt. The Rebbe asks: Where did Yehudah get the strength to stand before Yosef and tell him, “If you provoke me, I will kill you and Pharaoh”? Where did he get that kind of strength? He was standing before the viceroy of Egypt, right? The ruler of the entire land of Egypt, and telling him, “If you provoke me, I will kill you and Pharaoh too.” And he

02:15 Speaker 2 was prepared to destroy the land of Egypt. The Rebbe explains that because Yehudah took responsibility—“I will be his guarantor,” as he told Yaakov—it revealed hidden strengths, and those hidden strengths know no limitations. Because he took responsibility upon himself, he was capable of this. That is why Yehudah stood so firmly. In the well-known sicha of 28 Nissan, when the Rebbe said, “Do everything in your power,” it would seem that the Rebbe was saying: I have already done everything I could to bring Moshiach; nothing has helped, and now I am placing it upon you. What did he mean? The Rebbe did not stop working toward it. So what does it mean, “I have done my part; now I am placing it upon you”? It is the same point. The Rebbe wanted to place responsibility upon the chassidim. “I have done what I can”—the Rebbe continued to act, but he wanted to place responsibility upon the chassidim and reveal their hidden strengths. That is why he told them, “Do everything in your power to bring Moshiach.” And regarding this matter of the World to Come: I was in the United States just now, and by Divine Providence I heard someone tell this story. There was a chossid named Reb Michoel Dvorkin who had lived in Russia. There is a whole story of how he came to Israel and then to New York. He was alone. His wife and children had all been killed in Russia, and he was alone in New York. This was in 5709. He passed away on the eve of Shavuos. Now, Shavuos lasts two days here. I think it was also right before Shabbos. In other words, if the funeral was not held on the eve of the holiday, it would have to be postponed for three days. But they needed a doctor to sign a death certificate so they could hold the funeral. So the Rebbe said to approach a Jewish doctor and ask him to sign. They went to this doctor. The doctor said,

04:18 Speaker 2 “I’m not prepared to sign. I’d be risking my entire career. He wasn’t my patient; I don’t know him and I know nothing about him. How can I sign such a certificate?” The Rebbe said to tell him, “Whatever he asks for, I’ll give him, as long as he signs.” The doctor thought and thought, and then said, “I want the Rebbe to promise me a place in the World to Come.” The secretary who was speaking to the doctor did not know what to tell the Rebbe. So the Rebbe asked him what the doctor had said. He had no choice but to say that the doctor wanted the Rebbe to promise him a place in the World to Come. The Rebbe told him, “Tell him that I promise him a place in the World to Come.” Then the doctor said, “I want to hear it from the Rebbe himself, in the presence of two witnesses.” They brought another secretary, and the Rebbe said that he promised him a place in the World to Come so that they could bring the chossid to burial. And indeed, they buried him that very day, on the eve of Shavuos. To bring a Jew to burial without leaving him unburied overnight, the Rebbe was prepared to give him a place in the World to Come. This is along the lines of what is written about Yehudah: he pledged his own World to Come to bring Binyamin back. May we have a peaceful Shabbos and good news.