5786 - Vayechi Yaakov; Rashi: "Why is this section closed? Because once Yaakov passed away, the eyes and hearts of Israel were sealed from the distress of the servitude." But the servitude only began after…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:00 Speaker 2 “Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years.” This parsha is closed, Rashi says in the name of the Midrash. What does “closed” mean? Simply, it means there is no space between the parshas. In a Torah scroll, between Parshas Vayigash and Parshas Vayechi, there is no space—only a space the width of one letter. That is a closed parsha. Why is this parsha closed? the Midrash asks. There are several explanations: according to Midrash, according to the plain meaning, and according to Chassidus, as the Rebbe explains it. Let’s start with the Midrash. Why is this parsha closed? My grandfather, who was the rabbi of Jerusalem, explained that it is because the two parshas are read as one. There is no break between them; they are read as one. How does Parshas Vayigash end? It says, “They were fruitful and multiplied greatly,” and then, “Yaakov lived.” So he explained: because “they were fruitful and multiplied greatly,” “Yaakov lived.” It gave Yaakov new life. Why? Because every day he had a simcha. Every day there was a wedding or a bris. They “were fruitful and multiplied greatly,” so every day he had a simcha. In Jerusalem they would add that he never took off his shtreimel all week. In Jerusalem, you wear a shtreimel for a simcha. So he never took it off all week, because every day he had a simcha. That is according to the Midrash. Rashi brings another two explanations of what was closed... Why is this parsha closed? Because the eyes and hearts of the Jewish people were closed by the suffering of the enslavement. In other words, when Yaakov died, the enslavement had already begun. But the question is: doesn’t it say that as long as one of Yosef’s brothers was alive, the enslavement had not yet begun? So why were their eyes and hearts already closed by its suffering? The Rebbe explains that it was their eyes and hearts that were closed. In practice, the enslavement had not yet begun, but their eyes and hearts

02:11 Speaker 2 could see what was going to happen. In their hearts, they already felt the Egyptians growing distant, that the Egyptians no longer treated them the same way. They also saw that the tribes, the brothers... Yosef no longer treated them as he had before. So to them, that too was already considered enslavement. The eyes and hearts of the Jewish people were closed. The third explanation Rashi brings there is: Why is this parsha closed? Because Yaakov wished to reveal the end of days. He said, “Gather together, and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days.” He wanted to reveal the end, but it was closed off from him. There are two versions: the version in the Midrash and the version in the Talmud. Was it closed off from him too? Did the time of the end become hidden even from Yaakov? Or was it not closed off from Yaakov, but the Shechinah departed from him? In other words, he saw that Heaven did not want him to reveal it. The question is: Why did Yaakov want to reveal the end? What was the point of it? He wanted to tell them when the end would come. At first glance, it was because he wanted to make the exile easier for them. When a person knows there is an end in sight, when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel, it eases the hardship of exile. But what was he going to tell them—that the Geulah would come in another three thousand, three thousand years? How would that help them? On the contrary, it could depress them. After all, Moshiach still has not come. More than three thousand years have passed, and Moshiach still has not come. So why did Yaakov want to reveal the end to them? What would it add? There are explanations, and the Rebbe gives his explanation. Yaakov wanted to bring something about... After all, it says, “If they merit it, I will hasten it.” Yaakov wanted to bring the Jewish people to that state of merit, so that the Exodus from Egypt would be the true and complete Geulah.

04:16 Speaker 2 Not as it turned out, with us still not having reached that point, but so that the Exodus from Egypt itself would be the true and complete Geulah, with no exile after it. That is what he wanted to bring about, and that is why he wanted to reveal the end. So that is another explanation. “There is nothing that is not alluded to in the Torah.” Let’s say one more thing to finish. “There is nothing that is not alluded to in the Torah.” Everything is alluded to in the Torah. It says, “He established it as a testimony in Yehosef,” concerning the land of Egypt. Why is it written with an additional hei? His name was Yosef, but a hei was added: “in Yehosef.” Many people believe in the protective power of what is called a hamsa. What is a hamsa? Someone makes a hamsa gesture at me. [unclear]. It has to do with the number five, the hamsa, which is considered to have protective power—especially for children, and so on. There are all kinds of protective powers attributed to the hamsa. This, too, is alluded to in the Torah. It says that the evil eye had no power over Yosef.

05:13 Speaker 3 “He established it as a testimony in Yehosef.”

05:14 Speaker 2 And that is the hei that Hakadosh Boruch Hu added to his name. He gave him this aspect of the hamsa, so that the evil eye would have no power over him. That is why the Gemara tells of Rabbi Yochanan, who would sit by the entrance to the mikveh so that women coming out after immersing would see him. He was handsome, and the children they bore would be as beautiful as he was. They asked him, “Aren’t you concerned about the evil eye?” He said, “I come from the descendants of Yosef, over whom the evil eye has no power.” Everything is alluded to in the Torah. And when Sarah and Avraham had no children, Hakadosh Boruch Hu added a hei to their names, gave them a hamsa, and then they had a child. Good Shabbos, good Shabbos.