The Weekly Parsha - Vayigash 5782 - "Ki Avdecha Arav Es HaNaar"

00:01 [unclear], a learned Jew, the rosh yeshiva of Tomchei Temimim at 770. This was the gaon Rabbi Mordechai Mentlik, a Torah scholar and a great chossid. He was the rosh yeshiva for the students in Brooklyn, at 770, from the early years after the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in America. In those years, it was very hard to find a shidduch. Times were difficult, and the community was small. The observant community was very small. These were the war years. Finding a shidduch was very difficult, and everything involved many obstacles. There was one young man among the yeshiva students. He was not one of the great Torah scholars, not one of the outstanding learners, but a simple young man. The time came for him to marry, and Rabbi Mentlik relates that a shidduch was proposed for him with a young woman from Boro Park. She was not from a Lubavitch family, but rather from a rabbinic family, and the shidduch moved forward. When it became official and was announced, as is customary, an important rabbi who knew about the match took a dislike to the young man, because he came from a simple family and was not a particularly great Torah scholar. The rabbi caused a great uproar: the shidduch had to be called off. He opposed it and put

02:13 considerable effort into convincing them to call it off. Rabbi Mentlik relates: He was the rosh yeshiva. It was Erev Yom Kippur, after Minchah and the final meal before the fast. People had already gone to shul, and Kol Nidrei would begin shortly. The Frierdiker Rebbe was at 770, in his room upstairs. Rabbi Mentlik was sitting downstairs, saying Tehillim and preparing for the holy day; Kol Nidrei was about to begin. Suddenly the gabbai approached him and said that the Rebbe was calling for him. The Frierdiker Rebbe was calling for him. He wondered: What could this be about? It was Erev Yom Kippur, just before Kol Nidrei—why was the Rebbe calling him? So he went upstairs trembling, with awe and reverence. He entered the Rebbe’s room and saw the Frierdiker Rebbe sitting like an angel of G-d, already dressed in a kittel, all in white and wrapped in a tallis, ready for the holy day. Kol Nidrei was about to begin. The Frierdiker Rebbe looked at him and called him closer. In his later years, it was difficult for the Frierdiker Rebbe to speak because of his health. [unclear]. He asked the secretaries and gabbaim to support him, because he wanted to stand. At times this was very difficult for the Rebbe. Every movement involved terrible pain. His whole body was paralyzed, and his condition was such

04:19 that every movement caused him tremendous pain. The Rebbe asked them to help him to his feet; he wanted to stand. The Rebbe stood at his full height, in his kittel and tallis, with great awe and reverence. And the Rebbe said to him: “You see how I am standing now. It is the holy day, and we are about to begin Kol Nidrei. Just as you see me, go and stand before him. I want to ask you to carry out a special mission: Tomorrow night, when the holy day ends, on Motzaei Yom Kippur, immediately after the fast, get up and travel to the home of that rabbi. Knock on his door and tell him you have a mission from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe asks you to convey that every student who learns in his yeshiva is like his own child in his eyes. My father, the Rebbe Rashab, and I—we are his parents. We are his family. That is the finest and most distinguished lineage he has. He must not dare call off the shidduch. He should know that the young man whom he wanted [unclear] to take as a match—his family is me and my father, the Rebbe Rashab. We are his parents; we are his family.” Well, that was the whole matter. Afterward, he went to Kol Nidrei. Of course, Rabbi Mentlik was stunned throughout Yom Kippur. On Motzaei Yom Kippur, even before breaking his fast, because he had a mission to deliver, immediately after Neilah and Maariv, after saying “Baruch Hamavdil,” without waiting for anything, he took a taxi and went straight away,

06:27 straight to the rabbi’s home. He knocked on his door and delivered the message. He told him: “I want to emphasize this point, the circumstances in which it happened.” He described how the Rebbe had risen, how he stood in his tallis and kittel, in great awe, just before Kol Nidrei, and the words the Rebbe had said. The moment the rabbi heard those words, all his anger vanished. He invited Rabbi Mentlik inside, [unclear], and agreed that the shidduch should go ahead. And that is what happened: the shidduch went ahead, and afterward a beautiful Jewish chassidic family was established. In the weekly parsha we encounter Yosef Hatzaddik and Yehudah. “And Yehudah approached him”—Yehudah steps forward and says, “Please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears,” and delivers an entire speech. Yehudah speaks to Yosef, explaining what happened. After everything Yehudah says to Yosef, the parsha reaches a historic moment and tells us what happened: “And Yosef could not restrain himself.” He could not hold back. When he heard Yehudah’s words, they broke through everything within him that had remained so closed until then. “And he could not restrain himself”; he asked everyone to leave, stood face to face with them, and said, “I am Yosef.” On this week’s parsha, all the commentators ask, and the Ramban asks: What happened here? What did Yosef say? What did Yehudah say? Sorry, what did Yehudah

08:07 say? He did not even say anything especially remarkable. He spoke about what had happened: he came, he went, he said. What happened there? What did Yehudah say now that touched Yosef so deeply that suddenly Yosef could not restrain himself? Yosef already knew the whole episode, the entire story. What was there in these words? The Ramban explains it in his own way; the Ramban says there was [unclear], and other commentators offer different answers. But here we have one of the great foundations, a central principle in serving Hashem, brought in several seforim. It is brought in Torah Sheleimah, [unclear], and also by great chassidim: the main thing that stirred Yosef was the words, “For your servant has guaranteed the boy.” That is what Yosef Hatzaddik sensed in Yehudah: “For your servant has guaranteed the boy.” Yehudah stepped forward, spoke, devoted himself, and was ready to give his life for Binyamin. There was a whole story here. When we study the plain meaning of the text, there was a sin that needed to be corrected. The sin was the brothers’ jealousy and hatred: “They could not speak to him peaceably.” Everything Yosef did was not meant to cause them pain, but to correct that sin. The Midrash says that was the entire purpose: to correct the sin. He wanted to bring out the good in them and awaken them to teshuvah that would find expression in action. That—

09:55 the entire sequence of events Yosef arranged, which we learned about in Parshas Mikeitz, was meant to awaken the brothers, as indeed happened. Yes, they said, “Indeed, we are guilty,” and did teshuvah. And even after Yosef gave Binyamin so many gifts, they felt no jealousy. “They drank and became merry with him”—they were happy. The seforim all discuss the significance of this. Then, when the situation with Binyamin arose, what might one have thought? Yosef saw that the brothers were ready to give their lives for him. But the most powerful point, the one that touched him most, was “For your servant has guaranteed the boy.” As he explains, the love in “For your servant has guaranteed the boy” was revealed here. That is the love Yosef Hatzaddik saw in Yehudah: the inner essence of Ahavas Yisroel, of love for one another. Among Jews there is love and mutual responsibility: a Jew feels that he is responsible for another Jew, feels a responsibility toward him, and feels that he needs him. He cannot be without him. Yehudah expressed this, and it broke through the entire exile. For this is a central foundation of all service of Hashem, especially in this last period before Moshiach, in order to bring the Geulah. As the Gemara says, the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash is bound up with baseless hatred. The Gemara in Yoma, the Gemara

11:25 in Gittin. It is well known that the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash came about because Ahavas Yisroel was lacking. There was baseless hatred, and this began already with the first exile. There was jealousy and hatred then, and they led to the exile in Egypt. Later, when the correction that would bring the Geulah came, it began at the moment Yosef revealed himself to his brothers. There, with Yosef, was the beginning of the Geulah. What is the meaning of “For your servant has guaranteed the boy”? Ahavas Yisroel: All Jews are responsible for one another. The Gemara in Bava Basra, at the end of Bava Basra, discusses the laws of a guarantor. The Gemara asks: From where do we learn the laws governing a guarantor—that a person can undertake to guarantee someone else’s obligation? We learn it from Yehudah: “For your servant has guaranteed the boy.” From Yehudah’s becoming a guarantor to bring Binyamin back, we learn the laws of guaranteeing another’s obligation. The Gemara challenges this there and cites another verse. It cites a verse in Mishlei from which these laws are learned. And throughout the halachic discussion [unclear], even after the Gemara cites other verses, the underlying principle remains that we learn the concept of a guarantor from here, from Binyamin and Yosef. We see that Midrash Tanchuma and Midrash Rabbah, on this parsha, discuss the whole

13:05 Various laws of a guarantor are derived from Yosef, from the verse in this week’s parsha. We also see in another passage of the Gemara that although the Gemara cites other verses, Rashi—if we follow Rashi—says that the obligation of a guarantor is from the Torah, and specifically cites the verse, “For your servant became a guarantor for the lad.” In other words, the conclusion remains that the basis for the laws of mutual responsibility—that one Jew is responsible for another, that “all Jews are responsible for one another”—is learned from here. That is what we learn from the weekly parsha, and it is the basis of what happened here. When Yehudah approached Yosef, stepped forward to plead for his brother Binyamin, and declared, “I am his guarantor,” it led Yosef to reveal himself: “Yosef made himself known to his brothers.” And that began the possibility of freeing Yaakov Avinu and bringing them out of the situation they were in. But we also learn from this about every situation, including the final Geulah. He cites the commentators here who say that this is a general instruction for the Jewish people throughout all generations: “For your servant became a guarantor for the lad.” That is, if we want to bring the Geulah, if we want the exile to be illuminated, how do we do it? Through “For your servant became a guarantor for the lad.” By—

14:37 A Jew does not ask only for himself. A Jew prays and asks on behalf of other Jews, includes them in his prayers and asks for them. We need to feel responsible for other Jews, to think about other Jews; that is how we bring the Geulah. And this is said specifically here, with Yosef. What does it have to do with Yosef? The Tzemach Tzedek says that Yosef’s name, the entire name Yosef, comes from the verse, “May Hashem add for me another son.” That is what Rachel said when she named him Yosef: “May Hashem add for me another son.” What does “May Hashem add for me another son” mean? The Tzemach Tzedek explains: “another” means someone who is other, the opposite of holiness. That is the meaning of the word “other.” She says, “for me another son”—to make a “son” out of that “other.” The role of Yosef Hatzaddik, his task, is to take a Jew who is in the category of “other,” the category of turning one’s back, a Jew who has sadly become disconnected, [unclear], and is in the state of “They turned their backs to Me and not their faces”—a Jew in a state of turning his back—and make a son out of that “other.” He should be a Jewish child, brought back to Judaism and drawn close. This is the meaning of “For your servant became a guarantor for the lad”: a Jew feels responsible, that each person is responsible for his fellow. And we see something remarkable here. What was the love we see here? Why was Yehudah, specifically, the one

16:25 who took responsibility for him? Why did Reuven’s words have no effect when he spoke, as was recounted earlier? Reuven spoke to Yaakov, and Yaakov did not accept what he said. When Yehudah came and said, “I will be responsible for him,” it made a different impression on him, and Yehudah’s pledge of responsibility was what worked. Why Yehudah’s pledge specifically? What is the point here? What is its deeper meaning? The Rebbe once said that the idea is this: Yehudah is the king. Although Yosef was also a king, his kingship was of a different kind. The primary form of kingship—the kingship that, as the Rambam says in Hilchos Melachim, continues for all generations, forever and eternally—is the kingship of King David, the kings of the House of David, the kings of Yehudah. “Yehudah is a king among his brothers”; Yehudah was the first king. He was the forefather of the kings of the House of David; from him Moshiach will descend, as the haftorah of that week says: “And My servant David will be king over them forever.” Moshiach will descend from David, from Yehudah. What is the role of a king? The Rambam says in Hilchos Melachim that “the king’s heart is the heart of the entire congregation of Israel.” The king is the heart of the entire people. The role of a king is that the entire country and all its people, with everything that belongs to the country, become one entity through the king. There is a responsum of the Rashba in which he says, “The king is like the community.” The king is like the entire community, on whom all the Jewish people depend. The entire people become one entity through the king. That means

18:13 that kingship is about making the people, the community, into a single entity. It is not a multitude of hundreds and thousands gathered together. The king takes the entire community and makes it one entity. That is why the true meaning of mutual responsibility, “Jews are responsible for one another,” is connected specifically to the king. He creates the true connection, the true mutual responsibility. What does “Jews are responsible for one another” mean? It is a matter of halachah: someone who has already fulfilled a mitzvah may recite the blessing again to enable someone who is still obligated to fulfill it. Why? Because “Jews are responsible for one another.” As explained in the works of halachah, and all the more so in works that examine the matter in depth, the basis of “Jews are responsible for one another” is that because that other Jew has not yet fulfilled the mitzvah, through my responsibility for him I am still considered obligated, even though I have already fulfilled the mitzvah. Since there is another Jew who has not fulfilled it, it is as though the mitzvah is lacking for me. So I am, in effect, still obligated. This follows from the fact that all Jews are one entity. They become one single entity, an individual whole. And this is the true meaning of Ahavas Yisroel and Jewish unity: the Jewish people are like one single body. As the Jerusalem Talmud says in tractate Nedarim, the Jerusalem Talmud says

19:46 that all Jews are like one body. And if it is one body, one hand will not strike the other. The Jewish people are one single entity, one thing. So it was specifically Yehudah, who was the king—and the king embodies true unity and true mutual responsibility—who said this: he took responsibility for Binyamin. He took responsibility for Binyamin, and therefore said, “For your servant became a guarantor for the lad.” When Yehudah awakened true mutual responsibility, the true unity of the Jewish people, in which all Jews are one entity—that alone brought about “Yosef could no longer restrain himself,” and Yosef revealed himself to his brothers as one with them. For then Yosef saw that everything was one. Until then, Yosef looked and saw his own level, the level of the brothers, and another level: he was above, and they were lower. But the moment all the brothers became one single entity, when Yehudah awakened the recognition that all the brothers were one, it became clear that Yosef and his brothers were one. Therefore “Yosef could no longer restrain himself,” and then Yosef revealed himself to them and bestowed all that he bestowed, along with everything else. So what is the point we take from this?

21:18 The point we take from this is that when it comes to a Jewish child, when the souls of Jews matter to us, we have to stand firm, because this is the one and only thing that matters. When there is a Jewish child who needs a Jewish education, that is our own concern. Rashi says in our parsha that Yehudah approached Yosef and said, “Let your anger not burn against your servant.” What does “Let your anger not burn against your servant” mean? He is not saying anything harsh to him; after all, he needs to arouse compassion. So why does he say, “Let your anger not burn against your servant”? Rashi says, “From here you learn that he spoke harshly to him.” He spoke harsh words to him. In the verse itself, we seemingly do not see him actually speaking such harsh words. We look at the verse and do not see it. How do we know he spoke harshly to him? The explanation, says the Rebbe of Lubavitch, is that when it comes to saving a Jewish child, of course he spoke harshly. There was no time then to make calculations, to do this or that, to check where the boundaries lay, to make preparations and introductions, or to arrive with large delegations and grand plans. When Yehudah heard that Binyamin, that one Jewish child, was to be taken to Egypt, that

22:50 meant they would drag him off to Egypt; they did not know what was behind the whole story. When Yehudah heard that there was one Jewish child who needed saving, “he spoke harshly to him”: he stood there and pleaded with all his heart. He spoke words that came from the heart. “Please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears”—so that he would not merely hear, but understand just how important this was: a Jewish child had to be saved. And when a Jew stands like that, with that strength and resolve, he brings about “Yosef could no longer restrain himself,” and then the entire flow of blessing was revealed. There is a saying quoted in Chassidus. The Frierdiker Rebbe related it, having heard it from his father, the Rebbe Rashab, who heard it from his father, the Rebbe Maharash, who heard it from his father, the Tzemach Tzedek—Rebbe from Rebbe—and they all heard it from the Alter Rebbe after he returned from Mezritch. He said that the first Torah teaching the Alter Rebbe gave when he returned from Mezritch was on the words “All Jews are areivim for one another.” The Alter Rebbe explained that the word “areivim” has three meanings. It means guarantors, in the straightforward sense of responsibility and obligation. It also means sweet, as in “Then the offering of Yehudah will be pleasing to Hashem.” And it also means intertwined with one another. The Alter Rebbe explained: “Jews are areivim for one another”—one Jew is intertwined with another Jew. Jews are intertwined with one another, “all of one piece.” What does “all of one piece” mean? It means

24:38 This is what is written in Likkutei Torah. The Alter Rebbe explains that the menorah was “one piece of gold.” They took a hammer, and “what was above came down, and what was below rose up.” The Alter Rebbe says: This is the menorah; this is the Jewish people. “A menorah entirely of gold.” We have just come from Chanukah, from the Chanukah menorah and its lights, which resemble the lights of the menorah, and from Shabbos Chanukah. “A menorah entirely of gold” is said of the Jewish people. The Jewish people are one piece of gold—gold. There is an above and a below; when it is hammered, what was above comes down and what was below rises up. It is one menorah of gold, a single, unique menorah. This is one meaning of areivim: intermingled. One Jew is bound up with another Jew, one solid piece, one great whole, including every kind of Jew. The second meaning is sweetness. One Jew should be sweet to another. He should take pleasure in doing something for another Jew—not just do it, but do it eagerly, with sweetness, a smile, and warmth. And then he says: One Jew is responsible for another Jew; one Jew accepts responsibility for another. He brought this from the Maggid of Mezritch, from the first teaching, which contained the foundations. After returning from the Maggid of Mezritch, the Alter Rebbe said that the Rebbe was deeply moved by the Ahavas Yisroel that the Baal Shem Tov had passed on to the Maggid, and from the Maggid of Mezritch it passed to the Alter Rebbe—the foundations of Ahavas Yisroel. That Jews should be bound up with one another, that one Jew should become involved with another Jew. One Jew must

26:09 be responsible for another Jew. One Jew must accept responsibility for another Jew; then there is genuine responsibility. When a Jew feels that another Jew’s situation concerns him, he cannot rest. The moment he sees another Jew in a situation where someone needs to extend a hand to him, [unclear], a Jew who needs a helping hand—he is lacking good deeds, Torah study, matters of holiness, or even something materially—he looks for what he can do, how he can help him and extend a hand. Areivus means being responsible and accountable for another. And so we find: “He sent Yehudah ahead of him to Yosef, to prepare the way before him to Goshen.” It says in the sefarim, in the works of Chassidus: Why specifically “he sent Yehudah ahead of him”? Why Yehudah in particular? Why didn’t he send someone else? Why, of all the tribes, was Yehudah the one sent ahead? The answer is that Yehudah gave himself over completely to save a Jewish child. Who can be a rosh yeshivah? Who can be trusted to devote himself to every Jewish child, to every Jewish young man, so that he receives a proper and true Jewish education? It can be Yehudah, the one who says, “For your servant took responsibility for the boy,” who accepts responsibility for another Jew.

27:43 Other Jews. He bears responsibility; he is responsible for the other Jew, involved with other Jews, and does not separate himself from them [unclear]. There is one thing, and one thing only: he can be the true rosh yeshivah; he can fulfill “He sent Yehudah ahead of him to Yosef, to prepare the way before him to Goshen,” and bring the Geulah. This is the lesson we learn from the weekly parsha. The parsha opens: “Yehudah approached him and said, ‘Please, my lord.’” [unclear] The Kedushas Levi explains, [unclear], that “Yehudah approached him” means the Jew approaching Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yosef—Yosef the righteous, the mashpia—the reference is to Yosef; and Yosef is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yehudah is the Jewish people, the Jew who approaches Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Jew comes to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and asks, “Please, my lord,” asking for the Geulah, for abundance, blessing, and salvation. [unclear] Yehudah approaches Yosef and asks for abundance. The Jewish people come to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But then he says, “For your servant took responsibility for the boy.” What is the condition? What is the vessel? “Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel capable of holding blessing for Israel other than peace.” And when there is “Your servant took responsibility for the boy,” when a Jew comes to the aid of another Jew in distress, thinks about his troubles, and goes to help him with a sense of responsibility—not only responsibility, but areivus in the sense of being bound up with him—this is

29:43 one whole, one family; he feels as though it is his own child. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said, the children in my yeshivah are truly my children. That is something else entirely: it is his child, his family. And when that is the case, this is “For your servant took responsibility for the boy.” Then one can come and say, “For how can I go up to my father?” Then one can go up to the Father. And what can bring the Geulah? The parsha tells us that then “the spirit of their father Yaakov revived.” I saw something from the Rebbe from 30 years ago. He once said that when Yosef sent word to his father from exile in Egypt, he reminded him of what they had studied together about eglah arufah, the heifer whose neck is broken. And the Rebbe asks: What is eglah arufah? And why eglah arufah in particular? The commentators offer explanations—yes, the Kli Yakar and the other commentators—of what it symbolizes and what it is about. This is what happened: When Yosef was still with Yaakov, Yaakov studied with his son Yosef, and when Yosef went to look for his brothers, they had been studying eglah arufah. The Rebbe explains further: “May Hashem add for me another son.” Yosef the righteous accepted the mission alluded to in his name: to turn an “other” into a “son.” One must take a person who is in the position of an “other” and make him a “son.” Eglah arufah—what is eglah arufah? It is when a slain person is found in a field, a person in the field, and then they come to investigate [unclear]. This is the yetzer hara. A “slain person in the field” is, G-d forbid, when a Jew becomes disconnected from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is spiritual death. Yosef the righteous knows that his mission is eglah arufah: “Our hands did not spill this blood”—“We did not send him away without an escort or without food.” Spiritually, we know...

31:47 The Torah and mitzvos give him the nourishment a Jew needs. What is my purpose? Yosef sent the message to Yehudah and to his father. He told them: “I know what my mission is. I know that you sent me with what we studied about eglah arufah. And that is what I am doing in Egypt, amid the constraints of Egypt, including with the sparks of holiness found there. I know that the purpose of exile is to turn the ‘other’ into a ‘son.’” And that was when “the spirit of our father Yaakov revived.”

Our father Yaakov saw that Yosef was whole not only materially, but also in his mission: he knew why he was in the world. To ensure that, in the matter of eglah arufah, “We did not send him away without an escort or without food” would be fulfilled—that Jews would receive what they need, their nourishment. And in this way we bring about “And you who cleave to Hashem your G-d are all alive today.” Through this we will merit what is said in Tehillim: “Shepherd of Israel, give ear, You who lead Yosef like a flock,” which refers to Yosef, and every Jew is called part of “Yosef’s flock.” We will merit this through our work during exile, by seeing to it that every Jew receives his nourishment. This is “For your servant took responsibility for the boy”: to unite with other Jews, to connect with other Jews, with love and warmth. And in this way we will merit the complete Geulah, in our days, speedily in our days, amen.