Parshas VaYeshev

My Torah on the Parsha

My Life

Lukover Rebbe

The Jewish Purpose

Holiness

Jewish Ideas and The Founding Fathers

Charles “Bud” Renner with a July 29, 2025 Update

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My Torah on the Parsha

Parshas Vayeshev discusses the fight between the brothers with the end being Yosef is sold and is brought down to Egypt.  This seems to be a tragic story.  I asked rhetorically, maybe we should read the first two chapters in this Sedra with the tune of Eichah. Maybe It should be read as a dirge.  This fight and selling of Yosef plagued the Jewish people for generations. The story of ten martyrs was an atonement for the sale of the brothers of Yosef

We know that Yosef had to end up in Egypt.  If the brothers did not sell Yosef, Yosef would still have ended up in Egypt.  Perhaps Yosef would have gotten lost or fell down and passed out.  The Yishmalim would have found him and brought him down to Egypt.   

Perhaps for whatever reason, God orchestrated that the brothers would sell Yosef.  Perhaps he took away their free choice.

Analysis:

Looking at this story, we cannot say that it is merely a struggle between brothers and the hatred and jealousy that occurred which ended up with them wanting to kill Yosef and then deciding to sell Yosef.  

The sale of Yosef, reverberates into the future for thousands of years, and perhaps affects us until today.  

The twelve  brothers were the foundation of a new family in the world, one whose unique role is doing what is “just and right”, to bring charity and honest justice to the world.  As it says in Genesis verse 18:19 when God said why he loves Abraham.

כִּ֣י יְדַעְתִּ֗יו לְמַ֩עַן֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְצַוֶּ֜ה אֶת־בָּנָ֤יו וְאֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ אַחֲרָ֔יו וְשָֽׁמְרוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְהֹוָ֔ה לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת צְדָקָ֖ה וּמִשְׁפָּ֑ט לְמַ֗עַן הָבִ֤יא יְהֹוָה֙ עַל־אַבְרָהָ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֖ר עָלָֽיו׃

For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of יהוה by doing what is just and right, in order that יהוה may bring about for Abraham what has been promised him.”

Just like Eisav and Yishmael were the founding fathers of their nations in the world, so were our Avos, the twelve tribes, our founding fathers.

Based on Rabbi Samson Rephael Hirsh and expanding on his words they saw Yosef and suspected that he was going to be a king and dominate them and the world, negating  the Jewish mission in the world.  The brothers had seen Nimrod introducing monarchy into the world, becoming an evil totalitarian, and ruling his subjects with cruelty.

They knew that Yosef was powerful.  Rashi brings down two weeks ago that once Yosef was born, Yakov knew that he could go back home.  Yosef had the ability to destroy Eisav.  

Rashi on Verse 30:25:

כאשר ילדה רחל את יוסף. מִשֶּׁנּוֹלַד שְׂטָנוֹ שֶׁל עֵשָׂו, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וְהָיָה בֵית יַעֲקֹב אֵשׁ וּבֵית יוֹסֵף לֶהָבָה וּבֵית עֵשָׂו לְקַשׁ (עובדיה א’), אֵשׁ בְּלֹא לֶהָבָה אֵינוֹ שׁוֹלֵט לְמֵרָחוֹק, מִשֶּׁנּוֹלַד יוֹסֵף בָּטַח יַעֲקֹב בְּהַקָּבָּ”ה וְרָצָה לָשׁוּב:

כאשר ילדה רחל את יוסף WHEN RACHEL HAD BORN JOSEPH — after the birth of him who was to become Esau’s adversary (Genesis Rabbah 73:7) — as it is said (Obadiah 1:18) “And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble“. Fire (Jacob) that has no flame (Joseph) has no effect at a distance. Therefore, when Joseph was born Jacob put his trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, and wished to return home (Obadiah 1:18).

Midrash Rabbah 73:7

It was when Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: Release me, and I will go to my place and to my land” (Genesis 30:25).

“It was when Rachel bore Joseph” – when Joseph was born, Esau’s adversary was born, *Joseph is Esau’s adversary. See Bava Batra 123b. as it is stated: “Jacob said to Laban: Release me, and I will go to my place and to my land,” as Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman: It is a tradition that Esau will fall only into the hand of the descendants of Rachel. That is what is written: “Will the young of the flock not drag them?” (Jeremiah 49:20) – why does it call them “the young of the flock”? It is because they were the youngest of the tribes.

The ten brothers saw Yosef, understood he was powerful and had leadership qualities.  Yosef diminished them in the eyes of their father, who saw that their father loved and favored him, gave him a special cloak, representing kingship.  They heard his two dreams which spoke to Yosef’s ruling over them and the world as a king.  After all dreams are usually a reflection of what people think during the day.

The plan from Hashem was that Yosef was to rule with mercy and justice as the leader of the family with partnership with the brothers.  Yosef did not communicate this and they interpreted Yosef that in the future he will rule as a cruel monarch. They wrongly determined that Yosef was not going to rule the world with God’s comment about Abraham, that he would raise his family with charity and justice.  They felt that Yosef was going to rule the world as a Nimrod. They felt Yosef was a threat to them and the world.  Therefore, they felt they had to kill him.   They were Tzadiqim, righteous men, yet they interpreted events wrongly.   Who was right and who was wrong?  From each person’s view, they felt they had the Emes – the truth.   We cannot assign blame to anyone.  Maybe it is all about communication or the lack of it.

We do find that when Yosef was in Egypt as viceroy, he was very harsh with the Egyptians.  He did not open soup kitchens and distribute food to the populace from whom he taxed; rather, he made them starve and sell themselves, not giving any dignity to his subjects.

When is the start of this split?  It goes back to Yaakov taking the blessings from Yitzchok, cutting out Eisav.  This led to his exile to Lavan, marrying Leah before Rochel, creating a split, which led to Yaakov favoring Yosef, leading to their misinterpreting Joseph’s motives.

Why did Hashem do this to the Jewish people?  Seemingly Hashem put a Sitra Achra, an evil spirit, into the Jewish nation.  I do not know but we as Jews have to overcome this trait within ourselves.

In a broader sense, perhaps the lesson is that we all make mistakes and we have challenges.  Many times we sabotage ourselves.  We have to move forward and create good from our problems and from the mess we create.

Going back to my original question, should we read the first part of this Sedra in a mournful tone.  My answer is we do not read the Torah with a mournful tune, but we should read it internally with a mournful voice.    

My Life

I have been slightly depressed lately and it is hard for me to sleep.  When I lay my head down on my pillow, I think about two things. 

I think about Gettysburg and what it was like to be a Union soldier on the front lines being attacked by Confederate soldiers on day three during Pickett’s charge.  I think about the bloodshed at Gettysburg and during the Civil War.

I think about how the world has been engulfed in war for thousands of years.  Starting from the dawn of time, to Israel during the first temple period and our devastating civil war.   Even with the culmination of the Holocaust and World War II, where 6 million Jews were wiped out for no reason, 20 million people in total got killed. The 20th century resulted in 100 million deaths due to war and totalitarianism.   Almost 80 years after World War II, the world is still fighting.  It comes from bad players.  The primary sources are radical elements of the Mideast, Iran, Russia, and others.   

This morning, December 18th,  I was still animated by something my great-grandfather said in Parshas Toldos and how it applies to the creation of the State of Israel and the ongoing existence of Israel.

The Lukover Rebbe said in Parshas Toldos in his first essay that the purpose of the Jewish people is to bring “Eisav” to holiness.  We are to influence the world to do good.  When the Torah says that Rivka will have two children who will always be in conflict.  The Lukover says that Yaakov’s dominance over Eisav is that he, representing Jews through time, will dominate Eisav by bringing holiness to the non-Jewish world.  Holiness translates into creating a just and honest society, with an honest judiciary.  A society where individuals live free from fear is what we envision.  This is a society that strives to improve itself by providing education, hospitals, health care, and promoting fairness within society.

The founding fathers based the founding of America on the Biblical story.  Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichk has an excellent lecture series titled Jewish Ideas and the American Founders.  The founding fathers believed that the founding of America paralleled that of the Biblical story.  

In Episode 5, titled “Washington, Seixas, and Giving Thanks,” Rabbi Soloveichik talks about the constitutional convention in 1787 when the constitution was ratified.  There was a rally prior to the voting in support of the constitution.   Rabbi Soloveitchik read an account of the day written by Naftali Philips 80 years after the event in which Naftali described the day.  He described that the day the convention was originally scheduled for was a fast day, the 17th of Tammuz.  The convention was pushed off by one day to allow the Jews to participate and additionally, there was a table of Kosher food for the festivities on the day of the convention.

In the 44th minute of the Shiur, Rabbi Soloveichik says:  

Naftali Phillips at age 96 recalls that some time after the procession a large sign was set up on some public house in Philadelphia representing, meaning with pictures, of all the federal convention members all being present as they say with General Washington as their president and at the lower part of these signs were these words: “These 37 great men together agreed that better times shall soon succeed.”  This prediction was not taken for granted by much of American citizens but if we do believe that this prophecy of a sort proved correct, then what we mark on Thanksgiving is  not merely a moment to express gratitude for our lives, though it is that, but it is also first and foremost for the constitution and its freedoms which not only bless us, but obligates us as Jews to be both Ger (a visitor) and Toshav (citizen), not only to be dedicated Americans, but also better Jews.  At a time in the 1780s when it was much more audacious act, patriotic Jews in 18th century America, combined loyalty to the country, with a open observance of kashrus in the public square, and an observance of the 17th of Tammuz, today when we are so free to practice our faith how can we not do likewise, and if we do so, then there is no predicting the impression we might make so that many other Americans can join King Hiram (he helped in building Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem), and Roger Sherman (one of the founding fathers), and the congress of the United States in being inspired by Hashem, the God of Israel Who Made the Heavens and the Earth.  

Israel was created in 1948 and look what it has accomplished.  It is a bastion of freedom and relative democracy, where people can breathe.  It has created and continues to create innovation in the worlds of medicine, technology, water resources, agricultural production, and other innovations.  It is a county of Chesed and as Goldie Meir did in the 1950s when the county was poor, used agricultural advancements as diplomacy, especially to Africa.

Had the Arab states and many other parts of the world joined with Israel and become holy, then the world would be a much better place.  Millions of people would not have died of maimed in bloodshed.  Millions of people would have been uplifted to live lives of meaning, of holiness.  This is the message of my great-grandfather’s essay and the purpose of the Jewish people and Israel.  America’s founding fathers understood this and built up our great country, the United States of America.

Bud Renner:

276-213-9373

On Thursday morning I was at the WAWA on Jog and Boynton Beach Boulevard when two hispanic guys show up with a third person, Bud,  who was a hitchhiker.  They picked him up in Miami and had purchased a meal for Bud.  Bud exclaimed how delicious the chicken was.  I started talking to Bud.  He said he was dying of cancer and was hitchhiking through America.  He was an Army Ranger from 1985 to 1990 and blew out both his knees on a jump.  He was from southern Kentucky, raised by his grandparents,and has no living relatives.  He wanted to go to Jupiter, FL to see Burt Renolds’ gravesite.  However, I just looked it up and Burt Reynolds is buried in Los Angeles.  I first gave him $20 and then asked him where he sleeps.  He said, anywhere he can find to put his head down.  I offered to pay for a hotel room, and I drove him to the Comfort Suite Inn on Hypoluxo Road.  I ended up paying for two days.

Update:

As I was writing content for the book on Kotzker at Anshei Sholem, 540 W. Melrose in Chicago, on July 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM, Charles “Bud” Renner called me. He is in Cleveland, TN and needs $84.50 for a hotel room.  I sent him $100 via Western Union.