December 30, 2023 – Parshas VaYechi

On January 5, 2024 By Avrohom Meir MorgensternIn Divrei Torah, My LifeLeave a comment

Verses Bereshis VaYechi 48:28 and 50:4-5-6

Reb Yosef Ber Soloveichik, the Rov

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Walked to Chabad and got there at 11:20 AM. I came at the end of leining. I gave the Dr. Leonard Kranzler memorial to Shiur.

Attendees were Paul, Marcel, Henry, Peggy, Tamar, Jeff, Ray, Alex, Sara, Mia, Herb, and one or two other people.

I focused on the first Pasuk and the end of the Parsha.

48:28

Verse

וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

Rashi – ויחי יעקב. לָמָּה פָּרָשָׁה זוֹ סְתוּמָה? לְפִי שֶׁכֵּיוָן שֶׁנִּפְטַר יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ נִסְתְּמוּ עֵינֵיהֶם וְלִבָּם שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל מִצָּרַת הַשִּׁעְבּוּד, שֶׁהִתְחִילוּ לְשַׁעְבְּדָם; דָּבָר אַחֵר: שֶׁבִּקֵּשׁ לְגַלּוֹת אֶת הַקֵּץ לְבָנָיו, וְנִסְתַּם מִמֶּנּוּ. בִּבְ”רַ:

The following explanations are the same.

Sefaria – Artscroll says the same Pshat.

Why is this section (Sidra) totally closed? Because, comprising as it does an account of the death of Jacob, as soon as our father Jacob departed this life the hearts and eyes of Israel were closed (their eyes became dim and their hearts troubled) because of the misery of the bondage which they then began to impose upon them. Another reason is: because he (Jacob) wished to reveal to his sons the date of the End of Days (i.e. when Israel’s exile would finally end; cf. Rashi on Genesis 49:1), but the vision was closed (concealed) from him (Genesis Rabbah 96:1).

Chabad from Mesudah:

And Jacob lived: Why is this section [completely] closed? Because, as soon as our father Jacob passed away, the eyes and the heart of Israel were “closed,” (i.e., it became “dark” for them) because of the misery of the slavery, for they (the Egyptians) commenced to subjugate them.

These three English translations say that the Jews in Egypt walked around with a cloud over their heads. They were depressed because they saw slavery starting. It was like being in America for the Jews in 1935

I was shocked. This is not the way I understood this Rashi and this Medresh for the first 70 years of my life. I understood מִצָּרַת הַשִּׁעְבּוּד as “from the misery of the enslavement”, not “because of the misery of enslavement.” Meaning the slavery is some fashion started and they did not realize it, consciously or subconsciously. After all, Yosef lived for another 54 years after Yaakov died so they were doing quite well.

Everyone asks that after Yaakov dies Joseph was viceroy for another 54 years and the slavery did not start for over 20 years after Joseph’s death to when Levi died at 137 years. What does Rashi who quotes the Medresh mean that the slavery started at Yaakov’s death.

Explanations are given but I love Rabbi Riskin’s Vort based on the Rov’s Torah in Rabbi Riskin’s Sefer, Torah Lights, quoted below.

At the end of Vayechi 50:4-6 the Pasukim state:

וַיַּֽעַבְרוּ֙ יְמֵ֣י בְכִית֔וֹ וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר יוֹסֵ֔ף אֶל־בֵּ֥ית פַּרְעֹ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אִם־נָ֨א מָצָ֤אתִי חֵן֙ בְּעֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם דַּבְּרוּ־נָ֕א בְּאׇזְנֵ֥י פַרְעֹ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר׃

אָבִ֞י הִשְׁבִּיעַ֣נִי לֵאמֹ֗ר הִנֵּ֣ה אָנֹכִי֮ מֵת֒ בְּקִבְרִ֗י אֲשֶׁ֨ר כָּרִ֤יתִי לִי֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן שָׁ֖מָּה תִּקְבְּרֵ֑נִי וְעַתָּ֗ה אֶֽעֱלֶה־נָּ֛א וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥ה אֶת־אָבִ֖י וְאָשֽׁוּבָה׃

וַיֹּ֖אמֶר פַּרְעֹ֑ה עֲלֵ֛ה וּקְבֹ֥ר אֶת־אָבִ֖יךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הִשְׁבִּיעֶֽךָ׃

Everyone asks why couldn’t Yoseph speak to Pharaoh directly? Why did he have to ask בֵּ֥ית פַּרְעֹ֖ה? I assume that בֵּ֥ית פַּרְעֹ֖ה were high ranking offcials.

There are three answers.

1 – Sferno and Tur HaAruch both say that Yosef could not speak to Pharaoh directly because he was in mourning and wearing sackcloth.

Meshech Chochma says the same thing:

וידבר יוסף אל בית פרעה כו’ כו’ לשיטת רמב”ן אונן כ”ז שלא נקבר אסור לסוך ולרחוץ ולקשט וגם לרמב”ם דאונן שרי אין זה מדרך הנימוס וכבוד אביו לסוך וללבוש בגדי שררות כפי הראוי להיות בבואו אל המלך בעוד אביו מת מוטל לפניו לכן לא היה יכול לכנס אל פרעה לדבר עמו.

This is the simple answer. We see that although Achasverosh loved Esther, she could not approach him unless he called her. There is protocol. You just do not go into the king unless you are summoned or dressed in mourning clothes.

2 – Maskil L’Dovid (see November 25, 2023 – Shabbos Parshas Vayetzei – Exploring Kotzk about the Maskil L’Dovid)

When Yaakov died Joseph’s profile in Egypt was lowered and he no longer had direct access to Pharaoh.

ונלע״ד דמ״מ מיד אחר מיתת יעקב אע״ג דהוה יוסף קיים מיד ראו סימני שעבוד וכדאמרי׳ נמי בפ״ק דסוטה מ״ש מעיקרא דכתיב ויעל יוסף לקבור וכו׳ ויעלו אתו כל עבדי פרעה וכו׳ והדר וכל בית יוסף ואחיו וכו׳ ומ״ש לבסוף דכתיב וישב יוסף מצרימה הוא ואחיו והדר וכו׳ אר״י בתחלה עד שלא ראו בכבודן של ישראל לא נהגו בהן כבוד וכו׳ הרי דמיד אחר מיתת יעקב התחיל סימן לשעבוד שהיו המצריים רוצים להשתרר עליהם ובר מן דין חזי׳ נמי שיוסף עצמו לא היתה גדולתו כ״כ כמו אביו שהוצרך לדבר עם בית פרעה ולחלות פניהם שיתחננו לפרעה שיניחהו לילך לקבור את אביו שכן כתיב אם נא מצאתי חן וכו׳ והיכן גדולתו וקורבתו עם המלך אלא שמיתת הזקן עשתה רושם ולפי׳ זה דייקי שפיר דברי רש״י שכתב מצרת השעבוד וכו׳ ולא קאמר מן השעבוד שלא היה שעבוד ממש אלא סימן המורה צרת השעבוד שהיה עתיד לבוא

3 – Rabbi Shlomo Riskin based on the Rov – Reb Yosef Ber Solovecihik. Gevaldig. The Pshat is as written in the following pages and is that Yosef was asking Pharaoh to bury Yaakov in Israel.This was a very tough ask and Yosef could not ask Pharoh directly. Read Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveichik’s and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s words of Torah.

Rabbi Soloveichik says his Pshat on verse 50:5 on the first two words of the Pasuk אָבִ֞י הִשְׁבִּיעַ֣נִי .

Verse 50:5

אָבִ֞י הִשְׁבִּיעַ֣נִי לֵאמֹ֗ר הִנֵּ֣ה אָנֹכִי֮ מֵת֒ בְּקִבְרִ֗י אֲשֶׁ֨ר כָּרִ֤יתִי לִי֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן שָׁ֖מָּה תִּקְבְּרֵ֑נִי וְעַתָּ֗ה אֶֽעֱלֶה־נָּ֛א וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥ה אֶת־אָבִ֖י וְאָשֽׁוּבָה׃

Picture of the Torah from the Rov’s Chumash.

Rabbi Risken beautifully uses the above to explain verse 50:4 of why Joseph could not ask Pharoh directly.

He then uses his explanation of verse 50:4 to understand the first explanation of Rashi in verse 48:28

Pages (bottom of) 309, 310, and 311 from Rabbi Riskin’s Sefer, Torah Lights – Bereshis.

“Joseph may have reached the top of the social ladder in Egypt. He speaks Egyptian, dresses as an Egyptian, has become named Egyption (Tzanat – Pane’ah), and is married to a native Egyptoins (perhaps even to his previous master’s daughter). From slave to Prime Minister, Joseph has certainly lived out the great Egyptian dream. Now, however, he is forced to face the precariousness and vulnerability of his position.”

“Ordinately a person wants to be buried in his own homeland where his body will become part of the earth to which he feels most deeply connected. Indeed, in the ancient world the most criticall right of citizenship was he right of burial. The wise Jacob understands that Pharaoh expects Joseph to completely identify with Egypt, to bring up generations of faithful and committed Egyptians after all that his adopted country has given to him. But this was impossible for Jacob- and the pariah hoped that it would also be impossible for his children and grandchildren as well. They were in Egypt but not of Egypt. They might contribute to Egyptian society and economy, but they never become Egyptionas. Jacob understood that his burial in Canaan would be the greatest test of Joseph’ career, and would define the character of his descendants forever. Hence he makes his beloved son solemnly swear not to bury him in Egypt.”

Joseph , too, understood that Pharaoh would be shocked at the request, a petition expressing the Hebrew rejection of the most powerful and civilized nation on earth. Indeed, it is such a difficult and sensitive matter that Joseph could not face his patron Pharaoh directly with it. At that moment Joseph understands an even deeper truth: were he, his brothers, his children and grandchildren to make the choice to live as Egyptians and to die as Egyptians, the chances are that they would be totally accepted in the mainstream of the land and life in that country. However,were they to choose to live as Jews, with their own concept of life and death, they would never be accepted and would probably be persecuted. It is this realization in the aftermath of Jacob;’s death which Rashi correctly sees as the beginning of the slavery of the Israelites. In Egypt, Joseph’s kinsman may have everything: Goshen Heights and Gopshen Green, progeny and patrimony. But as long as they are determined to remain Jews, servitude and persecution are inevitable. They may rejoice in the preferred Egyption status, where they ‘took possession of it and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly’, but they cannot ever pause to enjoy the good fortune. The realization upon Jacob’s death of the transient and illusory nature of their good fortune comes upon them inexorably and imperceptibly, as in the blink of an eye, as in the following sentence without a change of paragraph.”

“And so this portion is closed just as Egypt will soon be closed to their children. Such is the ultimate fate of the children of Israel in every exile.”

I love it.

Shabbos – March 19, 2022 Parshas Tzav

On April 2, 2022April 4, 2022 By Avrohom Meir MorgensternIn My Life1 Comment

Bloch – Hameiri

I walked to Chabad of East Lakeview to attend Helen Bloch’s and Avikam Hameiri’s son’s Bar Mitzvah, Megill Shmuel, which took place at Anshe Sholom Bnai Israel Congregation.

In discussing his Parsha Tzav, Megill focused on the uniqueness of the trope in his parsha, in that it includes a Shalshelet. The Shalshelet note in the trope in parsha Tzav is the 4^th and final shalshelet in the whole Torah. What is the significance of this Shalshelet? From analogizing the shalshelet in Tzav to the other shalsheles in the Torah one learns that the Shalshelet indicates that the person discussed at that point in the Torah has some sort of hesitation or ambivalence as to the situation at hand. If it were not for the shalshelet we would not know this. The message is that it is okay to hesitate and have doubts. But one needs to overcome such hesitation and do the right thing at the end, similar to what the great leaders in the Torah have done, including Moshe, Joseph, Lot, and Eliezer, as indicated by the Shalshelet included in the reading that accompanied their situations as they appear in the Torah.

Kiddush was huge and I saw many friends. I spoke to Rabbi Wolkenfeld and his wife, Sara. I updated Sara about her friend, Amy Gross-Tarlow. They went to Penn together. Met some new friends. The caterer was Shmuel Diamond who is the chef at Evita’s. The chef is a regular by the Chabad of East Lakeview. There were about 250 people.

Helen Bloch spoke excellently. She talked about the unique and special aspects of her son, Megill Shmuel Hameiri. He is empathic, kind, and carries with him the Midos of a Jew. Helen Bloch’s parents were Naftali Glenner’s visual therapist, her father Marvin Bloch was his optometrist. My mother always took Naftali there for his therapy and Helen remembers her well. I took Naftali there once or twice.

Helen Bloch’s father-in-law, Shlomo Hameiri, came to Chicago in 2009 for Megill’s Bris. He spoke at Anshe Sholom about his life experiences.

Shlomo Hameiri’s last name in Europe was Hammer. He was six years old when the Nazi’s came. The below biography says it was the Ukrainians. They went to his mother’s parents house which was right outside Lvov and lived on a small farm where his mother’s parents lived. Shlomo’s grandfather was a Schochet and I believe a Mohel.

He said I cried twice in my lifetime.

The first time was when the Nazi/Ukranians tortured his grandfather. As the Nazis/Ukranians were torturing hs grandfather, Shlomo asked his mother, why is Zedi crying? His mother responded, he is not crying he is talking to the angels.

The second time was when he was on the Exodus. The Exodus set sail from Marseille. The British notified the French to lock the port so the Exodus will not be able to travel to Israel. The Exodus was able to slip out of the port. On day four when the Exodus was in International waters, the ship hoisted the Israeil flag and Shlomo Hammer ((Hameiri) cried. He had his bar Mitzvah on the Exodus.

My aunt Fay Grinblatt – Noble was also ont he Exodus as a child. ON one Sunday morning as PBS was playing the movie, The Exodus, I went to her house to watch the movie. With her and her huband, Rabbi Moshe Noble.

I found this picture on the Internet:

Group portrait of members of the Nitzanim group of the Zionist youth movement, Hanoar Hatzioni.

All of the children had been on the Exodus and had been sent back to Europe. Ziomek Hammer (Shlomo HaMeiri) is pictured in the third row from the bottom, fifth from the right.

Date: 1948 January 06

Locale: Emden, [Lower Saxony] Germany

Photo Designation

JEWISH REFUGEES: IMMIGRATION TO PALESTINE/ISRAEL — Refugee Ships (1945-1949) — Exodus — Transfer to Germany — Poppendorf/Amstau/Emden

Photo Credit United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Shlomo HaMeiri

About This Photograph

Biography Shlomo HaMeiri (born Ziomek Hammer) is the son of Heinrich Hammer (b. 1905,

Stanislawov) and Lola Tempel (b. 1905, Lvov). Heinrich and Lola each had gone to Vienna to study. After they married, they returned to Lvov where Heinrich completed his degree in engineering. Ziomek was born July 13, 1934 in Lvov, Poland. His father was an engineer. In 1940 Henrich joined the Russian army and was sent by the Russians to Leningrad. Ziomek and his mother joined her father Moshe Lev Temple in the village of Uhzedov. A while later, Ukrainians beat and executed him in front of Ziomek and his mother. They also attacked Lola. Afterwards, Ziomek and his mother went to Tarnopol where her sister Rivke lived. There they found Ziomek’s father who had come to look for them. They all were herded into the Tarnopol ghetto where they remained from 1941-43. From Tarnapol, they were taken to a concentration camp, where Ziomek’s parents hid him from the Germans. After three or four months, Ziomek, his father, and mother somehow escaped. They paid a Christian named Stanislavski to hide them in the attic above his pig pen, together with four other people. They could neither stand nor shower; rats crawled over them and they subsisted on dried corn which they softened with snow. The Hammers lived there for nine months. One night in April 1944, Stanislavski asked Ziomek’s father to slaughter a pig. The pig screamed loudly, as they did not know the proper way to kill it. Stanislavski told the family to drink some of the pig’s blood for strength and to run and hide. Later that day, Heinrich left their hiding place and found that Stanislavski had been shot. A few days later the Hammers returned to Tarnopol where they were liberated. Ziomek’s parents decided to return to Uhzedov to recover coins and other valuables that had been hidden with neighbors. They managed to retrieve their valuables but were caught and murdered. Ziomek waited several days for them to return before learning what had happened. For the next few years he lived with his cousin and uncle and, during that time, he attended a Catholic school for about a year and a half. Then his uncle was incarcerated. Ziomek was taken by Jewish soldiers from the Brigade to a Jewish orphanage in Krakow, where he remained for two weeks. He was then transported, along with other children, to Bad Reichenhall, a displaced persons’ camp in Germany. He lived on a Zionist hachsharot, and in 1947 he was sent with a group of children to Palestine on board the Exodus. After the ship was forcibly returned to Europe, Ziomek lived in the Poppendorf and Emden displaced persons’ camps before immigrating permanently to Israel in 1948 on the Aliya Dalet. Before leaving Europe all the children were given new Hebrew names, and Ziomek became Shlomo HaMeiri. Years later, he met another holocaust survivor, Tziporah, on a kibbutz. They married and had two children together.