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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by Yehuda katz
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MIKETZ
And Israel their father said to them: ………………and carry down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spicery and ladanum, nuts, and almond." (43:11)
Jacob had now agreed to allow his sons to return to Egypt in order to purchase food during the famine. The 12 tribes and Jacob did not know that the viceroy of Egypt was Joseph. Jacob wants his sons to present a gift to the viceroy in order for them to perhaps gain favor in his eyes. The Sforno wants to understand the reason why such an"unusual" gift was suggested by Jacob.The following is the answer given by the Sforno:" If one brings a gift to a greedy man, it must be of great quantity to satisfy his excessive appetite, as was the gift sent by Jacob to Esau. However, when a gift is presented to a generous, important person who lacks nothing, it is better to bring a smaller gift of choice and rare items which he will appreciate better."(End of quote)
There exits a very important lesson concerning our service to G-d in this very explanation. How so? If G-d lacks nothing, what can we possibly offer Him as a gift? As Human Beings we can only offer Him something small, yet it must be of a high quality. What can it possibly be? I would like to propose the following answer ,Bezrat Hashem, based on a Gemara in Bava Batra 9a.
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by Rafi Jager
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When Yoseph names his first son Menashe, the Torah tells us that it was as a reminder that Hashem had "caused him to forget his father" (Genesis 41:51). Usually, when a name is given in the Torah, it is an expression of thanks to G-d; here it seems that the name signals a negative emotion, the forgetting of a parent.
Chazal tell us that, in truth, Yoseph lamented the fact that he could not fulfill the mitzvah of honoring one's parents all the time he was in Egypt. He named his child Menashe, meaning Hashem "caused me to forget," to remind himself of Yaakov, even though Hashem had filled his mind with other thoughts to alleviate his guilt at not fulfilling one of the core mitzvos in Yidishkeit. In other words, Yoseph regretted that he could not give his father the proper kavod, when they were so far apart
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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This week's sedra starts with the words “It happened at the end of two years to the day” [41:1] … that Pharaoh had his famous dream. What the Torah is really trying to tell us here is that exactly two years after the butler was freed from prison, Yoseph was called to interpret Pharaohs dream. So why was it two years from this event that Yoseph had to wait until he was released from his imprisonment? It is brought down by Chazal that Yoseph was actually supposed to be freed at the same time as the butler but these extra two years were a punishment for asking the butler to put in a good word for him with Pharaoh after interpreting his dream correctly. This lack of faith in Hashem and reliance on a goy to try and free him led to him being punished with this extra time… but part of the question still remains, why two years then? We saw in last week's sedra that, when Yoseph interpreted the butlers dream he informed him that he would be released in three days. What we see following this information is that he then proceeded to almost immediately ask the butler to mention him, to Pharaoh, on his return to service
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by d fine
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In perek 41 pasuk 46 we are informed that ‘Yosef was thirty years of age when he stood before Pharaoh’ (and successfully interpreted Pharaoh’s dream). The Torah is not a storybook; it does not tell us details that are unimportant. So why is Yosef’s age an important thing for us to know? The Sforno writes that the Torah tells us this detail to inform us that Yosef was fitting and significantly mature for this job. The Netziv, however, writes that the key here is the rest of the pasuk. The full pasuk reads ‘and Yosef was thirty years of age when he stood before Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And Yosef went out from Pharaoh’s presence and surveyed the entire land of Egypt.’ The Netziv writes that the pasuk is highlighting the fact that Yosef managed to tour the entire land and weigh up the food-preserving opportunities in each province within his 30th year. He did it all in a year (without a limousine) Thus, we can see the immense zerizus that Yosef had for this project - he made sure that he took his job of ensuring the survival of a country of people seriously (and he probably knew from his dreams that his brothers would come down to him too) and went about it with alarming alacrity.
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Torah Portion -
Miketz
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Written by d fine
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We are told that when Pharaoh asked for Yosef to be taken out of prison to interpret his dreams, they ‘quickly’ brought Yosef out (41:14). Why do we need to know that Yosef was granted his freedom so speedily? The Chofetz Chaim answers with two points. Firstly, it’s important to note that the removal of Yosef from prison was actually the start of the redemption of the Jewish People from Egypt. For Yosef coming out of jail led to his interpreting of Pharaoh’s dream, which in turn guaranteed Yosef’s rise to power - and thus the ultimate safety and separation of the Jewish People in Egypt was sorted even before the brothers came down to Egypt. This is why Rashi (Psachim 108a ‘arba’) writes that the four cups of wine on seder night represent the four cups in the butler’s dream. Why the butler’s dream; what does that have to do with the Exodus? For, as we have said, Yosef’s being freed from prison was the first step in our redemption - which was facilitated by the butler’s dream. For Pharaoh only knew about Yosef’s dream-interpreting skills from this butler who had seen Yosef successfully interpret his dream two years earlier. Based on this, the Chofetz Chaim writes that the reason we are told that Pharaoh’s officers hurried Yosef out of prison, is to teach us that when the time for the redemption comes, HaShem will not delay it by even a second - just as the time of Yosef’s redemption was calculated and precisely on time, so too will our ultimate geulah not be delayed by an instant; bimheirah beyomeinu - literally
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