Binyomin: Hashem’s Host

So the Gamara just quoted in Darshan like it's not Darshan. The possuk in Parshas V'zos Habracha, that's the bracha that Moshe Rabbeinu gives Shevet Binyamin. V'vinyamin omer, "You did that Shem. Yishkon l'vetach alav. Chofef alav kol hayom u'vein k'teifav shochen." It's one possuk, it's one bracha, but it's the bracha of all brachos, and that is that Binyamin will be zocheh to be the host of the Shechinah. That's what the bracha is. It's interesting. Yaakov Avinu also gave a bracha to Binyamin in the Berachas Yaakov. And that bracha was also made up of one possuk. Binyamin ze'ev yitrof. He's going to be like a wolf that's toref, attacks, and it destroys its prey. Baboker yochal ad, v'laerev yechalek shalal. Now, poshut, if you look at almost all the Rishonim, the way that mefarshim this possuk is that Binyamin's going to be like a wolf, he's going to be a warrior, he's going to be very strong. Baboker yochal ad, in the morning he's going to eat his prey. V'laerev yechalek shalal, in the evening he's going to divide everything that he took, the spoils of war. Meaning, just like Yehudah is an aryeh, he's a a lion, and he's someone that goes out and he fights wars, Binyamin to a lesser extent is going to be the same way. And the truth is, this is Tanach 101, that you find Shevet Binyamin were always warriors. And this was l'chora the bracha of Yaakov, Binyamin ze'ev yitrof, baboker yochal ad, v'laerev yechalek shalal. But if you take a look at Targum Onkelos, not Targum Yonasan, or Targum Yerushalmi, Targum Onkelos that usually is mefaresh the words of the possuk, pshutei sh'mikra. So, Onkelos, Binyamin bar aryeh in his land, kishrei sh'chinta, the Shechinah is going to be shara, u'vachasante, and in his area, yispin ei mikdasha, the Beis Hamikdash is going to be built. Bitsafra u'v'panyo, in the morning and the afternoon, meaning baboker Avinu Avraham, yochin mikorban kanaya korbana, the Kohanim are going to bring carbonos. Only eating ramso, and in the evening, you have they're going to go ahead and they're going to divide all the kacham. The is referring to the carbonos, which is for the soul was referring not to the spoils of war, but rather it's referring to they're going to divide the kacham. But this possuk the brocha that Yaakov Avinu gave Binyamin was also this brocha. It was the same brocha that Moshe Rabbeinu gave. Yaakov said if Binyamin will have a soul Moshe Rabbeinu said you did this it's the same exact brocha that Binyamin would be to be the one that was going to host the So here's the question. What did Binyamin do to be to this brocha? Because any thinking person I think if he saw all the brochos and he had a choice to pick. I mean Reuven, Shimon, and Levi I don't think anybody would take, but then starting from Yehuda, right? Which one would you want? There's a lot of good options to choose from, right? Yissachar, Zevulun, there's a lot of good things going on. But the bottom line is at the end of the day Binyamin was that he is the host of the it's an incredible incredible brocha. What did Binyamin do to be to this? It's interesting there are many many in many different places that talk about this one chazal. Bereishis Rabba says that the reason Binyamin was is because Binyamin was the only one of the brothers that didn't bow down to Esav. So when Yaakov and Esav had this great sort of anticlimactic encounter with Esav, so the possuk says that all his children bow down. Binyamin wasn't born at the time. And because Binyamin wasn't born at the time, so Binyamin couldn't bow down. And because Binyamin is the only one that didn't bow down to Esau, that's why he was the he would host the Shekinah. There's a well-known vort that's said over from the Vilna Gaon. It's brought down in the safer Kol Aryeh. Other tzaddikim said this vort as well. And that is the possuk says that Yaakov came with his 11 children and they bowed down to Esau. Rashi brings the Dinah is uh 11 children, he had 12. He had 11 sons but one daughter. So where was Dinah? Rashi says that Yaakov hid Dinah. punished because of that. But the bottom line is is that Chazal were bothered with Dinah. So the Vilna Gaon asked, "How did Rashi know that Dinah was the one that was hidden? Maybe it was one of the other brothers that were hidden." All the possuk says is that he came with his 11 children. Okay, so we're missing somebody. Rashi says must have been Dinah, according to Chazal of course. So the Dinah asked the Gaon, "Maybe it wasn't Dinah. Maybe it's Reuven. Maybe it's Shimon. Maybe it's Levi. Maybe it's one of the other brothers." So the Gaon said, "I'll tell you how Rashi knew that." Because Chazal say, "Why was Binyamin that the Shekinah is the because he's the only one that didn't bow down." Now if you're going to tell me it was one of the other brothers that wasn't there, then that brother would have had a that the Shekinah should be by him as well. From the fact that Binyamin is the one that was because he didn't bow down, it's who's not there? It's Dinah. Thus Rashi the Dinah but anyway this is a chat that's brought down in Chazal. This is the reason. This is a free in the end of Parshas Vayechi. It's also in Yalkut Shimoni in the end of Parshas Vayechi that it addresses this question as well. It's a beautiful sefer. We've mentioned it many times over the years. It's good that I mention it again. I'm reading it actually from the Yalkut but it's come out the same exact thing. "With Neymar Zocher Binyamin should teach the Shekinah What did Binyamin do to be that the Shekinah should be Mashal Melech." Says the Yalkut, "I'll explain it to you with a mashal. There was a king a son of the king and then every now and again he would go visit his sons. Every single time the memo came out that the king is going to go spend some time with his family. Each one of his sons said, "At least he's He's for sure going to come to me." But but the Katan Shabakulan, the one that was the smallest of them all, Ammar, he never thought the king was going to come to him. He said, "So why would he come to me? I'm the underdog. There's no way he's coming to me. He's going to go to one of my brothers. There's no way he's coming to me." And Ammar, every single time this memo came out, he got up a whole lot of He felt He felt bad. He always had this little cracks cuz he thought that, you know, from the whole family, he's the one that doesn't stand a chance. Ammar, so the king, when he recognized and when he realized what his younger son was feeling, he said, "That son who feels so bad and he's in pain that he thinks there's no chance in the world that I would ever come to him, I'm definitely I got this part where he said, "I know all this were probably thinking That sweet. The one of this who didn't even have a have a minute that I would end up going to him was Binyamin. And it's for that reason I'm going to go to Binyamin." That was beautiful. He's the only one that was born He was born who was born buried, of course, on the side of the road in Israel. He was born in Israel. Therefore, he was the one All the brothers were engaged in the Joseph. I'm going to instruct the one day to build the house. What's the side of the house? We spoke about this by the house. They spoke about the house. So, the unit I'm going to dive into me they're going to come and they're going to cry and they're going to dive in and they're going to plead and they're going to beseech my compassion. That's what the market is all about. Should I go ahead and be master master in the of the brothers who when their brother beseech their compassion show no compassion? I can't I can't do it. And the only one of the brothers that was not engaged in this was Benjamin and that's why that's the only place I could do it. It's not honest. I can't put the base on the other cuz they were involved in the Joseph. The whole what the base represents is please of course compassion looking away from who people really are. How's it possible that I'm going to go ahead and be that way the who acted in the antithesis of that in in a moment of truth. It's not I can't do it. The only one who was not involved in this was Benjamin. That's why I'm going to be master we've always mentioned the ties this into the Indian of that the is like the ego that is a little bit of it in every generation he had to be a helper for the head of the Joseph and if it would have been in the of one of the other they would have been an Indian of that one of the flower of the part of that even he says there was a martial to a king who had a lot of sons and all the sons they got older and they went they started their own lives. Okay, this is the way it is. He said got all the sons Ruben went here right you would have goes there and all the brothers are doing their own things. But he had a been sick of him he had a young child and his young child was Benjamin and Benjamin was always with his father and as his father got older Benjamin was there and Benjamin took care of him and Benjamin was always on his side. On my Kodesh Baruchu, Binyamin never left the presence of the tzaddik, he's going to be zoycha that I will never leave his presence. And that's why I'm always going to be with him. Either way, mama's one shot's nicer than the next. If you take a look at the Yalkut Shimoni, but I'll tell you one last shot. This is a sixth shot if you counting. And that is in Medrash Tanchuma the Rabbeinu Bachya brings this in the end of Parshas Mikeitz. So, we know the story of Parshas Mikeitz. We learned it together with the Chabura very, very recently. When Yosef is mamish about to reveal himself, so what does he do? Takes the gavia and he plants it in the amtachas of Binyamin. Then they find it and Yosef is trying to see how the brothers are going to react and what they're going to do to Binyamin. Worked out good, right? By the gashal of Yehuda, we spoke at the Ramban, so Yosef knew that the brothers are good with Binyamin and as a result he was prepared to send them back to Yaakov to make the great revelation. But the truth is, if you take a look at the Medrash Tanchuma, the Medrash Tanchuma tells the rest of the story. The Medrash Tanchuma says that as soon as the brothers saw that the gavia of Yosef was in the amtachas of Binyamin, omedim they got up umchabtin leBinyamin al tzeifa. They started hitting him on his shoulders. Vayomru le'einam they told him eegana avro bro diganafta. You're a ganav the son of a ganavta. That's a ganav beloshon nekeifa, right? What does that mean? Because Binyamin's mother was Rachel. Rachel stole the trofim. Ah, you're playing the same game. You're stealing the gavia. And by the way, the gavia and the trofim, if you remember, was very similar. It was an inyan of nichush. It was an avoda zara degazal. Oh, hast ausgelernt from the mama, right? So, the brothers said eegana avro bro diganafta be'ashtonu kach ben imcha. You're the son of your mother. Kach bisha imcha savenu. And they went and they were hitting him and they were hitting him and they were hitting him. And Benjamin took it. Who was for us and I'm a big say for so this was being say for and then I'm a all of color will be say for sure him but either way why was Benjamin that the was the one shot is because of the fact that he was the only one that didn't bow down to Esau. Or it's because he was the underdog and in his mind he didn't stand a chance of for sure the is not going to come to me forget it. He was the loves the underdog. Benjamin was the only one of the brothers that was born in everything is wrong. Benjamin was the only one of the brothers that never engaged in the Joseph. Benjamin never left the side of Jacob. Me the connect with me that they would just say I'll be on your side and the time that says it was because of the clap that the brothers gave Benjamin by the story of the the rest of the story. It's because of that he was either way so many different it requires a lot of because if you think of the of the brother that he was it's an absolutely incredible brother.