Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Miketz 2

forgot all his troubles and now he has good life and eph means being fruitful because yph said now I am so successful and fruitful so Min signified the first half of y's life the difficult life and epim signified the the second half of yosef's Life the successful life now verse 53 the famine comes the seven years of abundance that came to pass in the land of Egypt ended and the seven years of famine began approaching so first there was famine in all the lands around Egypt but in all the land of Egypt there was bread that was in the beginning but then when all the land of Egypt hungered that eventually the the the famine spread to Egypt as well the people cried out to par for bread and that is because all their savings roted so par said to them go to ysep whatever he tells you you should do and the commentators say that ysep told them to do Brit to to cut their forkin in order for him to give them bread and they said why should we that's not our custom and they went to par and Par said ysf has higher Powers just listen whatever he tells you when the famine spread over all the face of the Earth ysep opened all the containers of food and sold Provisions to Egypt and the famine became severe in the land of Egypt all the Earth came to Egypt to ysep to buy Provisions for the famine have become severe in all the Earth Egypt is now the only source of food in the entire region and even in Egypt it's only the governmental storage places that have food now we turn to page 233 chapter 42 Yakov perceived that there were Provisions in Egypt so yov said to his sons vers two there are Provisions in Egypt go down there and purchase for us from there that we may live and not die so y's Brothers 10 of them went down to buy Grain in Egypt but bamin yose's brother Yakov did not send along with his brothers because he was concerned that something bad might happen to him because he realized that Rael died ysph disappeared now bamin is the only one left from that line now verse six ysep he was the vice Roy over the land he was the provider to all the people of the land ysep himself supervised the distribution of food and the sale of food yosef's Brothers came and they bowed to him faces to the ground and the reason why ysph was in charge of food not only because he was a good manager and he knew that uh if he allows others to be in charge there will be bribery there will be dishonesty and the the those that are in charge will take for themselves illegally but in addition to being a good manager ysf also wanted to make sure that he will be present whenever the buyers come so that he might be able to recognize his brothers when they come to to buy food because he knew that the entire region does not have food So eventually he reasoned the brothers will come so when Brothers came and bowed down to him verse 7 ysep saw his brothers and he recognized them but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke to them harshly and he said from where are you and they said from the land of Canan who came to buy food they didn't recognize him now we go to page 235 ysph remembered the dreams that he dreamed about them so he said to them you are spies to see the land's nakedness have you come and the reason why ysep is treating them like that is because he remembers that in the dream there were bundles of wheat that bow down to his bundle which means that all 11 Brothers have to bow down to him and that means that something is still not finished here only 10 Brothers came and bowed down he needs the 11th brother to come why ysph doesn't know but ysf has a prophecy that bamin must come together with the brothers and bow down so ysep says I cannot reveal myself to them now I have to first engineer benin's descent into Egypt not only that I'll say just say that ysep wanted to test the brothers and to see whether or not they sold him because of their hatred for the children of Rael because of competition and therefore they will mistreat bamin or perhaps it was only because of his own mistakes and therefore they have nothing against uh binyamin and uh if ysep wouldn't make his mistake the brothers would treat him well as well um so they answered they tried to uh convince ysf that they're not spies but it didn't work because ysf knew they were not spies and the brothers thought that their their convincing arguments will work but they didn't CU ysep didn't care he wanted bamin to come so verse 14 ysep said to them after the whole discussion it is just as I have declared to you your spies by this shall you be tested you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here send one of you to bring bamin verse 17 then he hered them into a word for a 3-day period he locked them up for 3 Days to show them that he is serious and on the third day he said do this and live because I Fear God and now he he made the the rules more soft he said verse 19 if you're truthful people let one of your brothers be imprisoned in your place of confinement while you go and bring Provisions for the Hunger of your household and bring your younger brother so instead of keeping all of them as as U hostages and let letting only one go he is keeping only one of them as hostage and all of them can go home and they did so now on page 237 they then said to one another as they're standing in front of ysph they start talking among themselves and they say indeed we are guilty concerning our brothers in as much as we saw his heartfelt anguish when he pleaded with us and we paid no heed that is why this anguish has come upon us now we hear some more details about the saale of ysep they didn't just grab him and threw him in a pit in a second there was a whole conversation and the court um case our sages say that the brothers set up a court and they judged ysep and they decreed that he is guilty and that he must be removed from the family first by death and then they agreed to just throw him into a pit and then they agreed to just sell him and while this was happening ysep was pleading with them and trying to convince them that he's not bad that he doesn't have any evil intentions and they didn't listen so now the tables turn and now the brothers are trying to convince ysf that they're innocent and now ysep is not listening now verse 22 ruven spoke up to them saying didn't I speak to you saying do not sin against the boy but you didn't listen ruen wanted to save him but Brothers didn't want to listen so ruven compromised and said at least let's not kill him ourselves let's throw him into the pit and uh verse 23 now they did not know that ysep understood because all along an interpreting an interpreter was between them and ysph turned away from them and wept he returned to them and spoke to them he didn't want them to see that he's crying because then they would become suspicious so he turned away and then he took shim on from them and imprisoned him before their eyes and that is because Shimon and Levy were the two most responsible for the sail of ysep other brothers would be willing to forgive and give ysf another chance but Shimon and Levy were not so he separated them he took Shimon away from Levy that they shouldn't do trouble verse 25 ysf commanded that they fill their vessels with grain and to return their money each ones to his sack secretly the servants put the money of each brother inside his full sack verse 26 then they loaded their purchase onto their donkeys and departed from there when one of them opened his sack at an inn he saw that there's money there and they got scared their hearts sank and they turn trembling one to another saying what is this that God has done to us they realize that money inside your bag is not a happy occasion because it's not supposed to be there it means that the the in Egypt they're going to do calculation and they will realize that the money is missing and they will assume that the brothers stole it verse 29 they came to yob their father in the land of Canan and they told him of all that had happened to them verse uh page 239 verse 33 then the man the lord of the land said to us by this I will ass certain whether your truthful people one of your brothers leave with me and what you need for the Hunger of your households take and go and bring your youngest brother to me I will restore your brother to you and you will be free to circulate about the land they told Yak of everything that happened and that they were be being suspected of being spies and as they were emptying their sacks behold not only one but every man's bundle of money was in his sacks in his sack when they and their fathers saw their bundles of money they were terrified here you have this Empire next to you powerful Empire plus they are the only ones that have food plus our brother is in prison there if they find out that we have their money they will accuse us not only of being spies but also of robbery of invasion and taking away their property potentially it's lifethreatening for the entire family of yov so they're terrified verse TW 36 their father yakob said to them I am the one whom you bered you caused me to lose all my children ysf is gone shiman is gone and now you want to take away bamin upon me has it all Fallen then ruen offers to protect bamin Ruben told his father saying I will allow you to kill two of my sons if I will not bring Benyamin back put him in my care and I will return him to you but yob said Ruben what are you saying I should give you bamin and then he's not going to come back and then I should kill two of your sons my grandchild doesn't make sense so yakob didn't listen to him but he said my son shall not go down with you now chapter 43 there's no more food the famine was severe in the land when they had finished eating the provisions which they had brought from Egypt the father said to them go back and buy some more food he's hoping that they he doesn't have to send b but yah told him the man yourself told us do not see my face unless your brother is with me with you we're on page 241 if you yob will send beamin with us we will go and buy food but if not we can't go he's not going to let then is said and he's trying he's trying grabbing on straw why did you tell the man that you had another brother and brother said what can we do he was asking us questions we didn't suspect that he has anything against us now verse eight yudas said to Israel his father send the boy with me verse 9 I will personally guarantee him if I do not bring him back to you and stand him before you then I will have sned to you for all time verse 11 Israel their father said to them if it must be so then do this just like he did with asav before meeting him he sent him gifts yakob said I'm going to do the same with this man the vice Roy take of the land's Glory the best of the fruits of the land of Israel in your baggage and bring it down to the man as a tribute a bit of Balsam a bit of Honey wax Lotus pistaches and almonds and take double amount of money maybe the grain went up in price and also you have to return the original Money verse 13 take your brother and arise return to the man and May God grant you Mercy before the man that he may release to you your other brother meaning Shimon as well as Benyamin page 243 the brothers go back verse 16 ysep saw Benyamin with them so he said to the one in charge of his house bring the man into the house before speaking to them he just saw Byam from far away he didn't appear to them he just sent his servant to bring them straight to yosef's house have meat slaughtered and prepare it for with me will these men dying at noon it's a real roller coaster they come to Egypt to buy food then they're accused of being spies sent to prison now they come back and yoseph again treats them as royalty with meat feast and then again he will accuse them of theft and take Benyamin as a slave ysph is creating this roller coaster in order to confuse the brothers and to catch them off guard and to see will they Pro protect Benyamin or not Verse 18 The Man became frightened when they were brought to yep's house and they said because of the money replaced in our sacks originally are we being brought so that a charge can be fabricated against us that it crash down on us and that we be taken as slaves along with our donkeys they're really scared no one else is being treated like that everyone just comes gives the money takes the Grain and leaves why are we being treated like this verse 19 they approached the man who was in charge of yosef's house and spoke to him at the entrance of the house and they said if you please my Lord and they tell him the entire story how they came and how they were accused and how they innocent verse 23 he replied peace with you fear not your God and the god of your father has has put a hidden treasure in your sack don't think that we put the money in there even though they did but he is tricking them he says it was God don't worry we have nothing against you your payment has reached me and he brought shiman out to them they prepared the gift for ysep now we turn to page 245 when ysf came to the house they brought the gift that was in their hands to him to the house and they prostrated themselves to him toward the ground so now the dream of ysf is fulfilled 11 brothers are bound down to them he asked them is your aged father of whom you spoke at peace is he still alive and they replied your servant our father is at peace he still lives and they again bowed down then ysep rushed because his compassion for his brother had been stirred and he wanted to weep so he went into the room and wept there he washed his face and went out we see that ysph cries again and again and again ysph cried throughout last Torah portion and this Torah portion and next Torah portion multiple multiple times we see that Joseph is very sensitive verse 29 we read verse 29 He blesses Benyamin God be gracious to you my son he went into a room and wept there he washed his face and went out fortified himself and said serve food they served him separately and them separately and the Egyptians who ate with him separately and now the Torah tells us why everyone eats separately in Egypt and that is because Egyptians could not bear to eat food with the Hebrews why because the Jewish people eat meat and Egyptians didn't eat meat Egyptians were vegetarians According to some opinions or at least they didn't eat sheep and and cows just like the Jews and surprisingly ysep was allowed to do that and the brothers didn't notice it even though ysep was eating meat and they were eating meat and the Egyptians were not they didn't pay attention that must be that ysph is not Egyptian now we turn to page 247 the final test Benyamin is accused of thievery ysph instructed the one in charge of his house to fill their sacks with grain and verse to in addition to putting their money again secretly my goblet the silver goblet the cup of silver placed in the mouth of the youngest one's sack and that's what they did the day arrived and the men sent were sent off they had left the city had not gone far when yoseph said to the one in charge of his house get up chase after the men when you overtake them tell them why did you repay evil for good why did you steal the cup that my master drinks from verse six the servant overtook them and accused them of stealing verse 7 and they said to him why does my Lord say such things it would be sacrilegious for your servants to do such a thing verse 9 anyone among your servants with whom Whom The Goblet is found shall die which means we will treat him harshly and we will put him to death for theft and we are willing to become slaves to my Lord but Minasha says or Masha is the one that yoseph sent his own son he sent and he said the one with whom it is found shall be my slave but the rest of you will be innocent you can go home I don't need you only the thief will be taken as a slave hurriedly each one lowered his sack to the ground and each one opened his sack the servant searched he began with the oldest and ended with the youngest on purpose that they shouldn't suspect he didn't start with bamin right away he started from the other end and the Goblet was found in binyamin's sack they tore their garments each one reloaded his donkey and they returned to the city when yehudah arrived with his brothers to yosef's home ysep was still there they bowed down to him and ysph said to them what is this deed that you have done do you not realize that a man like me practices divination I can find out secret things you thought you can get away from me ysep is of course bluffing trying to convince them that he has high powers to scare them so Yuda said what can we say to my Lord how can we speak and how can we justify ourselves God has uncovered the sin of your servants here we are we are ready to be slaves to my my Lord both we and the one in whose hand the Goblet was found which is very strange if this happens all the sons of Yakov will disappear but that's the honesty that the Jewish people have if they recognize that they did something wrong they're willing to pay for it but yoseph replied it would would be sacrilegious it would be wrong for me to do this the man in whose possession the Goblet was found only he shall be my slave and as for you go up in peace to your father on the most interesting place the para ends and next week B we will learn about how the brothers came out of this difficulty how the brothers passed the test and they defended bamin by risking their life yehudah kept his promise to Yakov to bring Benyamin back and he personally argued and was re ready to fight with ysep to protect bamin thank you for listening happy kanuka shabbat shalom