For Your Servant Assumed Responsibility with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] Shalom Alim everybody Welcome Home to Torah a warm welcome home to Torah we in the Y mid and as you know we had our grand opening the other night and brashem we started our minion in the morning 7:45 if you live within you know 15 minutes walking distance uh you will take a bus I don't care you can park in the area but you're you're really invited and we serve a really nice breakfast afterwards so for those who are listening who live Mish close by 7:45 at 52 MIM Shak nice slow pace so if you're in a rush this minion is not for you okay H what we do here is we use the clear for the basis of our discussion I I encourage all those who are watching there's a link to the Hebrew sheets of course they're just black and white for you you don't get the colored sheets but in order to learn Hebrew even to get a a depth of the para it's worthwhile trying to learn the Hebrew Okay so that link is below we are in parous Vash we're in chapter 44: 18 now one of the first things the clear is going to point out that in last week's para two verses before you see that in SCE number two verse 16 of the same chapter but it was last week's paraa uh we're going to discuss both of these uh verses and how they all fit together and we'll start with the part of the Hebrew so he approaches what he doesn't know is ysep the vicroy of Egypt he approaches him and he says these words right UDA approached and said to him if you please my Lord that's what we read so far even the word be adoni the word be can mean please or can mean within me everyone's translating it as please and he is coming in an appeasing way as we will see but he simultaneously because the word has another meaning I am the one carrying all the guilt don't blame my brothers don't blame binyamin don't blame Shimon I'm the guilty one okay now the clear points out right away Yehuda was speaking on behalf of the brothers in verse 16 the end of last week's para you can see this on number two on the sore sheet actually I want to divide Verse 18 into several different parts as we said already then Yehuda approached him and said please my Lord but then he says let now your servants speak something into my Lord's ears okay so that is a I'm going to separate it because there's something very important that is being conveyed but we don't see it yet then let not your wrath be kindled against your servant right don't get angry and then this is another part of verse one meaning Verse 18 the first verse we're dealing with in the paraa because you are like Pharaoh like we're going to divide this PK into four distinct statements that have deep meaning even Rashi explains when he approaches him when he when he says you know I want to speak something into your ears meaning I want them to enter I want my words to enter your ears which is quite literal but then let not your wrath be kindled is implying that what he is going to say could could make him angry and we're going to see what is what it is that he's going to say that he's afraid might get him angry and then he says for you are like Pharaoh what is going on so Rashi says right away if you look in Source number one from here you learn that he spoke to him harshly because he says let not your wrath be kindled and you're like Pharaoh what does that mean on one level you're esteemed in my eyes like Pharaoh that would be the simple meaning you're a very important person you're like and we'll see what that means in the midash however you can understand it that he's actually threatening him that he's going to be punished by God just as Pharaoh was punished because of his great grandmother Sarah the one night that he detained her and there's another explanation inashi just as Pharaoh issues decrees and he doesn't carry them out meaning he's I don't know if you want to call it a hypocrite or incapable but you know not a good leader or just a liar yeah he makes certain decrees but he doesn't follow them out he makes promises he doesn't fulfill them so do you however the last explanation it if for like you so is Pharaoh if you provoke me Yehuda the lion right I mean he was so strong it's almost Indescribable and the the mid goes on to describe how strong he was but he's saying if you provoke me I will kill you and Pharaoh that's what he says that's what he means when he says for you are like Pharaoh okay so we read the first verse and the clear says see in verse 16 he was speaking on behalf of the brothers look in number two you have said to ysep he didn't know he was ysep what shall we say to my master what shall we speak and how shall we exonerate ourselves that's the first statement Elohim he's making this claim God he's talking to ysph that God has found your servants iniquity God found some sin Within Me Something I did wrong okay so interesting Rashi says the Creditor has found a place to collect his debt in Hebrew or the way the clear says it mat MB it h happens to be that the medish I'm not going to read the whole medish but I will tell you that these three different statements are divided what can we say how can we speak and how can we justify ourselves these are referring to the three sins that the we'll call them the tribes of Israel the tribes of is the sons of Yakov did IE with Yehuda with Tamar what can we say BHA with uh Ruan and switching the beds and with Dina meaning ladyy and Shimon took apart took apart and uh those three items have to be discussed separately why they they're problematic and why there's some guilt attached so he's recognizing that what is happening is because of guilt there's some bamin is kind of you know kidnapped if you want to call it that he's held captive and he's realizing that it must be because of something that they did so the clear is saying verul he that Yehuda was even hinting to this Alim that everything they're being accused of they're actually false accusations now just because you get a false accusation it still affects you right you can say oh I'm innocent of that but nevertheless you're going through the Troubles of having to defend yourself through the false accusations um there it's all from Hashem it says and what he's realizing is that Hashem is directing through them through U through all all the things that are happening to them h on account of some other sin that they did what was it they actually sold ysep and who who was who had the idea to sell ysep you himself we're going to focus on that but what they did to their brother ysep like it says that's why I'm taking you back to verse 16 he even says right God has found your servants iniquity this is a discussion the realizing that there's something they did wrong that all the all this has come about as the verse says we're guilty because of what we did to our brother and it was regarding that sin that Yehuda said is if he was confessing for his sin the Amar when he says be Adon it's not just please oh my lord it's in me there's something in me what is in Meo a some other sin not what you're accusing me not all the false the fake news right but there's something else when you hear fake news and it affects you and you know that it's totally baseless and it affects us I won't mention the virus that went around whether it affected people or not there was a lot of fake news about it and affected all of us in a horrific way it was I don't want to call it a punishment but it was a message let's call it a message from Hashem and I think I spoke about it then and I got a YouTube strike that um the word Corona means Crown our job is to put the crown on Hashem the word coron ker in Hebrew is 620 ker and the 63 mitzvah for the Jews there seven no Mitzvah that we all together all Humanity has to get our act together and that's why we were I'm punished let's say awoken um with that um virus okay that's my opinion so the closer we get to putting the ker back in its right place we won't be fooled by a false ker okay it was that sin which caused we we were considered that's why right we think this is why all of these happenings happen to us it's somehow it's hanging in me I'm the one responsible more than my brothers what was it that that Yuda said he's the one who said let's sell him but okay we're not there yet therefore I Yehuda I feel he's approaching the word Vos he approached es him one of the right one of the brothers is approaching so he feels that he's he's forced to enter into the scene more than any other of the brothers remember yehud also has a certain certain responsibility as the leader the and that's the truth in number seven Genesis 37: 26- 27 H Yehuda said to his brother Brothers what is the gain if we slay our brother so there was the idea of killing him and covering up his blood he says no there's no gain Let Us sell him at least we get some money out of it let us sell him but obviously it wasn't for the money he really didn't want to to kill to kill um his brother ysep let us sell him to the ishmaelites but our hand shall not be upon him for he is our brother our flesh and the brothers listened it says they listened so in on page three at the top theu Let Us sell him these are the words that that that um Yehuda used and it's interesting because the med says that realize the brothers when they saw their father upset they had this regret and they realized Yehuda you're the leader look how upset father is if you would have said let's take him on our shoulders and carry him back to our father we would have we would have listened to you then right so they listened it actually says they listened because he said let's sell them but if he would have said let's do the right thing and not sell him they would have been fine with that as well very important um as a leader so thear says theud now the brothers themselves they reduced his power meaning they didn't look at him anymore as a a leader a good leader he messed up he said let's sell him and all that's happening now is because of the sale even Yehuda is admitting it everything that transpired is because of the sale because I open my mouth and said let's sell him I could have said let's take him back on my shoulders back to uh to pop no so Yehuda is taking responsibility but the brothers also saw the mistake that you would have made as a leader and when it says see the the the the the the way that it's expressed here is that he is there's a whole narrative like inserted that leads up to the relationship with Tamar so there's like this digression from The Narrative and so in pshot that he went down from his brothers meaning he departed from them and he went to uh call for fornicate with Tamar but in Hebrew it's right we said the Hebrew was the red Yehuda he went down and look at Rashi on number four to teach us well say start the beginning why was this section placed here where it interrupts the section dealing with ysep to teach us that yehuda's Brothers demoted him from his high position when they saw their father's distress they had regret they said you told us to sell him had you told us to return him we would have obeyed you we would have listened as well okay back in the Clear Car Parish Rashi on that verse that the brothers reduced him from his position of greatness and what did they say the you're the one that told us to sell him the if you would have told us to return him we would have done it we would have listened and it was for two reasons y Yehuda said to ysep be adoni so we're going to get into it we're going to get the nitty-gritty in me my master remember the way we're truly translating it as please my master but it's Boni what does it mean the clear says it's that that particular sin that is hanging on me is dependent on me one way to look at it on account that it's coming to actually answer a question Yehuda has to answer to some extent why he's the one approaching that's the whole verse that's the whole par it's called the approach of ysep why I'm sorry the approach of Yehuda why is Yehuda coming close why he has to answer to to to the vice Roy to ysph because I'm the one who's liable the word I'm the one who's obligated for all those galim gilim everything that transpired on account um all those things that transpired because of a particular sin rash even though Rashi did explain on chapter 44:32 look where it said number five for your servant assumed responsibility he actually says I'm the one responsible for the boy of my father saying if I don't bring him back to you I will have sinned against my father forever he made it like like an oath that if he doesn't bring Benyamin back he is basically we call excommunicated in this world and the world to come which is pretty severe so he's trying to why am I the one who's coming and even like the word means to provoke enter the fry enter this conflict more than the other brothers I bound my soul I bound myself with such a strong binding to be excommunicated I really you know try to make things right I sent Benyamin down you know what I mean now now he's uh he's in captivity and we got to get him out I'm doing everything I can right now to negotiate with uh the vice Roy to uh to free up okay so this is a famous like when you explain something and then you say but I have a question on that because that doesn't make sense so that's what it means that the whole premise here has a we have a problem with the premise why did he in the first place take this special Vow where he basically put his whole life on the line for Benyamin hello he actually perceived or felt within himself he understood on his own that he understood on his own that he was the one who liable for that sin which caused all of these false accusations to come out but specifically in 4214 where ysep said you are spies now when they came down to buy food in Egypt apparently they went through the different Gates why did they go not because they didn't want to be seen because they were looking for ysep they know Yousef was sold to the to the Egyptians and they were looking for him so the best way to find somebody they could they you know in the Army I guess spread out okay so they came in through the different Gates U mitan by the way the name itself is very uh constricting nobody could ever escape they had really good system of guarding so of course the guards all realize these Hebrews were all coming in through different Gates but it was because of the S of ysep that they went and entered the different Gates and they appeared as spies so of course it's a false accusation nevertheless it's Yehuda realizes the accusation is because of the original sale or the idea of selling him and the the only way they're going to get out of this is to bring back and the only way that Yakov would allow bamin to go was through the idea that Yehuda was going to take this extra special responsibility all right you make an oath on your life you believe the person will fulfill it or uh is taking that kind of responsibility um she she and he wanted to exclude the brothers from these false accusations which he caused when he originally said to sell ysf and not only that yako said to them in chapter 42:38 that you'll find in number eight on the swore sheet he didn't really want bamin to leave he said my son shall not go down with you because his brother is dead he certainly thought that ysep was dead although he never had closure and maybe even he had that hope and glimmer that he was still alive but anyway and it says he's left alone is that going on ysep meaning that he knew he was alive or is it going on Benyamin not knowing that thinking that ysep certainly is is dead so my my son is not going down with you because his brother's dead he alone remains so we see from here that yov did not want bam to go but nevertheless Yehuda made this special oath what did we hear from this tan remember it's only because of the sale of ysep yosef's that yov has this claim I don't want B to [Music] go if it wasn't for the fact that ysep was gone originally because of yehuda's advice to sell him then Benyamin would have I would have been easily Let Go by yov to go down to MIM because it wouldn't have been the only son from his loving wife Rael who was still alive in his mind what comes out from this that Yehuda right we find that yehud from the very fact that it was his brand Grand idea to sell y that's the reason that yov never wanted to send b in the first place and this is why Yehuda came forward and entered the scene in order to even take this oath and this responsibility this is the first answer why it says it's all within me all the sin I'm responsible ultimately for the predicament that we're in the now there's another reason is used what he wanted to convey was the following so in verse 33 look at number nine he says he wants to go in place of and we always see these cop shows where the cop says take me as your hostage let them go right so this is I get they they got it from us right from the Bible so let your servant stay instead of the boy as a slave to my Lord and may the boy go up with his brothers right that's what it says so says so the mo is the vice Roy the leader the the ruler that's ysep H he's making a claim his claim is why should the guilty Go free you're guilty you're going to go free and the innocent go out let me just read like this why should he's thinking bamin is guilty so why should the guilty one go out free and you who are innocent you didn't steal the Goblet the whole reason is because of the theft of a goblet H that the person who's guilty goes out uh so that was the first part that the guilty person goes out free and you Yehuda who who are innocent that you're going to end up being a servant for nothing you didn't do anything wrong but that's why he says I'm the guilty one I am the guilty one the truth is it's that sin selling ysep that caused all that happened and that caused everybody to end up being a slave and it's all because of me more than the other brothers alinu alinu means therefore logic dictate that logic dictates that the punishment of servitude should be decreed on bamin y a this is what yehud is claiming that his servitude his punishment of servitude should be on me he he let him go and that's the truth measure for measure it's very important in Judaism to understand God acts with Justice right so one of the 13 principles of our faith everything happens with complete Justice fromes in fact when someone dies we say it's all because of the true judge whatever it is he says here the truth is that he's the one who caused ysep to go into slavery that's the truth but the other brothers didn't have that guilt cuz I'm the one who sold him it was my idea to sell him how much more had nothing to do with it he wasn't even part of the powow to sell ysf he was not privy to that conversation at all she was too young Shan was not part at all of that particular sin now if we just go back to our original verse let your servant speak something in your ears what the CLE car is going to do is say this is a whole another message that y that Yehuda is trying to get across to ysep let's see what he says he wanted to get across the message that this whole idea of the Goblet was fake news was a frame up let's use the word frame up ala it was it was uh it was false it was a false accusation that's the word therefore he approached him to speak in a whisper into his ears shal by not to embarrass yph he didn't know it was ysep but not to embarrass the vicey see if you embarrass the Viceroy the person in with power he might get angry because you're embarrassing him in public so he says you're just like it's appropriate to distribute to a portion some honor I don't want to embarrass you I mean first of all it's not going to be good for him to embarrass the person he's negotiating beny's Freedom with but he wants to give him honor we all know you don't speak harshly in front of the king there's a PK in Proverbs Mishay 1614 it's number 10 on the sore sheet the king's wrath is like messengers of death so you don't want to get on the bad side of the person who can say off with your head right and therefore it wasn't proper to speak very arrogantly uh with pridefully in front of other people who are listening we learned this from him we learned this cuz ysep himself said in verse 4 444 look at number 11 this is amazing so so they're they're they're leaving and ysep we didn't know it's ysep but anyway we know it's ysep cuz we know the story they had exited the city they hadn't gone very far when ysph said to the overseer of his house one of his servants get up pursue the men and when you overtake them say to them why have you repay good with evil so in the Hebrew get up chase after these people and this is an important word reach them reach them in other words as we're going to see don't cry out or scream out from a distance and say you robbers stop them like as you see in those movies right he's go chase him he's a robber no no no approach them wait until you reach them and then say to them so that others don't you know the words ysep was also trying to a portion honor and first of all we know the whole thing was fake to begin with but nevertheless he didn't want to embarrass them or put them in a bad light in front of the Egyptians as the C car is about to say um here it isan it's specifically once you reach them and you're actually close to them then I want you to speak in their ears regarding the Goblet and don't scream or yell at the top of your lungs from a distance shouting to them like a g as people would do if there was really a g but rather make it a private discussion just between you and them sh y do so that the Egyptians it says they weren't that far they were still close to the metropolitan area so the Egyptians who would watch this or or hear of this wouldn't be privy to this conversation Alam so too in this confrontation this altercation with ysep with the vice Roy Yehuda did not want to let all thep gyptians in the room here but he spoke in a whisper into ysep so his voice would not be heard by the Egyptians in the room so we learn Yehuda even learned this is how it should be done from the way that ysep dealt with him remember he says not let not your wrath be kindled against your servant he didn't want the ruler to be angry with him this is very important for us anyone who gets angry will easily come to make mistakes right you lose your mind they say you get angry you lose your mind in fact even in h it's almost like a kid to aara you can actually lose your whole your whole equilibrium so he didn't want him to get angry because that would cause a mistakes so and that he could cause that should not enter the claim into his ears even if he was actually like present and understood the claim what is that mean the very idea that if he got angry that would cause his ability to judge fairly would just be out the door it would he would not be able to be to judge properly you say who cares guess what that if sometimes could happen where a minister or judge very someone very important makes a mistake in judgment guess what there's always somebody above him like at least in America and I don't know if how it works here but basically you go to a higher court right you can appeal and then maybe they they're standing for to go to a higher court so if a minister makes a mistake you can always go to the king there's someone you can always go to which would be the king that the the Judgment can be taken to the king or whoever is the highest Authority and he could fix what the lower person said therefore Koka kaparo like we saw in Rashi where there were like four different possible explanations one of them was you're just like Pharaoh he was complimenting him that you have that ability like I think and I'll just say it the president the present president of the United States I think he let off 1,500 people from Death Row like some people thought that was crazy um it's just an example you know and then he was like I think a little bit of an angry old man made a mistake let's say that uh but he was complimenting him you have the authority even though you're just second in control you basically I think that's interesting Cu uh there's nobody in control right now at the United States of America anyway you have by you the the ability to give the final verdict like parro has and nobody's going to take that away from you and bring it to the king because you're like the king that's what he was giving him a compliment he was not exactly confronting him in right well he didn't want him to get angry and because of you or from you all the judgments come and entirely or the final verdict can therefore I'm coming please my master that in your eyes it should be viewed you know be be fair be just do not get angry and then there won't be any mistakes now we're going to carefully examine the clear says if you really carefully examine this L arm means third person it's like as if I'm not there right if I was Mr Trump president Trump you ever hear him speak third person you Trump so some people can talk like that remember Yehuda say says now let your servant speak something into my Lord's ears he's he's referring to himself as the servant as exposed to me Yehuda it's your servant we're able to say because what was he trying to convey so the verse in verse 33 which we already pointed out in number nine so please let your servant stay instead of the boy interestingly what did what did yoseph actually say he said in look in number 12 in chapter 44:1 17 but he said far be it for me to do this the man in whose possession the Goblet was found shall be my slave just notice ysf is saying the man Y is going to claim he's just the Nar now we understand he's at least 22 years old we don't know exactly how old he is at least 22 he's probably older than that by a few years H he's not a Nar but Yehuda is referring to him as a Nar because he doesn't want benyam to remain a slave he wants to be in his in his shoes he wants to switch switch aoo so notice first of all that he says it in lar number third person and he says let me your servant be in place of the Nar he now it may be true but he's using this as an Ace card or right Joker whatever you call it a trump card I am better him I am better than bamin in everything you know when it comes we saw this Rashi when it comes to a servant for a king he has to be strong he has to know uh War tactics and he has to be a good servant and this kid you know this young person he's not a kid bamin doesn't have any of those qualities I got them all but he was trying to put himself in the place of listen to what it says in every aspect I'm better than him in strength in tactic for war and in servitude and as I said beginning of this last paragraph he's adding another dimension that every servant who serves a king has to know know how to speak in front of kings and I can do it he can in order to organize his words that they should enter into his ears right you're counselor to the king you're giving advice you have to speak with intelligence and in the proper order but a servant who doesn't know how to organize his words he's not fitting to be the servant by the ruler remember the ruler is like a king that's why it says remember I mentioned in already in verse 17 4417 it says the man right right the man in which the Goblet is found that's who's going to be the slave honar he's claiming he's still young he's not fit to speak in front of you that's what he's trying to say look you can test me the you can check me out let your servant speak meaning you're you're going to choose you're going to have chosen me let me speak into your ears in a way that's not going to get you angry I know how to speak I'm I'm GNA I'm going to show you the power of persuasion how to speak to a King now it could come out that you're certainly going to get angry that's why I said that's why UDA says you're just like Pharaoh it's an appeasement you need somebody of value who can talk to you I'm smart I'm intelligent and I could talk to you and not a lad who's an ignoramus like him he's calling B an ignoramus basically to free him up from being a Slave To The King but me or let's say please my Lord again it's in me Tim it's in me not the sin necessarily but all the qualities that you're looking for it's in me that's what you're looking for not him even speech he doesn't have the quality of high level speech and not only that how much more so he doesn't really know the strategies of the king really means for War as well now some say when it says let your servant speak please also the person the slave remember it says that ysph sent one of his officers to follow them or he even sent one of them to put the Goblet in the bag he's basically let him testify he'll tell the truth when he put the um the Goblet in the saddle bag of let him testify about everything that he did we know it's fake news let the guy come forward and uh what call whistleblower let the whistle blower come forward and you'll see that everything that we've been accused of is totally fake news totally um made up uh set up okay so I hope you enjoyed this year and what we did learn number one don't get angry right learn how to speak to uh to people in Authority we learned a lot I think we learned some Hebrew on the way we got some insight into the par we understood Rashi a little bit better even though we read it quite quickly and superficially um you have to spend time going over the paraa but what we did was we peeled some of the layers off the onion and we have a better idea of the conversation why Yehuda approach approaches and I think for a certain level because we're called Jews Yim we follow the footsteps of Yehuda who takes responsibility the Jewish people are a we have a certain amount of responsibility and I think you could see it in the world for those who are really truly awoke not the fake wake a woke but uh the Jews in war we take responsibility and we uh man I you know we can talk hours about this but we won't just know there's a lot of fake news out there there's no I don't know if you can even say the word genocide obviously that's not true uh with all the reports that have come out now how the numbers were just construed and faked and whatever uh for those who were I'd say awake really truly awake knew that from the very beginning and all along and uh what can I tell you uh keep your eyes on Israel pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and uh we should all Z to put the crown back in its place with all the Mitzvah whether you're Jew or Gentile you're Isel or and we should see the glory of God and the Torah will fill the entire Earth and the Sea right to fill the sea to one end of the Earth to the other and and I want to wish everyone Hanukah is now over but um can also say for the for the the non-jewish calendar they call it a new year for us it's a new month right we just celebrated rashes so I'm wishing everyone a and a shabbat shalom and a great life and we'll see you next week [Music] oh