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Pasuk in this week's parsha tells us, 'VaYamas Yosef v'Chol Echav v'Chol Hadar HaHu.' The beginning of Galus Mitzrayim, Yosef the tzaddik dies, and then all of his brothers die, and the entire generation passes away. Bnei Yisrael paru v'yishutzu v'yirbu v'atzmu ma'od ma'od v'tamalei ha'aretz aysam klal Yisrael becomes quite large. They multiply and multiply. They spread throughout the land. They're no longer just in Goshen. And a new king arises who is not familiar with Yosef HaTzaddik, and thus begins Galus Mitzrayim as this new Paro. Whether it's literally new or figuratively new, this new Paro is concerned, is nervous about Klal Yisrael, and enslaves Klal Yisrael for hundreds of years.
It's fascinating that the gullus of Mitzrayim begins with the death of Yosef HaTzaddik, followed by the death of his brothers. Chazal point out that the reason Yosef HaTzaddik comes first is because since Yosef HaTzaddik was in a position of leadership, since he was in a position of power, we know that Chazal say that takes away from a person's years, that takes away from a person's life when a person has responsibility. For others, they grow a lot of gray hairs. It takes its toll physically on a man, and ultimately, Yosef HaTzaddik, because of the massive position of power that he was in, even though he was younger than some of his brothers, he was the first to pass away. The question is, why is this the lesson that Chazal see fit to teach us here at the beginning of Galus? What's the significance of the fact that Yosef HaTzaddik?
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Died before his brothers. How does that relate to the beginning of Galus? That's one question. We'll follow it with a second question. If we go all the way to the end of the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu is being mevarich klal Yisrael in v'zois habracha and in the bracha of Yosef. It says ule Yosef Amar mevarichas Hashem artzo v'chulu v'chulu. In the bracha of Yosef, it says. With the delicacies of the land and the fullness of the land, by the good will of Hashem, who rests in the sna, who rests in the thorn bush, may it come to Yosef's head and to the crown of the head of the withdrawn one of his brothers.
So it's fascinating that here Moshe Rabbeinu in the bracha of Yosef begins to talk about Hashem in a way that never happens before in all of Chumash and never happens afterwards. Hashem is called Shoych Neisne, the one who dwells in the thorn bush. It's not a name of Hashem that we're familiar with. If you take a look in Rashi, Rashi says Uresoyin Shoych Neisne. The bracha that Moshe Rabbeinu is giving to Yosef HaTzaddik, Moshe Rabbeinu is going back to the very beginning of his relationship with our Kadosh Baruch Hu, which was, of course, discovered in the thorn bush in the snae, and he's blessing Yosef from this place. So it's very interesting.
There seems to be no connection that we know about between Yosef HaTzaddik and the Sneh. What does Yosef HaTzaddik have to do with the Sneh? Yosef HaTzaddik passed away long before Moshe Rabbeinu encounters Hakadosh Baruch Hu at the Sneh. What's the connection between Yosef HaTzaddik and the Sneh that Moshe Rabbeinu calls upon the Sneh to bless Yosef HaTzaddik in the end of his life, in the end of Moshe Rabbeinu's life? I want to share with you an amazing Vart, a life-changing Vart, a game-changing Vart for those who open their hearts. It's an amazing var from the mashgiach of Lakewood of Matosio Solomon Zekezadik Lavracha, who was obviously a tremendous person. But I just want to highlight one very specific aspect of Matosio Solomon, just so we understand that we're talking about. The mashgiach Zekezadik Lavracha used to go every summer to Camp Pasque, and he would sit for hours in Camp Pasque every single summer, just giving brachas and giving chizik.
To everybody who worked there, and to all the campers who went there, was a tremendously sensitive person, and you'll see why that's important in a moment. Rav Matzio said the following vort: How does a Kodesh Baruch Hu introduce himself to Moshe Rabbeinu? A Kodesh Baruch Hu introduces himself to Avraham Avinu by saying Lech Lecha. But Lachira with Yitzchak and with Yaakov, with Yosef and the Shvatim, it was a familiar relationship. They grew up in a home, like Chazal say about Yitzchok and Yaakov. They grew up in a home that Yitzchok was ragil; he was accustomed to seeing malachim coming in and out in the home of Avram Avinu. Pastus, by the time Hakadosh Baruch Hu introduces himself to Yitzchok, there's a familiarity there. Not so with Moshe Abinu. Moshe Abinu, even though he was nursed by his mother, Moshe Abinu grows up in the house of Paro. And so the introduction to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a meaningful shalom aleichem.
Hashem Baruch Hu is introducing himself, so to speak, to Moshe Rabbeinu, even though, of course, Moshe Rabbeinu's parents were the Gadol Hayadar, and his brother was Aaron, and his sister was Miriam. But from Moshe Rabbeinu, there's something new about the relationship. Where does Moshe Rabbeinu meet Hashem Baruch Hu? He meets him in a snet, and Rashi asks the following question: Why a snet? Of all the trees, of all the bushes that Hashem Baruch Hu could have presented himself to Moshe Rabbeinu, why specifically a snare? Obviously, the location matters, and Rashi says, "Miteichas nev v'lo ilan acher," specifically in a thorn bush and not in any other tree. Quoting the pasuk in Tzilim, he says, "Mishom ino imo anochi betzara," because our Kadosh Baruch Hu wanted to convey something to Moshe Rabbeinu. I am with you in your pain. I've been with Klal Yisrael.
In their pain. In other words, if you think deeply about what Rashi is saying, it's almost as if Hakadosh Baruch Hu is introducing himself to Moshe Rabenu, and there's a kasha that Moshe Rabenu has on Hakadosh Baruch Hu when Hakadosh Baruch Hu answers him by calling out to him from the sna. And the kasha is a familiar kasha. It's a kasha perhaps that you've asked. It's a kasha that our grandparents asked and our great grandparents asked. Where is Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the Holocaust? Where's Hakadosh Baruch Hu on October seventh? Where's Hakadosh Baruch Hu for every soldier who was killed in battle, for every hostage that is not being returned? Where's Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Where were you? That's the implied question that Meir Shlomo has. Meir Shlomo, who grew up in the house of Paro, perhaps has this question more acutely than anybody else, because when you grow up a slave, when you grow up in exile, that's what you know. That's what you're accustomed to.
But Moshe Rabbeinu didn't grow up in exile in the same way as every other Jew. He saw it. He watched it. He watched the people be enslaved in a way that he couldn't understand. He grew up in the lap of luxury. They grew up with a level of torture that a human being cannot understand. And one imagines that Moshe Rabbeinu, who's now run away to Midyan, who's married to the daughter of Yisro, as he's tending those sheep, because a shepherd has so much time to think and to imagine the world. He has a kasha.
There is a God, and where has He been? Hakadosh Baruch Hu's introduction to Moshe Rabbeinu is mitaych asneh because He says, 'Forget why.' I can't possibly explain to you why anything happens in this world. Later on, in their relationship, Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hakadosh Baruch Hu, 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' And Hakadosh Baruch Hu won't answer him. That's not the question. The question is not why. The question is, where have you been? And to that Hakadosh Baruch Hu answers, 'I was with you every single step of the way, and the pain that you felt is the pain that I felt, and you were never alone.' And that's a powerful response to Moshe Rabbeinu's unasked question at the very beginning of their relationship. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu, 'There was not one moment when Yidden were suffering in Mitzrayim where I wasn't suffering alongside of them.'
What's Moshe Rabbeinu's introduction to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? How does he say Shalom Aleichem? The Torah tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu was walking along the way, and he saw something remarkable. He saw a thorn bush that was burning, but it was not being consumed. It was on fire, but it was not being consumed. Vayar Hashem kisar lirus. What does Hashem see that's so impressive about Moshe Rabbeinu? Kisar liros, because he turned to look at this amazing spectacle. And there's an obvious question on this pasuk. Chavra, people do this every day. It's the bane of our existence. If a person is driving along on the highway and there's traffic on the highway, so if you're on the other side of the highway, you may not say it out loud because you're polite, but you're laughing at all the people on the other side of the highway.
Thank God I'm not on that side, bunch of losers. If you're on that side of the highway, you wonder what's up ahead. You look and it says there's a crash up ahead. If it's a tiny fender bender, you're like, I can't believe I just sat in half an hour worth of traffic to see nothing. But if it's a massive pileup, four, five, six cars, there's something called rubbernecking. We have to go slowly at five miles an hour. On a 65 mile an hour highway, on the Garden State Parkway, or on the Van Wyck Expressway, Yom Hashem. And everyone has to look to see what happened. What a chutzpah to call it an expressway? The Van Wyck parking lot. It's an appropriate name. Person's driving on the 405 in Los Angeles. Don't be so excited. Nobody drives fast on the 405. Nobody goes anywhere.
And if there's an accident, everybody has to stop to see. If Moshe Rabbeinu was living today, if Moshe Rabbeinu was one of these TikTok teenagers, I know TikTok's about to go extinct in America, so we can only talk about it for a minute more. You could see one of these like 16-year-old girls going like, "Oh my God, I have to take a selfie with that bush. It's not burning." #HashtagGas #HashtagLit #HashtagNotLit. Having a good time tonight, Avram? Moshe Rabbeinu stopped to look. We all stop to look. Everybody stops to look all the time. We all want to see what's that? What's that interesting sight? What's that thing? People do that all the time. The big deal here, Hakadosh Baruch Hu just gave Moshe Rabbeinu Azas Shalom Aleichem. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says Amimo Anochi Btzara. And Moshe Rabbeinu, what's the gevul de Keshal Aleichem that He gives back to him? The gevul de Keshal Aleichem is, I stop to look. We all stop to look all the time.
It's all culture today. Is everyone constantly looking? What's the big deal? This is an unbelievable medrash. Listen to this medrash, Abayi says, an unbelievable medrash. The medrash says it's the wrong vayar. You think that Moshe Rabbeinu stopped to look? Yisrael lirus. He was looking at the snare. There's another vayar. All the way in the beginning of the story, when Moshe Rabbeinu is living in the house of Paro. And it is in those days that Moshe Rabbeinu grows up, and he goes out to his brothers, and he saw their burdens. Says the Medrash, that's the vayyar that impressed Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Not that he was sar lirus, that he looked at a sna. It's that he stopped to see the pain of his brothers. That's what's impressive. Chaver, you might say to yourself, that's also not impressive.
Who cares? So he stopped to look at the pain of his brothers. It was obvious. The pain of his brothers was on their faces. The answer is no. The answer is Rabbi said that throughout history, in every great civilization, slaves have been used. We're accustomed to thinking that slavery was invented in America. It's not true. There was slavery in England. There was slavery in America. There was slavery in Arab countries, and yes, there was even slavery in Africa. Slavery was the way the world got built. How do you think America has railroads all across America? It's because they threw Chinese people into caves and blew them up as they built the railroads all across America. Slavery was something obvious. It took a sensitive soul who grew up in the house of Paro to step outside of his own paradigm, to step outside of his own perception, and to say, "Look at the pain on my brother's faces."
Moshe Rabbeinu could have easily walked out of the palace and said, 'Chaval, they're slaves.' But every society has slaves. He saw deeper. He was no se ba'olim chaveru. They were in pain, so he was in pain. That's why he went out to his brothers. That's why he killed the Mitzri, because they're my brothers, and if my brothers are in pain, then I'm in pain with them. So now we understand. Hakadosh Baruch Hu Shalom Aleichem to Moshe Rabbeinu was Amimo Anochi Btzara. And what's so exciting about Moshe Rabbeinu to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because Moshe Rabbeinu is exactly like Hashem, just like Hashem was with us in our pain, Moshe Rabbeinu was with us in our pain. Vayar Besavloysam, he saw our pain. That's what makes Moshe Rabbeinu great. That's what makes a leader. That's how you're zayicha to take people out of exile. People leave exile when they have somebody sitting next to them.
There's no words that you need to say. Sometimes there are no words. Sometimes all you need is a good friend to sit next to you and deeply empathize and feel alongside of you, and to be able to see your pain and to be able to say I'm with you in that. Sometimes that's the most restorative, healing thing in the world. We all have friends like that—friends who sometimes just need to unburden themselves and talk. They don't need our sympathy and they certainly don't need our pity. They just need somebody to sit next to them and say I'm with you as you go through this. It's how a person leaves exile. Vayar b'sevloisam. That's what Moshe Rabbeinu said. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu said. There's an amazing halacha. It's a Gemara in Tainis. The pasuk says, "Uli Yosef yolad shne banim b'terem tavos nassar av." Before the famine came to Mitzrayim, Yosef HaTzaddik had two sons. Says the Gemara in Tainis.
It is forbidden for a person to engage in marital relations with their wife during a time of famine. We learn it from this pasuk from Yosef HaTzaddik. Chaver, listen to the midah of Yosef HaTzaddik. He's by himself. He's in Mitzrayim. His brothers have not yet come down. His father is still far away. He has a wife. A famine is coming. What does Yosef HaTzaddik say? Now is the time to build a family. Because when a famine comes, it's inappropriate for me to have children. Because I need to be emo anochi betzara. I need to be nose ba'olim chavero. I need to be deeply connected to the people of Mitzrayim as they go through this. That's the essence of Yosef HaTzaddik, the sensitivity of Yosef HaTzaddik. That even though he was a stranger in a strange land, these were not his people. But if he was going to be a leader of Mitzrayim, then he needed to be with them in their pain.
It's the midah of Yosef HaTzaddik. It's the midah of Moshe Rabenu. It's the midah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. There's only two times in the Torah that it says the word Uli Yosef. The first time is Uli Yosef Yalatsh Ne'banim, as we just said. But there's one more time, Rabbi Yisai. It's those pesukim in V'Zayis Habracha. Uli Yosef Amar MiBerachas Hashem Arzei. When Moshe Rabenu was about to bless the tribe of Yosef at the end of his life, he says Uli Yosef. Why does he say Uli Yosef? Uli Yosef hasn't been said since all the way back in the very beginning of the story, where Yosef HaTzaddik said, "I need to have children now before the famine comes, because I need to be imo anochi betzara." Moshe Rabenu calls a reference; he hints to us, a wink to us, and he says, "Uli Yosef." At the end of your life, at the end of Moshe Rabenu's life, as he's giving the shavat of Yosef, as he's giving them his bracha, he says, "Uli Yosef, Yosef, you, your midah was imo anochi betzara. I give you a bracha."
And where does that bracha come from? From Shoych Ne Sneh, from Hashem. The first time I met him, and what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu say to Moshe Rabbeinu from the Sneh? He says, "I'm not any other tree. I'm a Sneh because I'm Imo Anochi Btzara." And your gift, Moshe Rabbeinu, to the world was that you were Imo Anochi Btzara. It's how you took them out of Mitzrayim. So Moshe Rabbeinu says to Yosef, he says to all the people that came from Yosef at Tzaddik, and all the Shvatim that came from Yosef. I'm with you. It's all the same unifying principle that when a Jew is in pain, we're in pain with them. With this in mind, we can go back to the very first psukim of this week's parsha, where Yosef dies before his brothers, and that's when galus starts. Yosef HaTzaddik was willing to be a leader and to take responsibility for others, even at the expense of his own life.
When you take responsibility for people, it shaves years off of your life. That's why the Mishnah in Avos says, "Snei aser abanus." You should hate the abanus, hate being in a position of leadership. What does that mean? A person shouldn't become a rav. A person shouldn't become a position of leadership. Of course, a person has to take leadership, but it's not something you chase after. You don't do it for COVID. You put yourself in a position of leadership, Rabbi Yisrael. You're shaving years off of your life, but it's worth it. You know why? Because you get to be with the people that you love, and you get to care for them. And you get to sit next to them, and you get to empathize with them, and you get to help them, and you get to be a balchesed. Gullus begins when people like Yosef HaTzaddik die. Gullus begins when we don't have an ethic of responsibility for each other. Gullus begins when we stop caring about each other. I heard that Rav Kalish said something along the lines of this last night. I didn't hear it from him, so I don't know exactly what he said. But I'll add my two cents, even though my two cents are certainly not worth as much as his. Rabbi Yisai.
Nobody knows, hostage deal, good, bad. Nobody knows. Only the Rebbeinu Shol knows. But one thing for sure: are we celebrating with those families that are getting their kids back, and are we crying for those families that have not yet been restored to their fullness? This gullus does not end until we're living with their pain as if it's our own. And this gullus does not end if we don't celebrate with those families that are being restored to their fullness. This is your country. I'm not talking about governments. I'm not talking about politics. This is the land that I called Baruch who gave us. Jews are coming home. This is our land. Just because you live 6,000 miles away doesn't mean you get to have cognitive dissonance. Distance is not a reason for cognitive dissonance.
Every one of us has to be noser ba'olim chaverim all the time, and it's not something that could ever escape for one moment from our minds. And the fact that you're here—if you identify yourself and you say, 'I'm going back to America, or I'm going back to Australia, or I'm going back to England, or I'm going back to wherever it is that I came from—it's not my Asak, it's not my Indian—then it's a fundamental failure on our part to have the basic midos. That take us out of Mitzrayim, that take us out of Galus. In fact, it's those very midos that bring us into Galus. This is a day of celebration, and it's also a day of tragedy for those families who got the message that it's you're not mina minyan. It's not your child that's coming home. We shouldn't be able to sleep at nights. Everyone saw the picture; it went viral. It's a beautiful picture of Rav Kalodetsky, the son-in-law of Rav Chaim Kaniewski. That since October seventh.
He hasn't slept on a bed. He's been sleeping on a board. That's unbelievable tzidkus. That's the tzidkus of sitting with another Jew and saying, 'I'm not sleeping on a bed while you're sleeping in some tunnel. I'm with you. I'm with you. Maybe I'm not sleeping on two pillows. Maybe I'm learning a little bit extra. Maybe I'm still saying my Tehillim slow and not just rushing through it at the end of davening.' Have to be nosey, but all them chaveru. That's how Galus began. When Yosef HaTzaddik died, he took on himself the achrayus of all of Klal Yisrael, the achrayus of all of Mitzrayim. It shaved the years off his life. But Yosef HaTzaddik said, 'Yeah, but l'kachat hanotzariti.' That's why I was created by Hashem to take responsibility, to feel along with my fellow people, with my fellow brothers and sisters. It's a tragedy of epic proportions.
That we could look at what's happening in Klal Yisrael and think that it's not happening to us, it's happening to some family. It's happening to us. Of course, naturally, it's going to hit closer to home when it hits someone in our community. Naturally, it's going to hit closer to home. When Rabbi Tarigan from Gush, when Rabbi Meish Tarigan from Gush, when his son was injured, and Gush is one of our yeshivas. It's the yeshivas from our community. You know all the names: Gush, KBY, Shalvim, Makota, Nativ, Shraga, Reisha, Mevs. We're all part of the same family. When Rabbi Tarigan's son was injured, it hit us differently. Those that work in the yeshivas, those that work with Rabbi Tarigan and NCSY Kollel, we've been davening for his son. Maybe with a little bit more emphasis, because we know that family. That's from us. But the emissaries, we should be davening like that for every one of them, for every chayal that was injured, and for every chayal that's putting his life at risk.
And for every family that's not yet restored to wholeness, and for every family that's being restored to wholeness, we should celebrate with those families. But if we're just going along our daily lives, if we're just chilling, if it's just another day in Mevs, then we have missed the point, and we have missed the point badly. Paro is able to forget who Yosef is when we forget who Yosef is. If we would keep Yosef HaTzaddik's name alive, Paro would never be able to enslave us, and that's why Yosef HaTzaddik, at the end of his life, what did he tell everybody? Promise me that you'll bury me not in Mitzrayim. Promise me that you'll bury me in Eretz Yisrael, because Yosef HaTzaddik knew that as long as Jews are repeating the Mitzvah, that one day we're going to leave, and one day we're going to have to take out the bones of Yosef.
Over and over again, throughout all those years of slavery, they'd be saying, 'We have to remember Yosef. We have to remember Yosef's bones.' But Chavra, who took out Yosef's bones? It was Moshe Rabbeinu who took out Yosef's bones. It's those people that are sensitive. Those people that are sensitive—they keep Yosef Atzaddik's name alive. Rabbi says, 'I want to give us all a bracha.' This is the bracha. Stay away from politics. Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, seventy-two hours, whatever we hear on the news. Don't have an opinion. Don't be one of these guys who sits back in the dorm and pontificates from all the brilliance that you have and all the reading that you've done online from all the pundits about whether the hostage deal was a good deal or a bad deal. Whatever it is, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will reveal itself. But let's take the time over the next forty-eight hours, seventy-two hours, that every single video that we see of a Jew being reunited with his family, and even for those Jews.
That are coming back, that lo alenu are no longer with us, but at least their families get to bury them. Let's feel alongside them. And when you see those videos, don't just post it to your status. Don't just post it on your social media. Look at the families' faces. Soak it in. Close your eyes. Feel along with them. Be'ezrat Hashem, it'll be a sukos that we should be zeicheh to Mashiach Tzidkenu. B'mirabbi Ameinu. Amen.
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