Vayigash
Why Yosef and Binyamin Wept on Each Other's Necks
A chassidic reading of the brothers' reunion -- the neck as a symbol of the two Batei Mikdash -- and Rashi's explanation for why Yaakov himself didn't cry.
Rabbi Schapiro on the Parshah: Vayigash
Yosef and Binyamin each wept over the future churban of the other's territory, not their own. A look at why the Beit Hamikdash is compared to a neck, and why a person only cries once there's truly nothing left to fix.
Parshas Vayigash
Follows Rashi's account of the brachah Yaakov gave Paroh before leaving his presence β that the Nile should rise to meet his feet β and the question of why he would bless anything connected to the Nile, the very object of Mitzrayim's avodah zarah rooted in belief in teva. Resolves it as the opposite of a concession: by making the Nile's rise depend visibly on his own blessing, Yaakov demonstrated that nature itself is not an independent force, breaking Mitzrayim's klipah of nature-worship and pointing to the ongoing task of revealing that all of teva flows from Hashem.
Parshas Vayigash
Traces Rashi's explanation of the berachah Yaakov gave Paroh on his way out β that the Nile should rise at his approach β and the problem: the Nile was Mitzrayim's avodah zarah, the embodiment of their belief that plenty came from teva alone with nothing higher behind it. Shows how tying the Nile's rise to a tzaddik's blessing exposed that belief as false, and draws the lesson of continuing to show the world β Jew and non-Jew alike β that nature itself is never anything but Hashem's own doing.
Parshas Vayigash
Looks at Rashi's comment that among the gifts Yosef sent his father was old wine, and builds toward the explanation that Yosef and his brothers had abstained from wine throughout the mourning over his disappearance, so its return signaled that the aveilut was lifting. Draws out the remez specifically in old wine β set aside for twenty-two years in unwavering expectation of exactly this moment β as a model of bitachon that stays ready to celebrate through the hardest stretches.
Parshas Vayigash
Examines why Yaakov sent Yehuda ahead into Mitzrayim to prepare Goshen even though Yosef, already the country's second-in-command, could easily have arranged everything himself. Develops the explanation that Yosef's authority still sat under Paroh's, so only Yehuda β who had already stood down Mitzrayim's ruler over Binyamin's fate β could establish from the very first step into galus that spiritual matters would answer to nothing but themselves, a point echoed later in the Frierdiker Rebbe's own words on the road into exile.
Parshas Vayigash
Traces the question of why Yaakov sent Yehuda ahead to prepare Goshen when Yosef, already ΧΧ©Χ Χ ΧΧΧΧ, could plainly have handled the arrangements himself. Develops the point that Yosef's authority still answered to Paroh, so only Yehuda β who had just stood firm against Mitzrayim's rule over Binyamin β could establish that entering galus would never mean surrendering the neshamah's independence, a theme echoed in the Frierdiker Rebbe's own words on his journey into exile at Kostroma.
Parshas Vayigash
Unpacks Rashi's comment that Yosef cried on βthe necksβ β plural β of Binyamin because he foresaw two Batei Mikdash destined for destruction in his brother's portion, while Binyamin cried for the one destined for Yosef's. Raises the question of why each cried over the other's future churban rather than his own, and resolves it through the principle that a person cries only when there's truly nothing left to do β which is never the case with your own avodas Hashem, only, potentially, with someone else's.
Parshas Vayigash
Notices that Rashi explains Hashem's reassurance to Yaakov before Mitzrayim not by saying he was afraid, but that he felt bad about leaving Eretz Yisrael, and asks why the wording shifts. Develops the answer that this discomfort was itself the reason not to fear: feeling at home in galus is the real danger, while feeling out of place protects a person and his children from its influence. Connects it to the Haggadah's ΧΧ ΧΧ‘ Χ’Χ Χ€Χ ΧΧΧΧΧΧ¨ and closes with the lesson that a shlichus succeeds precisely when it never starts to feel comfortable.
Parshas Vayigash
Questions why Yosef bothered mentioning his own rulership over Mitzrayim when all that mattered was getting Yaakov to come down. Traces the promise at the Brit Bein HaBesarim that the Yidden would leave with βgreat wealth,β and rejects the simple reading that this was mere compensation for hard labor, since the Yidden themselves would gladly have skipped the money for an earlier exit. Lands on the teaching that the wealth carried out of Mitzrayim was full of nitzotzos hakedushah waiting to be elevated β and that Yosef's rise to power was the mechanism making that elevation, and therefore the whole galus, possible.