A vort from the Rebbe on this week's parsha, Parshat Miketz. In Parshat Miketz, we learned that Yosef became the משנה למלך, the second-in-command to Paro, got married, and then the pasuk says, \"וליוסף יולד שני בנים,\" and to Yosef was born two children, two sons. And the pasuk continues, \"ויקרא יוסף את שם הבכור מנשה,\" Yosef called the name of the firstborn Menashe. And the pasuk gives a reason why he called him Menashe: \"כי נשני אלקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי,\" because Hashem made me forget. The word Menashe comes from the word נשני. נשני means really jumped away, but it really means forgetting in this case, that Hashem made me forget all my hard work, my suffering, and my father's home. And then the pasuk says, \"ואת שם השני קרא אפרים,\" and the name of the second one he called Efraim, and he gives a reason why: \"כי הפרני אלקים בארץ עניי,\" because Hashem made me multiply in the land of my suffering. So the Alshich asks a question: Why would Yosef call his son with the name Menashe, which represents something negative, that he is forgetting his father's home? Why would he want to name a child to show that he's forgetting his father's home? Was he basically happy that he is forgetting and he called his child by that name?

So the Rebbe explains the peshat like this, just opposite. Since Yosef knew that being in Mitzrayim, far from his father's home and far from that environment, there is a possibility, chas v'shalom, that he will forget his father's home, he will forget the way it was in his father's home, so specially he called his son Menashe, a name that will constantly remind him that there is such a possibility, and therefore this will help him to overcome that possibility that he should forget his father's home. It'll always awaken with him, in him, the desire, the longing to his father's home, and he will stay connected, that he will behave the way it was in his father's home. So it's not that, chas v'shalom, he was happy that he would forget, he wanted to remind himself that it's possible to forget. This, in ארץ עניי, in in the land of Mitzrayim, where he could forget, he named him, so whenever, every time he called Menashe, it reminded him, \"Oh, oh, I could forget my father's home.\"

And according to that, we understand the hemshech of the two names. The second name, which is Efraim, is that Hashem made him grow, multiply in the land of his suffering. That's a next stage, which means like this: When a Yid is in galut, and galut is a place where you could forget the way you're supposed to behave, because you're in galut amongst goyim, in galus and not in the real, real environment you should be, so a Yid is able to lower his spiritual level. So the first thing a Yid has to do, he has to make sure to always stick, stay connected to the way it is in the proper place, in his father's home, it means in the way it is in Eretz Yisrael, in Yerushalayim, in the Beis Hamikdash. We always have to feel that we have to stay connected not to lower our standards. But that's only the first step, that we shouldn't go lower, we should at least stay the way we were before. But the next step is, the true reason why Hashem sent Yidden in galus is in order because yeridah letzorech aliyah, that by being in a place where it seems to be a yeridah, a descent, but by overcoming the descent and not being pulled into the yeridah, this makes you grow even more than than where you were before. And that's the second name: \"כי הפרני אלקים בארץ עניי,\" Hashem made me grow in the land of my suffering. And this is what Yosef did. When Yosef was in Mitzrayim and he was in the place where it's the worst place ruchniyus, it says, of the whole world, and he was afraid, who knows what could happen to him, he might go lower in his spiritual level. So the first thing he did, let's work on not, chas veshalom, falling, not, chas veshalom, descending and becoming lower. It's a descent in galus. It's not his fault, he's in galus, it's lower, but not to lower his spiritual standards. So he gave him a name Menashe that would always remind him that it's possible to forget his source, forget his father's home, forget the environment he was before, and that's why he called him. And then he gave him a second name, which is the next level, hoping that not only will he not fall in his spiritual level, but \"כי הפרני אלקים בארץ עניי,\" now I'm even going to grow. This is going to be a yeridah letzorech aliyah, a descent in order to go up higher, and this is what the second name is. And this is a lesson for all of us while we're in galus. בכלל it's a lesson for the yeridah of the neshamah baguf, when the neshamah comes down to this world. It comes down from a very high level to a very low level, it's a big yeridah, as the lashon is \"מאיגרא רמא לבירא עמיקתא,\" from a very, very high roof to a very deep pit. So it's a yeridah. So the first thing we have to remember, we have to be strong. The yeridah shouldn't overcome us, we shouldn't get schlepped into the inyanim of olam hazeh and fall down in our spiritual level. But then we have to remember that the kavanah is not only we shouldn't fall, but we should even go higher than the neshamah was before it came down. That's b'noge'a the neshamah coming down in every Yid in olam hazeh. And especially in galus, when we are in galus, we have to remember that first of all we have to work hard not to fall into the trap of galus, and then the second level is not only we shouldn't fall, but this should also bring us to an aliyah, we should get closer to the Oibershter because of galut. And when we do that, and we feel closer, and we gain from the galut, this will bring that Mashiach will come and we will see how we reach the higher level, even higher than the way we were before the galut, when we had the בית המקדש, because we're going to have the בית המקדש השלישי, which is going to be a higher level, and that'll stay forever.