Parashat Vayigash, after the Torah tells us that the shevatim found out that this is Yosef, then the פסוק says in קפיטל מ\"ה פסוק י\"ד: ויפול על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו. That he fell on the neck of Binyamin his brother and he cried, and Binyamin cried on his neck. So the Gemara says in Megillah דף ט\"ז עמוד ב', also brought down in Rashi on the פסוק, that בכה על שני מקדשים, that Yosef cried on the neck of Binyamin, he cried on the two בתי מקדש שעתידין להיות בחלקו של בנימין, that will be in the chelek, in the share of Binyamin in ארץ ישראל, ועתידין ליחרב, they will be destroyed. And Binyamin, why did he cry on the neck of Yosef? בכה על משכן שילה, he cried concerning the Mishkan of שילה שעתיד להיות בחלקו של יוסף, which is going to be in the part of יוסף, ועתיד ליחרב, it will be destroyed. Which means Yosef saw with ruach hakodesh that in the part of Binyamin in Eretz Yisrael, there will be two בתי מקדש, and they will both be destroyed, so he cried for that. And Binyamin cried when he saw that the משכן שילה is going to be in the part of Yosef, and that will be destroyed. And therefore, it says that he fell על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך, he fell on the necks of Binyamin. It should have said he fell על צואר בנימין, on the neck. Why does it say צוארי, which means necks, lashon rabbim, plural? Because Yosef cried concerning two things, concerning two בתי מקדש that will be destroyed.

Now what is the reason, why is the Beit Hamikdash hinted with the word neck? Here it says he cried on Binyamin's necks, and those necks refer to the two בתי מקדש. Why is the Beit Hamikdash referred to as a צואר? So this is explained by what it says in the Midrash. It says in שיר השירים קפיטל ד' פסוק ד': כמגדל דוד צוארך, like the tower of דוד is your neck, and this refers to the בית המקדש. And the midrash, Shir HaShirim Rabbah on the פסוק explains why the בית המקדש is called neck: מה צואר זה נתון בגבהו של אדם, just like the neck is on the top of the person, כך בית המקדש נתון בגבהו של עולם, so too is the בית המקדש on top, the highest part of the world. But we would think that when it says it is the גבהו של עולם, the highest part of the world, it means it's mamash, we consider it as if it is the highest part of everything. But the truth is that it's not mamash the highest the highest, because the Gemara says in Zevachim דף נ\"ד עמוד ב' on the פסוק in פרשת ברכה, קפיטל ל\"ג פסוק י\"ב, where it says: ובין כתיפיו שכן, that between his shoulders he will rest, and this refers to the בית המקדש. So we see that the בית המקדש is considered between the shoulders. So the Gemara says, and Rashi brings it down, that the בית המקדש is נמוך עשרין ותלת אמין מעין עיטם, that the בית המקדש was lower than the area that was called Ein Eitam with 23 amah. And this is כצוארו של אדם, like the neck of a person, which is on top of the body, but nevertheless, it is a little bit lower, because the highest part of the body is the head. The neck is lower than the head. So too is the בית המקדש not mamash the highest, but בין כתיפיו שכן, it's between the shoulders, which means it's the neck. Why? So it says there, because אמרי: נחתי ביה פורתא, make it a little bit lower, because the פסוק says ובין כתיפיו שכן means it has to be a little lower, דאין לך נאה בשור יותר מכתפיו, that the nicest part of an ox is his shoulders, not the head. And therefore the בית המקדש, even though בית המקדש was בגבהו של עולם, in the highest part of the world, it wasn't mamash the highest, it was ב-גבהו, which means in the highest. That means it was like the neck of a person, which is on top of the person, nevertheless, it's not the highest part of the person.

But likhora, we have to understand: What is the maalah in the fact that the בית המקדש is not the highest, it's a little bit lower? Mimah nafshach, is height a maalah, which it seems that it is, and that's why it says that the בית המקדש is בגבהו של עולם, it's the highest part of the world, because height is a maalah, and the truth is we find for instance by the mitzvah of ד' מינים, the lulav, which is the highest, is in one way the most important one. That's why you make the ברכה על נטילת לולב, even though the mitzvah is to take all four kinds, so it says because the lulav is the highest, as it's brought down in Shulchan Aruch. So height is a maalah. Now, height if it's a maalah, then it should be the highest. Why is it better that it's high, but not the highest, but a little bit lower? What is the maalah in being a little bit lower?

But the peshat is, we have to first understand what is the connection between the neck and the בית המקדש. Every mashal that we have in Torah must fit to the nimshal. Every parable must fit to the thing we want to bring out with it. When we give a mashal on the בית המקדש from the neck, it's not only because of the area where the neck is in the body, that the בית המקדש is on top, similar to the neck which is on top of the person. There must be another connection between the neck, as what the neck stands for, legabei the בית המקדש. What is the inyan of a neck? A neck is between the head and the body. We know that the general life of a person is found in the head, in the brain of the person. From the brain, it comes down to the body. It goes through the קנה, ושט, and ורידין that's in the neck. It goes through the windpipe, the food pipe, and those veins that are in the neck of the person, and through that, the chiyut, the life that's in the brain, goes to the whole body. And the same is not only concerning the physical life, but also concerning the brain, the sechel that's in the brain. The person's sechel, the person's intellect, is in the brain, and that intellect controls the whole body. But how does it go down? It goes through the גרון, the neck, and through the neck, the brain controls the whole body. So it comes out that there is a maalah in the neck even over the head, because the neck is that part of the body which accomplishes what the head is supposed to do, that through the neck, all the evarim, all the limbs, all parts of the body receive their life from the head. And this is the purpose of the head: to bring the life to the body. So who does it? It is the neck that accomplishes that part. And also, we want that the whole body should act according to the sechel. This is the purpose of the sechel in the head, not just that the sechel should stay in the head, but that it should control the whole body. The neck is the part of the body that through it, the sechel controls the whole body. So it comes out like this: that when we talk about the level of the thing itself, the head is the highest level of the body. Therefore, it is on top of the body. On the other hand, when we talk about accomplishing and fulfilling the mission, so to speak, reaching the goal, so the neck has a maalah over the head, because the neck is the part which is called the memutza, the in-between the head and the rest of the body. And that's why the בית המקדש is compared to the neck, and that's why there is a maalah in the fact that it's not the highest part, but it's a little bit lower than the highest. Because the inyan of the בית המקדש was not that this should be a place for the Shechinah to rest. The truth is it was the place for the Shechinah. Hashem said, \"ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם.\" Make for Me a Mikdash and I will rest between them, rest in the בית המקדש. The Mishkan, the Beit HaMikdash, was the place where the Shechinah was shorah, where the Shechinah rested. And as Shlomo HaMelech said when he built the Beit HaMikdash, that השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך, ואף כי הבית הזה, that the heavens and the high heavens cannot hold Hashem, but this bayit could hold Hashem. So Hashem lives in this bayit, but this is not the whole goal of the Beit HaMikdash. The purpose of the Beit HaMikdash was that from the Beit HaMikdash, the kedushah, the Elokut, the godliness, the Shechinah, should go, should spread throughout the world. And this is the reason why the windows in the Beit HaMikdash were made חלונות שקופים אטומים, which means that the windows were made so that inside it was narrow and towards the outside it became wider. Normally, when you build a house and you build windows, so you make it so that outside it is narrower, and when the windows goes in through the thickness of the wall, it becomes wider, because the purpose of the windows is so that the light from the outside should come into the house. So it's built so that the light comes in and then it spreads into the house, so therefore it goes in an angle that it becomes wider inside. By the Beit HaMikdash, it was just the opposite: inside it was narrower, and outside it was wider. Why? Because this was supposed to show that משם אורה יוצאה לכל העולם, that from the Beit HaMikdash the light would spread throughout the whole world. The purpose was not that the light of the world should come into the house, into the Beit HaMikdash, but the light of the Beit HaMikdash should spread out to the whole world. So it comes out that the Beit HaMikdash itself, its madregah, even though it's a very high madregah, but what it's supposed to do is take the very high level of kedushah, of the Shechinah that's in the Beit HaMikdash, and bring it to the world. And that's why the Beit HaMikdash is compared to the neck, that just like the neck, it is not just a high madregah, it is a high madregah, it's on top of the body, but it's not the highest, it's not the head. It's a little bit lower than the head because it is the one that brings from the head to the whole body. So too was the Beit HaMikdash a little bit lower than the top to show that even though it's very high, that's why the maalah is that it is the גובהו של עולם, nevertheless it's not the very top where it's by itself, but it's a little bit lower, which means that it's the place that brings the kedushah from the highest level throughout the whole world.

This is concerning the Beit HaMikdash. Mikdash, and the same would be concerning every Yid. We know that every Yid has a Beit HaMikdash within him, as we quoted the pasuk before where it says ושכנתי בתוכם. Hashem says, \"I will dwell amongst them.\" And the famous pshat from Chazal, brought down in different sefarim, in the Shlah, etc., that בתוכו לא נאמר אלא בתוכם, it doesn't say Hashem said, \"I will rest in it,\" but He said, \"I will rest amongst them,\" that Hashem rests in every single yid. Every single yid has a בית המקדש within himself, which is his neshamah. And the neshamah of a yid is a very high madregah, but the purpose of the neshamah is not just to remain in the high madregah in itself, but the purpose is it should bring the kedushah into a lower madregah, into the person, into his body, into the world around him. His job is to bring the kedushah from a high madregah lower. This explains why Yosef cried on the neck of Binyamin and Binyamin cried on the neck of Yosef. Lichorah, why didn't each one cry on the head of the other? The head is more important! But the pshat is because the purpose of the person is similar to the neck. The idea is to bring the kedushah down into the lower parts, which is like the neck that brings the life and the sechel from the head into the lower parts.

But there is still one thing that we have to understand: Why did Yosef cry on the בתי מקדשות that were in the part of Binyamin, and Binyamin cried on the משכן which is going to be in the part of Yosef? Lichorah, each one should have cried on his own חורבן בית המקדש. Why didn't Binyamin cry on the בית המקדש that'll be destroyed in his part, the two בתי מקדש, and Yosef cry on the משכן שילה that'll be destroyed in his part? If they both saw ברוח הקודש the future concerning the בתי מקדש and the משכן, obviously they saw concerning themselves also. It's hard to say that Binyamin only saw the churban of משכן שילה, he didn't see his own בית המקדש, and that Yosef only saw the churban of the two בתי מקדש in the part of Binyamin, and he didn't see the churban of משכן שילה. Why should he only see someone else's? Peshitut they saw both. So why did Binyamin cry concerning the churban of the משכן שילה, the part of Yosef, and Yosef concerning the חורבן בית המקדש in the part of Binyamin? Why didn't each one cry concerning himself? After all, אדם קרוב אצל עצמו. A person is close to himself, so he should have worried about himself, that his בית המקדש will be destroyed. Why did he worry about someone else? We takeh see, concerning the mitzvah of Ahavat Yisrael, it says ואהבת לרעך כמוך, you should love your friend like yourself, כמוך with the כף הדמיון, like yourself, because naturally a person loves himself more. And the meforshim takeh say that it's hard to love someone else like yourself, so at least it's almost like yourself. But a person loves himself more, so a person cares about himself more in gashmiyut and so on, ruchniyut. So certainly they would care about their own בית המקדש more. So why didn't Binyamin cry about his own בתי מקדש, and Yosef about his own churban of משכן שילה? Another question is: we find later in the parshah that when Yaakov came to Yosef, it says in the פסוק, קפיטל מ״ו פסוק כ״ט, ויפול על צואריו, that Yosef fell on the neck of יעקב, ויבך, and he cried על צואריו עוד on his neck. And it doesn't say that Yaakov cried on the neck of Yosef. And it says in the Zohar, why did Yosef cry? He cried on the בית המקדש that is going to be destroyed. And that's why the Zohar says that it says ויבך על צואריו עוד, it says he cried again, this is concerning the galut, the last galut, which is an additional thing, he cried for that too. But the question is: why did only Binyamin cry concerning the חורבן בית המקדש and not Yaakov? Now, Rashi does answer this question that Yaakov at that time was קורא את שמע, he was busy with leienen, with saying Shema. But lechora, according to the simple pshat that Yosef cried because he didn't see his father for so long, so he cried for that, so it's understood that Yaakov, at that time he was leienen Shema, so he didn't want to get involved in his physical emotions because leienen Shema is more important. But Yosef, who was not saying Shema, he was able to cry. But according to the Zohar, that when Yosef cried it was concerning the חורבן בית המקדש, so why didn't Yaakov cry for the חורבן בית המקדש too? Even though he was saying Shema, but nevertheless, the crying should have been a spiritual crying which would be no contradiction to the saying of Shema.

But the answer is very simple: what is the inyan of crying? Crying means that when a person feels that there is nothing else that he could do, so he cries. And this makes him feel much better. When a person cries, it doesn't help at all. Crying doesn't change the situation. Nevertheless, it makes him feel better. As the pasuk says, היתה לי דמעתי לחם, פסוק in תהלים, קפיטל מ״ב פסוק ד׳, that my tears were like bread to me. Just like bread feeds a person, it makes him feel better, it satisfies him, so too crying satisfies a person. But it's self-understood that when a person is still able to change the situation, then he wouldn't cry, because then the best satisfaction he would is if the situation is changed, if he fixes the mistake, he fixes the problem. When a person feels that he can't fix it, there's nothing else that he could do, so then you feel very bad, so when the person cries, then at least he feels a little bit better. But when a person is able to fix the situation, then he would feel better only if it's fixed, because the amount of betterment that comes through the crying is very minimal. So therefore, when you have no other choice, at least you cry, that's the nature of a person. But when there is a choice to fix it, then there is no use in crying. And this will explain why Yosef cried concerning the חורבן בית המקדש of Binyamin, and Binyamin concerning the חורבן משכן of Yosef, and this will explain why Yaakov didn't cry at all. Because when it comes to a person himself, there is never a time when we could say you have to give up hope. When a person sees his חורבן בית המקדש, so to speak, so then he has to do everything to fix it, it's in his hand, and there is never a point when we could say it's too late, there's nothing you could do, so then the best you could do is to cry. You always still have a chance to fix. When it comes to somebody else, when you see somebody else's חורבן בית המקדש, which would mean you see somebody else's problems, someone else in ruchniyut, his בית המקדש which is his neshamah is not working properly, so then you have to try to help him. You mishtatef in his tzaar, you meorer him, you warn him, you teach him, you help him, but nevertheless the bottom line is up to him. He has to change it. Now, if you do everything and it doesn't help, there's nothing else you could do, so then at least you cry. But concerning yourself, there is never a time we could say there's nothing else that you could do, and therefore now all you could do is cry. You always have a choice to fix it. And therefore, Yosef concerning his own חורבן בית המקדש did not cry, but concerning Binyamin's he cried. Binyamin concerning his own בית המקדש didn't cry, but concerning Yosef he did cry. Now, Yaakov didn't cry on either. Why? Because Yaakov is the father of Yosef and Binyamin, so all the חורבן בית המקדשים, whether it's from the place of Binyamin or the place of Yosef, legabei Yaakov it's all his, because he is their father. It's all in the share of Yaakov, because the different shevatim, their different chelakim in Eretz Yisrael, they were all children of Yaakov, so it's all in the chelek of Yaakov. So Yaakov felt that all this is his churban, and therefore he had no reason to cry. But Yosef legabei Binyamin cried, Binyamin legabei Yosef cried, but concerning themselves they had no reason to cry, but they only felt that concerning himself, he has to work on changing.