Parshas Vayaitzei - 5764
Yaakov (Jacob) was repeatedly subjected to deceitful dealings on the part
of Lavan (Laban). Yaakov was able to anticipate and prepare for Lavan's
treachery. Sometimes we think that one who is pure and honest will also be
naive and gullible. Actually, the opposite is the case. A talmid chocham
(Torah scholar), with his penetrating insight and wisdom, will be able to
understand how all people, even crooked people think, and react
accordingly, as the following true story illustrates:
Three men were traveling, each carrying a huge sum of money. They
stopped for Shabbos and hid their money together in one spot where it
would be safe till after Shabbos. When they came to dig up the money, it
was gone.
They were certain that it was one of them who performed the theft, since
no one else knew where they hid the money; but were pretty much at a
stalemate as to proving anything. They decided to bring their case
before the wise Shlomo HaMelech (King Solomon), who listened carefully
to their tale.
"Before I judge your case, I want to ask your advice on another puzzling
case that I am working on," said the King, "The details are as follows:
A young boy and girl swore that they would marry each other when they
grew up. They agreed that if either of them ever wished to marry someone
else, they would ask permission from the other. Years passed and
the girl wanted to marry another man; but first she had to receive the
first youth's consent. Taking a large sum of money, she went to her
childhood friend and asked that she be released from her promise. Being
a kindhearted person, he agreed, but refused to accept any money. 'It is
enough that you kept your promise and asked my permission. You owe me
nothing else. Go marry your heart's choice.'
With great joy, she returned home, but along the way was attacked by
robbers who stole the large sum she was carrying. The head thief also
wanted to abuse the girl. She said to him, 'This money should have
belonged to a young man whom I promised to marry. Through the goodness
of his heart he not only freed me from my oath, he refused to accept the
money. Look how noble he was and how selfish you are!'
The thief was moved by her touching words and was truly ashamed of
himself. 'Here, take the money. Return home and marry your heart's
choice.'"
Shlomo HaMelech asked the men, "Which of the three people in this
episode is most praiseworthy. The young man, who released the girl from
her vow without taking any money. The young lady who would not marry
without permission; or the robber who returned the money and let the
girl go."
One man replied, "The girl was the most praiseworthy for keeping a
childhood promise."
The next replied, "It is the boy who without any compensation, absolved
the girl he had loved, of her oath."
The third said, "It was the robber who returned the entire sum to the
girl."
Upon hearing all of this, Shlomo pointed to the third man and exclaimed,
"You are the thief. If you think that a robber who returns money that he
never should have stolen in the first place, is to be congratulated,
then you show how important money is to you and how little theft means
to you. You stole the hidden money. Return it immediately.
Reluctantly, he admitted his guilt and returned the money he had stolen.
Parshas Vayaitzei - 5763
Yaakov suspected that Lavan would try to switch brides, substituting
his daughter Rachel with his other daughter Leah. Brides wore very thick
veils so a switch would not be too difficult. Yaakov gave Rachel a code so
that he could confirm that it was indeed she standing under the chupah
(wedding canopy). When Lavan did in fact make the switch, Rachel gave Leah
the secret code because she couldn't bear the thought of the humiliation that
would befall Leah if she was called out at the chupah. Rachel gave up the man
she loved in order to spare the feelings of her innocent sister.
Eventually, Yaakov married both of them. Leah had 6 sons, Bilhah and
Zilpah had two sons each, and Rachel had none. Leah was now expecting another
child and realized that if this child was a boy, then Rachel could have at
most one son (she knew through prophesy that there were destined to be 12
tribes). Rachel would have fewer tribes than the maidwives. Leah prayed that
her unborn child be a girl, so that Rachel could still have two boys - which
Rachel eventually did. Leah wished to spare her sister the disgrace of being
in "last place."
Caring about the feeling and well being of others, under all
conditions, is a hallmark of Judaism. Indeed our lives are much fuller and
richer when this happens, as the following three anecdotes illustrate:
1. During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop
quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions,
until I read the last one:
"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school? Surely
this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She
was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I
handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.
Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would
count toward our quiz grade. "Absolutely," said the professor. "In your
careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your
attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'hello'. I've never
forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.
2. In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old
boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of
water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked. "Fifty
cents," replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his
pocket and studied the coins in it. "Well, how much is a plain dish of ice
cream?" he inquired. By now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress was growing impatient. "Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied."
The little boy again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he
said.
The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and
walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When
the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There,
placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You
see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave
her a tip.
3. Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got
to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious
disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from
her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and
had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.
The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked
the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw
him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying," Yes,
I'll do it if it will save her."
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and
smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his face
grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?" Being young, the little
boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to save her.
The foregoing true anecdotes were submitted by Teresita
Salganick.
D'Var Torah - Parshas Vayaitzei - 5762
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
Yaakov was traveling and the sun went down so quickly that it was as if
it fell out of the sky. He was immediately cast in darkness. This could be very
frightening, disorienting and it goes without saying, inconvenient. However
Hashem (G-d) had a plan. He wished for Yaakov to sleep in that special spot so
that he could have the famous dream with the angels climbing up and down a
ladder to shamayim (heaven). Yaakov received many important rich blessings as a
result of this incident. Often we perceive things as bad, only later to discover
that they are part of Hashem's good plan; as the following true story
illustrates:
Yonah Kaufman was driving in his car one day, listening to a Torah
tape as he often enjoyed doing. He was going along on his way, when suddenly he
heard a loud honk. He turned to see a swerving pickup truck careening toward him
from out of nowhere. Fortunately, he was able to react just in time to avoid a
serious, possibly fatal collision. Although his car was fine, he was a wreck. He
pulled over to catch his breath and compose himself.
As he played the scene over in his mind, something didn't make
sense. Who honked the horn? It sounded a bit different than a regular horn
sound. Eventually he figured it out. He replayed the Torah tape and just at that
point, there was the sound of a loud horn honking in the background. Apparently,
when the lecturer, Rabbi Dan Segal, delivered the presentation, a truck driving
past the building honked its horn just at that moment.
Yonah's dedication to Torah learning saved his life. The mitzvah
saved his life.
Rabbi Segal delivered this lecture ten years prior to this near
accident. Presumably, at the time when the loud truck drove by, people
considered it an annoying distraction, interrupting a wonderful Torah lecture.
Little could anyone have suspected at the time, that Hashem was
masterfully orchestrating events so that ten years later a Jew's life would be
spared.
Adapted from Visions of Greatness Vol. IV by Rabbi Yosef Weiss, published
by CIS.
D'Var Torah - Parshas Vayaitzei - 5761
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
When something is meant to be it is meant to be. Yaakov was traveling the long journey to the town of his uncle Lavan. When he arrived he stopped at a well where, lo and behold, he saw the beautiful Rachel whom he fell in love with and eventually married. Our sages tell us that Rachel usually did not go to that well, but it was meant that she and Yaakov should meet.
Lavan tried to cheat Yaakov out of his shepherd wages. Yaakov was paid by being allowed to keep certain sheep for himself. Lavan always tried to figure out which type of sheep were least likely to be born and he would promise Yaakov that those were the sheep Yaakov could keep for himself. No matter how Lavan tried to stipulate, the right sheep would be born to the benefit of Yaakov. It was meant to be that Yaakov should get that money that was rightfully coming to him.
Barbara, a Jewish woman, was not well learned in Torah or Judaism, and felt it was time to start. She looked in the paper and saw a christian bible group studying the old testament. One day she went to a playground with a friend Sharon, whom she had met in the group. Sharon said, "Let's go over to those two women sitting at that bench and invite them to our bible group." The women politely responded in the negative citing that they were Jewish.
Barbara piped up, "I'm Jewish and I go to the group." The women asked her, "If you are Jewish, why don't you go to a Jewish Bible class."
Barbara responded, "I couldn't possibly go to a Jewish class, I don't know Hebrew."
One of the women said, "Why don't you go to Rabbi Lederman's class. He teaches a Jewish class for Jewish people who don't have a big Hebrew background."
Barbara has been one of my proudest students ever since, but then, I guess it was meant to be.
DVAR TORAH: Vayatzei
Yaakov beseeched Hashem (G-d) that his
descendents should not be unworthy (vis. Rashi - shelo tehay psul b'zari).
It was crucial to Yaakov that Torah carry on throughout the generations.
When we study, practice and transmit Torah, we are bringing nachas
(pride and joy) to our patriarch Yaakov. The following is a tribute to
one of the great Torah disseminaters of the 20th century:
This week (2nd day of Kislev) was the
Yarhtzeit of Reb Aharon Kotler ztzvk”l, Rosh Yeshiva of the Lakewood
Yeshiva. He was one of the leaders of Jewry, and he carried the weight
of the Jewish people, which had been scarred so greatly from the
devastation of the War.
Besides his own yeshiva,
he carried the weight of Chinuch Atzmai, the network of schools
throughout Israel, which teaches Torah to children, has mostly separate
classes, and allows secular studies. Reb Aharon called Chinuch Atzmai 'Pikuach
nefashos.' [The instrument that was saving hundreds and thousands of
lives from spiritual death.]
He was a leader in
Agudath Israel as well as many Torah organizations in America. In all
this he was always studying Torah, and taught it to his students in
Lakewood, and helped his students establish new yeshivos in other
cities. He was a Rosh Yeshiva the way a Rosh HaYeshiva was in Europe. He
didn't change in America. People said America didn't change Reb Aharon,
but Reb Aharon changed America.
He arrived in America in
1941 but his goal was immediately to try and to save as many Jews as he
could from Hitler and Stalin. He, with a few other Rabbis, tried to
arouse the Jews in America to help and save lives. Only a handful
listened. He went to Washington and even chastised Henry Morgenthau for
not trying to help. Henry took the thrashing and did help. It's
difficult to imagine what America would be like if Reb Aharon would
never have made it here.
His character traits were so perfected that they were like diamonds.
One day he left his apartment and then told his driver that he has to go
back home. He forgot something. The driver offered to go in the house
for him. Reb Aharon refused, and said it is something that he has to
do. Reb Aharon walked up three flights of steps and the driver followed
him to figure out what was so important. He went into the apartment,
walked over to his wife and told her in Yiddish, "Have a good day." He
turned around. "Now we can go."
He went raising funds, and many businessmen helped him, but many
wouldn't. He never got insulted or took it personally. He knew that
supporting Torah is a privilege and not everyone understands that
privilege.
He always carried around
a volume of the Mishnah Brurah with him. When asked why, he explained
that he wanted the merit of the Chofetz Chaim to be with him.
He once had nothing to eat a whole day besides one fruit.
He was busy fund raising. But he didn't throw the core or the peels on
the floor or out he window. Rather he held them in his hand or in a bag
until he could throw them away. When he came home late at night, he
bemoaned that he didn't study the whole day.
His wife brought out a
bowl of soup, but Reb Aharon said to give it to the driver. "He's been
out a whole day and is hungry." For himself his studying was what he
needed to do.
It once happened that
Reb Aharon was preparing to travel to Israel. His students planned to
accompany him to the airport. Reb Aharon demurred saying it was better
that they should stay in the yeshiva and not take time away from their
learning.
The students called Reb
Moshe Feinstein and asked him what to do. He said, "You should indeed
accompany Reb Aharon to the airport. To honor Reb Aharon is to honor the
Torah itself." [We
thank Moshe Reinitz for his contributions to this article]
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