This Shabbos was a special Shabbos. I very much appreciate that the learning was in memory of my father, Joseph ben Abraham. His yeirzeit was this past week, 2 days before Shabbos. David Schlesinger led discussion as we discussed the holiday of Hanukah, including commentary by Rav Malamed. We also discussed this week’s parsha, Mikeitz, including commentary by Rav Yeager. Efroni Schlesinger offered his commentary on the parsha, as well.
Today is the 3 year anniversary of these notes. Three years ago, my friend David Schlesinger had a learning in memory of my father at his house, when I was returning from the shiva. My family in New York and Costa Rica were not able to come to this learning, so I summarized what we discussed and sent it to them in an email. The decision to do this was made so fast and spontaneously, that it wasn’t until afterwards that I realized why I had done what I did. And this is how I began writing these summaries, which I have continued doing after every Shabbos.
When I was growing up, my father was fascinated with memory tricks, which he taught to me. It wasn’t until someone pointed out that I had a good memory that I realized that I was using my dad’s tricks in order to remember the material in order to write these summaries. This Shabbos, Yaki talked about how everything is part of Hashem’s plans. I believe this includes our learning every Shabbos, and the summarizing of what we learn in these notes.
My father’s Hebrew name is Joseph ben Abraham. His yeirzeit just so happens to occur at the same time the person he was named after, Joseph, is the main character in the parsha. My father, just like Joseph in the parsha, was in fact very fascinated and interested in dreams and would often write them down. I don't write down my dreams, but I know that the best dreams that I have are during my Shabbos nap, which is why I always look forward to it.
Like Joseph, my father did move away from his family when he was in his late teens, to the United States where he went to college and later met my mother. This is of course not the same as Joseph in the parsha being forced to go to Egypt. My father did stay in contact and visit his family ofen, even though he lived in another country. I am sure the same way Joseph reunited with his father, my father’s soul has reunited and is much closer to his parents and Hashem now than it has ever been.
I remember that we did celebrate chanukah together with my father. This Shabbos David Schlesinger led discussion of rabbi Malamed’s commentary on the holiday. Last week we discussed the miracle being the slow rate at which the oil was consumed. This week we talked about how the oil is just the beginning of the miracles that Hashem has provided to us. We discussed how the survival of the jewish people after so many years, is such a huge miracle, after many nations and empires tried to eliminate and get rid of us. We discussed that it is Torah and faith in Hashem that has helped keep Judaism going, regardless of in what part of the world we are in.
We discussed how Chanukah takes place during the time of year with longer nights. This is also the time of year when the moon is smallest. The lit candles of Chanukah symbolize the light, that the jewish people and Torah shine on a dark world. We discussed how it is the “Judaic-Christian” ideals that have transformed our world, into hopefully one in which people and nations do what is right and reflects hashem’s will, rather than one in which people and nations satisfy self centered desires. We were able to preserver and not conform to the Greek culture, a culture in which multiple god's were worshipped, and a culture in which physical things were highly valued.
We discussed how although we have experienced great miracles as both a nation and in our personal lives, we can not rely on miracles. Yaki talked about how miracles are most likely to occur when we have done the best we can. Yaki talked about how hashem has plans for miracles which may be triggered if we do the best we can. Yaki talked how it is important to believe in Hashem, that he will in fact take care of us, and it is the belief itself that triggers some of this “taking care of” to take place. If we do not believe in Hashem, we well may have to work on Shabbos and/or during the sabbatical year, and Hashem may have to command the land to give us food.
We discussed how chanakah, along with Purim, and certain other commandments, make up the 7 mitzvah that were implemented by rabbis. Efroni gave a very interesting dvar Torah, in which he points out that there are hints of chanakah in the original Torah, even though the events that created the holiday did not occur until thousands of years later. We had an interesting discussion about the oral law, and how it differs from the written law. Efroni commented that it would not have made since for Hashem to communicate to Moshe that he can not drive a car on Shabbos. So we have the oral law that continues to be applied to different situations to this day. Brett commented that this is similar to case law.
Efroni gave a very interesting dvar Torah on the week’s parsha. Efroni commented what it must have been like to be in Jacob’s shoes, hearing his sons tell this story of their adventure in Egypt. How could Jacob believe that they needed Benjamin to prove they were not slaves? Why would Jacob believe Benjamin needed to be used as some type of proof when they could easily bring some random guy? We discussed how the fact that they were willing to leave their starving families to go to Egypt again, seems to be what finally convinced Jacob that their story could be true. Another thing we discussed, is that perhaps Potiphar knew all along that Joseph was innocent, but simply had no choice but to put him in prison, with all the talk that was going on.
This Shabbos we discussed Rabbi Yeager’s material as usual. We discussed two tendencies, that can lead us to go off course in life. These tendencies are represented by the people that Jacob had to deal with. The first tendency is laziness, which is represented by Jacob’s father in law, Laban. When we are lazy, we are not necessarily doing anything destructive, but we are not doing anything constructive either, and are wasting time. The second tendency is aggressiveness in the physical world, with no spiritual basis for what we are doing. This second tendency is represented by Jacob’s brother Esau. Jacob has to deal with these two types of people in their life. We discussed how Jacob successfully deals with these 2 people.
We then continued to discuss, from Rav Yeager, how Joseph finds himself in 3 situations. The first situation is when he arrives in Egypt and goes to work as a servent of Potiphar. In the second situation, Joseph finds himself in prison, having been accused of showing too much of an interest in Potiphar's wife. And in the third situation, Joseph finds himself released from jail and living as a direct servent of Pharaoh. In each of these 3 situations, Joseph rises to the top. Rav Yeager makes the point, that Joseph succesfully builds on his father Jacob's success in life.
My father was not very religious with respect to being observant of all the halakuh, but he did a lot of mitzvah. My father liked to visit the sick. I remember when we all wanted to go to the beach, my father was more focused on visiting a person who recently had a stroke. I also remember my father had a housekeeper whose sister passed away, and my father offered to pay for this funeral, which is something he did not have to do. My father was an inventor and artist. He was building computers at our house before people even knew what a PC was, and has numerous patents and rewards. And he has many paintings which were drawn with a single black pen, one dot at a time. I hope by learning and doing these summaries, I can build on my father’s success, the same way that Joseph was able to build on the success of Jacob.
My father’s birthday was the day after his yeirzeit. I talked to my sister and we just decided to eat his favorite food and make a fun day out of it. My dad really liked to go to the beach, which is why I really like to hear about beaches and Dave W has continued to tell us about the beaches in Florida. Dave W has pointed out that there is also a Chabad house in Destin, and that there is an Achdut Israel synagogue in Panama City. There is also kosher food at the Publix supermarket, including Challah. F
Finally, we talked about how in Judaism we say blessings after the meal, as well as before. Brett pointed out that we even say a blessing on water, and he commented on the parsha that the speech at the UN by the ambassador of Israel was very much like the speeches that are given in the Torah. And I would like to thank David again for the learnings in my father's memory.
This is a summary of what we discussed. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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