Thursday, December 10, 2009

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vayeishev

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

I apologize that this post is only being seen on Sunday Night. We did not show the R' Frand broadcast at the YIWH on Thursday and I only downloaded the shiur later. While it was my intention to summarize it Thursday night I was unable to complete the post until Sunday.

Rabbi Frand told over the story about when the Volozhin yeshiva was going to select the Rosh Yeshiva and needed to choose between the Netziv or the Beis HaLevi. They took the issue to the beis din who considered the matter. Then one of the dayanim said - this is parshas Vayeishev. The other dayanim looked at him incredulously since the week's portion was not Vayeishev. The dayan then explained himself - every parsha from Bereishis through Vayishlach has a hero and a villain - Adam and the snake, Noach and the people of his generation, Avraham and Lot , Yitzchak and Yishmael, Yitzchak and Efron, Yaakov and Esav, Yaakov and Lavan. But in Parshas Vayeishev there is no longer a good guy vs a bad guy because they are all tzadikim. This is what I meant by this being parshas Vayeishev as they are both qualified to be Rosh Yeshiva.

Rabbi Frand told one other "light" vort (his term, not mine) in relation to Yosef being called a "na'ar." In Vayeishev 37:3, the Torah states that Yosef was a na'ar for the children of Bilha and Zilpa. The Medrash Rabbah asks - why is Yosef called a na'ar (usually translated as young boy) if he was 17 at the time. The Medrash Rabbah answers that Yosef was immature as he was dressing his hair and using make up around his eyes to make himself look attractive.

Rabbi Frand then mentioned a story where R' Yerushalmi asked the Gerrer Rebbi - why is it that only by Yosef does the medrash need to explain the basis for his being called a na'ar? At the time of the akeidah Yitzchak was thirty seven years old, yet Avraham (in Vayeira 22:5) refered to Yitzchak as a na'ar, why is that not addressed by the Medrash?

The Gerrer Rebbi answered - to a parent, their child is always their na'ar, their young son. Since Avraham was referring to his son Yitzchak, it was natural to refer to him as the na'ar. However, by Yosef it was the parsha itself which referred to Yosef as a na'ar, a puzzling situation which required explanation as to why a young man was still called a boy.

When the Gerrer Rebbi finished his explanation, he and R' Yerushalmi were approached by a nonagenarian who asked the Gerrer Rebbi for a bracha. After he gave her the bracha, the woman then said - can I have a bracha for my young son (using a yiddish term) as well? R' Yerushalmi commented - not only is he a tzaddik, but he merits help from Hashem to demonstrate his point.

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