Vol.

20 Issue #8

Parshas Vayeshev
Fleet of Faith

Dovid Tanner (18)

At the end of this weeks parshah, Yosef asks the Sar

Hamashkim to mention him to the Pharaoh, in the hopes of getting freed from jail. The Medrash says that this was mistake on
Yosefs behalf he should have had bitachon in Hashem, and not
relied on the butler. Many ask the question, why was it wrong
for Yosef to ask for assistance from the butler? After all, arent
we supposed to perform our hishtadlus and try to accomplish
things through natural means instead of relying solely Hashem?
There are many approaches to the previous question.
The Chazon Ish famously explains that hishtadlus builds off bitachon. We do our part believing that Hashem does His part.
Therefore, we should only do things that will actually work.
When Yosef asked the Sar Hamashkim to mention him to the
king on the other hand, this seemed like an act of desperation as
its unusual for a minister of the king to heed the requests of his
lowly servants. If one tries something in distress, it is almost as
though he/she doubts Hashem.
In a similar vein, some explain that Yosef was too eager
in his request to the Sar Hamashkim. Yosef says:

)Genesis 40:14), mentioning the phrase remember me twice,
also showing franticness. On a different note, some explain that
Yosef was a tzadik and therefore a higher level of bitachon was
required from him; he should not have needed to do any hishtadlus. The higher ones bitachon and the closer they are to Hashem,
the less they need to be directly involved in this world. Rav
Chaim Kamil adds that it was evident to Yosef that Hashem was
helping him the entire time (becoming successful over Potifar
etc.). Since it was clear that Hashem was with Yosef, the hishtadlus was redundant for Yosef.
Rav Schwab suggests yet another possibility for Yosefs
error. Yosef had the wrong perspective of how hishtadlus works.
In the aforementioned passuk, Yosef tells the butler

Take me out of this house. Instead asking the butler to emancipate him, Yosef should have said Hashem, the true redeemer,
.would take him out of his imprisonment Bitachon necessitates
recognition that even the hishtadlus in ones life is powered by
Hashem, and in the end it is Hashem who fulfills the requests.

23 Kislev 5776

Through all of these explanations, it is clear that hishtadlus is an important concept that has specific rules and protocols.
Hishtadlus and bitachon dont contradict each other, they highlight
two different approaches to a situation (which often blend together), with all of our actions based upon faith in Hashem. May
we be able to reach a level of true bitachon and entrust all of our
faith in Hashem.
Temperament and Temptations

Ben Tzion Zuckier (17)

When Potiphar's wife tempted Yosef into having relations with her, the Torah (Genesis 39:11) says, "vayehi kehayom
hazeh, vayavo habayta laasot melachto, and it came to pass on a
certain day, when he went into the house to do melachto" Rashi
cites a dispute (Sotah 36b) between Rav and Shmuel regarding
the meaning of the word melachto. One says that Yosef came to
do his actual household work for Potiphar, while the other maintains it means he went home with the mindset to have illicit relations with Potiphar's wife, a mindset which was shattered when
he saw a vision of his father's countenance. There is much discussion regarding thegemara's comment that Yosef saw a vision of his
father's face; should that be interpreted literally, metaphorically,
or somewhere in between?
Representing the middle approach, the Yefei Toar explains that Yosef saw a reflection of his own face, which was extremely similar to that of his father (Rashi on Genesis 37:3).
Looking at his reflection and noticing its similarity to Yaakov's
face, reminded Yosef of the high spiritual level with which his
father conducted his life. This realization gave Yosef the strength
to restrain himself, and he ran out of the house escaping the situation.
The Yalkutei Reuveini explains the gemara in a metaphorical manner. He quotes the passuk (Genesis 39:2)
"vayehi Hashem et Yosef, and Hashem was with Yosef." According
to the Yalkutei Reuveini, this means Yosef fulfilled the idea of
"shivti Hashem lenegditamid, I constantly have Hashem opposite
me." Kabbalists render this passuk to regard a person who should
constantly view the picture of Hashem's name in their mind's eye
in order to bolster his/her yirat Hashem and help avoid sin.
When the passuk says Yosef saw his father, it means he saw the
name of Hashem, his father, as he always did. By keeping Hashem
in his thoughts, he was able to resist the advances of Potiphar's
wife and stay free of sin. According to the Yalkutei Reuvenei, the
reason the gemara records that Yosef saw "his father's face" and
not "Hashem's name," is because the gematria (numerical value)
of "Yosef" plus the "Hashem" equals the gematria of "Yaakov,"

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or, as the gemara puts it, his father. Another reason why
the gemara selected the phrase "his father" to refer to Hashem, is
because Hashem is considered our Heavenly Father.
The Tzafnat Paneiach explains the gemara in a literal
manner. He quotes the Medrash, which in turn comments on
Yaakov's exclamation (Genesis 37:33), "tarof taraf Yosef, Yosef
must have surely been torn up!" The Medrash explains that Yaakov unwittingly predicted that Yosef would somehow be torn up
in the future. The Tzafnat Paneiach goes on to quote a
later passuk (Genesis 37:35), "ki eireid el benei aveil Sheolah, because I will descend to Sheol in mourning for my son." He explains the word Sheol to mean Gehennom, and thus Yaakov fulfilled his prophecy (Genesis 37:33) and his promise (Genesis
37:35) when he appeared to Yosef in Gehennom to liberate him
from the clutches of sin and the yeitzer hara.
Regardless of the approach taken, Yosef was able to
steel himself and eschew sin. Potiphar's wife attempted time and
time again to seduce Yosef and make him cave to the grave sin of
adultery. However, Yosef was able to overcome her temptations
time and time again. Yosef is the paragon oen who overcame the
extremely powerful yeitzer hara. When we are in a dire and
tempting situation, we should remember Yosef to ensure that we
don't fall into the Yeitzer HaRa's tempting traps.
Its All Part of the Plan

Avi Rothwachs (16)

Rabbi Frand quotes the Rokeach, on his commentary on

Chumash where the Rokeach makes a fascinating observation.
Parshas Vayeishev has a total of 112 psukim, and there are 112
words in Tehillim Perek 92 (the shir shel yom for Shabbos). The
Rokeach does not elaborate further on his interesting finding but
Rav Matisyahu Solomon offers an enthralling explanation. He
explains that Sefer Bereshis is the blueprint for Jewish History.
Throughout Sefer Bereshis, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov all
predict future events that will happen to their children. The avos
rarely made mistakes, but in the beginning of this weeks parsha,
Yaakov seems to have made a grave and obvious one. He showed
favoritism towards one of his sons, Yosef. If you were to ask any
parent who has raised multiple children if they would ever show
favoritism towards one child, they would all say absolutely not.
So the question is, why did Yaakov make such an obvious mistake? And to make the question even better, if Yaakov realized
the hatred his other sons had towards Yosef, why would he send
Yosef alone to locate his brothers?
There are three words in Parshas Vayeishev that are out of
the ordinary and begging for a deeper explanation. The pasuk
(37:14) says

And he [Yaakov] sent him [Yosef] from the Valley of
Chevron. Chazal wondered, what does the Torah mean by the
Valley of Chevron. Chevron is not in a valley; rather, it is located in the mountains! So why would the Torah use the word
valley to refer to a mountain? One possible answer is that the
term Valley here has nothing to do with a location or landscape,
rather, Yaakov sent Yosef based on the counsel of Avraham, who
was buried in Emek Chevron otherwise known as Maras
Hamachpaila. Now, the pasuk would read that Yaakov sent Yosef
based on the guidance of Avraham.
Rav Matisyahu Solomon explains that Hashem needed
all of these mistakes to happen in order to fulfill his promise to

Vo l. 20 I s su e # 8

Avraham that was made in the bris bein habesarim. Really, Yaakov would never send out Yosef to find his brothers, as Yaakov
realized that his other sons hated Yosef; so Hashem manipulated
Avraham to make Yaakov send Yosef. All the bad decisions that Yaa- Rabbi Michael
kov, Yosef, and the brothers made,
Taubes
were all caused by Hashem.
There are many other exRosh Yeshiva
amples of situations that are manipulated by Hashem in order to Rabbi Baruch
fulfill the Divine Plan. One example is when the Romans besieged Pesach Mendelson
Yerushalayim; the Roman general
Rabbinic Advisor
gave Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai
the chance to ask for three wishes.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai asked Ezra Epstein
that the city and people of Yavneh
be spared, that the family of Rabban Avi Rothwachs
Gamliel be spared, and that a docEditors in Chief
tor should be supplied to heal Rav
Tzadok [Gittin 56b]. The obvious Yehuda Goldberg
question is why Rabbi Yochanan
ben Zakkai didnt ask that the Beis Ben Tzion Zuckier
Hamikdash be spared? The answer
provided is derived from a pasuk in
Executive Editors
Yeshaya. [44:25]
Ari Hagler

Who makes wise men Distribution Coordinator

retreat and makes their knowledge
foolish. Hashem did not let Rabbi
Yochanan ben Zakkai make the right decision because He wanted
the Beis Hamikdash destroyed.
Parshas Vayeishev is coming to teach us that Hashem
runs the world. Some of the obvious mistakes that were made
throughout history were just little pieces in the master plan that
Hashem has.
With this lesson in mind, we can go back to our original
question of what do the 112 psukim in this weeks parsha have to
do with 112 words of Tehillim perek 92. Chazal tell us that when
Hashem was finished creating the world, He took Adam into Gan
Eden and showed him the next 6000 years of history. Adams response was a pasuk found in that perek of Tehillim:

How great are Your deeds, Hashem, exceedingly
profound are Your thoughts. Adam was impressed with two
things; Creation (how great are Your deeds) and history (how
profound are Your thoughts). Since Hashem showed Adam 6000
years of history, Adam understood His master plan and how each
and every event leads to another event. No one else in history
was able to appreciate Hashems master plan like Adam did. Only
Adam was on the level that Hashem showed him history through
His eyes. The connection between parshas vayeishev and Tehillim
perek 92 is that Hashem has thoughts that the unsophisticated
man will not comprehend, but we must have faith that all that
happens is through the constant divine intervention of Hashem.