Eternal Hope
And they (the brothers) sat down to eat bread (37:25).
This passuk tells how, after the shevatim sold Yosef Hatzaddik, they sat down to eat. The Medrash (Rabbah 84:16) says: R’ Achva Bar Ze’ira taught on this passuk that the sin of the shevatim is remembered eternally, and it brings eternal hope.
The Zera Shimshon asks the obvious question: These two things clearly contradict each other. How can the sin be remembered eternally, which is clearly a description of the magnitude of the sin, and at the same time, it brings eternal hope, which seems to put this sin in a positive light?
The Zera Shimshon’s explanation will also explain what eternal hope the sin of the shevatim brings us.
The Zera Shimshon prefaces his answer with the following words of the Shach (Sifsei Kohen on the Torah, by a student of the Arizal).
The Sifsei Kohen writes that he heard that were it not for the sin of selling Yosef Hatzaddik, the Jewish people would have eventually been destroyed in galus, Heaven forbid.
The Shach explains that had the Shechina (Hashem’s divine presence in this world) never gone into galus before, then when the Jewish people sinned during the period of the first and second Batei Mikdash, there would not have been the unthinkable option of the Jews going into exile, which would force the Shechina to also go into exile with the Jewish nation. The only other option would be to wipe out the sinning Jewish people, Heaven forbid.
However, when Yosef Hatzaddik went down to Egypt, the Shechina was there with him, as is hinted at by the word מצרימה, to Egypt, which has the same numerical value as the word שכינה. This being the case, the Shechina, so to speak, had already tasted exile and could now join the Jewish people in their subsequent exiles.
The Zera Shimshon explains that the difference between the two was that Yosef didn’t cause the Shechina to go into exile because of his sins, whereas the Jews of the period of the Batei Mikdash caused the exile of the Shechina with their sins, which is unacceptable.
In other words, since the Shechina had already experienced exile, it would be easier for the Shechina to go through another exile, even though it was as a result of the Jewish people’s sin.
This is the meaning of the aforementioned Medrash. Although the sin of the shevatim will be remembered eternally, since as a result of it, the Shechina must now go through continual exile, at the same time, it also brings eternal hope, since the Shechina will eventually be redeemed and we, the Jewish people, along with it.
ZERA SHIMSHON
ZERA SHIMSHON SHIUR
BY RABBI SIMCHA BUNIM BURGER
THURSDAY 8:15 PM - 9:15 PM (20 Upstairs)
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Followed by Maharah Shiur 9:15-9:45PM
SHIUR SCHEDULE
DECEMBER 10, 2025
