The Parsha that will be read B'ezrat Hashem this Shabbat is Parshat Vayeishev. The Rokeach writes: All the Pesukim in this Parsha, from beginning to end, start with the letter vav except for eight, corresponding to Brit Milah which is performed on the eighth day. The entire Parsha is also filled with vav’s, or woes. וַי (woe) for the sale of Yosef, וַי for the death of Yehuda's wife, וַי for the death of Er, וַי for the death of Onan, וַי for Potiphar's wife, וַי for the prison, and וַי for Pharaoh's officers. Except for the eight Pesukim mentioned above, for which Osnat bat Potiphera merited to marry Bnei Yisrael’s redeemer. Similarly, you will find in Megillat Ruth that all the Pesukim begin with the letter vav except for eight, and in that book, Ruth married Boaz, and from her came forth redemption and royalty. These are the words of the Rokeach.
B'ezrat Hashem, we’ll explain these matters; but first, let us examine one point from the Rokeach's words. In our Parsha there are 112 Pesukim. If we subtract eight, 104 remain that begin with the letter vav. In Megillat Ruth there are 93 Pesukim, and if we subtract 8, we’re left with 85 – the gematria of בּ ֹו עַז, and the number of Pesukim beginning with vav in Megillat Ruth.
The question arises: what is the significance of the letter vav? The Rokeach says that the vav symbolizes וַיי – woe, in the same way וַיְהִ י denotes distress. I would like to journey to other realms with the idea that the Rokeach brings and use it for another topic that relates to the secret of הגאולה – redemption. The secret of הגאולה is hidden in the letter vav, but why specifically in that letter? Rashi comments on the Pasuk וְזָכַרְ תִּי אֶת בְּרִ יתִי יַעֲקוֹב, that in five places the name יַעֲקוֹב is written full with a vav, and in five places the name Eliyahu is missing a vav and spelled אֵ לִ יָה. Yaakov Avinu took a letter from Eliyahu's name as a pledge that he will come and announce the redemption of his children.
The last Pasuk in which Eliyahu appears is the second to last Pasuk in Tanach (Malachi 3:23): הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שׁ ֹלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם ה' הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא: וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל אֲבוֹתָם. Behold, I will send you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.
If the letter vav symbolizes the matter of redemption, perhaps we can understand that Parshiot dealing with the topic of Geula are all surrounded by the letter vav. How is this connected? The answer is very simple – if you find an entire Parsha where all the Pesukim begin with the letter vav, and our Parsha is the Parsha of the birth of Peretz, and Peretz is the head of the lineage with which Megillat Ruth concludes – פֶּרֶץ הוֹלִיד אֶת חֶצְרוֹן... וְ יִשׁ ַ י הוֹלִ יד אֶ ת דָּ וִ ד – then the beginning of royalty starts with Peretz, as told in our Parsha; the birth of Peretz is the beginning of Geula, and thus, in the place where the beginning of redemption appears, the entire Parsha begins with the letter vav. Megillat Ruth tells how through the marriage of Boaz with Ruth, Oved was born, who is the father of Yishai the father of David. This too is the secret of redemption. Therefore, there too you will find that all the Pesukim begin with the letter vav (except for 8).
Another question arises – what is the number 8? Why specifically do eight Pesukim not begin with the letter vav? The Rokeach writes it is because of Brit Milah – the covenant of our nation. In our Parsha, Osnat merited to marry Yosef HaTzaddik and did not need to be defiled by the gentiles in Egypt; and Ruth, who belonged to the nation of Moav, merited to marry Boaz and establish Beit Yisrael.
I would like to turn to an additional explanation. If we said that the letter vav heralds the redemption, then the number 8 is the number of the redemption itself. The Maharal says the number 7 is the number that symbolizes nature, and the number 8 symbolizes הַ נְהָ גָה שׁ ֶ מָּ עַ ל הַ טֶּ בַע – providence that is above nature. Chazal say (Bamidbar Rabbah, 15:11):
How many strings were on the harp that the Levi’im played? Rabbi Yehuda said: There were seven strings on the harp, as it is stated: 'Fullness of joy in Your presence.' Do not read it as 'fullness' (sova), but rather as 'seven' (sheva) joys. And so, David says: 'Seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous judgments.' And in the days of Mashiach it will have eight, as David says in song: 'For the conductor, with melodies, on the eighth.'
It turns out that these ideas all connect to Parshat Vayeishev, which always precedes Chanukah. On Chanukah there are 8 lights that allude to a mode of Divine conduct that is above the bounds of nature – above the natural order.
We brought earlier that the Rokeach writes that וַי (woe) was in the sale of Yosef. What was the great woe that occurred in the sale of Yosef? As a result, events unfolded and our forefathers descended to Egypt. Chazal state (Shabbat 10b):
A person should never show favoritism to one son among his sons, for because of the weight of two sela'im of fine wool that Yaakov gave to Yosef more than his other sons, his brothers became jealous of him and the matter unfolded and our forefathers descended to Egypt.
The beginning of the descent to Egypt started because Yaakov gave Yosef the Ketonet Pasim – the coat of many colors; his brothers became jealous of him, and because of this our forefathers descended to Egypt.
Tosafot states, even though this destiny was already decreed – in the Brit Bein HeBetarim with Avraham Avinu – perhaps such severe affliction would not have been decreed upon them if it were not for this episode, for the four hundred years (decreed to Avraham) began thirty years before Yitzchak was born. At Yitzchak's birth there was still no suffering, and we see that the difficulty of the servitude began only when they descended to Egypt.
The Meshech Chochma writes, the sin of selling Yosef has not been atoned for until this very day. The source of his words appears in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, 929):
Rabbi Yehuda said: The martyrs were not delivered to the kingdom except for the sale of Yosef. Rabbi Avin said: Behold it says: Ten, ten from every generation, and still that sin remains suspended.
He says: Those עֲשָׂ רָ ה הֲרוּגֵי מַ לְכוּת (ten martyrs), those holy Tanna’im who departed from the world, it was for the sin of selling Yosef. And the sin still remains suspended. Every Yom Kippur, we conclude each of the Tefillot with as follows:
כִּי אַתָּה סָלְחָן לְיִשְׂרָאֵל וּמָחֳלָן לְשִׁבְטֵי יְשׁ ֻרוּן בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר .
For You are the Pardoner of Yisrael, and the Forgiver of the tribes of Yeshurun in every generation.
כִּי אַתָּה סָלְחָן represents Cheit Ha’Eigel, the sin of the Golden Calf, while וּמָ חֳ לָן לְ שׁ ִ בְ טֵ י יְ שׁ וּרוּן represents Mechirat Yosef, the sale of Yosef. These are the two sins that, in fact, exist until this very day. The Meshech Chochmah explains, the sin of the Golden Calf is the root of sins Bein Adam LaMakom – between man and Hakadosh Baruch Hu, whereas the sin of selling Yosef is the root of sins Bein Adam LeChaveiro – between man and his fellow. When the Beit Hamikdash stood, the Kohen Gadol would enter the Kodesh Hakodashim on Yom Kippur, which was in Binyamin's portion. Why? Because he was the only one not involved in the sale of Yosef, and specifically in his portion it was possible to atone for this sin. Furthermore, the Kohen Gadol would enter in white garments and not in golden garments, so as not to arouse the sin of the Golden Calf. It emerges that the Kohen Gadol’s avodah on Yom Kippur was to atone for these two sins.
We are in a Parsha about which וַי (woe) is said so many times, but within this very וַי, the Torah deals with the roots of Mashiach. When the Torah writes that the Midianites sold Yosef to Egypt and he came to the Sar HaTabachim (chief of the butchers), the Torah stops the story of Yosef's descent to Egypt and dedicates 30 Pesukim to the story of Yehuda and his family. We would like to understand this issue.
וַיְהִי בָּעֵת הַהִוא וַיֵּרֶד יְהוּדָה מֵאֵת אֶחָיו וַיֵּט עַד אִישׁ עֲדֻלָּמִי וּשְׁמוֹ חִירָה .
And it came to pass at that time that Yehuda went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite whose name was Chirah.
Rashi states, this Parsha was placed here, interrupting the story of Yosef, to teach that his brothers demoted him from his greatness when they saw their father's distress. They said: "You told us to sell him. Had you told us to return him, we would have listened to you."
The Story of Yehuda and Tamar
The Midrash (Tanchuma, Vayigash 9) offers three reasons why the story of Yehuda and Tamar is placed immediately after the sale of Yosef. First, Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Yehuda that because he caused his father such anguish by deceiving him with “טָרֹף טֹרַף יוֹסֵף – Torn, torn is your son Yosef,” he would himself experience צַעַר בָּנִים – the pain of losing children. Second, the Torah juxtaposes יְ רִ י דָ ה לִ י רִ י דָ ה – descent to descent, and also הַ כֶּ ר לְ הַ כֶּ ר – recognize to recognize; both terms are found in both stories. Third, the Torah places Tamar’s story next to the episode of Potiphar’s wife, for just as Tamar acted for the sake of Heaven, so too did Potiphar’s wife, and the parallels between the two illuminate each other.
Several other interpretations are worth knowing. The Siftei Kohen, from the students of the Arizal, writes a novel insight: The word מאת is an acronym for מֵ ' תָ ה אִ ' שׁ ְ תּ וֹ תְּ ' אוֹמָתוֹ – his twin wife died. The brothers expelled Yehuda, saying to him, "You brought upon us untimely death!" – i.e., we never had anyone in the family who died young, until your wife died. According to the calculation, she should have been around 20 years old. If you say that Yosef was 17 years old, and the gap between Yosef and Reuven was between 6-7 years, it comes out that Reuven was 23 and Yehuda was about 20.
The Siftei Kohen continues: Yehuda recognized his sin, that she died because of the sin of selling Yosef, so he went down to Archa, in the land of Nod, as he said, "גלות מְכַפֶּרֶ ת עָווֹן – Exile atones for sin." He turned aside to an Adullamite man, who was from the descendants of Cain. עֲ דֻ לָ מִ י is a combination of two words: דְּ מֵ י-עַל – for the blood, in reference to the killing of his brother Hevel, and the reason for his exile. Therefore, Yehuda joined with him and said to him, "You killed your brother and I caused the killing of my brother, so let's dwell together and both of us will fulfill the obligation of exile."
Yehuda went on to marry Bat-Shua. We don't know exactly what her personal name was, but we know her father's name – Shua the Canaanite, and they had three children. The first was named עֵר, awake, as in awake to the sin he had committed. The second son was אוֹנָן; Bat-Shua gave him this name, based on the mourning – אֲ נִ ינוּת – she saw in Yehuda, as a result of selling Yosef. She then called the third son שׁ ֵ ל ָ ה, which means “error," because she said, "Perhaps he did the deed by mistake." The commentators say that after she gave birth to him, she stopped bearing children, therefore the Torah writes וְ הָ יָה בִ כְ זִ יב בְּ לִ דְ תָּ הּ אֹתוֹ – And he was in Cheziv when she bore him. Rashi says, the name of the place was called Cheziv because she stopped bearing children, from the language of אַ כְ זָב – like a deceptive stream, whose waters fail.
I saw in several sefarim that the name of this place signifies that Yehuda was in disappointment (אַ כְ זָבָ ה), since only sons were born to him and not daughters, and he didn't fulfill the commandment of Pru Urvu.
As an aside, the Da’at Zekainim learns a halachic matter from here. I don't enter into halachic discussions and bring it only to spice up the topic. Tamar named the child Shelah because she had stopped giving birth, and the words שׁ ֵ ל ָ ה and כְ זִ יב both imply cessation. Normally, the father named the first son and the mother the second, alternating afterward; therefore, Yehuda should have named the third. Since the Pasuk says “she called his name,” the Torah adds that Yehuda was in Cheziv at the time of the birth and was not present to name him. From here the Da’at Zekainim notes the custom that the husband names the first child and the wife the second, and so on.
A great chidush is brought in Pardes Yosef and also in Ta'amei HaMinhagim. They write something awesome, something frightening to say. The source for this is Rabbi Daniel Terni in his sefer Ikrei HaDa'at. The Pardes Yosef writes, when a person marries and a child is born to him, he must name him after his father, because of honoring one’s father and mother. Ikrei HaDa'at then writes, in a community where the firstborn was customarily named after the father’s father, a Rav ruled that a husband may not forfeit his father’s honor by naming the child after his wife’s father instead; if needed, they should use a double name. He added that those who have lost children often give two names to help the child survive and still preserve the father’s honor. Naming the firstborn after the father-in-law and the second after the father is improper, for one may not place the father-in-law’s name before the father’s. Chazal note that Nadav and Avihu illustrate this point: Nadav bore his maternal grandfather’s name (Aminadav) and Avihu bore his father’s name, and the order itself reflected a failing.
Let’s continue. וַיֵּרֶד יְהוּדָה מֵאֵת אֶחָיו וַיֵּט עַד אִישׁ עֲדֻלָּמִי וּשְׁמוֹ חִירָה. The Tzror Hamor writes, Chazal beautifully interpreted the juxtaposition of the Pesukim, for his brothers had brought him down from his greatness. But the plain meaning of the text appears to be that Yehuda saw his father's suffering – that he was weeping and mourning constantly over his son; and Yehuda saw that he was the cause of his brother's sale. And because he could not bear to see his father's anguish, he repented of his sin and confessed his transgression, and he brought himself down from his greatness on his own. For one who is ashamed of himself is not like one who is ashamed before others. Therefore, he separated from his brothers and wanted to be alone and grieve. He wanted to go to another land, to a place where no one knew him, to wear mourning clothes. And because he confessed his sin and brought himself down from his greatness, Hakadosh Baruch Hu measured out to him middah k’neged middah, measure for measure.
It is written in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 85:2):
The Rabbis say: The tribes said, 'Come, let us provide for ourselves. In the past, he [Yaakov] was obligated to find us wives, but now Yaakov is occupied with his sackcloth and fasting in mourning. Who will marry us off?! It is not right that he should be occupied with finding us wives.' They said to Yehuda, 'Are you not the head of all of us? Stand up and provide for yourself - you get married first.' Immediately, 'And Yehuda went down' - it was a descent for him, for he married a non-Jewish woman.
R' Simcha Bunim of Peshischa comes and asks what is written here; and he says something wonderful. Yehuda said: “The entire family is broken. Yitzchak is blind, Yaakov sits in his sackcloth and fasting, Yosef is in Egypt, Yehuda's wife has died, the whole family is in crisis. I will not allow myself to enter into crisis – we're opening a new page!” How does one open a new page? He immediately went and married another woman, as a new page begins with the first Mitzvah, to be fruitful and multiply.
The sefer Nachalat Sadeh says, this is why he went to get married, because Chazal write that when a person gets married, all his sins are forgiven. Therefore, Yehuda said, "I will go and get married and the sin of selling Yosef will be atoned for!"
The sefer Imrei Shamai provides another answer, in the name of his brother, the Imrei Emes. Why did Yehuda go to get married? Because it is written that he was king over the tribes. The moment the tribes removed him from his greatness, they removed him from his kingship, and a groom is compared to a king. If a groom is compared to a king, Yehuda said, "I will get married and restore my kingship."
Chazal bring another explanation for why Yehuda's wife died. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah, 85:3) says anyone who begins a Mitzvah but does not complete it, buries his wife and his children. They learn this from Yehuda, who asked his brothers what profit would come from killing Yosef, and then suggesting he be sold instead. He should have carried him on his shoulders to his father, as he already began the Mitzvah so now finish it by taking Yosef to his father! What did this cause him? He buried his wife and children.
The question arises – what is the middah k’neged middah here? The Midrash doesn't say. But the Yefeh To’ar on the Midrash explains the matter. When a person begins a Mitzvah and doesn't say "bli neder" (without a vow), he has accepted it upon himself as a vow. When a person accepts upon himself to do a Mitzvah as a vow and doesn't complete it, the Gemara (Shabbat 32b) states: Due to the sin of vows, children die when they are young. Therefore, since he began the Mitzvah and didn’t say "bli neder", he was obligated to complete it.
Rabbeinu Bachya asks: Why is the section about Yehuda's descent juxtaposed to the section about Yosef? To teach you that his brothers demoted him from his greatness when they saw their father's distress. They said to him: “You told us to sell him (Yosef) to the Ishmaelites. Had you said to return him, we would have listened to you!” According to Kabbalah, the section about yibum (levirate marriage) is juxtaposed to the section about the sale to connect gilgul to gilgul – reincarnation to reincarnation, for the secret of yibum is the secret of reincarnation. When a man passes away and leaves a widow without children, and his brother performs yibum with her, he brings back the soul of his deceased brother. For the child who is born is called by the name of the deceased brother. It is known that this sin could not be clarified, whitened, and rectified except through the secret of gilgul, such as the sale of Yosef, which the brothers did not manage to atone for, since Yosef never explicitly said that he forgave them. Therefore, they came back as the Ten Martyrs, for then the trap was broken and the souls escaped and ascended in peace to their Father in heaven and atoned for this.
Divine Providence and Redemption
With this, we can approach the Midrash that opens our main topic. The Midrash states (Bereishit Rabbah, 85:1):
Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman began: “For I have known the thoughts” – the tribes were engaged in the sale of Yosef, Yosef was engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting, Reuven was engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting, Yaakov was engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting, Yehuda was engaged in taking a wife for himself, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu was engaged in creating the light of Melech HaMashiach: “It was at that time, Yehuda descended from his brothers.” “Before she begins labor, she will give birth” – before the first one who would enslave was born, the ultimate redeemer was born.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: “I know what you are thinking and what you are feeling. Know that everything I do is thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. There is no bad thing that comes upon a person that doesn't have a purpose to bring a future and hope.” Before the first enslaver was born, the final redeemer was born. Before Pharaoh began to enslave Bnei Yisrael, the final redeemer was already born – this is Peretz, from whom will come the Melech HaMashiach.
In the sefer Oznaim LaTorah, R’ Zalman Sorotzkin writes: This is the way in which Hakadosh Baruch Hu leads the world. On the very day that our Beit Hamikdash was destroyed, the Midrash tells us, Mashiach Tzidkeinu was born. At the very time when Am Yisrael sat at the feast of Achashverosh, eating, drinking and sinning; at that very time when they sinned, Hakadosh Baruch Hu was arranging to remove Vashti from the world and bring Esther in her place to bring redemption to Am Yisrael. At the very time when the spies...
