After, chasdei Hashem, returning from a most beautiful Shabbos Chanukah in Eretz Yisrael, there is so much that I learned and observed while being in the palace of Hashem... so much to share and express.
But one of the great things I noted there was the Presence of Hashem that was felt among the people... Whether it was the deep yearning and connection every Jew had at the Kosel... and at Kever Rochel, or the strength of the Yehei Shemei Rabbah and the long Shema and Shemoneh Esrei in every single shul...
The sefer Pele Yoetz sitting on the windshield of the taxi driver who was not even wearing a yarmulke, and who shared how much he loves it...
The lighting of menoros in the streets of Yerushalayim... the berachah of Rav Binyomin HaTzaddik shlita... the shine beaming from Rav Asher Arieli’s face... and so much more.... Although, R’l, the Shechinah has not yet returned, Hashem’s Presence is nevertheless present in Yerushalayim....
Last year, Rav Shragi Kallus shlit”a shared a most beautiful idea that really brings out the lesson from above in a new light:
When the parashah reaches its pinnacle moment, as Yosef HaTzaddik reveals himself to his brothers, he tells them the following message to share with their beloved father:
מַהֲרוּּ֮ וַעֲל֣וּ אֶל־א בִּי֒ וַאֲמַרְ תֶ֣ם אֵל ָ֗יו כֹֹּ֤ה א מַר֙ בִּנְך֣ יוֹסֵֶ֔ף ש מַַ֧נִּי אלקים לְא דֵ֖וֹן לְכׇל־מִּצְר ֑יִּם רְ ד ַ֥ה אֵלֵַ֖י אֶַֽל־תַעֲמֶֹֽד ׃
“Now, hurry back to my father and say to him: Thus says your son Joseph, ‘G-d has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay’” (Bereishis 45:9).
The question is why Yosef felt it necessary to share this message with his father, telling him that Yosef had become the Viceroy of Egypt; would that piece of information really bring nachas ruach to his father at all?
Furthermore, later, when Serach the daughter of Asher had the great merit of sharing the besurah tovah of Yosef’s being alive to her holy Zaidy, Yaakov Avinu, at first, he did not believe her. As the pasuk states:
וַיַגִִּּ֨דוּ ל֜וֹ לֵאמָֹ֗ר ע֚וֹד יוֹסֵ֣ף חֶַ֔י וְכִֶּֽי־הַ֥וּא מֹשֵֵ֖ל בְכׇל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִּצְר ֑יִּם וַי ֣פׇג לִּבֶ֔וֹ כִַּ֥י לֹא־הֶאֱמִֵּ֖ין ל הֶֶֽם׃
