[Don’t forget to see the Halacha
Encounters below!]
Parshas Vayigash contains the climax of the saga of Yosef
and the Shvatim. By examining this finale, perhaps we can
gain insight into the entire parsha. The pasuk states: “And
Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef, is my father still
alive?” But his brothers could not answer him because they
were ashamed before him.” Chazal add, “woe to us from the
day of judgement, woe to us from the day of rebuke…”
HaGaon Rav Avrohom Pam, zt”l, asks the following. Yosef
revealed himself because of his great compassion for his brothers
and spoke appeasing words to assuage his brothers’ shame. How
can we possibly interpret his words to include even a hint
of rebuke? Rav Pam answers as follows. The realization that
the viceroy of Egypt was Yosef was the greatest reproof in
and of itself. The brother that they had denigrated and accused
of sinister intentions had been shown the grace of Hashem and
uplifted to royalty. And they, the Shvatim were indeed fulfilling
his prophetic dreams and prostrating themselves before him. This
was the ultimate reproof.
What caused them to make such an error in judgement? Throughout
the parshiyos we see a clear difference between the way Reuven
and his brothers understood Yosef. Chazal explain that Reuven
saw the positive side in Yosef’s dreams. Yosef dreamed of
eleven shvatim bowing down to him. Reuven, still repenting
from the “Ma’aseh Bilha,” felt encouraged. “He counts
me in among the tribes and I should not save him!?” The brothers
however, retained their first impression of Yosef. To them
he appeared to be manipulating himself into the position of
sole continuant of Klal Yisroel, so they judged him to be a
rodeif. Not seeing anything positive in Yosef’s intentions,
they retained their first impressions and did not perceive
the positive within him. Whenever his actions had two possible
interpretations, the brothers judged them to be sinister. Finally,
in our parsha, the Shvatim come to realize the truth.
HaRav Pam quotes a gemara that continues this theme. Rav
Yosef the son of R’Yehoshua had a glimpse of the World to Come
and was asked what he had seen. “I saw an upside down world,” he
replied. “Those that were uplifted in this world were lower
in status and those that appeared lowly down here have a greater
status in the World of Truth.” In this external world, people
who appear great inside are overlooked. This was the cause
of their error in our parsha. The Shvatim based their decision
on their impressions. Had they had a deeper understanding
of Yosef’s essence they would have perceived his righteousness.
We are always making evaluations of the people we encounter
and often we retain our first unfavorable impressions which
can lead us to misjudge them, as we have seen. If we delve
a little deeper and strive to be aware of each person’s inner
greatness, inner struggles and inner dreams, we can avoid these
pitfalls and thus increase our Ahavas Yisroel.
Rabbi
Shapiro is a full-time member of the Kollel.
Halacha Encounters
“Women and Lechem Mishanah at the Shabbos Meals”
Rabbi
Yisroel Langer
The Gemorah (Brachos 39b/Shabbos 117b)
derives the source of the requirement of lechem mishnah from
the verse, “It happened on the sixth day that they gathered
a double portion of food.” (Shemos 16:22) The verse
tells us that the Jews received a double portion of the manna on
Friday. To commemorate this miracle, we make a hamotzi over
two loaves of bread. The Taz (Orach Chaim 678)
holds that the obligation is d’orysa (a Torah commandment). The
majority opinion, including that of Rabbeinu Tam (Sefer Hayoshor
) quoted in Responsa Maharam M’Rutenberg (Volume
3, Responsa 473) and the Magen Avraham (Orach Chaim 254:23)
is that it is only d’rabonin (a Rabbinic commandment).
Who
is Obligated?
The general rule is that women are exempt from time-bound mitzvos. Therefore,
perhaps one can say that women should be exempt from the obligation
of lechem mishnah. However, Rabbeinu Tam (ibid.)
says that women are obligated and gives two reasons. Firstly,
women are obligated to hear the Megilah reading on Purim,
drink four cups of wine on Pesach and light the menorah on
Chanukah since they participated in the miracle. Therefore,
since they also participated in the miracle of manna,
they should be required to commemorate it with lechem mishnah. A
second reason is because women’s exemption from time-bound mitzvos only
applies to mitzvos from the Torah, not to mitzvos
d’rabonin such as lechem mishnahh. (According to
this second reason, why does the Gemorah by Chanukah
and Purim say “they also participated in the miracle,” if
these mitzvos are only d’rabonin? See the Chida in Machzik
Bracha 291:8 and his discussion and resolution of this
question.)
The Maharam M’Rutenberg argues with both of these points. Regarding Rabbeinu
Tam’s second reason that women are not exempt from mitzvos
d’rabonin, he disagrees, citing Kriyas Shema as
an example of a mitzvah that some opinions hold is d’rabonin,
and yet women are exempt (for more, see Gemorah Brachos 20b, Rashi and Tosafos). Regarding
the first reason that women also participated in the miracle,
the Maharam says that this is only true by a miracle
that was performed to save Klal Yisrael from a mortal
danger as was the case with the Exodus from Egypt and Purim
where the women must also perform the mitzvah of giving
thanks to Hashem. But this isn’t the case with the manna.
What
is the Halacha?
Rav Shlomo
Kluger (Ha’eleph Lecha Shlomo 114)
writes about a prevailing custom in his day where the head
of the household makes hamotzi over lechem mishnah and the women make their own hamotzi over one loaf of bread. He condones this custom by agreeing with the
opinion of the Maharam that women aren’t obligated in lechem mishnah. However, the Avudraham and
the Beis Yoseph (Orech Chaim 291)
cite the opinion of the Mordechai and
the Ran who hold like Rabbeinu
Tam (The Ran gives an additional reason that by Shabbos, men and women have the same
laws). Virtually all poskim follow this view, including the Mishnahh Brurah.
(Orech Chaim 274:1 and Beur Halacha 291)
There are other ways to explain the custom that prevailed
in the days of Rav Kluger. The Eshel Avraham (Orech
Chaim 274) explains that even if one made his own hamotzi at
the table, he can fulfill his obligation of lechem mishnah with
the hamotzi of the head of the household. This is true
even if he heard hamotzi before he even washed his hands.
The Sefer V’yan Yoseph (Volume 1, Responsa 114) explains
further that the idea of lechem mishnah is to have double
bread at the start of the meal, which is when the head of the
household makes the hamotzi.
The Mishnah Brura (274:4:2) and Aruch Hashulchan (274:4)
rules that the best way to conduct oneself is for the head
of the household to wait for everyone to finish washing and
be seated at the table. And then the head of the household
should make the hamotzi on lechem mishnah for
everybody.
Rabbi
Langer learns full time in the Kollel and is a frequent contributor
to Halacha Encounters.
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