FOR THE SOURCE OF LIFE IS WITH YOU; IN YOUR LIGHT WE WILL SEE LIGHT.

(Psalms 36:10)

 

You shall charge the Israelites that they shall take to you - Israel said: Master of the Universe! In your light we see light, yet you command us to light lamps before you!? Rabbi Yitzhak said [it is similar to a parable of] a house full of lanterns. The master of the house tells his servant, "Light lamps for us in the courtyard." He said to him, "The whole house is full of light and you ask me to light lamps in it?" He said to him: "Light them for the servants, so that they shall give them light." And so He said, the seven lamps shall cast their light toward the face of the menorah; the Holy One blessed be He said: I did not command you regarding the lamps because I have need for the light of flesh and blood [mortals], but rather so that you might be aware of how beloved you are to me. For it is written: and Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud dwelt upon it and God's gory filled the Tabernacle (Shemot 40). And He told them to light lamps before because they were beloved to Him - they shall take to you - the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: It is not that I need a lamp, rather they shall take for you - for your sake, so that you can find your way when entering and leaving [the Tabernacle]. What is this like? [The parable of ] a sighted man and a blind man. When they walked down the road, the sighted man would help the blind man. When evening came the sighted man said to the blind man, "Go and light the lamp for us." He told him: "Until now you led me in the darkness, and I cannot even see myself - and now you tell me to light the lamp?" The sighted man is the Holy One blessed be He, for it is written of Him: The eyes of the Lord, that run to and fro through the whole earth (Zechariah 4:10), and the blind man is Israel, for it is written of them: We tap a wall like blind men, and like those who have no eyes we tap; we have stumbled at midday like in the darkness of night; [we are] in dark places like the dead (Isaiah 59)... The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: If you light lamps before me, I shall give you illumination from the great future light, for it is said: The Lord shall be an eternal light for you, and your God shall be your glory (Isaiah 60).

(Tanhuma Tetzave 4)

 

For the source of life is with You - Just as the waters of the wellspring are not exhausted in the way stored water is exhausted, so too life in the World to come is never ending; it is life that is not followed by death and light not followed by darkness; that is: By Your light we shall see light.

(ReDaK Psalms 36:10)

 

On Constructive Defamation

Moshe Meir

The system of relations between Joseph and his brothers was tangled, shot through with anger and enmity that led to harsh consequences:

... So Joseph went after his brothers, and he found them in Dothan. And they saw him from afar, and when he had not yet drawn near to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. So they said one to the other, "Behold, that dreamer is coming. So now, let us kill him, and we will cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'A wild beast devoured him,' and we will see what will become of his dreams." But Reuben heard, and he saved him from their hand[s], and he said, "Let us not deal him a deadly blow." And Reuben said to them, "Do not shed blood! Cast him into this pit, which is in the desert, but do not lay a hand upon him," in order to save him from their hand[s], to return him to his father. Now it came to pass when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his shirt, of the fine woolen coat which was upon him. And they took him and cast him into the pit; now the pit was empty there was no water in it.

The hatred sprung from three causes: Father Jacob's discriminatory love towards Joseph and the special coat he gave him; Joseph's dreams; and the defamatory reports Joseph brought to his father regarding his brothers:

...when Joseph was seventeen years old, being a shepherd, he was with his brothers with the flocks, and he was a lad, [and was] with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph defamed them to their father.

The first reason - discrimination - was not dependent upon Joseph himself and he was not to blame for it. The second reason - the dreams - sprung from a great soul that yearned for greatness. The third reason - defamation - seems to be unacceptable behavior. The biblical lexicon explains this concept in another place. Moses sends the scouts to the land and defines their mission:

You shall see what [kind of] land it is, and the people who inhabit it; are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? And what of the land they inhabit? Is it good or bad? And what of the cities in which they reside are they in camps or in fortresses? What is the soil like- is it fat or lean? Are there any trees in it or not? (Bamidbar 13)

The scouts carry out the mission, but are nonetheless accused of defaming the land:

They told him and said, "We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the land are mighty, and the cities are extremely huge and fortified, and there we saw even the offspring of the giant. The Amalekites dwell in the south land, while the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountainous region. The Canaanites dwell on the coast and alongside the Jordan." Caleb silenced the people to [hear about] Moses, and he said, "We can surely go up and take possession of it, for we can indeed overcome it." But the men who went up with him said, "We are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. They defamed the land which they had scouted, telling the children of Israel, "The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of stature. There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.

Why is their report - the fulfillment of their mission - described as defamation? It seems this is because they strayed from the point of the report. Sometimes such overstepping is a matter of a word or of a particular emphasis. If they had said that the Land was flowing with milk and honey and its inhabitants were powerful, the report would have been objective. The insertion of the word however [efes] between the two sections of the report emphasizes the bad part, turning it into a case of defamation. The evaluation that we are unable to go up against the people oversteps the report's mandate and becomes defamation. The exaggeration - in our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers - oversteps the report's mandate and becomes defamation. The pretension of knowing how they looked to the local inhabitants - and so we were in their eyes - oversteps both the report's mandate and the boundaries of possibility, and becomes defamation.

Joseph has a particular characteristic that finds expression in his telling tales about his brothers to their father. It is no enough for Joseph to serve as someone making a report, or even as a dream interpreter - he always wants to go farther. When he interprets Pharaoh's dreams he also sets forth an economic plan of his own devising (see Bereishit 41:33). After interpreting the royal cup-bearer's dream, he adds a request that eventually leads to his release from prison (see Bereishit 40:14). Perhaps this character trait informs his own dreams, which express a longing to break out of his limitations (Bereishit 37). His father reproves him for his dream's absurd overreaching - shall I and your mother and your brothers come to prostrate ourselves before you? - even after his mother has already died and cannot possibly do this! Nonetheless, Jacob awaited the matter. The brothers hate Joseph because of his dreams and his words; apparently these were words relating to the dreams themselves. Perhaps this character trait also found expression in his defamation of his brothers, which consisted both of a report as well as of interpretive emphasis and speculation.

This trait is neither good nor evil; they can be directed towards either. Joseph is a dreamer who oversteps the bounds of the possible. Sometimes he directs this trait towards evil, but sometimes he exploits it and its inherent creativity in his struggle for the good.

 

 

Taamei HaMikra - Double Meaning

But he refused and he said... my master... The cantillation of the word And he refused indicates the prohibition of the act and that he was totally prevented from doing so, for through the notes of the Torah we understand that which is not overtly recorded, similar to man's movements from we divine his thoughts.

(Rabeinu Bahaye, Bereishit 49:8)

 

...meaning that we can understand that which is not expressly written through the notes which accompany the text. The rabbi's intention is to say that a person has facial expressions and vocal nuances, which enables us to reveal and know something about his mood and mental-spiritual condition; mimicry and gesticulation of a person, and the shadings of his voice, help us know what is actually taking place in his inner consciousness.

In the narrative of Joseph and Potifar's wife who tries to seduce him, he withstands temptation and does not comply. The Torah expresses his restrained behavior with the term and he refused. The term is accompanied with the very rare shalshellet note. The Massorah's assignment of this particular note to and he refused is hardly accidental. Through it, the massora wanted to let us know that in that situation Joseph conducted a very difficult struggle, an act involving tremendous spiritual courage, in order to withstand this test of temptation. Therefore, great is the merit of Joseph, termed by tradition "Joseph the Righteous," who emerged victorious from this conflict. His refusal is not at all a simple matter; it is he refused to the tune of a shalshellet, with its melodic line thrice ascending and descending, like a warning siren accentuating the merit of the Biblical figure who refused, who conquered his desires, Joseph the dreamer.

(Y. Leibovitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat ha'Shavu'a, p.151)

 

The grasping man reviles and scorns: An Act of Worship Becomes a Curse and a Desecration of the Divine Name.

When Joseph was sent by his father to visit his brothers, they thought about killing him, for it says They said to one another...let us kill him (Bereishit 37: 19) and they stood and threw him into the pit and said "let us eat and drink, and afterwards we'll pull him out and kill him." They ate and drank, and time came to say the grace after meals. Judah said to them: "We are about to kill, and we are blessing God? We are nothing but scorners!"

What does What do we gain by killing our brother mean? Judah told them: The grasping man reviles and scorns the Lord rather, come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites (Bereishit 37: 27).

(Pesikta Rabbati 10)

 

What Do We Gain? Pragmatic Considerations vs. Ethical Considerations

Rabbi Meir said: The word botzeiya (grasping) was used only in reference to Judah, for it says: Then Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain (ma betza) by killing our brother?" Anyone who blesses Judah reviles and scorns [God], and regarding this it is said, The grasping man reviles and scorns the Lord (Psalms 10: 3).

(B. Sanhedrin 6b)

 

"In reference to Judah": For he should have said, "let us return him to our father", since his brothers hearkened to his words.

(Rashi loc cit)

 

What do we gain: Anyone who blesses Judah reviles and scorns, for he saved Joseph with the words what do we gain, which imply that if there is something to be gained, we will kill him, and regarding this it says The grasping man reviles and scorns the Lord.

(Hizkuni - Bereishit 37: 26)

 

The Order of Priorities of Values in the Halakhah

A) Great is peace...

Rava said: It is clear to me: [If one has to choose between] his home's [Sabbath] lamp and the Chanuka lamp - his home's lamp takes precedence, because of [the importance of preserving] domestic peace. [If one has to choose between] his home's [Sabbath] lamp and Kiddush - his home's lamp takes precedence, because of [the importance of preserving] domestic peace. Rava asked: What [should be done if one has to choose between] the Chanukah lamp and Kiddush? Is it that Kiddush takes precedence because it is more frequently performed, or perhaps the Chanukah lamp takes precedence because it publicizes the miracle? After he asked, he himself answered: The Hanukah lamp takes precedence, because it publicizes the miracle.

(Shabbat 23b)

 

If he had before him [enough money to purchase] a lamp for his home [the Shabbat lamp], or a candle for Hanukkah, or for Kiddush, the lamp for his home takes precedence because of peace in his home, for the holy name was erased in order to bring peace between man and his wife.

Great is peace, for all the Torah was given in order to bring peace to the world, as is written: Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace.

(RaMBaM, Mishneh Torah,Hilkhot Megillah ve'Hanukkah 4:14)

 

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai said: Great is peace, for all the blessings are included in it - The Lord give His people strength, the Lord bless His people with peace (Psalms 29).

Hezkiah said two [things]. Hezkiah said: Great is peace, for all the commandments are written [in the conditional form] if you see (Shemot 23), If you come upon (Shemot 23), If [a bird's nest] chances before you (Devarim 22) - if the opportunity to perform a commandment presents itself, you must take it. Here, however, ask for peace and pursue it (Psalms 34) ask for it - in your own place; and pursue it - to another place. Hezkiah said another thing: Great is peace, for in connection with all of the marches [of the Israelites through the wilderness], it is written [in the plural] and they marched and they camped - they marched in discord and they camped in discord. When they all reached Mount Sinai they all formed one encampment. There it is written Israel [singular] camped there. It is not written, the Israelites camped [plural] there, but rather Israel camped [singular] there. Then the Holy One blessed be He said: Now is the hour for Me to give the Torah to My child.

Bar Kapra said: Great is peace, for untruths were written in the Torah in order to preserve peace between Abraham and Sarah. So it is written, [that Sarah said:] After I have become worn out, will I have smooth flesh? And also, my master is old. But this was not told to Abraham, but rather and I am old... Bar Kapra said another thing: Great is peace; if the celestial beings who have no jealousy or enmity or competition or commandments or quarrels or controversies or evil eye are in need of peace - as it is written, He who makes peace in His Heights (Job 25) - mortals who have all of these [need peace] all the more so.

... Rabbi Yosi HaGalili said: Great is peace, for even in time of war one must first propose peace, as it is written, If you draw near a city... and you shall call to it to make peace (Devarim 20).

R. Yudin son of R. Yosi said: Great is peace, for the Holy One blessed be He's name is called Shalom [peace], as it is written, and he called it the Lord Shalom (Judges 6). R. Tanhum bar Yudin said: From here [we learn] that one is prohibited from greeting his fellow [with the word] "Shalom" in a filthy place.

R. Yishmael taught: Great is peace, for regarding the Great Name written in holiness, he Holy One blessed be He said: Let it be erased in water in order to bring peace between husband and wife.

(Vayikra Rabba 9:9)

 

B) Great is human dignity...

Rava asked: Which takes precedence, reading the Megillah or [burying a] meit mitzvah [a deserted corpse]? Does reading the Megillah take precedence because it involves the publicizing of the miracle, or does meit mitzvah take precedence because of [concern for] human dignity?

After asking the question, he answered it himself: Meit mitzvah takes precedence, for the sage said: Great is human dignity which overrides a prohibition of the Torah.

(Megillah 3b)

 

Reading of the Megillah in its appointed hour is a rabbinical commandment, and it is well known to have been decreed by prophets, and all are obligated to read it: men, women, converts, and freed slaves, and children are taught to read it. Even priests engaged in the Temple service interrupt their service in order to come and hear the reading of the Megillah, and Torah study is interrupted in order to hear the Megillah reading - all the more so regarding any other mitzvah of the Torah, that they are overridden by the reading of the Megillah. Nothing overrides the reading of the Megillah except for a meit mitzvah that has no one to bury it. The first person who comes across it must first bury it and read [the Megillah] afterwards.

(RaMBaM Hilkhot Megillah ve'Hannuka 1:1)

 

 

 

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