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(יח) וַיִּגַּ֨שׁ אֵלָ֜יו יְהוּדָ֗ה וַיֹּ֘אמֶר֮ בִּ֣י אֲדֹנִי֒ יְדַבֶּר־נָ֨א עַבְדְּךָ֤ דָבָר֙ בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י אֲדֹנִ֔י וְאַל־יִ֥חַר אַפְּךָ֖ בְּעַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֥י כָמ֖וֹךָ כְּפַרְעֹֽה׃ (יט) אֲדֹנִ֣י שָׁאַ֔ל אֶת־עֲבָדָ֖יו לֵאמֹ֑ר הֲיֵשׁ־לָכֶ֥ם אָ֖ב אוֹ־אָֽח׃ (כ) וַנֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־אֲדֹנִ֔י יֶשׁ־לָ֙נוּ֙ אָ֣ב זָקֵ֔ן וְיֶ֥לֶד זְקֻנִ֖ים קָטָ֑ן וְאָחִ֣יו מֵ֔ת וַיִּוָּתֵ֨ר ה֧וּא לְבַדּ֛וֹ לְאִמּ֖וֹ וְאָבִ֥יו אֲהֵבֽוֹ׃
(18) Then Judah went up to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not be impatient with your servant, you who are the equal of Pharaoh. (19) My lord asked his servants, ‘Have you a father or another brother?’ (20) We told my lord, ‘We have an old father, and there is a child of his old age, the youngest; his full brother is dead, so that he alone is left of his mother, and his father dotes on him.’
ואחיו מת AND HIS BROTHER IS DEAD — He uttered this untruth out of fear. He thought: if I tell him that he is alive he may say “Bring him to me”.
(יג) וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ שְׁנֵ֣ים עָשָׂר֩ עֲבָדֶ֨יךָ אַחִ֧ים ׀ אֲנַ֛חְנוּ בְּנֵ֥י אִישׁ־אֶחָ֖ד בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנָ֑עַן וְהִנֵּ֨ה הַקָּטֹ֤ן אֶת־אָבִ֙ינוּ֙ הַיּ֔וֹם וְהָאֶחָ֖ד אֵינֶֽנּוּ׃
(13) And they replied, “We your servants were twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in the land of Canaan; the youngest, however, is now with our father, and one is no more.”
מפני היראה הוציא שקר וכו'.
ולפיכך נראה שכך פירושו ש'הוציאו שקר מפיו' שכך אמרו לו – מה שאמרנו לך ש"האחד איננו" (לעיל מב, יג) כלומר אנחנו סבורים שהוא מת בשביל שיצא לדרך והיה לו לבא ולא בא, ובשביל זה אמרנו שהוא "איננו", ומכל מקום כיון שלא ידענו בודאי – נכנסנו בי' שערים, אולי יהיה נמצא, ופירשו עתה כי "איננו" שאמרנו – שהוא אבוד ממנו עד שאנו חושבים שהוא מת,
"He uttered this untruth out of fear." (quoting Rashi) And therefore it seems that this means that they 'took a lie out of his mouth' that they told him so - what we told you that "the one is gone" (Genesis 42: 13) that is, we believe that he died because he set out and had a future and did not come, and that is why we said that he is "no longer", And in any case, since we did not know for sure - we entered the 10 gates, maybe he will be found, and now they interpreted that "we are not" that we said - that he is lost from him until we think he is dead
Maharal's supercommentary to Rashi's Torah commentary.
Composed: Prague (c.1548 – c.1578 CE)
(ד) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה רְצוֹנוֹ כִרְצוֹנְךָ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה רְצוֹנְךָ כִרְצוֹנוֹ. בַּטֵּל רְצוֹנְךָ מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנוֹ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּבַטֵּל רְצוֹן אֲחֵרִים מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנֶךָ. הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר, אַל תִּפְרֹשׁ מִן הַצִּבּוּר, וְאַל תַּאֲמִין בְּעַצְמְךָ עַד יוֹם מוֹתְךָ, וְאַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ, וְאַל תֹּאמַר דָּבָר שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לִשְׁמֹעַ, שֶׁסּוֹפוֹ לְהִשָּׁמַע. וְאַל תֹּאמַר לִכְשֶׁאִפָּנֶה אֶשְׁנֶה, שֶׁמָּא לֹא תִפָּנֶה:
(4) He used to say: do His will as though it were your will, so that He will do your will as though it were His. Set aside your will in the face of His will, so that he may set aside the will of others for the sake of your will. Hillel said: do not separate yourself from the community, Do not trust in yourself until the day of your death*, Do not judge your fellow man until you have reached his place. Do not say something that cannot be understood [trusting] that in the end it will be understood. Say not: ‘when I shall have leisure I shall study;’ perhaps you will not have leisure.
*This lesson is learned from John Hyrcanus, the high priest from the Hasmonean dynasty who at the end of his life became a Sadducee.
But his spirits drooped as he walked. No one he met seemed to recognize him, just as it is written, “I am become a stranger to my brothers.” When he greeted someone, he was answered half-heartedly. Not even the gatekeeper paid attention to him. “Were these people not familiar to me,” said Menashe Chaim, “I’d never believe that this was the right place, that this was the town of Buczacz.” He was dumbfounded. What was happening? Had he changed so much in so short a time that no one recognized him? Not even five years had passed since he had left the town. How many years had it been since the day he paid the toll collector on the road from Yazlivitz to Buczacz and arrived by carriage to marry his wife Kreindel Charne?
After so much suffering and heartache, what if she too failed to know him? “I left my home, abandoned my wife, and she’s heard less than nothing from me,” Menashe Chaim said to himself. “Yet what’s done cannot be undone. Now I must get going.” He walked on till he stood upon the streets of the town. On the street women were standing in their doorways primping their sons, and group after group of schoolchildren were being led through the streets, each group headed by a teacher’s assistant. Menashe Chaim saw the children, and he knew they were on their way to the house of a newborn to recite the Shema. Menashe Chaim decided to follow them. “No doubt, I’ll find a slice of cake and some beer there to revive my spirits,” he said. Soon enough Menashe Chaim remembered who he was and why he had returned to town. He grew agitated. He mopped the sweat from his brow and fingered the amulet he had bought for his wife, the amulet meant to unstop her womb. He even smoothed his beard and neatened his earlocks.
Menashe Chaim then worked up the courage to ask the tramp, “Do you happen to know where Kreindel Charne lives? Kreindel Charne, the wife of Menashe Chaim HaCohen of Yazlivitz?” The tramp rapped him on the shoulders. “So why’re you just standing here,” he said. “We’re going in the same direction. Let’s go. It’s a joyous night, the night before the circumcision, the eighth night since the birth of a son. Kreindel Charne’s borne her husband a son, the husband who married her after that first one died. Tomorrow’s the circumcision. Her husband’s prepared a feast for the town’s poor like nothing you’ve ever seen before.” Menashe Chaim was drawn after the tramp a few steps. Then he stopped short. The beggar thought to himself that the poor fellow must be weary from hunger. He put his hand inside his clothes, pulled out a handful of crushed chick peas, and offered them to him, hoping to revive him. “They’re leftovers from the sholom zokhr that I snuck away with me,” the tramp said to Menashe Chaim. “Open your mouth wide, and I’ll fill it.” When the tramp saw that the man did not intend to go with him, he let him alone and went on his way. Menashe Chaim stood there. When he realized he was alone, that the man was no longer beside him, he turned around and went back the way he came. Suddenly he began to run with all his might till his legs gave out and he fell full-length on to the ground. His eyes, wide open in their sockets, stared unsheathed at the town where his wife, Kreindel Charne dwelt. What have I witnessed, what can compare, what even comes close to you, Menashe Chaim, my brother—
to a man whose eye has been gouged out and lay convulsing before him,
its lifeblood still spurting. All at once, Menashe
Chaim burst into tears, the first tears he had
shed since his calamity began. He slipped
into sleep, a restful sleep, hidden
from the eyes of men, in the
shade of a briar bush by
the side of the road.
He went out into the forest, and there among the trees, by the light of the moon, he sang songs of praise to the God of Jacob with much wailing and weeping. For he was wary of entering a synagogue or a house of study, fearing someone might recognize him. Mostly he lived in graveyards and so dwelled in dust while yet alive, waiting for the blessed Lord to have mercy upon him and deliver him from a world full of affliction.
Agnon, S.Y.. And The Crooked Shall be Made Straight
If it is cut down it will renew itself;
Its shoots will not cease.
(טו) רַבִּי טַרְפוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק:
(טז) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה. אִם לָמַדְתָּ תוֹרָה הַרְבֵּה, נוֹתְנִים לְךָ שָׂכָר הַרְבֵּה. וְנֶאֱמָן הוּא בַעַל מְלַאכְתְּךָ שֶׁיְּשַׁלֵּם לְךָ שְׂכַר פְּעֻלָּתֶךָ. וְדַע מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא:
(15) Rabbi Tarfon said: the day is short, and the work is plentiful, and the laborers are indolent, and the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.
(16) He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say: It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it; If you have studied much Torah, you shall be given much reward. Faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor; And know that the grant of reward unto the righteous is in the age to come.
The will of the medic who fell in Gaza: “I had the opportunity to give of myself.”
The family of Sergeant Shay Arvas, z’’l, who served as a combat medic in the Givati Tzabar Battalion and who fell in October in the armored personnel carrier incident in the northern Gaza Strip, received his personal belongings this week, including a “will” he wrote on his phone two weeks before his death. "Just in case...", is how his last letter opens, the last letter he left, detailing his love for the country, his belief in the cause and his request to his family to continue their lives and be happy.
To my beloved Adar, my dear mother, the best father in the world and all my brothers, Chen and Tami Ray and Amiri, Or and Niv, Ran and Moriah, Emily and Ari and Tal and Stav and the immediate family. I want you to know how much I miss you and I love you, and the truth is that I was happy to do what I do to save people and protect the country because it's something I always wanted. Something that has always been a part of me since I was little and now I had the opportunity to do it and give of myself to the country as well. So you know that all this was not for nothing and was worth it. All the people of Israel will continue this tradition, and love the country because people didn't just die here for nothing, and there are people who have to protect it.
I know it will be difficult, but I want you to continue as you are. Go on in life, give as much as you can, be a united family. Adar, my love, keep going. It will be hard, but I really want you to be as happy as you are now and keeping moving forward.
And all my close friends, I love you and appreciate you for all life we lived together and the experiences we've had together. It was fun, I enjoyed it a lot, and I had a happy life. Grandpa, I know you always believed in me and were very proud of me for becoming a combat fighter, so be proud, even now, because I didn’t die for nothing."