Avos 2:13 הֱוֵי זָהִיר בִּקְרִיאַת שְׁמַע (parshas vayigash)

(13)Rabbi Shimon said: Be careful with the reading of Shema and the prayer, And when you pray, do not make your prayer something automatic, but a plea for compassion before God, for it is said: “for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment” (Joel 2:13); And be not wicked in your own esteem.

(29) Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while.

(3) ויבך על צואריו עוד AND WEPT ON HIS NECK A GOOD WHILE — The phrase ויבך עוד signifies weeping copiously. So, too, עוד has the same meaning in (Job 34:23) “For He doth not place upon a man עוד” — which means something more than is proper: God does not place on him accusations additional to his sins (the sins he has really committed) Here, also, he wept greatly and continuously — more than is usual. Jacob, however, did not fall upon Joseph’s neck nor did he kiss him. Our Rabbis say: the reason was that he was reciting the Shema (renewing his allegiance to God immediately on settling in a new land).

The Gemara relates: When they took Rabbi Akiva out to be executed, it was time for the recitation of Shema. And they were raking his flesh with iron combs, and he was reciting Shema, thereby accepting upon himself the yoke of Heaven. His students said to him: Our teacher, even now, as you suffer, you recite Shema? He said to them: All my days I have been troubled by the verse: With all your soul, meaning: Even if God takes your soul. I said to myself: When will the opportunity be afforded me to fulfill this verse? Now that it has been afforded me, shall I not fulfill it? He prolonged his uttering of the word: One, until his soul left his body as he uttered his final word: One. A voice descended from heaven and said: Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, that your soul left your body as you uttered: One.

(38) But he said, “My son must not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If he meets with disaster on the journey you are taking, you will send my white head down to Sheol in grief.”

(35) All his sons and daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, saying, “No, I will go down mourning to my son in Sheol.” Thus his father bewailed him.

(9) And Jacob answered Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourn [on earth] are one hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been the years of my life, nor do they come up to the life spans of my ancestors during their sojourns.”

(27) But when they recounted all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”

Hear, O Israel! ה׳ is our God, ה׳ alone.

ה׳ אלקינו ה׳ אחד means, The Lord who is now our God and not the God of the other peoples of the world, He will at some future time be the One (sole) ה׳, as it is said, (Zephaniah 3:9) “For then I will turn to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord", and it is further said, (Zechariah 14:9) “In that day shall the Lord be One (אחד) and His name One" (cf. Sifrei Devarim 31:10).

“I am God, the God of your father’s [house]. Fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will make you there into a great nation. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you back; and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”

The Gemara cites another verse from the prophecy at the end of the book of Zechariah: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, on that day shall the Lord be one and His name one” (Zechariah 14:9). The Gemara asks: Is that to say that now He is not one?Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina said: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In this world, upon good tidings one recites: Blessed…Who is good and does good, and over bad tidings one recites: Blessed…the true Judge. In the World-to-Come one will always recite: Blessed…Who is good and does good. There will be only one mode of blessing God for tidings.

(6) And Israel said, “Why did you serve me so ill as to tell the man that you had another brother?”

(10)“The famine was severe in the land” (Genesis 43:1).
“It was, when they had consumed the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them: Return, acquire a little food for us” (Genesis 43:2).
“Judah said to him, saying: The man forewarned us, saying: You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you” (Genesis 43:3).
“If you send our brother with us, we will go down and acquire food for you” (Genesis 43:4).
“But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us: You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you” (Genesis 43:5).
“The famine was severe… It was, when they had consumed…Judah said to him… If you send… But if you will not send…” – They said to [Jacob]: What, will he say to us reasonable matters and we respond to him with nonsense?
“Israel said: Why have you done me wrong, to tell the man that you have another brother?” (Genesis 43:6).
“Israel said: Why have you done me wrong…” – Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina: Jacob never spoke nonsense. Rather, this is what the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘I am involved in crowning his son in Egypt, and he says: “Why have you done me wrong?”’ That is what is said: “[Why do you say, Jacob…]: My way is hidden from the Lord, and from my God” (Isaiah 40:27).
“They said: The man asked regarding us and regarding our relatives, saying: Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother? We told him regarding those matters; could we know that he would say: Bring your brother down?” (Genesis 43:7).
“They said: The man asked [regarding us and regarding our relatives]” – Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: He revealed to us even the wood of our cradles.
“Judah said to Israel his father: Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, and we will live, and not die, both we, and you, and our children” (Genesis 43:8).
“I will guarantee him; from me you can demand him; if I do not bring him back to you, and present him before you, I will have sinned to you forever” (Genesis 43:9).
“Judah said to Israel his father” – it is preferable for one person to be in a state of uncertainty than for all of us to be in a state of certainty. “I will guarantee him…forever [kol hayamim]” – this is the World to Come, which is entirely day [shekulo yom].

(18) He said, “Oh, let me behold Your Presence!”

(3)And wept. See Rashi. When Yaakov saw Yoseif he reflected on what Hashem had done for him and renewed his love and awe through the recitation of the Shema.

§ Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: When Moses ascended on High, he found the Holy One, Blessed be He, sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, who is preventing You from giving the Torah without these additions? God said to him: There is a man who is destined to be born after several generations, and Akiva ben Yosef is his name; he is destined to derive from each and every thorn of these crowns mounds upon mounds of halakhot. It is for his sake that the crowns must be added to the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, show him to me. God said to him: Return behind you. Moses went and sat at the end of the eighth row in Rabbi Akiva’s study hall and did not understand what they were saying. Moses’ strength waned, as he thought his Torah knowledge was deficient. When Rabbi Akiva arrived at the discussion of one matter, his students said to him: My teacher, from where do you derive this? Rabbi Akiva said to them: It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai. When Moses heard this, his mind was put at ease, as this too was part of the Torah that he was to receive. Moses returned and came before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the Universe, You have a man as great as this and yet You still choose to give the Torah through me. Why? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, You have shown me Rabbi Akiva’s Torah, now show me his reward. God said to him: Return to where you were. Moses went back and saw that they were weighing Rabbi Akiva’s flesh in a butcher shop [bemakkulin], as Rabbi Akiva was tortured to death by the Romans. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, this is Torah and this is its reward? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me.

(3) ברא אלקים GOD [AS JUDGE] CREATED — It does not state 'ברא ה “The Lord (the Merciful One) created, because at first God intended to create it (the world) to be placed under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realised that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy allying it with Divine Justice. It is to this that what is written in (Genesis 2:4) alludes — “In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”.

(32) Thus we can now also understand that the same sages described G–d's original blueprint of the universe as being based on the attribute of Justice. Only when G–d saw that such a universe would not be able to endure for long, did He decide to co-opt the attribute of Mercy (Bereshit Rabbah 12,15, and Rashi on Genesis 1,1). Why do the sages talk about ideas of G–d that were never executed? All that needs to concern us surely is what did transpire, not what could or should have transpired? Another difficulty is whether what the sages describe means that G–d had re-considered? Surely this cannot be; do we not have it on good authority that one of the things that distinguishes G–d from man is כי לא בן אדם ויתנחם, "For He is not human that He should reconsider or regret!" (Numbers 23,19).

(33) When we think about G–d we must appreciate that G–d does not only possess the knowledge of all that has been, is, or will be, but that He also has the knowledge of all that could have been or could be. Having considered the possible outcome of any number of possible activities, G–d sets in motion only those activities that hold the greatest promise of ultimately achieving what He had in mind since the beginning. Our sages had this in mind when they spoke about G–d having considered creating a universe dominated by the attribute of Justice, whereas in actual fact the universe G–d did create was based on a predominance of the attribute of Mercy. There was no change of direction by G–d. Not only must we understand the Midrash Rabbah we have quoted in this vein, but we must also understand the famous statement by Rabbi Abahu that "G–d created many worlds only to destroy them again," in the same vein. G–d toyed with a variety of blueprints for possible universes. The one He actually created was the one that corresponded most to His will, רצון. Rabbi Abahu referred to the careful evaluation of all possible consequences of undertaking certain steps as בנין. When one foresees that certain steps one takes would eventually have negative consequences and one desists from proceeding with such steps he calls this הריסה, destruction (compare Midrash Shocher Tov 34,1 where the statement is attributed to Rabbi Tanchum). This is the way we must explain these statements in the Midrash according to the Peshat.

(34) However, I believe there is a different dimension to the statement quoted, one that permits us to view all the thoughts of G–d as being "alive and well," none having been abandoned. We must understand first the dictum of our sages that G–d is far more exacting with the righteous when He examines their conduct than He is with ordinary individuals. He is described as being so exacting with them that He will measure the thickness of an individual hair. (Yevamot 121). The closer one wants to be to the king, the more refined one has to be. If a person wishes to be close to the King of Kings, to be at home not only in His courtyard but in His palace, he must measure up to higher than ordinary standards. There are numerous steps a person ascends before sitting at the feet of G–d's throne; the more he has ascended the closer his conduct is examined. Chagigah 18b puts this concept into a halachic framework. The Talmud states that the garment of an עם הארץ, an average person, is considered as afflicted with טומאת מדרס (an impurity imparted by a person who suffers from a seminal flux by sitting on a mat, for instance), in his relations with people whose normal status is that of פרושים, a category of people who carefully refrain from contact with ritual impurity. The garments of these פרושים, on the other hand, are considered as afflicted with the same degree of ritual impurity when they come in contact with people whose level of ritual purity is such that they are permitted to eat תרומה, i.e. parts of the harvest allocated to the Priests. The garments of those priests who are of the level of ritual purity that permits them to eat תרומה in turn, are still considered as afflicted with the same degree of impurity when they come into contact with things that could only be consumed within the precincts of the Temple. This only illustrates that just as "ritual purity" is a relative term, so the term צדיקים, is also relative.

(35) One of the thoughts of G–d prior to the creation of the universe focused on those select human beings that would become בני עליה. With such people G–d could afford to be more exacting than with the rest of mankind. As far as they were concerned, G–d had no reason to reconsider creation of a universe dominated by the attribute of Justice. G–d intended the תורה הקדומה for that very category of people.

(36) The meaning of מתחלה עלה במחשבה לברא את העולם במדת הדין, does not mean that G–d thought something at the beginning, and then changed His mind, G–d forbid; it means that G–d was concerned with the root of things, the שורש. The root is the "beginning," from which all other developments evolve. The root is in a domain concealed from us, נעלם. It is the beginning of any further expansion. Things become visible from that point on. G–d was able to apply the מדת הדין to those people whose soul was rooted in the שרש, the hidden domain since they possessed the חיה and יחידה dimension of soul. This approach also explains the answer G–d is reported to have given to Moses to whom He had shown a vision of the life and death of Rabbi Akiva, and who questioned how G–d could allow such a man to be tortured to death (Menachot 29). The words G–d reportedly used were שתוק, כך עלה במחשבה לפני , "Be silent so it suits My plan." Normally, we understand this answer as a warning not to question G–d's ways when these seem beyond our understanding. However, this is not what G–d meant to convey by this answer. G–d simply explained that people such as Rabbi Akiva who are part of the בני עליה can be judged by higher standards than ordinary people, and therefore G–d applied the מדת הדין when judging them.

ויוסף ישית ידו על עיניך, "and Joseph will place his hand over your eyes." This was an assurance to Jacob that Joseph would not die during his lifetime. It was welcome news to Jacob as he had prophesied that he would descend to the grave of his son Joseph (37,36). G'd wanted Jacob to know that he had erred in that forecast.

ויוסף ישית ידו על עיניך, “and Joseph will place his hand on your eyes (and close them forever.)” This was an accepted custom in those days. It implied that Joseph would also be instrumental in his remains being transferred to the cave of Machpelah. A different interpretation of this verse: the words: על עיניך, are not to be understood literally, but are derived from the word עין being used as referring to someone’s or something’s, fountain, essence, as in עין יעקב, (Deuteronomy 33,28) where it refers to the personification of what Yaakov stood for. According to this interpretation, G-d assured Yaakov that in Joseph he will have a suitable successor. He will take care ably of all his needs.

AND JOSEPH SHALL PUT HIS HAND UPON THINE EYES. At the time of your death. It is customary for the living to close the eyes of the deceased upon their death.