Torah Parallels

Parshas Vayechi contains Birkas Yaakov – the berachos that Yaakov gave to each of his sons before passing away. One might think that Yaakov would be able to give one general beracha to the shevatim as a whole. After all, they were all brothers, sons of Yaakov, who would now be together in Mitzrayim , would later receive the Torah, enter Eretz Yisroel, and pretty much follow the same destiny as B’nei Yisroel. So, why did Yaakov feel it necessary to give each son a unique beracha ? In fact, one could make the case that a general beracha would be more apropos. Individualism is what started the whole fight between the shevatim , wouldn’t a better message at this point of their unity and as they are about to enter galus Mitzrayim be a message of sticking together and all keeping the mesorah of Beis Yaakov?   Perhaps from Birkas Yaakov we could extract a powerful lesson in avodas Hashem . When we think about avodas Hashem , we focus a lot on the “How ”, and certainly t...

After Yaakov’s family came down to Mitzrayim to be reunited with Yosef, Yosef introduced them to Pharaoh and secured a place for them to dwell and food to eat. The passuk (47:12) states, “Yosef sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the children.”   Rashi comments that Yosef distributed the food based on the particular needs of each family.   The Seforno adds yet another layer of clarity. He writes that although Yosef obviously had access to all the food he wanted, he only gave to his family what they actually needed . He did not offer an abundance of food because that would be inappropriate. As the Seforno writes based on the Gemara ( Ta’anis 11), When a tzibbur is in pain, you can’t just ignore your surroundings and be insensitive thinking “well, I am okay”.   Rashi - According to the children . According to the need of all the members of their household   If this is true of Yosef – who literally ...