Har HaBait Jewish Sovereign for all Israel

  Rabbi Wein By Rabbi Berel Wein To Dedicate an Article  click here Parshas Vayigash Lesson for the Ages   The statement of our father Jacob to the Pharaoh of Egypt that “my years of life have been few and most unpleasant” is most perplexing. We all know the well-known anecdote that one of the most disappointing things in life is to ask someone how he or she is and they actually tell you. One would’ve expected that Jacob would have answered the Pharaoh in a general, positive fashion. Rashi interprets the answer of Jacob in the light of his deteriorated physical condition that he presented to the Pharaoh. He wanted Pharaoh to realize that the lines in his face were well-earned. He also wanted him to realize that the lives of even the most righteous of people and the holiest of families can also be troubled and difficult. He was teaching the Pharaoh the grea...

  Perceptions By Rabbi Pinchas Winston To Dedicate an Article  click here Parshas Vayigash Lasting Impressions   Friday Night SOME TIME AGO during the first Persian Gulf War, a major American magazine interviewed Saddam Hussein. Curious, I read the article and was surprised to read a few things. First, I was really surprised to read that Hussein believed he was the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar. I mean, where did he get that idea from? Second, I was amazed that the Iraqis observe Asarah b’Teves as well. The “only” difference is that while we’re fasting and saying Selichos , they are celebrating what we are mourning. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. I just sort of thought that everyone has since done teshuvah , and that Nebuchadnezzar’s war against the Jews is today considered a blemish on Babylonian history by modern day Iraqis. Silly , isn’t it, especi...

  Hamaayan By Shlomo Katz To Dedicate an Article  click here Parshas Vayigash The Real Danger   BS”D Volume 37, No. 11 7 Tevet 5783 December 31, 2022 Sponsored by Milton Cahn in memory of his mother, Abby Cahn (Bracha bat Moshe a”h) and his wife Felice Cahn (Faygah Sarah bat Naftoli Zev a”h) In this week’s Parashah, the Egyptian viceroy reveals that he is Yosef, and he encourages his brothers to bring their father Yaakov to Egypt to live out the years of famine there. As Yaakov is descending to Egypt, Hashem appears to Yaakov and says (46:3-4), “Have no fear of descending to Egypt, for I shall establish you as a great nation there. I shall descend with you to Egypt, and I shall also surely bring you up.” R’ Chaim Druckman z”l (rabbi, Rosh Yeshiva, and Knesset member, who passed away this week at the age of 90) writes: Midrash Rabbah observes: “One s...

  Rav Frand By Rabbi Yissocher Frand To Dedicate an Article  click here Parshas Vayigash Why Yosef Could Not Hold Back Any Longer     These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1143 – Oops! I Forgot today is a Fast Day after I Made a Bracha on Food. Good Shabbos! In what must be one of the most dramatic events in all of Chumash, Yehuda pleads with his brother and asks one more time for Yosef to relent and not keep Binyamin as a prisoner in Egypt, which would minimally cause his father great pain and might even in fact kill him. Yehuda goes through virtually the same story he related at the end of Parshas Miketz, except that this time it has a different ending: “Yosef was not able to hold back… I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?” The Torah’s narration continues: “The ...