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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

1. What’s the worst part about trying to get some sleep in a car during an overnight road trip?
2. The passengers keep screaming at you to wake up…

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ROAD

In this week’s parsha, Vayigash, we read about the surprising revelation of Yosef HaTzaddik to his brothers, a revelation that would later lead to the descent of the Jewish people to Egypt, and ultimately, the beginning of the Egyptian exile.

After Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, he urges them to come down to Egypt with his father and family, promising to provide for them honorably and take care of all their needs. Before sending them on their way, he gives them a somewhat strange instruction: “Do not become agitated on the way” (Vayigash 45:24), or as we would say it today: “Guys, no tempers, please stay calm!”

Why would Yaakov’s sons be ill-tempered? And why is Yosef the one who needs to warn them about this?

Rashi explains that on their way home, Yaakov’s sons might argue with each other, with each blaming the other, “You are responsible for selling Yosef,” “You are the one who spoke evil about him,” as people tend to do, each blaming the other for their own mistakes. Therefore, Yosef warns them, “Do not become agitated on the way,” do not talk about “who is to blame,” or who should be put on trial, do not open a national investigation to find the responsible party for the negligence that led to the events of… selling Yosef. [The practical and current implication is understood by anyone with a brain, and I will not elaborate.]

Rashi’s explanation sounds simple, clear, and understandable. But in the Medrash (Bereishis Rabba 94:2), we find a completely different and very puzzling explanation. According to the Medrash, Yosef said to his brothers: “Do not refrain from words of Torah.” That is, do not stop studying Torah. This sounds very strange – why would Yosef suddenly remind them about this now? After all, they had traveled back and forth from the land of Egypt to the land of Canaan several times, and Yosef had never warned them about this before, so why now?!

In the Talmud (Taanis 10:2), we find contradictory statements. There it is said: “Do not engage in a legal discussion so that the way will not become agitated for you,” meaning Yosef warned them not to delve too deeply into a complex Talmudic issue so they would not get lost on the way. The implication is that Yosef commanded them not to study, but to focus on getting home. So, what exactly did Yosef tell them? To study or not to study? To discuss or to be silent?

In a very analytical discussion, the Rebbe examines the differences between the statements of the Medrash and the Gemara. From the Rebbe’s explanation, it emerges that there is no contradiction between the Talmud and the Medrash. According to all opinions, there is an obligation to study Torah while traveling, as every child in elementary school knows how to recite: “And you shall teach them to your children… when you walk on the way…”

The difference between the Gemara and the Medrash is that according to the Gemara, Yosef warned the brothers not to study in-depth, while according to the Medrash, Yosef commanded them to study, but only superficially, for rote learning, without further analysis. The Rebbe further explains and emphasizes that according to the Gemara, there is no special obligation to study Torah while traveling, but rather it is part of the general obligation to study Torah everywhere, at all times, and in all situations. Therefore, it is unlikely that Yosef would command his brothers to study Torah specifically while traveling; he only cautioned them about what not to learn and how not to learn. During the journey, they should not study for in-depth analysis to avoid getting lost.

In contrast, according to the Medrash, there is a special obligation to study Torah while traveling, so that the Torah one learns will protect and save him from the dangers of the road. Therefore, according to the Medrash, Yosef introduced a new obligation to his brothers – studying Torah in order to be saved from lurking dangers.

ROAD SAFETY RULES

But this still does not explain why Yosef remembered to point this out to his brothers specifically now? And what is the connection of all this to the true and complete Geula?

It is known that our sages say “all roads are presumed dangerous.” At the same time, everyone understands that not all roads are dangerous to the same degree. There are more dangerous roads and less dangerous roads. Let’s not compare the road between Yerushalayim and Tel Aviv to the road between Netzer Sereni and Neve Dekalim (for those who still remember…) or between the southern side of Mount Hebron and Shechem. It’s clear to everyone that the greater the danger, the greater the protection must be. When traveling on a dangerous road, you need a bulletproof vehicle and an Uzi sub-machine gun, while on a less dangerous road, a pistol or air horn is sufficient.

These principles apply to spirituality as well. Just as there are differences between roads in terms of their physical danger, so too are there differences in their spiritual dangers. The more spiritually dangerous the road, the more intensive the spiritual protection we need.

In our specific case, in all the previous journeys of Yaakov’s sons between the land of Canaan and Egypt, the physical and spiritual dangers they faced was minimal. After all, they were traveling on Yaakov’s mission to bring grain and food for their families and return to the Holy Land. The physical and spiritual risk was small, and Yaakov’s prayer together with the brothers’ own merit protected them.

But now, Yaakov’s sons stand at the beginning of an entirely different journey, a journey that is dangerous seven-fold. They are about to embark on the journey that will bring the people of Israel into their first historical exile. They are about to fulfill G-d’s promise to Avrohom at the Bris Bein HaBesarim (Covenant Between the Pieces), “Your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own.” The physical and spiritual danger they face is enormous.

Yosef is aware of this. He knows what will happen later, and he is preparing his brothers for the worst. “Do not stop speaking words of halacha,” do not stop studying, because the path to true protection for the people of Israel is only through Torah. When the children of Israel are united with the Torah, and through it unite with the Giver of the Torah, G-d Himself, they are able to overcome the darkness of exile and bring redemption.

“There is no free person except one who occupies himself with Torah study” – this is not just a teaching, but a way of life. When a Jew is engaged in Torah, exile has no control over him, and he is truly free. And this message was one that only Yosef could share with his brothers.

This is also the reason why before descending to Egypt, Yaakov sent Yehuda “to prepare the way before him,” “to establish a house of study… so that the tribes would be immersed in Torah.” Yaakov understood the message. He knew that the only way to overcome the spiritual and physical challenges of exile is through Torah. Yaakov opened a yeshiva, a “house of study.” He was not satisfied with the tribes learning a mishna here and a verse there. He established an organized yeshiva so that Yaakov’s sons would sit and study with diligence and persistence, day and night, without interruption. For this is the only way.

This is also the reason that one of the conditions and criteria of Moshiach is “he is diligent in Torah like his father Dovid” – “because the power to redeem Israel from exile is in the toil of Torah” (in the Rebbe’s words). To the point that his entire existence is the existence of Torah. And since the Torah preceded the world, it is above the limitations and dictates of the world and exile. When a Jew “is diligent in Torah,” he becomes one with the Torah and reaches a state of being a true “free person,” and when he rises above exile through its power, he can bring redemption!

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY – OR TWO

We’ll end with two short stories about the importance the Rebbe placed on Torah study:

1) At one farbrengen, Rabbi Berel Weiss requested the Rebbe’s bracha for his business. “I want to list my company on the stock market,” he said, and requested a bracha. The Rebbe asked him, “And what will you give me?”

R’ Berel immediately responded, “Everything I have, I am ready and willing to give to the Rebbe.”

The Rebbe’s surprising request was, “Next time, bring a thousand pages of Gemara!”

2) A young man related that when he was a child in 1980, the Rebbe approached him and asked, “What did you learn in Chumash?” He did not answer. “What did you learn in Mishna?” He did not answer.

“How can a day pass for a Jewish child without Torah study?” the Rebbe asked.

From that day on, the young man said, he did not let a day pass without studying Torah.

Good Shabbos!

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