Thursday, December 27, 2012
Priorities
10:10 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
Assessing damages
“And Judah
approached him and said, "Please, my lord” (44:18) Bereishis Rabbo: "Rabi
Simon said: "In our laws it says: ‘If he has nothing, he shall be sold for
his theft’, but this one [Binyomin] has something to pay”.
We can
understand this medrash in light of a dispute between the acharonim
(later commentators) regarding someone who damages an object which has market
value and also a higher value to its owner based on his specific situation. For
example, the market value of a used item of clothing may be very low, but its
owner would be willing to pay more for it than the market value, because it
fits him well or he is used to it etc. How much is the damaging party liable to
pay - the market value or the
subjective value of the damaged item for its owner?
The Nesivos states that even
if the object is worth a lot to the damaged party, the damaging party is not
liable to pay more than the market value, but the Chazon Ish disagrees and
holds that the subjective value of the item for its owner is the determining
factor whenever a bais din decides how much damages to award to the
damaged party. The prevalent custom adopted by botei din is to adopt the
approach of the Chazon Ish (although only a quantifiable monetary value for the
owner is taken into account, and not some sentimental value, e.g. one stemming
from the fact that the owner had received the item as an inheritance from his
ancestors).
Yehuda admitted that for Yosef himself the
cup was worth a lot because he practiced divination with it, but its real
market value was no more than that for a standard cup, and that he was willing
to pay. Moreover, he was in possession of the cup itself, so that there was no
need at all to sell the thief into slavery according to our laws. Yosef’s
entourage, on the other hand, responded that the cup had immense value for
their master because he used that cup specifically for his divination purposes.
Moreover, they may also have argued that it
only had the ability to serve as a tool of divination as long as it was in Yosef’s
possession, but as soon as it had been stolen and transferred to the thief’s possession
it lost this ability, so that the value of the cup - which had been enormous
hitherto - had depreciated incalculably as a result of the theft, and only by
serving as a slave for an extended period could the thief compensate for the
loss he had caused.
The language of emotion
“Let your
servant speak a word in my master’s ears” (ibid) Rashi: "may
my words penetrate your ears”.
The Brisker
Rov zt”l related that before the war
the Polish government enacted a decree requiring everybody to learn Polish and
mathematics. The rabbonim considered this to be a grave interference by
the government with their internal affairs, and convened a meeting which was
attended by many rabbonim and admorim in order to discuss ways to abolish this decree. The rabbonim
decided that the best way to proceed
would be to send a delegation of gedolei
yisroel to the Minister of
Education and explain to him why this matter was of such deep concern to
them. None of the rabbonim spoke Polish except for one rov, and it was proposed to send him as a
spokesman. However, the Chofetz Chaim zt”l opposed this, arguing that
the authorities would be likely to respond: "You see, you can produce
enlightened Polish-speaking rabbis, so why are you opposed to our new law?”
Instead, the Chofetz Chaim, who like all the others only
spoke Yiddish, offered to be the spokesman himself. When he appeared for the
interview with the Minister, he started to speak in Yiddish but quickly burst
into uncontrollable tears. Although he did not understand a word of what the
Chofetz Chaim was saying, the Minister
was much moved. He said that he had not realized that this issue was so
important for the rabbis, and assured them that he would issue instructions for
the decree to be abolished.
Similarly,
Yehuda thought that Yosef did not speak Hebrew, but he decided to speak it
nevertheless in the hope that his words would penetrate Yosef’s ears and heart.
Keeping Loshon hakodesh holy
“And
behold, your eyes see… that it is my mouth speaking to you” (45:12) Rashi:
"in the holy tongue”.
The Chasam Sofer explains that Yosef wanted
to convince his brothers that he had remained faithful to his religion. That is
what Yosef wanted to express to them by telling them that he was still speaking
Hebrew. He was emphasizing that he was still adhering to the holy way of life
of the forefathers and he wanted his brothers to make their father happy by
conveying this to him. Loshon
hakodesh is not merely a language,
but a symbol of sanctity. When the Jews were exiled to Bovel, they started
speaking the local language, Assyrian, since they realized that their spiritual
level had declined to the extent that it would no longer be appropriate to
speak loshon hakodesh.
Until recent generations loshon hakodesh retained its quality as a language which was deemed worthy to be used
only by someone on a sufficiently high level, and people were also aware of the
special sanctity of Eretz Yisroel and our concomitant responsibility to
behave accordingly in the eretz
hakodesh. Using loshon hakodesh to speak loshon horo or other forbidden matters was
unthinkable, especially not in Eretz Yisroel. However, as part of their program of "normalizing"
our nation and secularizing holy concepts in order to advance their agenda, our
erring brothers chose loshon
hakodesh as their vernacular. This
has had the tragic result that apart from the “hijacking” of holy words and
concepts (such as “mishkan
haknesset”) ivrit is not only used to articulate loshon horo, but also contains
coarse or brazen terminology.
FAITH
“I will go
down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up, and Yosef will place his
hand on your eyes.” (46:4)
The same Hashem who took us down to Egypt
also took us out of it and gave us the Torah. Life often seems like one big
mystery. Why do the righteous suffer? Why do some people suffer from poverty,
health problems etc. when less righteous people seem to have less problems?
Yosef did indeed place his hands on his
eyes. He asked no questions. Instead of becoming embittered at his fate, or
bearing a grudge against his brothers, he went out of his way to assure them
that everything had turned out for the good and that they should not be upset.
Hashem wants all of us to place our hands on our eyes and trust that He knows
what is best for us even if cannot understand it. We will be rewarded for our
faith and patience when all the intricacies of the divine plan will be revealed
in the future.
Yaakov and yosef
“And Yosef harnessed
his chariot, and he went up to meet Yisroel his father, to Goshen, and he
appeared to him, and he fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck for a long
time.” (46:29). Rashi: Yosef presented himself to his father.
We can easily imagine how happy Yosef must
have been upon finally meeting his father, and yet he was even happier at the
joy experienced by his father after all the sorrow he had to endure thinking
that his son had died. Yosef “presented himself to his father”: he put his own
personal joy aside in order to concentrate on increasing his father's pleasure
as much as possible. This teaches us that in order to perform the mitzvah of kibud av vo’em properly, we not only have to honor and
assist our parents, but also to feel joy at their happiness, thereby proving
how important they are in our eyes.
Rashi tells us that Yaakov, for his part, neither
fell on Yosef’s neck nor kissed him since he was busy reciting Shema. By accepting Hashem's unity upon himself at the hour of his greatest
joy, Yaakov was emphasizing that nothing is of any value or importance compared
to the paramount principle of Hashem's unity. At the same time, Yosef became so
moved at the sight of his father, who, due to his great holiness, was not
willing to enjoy the sight of his son before mentioning Hashem's name and His
unity that he wept on his father's neck "for a long time". He cried,
firstly, because such a righteous person, who lived in accordance with an
absolute set of priorities, had suffered so much, and, secondly, because his
father's awe-inspiring conduct made him regret not having had the merit of being
in the vicinity of such a great person for so many years and this stirred up
his yearning be in his vicinity once again.
environments
“So that
you may dwell in the land of Goshen” (46:34)
Despite their yearning to be with each other
after all these years, Yaakov and Yosef decided that it would be best for
Yaakov and his descendants to live far away in Goshen as outcasts in the company
of shepherds, even though this meant that Yaakov and Yosef would not see each
other again until just before Yaakov's death. Yaakov and his sons could easily
have lived comfortably in the city next to Yosef, but decided instead to say
that they were shepherds, who were hated by the Egyptians. Yaakov reasoned that
the only way he could be saved from the tumoh of Egypt was by secluding
himself in Goshen and learning Torah day and night.
The Rambam talks about the powerful
influence of the environment, and we too should not underestimate its pull. The
precedent of Yaakov demonstrates how important it is for us to get our
priorities right and live in the vicinity of religious people rather than
living a life of luxury amongst non-Jews or Jews who do not share our values or
lifestyle.
Religious dispensation
“Only the
land of the priests he did not buy” (47:22)
As steeped as the Egyptians were in
immorality and idol worship they still understood that people who dedicated
their lives to a religious purpose had a different status to other people and
must be left to lead their lives undisturbed. Even during the period of the
harshest decrees against the Jews during our exile in Egypt, the Levi’im, who
made up about 10% of the population were exempted from slavery, in their
capacity as religious ministers.
How tragic it is that in Eretz Yisroel,
of all places, some of our brethren still have to come to the realization that
by encroaching on the inviolable status of bnei Torah they are only
shooting themselves in the leg, because any material success which they enjoy
is due to the merits created by those very same people whose way of life they
completely fail to understand.
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