The Shabbos Table – Vayigash: R’ Y. Sacks Shlita: Reunion of Yosef & Binyomin – Crying for the Mikdash

This D’var Torah should be a Zechus L’Ilui Nishmas my mother Chaya Rochel Bas Dovid Tzvi A”H, my sister Kayla Rus Bas Bunim Tuvia A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my paternal grandfather Moshe Ben Yosef A”H, my paternal grandmother Channah Freidel Bas Avraham A”H, my uncle Reuven Nachum Ben Moshe & my great aunt Rivkah Sorah Bas Zev Yehuda HaKohein,

It should also be in Zechus L’Refuah Shileimah for:

-My father Bunim Tuvia Ben Channa Freidel

-My grandmother Shulamis Bas Etta

-MY BROTHER: MENACHEM MENDEL SHLOMO BEN CHAYA ROCHEL

-Mordechai Shlomo Ben Sarah Tili

_R’ Simcha Yitzchak Ben Mirela Yudka

-Chaya Rochel Ettel Bas Shulamis

-Yonatan Menachem Mendel Ben Orly, Eli Aharon Michel Ben Chaya

-It should also be a Z’chus for an Aliyah of the holy Neshamos of HaRav HaGa’on V’Sar HaTorah Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Ben HaRav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky A”H, Dovid Avraham Ben Chiya Kehas—R’ Dovid Winiarz ZT”L, Miriam Liba Bas Aharon—Rebbetzin Weiss A”H, as well as the Neshamos of those whose lives were taken by terrorists (Hashem Yikom Damam) and other tragedies.

-It should also be a Z’chus for success for Tzaha”l as well as the rest of Am Yisrael during this dire time, in Eretz Yisrael and in the Galus.

-The wounded should experience Refuah Shileimah, the captives should be returned safely, the fallen should experience Kevurah and Aliyah for their Neshamos and Nekamah for their Dam, their Krovim should experience Nechamah, the Chayalim should be Matzliach and Minatzei’ach, and Am Yisrael should experience Geulah.

 

 

בס”ד

 

 

 

Be”H, I will be translating / transcribing / paraphrasing Divrei Torah of my Rebbi, HaGaon R’ Yonason Avner Sacks Shlita. (Any inaccuracies, whether added, misrepresented, or due to omission and/or points lost in translation or context should be attributed to me alone. * = My addition.)

 

 

 

Vayigash

 

“Reunion of Yosef & Binyomin – Crying Over the Mikdash”

 

 

 

Based on:

Sichah – Vayigash: Reunion of Yosef & Binyomin (2023)

(9 MINUTE AUDIO FILE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST)

“V’Samti Kadkod Shimshosayich” (Yomim MiKedem – Vayigash, Page 79)

(“And I will install Kadkod as your window panes”)

 

 

Yosef & Binyomin – Crying Over the Mikdash

 

It is not surprising that after years of separation, when Yosef and Binyomin are reunited they break down and cry upon each other’s shoulders. What is somewhat surprising, however, is the Sugya in Megilah (16B), that they were apparently crying for a very different reason. Binyomin was crying because of the Churban Mishkan Shiloh which was in the Chelko Shel Yosef while Yosef was crying over Churban Beis HaMikdash in the Chelko Shel Binyomin. One cannot help but wonder: What exactly is the connection between this reunion and Churban HaBayis?

 

The Maharsha points out the Pasuk of “כְּמִגְּדַל דָּוִיד צַוָּארֵךְ”-“like the tower of Dovid is your neck” (Shir HaShirim 4:4), that just as the Tza’var (neck) is a reference to the Mikdash Hashem, and the Chasam Sofer writes very beautifully that just as neck bridges the mind and the heart, the same is true when it comes to a Beis HaMikdash; it serves as a bridge between the Eretz and Shamayim. Therefore, if the Pasuk says that they cried “Al Tza’avarav,” on each other’s necks, it is an indirect reference to the Mikdash itself.

 

 

The Purpose of the Mikdash – Achdus

 

But, perhaps one can understand the Gemara in a somewhat different light. The Ramban writes in the very beginning of Parshas Terumah that the very purpose, essence, and nature of the Mishkan and Beis HaMikdash is to capture and to preserve the experience of Ma’amad Har Sinai. It was a time of great Hashras HaShechinah, but also a moment of the Achdus of Kneses Yisrael.

And unfortunately, the Achei Yosef served as a model of Sinas Chinam (*gain-less hatred). That is a catalyst for the Churban HaBayis. And this was a remarkable reunion, where all of a sudden, the Shivtei Kah were reunited. This was a moment when all Machlokes was put aside, and in a very genuine sense there was an Achdus in Kneses Yisrael. That no doubt plays into Binyan HaBayis and Churban HaBayis. The purpose of the Beis HaMikdash is to serve as something that unites Kneses Yisrael.

It is as the Yerushalmi (Chagigah 3:6) Darshans (expounds), “יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֥ם הַבְּנוּיָ֑ה כְּ֜עִ֗יר שֶׁחֻבְּרָה־לָּ֥הּ יַחְדָּֽו” (Tehilim 122:3), it is an “Ir SheHi Osah Kal Yisrael Chaveirim”-“city that makes all of Yisrael friends (connected).”

There is a Mishnah LaMelech (Hilchos Tumas Ochlin 16:10) that writes that the B’nei Yisrael were able to be So’eid B’Yachad (feast together) during the times of Aliyah L’Regel, since they would go to the Mikdash Hashem, the Chochomim suspended certain Dinim of Tumas Ochlin in order to make sure that everyone in the Mikdash Hashem would be able to do so, to eat together. That is what the Beis HaMikdash represents.

 

 

Churban HaBayis – Sinas Chinam

 

As the Gemara in Yoma (9B) tells us that the Churban HaBayis was a result of Sinas Chinam, I have often suggested that it means, not as an Onesh (penalty) for Sinas Chinam, but as a consequence of Sinas Chinam. The Gimel Aveiros Chamuros were met with an Onesh of Churban HaBayis; but here, the essence and purpose of the Mikdash Hashem is to unite Kneses Yisrael. Therefore, in an environment and climate of Sinas Chinam, we are not worthy of having a Beis HaMikdash. That is indeed the theme of the Haftarah of Parshas Vayigash, that the Navi should take hold of the separate pieces of Kneses Yisrael, “וְהָיוּ לַֽאֲחָדִים בְּיָדֶךָ” (Yechezkeil 37:17), and hold them together in hand.

 

It was a unique moment between Yosef and Binyomin. But, Yosef and Binyomin knew that although the moment was a reality, unfortunately, it would not last. They knew that there would come a time, as is referenced in the Haftarah, of Pirud and Machlokes which would result in Churban HaBayis. Therefore, at that moment, they were crying, not because of an unrelated Churban. The Churban was about the separation of the Shivtei Kah.

 

 

“V’Samti Kadchod Shimshosayich” – Windows of Kad & Kod

 

Perhaps this is the meaning of the following Drashah found in Chazal, based on Yishaiyah (54:12), the Hafatarah of Re’eih, a magnificent depiction of the Mikdash Hashem: “וְשַׂמְתִּ֚י כַּדְכֹד שִׁמְשֹׁתַיִךְ,” where the Navi describes that the window panes of the Mikdash Hashem are going to be carved and paved with “Kadchod.” The reference to Kadchod is some what unclear. Rashi writes that it was a precious gem. In the Sugya in Bava Basra (75A), the Gemara writes that there was a Machlokes in Shamayim wherein Gavriel and Michoel debated the meaning and identity of Kadchod. The two possibilities are Avnei Shoham (*Onyx stones) and Yashfeih (*Jasper). And HaKadosh Baruch Hu weighed in on the Machlokes; the windows of the Mikdash will be paved from “Kadchod,” “כָדֵין וְכָדֵין”-“like this and like this.” They were both correct. The Mikdash Hashem will be paved from the fusion and combination of the two, Shoham and Yashfeih.

The Gemara does not exactly explain the reference to these two stones, but I would suggest that it is absolutely clear when you look at the Choshen of the Kohein Gadol. Every Sheivet had its own stone. And “Kadchod” is made up of Shoham and Yashfeih are the Avanim of Yosef and Binyomin, coming together, paving the way for the ultimate Binyan Beis HaMikdash.

 

 

*We should be Zocheh to the reunion and reuniting of all of Kneses Yisrael, to return to Yerushalayim, the “Ir SheHi Osah Kal Yisrael Chaveirim,” to experience the meeting of “Kadchod” in Binyan Bayis Shlishi with the ultimate Geulah and the coming of Moshiach, Bimheirah BiYomeinu! Have a meaningful Asarah B’Teiveis and a wonderful Shabbos!