Miketz Excerpts

מקץ

Shabbat Shalom

(43:30-31) when he sees Binyamin, his younger brother, for the first time over here in Egypt, Yosef see he is about to cry. He starts to feel compassion for his brothers. Some people feel compassion. There are those living in scqauler. No money, nowhere to live. The Minkowitz family could care less... I can care less if it was a shnurer. You give charity... Yes. I gave him your address. you haven't given money to the shul in years... Compassion is the word here. Care for other people. Allowing your rabbi a chance to not be here....

What does he do? Yosef goes into a room and cries.

You cry when you feel something. I don't think Bernie has ever cried. No feeling...It's not just the amputated leg, Bernie.

Yosef then comes back out when he composes himself. You don't just start balling in front of the whole community. I understand it was sentimental. It was an acceptance of job speech. It was not a retirement speech. 

You don't cry in the beginning. You cry at the end... Mike Milken said, 'Thank you for being there.' Mike you just took the job as janitor. Take it easy. Nobody knows you yet. What have we been there for?... Exactly. At the end, you might be able to say somebody was there. But chances are that nobody in this shul will be there for you. No compassion. I haven't had a Sunday without hearing from that section in the front over there... I can care less about the bake sale. But no compassion. 

There is a certain amount of care you gain for people when you let them in and care fore for them.

(43:32) Egyptians didn't eat with Jews, because it was 'abominable' to them. And we get blamed for hating?!

I don't eat with Sam. But that is because he is disgusting. He eats with his hands. It is always like he is eating wings.

When you separate yourself and call something abominable, you can't care...

(44:1-2) Yosef plants his goblet on Binyamin.

They plant stuff in people's sacks. That is the Egyptian way.

(44:4) Yosef then sends his people after his brothers, the Jews, and tells them to catch their thievery and say, 'Why do you repay with evil for goodness?' Very similar to the Shlonstein  kiddush. A simple kichel and shmear kiddush. It was a shame to the whole congregation. The Feinwitz Bar Mitzvah was two stories of international tables and a walking smorg. And then we have kichel...

(44:6-12) The brothers are shocked by this accusation that they stole. They had brought back the money that was given to them the first time they went back to Israel... Yosef says that the one who it is found with will be his slave. And who do they find it with?... Binyamin. Very good. Let me do the speech. That was a rhetorical question.

They were all worried now. They weren't supposed to bring Binyamin, but they insisted they had to.

That is what happens when there is no compassion. A lot of trickery. A lot of planting.

(44:14-17) Now Yehuda jumps in and insists they all be slaves to Yosef. He realizes there is no way around this sin of the stolen goblet, but he doesn't want to have to tell Yakov that the son he promised he would watch over is now a slave. That is king of like the news I got the other day when the board said they were going to be building a new shul wing... We are down 50% in membership... This isn't 'Field of Dreams.' What are you building? You are enslaving all of us to your ideas that make no sense... 

Now Yehuda's is finally feeling bad for his father. After all that happened with Yosef, and selling him and taking him away from his dad and making Yakov think that he is dead. Getting rid of Yosef meant nothing. Is there ever shame in this congregation? How do you sit back there with your clip on tie?...

Yehuda finally has enough shame to not want to see his dad. It is shame that leads to the next step, of resentment. If you all learned to feel shame, you would have feelings, you would pay for the leak instead of a new wing, you would give your rabbi a vacation, and Bernie would have some feelings... We are not even using the old wing... I know you didn't knwo it was there. Who voted you in as shul president?...

But he doesn't ask that Binyamin be let free. He leaves it as 'What can we say? How can we justify ourselves?' Just like the board. No heart. No vacation for the rabbi...The shul cafe event was a waste too. How do you create a cafe with card tables?...

Yosef knows the case here and says they can go back to Yakov. He even says 'go up in peace.' The irony is the lesson. He still can't eat with his brothers. He can't show his brothers who he is, because they are not compassionate. Yosef can cry, but they can't. They have not been separated. Have you ever seen the kids that leave here? They turn out so good. Such a good influence outside of Congregation Beis Kneses Anshei Emes uSefilah.

They haven't felt loss. They don't care. They are still selfish. But he is moving there. He has a brother who is too shamed to return to his dad, they insist to stay and Yosef says 'go in peace.' He knows they can't. Because they feel shame Karen. As president of this congregation, you should feel shame. The Minkowitz family should feel shame. You give charity to the shnurer... What kind of clothes do you want him to wear? Of course they are fancy. How much money do you give to somebody with a ripped hat? You can't give $300. It is pathetic. you see somebody in a fine suit and shores, you've got to give more... Exactly, because he doesn't need it...You know what your rabbi needs? A vacation.

This is what prepares the scene for Yosef being told about how they actually care about their dad and they have to send Binyamin back; not just that they can't see their dad. Only then does Yehuda insist that they take him instead of Binyamin. Only then can Yosef show himself.

When there is compassion and care, that is when Yosef cries. That is when Yosef wants to join with them. That is when Yosef knows it is time to show himself. That is when you stop building the new wing at 7am, when the rabbi is still sleeping... Yes. I have to skip minyin, because otherwise I would have too much hatred. Hatred is forbidden... It leads to cereal and breakfast discussions...

When are you people going to feel the shame of killing the grass outside?... Use the walkway for once. Build a nicer walkway. Let that be the wing.

No more meetings in this shul about construction... Not one of you is  a developer. You all look like fools in hard hats....