Vayigash excerpts

Shabbat Shalom 

After all this time of sending his brothers back to pick up Binyamin and leading them on, Yosef breaks. (45:1-) He makes for a moment of intimacy and asks all the Egyptians around to leave. He then lets out the cry. Not like that little whimper the Chazan likes to do...more like the cry of the Goldstone son, when his parents abuse him. Is it correct to hit your child when they are annoying is the subject of next week's Dvar Torah.

Yosef asks everybody to leave. It got to a point where he could not have onlookers. There are moments of intimacy that should not be open to the outside world...I think our teenagers are taking this lesson the wrong way, as seen at the CWPDKS convention last week (Children Whose Parents Don't Keep Shabbat is a great youth group, where we teach the children to not be like their parents)...

We know your kid gets dirty, Karen. But you should not be yelling at them and throwing them in the sink in front of everybody... Family abuse should be at the home...We'll talk more about this next week. 

He lets them know 

Why did he break all the sudden?

(44:30) His soul is connected with his soul- whatever is written there

They show that they care. Finally they show that they are not just selfish, but selfish for their father. Finally he sees that his brother's have a heart. Finally he feels it is time to reconnect.

You cannot forgive people who are selfish. This is why I have never forgiven the Spivak family for adding the horrid new wing onto the day school...You can forgive people who care about other people...

I have not had one moment of true intimacy with this congregation. I am waiting for my Rosh Yeshiva, who told me to serve this congregation, selling me...to come and show that he feels bad. Till I worked with this congregation, I believed in the importance of Jewish community and my Rosh Yeshiva...now, in this prison of bad kiddushes...

Do you even have the heart to cry? Do you care about anybody enough to cry? That is the question! Do you have a reason to be intimate, to be alive, to reconnect with your life before slavery.

Yosef's first question- 'Is my father still alive?' The question of care. Can you care again...Michael could care less about his dad. Do you even know that he is in the old age home? Do you care enough to visit? Do you want to be in the will?

***These are excerpts from the sermon. For the sermon in its entirety, come see David Kilimnick perform at the Off The Wall Comedy Basement, in downtown Jerusalem.

David also tours as a Maggid with very few stories, if you invite him.

Shabbat Shalom uMvorach