TWO KINGS, TWO GIANTS

Dear Family,

Mazal Tov to Shmuel Levy on his birthday next week. Good memories from your last birthday Shmuel! I hope this year will be just as good. Hatzlochah with everything!

Mazal Tov to Chanie Davidoff in Long Beach on your birthday next week. Wishing you a happy year with continued growth and achievement.

We wish Devorah Leah long life on the passing of her grandfather. We were all very fond of him, and will miss him a lot. Wishing you only simchos in the future.

The choice of Haftorah for this week's Parshah Vayigash is interesting because it speaks about Ezekiel's prophecy of the stick of Yehudah and the stick of Ephraim. (Ephraim being the relation to Yosef), presumably relating to the meeting or conflict between Yehudah and Yosef in this week's Parshah.

But we see that there are much more important events in this week's Sedra, for example Yaakov's descent to Egypt with his whole family and the start of the exile in Egypt? And the whole drama of Yosef with all his brothers. And the Sages would always only choose a Haftorah which reflected the essence of that week's Sedra?

We must therefore come to the conclusion that this meeting/conflict between Yosef and Yehuda is of a very essential nature and needs close analysis. (Reference Talks on the Parshah by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz)

From the time of the sale of Yosef by his brothers, and stretching all the way through history thereafter these two giants of our people are interacting with each other, either in a way of battle or interaction in one form or another. They never quite join up. It is an epic clash between two Kings throughout our history, and this will continue to the end of days between the Mashiach ben David (descendant of Yehudah) and Mashiach ben Yosef

So what is the difference in nature between these two Kings?

Yosef encompasses perfection even from birth. He is smart, handsome, successful and more loved than his brothers. He has the ability to rise up to the highest of positions in an easy fashion, even through difficulties, and he displays tremendous talent in governing even whole countries, while never forgetting and moving away from his roots of Judaism. To assist him in his worldly talents, he knew 70 languages.

Yosef represents the level of a Tzadik.

The weakness of Yosef is his inability to recover well when he falls, as seen with Shaul's history. (A descendant of Yosef)

Yehuda on the contrary, came from low beginnings. He wasn't the first born and didn't have any particular talents. He started out as a peasant farmer. One of his descendants was Rebbi Akiva who also started out as a peasant and became one of the greatest Torah scholars of our people . Yehuda begins entirely from below and works his way up. He has the quality of A Baal Teshuvah. He may fall many times but he thrives on his ability to deconstruct his personality in order to reshape it into another form, to make changes within himself. It appears that his unique point is continuity and endurance. His daily occupation is that he focuses on his family and their Jewish pursuits.

When Yaakov blesses his sons before his death, he gives Yehuda and Yosef the biggest and most significant blessings. In short Yosef is given grandeur and Yehuda is given eternity.

This conflict between Yehuda and Yosef has still not been resolved, and it is still not known who will be the true Mashiach. But it is for this reason that our Sages chose this Haftorah for this Sedra!

And how does this relate to ourselves.

We live between Yehuda and Yosef, and when these two elements work in perfect harmony within ourselves, the symphony of life is formed.- Steinsaltz

Gut Shabbos to all.