It’s Easy to Talk - Mikeitz (Rabbi Dovid Kaplan) (Weekly Parsha)

we're on uh peric mest page MBE test I'll tell you in a second page uh 226 224 2 sorry 234 234 okay so uh y all of all of Torah any time and now know it says gunti okay on page 234 yeah yeah takes takes a lot of people to make up a world down page 234 uh so yosea accuses them of being spies so we mentioned yesterday that uh um y we we mentioned yesterday how how uh the accusation is a way of preventing them from snooping around and asking questions because once you're accused of of something so then you're going to be extra careful extra careful to to to not Snoop around so y says we're on the fifth POS sixth po line from the topu we are 12 brother s the youngest brother is not with us father would remember yakob wouldn't send him and one is not around at all so Rashi brings down a whole a whole uh uh what he call over here A whole dialogue between them he says where is he uh they said well he's uh he went he went missing and uh they said to him uh uh we came here to look for him yes they said well what if they what if it's going to cost a lot of money to redeem him what if you find your brother the missing brother and uh they're going to demand a high a high ransom for him they said we'll pay it they said what if they won't take your money he said they we kill or be killed to that Yosef says in the very next see you are spies you came here to make trouble he got them he he CS them in and gets them to gets them to make a commitment so then he does something he says I'm going to test you this is how you're going to be tested the only way I'm going to let you go is if your youngest brother that you just mentioned if he comes here you bring your younger brother here that'll see if you're telling me the truth now watch what he does here pay attention carefully first he says send away one brother and he'll bring your younger brother here and you the rest of you I'm going to put in prison and then we'll test if you're telling the truth otherwise you're spies so then what does he do look at this he puts them in the prison for three days and then I want you to do the following remember I'm a God-fearing person so I want you to do the following if you're really honest only one brother will be locked up you go bring food up so what does y do he says okay I'm going to lock up all of you and send one of them one of you home then he says no you know what I'm going to lock up all one of you and I'll send the rest of you home why does he switch why does he say switch he pulls a switch he says say to the brothers listen I I'm switching it first he said I'll lock up nine of you and send one home then he says I'll lock up one of you and send nine of you home to bring provisions and bring stuff what's the switch all about so R rakov ketki he said ysf is trying remember he's his goal here is to get these guys to do chuva that's his goal he wants them to do chuva and he also wants them to submit to him and he's trying to show them look I'm a powerful ruler if I could tell you you know what oh by the way I changed my I made a mistake I thought originally I'd lock up nine of you I made a mistake it's only going to be one of you that means you could also admit at least to yourselves that you made a mistake what's the mistake we thought Yosef should be sold and we we we want to go even I could admit even if I canm a mistake so you could admit you made a mistake too right admit you made a mistake that's what yse is trying to promt them he's trying to prom PRP them to get them to to admit now watch this we're guilty they said to each other we're guilty because of our brother referring to Yosef page top of a we saw his distress when he pleaded with USU we didn't obey that's why we're suffering we're suffering because we heard yoseph begging and pleading now this becomes a question what do you mean you heard he's begging and pleading I so wait you decided he's guilty so if somebody's guilty so what if they beg and plead the answer is that in Judaism there's a there's a line somebody May deserve a punishment if they beg and plead and they're really begging and pleading that should trigger something in us that we go the extra mile of Mercy that means sometimes life you're 100% right somebody needs a I've seen this in yes shivas a boy a boy deserves to be expelled from aiva he's he's he's a troublemaker he's a negative influence on other people but if he begs and pleads to stay that is a new level of consideration he's begging he's begging somebody knocks on your door and he needs a donation hey they have to marry off their daughter and a guy asked you for money he said listen all I can give you I got I got 50 bucks that's all I can give you then he begs into pleads even if you're really can't you know there they they rules levels but begging and pleading is different they say listen we were right for selling him we're right we were Justified but he begged and pleaded and since he begged and pleaded that was where we made our mistake look at what Ru says Ru says I said to you don't mess up with him didn't obey the ultimate told you so right I was like they already said listen we're being punished for what we did Ruan says told you so I told you we shouldn't do it told you you always love one of those don't you there's always there's that told you so but you know when it's really enjoyable when it's your kids who mess up and as the father you get to say I told you so because then they learn listen to the old man the old the the old hound is still wisest right I told you I told you I I always had a a policy with my own kids if I'll tell them something I tell them something's not a good idea then they'll do it and they'll mess up then they'll come back to me say now what can't help you now can't help you now you should have listen to me originally right I was able to help you then I could help you not to fall off the cliff once you're on your way down there's nothing I could do for you it's too late what what should we do you should have listened to me next time listen to me when I told you right away don't don't be so smart right and sometimes yeah I really can't do it listen if I could extricate them I will but most times in life teenagers get to the point where you can't extricate them right it's bad enough that they're teenagers you know that're right there if we could extricate people from being teenagers we would you know they unidentified stage of life we don't even know how they're not even human they're they're somewhere between a coton and an adult what are they they're a teenager a new creature it's a creature that it's it's it's a it's it's a creature un unidentified flying creature it's a it's a UFC right just an unidentified flying creature teenagers are so complicated you know I'm so mature you they want to be mature but they're so immature they they're immature and mature at the same time they're immature in showing how mature they are remarkable we all been through it I was a teenager once don't worry I put my parents through the ringer okay so what's ruane doing here really Ruan is not a guy who's going to come along and say oh told you so ha right Told You So what is ruane really saying to them they said that means that there's there's an argument here between them and ruane there's an argument what's the argument they said we were right but our our our mistake was not listening to the to the to the begging and pleading we were right but when he was begging and pleading that's what we crossed the line and ruane's coming back and saying to them no you were wrong to begin with is that's thing I told you so in other words what Ruan is saying to them is what are they trying to do at this point this is much deeper than it sounds like it's not just a bunch of guys it's not like you and your brother having an argument about why you're in trouble with your parents I told you we shouldn't I told we shouldn't take the car without asking I I'm one of those right you know but we were speeding that was like no no that's that's not the argument here the argument here is what do I need to do chuva for you're talking about the shtim over here if we made a mistake we got to do chuva what do we need to do Chua for we need to do chuva because we heard him begging and we didn't we weren't merciful enough that's why we need to do chuva and R is saying that's no you're making a mistake when you do chuva you got to do chuva for for the AA start to finish you got to do chuva not just because he was begging you got to do chuva because you made a mistake to begin with he's only a yell he was a y he's childish he wasn't a minor he was 17 but everything he was doing was childish you shouldn't have taken it so seriously you shouldn't have taken it such such a threat that's what R was saying what what you get Al hit about so he went and he told a story about you that you're ripping the limbs off of living creatures or whatever it was that you were doing but just being childish so you want to do Chua that's what you got to do Chua for okay Me O they didn't know Yosef was hearing this yosef's overhearing the entire conversation because there was an interpret remember Yosef had an interpreter between them he didn't they didn't know that he they didn't know that Yosef knows what they're saying because yoseph spoke Egyptian to his interpreter he had The Interpreter speak to them he has got Alish interpreter you know I know a guy who is a I know a guy who's a uh a KAS supervisor he he he goes to Japan regularly he's a very very very prominent K so a lot of time he a lot of his his time is spent in Japan the factory in Japan and sha what's interesting is that chabis you know he'll go away from home for two three weeks at a time and chabis he flies to China for chabas you know why issue with like keep sh exactly the International Date Line the International Date Line which today is Japan is farther east than China so for chabas he's in he's in Japan but when it comes to shabas in Japan there's always the question of is which day do we keep is is Japan because of the way the international dayline W this was the the the Dilemma the Mir yiva faced if you know the story of the Mir yiva in World War II when they ran away from Europe and they made it to Kobe Japan and when they were in Japan they had yum Kipper and it was a question of which day do you fast which day is Yum Kipper is Saturday in Japan the Saturday in in Israel the Saturday that Saturday is our chabus or is Sunday in Japan our shabas right and there was a big mlus between the Kish and Y kachinski and the I think if Hein Sunday in Japan is chabas is the shabas said a Jew should keep and chinski said shabas in Japan because of how you how you calculate the international dat line from a point of view not from the secular uh world's International J dat line has no bearing on Hala that's just something that they randomly decided Hal decides does it go through the land or goes through the water comes around in the water very complicated so this guy in order not to get messed up he goes to Japan by the way there were people in the be Yesa who fasted two days on yum ker there people fasted two days then they they left they they it was only applied then they went to China they went from Japan they went to Shanghai China so they they would only applied that one year but the the International Date Line it gets very very confusing over there exactly how do you make the calculation so this Mas he's there all week in ch in Japan then he flies to China so he shouldn't have this uh he shouldn't have this confusion he also likes Chinese food he know say like get eat on CH a Chinese Chun you know oh a Chinese CH you know eat it with chapsticks so the uh yeah potatoes and meat I guess it's like Chinese food CH is like Chinese food because Chinese food is all very small pieces and you know why that is gentlemen did you Google that did you ever Google that and find that out you know why why isn't Chinese food always little cut up in little pieces right grab with the Chopstick right well well that's what comes first the chicken or the chopstick you know that if you would use a knife and a fork that it wouldn't have to be so why are they using chapsticks they're using it's small because that's you can't eat steak with chapsticks right it doesn't work you can't cut a steak with chapsticks so why do they why do they use chapsticks why do you use chapsticks because they believe culturally it is rude and impolite to cut food at the table you cut food in the backro to kill baby girls that bury them in the Wall in China cuz you didn't have a boy that's okay that's that's not a problem you stuff them in there with the Chopsticks you know make sure they're in they're in real tight but but but they cut the food in the back room at the table ohom you know you can't cut the get the at the table so that's why they use chopsticks yeah that's that's effect so so so the the Chinese CHT you know you know it take it take with the Chopsticks in any event this m this is show you how responsible the man is he works in his factories in Japan he taught himself Japanese but the Japanese don't know that he knows Japanese how you like that so that anything that he hears in the factories when he's and you know if if all of a sudden the guys are you know touching pots you know and he knows exactly he knows exactly what what what just happened in that pot right without them knowing that he knows and Japanese by the way is ranked the number one most difficult language in the world I don't know what they're what they're calcula they're calculating how to talk it or how to write it or whatever is but it is ranked number one you know what's number two no Arabic is not I don't think Arabic is that hard number two is is Hungarian yeah the reason I know is because I was did a program once in Hungary and it was like I I spoke in English but they were also making announcements and stuff in in Hungarian and it sounded to me like an oriental language it was just sound like like that and I said to somebody but this sounds like a really hard hard language and he said to be yes it's number two in the World Behind Japanese I mean Chinese is no no party either right but the the what he go dutch I've listened on the plane if I've ever fir the FL on km and then km is the Dutch Airlines I've heard the Dutch announcers I could basically make out what they're what they're what they're saying because Dutch sounds like English being spoke backwards it's not that just I could basically follow what's going on you could pick up the what you call in Chinese you can't pick pick up anything right the the the what you call well un yeah pick him up with the Chopsticks that's right yeah yeah so so Yosef does the brothers don't know the brothers don't know that y that Y is listening y turns away from them and he cries he moves he loes the room and he cries he comes back and he takes Shimon he puts Shimon in prison why did yoseph cry why did Yosef walk away and cry what's the plain plain idea why why would you think yose cried yose walks away and he cries right what do you call take a look at Rashi while Rashi said Rashi says Top Line second left C he heard that they had that they had regret he heard the brothers are having a discussion about regrets so you know y's a human being there's a lot of emotion I mean guys remember this is a man who's seen his brothers who sold him 22 years earlier you know he's also he's also not made out of plastic you know yph is watching his brothers are here and they're talking in front of him about having sold him without him knowing without them knowing that he knows and that they and that they're regretting it you know you know the touch of something and you know they touches some emotional cords in there so yoseph goes off yose backs off and he cries that's why he says he cries so I saw one and the other commentary says he's crying because he knews that he's about to put them through some difficulty he's not happy about that but he feels excuse me he feels this is something that he has to do therefore therefore he therefore he's cries so what does he do now pay attention carefully says okay fill their sacks with grain and the money that they paid put it into each one's sack put their money back in their secks so they go they travel and then look at five lines from the bottom one of them opens they get to the inn and one of them opens up a sack to give produ to give feed to the animal say the money in top of the money in a sack he says hey my money has been returned and it's in my sack say leave their heart leaves them that's literally how does he translate it uh uh how did he he translate what's his turn of phrase Heart s their hearts sank that's a good that's that's the English expression literally V their hearts left them they said their heart sank that's why the ARs go translate heart sank because it's really TR to say their hearts left them doesn't mean anything their heart sank they trembled what's God done to us oh oh oh oh oh I want to tell you something the other day I pulled a pair of pants out of the closet I reached into my pants pocket I found a 20 20 shekele note that I had left in my pants pocket I was happy I was happy my first thought was this must be somebody else's pair of pants right but I was I was happy 20 20 shcks in the I didn't 20 shcks that I didn't know about don't worry it didn't last too long my wife had to go shopping right so it didn't last too long but my first reaction was yeah and if it would have been a 100 shck on those I would have been even happier if it would have been a 200 checkw I probably would have made a kidish and show that week right you open up your sack you find money in your sack what's their reaction o o I've never said o when I've seen more money in my wallet than I thought I had I've never said o I've always said yeah yeah right Yu right it happen all the time right why are they so so they're what do you call so what are they upset about what are they upset about so there's a mustard the the the the the mustard the Bali mustard say over here when Good Fortune happens all right the plain the plain meaning of the story is they obviously know they're that they're being set up because they know they didn't steal the money so obviously like what's going on what does this guy want from us but the the the the the the take away here for us is sometimes in life there's good fortune and you know if there's good fortune a person says to himself wow that's great and I just won 10,000 bucks in the lottery in a drawing that's terrific the real attitude should be it could be its good fortune on the other hand maybe this is going to create a very very difficult test for me if I win a lot of money should happen soon if I win a lot of money that creates a new test will I be able to give the will I be able to give s Ducker the way I'm supposed to and not only it could be a test if there's really good fortune a person has to suspect maybe I'm getting paid in this world so God God God could take away from the world to come the gamar Compares its sadic to a tree that's planted in a place of kadua tahara Purity and it's got a branch that's dangling over into a place of impurity so what do you do you got to cut off that Branch oh Russia is compared to a tree that's planted in a place of impurity and the branch branches over in the place of Purity so you got to cut off the whole rest of the tree so the the the the the gorah says that a sadic h he's got a little bit of him that's ranching over into impurity so you got to cut off that Branch meaning that sometimes a sadic suffers in this world so that his accountability for the misdeeds is taken care of in this world then he gets it all in the world to come he gets all the good in the world to come a Russia may get all the good in this world so that could remove him from the world to come so if a person all something has good fortune so number one I don't know what the test is going to be now with the good fortune and number two what's going to be in the world to come in the world maybe he's getting paid here so that that he loses it somewhere somewhere else you know what's his name the uh the baseball player what's his name the the the the Japanese guy Otani Otani yeah oh tan not t there's there's there I know a guy named just tany tany is you yonathan is short for T they call Yon people named yonathan are often called Tani this is Otani right so I don't think his name is yonathan he's Japanese right or T and so Otani just signed for $700 million for 10 years didn't know that did you Miguel 700 $ million for 10 years I get used to that right $70 million a year the problem is if I had 70 yeah that's right that's right $70 million this yeah for not for doing this not for doing no not for doing this for earning lots of money for the owner of the team that's why he's getting it not for doing this right doing this is just a way of earning a lot of money for who somebody who is I assume a Jewish owner of a team that's what I assume so so a guy's getting 70 millon now if I was making $70 million a year how much money do you have to give to stco 10% 7 million bucks and you're allowed to give 7 million 7 million and if you're very rich you should really be giving 20% and if you're Mega Rich there's really no 20% limit the limit on an average person is 20 if you're Mega Rich you don't have the 20% limit how much is Mega rich if you got to ask you ain't right am I in the category of Mega Rich if you're asking then you're not right that I could tell you now if you're Mega Rich how much am I expected to give how much of $70 million do I really need I mean instead of taking buses I would take a cab every day all right that's 4,000 shekels a month okay that's $1,000 okay now what do I do with the rest of the money what do I get with the rest of the money buy fresh pizzas instead of take them out of the freezer right you know exactly where's the rest of the money go how much am I supposed to give I don't know what the test is that's a serious test that's a very serious test exactly the had a disciple and he was in the yes and he told he wants to leave the Yesa he wants to go into business because he wants to be able to to give a lot of said he should stay in the Yesa and learn the guy said no he wants to he wants to serve God a different way so left the Yesa he went into business and he became a rich man years later the happened to travel to Villa and when anywhere he went people would come to the for advice for bras you know people came to see the like so was there in Villa and there's you know a bunch of people waiting to see the one comes in comes out comes in comes out there's what there's a famous there's a famous story that one wealthy man came into the to give him a donation e one wealthy man came into the to give him a donation who was not Sher shabas there's a story about took his hand he said such a generous hand shame it's going to burn in geham the guy was shabas yeah I think he became shabas so the uh so this guy this disciple of comes in and as soon as he comes in he bursts into tears the says what's wrong he says I'm suffering from a terrible disease I can't open my hand meaning no matter who asks me for money I can't open my hand to give him money I can't I'm I I simply am so stingy I can't give money I can't overcome it so the started chuckling he said you know you made a mistake you told me that you left want to leave y Shiva because you want to make a lot of money and give Saka at that point you didn't have any Yara not to give Saka because you didn't have the money but now you've got the money didn't you realize when you have the money the Yahara grows exponentially he grows parallel to you right now you should know I'm the most generous guy in the world you know this story you know the story with this guy this guy gets called in by the Russians by the Communists and the uh the the KGB calls this guy in this Russian citizen say comrade yeah are you a loyal loyal to the party yes I'm loyal to the party says you're loyal to the party what would you do if you had a if you had a boat I had a boat I would donate it to the party good and what would you do if you had a if you had a mansion if I had a mansion I would donate it to the party good and what would you do if you had a shirt a shirt I would keep so said I understand a boat you would donate a mansion you would donate and a shirt you would keep he says yeah I actually have a shirt and you know if I had $70 million a year for sure I would give $30 million to Ducker for sure you know why because I don't have $70 million if I had $70 million then it wouldn't be so for sure now I'm the most generous guy with other people's money you've never met anybody more generous i' give away all all all of Bill Gates and d and what's his name uh borne Buffett and then and Mr Amazon and you know I give away all their money yeah that's only because I don't have it only because I don't have it that's what he says over here maos what has God done now there's a deeper level here the BR this is this is profound again anything I tell you is not coming from me this is coming from the commentaries commentaries say like this the brothers understood right now the brothers say what's God done to us that means up until this point up until this very moment they're being accused of spies and they're being accused of this they're being accused of that and they figure listen listen this guy is making a mistake this guy's he we're going through a lot of aggravation right now we're already getting aggravated because this guy whoever is behind that Egyptian this Egyptian ruler is making a mistake about us he's accusing us of spying because we came in in different ways entrance ways which was for a completely different reason the last thing we're doing is spying and this guy is accusing us of being spies and now he's telling us go bring your brother back it's all this is going to be very aggravating dad doesn't want to send benyam now and I got to go home and he's going to come back the whole thing but they've convinced themselves you know why cuz God works mea can mid you get what you deserve we made a mistake in our calculation with yoseph and therefore the punishment is somebody's making a mistake about us that fits the punishment fits the crime we made a mistake so this guy's making a mistake but all of a sudden they see something happens that's not a mistake money is being put into their thing which obviously is going to create an accusation they that much they see and this isn't a mistake the guy's making this is being done intentionally at that point they say why is Hashem doing this to us this doesn't fit the crime our crime was an unintentional crime so why aren we now getting framed intentionally in other words our crime was based on a mistake we made a mistake in our calculation we honestly thought that he deserved to be sold we made a mistake okay we can admit we made a mistake in our calculation so this guy is making a mistake by thinking that we're that that that we're spies that much we understand the punishment fits the crime but now he's doing something intentionally this has nothing to do with us being spies now he's framing us somehow and therefore the brothers are saying maimo what did we do okay they go back up to Yakov ainu and they tell Yakov the whole story and then Yakov says to them uh uh uh what do you call it they they they find their money and and yakov's all upset So eventually in yob says to them listen uh I can't send Benyamin with you Yosef is not here Shimon is not here now you're gonna lose Benyamin for me also we're in trouble Ru says to his father you put my two sons to death if I don't bring Benyamin back give me give me the lad give me Benyamin I'll bring him back to you that's a very dramatic statement ruin says to Yakov aino you'll you'll you'll put my two sons to death if I don't bring Benyamin back what does that mean what yakob doesn't love his grandchildren he's going to go kill his grandchildren what does that mean number one so there are different approaches there some unfor say he's talking about a person who gets a portion and arits Israel is considered alive he say he'll take away the portion and a isra from them they won't get a portion but that's that that could be that's a Mah says that in the gar but what's really happening here is let's back up Yuda had two sons right Er and Onan and they both died why did they die gentlemen why did Aron Onan die because they they were wasting seed right right they're wasting seed that's why they died who knew about that nobody knew why they died there was a private thing nobody knew why they died all they knew is that they married this lady and they died what was the assumption that everybody made you know why they must have died because they were the sons of Yehuda and Yehuda was the Catalyst in the sail of Yosef it was his idea to sell so everybody who saw what happened certainly the other brothers when they saw what happened to yehuda's Sons what they figured was that somehow that was retribution for selling Yosef they didn't know what was going on in the private bedroom over there that they're wasting seed they just saw well Yehuda was the Catalyst Yehuda lost two sons cause and effect it must be because Yakov Vino was upset with Yehuda for some reason or he was upset at all and therefore the two grandson so ruen is say thako listen I know what the consequences are for getting you upset give me binyamin even at the cost of my two sons even at the cost of my two sons and again this is because because binyamin doesn't know ruin ruin doesn't know what why they died so then yakob says no I'm not sending with you and Rashi says you're a foolish foolish idea that Ruan has over here the foolish idea I you know I was thinking to myself it could be the Yakov who was responsible for Yosef to begin with who was responsible for Yosef remember Ru said he he would Ru felt he's going to be blamed he was responsible so apparently as the firstborn yakob swam is responsible well you messed up with one of my sons I'm not giving you the other one right what I should trust you with Byam I trusted you with Yosef and look what happened but then Yehuda speaks look at the end of the paral you that speaks up what does Yehuda say page 240 things are getting tight they're getting hungry yakob is not sending Benyamin and the brothers say to yakob if we don't bring Benyamin we can't get any provisions so on page 240 seven lines from the top last word on the line send them with me we'll go we'll live we won't die I'll take responsibility for you get him from me if I don't bring him back put him right in front of you Yehuda takes responsibility for Benyamin this creates a connection that's going to go on all the way through history because the Trib of Yehuda and bmen remember when there's a split among the Jewish people you have the 10 tribes on on one side and who are the other two tribes it's Yehuda and binyamin and in the B mdash the B mdash is built in the portion of Benyamin but who has one portion that encroaches on the portion of B Yehuda they're right next to each other that Bond begins over here where Yuda takes it takes responsibity for benyam Yehuda and Bam are now going to be linked together all through the rest of History they're going to be linked together but it's very interesting you know Ruan says to Yakov vinu and the plain meaning I'll take them if not you put my two sons to death forget about it am not interested Yehuda he trusts why does he trust you Yehuda had two sons who died he knows what it feels like he knows what it feel remember it's easy to talk this again talking about giving away to stucka you talk very dramatic or putting the two sons to death it's only because he haven't had two sons who died y doesn't say that he's had two sons sons who died he knows what it feels like and he knows that Yakov vinu is facing two sons Yosef is not here and shimon's in prison so Yakov aino yovino knows Yehuda knows what it's like to lose two sons and I'm on the verge of losing two sons over here right Yehuda I could trust Yuda I could trust with it so Yehuda is going to be the one who's going to take down he's going to be he's going to carry out the mission and then he goes down to he goes back to MIT okay they I'm just speeding up very quickly but at the end of the story they plant the Goblet they plant the Goblet in binyamin's in Bam's sack okay that we'll have to wait till next time okay we we'll see that next time here okay