(Genesis-44:18-47:27)

(Haftara: Yechezkel 37:15-28)

1. [45:2] “…And he raised his voice crying…” What was going through Yosef’s mind and his emotions that made him cry?

2. [45:3] “And Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef…” Only after Yehudah’s speech, did Yosef suddenly tell his brothers that he is Yosef. What did Yehudah say that caused Yosef to reveal his identity after all this time?

3. [45:5-8] Yosef does not blame his brothers at all for selling him into Egypt. He says     that it was God who really sent him. If he really believes that, then why did Yosef make so many problems for his brothers in Egypt?

4. [46:3] “…’don’t be afraid of going down to Egypt, because I will make you into a great nation there.'” Can a nation become truly great (not just economically), or can a person become truly great without living through hardship?

5. [Haftara 37:16] “Take a stick…and write on it, “For Yehudah…” God wants to tell the people, through Yechezkel the prophet, that the Jewish people will be united in the future. One stick represents Yehudah, and the other stick represents Yosef, and the 2 kingdoms will again become one kingdom. This is a simple message of unity. Why must there be sticks that are brought together? What do the sticks add to the message?

Commentary

From the depths of its soul the Jewish people will call the same call that was issued by the Patriarch. Out of its awareness of light and happiness, out of its compassion for every afflicted soul, for every confused creature, for the forms of national, social and moral life that are harmful and proceed in darkness…it will awaken and call out, “Here is the light of the living God calling to me from the depths of my being, here is the light of eternal freedom for all of existence…”

–R. Avraham Y. H. Kuk, 1865-1935, Lithuania and Israel.

This study page is dedicated to the memory of Sarah Bella bat Yitzchak Kummer, Chaim Yosef Yechiel ben Eliyahu Kummer and Eliyahu and Margaret Kummer