Parshat Vayigash

Dear STOCS Friend: 

Imagine being separated from your child for 22 years, living with the heartbreaking belief that they were no longer alive. Now, picture the moment you see and embrace that very child after all this time—holding them in your arms, a child you thought was gone forever. The floodgates of emotion would burst wide open, overwhelming you with a tidal wave of love, relief, and thanks.

וַיִּפֹּל עַל⁠ צַוָּארָיו וַיֵּבְךְּ עַל⁠ צַוָּארָיו עוֹד

And he (Yosef) fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck profusely.⁠

Yosef immediately clutched his father (Yaakov) and began to cry. However, Rashi points out that Yaakov’s reaction was quite different.

אבל יעקב לא נפל על צוארי יוסף ולא נשקו. ואמרו רבותינו:⁠ שהיה קורא את שמע.

Yaakov, however, did not fall upon Yosef's neck nor did he kiss him. Our Rabbis say: the reason was that he was reciting the Shema Yisroel.

Rabbi Moshe Crystal, in the book MIN HaHAR, quotes Rabbi Benzion Shafier: “Since Yaakov felt such intense emotions at that time, he wanted to lock them in to internalize them.”  To be specific, this experience Yaakov was living through was so great he needed to make it “last.”  Especially since appreciation  to Hashem was in order! The great level of joy  and thanks on the part of Yaakov was verbalized with the words of Shema Yisroel.

Rabbi Shafier continues “though the emotion will not stay forever, but if we take an action or even put it into words, we have a chance of the positive emotions becoming a part of who we are for the future.”

In other words, Yaakov is teaching us to let our positive emotions, not negative, become part of who we are. The old proverb that "even a little bit of light banishes a great deal of darkness" is the model by which we should live our lives.

Today, on זאת חנוכה  Zot Chanukah, the final day of Chanukah, may the light of the candles guide us toward joy, happiness, and unwavering faith and trust. May God banish the darkness of the past fifteen months, and may the hostages be safely reunited with their families, granting them the opportunity to recite Shema Yisrael in gratitude and peace.

Have a good Shabbas.

Rabbi Shore