Parshas Vayeshev
17 maamarim of the tzaddikim on this week's reading, each in Hebrew and English with a takeaway.
Lehavas David
Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz ›Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzServing Hashem in Tranquility: Yaakov's Path of FearYaakov could have served Hashem through the things of this world without stumbling, but he chose his father's fear of sin and lived like a sojourner, because the path through the…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzServing Hashem Even without TranquilityYaakov and Yosef wanted tranquility for the holiest reason, to raise even this world up to Hashem, yet Heaven showed them that Hashem also wants to be served amid hardship and…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzYosef's Humility: Credit to the FathersYosef believed that a new way of dressing and carrying himself would bring others close, but it led him into a severe test, and he returned to the unchanged ways of his fathers…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzBrotherhood, Not Strife, in Heaven's NameThe brothers of Yosef believed their dispute was for the honor of Heaven, yet anger led them into error, and they ended up pasturing only themselves. If even the disciples of…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz“I Seek My Brothers”: Unity for Future GenerationsThe brothers acted by the letter of the law and for the honor of Heaven, yet they “pastured themselves” by forgetting what their deed would mean for the generations after them…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzBrotherhood and the Leader: Raising Torah and PrayerKorach and the brothers held that each person can raise his own Torah and prayer alone, but until the days of Moshiach that level is not ours to take. For now our service rises…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzSeeking My Brothers: Unity as Hashem's CommandThe yetzer hara would have us treat kindness to others as mere decency, but the same *Anochi* Who spoke at Sinai is the One Who asks us to care for our brothers, and Yom Kippur…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzRepentance before the Mitzvah: Reuven Opened the WayTeshuvah is not only for after a fall. Reuven had not sinned, yet he examined his deeds before going to serve his father, and so he was the first to open with teshuvah. Before we…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzRepenting Anew: Reuven Opens the Way of TeshuvahAfter we repent, the yetzer hara whispers that the work is done, but Reuven looked honestly at his teshuvah, saw it was not yet whole, and began again as if standing at the very…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzYosef's Two Trials: Wealth, Poverty and FearPoverty and wealth are both trials, and wealth is the harder one, so Yaakov prayed to use his wealth only for “bread to eat and clothing to wear,” and he and Yosef lived with a…
Yismach Yisroel
Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok Dancyger ›Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerFirst Kindle, Then Repair: Acting Like HillelDo not wait to become clean before serving Hashem. Like a wounded soldier who first escapes his enemy, kindle now with prayer and mitzvos, trusting in Hashem's promise, and keep…Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerReuven's Teshuvah Over the Root of SinComplete teshuvah is not only regret over the latest failing but a search for the first sin that set the chain in motion, uprooting it so it can no longer drag one down. Return at…Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerReuven's Teshuvah for a Sin of ThoughtA sinful thought, known only to Hashem, is the start of a chain: left unrepaired, it dims the mind and drags a person on to speech and deed. While it is still only a thought it is…Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerReuven's Teshuvah Over His Father's PainThe deepest teshuvah comes not from fear of punishment but from feeling the pain our sins cause others: our parents, all of klal Yisrael, and the Shechinah itself. One who pleads…Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerForgiveness Through Kol Yisrael and ShabbosNo one has to plead for forgiveness on his own merits alone. By binding himself to Kol Yisrael, the whole people united through its tzaddikim, and by keeping Shabbos, which is…Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerReuven's Teshuvah and Yosef's DisappearanceTeshuvah too must be examined with care, because Hashem is exacting with tzaddikim to a hair's breadth, and even penance can have consequences one never intended. Reuven's cry of…Yismach Yisroel · Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchok DancygerReuven's Teshuvah: Merging Into Klal YisraelHowever far a person has fallen, even if nothing remains of him but the name “Yisrael,” he can still trust in Hashem by humbling himself and merging into klal Yisrael; that is the…