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THE WEEKLY SIDRA- VAYIGASH
Rabbi Moshe Greebel
Somewhere along the line, we’ve all witnessed a person cry for joy, when the rarity of unusually good news came his way. Now, while it may be easier to understand tears when there is pain or sorrow, why is it that we tend to cry even for joy?
From a purely scientific (psychological) perspective, we have a study done by Miceli, M., & Castelfranchi, C. (2003), in which the following is put forward:
“Recent psychological theories of crying emphasize the relationship of crying to the experience of perceived helplessness. From this perspective, an underlying experience of helplessness can usually explain why people cry. For example, a person may cry after receiving surprisingly happy news, ostensibly because the person feels powerless or unable to influence what is happening.”
Informative as that may be, if we turn our attentions to the Torah however, specifically in this week’s Sidra, we will see a deeper and more profound explanation of crying for joy. Prior to beginning though, let us briefly understand some chronology.
Yosef was born 2199 years after Briyas Ha’Olam (creation of the universe). His full blood brother Binyamin, from their mother Rochail, was born 2208 years after the B’riya (creation), making him nine years junior to Yosef. Eight years later in 2216, when Yosef was seventeen, and Binyamin was eight, M’Chiras Yosef (the selling of Yosef) took place. In 2229 after the Briya, Yosef, at age thirty, was made second in command in Egypt. And, nine years later, in 2238, the second year of the famine, Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, as we see from the following Passuk (verse), where Yosef stated:
“For these two years has the famine been in the land; and yet there are five years, when there shall neither be plowing nor harvest.” (B’raishis 45:6)
In short then, Yosef, who was thirty nine years old in 2238, had not seen his brother Binyamin since 2216, a period of twenty two years. When they finally met, the Torah tells us:
“And he fell upon his brother Benyamin’s necks, and wept; and Benyamin wept upon his neck.” (ibid. 45:14)
Now, right off the bat, the word ‘necks’ in the plural is not a typographic error. It is the literal translation of the Passuk. The Gemarah in M’gillah 16b, as cited by Rashi on this Passuk, addresses this point:
“How many necks had Benyamin? Rabbi Eliezer said, ‘He (Yosef) wept for the two Mikdashim (Temples) which were destined to be in the territory of Benyamin, and to be destroyed…..’”
That is, obviously Binyamin did not have two necks, but rather Yosef cried twice, because he saw the eventual destruction of the two Mikdashim. Returning to the Gemarah, we see as well:
“’…..And Benyamin wept upon his neck for the Mishkan (Tabernacle) of Shiloh, which was destined to be in the territory of Yosef, and to be destroyed.’”
The Mishkan was in existence 480 years prior to the building of the first Bais HaMikdash in 2928. After entering Eretz Canaan subsequent to the death of Moshe in 2488, the history of the Mishkan would look like this:
2488- Mishkan in Gilgal (15 years)
2503- Mishkan in Shiloh (369 years)
2872- Mishkan in Nov (13 years)
2885- Mishkan in Givon (44 years)
If we add to this the 39 years that the Mishkan was in existence prior to the entry into Canaan, we have our 480 years of the Mishkan.
Now, in his text Mai’Ain Bais HaSho’Aiva, Rav Shimon Schwab (1908- 1993) of blessed memory, asked why the Gemarah in M’gillah had to go through such an elaborate explanation of why the bothers cried. Wouldn’t it have been simpler, to say that they cried for the joy of finally seeing each other after twenty two years?
In response to this question, Rav Shimon wrote of something he heard from the Gaon (Torah Excellency) Rav Mordechai Pugramanski of blessed memory (?), who began with the following Passuk:
“He will destroy death for ever; and the G-d HaShem will wipe away tears from off all faces…..” (Y’shaya 25:8)
Now, there is a particular Midrash (no source given), that the ‘wiping away tears’ of this Passuk, refers even to tears of happiness. That is, Rav Mordechai explained, even though crying is a much more understandable emotion when it comes to agony and sorrow, and laughter is much more suited to joy, the reason people also cry for joy, is because of the concept of a Bais HaMikdash. What does this mean?
From the time that the first Bais HaMikdash was built, and HaShem appropriated Himself an official station in this lower physical world, Simcha (joy) came to the world in abundance. For, the Bais HaMikdash is the source of all Simcha, as we see from the following Passuk:
“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” (T’hillim 48:3)
The Bais HaMikdash is the ‘joy of the whole earth.’ We see the same from:
“Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold Shlomo HaMelech with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the gladness of his heart.” (Shir HaShirim 3:11)
The Gemarah in Ta’anis 26b explains ‘on the day of the gladness of his heart,’ as:
“…..This refers to the building of the Bais HaMIkdash, may it be soon in our days.”
Therefore, continued Rav Mordechai, at the destruction of each Bais HaMikdash, the source of all Simcha was removed from the earth, and sorrow and pain took its place. Now, the rare times of great Simcha in the life of a person, are akin to islands situated in the middle of a great sea of pain and agony. And, when these small islands experience the rare concept of bounding Simcha, that Simcha overflows into the vast ocean of sorrow, mixing with its waters. The result, is that we cry for joy.
And, that is why, concluded Rav Mordechai, the previous Gemarah in M’gillah did not simply explain the crying of the brothers as crying for the joy of finally seeing each other, because it wanted to teach us that the source for all that Simcha came from both Batei Mikdashim.
Today regretfully, there is no Bais HaMikdash, and we live in a world that is rife with the problems of wars being waged in foreign countries, a weak economy, intolerance, and a thousand other ills which plague our peace of mind. Composers compose dissonant music, and poets write depressing verse.
Nevertheless, we as Jews, must seek to look beyond the vast sea of sorrow and pain, to gaze always at the legacy we were bestowed so graciously by HaShem Yisborach, and to comprehend that only within the framework of Torah, can the meaning of true Simcha be found.
May we soon see the G’ulah Sh’laimah in its complete resplendency- and in our times. Good Shabbos.
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