09 January, 2009

Parshas Vayichi

When the Shevatim went to bury their father Yaakov in Mearas Hamachpaelah, Esav countered that the final burial spot in the cave belonged to him and not Yaakov. The Shevatim started arguing and tried to prove to him that Yaakov was the legitimate heir and they sent Naftuli down to Mitzraim to bring the deed to prove it. Dan had a son by the name of Chushim, who was deaf. Seeing that Yaakov wasn't being buried he asked someone what the problem was and they told him that Esav was preventing them from burying Yaakov, so he went and killed Esav.
Why was it that no one else had the courage to do what was seemingly right? Why was Chushim the only one who knew what had to be done?
R' Henoch Liebowitz Zatza"l explains that when a person is caught up in a argument or debate he can't focus, all he looks for is a way to prove that he's right and he looses sight of the objective. That's what happened to the Shevatim. They were trying to prove that they were right and failed to see that this was all a disgrace to Yaakov whose body was in front of them. The only one that wasn't involved and all worked up- was Chushim. He couldn't hear and therefore wasn't caught up in the political aspect of it, all he saw was a great Chillul Hames - and thus was able to see and do what had to be done.

Happy Anniversary to Reb Z!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Anniversary wishes!

Anonymous said...

Yasher Koach for the machshava. I have the heard (and I believe seen too) the same Torah in the name of Reb Chaim Shmuelevitz.

A gutten shabbos, we miss you here,

YFS

Reb Y. Brachfeld said...

CN- I thought it would be your type of machshova