Binyamin

Parashat Vayigash is the highlight in the amazing saga of Yosef and his brothers; a saga that covers 4 parshiot beginning with Vayaishev and continuing to the last parasha in the Book of Bereishiet .

As we enter parashat Vayigash the brothers have no option except for a desperate plea to the unmerciful, inconsistent, radical Grand Vizier of Egypt, who is called Tzafnat Panei’ach.

Binyamin has been accused of stealing the Egyptian’s charmed goblet and sentenced to life punishment of slavery; and the brothers were freed to return home and receive their punishment from their father Ya’akov.

The parasha begins:

ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדוני ידבר נא עבדך דבר באזני אדוני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך כי כמוך כפרעה.

Then Yehuda approached him and said: Pardon, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.

At that moment, the brothers estimated their chances of freeing Binyamin to be close to nil; but Yehuda, who was the family spokesman by virtue of his receiving the status of future monarchy, stepped forward uninvited to attempt to repeal Binyamin’s sentence.

In short: Yehuda makes a frantic effort on behalf of Binyamin.

At the time this message is being written, our Prime Minister is on his way to meet with a man who has the ability to exert great influence on the actions that our Medina will have to take in the near future.

We are called Yehudim because we are descendants of the southern area of Eretz Yisrael which was named YEHUDA, after the ten northern tribes (named Yisrael) were exiled by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.

Now HaShem is sending a coded message of encouragement for the Jewish nation.

The Prime Minister’s name is Binyamin (Netanyahu), and he is going as the head of state of the Jewish nation whose people are YEHUDIM to discuss what actions we have to take in the near future.

Remarkable, just the reverse of what we read in the parasha where Yehuda comes forth to help Binyamin, our Binyamin is coming to help Yehuda.

But more interesting is the message behind the code.

The situation in Vayigash appeared to the brothers to be one of desperation – to prevent the dismantling of the Jewish family. But Yehuda and the brothers were not aware that standing in front of them is their brother Yosef, who would never harm his brothers beyond arousing their consciences over what they had done to him.

So too, the situation today appears to be fraught with danger. Iran is restoring their missile stockpile with the intent of overwhelming our defenses. Egypt and Turkey could ally with Iran, with Turkey’s 87 million people, Iran’s 92 million and Egypt’s 110 million. But we know that HaShem will save His chosen people in Eretz Yisrael.

In addition, the Arabs in Yehuda and Shomron are sitting on a keg of dynamite, and our Arab citizens cannot be trusted.

However, in reality, we know that HaShem will intervene in obstructing the evil plans of His enemies. With that said, the Jewish way is to believe in miracles, but in parallel we must do what human logic dictates.

We must have a large and powerful military, including the tens of thousands of Chareidi young men who so far refuse to serve.

I await with great curiosity how HaShem will pull us through this time.

With blessings from Zion,

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana