Malchut, Then and Now – Vayigash
In this week’s parsha, we read about the interaction between Yehuda and Yosef over Binyamin.
In most years, like this year, parshat Vayigash is in close proximity to the fast of עשרה בטבת. According to the Tur, when a festival or a fast occurs during the week, it is hinted at in the parsha on the Shabbat close to it.
It is well known that on the 10th of Tevet the siege on Yerushalayim began in the time of נבוכדנצר מלך בבל. If so, the question is “Why do we fast on עשרה בטבת at all?”
True the 1st Beit Hamikdash was eventually destroyed following the siege, but it was rebuilt! If we fast when the siege on Yerushalayim began during the 1st Beit Hamikdash, why do we not fast on the day the siege of Yerushalayim began during the 2nd Beit Hamikdash, which has not yet been rebuilt?
Does anyone know when the siege on Yerushalayim in the time of בית שני began? It was on כ"ב ניסן. Do we fast on כ"ב ניסן? The answer is no, in fact many of us celebrate on that day (Mimouna). So why davka fast on עשרה בטבת? Not only do we fast, but it is considered such an important fast that if it theoretically fell out on Shabbat, we would have to fast on Shabbat, it is דוחה שבת! As it happens it never does due to the way the calendar is planned, but theoretically if it did we would fast. How many fasts do you know that fall out on a Friday (like this year) that are not deferred to Sunday or brought forward to Thursday? What is so special about עשרה בטבת?
According to the Chatam Sofer any fast day that is in memory of something past, is not דוחה שבת so if עשרה בטבת is דוחה שבת, it means we are not remembering something that happened in the past, but something which is either in the present or the future. According to the Chatam Sofer, on עשרה בטבת HKB”H sits together with his host of angels in judgment to decide whether the Mashiach is going to come and the 3rd Beit Hamikdash will be rebuilt this year!
If that is the case, it is fitting that this shiur is dedicated to the subject of the Beit Hamikdash and Mashiach.
Following what Tur said above, there are hints in Vayigash to both the Beit Hamikdash and Mashiach.
After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers it says –
ויפול על צוארי בנימין אחיו ויבך ובנימין בכה על צואריו (בראשית מה, יד)
Necks (plural), not neck (singular). How many necks does Binyamin have? How many necks does Yosef have? Chazal in the Midrash say that Yosef was crying over a prophetic vision that the two בתי מקדש (in the נחלה of Binyamin) would be destroyed. Similarly Binyamin was crying over a prophetic vision that משכן שילה (in נחלת יוסף/אפרים) would be destroyed. How do we know that “neck” means Beit Mikdash? From a passuk in Shir Hashirim –
כמגדל דויד צוארך בנוי לתלפיות וכו' (שיר השירים ד,ד)
Every time we have mention of the word צואר (neck) in the Torah, Chazal in the Midrash say the reference is to the Beit Hamikdash. Just like the neck is the connection between the head and the rest of the body, the Beit Hamikdash is the connection between HKB”H and Knesset Yisrael. In the neck there are two pipes, the food pipe and the wind pipe. These also reflect the bidirectional flow in the Beit Hamikdash – there was Divine blessing being sent from up-down, like the Lechem Hapanim for example (the food pipe) and there were also תפילות and קרבנות being sent from down-up (the wind pipe).
OK, so there were two Temples destroyed in Binyamin’s territory, that explains “necks” (plural), but only one משכן שילה, so why also Yosef’s “necks” (plural)? Chazal say that משכן שילה was actually two בתי מקדש because it had the features of both the Mishkan (יריעות) and the Beit Hamikdash (permanent walls instead of קרשים, so when it was no longer, it was as if two Temples were destroyed.
This is the reference in our parsha to the Beit Hamikdash. What about the Mashiach?
At the beginning of our parsha Yehuda “approaches” Yosef. There is a מחלוקת in the Gemara what ויגש means – to wage war, to appease, to pray. Chazal say that the dialogue between Yosef and Yehuda was a dialogue between kings (which is why the rest of the brothers did not interfere).
We know that מלכות, the monarchy is the birthright of Yehuda, but what about Yosef, how is he a king? You can say that he was ruler of Egypt, like a king, but it is much deeper than that.
To understand this principle we have to go back a few parshas, to when Yaakov left Lavan to return to Eretz Yisrael. Ten of the Twelve Tribes had already been born in Charan, but it was only after Yosef was born that Yaakov decided to return. Why didn’t he leave after 4 of his sons were born, 5, 8, 10?
In order to better understand the parshiyot that deal with the Twelve Tribes, Vayeishev, Mikeitz and Vayigash we have to examine them through the prism of forging future roles, concepts and hierarchy in Am Yisrael. It is only when we regard them as such, do the myriad questions and difficulties inherent in these parshiyot become clear.
When we think of מלכות in Am Yisrael, we automatically think of מלכות יהודה and David Hamelech. However there are in fact two kings in Am Yisrael, מלכות בני רחל and מלכות יהודה. These two monarchies are not rivals to each other (as the brothers mistakenly thought when they sold Yosef to Egypt), their reigns are consecutive and symbiotic.
מלכות יוסף/בנימין always precedes מלכות דוד and paves the way for it.
It says –
"והיה בית יעקב אש ובית יוסף להבה ובית עשו לקש" (עובדיה א, יח)
Before מלכות בית דוד can reign, the seed of Eisav, Amalek, must be removed. The only ones who can do that are the offspring of Rachel, Yosef and Binyamin. This is why Yaakov had to wait for Yosef to be born before returning home, because without Yosef, there was no antidote to Eisav.
In all the past and future battles with Amalek, Yosef and Binyamin lead the fray. In the first encounter with Eisav, it was Yosef’s existence that provided protection for Yaakov.
Later when Am Yisrael left Egypt it was Yehoshua (from the tribe of Ephraim/Yosef) who waged war with Amalek.
Before David Hamelech could become king, Shaul had to reign before him, because Shaul was from the tribe of Binyamin and it was his job to wage war on Amalek (Agag).
Later Mordechai (from the tribe of Binyamin) would continue this war against Haman.
In the future, it will be Melech HaMashiach ben Yosef who finally manages to complete this task and Amalek will disappear forever, paving the way for Melech Hamashiach ben David.
The kingdom of Yosef/Binyamin is like the “advanced guard”, clearing the way for the subsequent kingdom of Yehuda and the building of the Beit Hamikdash, located in the territory of the tribe of Binyamin, but with a small inclusion belonging to the tribe of Yehuda.
The dialogue between Yehuda and Yosef WAS therefore a dialogue between kings. It was the fulfillment of a prophecy that Yosef envisioned as a young man and that he was waiting to reach fulfillment (which is why he did not contact his father Yaakov all the time he was in Egypt before then).
It was not a simple reconciliation between brothers, but a forging of a future reality for Am Yisrael until the end of time, involving the Beit Hamikdash and the Mashiach(s).
The different types of מלכות are also reflected in two of the כלים of the Beit Hamikdash in the היכל that have crowns, the שלחן לחם הפנים which has connotations to מלכות בית דוד and the מזבח הקטורת which has connotations to כפרה of the brothers selling Yosef to Egypt. They also correspond to the two pipes in the neck, the לחם הפנים is from up-down and the מזבח הקטורת is from down-up.
Therefore Vayigash could not be a more fitting parsha to precede עשרה בטבת as it holds the key, not only to events past, but to those that have yet to occur במהרה בימנו.
In preparation for this auspicious day of judgment that will determine if we are זוכה to merit the Mashiach and the Beit Hamikdash this year, I urge everyone to pay extra attention to all parts of theתפילה that relate to the Beit Hamikdash and the גאולה. The Korbanot in Shacharit and before Mincha. The brachotומביא גואל לבני בניהם, גואל ישראל, בונה ירושלים, מצמיח קרן ישועה, רצה ותחזנה in the Shmoneh Esrei and the יהי רצון after the Shmoneh Esrei. To say אני מאמין באמונה שלמה בביאת המשיח after Shacharit with fervor and tears. To undertake to do Tshuva and improve something in ourselves this coming year ….. and ב"ה we will be זוכה this year לביאת משיח צדקנו ובנין עדי עד.
