In last week’s parshah, Yosef revealed himself to his brothers after not seeing them for 22 years, The pasuk states: “Vayomer Yosef el echav: Ani Yosef. Ha’od avi chai? V’lo yachlu echav laanos oso ki nivhalu mi’panav. – And Yosef said to his brothers, ‘I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him because they were left disconcerted before him (B’reishis 45:3).”
The Midrash comments on this with words that seem designed to terrify: “Woe to us from the day of judgment, woe to us from the day of rebuke.” The Beis HaLevi tells us that Yosef’s rebuke: “Is my father still alive?” wasn’t meant literally, because Yehudah had already told Yosef that Yaakov was alive. Rather, his rebuke was, “Was my father not alive when you sold me, you were not worried about his health, so why now all of a sudden are you worried about Binyamin?” The brothers had nothing to say to him. The Midrash (B’reishis Rabbah 93:10) states that Yosef was the youngest of the Sh’vatim and the brothers could not withstand his rebuke, so certainly when Hashem will bring a person to justice at the End of Days, he will not be able to withstand His rebuke.
The lesson for us is that we often contradict ourselves. We claim we have no time to learn Torah, yet somehow we find a wealth of time to chat about mundane matters. We claim we have no money for tz’dakah, yet when vacation time comes, we suddenly have all sorts of resources. We should strive to equally match all our energy and resources that we channel to our material existence to the time, energy, and resources in spiritual achievements.
List of People Who Need a r’fuah sh’leimah (a complete recovery)
Please recite Psalms 20, 30, 88, 121, and 130.
Yitzchak Shlomo ben Gittel
Yosef Chaim ben Ilana
Arkady Avraham ben Mazal
Chaim Shaul ben Esther
Yaakov Yisrael ben Chanah
Yosef Chaim ben Larrisa
Shmuel Nechemiah ben Hinda
Menachem ben Miriam
Yosef Yechiel Ben-Tzion ben Rivkah Beila
Binyamin Yehudah ben Leah
Chaim Mordechai ben Sarah Ita
Shlomo Aharon Nachman ben Malkah
Pesach Yosef ben Hinda
Nisan ben Shoshanah
Binyamin ben Daniella Margalit
Esther Hadassah bas Devorah
Mitali Naomi bas Gilah Farcha
Chayah Sarah Leah bas Brachah
Heleni Orna bas Chein Chanah
Esther Brachah bas Chayah
Sima Frieda bas Chayah Rachel
Miriam bas Basya
Gila Raizel bas Gittel
Sally bas Rozy
Rachel bas Leah
Anna bas Roza
Chayah bas Regina
Angela bas Sarah
Rivkah Hila Hodayah bas Rachel
Ariellah bas Hila
Leah bas Esther
Amar Tamar bas Sarah
Chanah bas Miriam Perel
Sarka bas Sarah
Tziporah bas Fibi
Esther bas Sima
Israeli Soldiers (Please recite Psalms 25, 26, 46, 83, 142.)
Yehoshua ben Aliza Esther
Menachem ben Aliza Esther
Gavriel Efraim ben Chanah Yafah
Netanel Akiva ben Chanah Yafah
Yonatan Ezra ben Chanah Yafah
Chaim Aba Menachem ben Naomi Beila
Daniel Moshe ben Devorah
Chaim Mordechai ben Sarah Ita
Gavriel Yehudah ben Yaakov
Shmuel ben Aharon
Moshe ben Shoshanah Esther
Yehoshua ben Tzvi
Dvir Moshe ben Dinah
Oriel ben Dinah
Dor ben Zehavah
Daniel ben Rachel
Shalev David ben Revital Renanah
Daniel ben Orli
Tal ben Ilana Ilanit
Mordechai Daniel ben Leah Rachel
Yotam ben Efrat Michal
Michael ben Naomi Sarah
Moshe Eliyahu ben Dinah Yehudis
Yosef ben Shlomis
Yosef ben Sarit
Yosef Daniel ben Anat
Yosef Chaim ben Hadassah
Ron ben Ahuvah
Yosef Yechiel Ben-Tzion ben Rivkah Beila
Binyamin Yehudah ben Leah
To add names of individuals who need a r’fuah sh’leimah
to next week’s T’hilim column, please email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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