Parshas Va-yeegash - making amends

HH

Va-yeegash (Genesis 45:3) ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אתו כי נבהלו מפניו- and his brothers couldn't answer him because they were bewildered from his presence.

The brothers had came down to Egypt intent on finding Yosef and rescuing him, they were even prepared to wage war against all of Egypt to rescue him, to fix their grave sin of selling him. But what they were not prepared for was that Yosef would not need their help at all, and that they could not gain any sense of feeling of redemption by some grandiose rescue or any restoration of Yosef to his former status (- that is why they didn't recognize him in the first place, because his looking a little different was enough for them to build a mental defense against the possibility that it was him). This calls to mind the book Count of M.C. which is so trivial in that the count comes back and has his vengeance on all his enemies, because they all have greatness that he can take away, and all the people he wants to award are in great need - it all works out so nice and convenient, but if the enemies were just lowly people he wouldn't have anything to get revenge, and if those he wanted to award were already wealthy and honorable there wouldn't be anything he could do, very pathetic. So here too the brothers were stuck with this reality that there was no simple way of gaining penance by undoing the wrong, the wrong had already been fixed without them, and now they were utterly helpless.
So Yosef Hatzadik called them near and showed them his circumcision - for Yosef is the aspect of yesod-foundation (the real foundation, is the inner level, because always the external level stands completely on the level within - which manifests itself so meekly in the external level), he told them that if they wanted to make things right, they were all still in this world together, and by keeping their faith and brotherhood pure they could in fact still achieve redemption. Because nothing is withheld from G-d, and by keeping true to the aspect of Yosef G-d would avail them of the complete rectification they had presumed to attain. The Yesod is always attached to the aspect of Ain - nothingness of the Ain Sof (No Limit - Infinite G-d) - the Yesod is always completely new, and in renewal everything can be achieved, and the completion of the foundation is only by virtue of the successful building that stands upon it. So ultimately his entire best interest was in their success, and their success would be the rectification. This is what Yosef told them, I was sent here to sustain you, what would it look like if I were to wrong you now... and all the other things, check it out for yourself....

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

The world is still not familiar with the name of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov – NNNNM

At about 2 am on the 21^st of Kislev 5777 (12/21/2016) some Ukrainian thugs entered the holy compound of the holy tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, better known as Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman and deposited the grinning head of pig and smeared the place with fake blood and some tear gas and then ran off. The Breslovers had a heyday, everyone was pumping and buzzing, reviewing what had transpired, speaking with local authorities, and sending out pictures and videos to friends and the media, and in no time the story got international attention making headlines all over the world, and multiple members of the knesset were calling their counterparts in the Ukraine. Anyone familiar with Rabbainu knows that he has the power to easily light up interest in whoever he wants, and if he simply wanted to gain some major PR he has many more respectable ways of doing so – in the past he got world renown people to publicize for him – like Martin Buber, and even more recently Bibi Netanyahu announced to the whole world a teaching in the name of Rabbainu which made one of the presidents of the U.S. a student. Even still it is kind of typical for Rabbainu to pick an underdog approach, always desiring to be the victim and not the persecutor. However in this case there are some very obvious allusions to the current events – mainly the weekly Torah portion of Va-yaishev – in which the brothers of Yosef slaughter a “se'eer eezim <a goat – se'eer can also mean a demon, and eezim – is brazeness, typical of the swine>” to drench the unique cloak <kisoaness passim> of Yosef in its blood to fool their father Yaakov into believing that Yosef was mauled. Rashi sites our Sages as revealing that this in turn was punishment for Yaakov having fooled his father Isaac by putting the skins of a goat on his arms, in order to steal the blessings from Esau. So it would seem that Rabbainu was accepting upon himself a rectification for all this smear campaign, not only to bring rectification for the tremendous sin of the selling of Yosef – which according to the Kabbala is a primary root of the entire exile and all the suffering thereof – but also in securing the blessings unhindered from Esau who is likened to a pig.
In addition the paroaches (the ornate -velvet – sheet) which is draped over the tomb and was drenched in the red paint or whatnot, was improperly placed there – previously there had been a beautiful paroaches there which was specially made with Rabbi Nachman's name displayed prominently in embroidered letters: Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman. .Haters had removed and stolen this befitting paroaches and the current was put there as a replacement, and behold the blood of the Na Nach paroaches has been avenged!

Another extremely beneficial result was the reawakening of the urgent importance of bringing the holy tomb of Rabbainu to Jerusalem, where there is already a special plot allotted for him on Mt. Zion. Rabbainu expressed himself very clearly on multiple occasions that his place is only Israel, and before he passed away he said explicitly (Life of Our Leader Rabbi Nachman, article 162) that he would really have desired to pass away in Israel, but it was not realistic. So B"H there is now greater awareness and more prayers going up that we should merit to see this happen sooner than later. Because eventually it will obviously happen, there is nothing to stop it, and ultimately Rabbainu will not be the last to arise for the resurrection, but the first...



What I did learn from this event is that the world is still not properly familiar with the name of Rabbi Nachman. Rabbi Nachman's name, particularly Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman should be extremely familiar, a household name, and yet in the international headlines there is no mention of his name, as if people wouldn't recognize it. In the circles I frequent everyone knows of Rabbainu, so it was an eyeopener to learn that in the great big world out there, people are still living in the stone ages, bereft of any knowledge of Rabbainu! So B”H we got to merit to see that change very soon. In merit of the holy Petek.
Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!