Anash.org presents a weekly Dvar Torah for children by Rabbi Yekusiel Goldstein, author of the book Divrei Torah for Children.
For a printable PDF of the Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayigash, click here.
וַיִגַשׁ
Don’t Just Cry, Do Something!
Yosef and his brothers were finally reunited. Yosef and Binyomin fell on each other’s necks and cried.
Rashi says that Yosef cried for the Beis Hamikdash that will be built in Binyomin’s portion of Eretz Yisroel, and will later be destroyed. Binyomin cried for the mishkan Shiloh that will be built in Yosef’s portion of Eretz Yisroel, and will later be destroyed.
Question – Why did Yosef and Binyomin each cry for the other’s portion and not their own?
Answer – When a fellow Yid is in trouble, we can try to help him, but at the end of the day, he will need to take action. Once we did our part, all we can – and should do, is feel his pain and even cry for his sorrow.
With our own troubles, however, we can’t just cry, we must actually do something about it!
It is for this reason that Yosef and Binyomin cried for each other’s sorrow, but not their own. For their own sorrow, they still had work to do!
Lesson – The yetzer hara has many tricks to stop us from doing mitzvos. One of his tricks is, to make us feel sad about the aveiros we did, discouraging us from doing the next mitzva. For example, if we forgot to say berachos one morning, the yetzer hara will say the next day, “How can you daven when yesterday you didn’t even say berachos?” We must remember, that our mission in this world is to do mitzvos. If we did something wrong, we correct it, do teshuva, and quickly move on to do the next mitzva!
Based on Likutei Sichos vol. 10 p. 148
Let’s Review:
Question #1 – Why didn’t Yosef and Binyomin cry for their own troubles?
Question #2 – What is our mission and goal in this world?
Divrei Torah for ChildrenVolume 2 can be purchased online or in Crown Heights bookstores.
