Illuminations #184, Kislev, 5779, Parshat Vayeishev
Torah Gems
‘Reuven heard, and he rescued him from their hand. He said, “We will not strike him mortally!”’ (37:21)
In speaking of Reuven’s rescue of Yosef, the midrash says this pasuk teaches that when a person performs a mitzvah, he should do so joyously and completely. Had Reuven known that the Torah would record about him for all eternity that he rescued Yosef, he would have carried Yosef on his shoulders and brought him back to his father instead of suggesting that he be thrown into a pit.
This midrash teaches us an important insight. When one is praised for something he did not do, or his minor action is amplified many times, he should not feel proud about that. If anything, he should feel ashamed to be given credit and recognition for something he did not do, or did only partially. Therefore, had Reuven known that the Torah would label him as the savior of Yosef, he would have carried him home on his shoulders to his father. He would have done the rescue work in a complete and optimum fashion.
The midrash says that when a person does a special mitzvah, Eliyahu HaNavi records it and mashiach and Hashem, as it were, sign on it. How careful must a person therefore be to do mitzvos to the fullest extent so that he not be shamed by being credited for something he only did partially.
Parsha Pearls
Glimpses of Greatness
Halacha Weekly
Q. Why are we not allowed to give a free gift to a non-Jew? [I-YD 7-209]
A. It says in Dev 7:2, “Lo tichrot lahem Brit v’lo te
Sefer Hachinuch (426) explains the reason for the mitzvah: ‘Not to give them a [free] gift’ [because] the beginning of every human action is fixing his thought on it and discussing it, … [and] after the thought [and] speech the actio