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Shabbat Parashat Miketz 5775

Miketz | 28 Kislev 5775 | 20/12/2014

Parashat Hashavua: Reading Between the Polite Lines

One of the topics that we often like to focus on is the connection between the weekly parasha and the haftara. Although this year we will be reading the special haftara for Chanuka (which needs no connection to the parasha), it is worthwhile to see what Chazal saw in common between the set haftara and the parasha. In this case, there seems to be a clear connection in that both start with an important dream of a king, a young King Shlomo, in the case of the haftara (Melachim I, 3:15). In the past, we also noted the overlap of the wise heart that Hashem promised Shlomo, reminiscent of the wise heart that Paroh discerned in Yosef after Yosef correctly interpreted his dream. This time we want to point out a shared expression in the parasha and the haftara and learn from it about the relationship between Yosef and his brothers.

Ask the Rabbi: Chanuka Candles and Havdala – Which Comes First?

I never got a clear answer as to whether, on Motzaei Shabbat, we light Chanuka candles before or after Havdala. Can you clarify the matter?

Ein Ayah: When the Greeks Entered the Temple

When the Greeks entered the heichal (Beit Hamikdash), they defiled all the oils in the heichal.

P'ninat Mishpat: Sellers from Outside Town at Market Day

A merchant from Zemigrad rented a booth at the weekly market day in Riminov and would bring merchandise there to sell. The Jewish merchants of Riminov complained of hasagat g’vul (unacceptable competition). The Rabbi of Zemigrad wrote a letter justifying his townsman based on the gemara (Bava Batra 22a) that says that people from outside a town may sell on a shuk day because these days attract extra buyers, which makes it appropriate for there to be extra sellers. The Rabbi of Riminov cited a responsa in Shoel U’meishiv (I:I:41), in which Rav Nathanson distinguished between a big shuk day, in which people come from all over the region, and a weekly market day (as in this case), which is made for the local populace of buyers and sellers. The Rabbi of Riminov countered that since that ruling cited the Bach, that the restrictions of hasagat g’vul do not apply even to a weekly market day, one cannot apply the restrictions on free commerce out of the doubt raised by the machloket. The Rabbi of Riminov asked Rav Nathanson to comment on the matter.

Hemdat Yamim

is dedicated

to the memory of:

All those who

fell in the war for our homeland.

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

who passed away on 10 Tamuz, 5774

Shirley, Sara Rivka bat

Yaakov Tzvi HaCohen z”l

R' Meir
ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld

o.b.m

Rabbi Yosef Mordechai Simcha

ben Bina Stern o.b.m

who passed away

21 Adar I, 5774

R' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

R' Shmuel Shemesh z"l

Eretz Hemdah's

Board Member

who passed away

17 Sivan, 5774

Hemdat Yamim

is endowed by

Les & Ethel Sutker

of Chicago, Illinois
in loving memory of
Max and Mary Sutker
and

Louis and Lillian Klein, z”l

A weekly divrei Torah leaflet: A Glimpse at the Parasha, Ask the Rabbi, From the writings of Harav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, zt”l, Pninat Mishpat (Jewish Monetary Law).