December 24, 2022; 30 Kisleiv, 5783
Parsha
Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik ZT”L (“Reb Velvel”) raises the following question on this week’s Parsha: “The brothers bought food from Yosef in Egypt during the famine in Eretz Yisrael. Yosef detained Shimon and sent the rest of the brothers on their way back to Yaakov with a request to bring Binyamin to Egypt. Why did Yosef place the money back in the brothers’ sacks that they rightfully paid for the food that they bought?” Reb Velvel answered, “Because Yosef wanted to ensure sure that the brothers would return to Egypt.”
Someone present at Reb Velvel’s Shiur asked him, “Wouldn’t Yosef’s brothers come back to Egypt anyway? Considering the famine, their need for more food would surely cause them to return. And besides, wasn’t their brother Shimon taken captive? They would surely return to redeem him?”...