VAYAISHEV

"...Their camels were bearing spices and balm and myrrh" (Gen.37:25). Yosef was sold to a band of Ishmaelites. This verse describes what their caravan was carrying. Rashi asks why Scripture troubles to tell us what they were carrying?

He answers that this is to inform us about the reward of the righteous. Ishmaelite caravans usually carry resins and kerosene which have a foul smell. In order not to harm the tzadik with its bad odor, this caravan "happened" to be carrying sweet smelling incenses.

In connection with this it is worthwhile to note how the Vilna Gaon explained the blessing in the Amidah prayer, "the reliance and trust for the righteous." G-d is the "trust" for the righteous who trust in Him. He is sure to provide their needs when the time comes. And if that time is defered, then beforehand He is their "reliance," in order that they will not lose trust in Him until the time comes.

We find the same pattern operated in Egypt. Before the actual time of liberation from Egypt came, G-d showed the Jews many miracles and wonders in order that they should rely upon Him and hold completely fast to trust in Him. Then they would merit to liberation in great glory.

It will be the same way in the future. "As the days when you went out from Egypt, I will show you wonders." He is a reliance for us in order to trust in Him.

Rebbe Bunam from Pashischa said that twice his prayers were answered immediately. We will tell the story of one of them which relates to the parsha and to what was written previously.

Before Rebbe Bunam began to serve as a rabbi he worked for the gentleman, Reb Birka of Warsaw, transporting logs down the Vasly River to be sold in Danzig. It happened that once he arrived in Danzig just as the price of wood fell drastically. The large investment of Reb Birka was on the verge of being lost entirely. Other merchants came out of the debacle nearly bankrupt.

Rebbe Bunam stayed in Danzig several weeks. He did not want to sell until the price improved. At one point, while sitting in the inn, he began to cry and prayed to G-d.

He said, "Just like the Egyptian's house was blessed because of Yosef, it is fitting that my boss, Reb Birka, should be blessed because of me. Although I am not Yosef, my boss is also not like the Egyptian."

As soon as he finished these words, the door of the inn opened and an agent came in with a new merchant. He brought word that the price of wood had risen. Rebbe Bunam was able to sell at a good profit.

Our souls are weeping. In many places the state of Judaism and the holy Torah is daily deteriorating. The main thing is education. For many years throughout our exile it was the custom and it was accepted that the Torah was the principal and sustaining part of education, whereas other subjects were secondary and expendible. In this way our children grew, they were able to keep their Judaism in all situations and to transmit it to the next generation from father to son.

However, from the beginning of the period of the Haskala in Germany two hundred years ago education began to change. This was the beginning of the damage: to change the education by making secular learning into the main part. From that time onward the deterioration has leaped ahead. Thousands and tens of thousands have been converted away from their religion, may G-d have mercy upon us. Those who have remained with the label "Jewish" have been left naked, bereft of everything, without Torah, without faith, may G-d have mercy.

(There were a few individuals who were saved from the flood of heresy, and a few congregations who merited to great leaders who sealed the dikes.)

In our generation the breach is even more terrible and frightening. The constant stream of propaganda for all kinds of heresies and idolatries (may G-d have mercy) through newspapers, radio and television and all the forms of publicity destroying the world, is horrifying. Even if a child is educated in a proper school, he needs an enormous amount of Divine Mercy and intervention not to be drawn into the current. All the more so for those who are not educated in schools based on strict holiness, even the best of them, even those which provide a few hours a week for the study of holy subjects. There is no hope that children who attend them will be educated to become believing and observant Jews, and whatever Judaism they did receive in these schools will be removed from their hearts as soon as they leave them to study elsewhere.

May G-d have mercy. What will become of Judaism? What will become of the Torah for whose sake we passed through fire and water? Who will hold her? And what about the honor of G-d?

There is an enormous obligation upon those who can do it, to establish schools based on strict holiness, in order to save those who can be saved. This is also a very great merit, as Chazal have said (the end of Yerushalmi Berachot): Rashbi said, "If you see the hands of people overly despairing from the Torah, then stand fast, strengthen them, and you will take the reward of all of them."

All those who help and assist to found and support kosher schools based on strict holiness, and all those who send their children to be educated there, will merit to "the great good which has been hidden away for the tzadikim." They will be among those who "benefit the public." Most of them will see great blessings in this world, all that they do will turn to good, they will enjoy satisfaction and nachat from their offspring, and they will be called "friends of G-d...."