NAALEH.COM and YU TORAH Providential Promise By: Mrs. Shira Smiles

With Parshat Vayigash the Torah begins the narrative of the descent of Bnei Yisroel to Mitzrayim led by our Patriarch Yaakov. Yaakov begins the journey and stops overnight in Be’er Sheva, afraid and unsure if he should continue to Mitzrayim. According to Rabbi Dunner in Mikdash Halevi, Yaakov had three major concerns. First, he wasn’t sure he was allowed to leave Eretz Yisroel, as his father Yitzchak was prohibited from leaving the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel. Then he was concerned lest he be buried in that defiled earth rather than with his father and grandfather in Meorat Hamachpelah. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, he was concerned for the proper education of his children and grandchildren in such an immoral environment. Click here forSummary by Channie Koplowitz Stein.