Miracle Shidduch: Parashat Miketz

0:03We tend to think that Asnat was put with Potiphera, Kohen On, but Yosef accepts a new name as he becomes the viceroy. He calls himself Tzafnat Pane’ach, and he was given a wife named Asnat, the daughter of Potiphera. The truth is this worked out perfectly. This is all a divine hand. Asenath was really the daughter of Dinah after she was assaulted by Shechem ben Chamor. She was sent away and adopted by Potiphar. So she was really the only Jew there in that situation. So how could it be that out of millions of people in Egypt, Paro happens to choose her, the only Jew, to marry? The verse suggests it was given to her, but it's not a gift. The truth is, the Egyptians were disgusted by

1:33Yosef, how do we know later on in the parasha when Yosef's brothers come and they're sitting down with Yosef and eating with him? The verse says in Chapter 43, Verse 32, they served him separately and them separately. meaning they served the servants; the Egyptian servants served Yosef separately, and the tribes separately, and the Egyptians who ate with him also separately. Meaning the Egyptian servants of Yosef also ate separately and didn't eat with Yosef. They didn't eat with the guests, which were the twelve tribes, his brothers. Why? The pasuk (verse) says that the Egyptians could not bear to eat food with the Hebrews, as it was loathsome to the Egyptians. In the eyes of the Egyptians and in the eyes of Ishmael, the Jews are considered disgusting. Even though Yosef is their boss, they still find him distasteful.

2:50Yeah, he's our boss. We'll follow what he says because otherwise, he'll kill us. But that doesn't mean we like him. They find him disgusting – his brothers, his guests, disgusting. Pharaoh gave her to Yosef, not because he was doing him a kindness, but because she was the only one who was not Egyptian. She was not like him. So he gave her. Meaning even the gifts were not gifts out of kindness. Although again, like I said, this was the divine hand of HaKadosh Baruch Hu that made it happen. But make sure you know that the enemy doesn't give free gifts. The enemy does not give free gifts. The Torah tells us that there's a certain way that we have to deal with the enemies. David HaMelech, in the book of Tehillim, chapter 120, says, "Hashem, rescue my soul from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue."

4:22David HaMelech says he's not worried about arrows, he's not worried about rockets, and he's not worried about the enemy's horses. He's worried about the lies—the lies that make the enemy look good, the lies that make the enemy win the public war. Save me from that. Why? Because without winning this war against the lies, it will never be over. Even if you won and you killed some people, that's only winning a battle. The war can only be won once you know how to deal with lies. And David HaMelech says,

5:22Even when he wants peace with them, he wants a ceasefire with them. He doesn't want to fight. In the same Tehillim (Psalms) number 120, we go from verse 2 to verse 7. David HaMelech says, "I am peace, but when I speak, they are for war," meaning that I want peace. I... But they don't want peace, even when they say they do. Why? Because they're not truthful. They're not truthful. That's who they are. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew must remember their identity. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, a disrespect to the Torah.