The Ultimate Kindness Parashat Vayechi

0:04And Yaakov is completing his life in this world after spending 17 years in Egypt. But he wants to make sure that before he leaves, he makes one final deal. And he says to his son Yosef, im na matzati chen be'enecha, sim na yadcha. Yaakov says to his son Yosef, "If I have found favor in your eyes," meaning if you love me, "please place your hand under my thigh and do chesed ve'emes, kindness and truth, with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt." We know the Midrash that says, and the Gemara that says that Yaakov did not want to be buried in Egypt because he did not want the idol-worshiping Egyptians to turn him into a god, into a false god. But we see that Yaakov is using familiar language here that we heard before. He's asking Yosef to do chesed ve'emet with him, kindness and truth with him.

1:28to do chesed ve'emet with him, kindness and truth with him. Where else did we hear this? In the book of Genesis, chapter 32, verse 11, Yaakov Avinu says to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Katonti mikol haChasadim u'mikol haEmet, says Yaakov, he's telling us who have been diminished by all of the kindness and by all of the truth that you have done for your servant, meaning that although I need your help, I want your help, I also know that you've already given me much more than the merits that I've earned. As good as Yaakov was, and as much good as he did, and as holy as he was, he knew that Hashem already blessed him beyond his merits. Such is the mindset and the perspective of the righteous, where the more righteous they are, the more they realize...

2:53how kind HaKadosh Baruch Hu has already been to them despite the way it looks to other people from the outside, whether they're suffering, struggling, or successful. Whatever it is, they already know that whatever they have, regardless of what the package looks like, is well beyond what they have actually earned. But Yaakov is telling the same thing to Yosef. In essence, he's telling Yosef that make this deal with me. Make this deal with me and do kindness and truth with me. Why is this the case? He's telling Yosef, Yosef, you didn't just appear here. This is all from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And the

3:55The reason why you succeeded, the reason why you're in the position that you are, is because of where we came from. HaKadosh Baruch Hu spoke to Avraham, my grandfather, your great-grandfather, and He made promises to him if we follow His Torah and... We will be blessed, and those who bless us will also be blessed. Those who curse us will be cursed. In order for you and your descendants to continue having that blessing, you have to continue what you've been doing and ensure that your children and grandchildren do the same. The sages teach us that the greatest chesed, the greatest kindness that one can offer, depends on the person's circumstance. If the person for whom you want to perform an act of kindness has passed away, you can do mitzvot for them.

5:22especially support Kiruv, support Torah in their name. There's nothing greater in the world that you can do for someone who has passed away than to support Kiruv in their name, because you're not only doing a mitzvah that goes to their account. as well. You don't just do it in their name; you do it in their name but also to your merit. A mitzvah is like fire. No matter how many other fires you light with that fire, the original fire stays the same. Not only can you do your grandfather, your grandmother, your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, or whoever you love a great kindness by investing in something good, but when you invest in Kiruv specifically, you're giving them... A spiritual investment, a spiritual stock, if you will, that only goes higher forever because every single mitzvah that money will bring. When you invest X amount of money, whether you want to invest a thousand, ten thousand, or a hundred thousand, whatever it is, that money is used...

6:38help people do teshuva, to give lectures like this, to do events, to publicize books and USBs, and all types of material to help people get closer to Hashem, keep Shabbat, maintain family purity, abandon their wicked ways, and so on. Every single mitzvah that person does goes to your account, goes to that loved one's account. Now, they get married. They encourage their family to also do teshuva, to also keep the Torah and mitzvot. Their mitzvot also go to your account and your loved one's account. They get married, they produce a family, they continue keeping the ways of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. All of their mitzvot also go to your and your loved one's account. In so many words, if you invest in the right place that actually produces baalei teshuva, and they use that money to actually produce baalei teshuva, and not just simply to buy more houses, and not just simply to buy more watches, but they actually use the money to help people do teshuva, they use the money to help people learn Torah, then your spiritual account,

7:55has an investment in it that never stops going higher. You have done a kindness to your loved one that literally cannot be matched by anything else. Now, if you want to do a kindness, if you want to do a kindness to someone else, you want to do a kindness to another person, fellow in the world, another woman, another man in the world, then you have to do the kindness of emet. Which is, you have to tell them the truth about the will of Hashem to get them to do teshuva. Disregard their lack of interest, lack of anything else. Tell them what HaKadosh Baruch Hu says. How? Share these lectures.

8:55Don't speak to them; share with them. Why? Because if you speak to them, they'll often feel intimidated, thinking you might be talking down to them—or at least, that's how they might perceive it. They remember you from before you did teshuva, or if you've been frum your whole life and they left the derech, they might feel like you think you're better than them. The best thing to do is to give them a shiur, share one of the videos or films we've made, and watch it together with them. If you can't watch it together with them, send it to them once or twice a week. And you'll see that the chesed and emet that Yaakov is talking about, which is being given to a fellow Jew who is out there, a fellow human who is out there, will bring fruits. Now, there's no guarantee of success with every single person. and especially not on day one. But if you make kiruv your number one priority in your life, aside from learning Torah, your success will be exponentially higher than you could ever imagine. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember

10:16he's a Jew and she's a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, a disrespect to the Torah, and could lead to chillul Hashem, desecration of God's Name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays; that's the path of a true Jew.