Bris Speech 17 Tevet 5769 13 January 2009 At the beginning of this week's Parasha, Shmot, we read, "Vayamot Yosef v'chol echav vchol hador hahu. Uvnei Yisrael paru vayishr'tzu vayirbu vaya`atzmu bim'od m'od vatimale ha'aretz otam." "And Yosef died, and his brothers; and all of that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them" (Shmot 1:6-7). The two p'sukim here are adjacent, but why? What is the connection between them? How do they relate to the beginning of Sefer Shmot? Asked another way, why not transpose the order of the two p'sukim, and tell us about the number of Bnei Yisrael, before telling us about Yosef and his brothers? And these p'sukim are part of the first paragraph in Sefer Shmot; are they emphasizing an important theme? There are a number of possible answers. The simplest possible answer is that there is nothing special here. This is part of the narrative, in fact it is necessary to understanding the rest of the narrative; therefore, it's presented here. In the midrash (Shmot Rabbah 1:8), however, there are a few ways of explaining this issue. The simplest is, as long as any of the original people who descended to Egypt were still alive, the Egyptians did not enslave them. This explanation clarifies why the generation is mentioned before the slavery. However, it does not relate directly to the fruitfulness of the nation. It's also possible to explain the juxtaposition in a negative light. The midrash connects the subject here in Shmot to a pasuk in Hoshea (5:7): "BaShem bagadu, ki bhanim zarim yaladu, `ata yochlem chodesh et chelkehem." "They have dealt treacherously against the L-rd: for they have begotten strange children; now shall a month devour them with their portions." The midrash continues: "This is to teach you, that when Yosef died, they violated the brit of milah: they said: 'We will be like the Egyptians.' From this you learn: for Moshe circumcised them on their exit from Egypt." Meaning, we have a tradition that Moshe circumcised the people when they left Egypt. And we also have a tradition that Ya`akov and his sons and grandsons were circumcised when they went down to Egypt. When did the people stop circumcising their sons? Hoshea connects violating the brit to punishment. The story in Shmot mentions punishment for the people, and before that it mentions them having children. The midrash connects the children of Shmot with the "strange children" of Hoshea; the people ignored brit mila, resulting in the enslavement. The midrash therefore concludes that the death of Yosef and his generation immediately preceded the abandonment of brit mila. As long as the generation that moved to Egypt was still alive, brit mila was preserved; when those people died, brit mila stopped. On the other hand, the third explanation of the midrash is positive, and we can explain the connection of the generation's death to the birth of the people as a praise of G-d. "Even though Yosef and his brothers died, their G-d did not die; rather, 'the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly,' etc." It is true that the subjugation started, and it is true that the previous generation passed on, but we constantly believe that G-d rescues us, both in our family framework, and from a general national perspective. We named our son Yosef, after my father, who passed away before Rosh Hashana. Let me introduce what I'm about to say by relating the popular explanation of a sentence from the beginning of the Shacharit prayers. "L`olam y'he adam y're shamayim baseter uvagaluy"--A person must always be G-d-fearing in private and in public. There are a number of traditions of the exact wording of this sentence. Some leave out the word "uvagaluy," "in public," leaving, "A person must always be G-d-fearing in private." Some say, "in private *as* in public." What every text has in common is "L`olam y'he adam": One must always be a person. A mensch. My father was a person like that. Honesty, fairness, loving his fellow in a real way (I can also mention a sense of humor) -- all these are qualities of his that stood out. It's true, as the midrash says, Yosef died, but even so, the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly. We bless our son Yosef that he be, first of all, a person--a mensch. And that he have all the good qualities of my father, after whom he is named. And we hope that "zeh y'nachamenu" (B'reshit 5:29), that this son will comfort us, and we will believe that "od Yosef chai" (45:26), that Yosef yet lives.