Mein Tayireh Brider

(Hakhel)

HaRav Mattisyahu Salomon, Shlita, brings a startling question on last week’s Parsha from the Ponovezher Rav, Z’tl: Yaakov Avinu, had just left the Beis Midrash where he had been studying for 14 hours non-stop, and arrives in a foreign land looking for Lavan. In his first recorded communication with the outside world, this Yeshiva man expresses his displeasure with how the working people he encounters are doing their job–telling them that (Bereishis: 29:7):  “Hein Od HaYom Gadol…–the day is still long; it is not yet time to bring the livestock in; let your flock drink and go on grazing.” How could he–a Yeshiva man, a foreigner, have the audacity to tell them how to do their job?

Furthermore, astonishingly, rather than rebuking him and/or hurling insults upon him–they actually explain themselves to him (Bereishis 29:7,8): “We are unable to, until all the flocks have been gathered…”  How could this be–why did they listen to him at all–why did they explain themselves to him? The answer, the Ponovezher Rav explains, is that when Yaakov first began to address them–he used the word Achai–my brothers (Bereishis 29:4). The Yiddish equivalent of the word Achai is ‘Mein Tayireh Brider’–my precious brothers. The expression clearly indicates a feeling of closeness and caring. There was immediate bonding. Indeed, in last week’s Parsha, the term Achim appears numerous times. HaRav Salomon teaches that the Torah is emphasizing that being Achim should play an important role in our lives–for it means that we are not a brotherhood–but like blood brothers to each other. In fact, the Torah emphasizes “Banim Atem LaHashem Elokeichem”–you are all sons to Hashem. If we are all sons to Hashem–then we are all quite literally brothers! When someone has lost an object, when someone needs Tzedaka or another Chesed, when someone needs to be properly guided–remember he is not an outsider–he is not a stranger–he is, quite literally, your brother!