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Why are the Jewish people called Yehudim? The shiur traces this name to Yehuda's blessing—that white teeth (a smile) are better than milk—and reveals that being a Yehudi means focusing outward on others rather than inward on ourselves. Egyptian slavery forged this trait by sealing our eyes and hearts from self-seeking and training us to anticipate another's needs, the foundation of Jewish peoplehood.
Rabbi Zweig opens by observing that throughout Jewish history, the defining name for our people has been "Yehudim" (Jews), derived from Yehuda (Yehuda). Even Targum Onkelos translates the word "Ivrim" (Hebrews) in the Book of Exodus as "Yehudayim" until Sinai, when we become "B'nei Yisrael." What is the essential characteristic captured by the name Yehudi? The shiur explores three textual difficulties. First, Rashi (רש"י) on Parshas Vayechi explains that this parsha has no break or spacing in the Torah (תורה) scroll because "the eyes and heart of Israel were closed (sealed) from the suffering of the enslavement"—a seemingly poetic phrase that demands clarification. Second, when Yaakov asks Yosef to bury him in Israel, he does not initially explain why he himself did not bury Rochel there, only bringing up this sensitive issue later when blessing Yosef's sons. Third, why does Rashi say the slavery began with Yaakov's death, when elsewhere Rashi states it began only after the last of the brothers died?
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Parshas Vayechi, Bereishis 47:28-50:26
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Why does the Torah separate Avrohom's eulogy for Sarah from his crying for her? The shiur shows that Sarah required a public eulogy focused on the communal loss of a leader, not Avrohom's private grief. This teaches that we must view Jewish tragedies through a national lens first, seeing attacks on Am Yisrael as collective losses that dwarf personal concerns.
