Yaakov began his blessing of Yosef: "The angel who redeems me from all evil will bless…"(Br. 48:16) R. Eleazar said: Redemption is likened to sustenance and sustenance to redemption. Just as redemption comes through the wonders of Hashem, so does earning a livelihood. And just as we work every day to make a living, so does redemption occur every day. (Midrash Rabbah 20:9 and 97:3)
VaYechi
Reb Shlomo Minyan HarNof
(R. Raphael, email: [email protected])
Really Living In Exile - Remembering The Source Of Life
"And Yaakov lived in the land of Mitzrayim." Why is this section more closed than all the other sections of the Torah (i.e., there is no space between the last letters of VaYigash and the first letters of VaYechi)? Because as soon as the Patriarch Yaakov died, the servitude of Mitzrayim commenced for Israel. A second reason: Because Yaakov was going to reveal the end, but it was hidden from him. And a third reason: Because all the troubles of the world were now closed (banished) from him. (Midrash Rabbah 96:1)
One thing we should notice is that the last reason of the midrash is positive - Yaakov lived in tranquillity in Mitzrayim - while the other explanations are negative dealing with suffering and darkness. Another thing to ponder is Rashi's interpretation of the midrash in his explanation of the pasuk: "The parashah is closed because as soon as the Patriarch Yaakov was gone, the hearts and eyes of Yisrael were closed from the misery of the slavery which then began." While the midrash merely states that the parashah is closed, Rashi interprets this as meaning that the hearts and eyes (i.e., the minds) of the Jews were closed. And while we have here an interpretation, we also have a doubling: both their hearts and their minds.
The Shem MiShemuel provides us with a deep understanding of Rashi. Let's look first at a midrash brought on the pasuk "Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Yaakov" (Br. 49:2) The Midrash Rabbah (98:3) says something mysterious about the pasuk: "Your father, Yisrael, is like Gd. Just as Hashem created worlds, so your father Yisrael created worlds."
The Shem MiShemuel explains the midrash according to the Zohar, that Hashem placed His Torah before us. When we apply ourselves to the words of Torah day and night, bringing out its secrets - through this is created new Heavens and new Earth (Zohar 4b). Yaakov reached this exalted level in Mitzrayim because he was given seventeen years of tranquillity. As the Zohar says, this calm came about when Yaakov saw: "…that his son was ruling and that all his children were righteous." After a life of trials and tribulations, Yaakov finally found rest in Mitzrayim and this enabled him to reach the very depths of Torah. And this is what the Midrash means when it says that Yaakov was able to create new Heavens and Earth: he opened new worlds through insights and mysteries brought out from the Torah. But what is the connection of new Heaven and Earth and "assembling the sons?"
The Shem MiShemuel answers, that on the level of the individual, Heavens and Earth are parallel to the mind and the heart. This was precisely the double danger of servitude that Rashi alludes to in his commentary. Mitzrayim was a double exile. Its immorality stopped up the heart and its idolatry closed the mind from holiness. And when Yaakov passed away, the effects of the servitude were felt. But Yaakov had left behind a way of learning to the depths of Torah that could renew his sons' spirits and showed them the secret of unity.
Thus, the pasuk says, "Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Yaakov" (Br. 49:2) showing the way to purify themselves in the exile. For it is through the truth of Yaakov that Klal Yisrael is gathered together, united as "one person, one heart," devoted to serving Hashem. Listening means that we open the depths of our thoughts only to that which is fitting to receive - the truth of Torah. The ability to renew minds and hearts comes through the unique power of Yaakov who could create new Heavens and Earth through the Torah. With the giving of the Torah this power is bestowed upon us and thus there is no reason to be afraid even in the depths of exile. Because the enslavement of Mitzrayim was, in the deepest sense, a spiritual enslavement, but the power of Torah can purify us.
Rav Tzaddok HaKohen - Parshat VaYechi
Why does it say in the beginning of the parshah, "And Yaakov lived?" Why doesn't it say, "And he dwelled?" Because the Torah wants to point something out: Until Yaakov came to Mitzrayim, all his days were full of trials and tribulations, and this is not called "living." In these earlier years he was not complete in holiness and they were not tov, "good" (gematria 17, the number of years Yaakov spent in Mitzrayim). Only in Mitzrayim did he merit to become complete.
But this seems odd, since the land of Israel is the holiest of all places. As Hashem said to Avraham, "Lech lecha" - there ( in Canaan) I'll make you a great nation. Thus it seems fitting that Yaakov would reach completion in Israel and not Mitzrayim, the land of impurity - the most debauched nation on the face of the earth. Yet, we find this kind of phenomenon over and over again in Jewish history. The exile to Babylon brought with it the expansion of the Oral Torah and the revelation of the secrets of Torah that were not revealed in the Holy Land. And it was there in Babylon that the men of the Great Assembly were gathered together. And this goes according to the midrash on Shir HaShirim, "I will raise up more tzaddikim in the time of destruction than when the Temple was standing."
The Midrash says that the parashah is "stumah," closed. This refers literally to way the last words of Parashat VaYigash and the first words of VaYechi run together. Uncharacteristically, there is no space at all between the letters of one chapter and the next. On a deeper level it means that even Moshe could not comprehend what led up to the parshah of VaYechi, where Yaakov was ready to reveal the end of days.
This relates back to our original quandary about how it is that Yaakov became whole in, of all places, Mitzrayim. For we see as well that the souls that were ready to receive the Torah were those from outside the land. And that the creation is completed in this place (apparently referring to the giving of Torah outside the land to a generation that lived and died outside the land). These are things that are closed and hidden from our understanding. These things even Moshe couldn't understand - Moshe found no space for contemplation in these things.
Nevertheless, there is a hint given here to our generations in order that our hearts shouldn't fail from the darkness of exile. In the time before Mashiach, the generations become lesser and lesser in spirituality. How will we ever merit the redemption? But our sustenance must come from this: That our forefathers were in Mitzrayim, the darkest place in the world, and it was precisely from there that they came to all the holiness of the Torah. That is the will of Hashem. And (Rav Tzaddok adds) I heard from the Rav of Prishiskah, that even though the souls are becoming smaller, the point of holiness in the heart is becoming ever more purified.
AND Yaakov Lived In Mitzrayim
The Sefat Emet says that the Torah is coming to praise Yaakov,who lived in Mitzrayim for 17 years and managed to stay connected to life. This prepared the way for the survival of the Jewish people during their entire exile. The parashah is closed to us because the deepest level of Yaakov's attachment had to be held back from us in some sense. We were not permitted to behold how he was able to draw down sustenance from the Source of Life,because if we were able to grasp this then in some sense there wouldn't be any exile at all.
Within this aspect of Hashem's hiddenness we need to know that every Jew has within him the power to awaken himself to the Source of Life in any place where he finds himself. As it says, "You placed our souls in life." And it is also written: "He blew into his nostrils a living soul." "Living soul" means that man has a will that can awaken itself to the Source of Life. The essential nature of B'nei Yisrael is to be connected to the Source of Life.
While Yaakov could not reveal Hashem's presence in hiddenness because he was enveloped by a powerful revelation of Shichinah we see that the way of the Patriarch Yaakov was to enter himself into dangerous places in order to open them in holiness for his sons. The hint to this is Yaakov's reference to the malach hagoel, "the angel who redeems me from all evil." Yaakov meant that Hashem will accompany us to all the evil places. "He saves me." This is what Yaakov wished to give to his children but the teaching remains hidden. Each of us needs to bring it out in our lives.
Seeing The True Power Of Yosef
After Yaakov requested that Yosef not bury him in Mitzrayim, he made him swear: And he (Israel) said, "Swear to me." And he (Yosef) swore to him. And Israel bowed to the head of the bed (Br. 48:31).
Rashi says on the pasuk, "That Yaakov bowed to the head of the bed because his bed (offspring) were complete, and there was not an evil individual among them. For behold Yosef was king and even more so, he dwelt among the nations (Mitzrayim) and nevertheless he remained righteous."
The pasuk is difficult to understand without interpretation. What is the connection between the oath that Yosef takes and Israel bowing to the head of the bed. The explanation brought here from Rashi is only one of many because the meaning of the pasuk is oblique. But Rashi wants to learn from here that Yaakov knew something about Yosef when he assented to Yaakov's request. For the first time he saw clearly that his offspring were complete. And how could Yaakov have had any doubt? Rashi tells us, "Yosef was a king who had dwelt among strangers." Nevertheless, even alone in exile he had not forgotten his Jewish soul.
But then what is the connection between Yosef's oath and Yaakov's assurance? Yaakov asked to be buried in the Cave with the other Patriarchs and not Mitzrayim. Apparently, Yaakov feared that Yosef had become so Egyptianized that he would want his father buried with the Parohs in the Valley of the Kings. How could Yaakov imagine such a thing? Because Yosef was king of Mitzrayim! Yaakov feared that Yosef had come to identify with Mitzrayim, that he thought the Jewish people could remain in Mitzrayim and survive. After all, he had risen to the pinnacle of Egyptian culture and power.
Yosef's assent was the Patriarch's assurance that Yosef, ruler of Mitzrayim, the most powerful nation on earth, was still bound in the deepest way to the needs of the Jewish people. Burying Yaakov with the other Patriarchs in Canaan makes a statement about the present and the future. Yosef has not lost his connection to the promises of the past. He has become king and yet remains the worthy leader of the Jewish people, even while externally he acts as ruler of a strange nation.
And this is why Yaakov bows to the head of the bed. While the bed refers to Yaakov's offspring the head is the bechor, the firstborn, or inheritor of the leadership of the family: Yosef. Now Yaakov knows that none of his sons have gone on an evil way - not even Yosef who was exiled among the nations. "Swear to me." Bind your word to me. This is what Yosef was willing to do. He was willing to bind his vision of the future to his father's and that of the other patriarchs. If the head is good the rest of the body will follow. Yaakov's bowing is an assent and a thankfulness for this fulfillment.
Yosef weeps again - for the sake of my brothers After he buried his father, Yosef returned to Egypt…Yosef's brothers began to realize the implications of their father's death, "What if Yosef is still holding a grudge against us?" they said. "He is likely to pay us back for all the evil we did him" (Br. 50.14). Yosef replied, "Am I in Gd's place (to judge you)?" (Br. 50:19)
Rashi says that Yosef was telling the brothers to look at what had already happened. "You wanted to harm me (by throwing me into the pit) and Hashem made it come out for the good. How can you imagine that I, by myself, can do bad to you?" In other words, if you are deserving of bad, it will not be from me but from Hashem. Yosef is saying, "Not only will I not try to harm you, but even if I did it would only work if Hashem willed it. The fact that you are worried means you don't believe in your own merit. And why not? Because you are still guilty for what you did to me. Thus, Yosef brings their concern full circle. Your concern that I would harm you comes only from your unresolved guilt that you tried to harm me. So why have you not yet done teshuvah? Why do you still fear that you deserve punishment? And Yosef cried for his brothers.
We Will Return To You Bereshit
There are twelve constellations in the heavens. This corresponds to the aspect of "world." And this is parallel to the 12 months of the year, which is the realm of time, "shanah" (year) related to "shenit" (second). Because at the end of a year the sun returns to where it was at the beginning and then it immediately starts off for a second time, "shenit." And the twelve tribes are the aspect of "soul." These parallels in the different levels of creation emanate from the Torah,which is called "klei emunato," (the Craftsman's tool). For Hashem created the world through the Torah and in Sefer Bereshit there are 12 parshiyot. Or again, the five times it says "light" and the five wells of Yitzchak in Sefer Bereshit are parallel to the five books of Torah. The book of Bereshit and its stories include the creation of the world and this is completed with the burial of Yosef. Thus the book of Bereshit starts with creation and ends with the burial of Yosef, who is the tzaddik, foundation of the world, the one who sustains it (from Rav Tzaddok HaKohen on the parashah).
More Quotes
Tranquillity is also the aspect of Shabbat which is called the inheritance of Yaakov. Because on Shabbat we can access the light which comes from the exalted level reached by Yaakov Avinu strengthening the heart and mind of Yisrael to establish the Torah in this world. Thus we say in Kiddush "remember" and "keep." Remember, the lone positive command of Shabbat which connects us to "Hashem, the Unique One." And guard - the myriad negative commands that protect the heart from going out of the bounds of holiness. Thus Shabbat, which parallels Yaakov, is a special time for teshuvah - an opportunity to receive the renewal of Heavens and Earth, mind and heart. (Shem MiShemuel on the parashah)
At A Glance