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Parashat Vayishlah
Rav Haim Lifshitz
Essays and Articles:
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Yaakov – Added Godly Value.
Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai "Leit mahn dipahleeg..." None dispute the fact that the worth of a human being is not limited to his personal physical mass. One is not the sum total of oneself. One is not the sum total of one's biological components that are derived from heredity. Even the components that have been joined to one by way of nurture, training, acculturation and environmental habits are not enough to form a picture that faithfully reflects the quality of a unique personality. For some reason, we are open to and comfortable with the idea of granting human beings added value, whether we choose to assess them very positively or very negatively. The main channels of information, through which we form an awareness about human beings, is through lashon hara – talebearing. We delight at their downfall, we lustfully embrace the evidence against them – to the extent of being perfectly willing to renounce our own personal impression of them. Fortunately, there is an alternative path through which information flows, which is not negative, and this is through prestige. If the powers that be deign to grant favor and prestige to a particular person, and he attains public fame, and success, we are quite willing to enhance our own reputation, and to crown ourselves by the fact of our nearness to him. We are suddenly willing to remind anyone who will listen that that famous person is an old acquaintance of ours, a former classmate, a distant relative of our next door neighbor, and similar indicators of proximity which add to our own value, thanks to that person's added value. That's people...and it is objects as well. An object that is connected to a historical personality – not to speak of an object that was used by a saintly person – may be assessed "objectively" according to a collectors' market value, or simply by its appeal to the amateur admiring public. A bride and groom resemble a king and queen, and "we are in our own eyes as grasshoppers" in comparison to them, or frogs at best, who have not yet been attained the scepter, having not yet found the prince or princess. Similarly, though we must separate the two, is the well-known proverb – "After one has died, say [of him] holy things. One who has left the world of the living wins some of this increased "added" value, being praised by all those who no longer need fear him, who are now willing to lavish him with noble qualities. The stone upon his grave draws abundant visitors and blessing seekers, as well as a growing pile of reverently placed stones, though these may have been thrown at him during his lifetime. So too, a dimension of dread is added to a wrecked car that has become a death trap taking human life. This tendency to add supplementary value is rooted in the Godly value that all human beings, all who are created in God's image, possess. This Godly dimension – reflected in human beings who are the image of God – is the deepest root cause and reason explaining human willingness to percieve reflections of value that defy limitation and routine behavior, when they encounter abilities that cannot be explained by an analysis of known and familiar factors. These abilities are immediately awarded superlatives such as 'genius', 'superhuman powers', 'extra-sensory', 'ruah hakodesh', and similar attributes that arouse fear and respect. These are applied to unique personalities even when they come from the bottom of the social ladder. There is a light-headed willingness to ignore the more vulgar aspects of the unusual individual. This can be explained in no other way than by a profound faith in the Godly presence that is joined – as a higher dimension – to all human beings, by mere virtue of the fact that they are created in God's image. We must not forget the negative dimension of the unlimited as well, that accompanies those negative ones who are created in God's image. They cast a heavy shadow of dread, of murderous evil, of unlimited aggression on all that surround them. This perspective too derives from unlimited ability, which in my humble opinion derives from the higher source from which all who are created in God's image draw their existence. Yaakov and Esav represent the original archetypes for these perspectives. Yaakov brought down from heaven by way of Yitzhak's blessings the unlimited powers of good, and Esav brought down the unlimited powers of evil, from the exact same source, to teach you that even the use of a higher spiritual source depends upon the power of free choice. So too the Torah itself, though the Torah is the source for the entire creation: It can serve as a life-giving drug and as a death-dealing drug, God forbid, as well, for all depends on how one is human. Yaakov was surprised to discover this through his dream of the ladder – that one can go up or down. He responds with fear and a lack of confidence in his own ability, and we see that he responds this way again in our parsha: "Vayar vayitser lo." "He feared and he was troubled." It is Yaakov's "I have everything" versus Esav's "I have very much". "I have everything" – infinite quality that is fitted to the value of the achievement, versus "I have very much" – an excessive quantity resulting from the limitations of the achiever. "And Yaakov remained alone" – "levado". "Do not read it as 'levado', but as 'lekado'" – "for his jar". (One of the mefarshim that can be classified in the category of "lion's cubs", the Siftei Cohen, discovered the following:) "From where did this jar come to him? When Yaakov put stones about his head, and woke in the morning and found that they were become one stone, he found in them a jar of oil, and it was from this oil that he poured over the top of the monument. And he discovered that the jar then refilled itself once again, and Yaakov understood that it had been prepared there [by heaven] as a source of blessing, and he said it is not fitting to leave it here. And it is from this oil that the Mishkan and all its vessels were annointed and the altar and Aharon and his sons and the kings. And all of it still yet exists, as the Sages have said: "This is for me for all your generations". And it is the same jar of oil that belonged to the Tsorfatit woman to whom Eliahu said, "the jar of oil shall never cease", and it is also the vial of oil that belonged to the wife of Ovadia the prophet. When Yaakov Avinu saw that so many miracles were to come to pass in the future through it, he risked his life in order to bring it. So I have found [in my sources]". and this is the meaning of the expression "I have everything" – meaning an unlimited source of abundance, that can never be touched nor harmed, not even by Esav's gifts, which he tries to bestow with such a generous hand upon Yaakov. Such is Yaakov's victory over Esav's heavenly representative, when he goes back, "alone", to retrieve the "small jar". This secret that Yaakov revealed to the world, where is it hidden? A being created in God's image attains self-actualization. He attains – he seems to control – the higher powers. These powers seem to be held in the hands of the tsadik. Tsadik moshel be'yirat Hashem. "A tsadik rules by fear of God". Tsadiko shel olam. "The world's own tsadik". Tsadik yesod olam. "The tsadik is the foundation of the world". Yedid Hashem, "God's dear friend", whose prayer is heard. Tsadik gozer ve'ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu mekayem. "The tsadik decrees and the Holy Blessed One fulfills his decree". Whether the tsadik is eved bifnei hamelech, "a slave before the king" or sar lifnei hamelech, "a minister before the king", it is an encounter of friendship based upon reciprocity, as one equal to another, if such were possible. This encounter between close friends, between the Creator of the universe and the work of His hands, is the banner on which qualitative human existence is raised high. This banner finds its most direct and exciting expression in prayer. Human beings who pray before their Creator are waving this banner before the great and powerful and awful God. They skip lightly and ecstatically over the brazen question asked in the Gemara in Brachot: "Where are His mighty acts? Where is His power?" They are not troubled by it. They do not require evidence. They soar to the highest heights – they yearn for dvaikut – on the wings of an overwhelming sensation of Godliness that is tangible, that fills them utterly. They pray for themselves, for their own health, for their own knowledge, in a virtuous cycle that spins in a flash from a prayer for one's own saving to a prayer for one's people's saving to a prayer for God's saving, and then back again, repeating this cycle continuously until there is a total blurring of the boundaries of identity between the personal, the Klal Yisrael, all-of-Israel, and the Godly. One is filled with the sensation of identifying completely with God, who is listening, who is hearing, who is answering one's prayer. Only the most sealed heart could fail to be moved to trembling awe in the face of this miracle – in which one diverges entirely from one's identity as a creature defined by its limitations, by a materialism that passes and is gone – in the face of this transformation from narrow limitation to infinite fullness, for a few moments.... One is astounded by the mere fact that such an ability exists, that one can diverge from an existence that revolves around the whirlpool of the survival instincts, that one can penetrate through restricted egocentric reality to an experience of caring, of identifying with another's distress, and that this can be accomplished through partnership, and through identifying with another. Not that the uniquely personal "I" is erased and disappears in the other, but rather "bitul hayesh", the ego is made null and void. This nullification of ego clears the space for "I", who then rises to command center stage. "I" being a center of Godly quality, when it is expressed, when one's uniquely qualitative self comes to the fore, it encounters and is joined with another uniquely qualitative self, and both of these two uniquely qualitative "I"s then encounter and are joined to the Godly presence, forming the hute hameshulash, the immutable "triply-bound cord". There is no greater miracle than this ability: One leaves limitation behind, to join the Master of masters, the King of kings, the Ruler of the universe, Who, in His humility turns to face the base and lowly creature that is oneself, to bestow His personal Providence, and to accept one's prayer! Hazal call Avraham a mountain, Yitzhak a field, and Yaakov a house. Avraham's tests and trials are a deviation from normal reality. They transcend high above and far away from routine existence: A walk in a burning furnace, a binding of the beloved son upon an altar for sacrifice, an uprooting from the sources of identity – homeland, tribe, and family – to travel towards the unknown. Yitzhak confronts the mystery of existence, the potential that lies dormant on this earth, hidden from the eye: An empty field that conceals buried treasure. Yitzhak's gift to the universe is a capacity for making fine distinctions, for seeing through reality's guises, for penetrating to a deeper reality to discover the sparks of Godliness hidden in the innermost spaces of the created universe. This is the hero who gives the appearance of an anti-hero – the tsadik nistar, the secret tsadik. Yaakov, the epitome of the forefathers, is charged with the most difficult role of all. He must bring together the tests his fathers have withstood, and then gather them into the private personal space – where private egotism in the name of the game. And here stands Yaakov, shorn of any private space. He is an "ish tam", an innocent man dwelling in the yeshiva in the tent of Shem. Never once in fourteen years has he stretched out full-length to rest on his bed, absolutely and devotedly immersed in Torah's tent. And now he must pass over to the opposite extreme, to a brutal, risk-strewn reality in the kingdom of Lavan the Liar. In his heart, one burning, anguished question: "When will I do for myself, for my own house"? When will I begin to fulfill my role, of making Godly presence out of my private space, of intending all my actions for the sake of heaven? Even if only in the pachim ketanim, the "small jars" of daily routine. Even if only by focusing on the minute personal details that murmur softly in the small and limited heart of small and limited man, who would willingly sacrificing the serene tranquilities of personal comfort to attain this. "Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility. He was pounced upon by [Esav's rage, and if that were not enough] the outrage over Yosef. Where is his victory? Where is his attainment of his goal – of building a "miniature sanctuary" within the boundaries of the private space – the goal so longed for by every servant of God. "Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers' lives", Yaakov complains to Pharaoh, meaning my fathers were privileged to have completed their Godly mission. I have not been so privileged, to my sorrow. The sense of a lack of serenity, of a lack of fulfillment, testifies to the disappointing and imperfect character of God's servant kivyachol, if such were possible. Chazal have already sensed this. In order to reassure all those who would serve God, they determined that "it is not upon you to finish the work", meaning in its very substance your role and duty are of a kind that have no fixed limit. If someone believes he has fulfilled his role in this world, it is a sign he has not even begun. Being that the mission is to bring Godly presence into a constantly changing and dynamically evolving reality, this defines one's mission as a need to perpetually merge with and actualize God's will, meaning that no one else can do it. No one else is capable of intervening in the immediate reality that has been decreed upon one by heaven. Only the one immersed in that particular reality can bring God's presence into it. This follows the Ramban's definition in the next Parsha – Vayeshev: "The decree is true, and intense effort is false". Nevertheless it is decreed upon one to confront the reality that is concealed behind a screen of absurdity. One must try at least to repair it. One must at least try to guard against the pitfall of spoiling reality, for spoiling reality, like repairing reality, is in the hands of Yaakov's children's children. There is a pattern that provides a model for being set firmly on the ground while one's head reaches the heavens – the structure of Yaakov's ladder. A crimson thread, a unifying theme of many Torah texts, this pattern is divided into three stages of Ratso vashov. "They run to and fro", "angels going up and down the ladder..." There is continuous movement from one stage to another: Liyeshuatcha kiviti Hashem, Kiviti Hashem liyeshuatcha, Hashem liyeshuatcha kiviti. "For your saving I have hoped, God. I have hoped, God, for Your saving. God, for Your saving I have hoped". The first stage is accomplished through human initiative, through the exercise of free choice, which proves human godliness, in that free choice is a function of will, God's trait. Man exercises this ability, in order to free himself from what has been decreed by the mechanical system of material nature. "For your saving I have hoped, God." At this stage one simply turns to the right address, turns in the direction of the dimension of height, for help in the war for surival. The second aspect of the first stage is heaven's response: Hashgaha pratit - personalized Divine Providence – is granted in response to human appeal. Second stage: "I have hoped God for your saving". This is a personal appeal. It is freed of existential bias, of interests that are not pure, of the ulterior motives of the survival instincts. At this stage a man who is still in the lower realm feels that he stands opposite the realm of Godliness, burning with the desire for personal encounter with the higher entity, yearning to connect with it, to know more and more about it, and to reveal its secrets, the secrets of the Torah. Third stage: "God, for your saving I have hoped", a man prays, no more for himself but for the sake of God, in the sense of "and Chana prayed for God." Prayer over the Godly presence, that it should not be defiled by human wickedness, that God's justice should be revealed in His conduct of the world. In the sense of "do for Your name's sake, do for your right hand's sake, do for your holiness' sake, in order that your dear friends shall be saved", in the sense of identifying completely with the Godly dimension in man. Yaakov was privileged to bring together the three stages of a dynamic perfect cycle, the three stages that revolve around the Godly axis. Continuously, existential man passes from one stage to another, at the blink of an eye. From a limited and egotistical sense of existence he moves to a sense of identification between his own realm and the realm on high, and from there he moves to dvaikut – to cleaving, to merging, to perfectly identifying with the Godly presence, to the extent that one's physical needs and limitations are wafted away. With Yaakov, this perfect behavioral pattern is expressed in his preparation for his encounter with Esav. The encounter contains three directions: Gifts, prayer, and war. War means existential confrontation. On the surface, it appears power-based, a bid for Esav's power using Esav's terms – it is materialism, quantitative and power-based. The unwary wanderer through the text could easily fall into the trap of over-simplification. Help is offered in Ramban's illuminating comment: "And it is fitting that we hold onto the path of the tsadik, that we prepare ourselves for the three things that he prepared himself for: For prayer and for gifts, and to be saved by way of war, to flee and to be saved." Here we find an important lesson: How not to fall into the trap of the base struggle for power, which eradicates every vestige of human, value-based quality. How to avoid, as far as possible, an arrogant, power-based confrontation in the sense of "the more violent one prevails", preferring to be saved and avoid the war, preferring to save one's human, value-based quality. This wicked one is not worth the sacrifice of one's human, qualitative values. Gifts: The attempt to go toward him, to exploit and to perserve any human quality that might yet remain in the enemy. Only in a case where no trace of this quality remains, one must resort to "being saved by way of war". The path of first choice, of course, is the path of prayer. This is the higher stage of dvaikut: One identifies with the Godly goal. Meaning, even in the case that "I am too small for [I am not deserving of] all the kindness and all the truth", do for Your own sake if not for my sake. "For You have said, 'I shall surely do good with you – and I shall place your seed as the sand of the sea." Meaning, do for the sake of the continuity of Your Divine plan to establish a kingdom of priests and a sacred nation for the glory of Your sacred presence in Your world. By going through all the stages, a mere existential creature is able to actualize the Godly image in which he was created. He then stands firmly as an active partner, sharing equal rights and obligations with His Creator, in union, with no barriers between them. Such was Yaakov's/Yisrael's eternal achievement, that His God called him God, and bestowed His own unlimited quality upon him. Sanctity The merger of prayer and war through Yaakov brought midat ha'emet – the measure of truth – down to this world. Midat ha'emet, "God's seal", enabled Yaakov – after a long and arduous process – to be shaped as a Godly presence. It also provided Yaakov with truth's protection, and truth's unlimited Divine power. Nevertheless, Yaakov is not given the privilege of serenity, for this is something that is dependent on the two other stages, for all the stages are completely interdependent, are intermingled as the flame within the coal. Like a cybernetic cycle, the stages are both cause and effect. It is important to state that separating the stages can undo the entire package, and bring ruin to the connection to the higher source. Once this connection is cut, or weakened, man and the universe reach the end of their existence. Each stage as a separate entity causes an alien understanding of the matter of Godliness, and gravitates toward idolatry. Even adopting the third highest stage, when it is detached from the two more basic sides of the triangle, cancels and denies the Creator's bond with the creation, and denies his rule of the universe. Whereas, a view of the first stage, which encompasses most of the world, leaves space for the potentially dynamic continuity that is hidden in the basic ability to believe, and to connect with the Cause of all causes. At the first, detached stage, there is no guarantee at all that solving one problem will assure a response to a new problem in the struggle for existence, whose central basis is a continuous chain of threats to survival – sickness, sufferings, worries that prevent the creative dimension, which would soar toward height. Therefore, if a believer blocks the opening, if he does not let the existential need that first pushed him to call out to God develop toward continuity, toward closer contact, if he chooses at the outset to limit himself to the first stage, which seeks only one direction – from the Creator to the human being – this seems to picture God as a mere servant, as a tool for supplying human needs. It becomes – "ahava hatluya badavar: batel davar, batel ahava" – "a love that is dependent on a thing. Once the thing is over, the love is over." Even if all of the supplicator's expectations are entirely fulfilled, this localized, limited medium of contact is inadequate for expressing and encompassing reality. It will not endow reality with a Godly dimension. It will not shelter and imbue reality with kedusha, sanctity. Let it be said: This is the test of God's existence – when reality is embraced in kedusha. Neither healing the sick nor reviving the dead will do. They cannot point to the higher dimension of "You are kadosh, sacred, and Your name is kadosh, sacred, and kedoshim, sacred ones praise You every day." One who believes in the dimension of kedusha, who identifies with it and yearns for it, becomes sanctified himself. Kedusha is the ability to rise above lowly reality by raising reality. It means breaking out of reality's restrictive boundaries, by broadening and raising these boundaries toward the infinite. Such light penetrates even to the darkest corners, even to those that have been overlooked by the first two stages. it illuminates even the wicked, the erring, the overworked and the oppressed. Only the dimension of kedusha can do this, can embrace them lovingly in a sanctity that is without limits, and free them of their own limitations, and waft fresh air into their choking corners. Ahl Hanisim Ve'ahl Haniflaot – "For the miracles and for the wonders." Seeing God's presence from within the dimension of height opens the eyes of the believer. He then perceives clearly the miraculous element hidden behind the screen of mechanical-quantitative restricted reality. Seen from the perspective of height, reality is turned into a continuous miracle that embraces worlds, that gives the promise of a solid relationship. The miraculous shelters over the ephemeral and makes of ephemeral reality a consistent and methodical plan. From existence one moves toward destiny. Existence is not canceled by the influence of destiny but rather serves as its building blocks, without which destiny would not be possible. Man is not a cog in a great system, but rather the decisive mover, the one who grants reality its permanent meaning. Hazal warn that "the miracle owner does not recognize his miracle". Once someone has been granted a miracle, a test remains – recognition. If one is small in his faith, he does not deserve the miracle because he is not capable of – or not willing to view reality through it. He refuses to see the new opportunity that has appeared, that has transformed reality's entire picture, from despair to hope. From a hopeless case to welcoming, rebuilding, optimistic renewal. The Torah teaches this lesson through the story of Yosef, and the story of Yehuda and Tamar. Sin dances madly through the lower sphere, but in truth, hidden within it, is the seed of redemption. But this is for the next Parsha, God willing. Go To Top
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