For a easily printable version click here.
We're not that far from home
For the next six weeks we will read the Parshios (plural for Parsha) that recount the events and challenges that occurred to and confronted our Father Yaakov. Yaakov's greatest adversary was his brother Eisov who was dedicated to destroying Yaakov both physically and spiritually. Among the many challenges Yaakov had in dealing with Eisov was the fact that Eisov had two mitzvos which Yaakov was missing. To fully appreciate this handicap we must recognize that the energy generated by a mitzvah is so powerful that it can even support a wicked Eisov in his endeavor to overthrow the righteous Yaakov.
These two mitzvos were the mitzvah of honoring one's parents, which HaShem felt is so important that He placed it as number five on the Ten Commandments. The second mitzvah was the mitzvah of living in the Land of Israel. In addition to the mitzvah of living in Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel), the Land itself contains tremendous spiritual greatness. It is HaShem's chosen land. It is the Land to which HaShem pays more attention than the rest of entire globe.
In this week's Parsha, Vayeitzei, Yaakov left his parents' home to find a wife in Choron, outside of Eretz Yisroel. Although he was involved in the mitzvah of getting married nevertheless, he was not home to serve his parents and of course was not in Eretz Yisroel. During these 22 years his brother Eisov was at home serving their parents as well as living in the Land. Yaakov was therefore concerned that Eisov had the strength of these mighty mitzvos while he did not.
How grateful I am that on this Shabbos HaShem blessed me with the opportunity to visit my parents, to serve my parents in Eretz Yisroel. While I do not believe that I am fulfilling the mitzvah of living in Eretz Yisroel, I am nonetheless grateful to HaShem for bringing me here to His Land, to the Land where one day the entire world, all of civilization will subject their pride and direct their aspirations and unite for the purpose of turning to the G.D of this Land. How powerful its force is even today. No imagination can fantasize the sheer gift I have been granted. To be able to have the mitzvah of honoring and serving both my father and mother, may HaShem bless them with good health for many more years, in His chosen Land on the Shabbos where these two opportunities are underscored, I can only acknowledge it with great awe and thankfulness.
I thank you for allowing me to diverge from our classic Torah thought to express my personal acknowledgement. Let us now to focus on the Parsha.
While preparing a Parsha thought I discovered a notion that cannot be put to paper without identifying the source of the thought. The thought is very powerful and ennobling but at the same time equally demanding.
The reason the source must be identified is because only a sage whose knowledge of Torah is absolutely thorough and is responsible not to overstate the truth may suggest such a notion. The source of this thought comes from the renowned Rabbi Moshe Alshich, also known as the Alshich hakadosh (the Holy Alshich). The Alshich was a close student of Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Code of Jewish Law. Rabbi Yosef was also a great kabbalist who maintained a regular learning schedule with an angel. (Rabbi Yosef organized the teachings he learned from his angel and the book is available today.) In our current period of mass information as well as mass misinformation we find many remarkable notions that have either no basis or perhaps have a basis but are nevertheless somewhat corrupted.
Our Parsha opens with our father Yaakov leaving his home, leaving his father Yitzchok and his mother Rivka, on his way to Choron to find a wife from himself. One could well imagine his sense of rejection or perhaps his sense of dejection for the following reason. His grandfather Avrohom who lived in Choron was called by HaShem to leave his father's home and move the Land of Israel and in the Land he would develop his family. His father Yitzchok who was born in the Land was instructed by HaShem never to leave the Land. In fact, when it came time for Yitzchok to marry, his servant had to go to Choron and bring the bride back to him. Behold! His father and grandfather were instructed by HaShem to attach themselves to the Land. Yaakov understood the significance of the Land and longed to be attached to it just as his fathers. He too wanted to develop his family in the Land of HaShem. Could there be a better place to develop his family? Yaakov knew that his children would be the formation of the 12 tribes from whom the Jewish people come. How he hoped and dreamed to be able to build his home in the Land of Israel.
Here he was leaving his parents' home, leaving the Land of Israel heading out to Choron where he would build his family. In fact, with the exception of one child, all his 12 sons were born outside the Land of Israel.
When Yaakov passed the place that would become Jerusalem where the Temple would be constructed, he decided to stop and pray to HaShem to protect him from all that would confront him. That night in his sleep HaShem appeared to him and said "I am HaShem the G.D of Avrohom and the G.D of Yitzchok, the Land upon which you sleep, to you will I give it and to your children. Your children will be like the dirt of the Land and you will burst out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. And through you and your children will all the peoples of the Earth be blessed. Behold I am with you and will protect you wherever you will go and I will return you to this Land for I will never forsake you."
The Alshich explains that HaShem's message to Yaakov was addressing his cause for dejection as follows. Do not worry Yaakov; while it is true that someone who lives outside of the Land of Israel is less attached to HaShem, however in your case this is not so. "Behold I am with you ... wherever you will go..." HaShem is informing Yaakov that wherever he will go he will have HaShem with him.
Yaakov was concerned that his family will be raised outside of the Land and will be missing the energy needed to produce an eternal nation capable of bringing the world to its intended mission. In response to this concern HaShem tells Yaakov that just as in the creation of Earth I began with the Land of Israel and from there the world spread out, your children too will carry the sanctity of the Land and will spread out over the globe to bring blessing to all the peoples of the Earth.
Yaakov is being informed that he is distinctly different from his predecessors. While Avrohom and Yitzchok needed to be in the Land to maintain their attachment to HaShem, Yaakov did not need that. Yaakov's very essence carried the presence of HaShem. Even in the house of Lavan, Yaakov's uncle, HaShem was with him. His 12 children being brought up in Choron will have the energy of being raised in the Land of Israel! More! Those children will be like the dirt of the Land; they will burst out to the west and east to the north and south bringing that energy throughout to all the peoples of the Earth.
The implication of this message is profound. We, the children of Yaakov, have within us an innate kedusha, a holiness that is reminiscent to that of the Land of Israel with which we can influence the blessings of the peoples of the Earth. This gift that HaShem guaranteed Yaakov was given to Yaakov and his family as a whole, not to any single person or even to any single group. When we unite under the banner of Yaakov's family and march in line with the mission of Yaakov then we will carry the kedusha of the Land even to America.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind
