Parashat Vayishlach - First Light

BS”D

Tonight, as I write these words, is the eve of 19 Kislev, the Jahrzeit of Rav Dov Baer, the Maggid of Meseritch. Rav Dov Baer was Rov of a swathe of territory which, over the past three centuries, has been variously Ukraine, Poland, and Russia, and which included his home towns of Meseritch and Rovno, the main city of the district of Volyhn, and home town of my own grandparents. Among the Talmidim of the Maggid was Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the Ba’al Ha-Tanya, proponent of ChaBaD Chassidus and founder of what was to become the dynasty and community of ChaBaD / Lubavitch. For the ChaBaD community, the 19th of Kislev is celebrated as the Rosh HaShana of Chassidus, for it is the day the Alter Rebbe was released after 52 days in a Tsarist prison and cleared of all charges. The experience transformed him. He saw a clear parallel between what was happening in this world and what was happening in the Upper Realms and was convinced that his liberation was a sign of his calling, a calling to spread Chassidus aggressively to a new generation of Rabbis and followers.

As Shakespeare tells us: some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them. The greatness of the Chassidic leadership in the first generations was the greatness of those who knew the greatness of their mission, the greatness of their message. The greatness of their Torah.

While we can argue about whether Abraham or Yitzhak were born to greatness, or the circumstances and means whereby they achieved greatness, it is Yaakov who has greatness thrust upon him. And if there is a Key to Greatness, it is this: that the Great Ones have a keen awareness of their own greatness. Hillel comes to mind as a paragon of the particular Jewish form of humility that arises from blunt honesty about one’s own qualities. In truth, only those who are truly humble – who truly recognize their own abilities and limitations – are able to rise to true greatness.

Yet, in order for this to occur, the individual must recognize clearly and completely his or her own inner qualities. Yaakov has just come through a long and turbulent night. It is perhaps too much to expect him to be fully awake at this moment. There is, perhaps, a glimmer. Perhaps the first dawn of emerging awareness. At 32:32, after his struggle with the faceless angel, Yaakov arises to cross over the place, and the text tells us "And the sun rose for him." Not yet the flash of enlightenment, nor even the first ligthning bolt of Chochmah - the frst stage of ChaBaD (Chochmah, Binah, Da'at). But light, nonetheless, even if inchoate. As Robert Frost has it - "For once, then, something."

One of the keys to Yaakov’s greatness is the comprehensive nature of his destiny. Abraham and Yitzhak were forced to hand on their Blessing and legacy to only one of their sons. In order to do this, they had to forcibly deny their other son not only a portion in their inheritance, but even during their own lifetimes they became estranged. Yitzhak, who we are told explicitly loved Esav, sits helplessly by while his favorite son wails and weeps that his father has given away his Blessing for naught. Abraham sticks his fingers in his ears and refuses to listen when G-d tells him that Sarah is to give birth. Ishmael is good enough for me he tells G-d. I don’t need another son, he tells G-d. You have already kept your promise to me.

With the family of Yaakov the entire situation changes. Yaakov will transfer his Blessing to all of his sons. And the themes of Yaakov’s life will play out through the lives of his sons.

The seven years of joyous labor for Rachel, followed by seven years of bitter travail when his bride turns out to be Leah, are the paradigm for Yosef’s seven fat years and seven lean years. The shock of awakening on the first morning of Yaakov’s married life is mirrored in the encounter of Yehuda and Tamar. The goat and garment that Yaakov used to trick his father repeat in the goat and coat that his own sons bring in an attempt to trick him into believing Yosef has died, are the goat and garment Tamar sends to Yehuda when he is about to have her burned...

The psychological truth of this is that we do imprint ourselves upon our children, our legacy is bred in the bone and carried in the secret and unknowable places of the soul. Only a truly extraordinary parent recognizes the emotional legacy that is being passed on to her or his children, for good and for bad.

As Rabbi Dov Baer lay dying, among his very last words were a Vort on Parashat Vayishlach. He quoted Rashi, who says that Yaakov sent Malachim – Rashi says they are not mere Messengers, but Actual Angels. Rabbi Dov Baer says that the phsical beings of the Angels were sent along to encounter Esav, but that their spiritual essence remained with Yaakov. The Actuality of the Angels went along the road, their Spirituality remained with Yaakov.

Yaakov is a man divided. We see it blatantly in his behavior in this Parasha. He was split by life – the events of his own life point out clearly that Life is not what we hope, or envision, or expect to happen. Yaakov does not even have a single night of wedded happiness with the woman he loves, but must endure her hated sister, not merely for the week before he finally marries Rachel, but throughout his marriage to Rachel, and after her death. The “few days” that his mother counseled him to remain in Haran balloon out to over two decades. And hovering over all of this, over Yaakov’s whole life, is the uncertainty that emerged clearly at the beginning of last week’s Parasha – of never knowing whether what he is seeing is Prophecy, or mere dream.

The Abarbanel tells us that Yaakov proceeds despite his fear. This, says the Abarbanel, is the proof of Yaakov’s faith. And indeed, Yaakov’s life is beset by enough uncertainty that we would not be shocked if he merely withdrew to his tent. But not only does Yaakov persevere, he succeeds, he fights to gain and to keep what is his own. Writing in Catholic Spain on the eve of the consolidation of Catholic power over Moslem society – and on the eve of the Expulsion of the Iberian Jews – Abarbanel may be forgiven for taking up the Catholic paradigm of Faith as being grounded in Doubt. But yesh chochmah ba-goyim - Non-Jews also have wisdom. Just because Catholics say it, does not make it untrue.

Nehama Leibovitz points out that there are two people whom G-d tells explicitly not to fear: Moshe and Yaakov. And of course, whenever G-d tells you not to fear, the message is: you had better be afraid. She then ties this to the potent notion of the Tzaddik who persists in belief and observance, in Mitzvot and Torah despite absolutely knowing for a certainty that there is no guarantee of G-d’s protection in this life.

Belief in G-d, acceptance of Torah, passionately embracing a life of Mitzvot – all these must ultimately be LiShmah – for their own sake. If there is any hope of Reward, it diminshes the power of Torah. Ultimately, the notion of Reward and Punishment places Torah on the plane of Idol Worship.

Yaakov is tied literarily to Abraham. At 27:12 he tells his mother that his father will perceive hm as Meta’tea’ – from the same root as the word for Error. Abraham says to Avimelech “When G-d caused me to wander aimlessly (hit’u) from the house of my father…” And Yaakov, beginning his own wanderings, asks G-d to return him to his father’s house. Yet, once Yaakov has the opportunity to return to Yitzhak’s side, he delays, perhaps emotionally paralyzed. At 33:17 we learn that Yaakov dawdles at Shechem for eighteen months untilays the Midrash, G-d confronted him saying: “You extracted a promise from me, and you made a promise yourself, that you would return to your father’s house. Why then do you not return?” In one sense, the Midrash sees Yaakov’s own indecision as the cause for the rape of Dinah – the rape as punishment for Yaakov’s hesitation.

But is the uncertainty of Yaakov’s life his own doing? It is not. Yaakov is not the cause of his own fear, but it is his responsibility to confront and deal with his Fear, with the uncertainty of life. Yaakov, the first Existential hero.

When Yaakov comes face to face with his own uncertainty, he meets it in the form of a faceless man with whom he must wrestle in the dark. Yaakov, in whom all themes of the family of Abraham are to be united, is renamed Israel. Israel, we are told, because of Wrestling. But there are already two other words for Wrestling that the text has brought us. Rachel says Naftulei elokim – Great wrestlings. And in this week’s Parasha, the Man Ye’aveq – Wrestled with him, from a word meaning To kick up the dust. Why, then, does Gd not rename him Naftaliel? Avakiel? But G-d has broader and more exalted themes in mind.

Yaakov is renamed from the first member of our family who struggled with the consequences of the Covenant of Abraham: Sarah, whose same comes from the same verb root, Sin, Resh, meaning To fight, to struggle. Sarah, the mother of our tribulations and struggle, comes full circle. If not during her lifetime, at least in her grandson she is reunited with her husband.

And so we see in Yaakov the signs of dawning greatness. But, as we have said, in order to be great, the Great Ones also know their own greatness, they use it, they exercise it. This, Yaakov does not yet attain to.

To return to the narrative, Yaakov now buys land in Canaan, as did Abraham. Like Abraham, he now builds a Mizbeach – an altar used for slaughtering animals. Until now, Yaakov has only built Matzevot – pillars. The Mizbeach is, again, a word and an object from the Abraham narrative. And Abraham is the one who must lose his son, in order to gain a son.

Leah bears four sons in succession: Reuven, who will cast away the birthright of the firstborn by his behavior: who soils his father’s bed by having sex with his father’s concubine. This was an accepted practice in the ancient Near East, a mechanism whereby a son, after the death of his father, would publicly take over his father’s possessions. But to do so while the father was still alive is as harsh as Avshalom’s attempts to murder David.

Reuven, who will destroy the family by telling his brothers to throw Yosef down the pit. "You are the firstborn" the Midrash has his brothers wailing after the fact. "We listened to you. And if you had said to leave him alone, we would have left him alone."

Shimon and Levi, who will become the instruments of salvation of Israel. Levi, the tribe that will give us Moshe and Aharon, the Cohanim and Leviim. Shimon, whom Yosef imprisons because, of all the sons of Yaakov, Shimon and Levi are the only two who are referred to as Brothers. If there is any chance that someone will return to Egypt to free the captive, it rests exclusively with Levi, who will have to return to redeem his captive brother Shimon.

Yehuda, who will become the spiritual leader of Israel after he receives moral instruction at the hands of his Rebbe, Tamar.

And now Dinah goes out Lir’ot bevnot ha’aretz- literally, “To see among the daughters of the land.” To see. Or To be seen. Dinah, who just wants to be one of the local girls, gets far more than she bargains for. When her brothers intervene violently, Yaakov’s response is (34:30) You have made real trouble for me and made me odious to my neighbors, the Canaanites and Perizzites, and now they will gang up on me and destroy me.” Yaakov shows a singular coldness, a lack of vision for his family. And Shimon and Levi respond (34:31) Should he treat our sister like a whore?

Who is doing the treating? We always assume it is Shechem to whom they refer. But did not Yaakov’s grandfather sell his own wife twice, and pocket the proceeds? And did not Yaakov’s father sell his own wife? And perhaps it is only for lack of opportunity that Yaakov never did the same with his own wives. And perhaps Yaakov wanted the deal he was being offered, to share both land and daughters. The problem with that approach is, as the Grateful Dead express in their song Jack Straw: “We can share the women, we can share the wine. We can share what we got of yours, ‘cause we done shared all of mine…” Someone is going to feel deprived, and the political and social balance can not hold for long.

What is the sin of Shechem? Why is it so egregious, and what is Yaakov missing?

Shechem comes along at 34:2. He “saw her” [Dinah] and “he took her.” This is as close as Judaism comes to the notion of Original Sin.

The Sin of Eve and Adam originates at Bereshit 3:6. “The woman saw…”, “… and she took of the fruit and ate…” The immediate translation of Appetite into Consuption, of Seeing into Taking, this is precisely what Torah wants us to overcome. This is the behavior of Esav, the whole culture of Mizraim. And by acceding to Hamor’s proposition that the family of Yaakov settle and intermarry, Yaakov is buying into this notion as well, he is accepting the way of the world. Ultimately, he is acquiescing to a society in which, as Thyucidides describes the City of Melos, the Strong do what they wsh, the Weak do what they must. This is not the way of Torah.

And yet, when G-d comes and instructs Yaakov, Yaakov obeys at once. This, then, is the beginning of Yaakov’s Greatness. His awareness may not yet dawn upon him. Indeed, Yaakov’s greatness will flower forth only in the last seventeen years of his life, when he goes down to Mizraim to teach Yosef.

G-d has to step in, and at 35:1, G-d marches into the room and orders Yaakov to get up to Beit-el. It seems that Yaakov has waited for his Calling to return to him. To return him to life in the world. And all the travails and suffering he must bear from here on in – the death of his beloved Rachel, the loss of his beloved Yosef, exile from his homeland and, finally, dying in that exile – all these, Yaakov bears with growing dignity, with growing ease and wisdom. Truly, Yaakov will emerge as great among the Avot.

It is no accident we are known as Bnei Israel. For were we only children of Abraham, or of Yitzhak, we would live in the neediness of people used to being guided and cared for by G-d. At the end of his life, Yaakov will appreciate and embrace the Blessing G-d gave him on his way out of Canaan:

There is no certainty in life. You want a promise of wealth? Of happiness? I – says G-d – can promise you no such thing, for I did not create the world to run that way. You will live, G-d promises Yaakov, you will die. And all along the way, I will be with you.

This, ultimately, is the promise G-d makes to us, to the Jewish people. There will be misery and pain aplenty, there will be suffering and loss. All of this is nothing more than the Human Condition. And, as Jews, we have been trained for millennia to be keenly sensitive to the Human Condition. And so we feel our own pain more profoundly, perhaps, more poetically than many other peoples. Yaakov is the Jew who must learn to live in the world, in a permanent state of Exile, yet who must struggle to keep his own identity. It is not for nothing that Shakespeare has Shylock compare himself, not to Abraham, but to Yaakov.

And it is to this Promise that the Chassid clings so fervently. For, in all the uncertainty of our lives, the one certain thing is Torah. Torah, its very self. Torah without the hope of redemption or gifts or reward. Torah Lishmah.

Let us remember, with love and prayer, those who sought to bring Torah into the world. Let us pray for ourselves in the light of the memory of the Tzaddikim. Today, as we observe the Hilulah of Rabbi Dov Baer, as we celebrate the freeing of the Alter Rebbe, let us remember the pure joy, the reckless love of Torah that inspired these men and generations after them. When we pray every morning Veha’arev na… et divrei Toratchah – we are asking G-d to make the words of Torah sweet in our mouths. Meaning not that we shall speak words of Torah, but that we shall devour them. That Torah is our sustenance and our delight. That Torah itself is sufficient to create transcendent joy in our hearts – not G-d’s promise of a World to Come, not dreams of the Time of Mashiach, not the ceertainty that G-d will reward us for living a life of Miztvot. Just this: how sweet, sweet, how painfully and tragically and beautifully sweet are the words of Torah. And how they nourish us like no other sustenance.

And the lesson Yaakov will ultimately learn is that the mere fact of G-d being alongside us – not helping us, not doing for us, not giving us undue advantage; but suffering along with us, coating the ugly, blistered surface of our lives with a patina of compassion and love – this, and this alone, even only this is more than any human has a right to expect.

Yaakov lives in constant uncertainty and fear, in pain and loss. And he continues to practice Torah and Mitzvot. Lishmah.

Yours for a better world.