“I had not always believed that strength could come from brokenness, or that the thread of a divine purpose could be seen in tragedy. But I do now (Max Cleland).” (“Seven Levels of Teshuva: Avraham and Healing”)

The Torah uses a single verse to teach us that Jacob had a remarkable approach to life. (“A Different Sort of Fear of Life,” “Not Waiting For the Monument,” “The Fragrance of Permanence,” and, “Stopping the Leaks.”) We have seen that, “Vayechi is the story of a man who lived every moment of his life, even in death and after!” We determined that, “Jacob used these final scenes to guide his children to sense the fragrance of permanence, not of death and its ensuing impermanence.” We demonstrated that Jacob rarely “leaked” energy, a “death” experience, but managed to contain and expand the energy with which God filled him. The only time he “leaked” energy was when he lost the sense of the eternal.

Let’s continue to study Jacob’s life before Egypt to better understand where and how Jacob mastered eternal life. We left off after Jacob’s seven year wait for Rachel was as just a few days.

Jacob soon confronts someone thinking of death:

“When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’

Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of the Lord, Who has kept you from having children?” (30:1-2)

Jacob, who wept upon meeting Rachel because they wouldn’t be buried together, whose mother also wished for death when thinking of children, has no patience for his beloved’s intense feelings of sadness over being childless!

Professor Nechama Leibovitz a”h, in her usual masterful way, applies a teaching of the Akeidat Yitzchak to this scene: Rav Yitzchak Arama points out that there are two names for the Primal Woman: “Isha,” as explained by Rashi, derived from ‘Eish,’ fire, representing the woman as an independent being; and, ‘Chava,’ the ‘mother of life, representing the woman as mother and caregiver. Professot Leibovitz explains that when Rachel wanted to die if she remained childless, she was choosing only one of her roles, that of Chava, the mother, and rejecting her life as an Isha. Jacob’s response was to point out that she cannot choose only one of the roles; she had to live as both.

I use this to explain the custom of the husband preparing the wife’s Shabbat candles; He is nurturing her Isha.

As beautiful as that explanation may be, I do not define Isha or Chava the same way. Chava means to articulate, The Articulator, and Isha has an added dimension of a person with greatness who willing forfeits her status just to be with her husband, just as Eve left the Garden to be with Adam, in fulfillment of, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you (3:16). (See “Family Secrets from the Articulator,” “Vashti v Esther,” “Conversations with Myself,” and, “Morning Blessings for the Nine Days-Part Three: Who has not made me a woman.”)

A careful reading of the text will explain Jacob’s reaction to Rachel’s cry, his fear of her connecting to the negative aspect of Isha, and Cain’s sin:

“When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’” Rachel was jealous, breaking her eternal link to Jacob, just as Eve’s jealousy led her to trip Adam (Rashi; 3:6), and Cain to break his link to eternal life, humanity, and to murder Abel. (“Mistakes-Latznu,” “Ever Since Adam & Cain One,” “Trying Again,” “Commentary to the Vidui-Part Five; Avinu.”)

Jacob understood that again someone was breaking their link to the eternal and tasting death, so he said, “Am I in the place of the Lord, Who has kept you from having children?” Jacob was assuming the role of teacher, and repairing the break between “God,” the Attribute of Compassion, and “The Lord,” the Attribute of Power-Judgement:

“When God saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘It is because God has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because God heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon.

Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ So he was named Levi.

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘This time I will praise God.’ So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children (29:31-35).” Leah consistently speaks of God, the Attribute of Compassion.

Rachel speaks of the Lord, the Attribute of Power-Judgment: Then Rachel said, ‘The Lord has vindicated me; He has listened to my plea and given me a son.’ Because of this she named him Dan (30:6).”

Then, something changes:

The Lord listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, ‘The Lord has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar.

Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, “The Lord has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah [derived from ‘Din,’ judgment].

Then The Lord remembered Rachel; He listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, ‘The Lord has taken away my disgrace.” She named him Joseph, and said, ‘May God add to me another son’ (30:17-24).” [For those of you bothered by my switching the more common translation of God and Lord; I am following the teachings of my father zt”l who insisted that it does not make sense to say, “The Lord is God,” because God is His Essence; the Shema is to accept God as our Lord, meaning that He cares enough to judge our actions.]
Rachel and Leah were each relating to one aspect of our relationship with the Ultimate Being, which is a break of “Hashem Elokeinu,” God is our Lord, in the Shema, and a break in the story of the relationship between the Spiritual and Physical creations, expressed in, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when God the Lord made the earth and the heavens (2:4).” (See “The Ladder Comes to Life.”)

Jacob taught Rachel and Leah that the only way we can maintain an unbroken link between the Spiritual and Physical creations, to link to the Eternal, is to relate to both God and the Lord.

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“Illuminate our eyes in Your Torah.” The theme we are using this Shabbat is how Shabbat is an experience of the World-to-Come (See: “Kabbalat Shabbat-A Single Utterance”). The Talmud offers two powerful examples of the Special Light of the World-to-Come:

“And it shall come to pass in that day that there shall not be light, but heavy clouds [yekaroth] and thick [we-kippa'on] (Zechariah 14:6),” what does yekaroth we-kippa’on mean? Rav Yochanan said: This refers to Nega’im and Ohaloth (The laws of biblical ‘leprosy’ and the defilement of tents through a dead body), which are difficult in this world, yet shall be easily understood in the future world.

While Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: This refers to the people who are honored in this world, but will be lightly esteemed in the next world. As was the case of Rabbi  Joseph the son of R. Joshua b. Levi, who became ill and fell into a trance. When he recovered, his father asked him, ‘What did you see?’ ‘I saw a topsy-turvy world’, he replied, ‘the upper [class] underneath and the lower on top’’ he replied:

‘My son’, he observed, ‘you saw a clear world (In which people occupy the positions they merit).’ (Pesachim 50a)

Application: Requesting the Light of the World to Come to Shine on this Shabbat

Kavanah: “We ask that God shine the Light of the Future World on our Torah study; the Light through which even the most difficult subjects will be understood.” Spend extra time studying Torah topics and books that are usually difficult to learn with after using this Kavanah.

Shabbat Before the Tenth of Tevet Kavanah: “Illuminate our world so that people occupy the positions they truly merit,” so that we can choose those from whom to study, as we Battle the Siege.

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“Good deeds can be shortly stated, but where wrong is done, a wealth of language is needed to hide its deformity (Thucydides).”

Wow! Judah’s speech to the Egyptian viceroy is certainly a long one. What made him think that the Viceroy would allow him to make such a lengthy presentation? If Judah was speaking through an interpreter, the speech would have been twice as long. I can’t imagine anyone in the Egypt of that time believing that he could make such a long speech.

What is even more powerful, is that this speech was not through an interpreter! Judah spoke directly to the Viceroy; “Then Judah approached him and said (to see Genesis 44:18).” Judah suspected that the Viceroy did understand every word the brothers had been speaking all along.

“Then they said to one another, Indeed we are guilty concerning our brother.” “Reuben spoke up to them.” “Now they did not know that Joseph understood, for an interpreter was between them. He turned away from them and wept; he returned to them and spoke to them; he took Simeon from them and imprisoned him before their eyes (Verses 21–23).” Did they not expect the Egyptian viceroy to ask the interpreter what they had been saying to each other? Why would they have such a “private” conversation right in front of the Viceroy and his interpreter?

We have another problem with that scene: “’Then bring your youngest brother to me so your words will be verified.’ And they did so (Verse 20).” What did they do? They did not send one of the brothers back to Canaan to fetch Benjamin.

Their “private” conversation in front of the Viceroy was their message to him that they were willing to do as he asked. We already explained in “Master of Memory IV” that Joseph was pushing them to become better listeners. Their internal conversation was their indication to the Viceroy that they had learned their lesson. They began to understand the subtleties of this man’s approach. He was clearly a superb listener. They intended for him to “overhear” their private conversation.

However, the Viceroy never asks for his interpreter to report what the brothers had said to each other. He turns aside for a few moments, “returns to them and spoke to them,” but the verse never tells us what he said when he spoke to them; it only says that, “he took Simeon from them and imprisoned him before their eyes.”

The Sages explain, that when the verse says, “They then said to one another,” it was Simeon conversing with Levi. When the Viceroy imprisons Simeon, he is sending a message to them that he clearly understood what they had been saying to each other.

The Viceroy was clearly an excellent listener, sufficiently so, that Judah knew he could directly approach the Viceroy for his speech, and speak as long as he wanted and the Viceroy would listen!

Judah approaches the Viceroy directly as a message that he understands that there have been subtle messages all along conveyed by the Master of Memory pushing them to confront their past. He therefore goes into a lengthy exposition of the family’s history. Judah is telling the Viceroy that he has learned the Viceroy’s message, and has become a better listener.

The brothers are overwhelmed by intense emotions at this moment when they stand to lose Benjamin. They are confronting what they had done to Joseph, how they had treated their father, how they had failed to truly live as brothers. It was impossible for Judah to give a short speech. He had to process all these deep and painful emotions. He not only acknowledged the Viceroy’s lesson of becoming listeners; he expresses to the Viceroy that they have all learned to listen to their own hearts and emotions.

No wonder, the Sages teach that when Jacob meets Joseph for the first time after so many years of separation, Jacob says the Shema: Jacob was acknowledging that the family had been reunified; and important aspect of the Shema; Unity. Jacob was also sending a message to Joseph, that his wise son had succeeded in teaching his brothers how to become the people who could recite the Shema; how to become good listeners.

Jacob is reminding us that we cannot properly recite the Shema unless we too, are good listeners. We must be good listeners to what others are saying and feeling, and, we must become people who are very skilled at listening to our own hearts.

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In our society, we assume that if someone saves another person’s life, then the person saved owes the person who saved them. However, in some societies, the opposite is true, the person who is saved is owed by the person who saved them. In fact, in some societies, if someone saves another’s life, he is considered responsible for taking care of that person forever.

Here’s a typical example, from a British missionary in Congo:

“A day or two after we reached Vana we found one of the na­tives very ill with pneumonia. Comber treated him and kept him alive on strong fowl-soup; a great deal of careful nursing and attention was visited on him, for his house was beside the camp. When we were ready to go on our way again, the man was well. To our astonishment he came and asked us for a present, and was as astonished and disgusted as he had made us to be, when we declined giving it. We suggested that it was his place to bring us a present and to show some gratitude. He said to us, ‘Well indeed! You white men have no shame!’



I wonder which approach Joseph took, and which, his brothers.

“I am Joseph your brother, it is me, whom you sold into Egypt. And now, be not distressed, nor reproach yourselves for having sold me here, for it was to be a provider that God sent me ahead of you. For this has been two of the hunger years in the midst of the land, and there are yet five years in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest. Thus, God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival in the land and to sustain you for a momentous deliverance (Genesis 45 4–7).”

Joseph saves the lives of his brothers; he certainly had the right and the power to kill them for what they had done to him. Joseph has saved the lives of his brothers; he is the provider of all their food. Yet, despite the fact that he is the one who saved their lives, Joseph accepts responsibility to continue to feed and care for them. Joseph assumes that if God gave him the responsibility and opportunity to save their lives, that he was obligated to continue to care for them.

What about the brothers?

“He sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to prepare ahead of him in Goshen; and they arrived in the region of Goshen (46:28).” Jacob sent Judah to prepare: Jacob was teaching his children that they were now obligated to Joseph, not only because they had sold him into slavery, but because he had saved their lives.

I suspect that this obligation, that Jacob imposed on the brothers, is one of the reasons that the brothers never felt completely at peace with Joseph; they lived under this burden of obligation. I also suspect that the reason Joseph took his approach, that he was obligated to them, was so that they would not feel crushed by their obligation to him.

Konica is also the Jewish Thanksgiving. Which approach does God take for having given life to us? Are we to feel crushed by our obligation to Him?

That, is the most significant lesson taught by Joseph; God is obligated to us! “I created you and I shall bear you; I shall endure and rescue (Isaiah 46:4).” It is for this reason that we are able to trust that God will provide all our needs.

Is this not why we declare in “Modim,” not only what God has done to give us life, but also all that we are confident that He will continue to do for all of His creation?

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“Say the word and I’ll turn you loose

I got mine now you get yours

Just like you I’ve got my price

Sure is nice that someone paid

I’ve got my ticket out of here

But for you, I fear, it’s much too late

It’s nothing you can blame me for

In love and war

It’s every man for himself ‘

- Steppenwolf, *Every Man For Himself*

“Now it’s every man for himself tonight

We’re lookin’ out for number one, tryin’ to get on with our lives

And it’s heart-breakin’ and it’s soul achin’

When you got nobody else

So friends it’s good to have you here tonight

But it’s every man for himself

Neal McCoy, *Every Man For Himself*

With apologies to Steppenwolf and Neal McCoy, I must point out that one of the most significant lessons that Joseph conveyed to his brothers was that they could no longer function, “Every Man for Himself.”

“He then kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; afterwards his brothers conversed with him (Genesis 45:15).” We do not find Joseph focusing on his brothers as individuals, but only as a group. In fact, despite having paid special attention to Benjamin, he quickly moves from Benjamin to them all, as if to convey a message that they were all to him equal to Benjamin.

This does not mean that he stopped treating them as individuals: “To each of them he gave changes of clothing (Verse 22).” Only after insisting that they were all equal in his eyes, did he treat each as an individual.

I believe that this explains why we seem to have a redundancy in the portion: “Now these are the names of the children of Israel who were coming to Egypt (46:8).”

“All the people of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt; seventy (Verse 27).”

The family came as a unified family, and they came as seventy individuals.

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This question was asked before Rabbi Tanchum of Neway: What about extinguishing a burning lamp for a sick man on the Sabbath? — Thereupon he commenced and spoke: You, Solomon, where is your wisdom and where is thine understanding? It is not enough for you that your words contradict the words of your father David, but that they are self-contradictory! Your father David said, “The dead praise not the Lord (Psalms 115:7),” while you said, “Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead (Ecclesiastes 4:2),” but yet again you said, “for a living dog is better than a dead lion (9:4).”

Yet there is no difficulty.

As to what David said: ‘The dead praise not the Lord,’ this is what he meant:

Let a man always engage in Torah and good deeds before he dies, for as soon as he dies he is restrained from the practice of Torah and good deeds, and the Holy One, blessed be He, finds nought to praise in him.

And thus Rabbi Yochanan said, What is meant by the verse, “Among the dead I am free (Psalms 88:6)?”

Once a man dies, he becomes free of the Torah and good deeds.

As to what Solomon said, ‘Wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead’ for when Israel sinned in the wilderness, Moses stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, and uttered many prayers and supplications before Him, but he was not answered. Yet when he exclaimed, ‘Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants (Exodus 32:13) !’ he was immediately answered. Did not then Solomon well say, “wherefore I praised the dead that are already dead?’

Another interpretation: In worldly affairs, when a prince of flesh and blood issues a decree, it is doubtful whether it will be obeyed or not; and even if you say that it is obeyed, it is obeyed during his lifetime but not after his death. Whereas Moses our Teacher decreed many decrees and enacted numerous enactments, and they endure for ever and unto all eternity. Did then not Solomon well say, ‘Wherefore I praise the dead, etc.’ (Shabbat 30a)

Kavanah: “The dead do nor praise God,” and therefore I will take advantage of every moment of life to study Torah and do Mitzvot.

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The Theme of this paragraph of Hallel is Trusting God: See “Hallel Rosh Chodesh Tevet: Paragraph Three”  “Trusters” and “Chanukah Hallel Paragraph Three: Becoming Trusters.”

“Let all those who put their trust in You rejoice (Psalms 5:12),” because You took vengeance upon Babylon (Tenth of Tevet); “let them ever shout for joy,” because in Persia, You took vengeance upon Haman and upon his sons (Purim); “shout for joy because You defended them,” in the days of the Greeks, when You surrendered the Greeks into the hands of the Maccabees and their sons (Chanukah); “let them also who love Your name and be joyful in You,” when You will inflict punishment upon Gog & Magog. (Midrash Tehillim 5:11)

We declare that we sing this Hallel of Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh Tevet as Trusters that God will give us cause to rejoice as He did after He punished the Babylonians and the Greeks.

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Tzitzit are always associated with light; they are even described as Clothes of Light. In this, they are also associated with Hanukkah, the Festival of Light. When we hold our Tzitzit during the Shema, we hold all four corners in our hands so that we are surrounded by Light. This is a perfect Kavanah to keep in mind as we move from Hanukkah, the Festival of Light, to the Tenth of Tevet, when Jerusalem was surrounded by the invading Babylonian army.

Rabbi Meir used to say: When a man wears the Tefillin upon his head and upon his arm, as prescribed, and his four knotted fringes enclosing on all four sides, and when as he enters his house there is a mezuzah at the entrance, you find that Seven Testimonies of his awe of God surround him like a wall. It was of such a person that David said: “The angel of God camps round about them who fear Him, and deliver them (Psalms 34:8).” [Midrash Tehillim 6:1]
Kavanah: “I hold my Tzitzit surrounding me as a wall to protect me from the enemies who surround me.”

This can also be used as a Kavanah when reciting Psalm 34 in the Shabbat morning Pesukei d’Zimrah.

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Many of the verses in the concluding Psalm of the Hallel resonate powerfully on Rosh Chodesh Tevet, the month in which Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian hordes lay siege to Jerusalem:

“I called to the Creator of Heaven and Earth from a tight spot (inside besieged Jerusalem), and He answered me broadly.”

Sefat Emet: The Baal Shem Tov explained that we should read this verse as, “Not only will God take us out of this tight spot, but it will be from within the tight spot itself that the salvation will come (Netzavim 5640).” Kavanah: Rather than look for the salvation to come from outside besieged Jerusalem; we can look inside the city, at ourselves, and find the key to salvation.

Kedushat Levi: Just as the Creator, Blessed is He, is Infinite; so are His Attributes without measure. At the time of creation, He constricted His Attributes. However, from within the constricted Attributes, as they are drawn to Israel, they expand broadly (Ki Tisa). Kavanah: The siege of Jerusalem was possible only because of the constricted Attributes. We need only access their Essence, and they will broaden and wipe away all who fight them. “May we merit to access all of the Divine Attributes and broaden their expression in this world through our service of God, so that all boundaries imposed on us will be smashed.”

Ohr HaChochmah: When the Evil Inclination pushes me into a limited state, so that I feel besieged, I consider whether Above I am being constricted, and I call out,  as in, “I called to the Creator of Heaven and Earth from a tight spot, and He answered me broadly,” to the One Who promised that He will always be with us when we are suffering, so that I will be empowered to break all boundaries and limitations (Beshalach). Kavanah: The Spiritual Influence of the siege of Jerusalem is experienced when we feel constricted in our spiritual growth. We turn to God and request His ‘Broadness,” expansiveness, so that we can achieve explosive growth.

Ohr Yisrael: When we are suffering and besieged by troubles and enemies, we do not respond as others, described by the prophet, “Through the land will pass the troubled and hungry. When he will be hungry he will be angry and curse his kings and gods, and direct his face on high (Isaiah 8:21),” rather, we, “Call out to God from a tight spot,” and this committed expression of love and loyalty, elicits, “He answers me expansively.” (Tikkunei Zohar #12) Kavanah: We sing this Hallel in loyal love even though we hear the Babylonians, and our other enemies approaching, confident that You will respond to our love for You with Infinite blessings and kindness.

Shufrah d’Yaakov: When we are in exile, we call out because Your Name is not whole. We pray that Your Name be fully expressed in this world (Chanukah) Kavanah: Had the inhabitants of Jerusalem prayed, not for themselves, but for God’s Name to be expanded in the world; the Babylonian siege would have been smashed, just as was the Assyrian attack. We commit ourselves to focus on Your Glory; not our suffering.

Yismach Yisrael: “I called out to Y-H,” as in, “For with Y-H, He created worlds (Isaiah 26:4),” ‘worlds,” meaning, this world and the World to Come. When I am besieged by enemies, limited by my sins, I fear that I have lost both worlds. They respond from Heaven, “and He was for me, Li, a salvation,” your salvation is in returning Li, to Me, and then you will experience the broadness of God (Likkutim; Tehillim). Kavanah: “We call out to You to return to You. Please respond broadly.”

I suggest that we focus on the following verses in the same context of escaping the “siege.”

“All the nations surrounded me but I survived them in God’s Name. They surrounded and encircled me but I survived them in God’s Name. Though they surrounded me like a swarm of bees, they were snuffed out like burnt thorns. I survived them in God’s Name. I was pushed to fall but God helped me.”

“Open the gates of justice for me, I will enter and thank the Creator. This is the gate to God, the just may enter here.”

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We derive the appellation for God’s Name, used in the Rosh Chodesh Mussaf – Additional Prayer – from the combination of letters and vowels of the following verse: “Declare the greatness of God with me, and let us exalt His Name together.” (Psalms 43:4)

I. Individual Divine Providence

There are those who believe that God is so exalted and that it is not respectful of Him to even believe that He is directly involved with the physical beings of this earth. Therefore, Moshe declared, “Declare the greatness of God,” – “Who is with me,” meaning, who is directly involved with me. (Ketav Sofer)

We are entering winter the darkest time of the year. The Kabbalists teach that Tevet is one of the months that because of their darkness are in the hands of the angel of Eisav. However, the beginning of Tevet always falls during Chanukah, and the light of the Menorah can weaken and even defeat the darkness of Eisav right from the beginning of the month.

II. Partners

The Talmud teaches that we should never rely on a miracle. (Ta’anit 20b) A person must accept responsibility to act with an absolute trust that God, Who will be, “With me,” and will bless and empower our efforts, will join his efforts. (Ketav Sofer)

This flows directly from the strength of Chanukah, when the Chashmonaim chose to act without relying on miracles. Their choice stirred the heavens and God empowered their victories and success. We pray on Rosh Chodesh that we should have the clarity to define how much effort is necessary, the courage to act, and that God will join with us and empower our actions.

III. Humility

Usually when someone says, “Do this with me,” he is asking the other to join him, but he is primary. Moses begins by inviting us to praise God with him, but he concludes, “We will exalt His Name together.” We will all be equal. (Rabbi Akiva Eiger)

We can attach to the strength of those greater than we, and join them in serving God. The name of God hidden in this verse, allows us to draw on that strength and actually rise to the level of those greater individuals who inspire us.

We pray that during this coming month we will be able to draw on the strength of all those who teach us Torah and Service of God, even if only through their sefarim – books – written long ago. We pray that we can then make that strength part of our own service and growth.

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