VAYIGASH

This week’s sedra is Vayigash and it starts off with the famous confrontation between Yehuda and the person he thought was the viceroy, virtually the ruler of Egypt, leading on to the revelation that it was in fact his own brother Yosef, as we know.

As usual, I have a few questions.

Firstly, why did Yosef play so long with his brothers? Why did he not reveal himself much earlier to them?

The second question is, his father, Yaacov, was obviously upset and we know he mourned for 22 years for him and Yosef, no doubt, sensed this because he kept on asking his brothers “how is your father?”, time after time. In that case, why was it, that not only did he keep them all in suspense, but he kept Shimon in Egypt and insisted that Binyomin should be brought to Egypt, knowing full well that this would cause his father even greater aggravation, more agmus nefesh?

Looking at the first verse in the posek, ויגש אליו יהודה ,you will find that Rashi comments on the words כי כמוך כפרעה , who can be compared to you, to Paroi, with four different explanations. I don’t think that this happens anywhere else. Surely there must be a very good reason for Rashi to have to give so many explanations?

I think, as usual, it is worth while exploring the whole story in depth.

In reality, one has to go back to Yaakov Avinu arriving at Horon and asking for the hand of Rochel בתך הקטנה , Rochel your younger daughter. Yaakov agreed to serve Lovon for seven years as equivalent to giving a dowry. We all know that his future father-in-law, Lovon, was a very deceitful person and that seven years later, he switched Leah in place of Rochel. Yaakov was such an upright gentleman that although this upset him, he ended up by having both Rochel & Leah for wives.

We also know that Hashem took pity on Leah and she began to have children in rapid succession. Firstly there was Reuvain, then there was Shimon followed by Levi and then Yehuda. After those first four children born to Yaakov, she stopped having children. Bilha and Zilpa, the two handmaidens, whom Rashi quotes as being also daughters of Lovon from a פילגש a concubine, then bore two children each, Don, Naftoli, Gad and Osher. It was only subsequently that Leah had two more sons Yissochor and Zevulun, and then, of course, she had Dina as well.

All this took place before Yosef was born.

The first four sons of Yaakov felt, not surprisingly, that they were the top, elite, boys. They had, however, different natures. Reuvain was sensitive but impetuous, not leadership material. Shimon and Levi were very strong characters and took the law into their own hands, to wit the story with Dina in Shechem. Yehuda was also a strong character but was leadership material.

When Yosef was finally born to Yaakov’s preferred wife, Rochel, this, no doubt, caused friction as the children grew up and this also was the reason for Yosef being friendly with the children of Bilha and Zilpa as the Torah clearly states in parshas Vayeishev.

In that sedra, Yosef had his famous dreams concerning the sheaves of wheat and also regarding the sun, the moon and the stars bowing down to him, as you will all recall. Yaacov also make him a כתונת פסים , a multicoloured coat.

It is, therefore, not surprising that his brothers were jealous of him and you will all recall that when Yaakov Avinu sent Yosef to see how his brothers were getting on with pasturing in Shechem, he was sighted from afar by his brothers. The Torah tells us ויאמרו איש אל אחיו One man said to his brother “Behold, our dreamer is coming”, we are told that these two were Shimon and Levi who had already tasted blood in the case of Shechem and this story took place in the vicinity of that very city Shechem and their attitude was, once again, to carry out such a deed. We also know that Reuvain, who was obviously sensitive, stopped this happening.

The continuation of the story there was that Yehuda said to his brothers “What will we get out of killing him, let us sell him on” and that is what happened.

It was due to this, that Yosef arrived in Egypt. We also can appreciate that Yosef realised that it was Shimon and Levi who were the prime movers in having action taken against him. Therefore, he decided when thinking about his tactics of how to deal with the whole matter when his ten brothers (except for Binyomin) first arrived in Egypt, to keep Shimon in custody in Egypt on the basis, that he, understandably, did not want Shimon and Levi to join forces again.

Incidentally, although Shimon and Levi were both very strong minded, we find that later on there was a complete difference in what happened to their tribes. From the Shevet of Levi came Moshe Rabbenu and Aharon Hacohen and all the Cohanim. Shimon does not figure anywhere of consequence.

If you look carefully at the names given to all the shevotim, you will find that in virtually every case, either Rochel or Leah gave the names, the one exception is Levi. In Vayeitzei is says על כן קרא שמו לוי , and therefore “he” called his name Levi. Rashi comments that Hashem sent the malach Gavriel who gave him that name. Gavriel is known as the malach of strength, Levi acquired this strength of character, no doubt, with the naming of him by Gavriel. The net upshot was that when the Yidden went to Mitzraim, the tribe of Levi did not become enslaved in the same way as the other shevotim. They had the strength of character not to become so assimilated and they used this strength of character in a good way which, therefore, bore fruit of having such great and illustrious people as Moshe Rabbenu, Aharon Hacohen, Pinchas etc.

Returning to the background of the story, before parsha Vayigash, as the Torah tells us clearly, Yosef recognised his ten brothers when they arrived to buy produce and they did not recognise him. He, therefore, took a decision to not reveal himself but to play out the matter with, I would suggest, two motives.

Firstly, to check whether this brothers had sincerely repented for having sold him into slavery. Secondly, to ensure that the dreams that he had related, came true. Because of this he could not reveal himself to them immediately so that the news would then have got back to Yaakov quickly, he had to play a long game.

Furthermore, another factor working against him revealing himself immediately was that only 21 years had gone by since he had been separated from his father and Yaakov Avinu had to atone for the 22 years that he was away from his father Yitzchok and there was still one more year to go. I believe that this was not Yosef’s motive, it was part of the whole scene and interwoven in the whole story.

We have all read in Mikkeitz how Yosef accused his brothers of being spies and they tried their best to persuade him that they were not. If you look at the posek immediately after Chamishi, which says
ויאמרו איש אל אחיו אבל אשמים אנחנו על אחינו אשר ראינו צרת נפשו בהתחננו אלינו ולא שמענו
Then one man said to his brother, indeed we are guilty concerning our brother as we saw his heartfelt anguish when he pleaded with us and we paid no heed.

And Reuvain then said “I told you all not to sin by doing anything to the child”, and Yosef was so affected by all this that he even turned aside and cried.

It, interestingly, uses the expression, איש אל אחיו one man to his brother and that is exactly the same expression as the Torah used when Yosef came to visit them in Shechem. I believe that the ones who spoke to one another were Shimon and Levi again. So Yosef had some good news in that it appeared to him that Reuvain, Shimon and Levi had all repented but what about Yehuda? Yehuda was, after all, the other leadership material (Yosef was also leadership material as we all realise, having become the viceroy of Egypt) he had to somehow manoeuvre the situation so that Yehuda would also have to show that he had really retracted and done תשובה and changed his previous attitude towards Yosef. In order to do that he decided that the best way would be to insist on having Binyomin come down to Mitzraim and then to so organise things, that Binyomin would be accused of a felony a גניבה.

Yosef would then see if Yehuda would stick up for the other son of Rochel, namely Binyomin and Yosef would then be able to make his own mind up as to whether he should then reveal himself to his brothers.

I believe that having given this background so far, we have, in fact, dealt with the two questions that I started with. They were, why did Yosef play so long with his brothers and why did he keep them all in suspense especially knowing that his father was upset and had mourned for 22 years for him.

Let us now turn to the beginning of Vayigash, Yehuda was faced with a grave problem, he had undertaken to bring back Binyomin to Yaakov and had stated clearly

אנכי אערבנו מידי תבקשנו אם לא הביאתיו אליך והצגתיו לפניך וחטאתי לך כל הימים

I will personally guarantee him and you can demand him from my own hand. If I do not bring him back to you and present him to you I will have sinned to you for all time.

Rashi comments that this means, even Olam Haboh. He was, in effect, stating that he was putting his chalek in Olam Haboh, his part in the world to come, on the line. When the silver goblet of Yosef was discovered in the sack of Binyomin, Yehuda knew that he had a major problem on his hands, he said so in fact at the end of last week’s sedra

מה נאמר לאדוני מה נדבר ומה נצטדק האלקים מצא את עון עבדך

What can we say to you our master, how can we speak and how can we justify ourselves. Hashem has uncovered the sin of your servants.

Yehuda then had to try and save the situation with the power of his oratory. Remember that this viceroy of Egypt had the power of life and death in his hands and there would have been no national or international outcry if he would just have killed all of them. Yehuda was well aware of the gravity of the situation. Nevertheless, he girded his loins and that is where the sedra Vayigash starts. Yehuda gathered together all his strength and went to speak personally to Yosef. He drew near to him, that is he did not speak from afar but man to man. He pleaded with him
Please my lord, בי אדני
may your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, ידבר נא עבדך דבר באזני אדני
and let not your anger flare up on your servant. ואל יחר אפך בעבדך

Then we have the strange words, כי כמוך כפרעה . You could translate this as Rashi starts off with “You are as important as Paroi in my eyes” but Rashi adds three further explanations. The first one is “I am warning you that you will have צרעת , commonly translated as leprosy, brought on you as Paroi had done to him, when my grandmother Soroh was taken into his palace. Furthermore, (another explanation is) in the same way as Paroi decrees but does not carry out, promises and does not fulfil, you act similarly. Is this the way to inspect Binyomin that you talked about? You are, in fact, wishing to take him into captivity as a slave. Finally, Rashi says, as the fourth explanation and he emphasises the words כי כמוך כפרעה , if you anger me, I will kill you and your master the king.

What you have here is the epitome of political double talk, treble talk or quadruple talk. The honeyed words with the threat of strong action underlying it. Yehuda was, in effect saying, please treat me nicely, otherwise who knows what the consequences are going to be for you and the whole of Egypt.

He then proceeded to give a very brief resumé of the whole story as it had happened and tried to touch Yosef’s heart cords and to make him sympathetic to the plight of this poor Binyomin who had been left as the one and only son alive of Yaakov’s favourite wife Rochel. Yehuda even offered to change places and become the slave in place of Binyomin. Yosef was, by now, convinced that Yehuda was sincere in his change of heart and his teshuva.

Yehuda succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Not only, of course, was Binyomin pardoned, but as we know, Yosef then revealed himself as being the brother who not only forgave them but comforted them, saying that Hashem had sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival and to save you לפליטה גדלה to a momentous deliverance.



In addition to all the nuances and politics contained in the whole story and especially in the first posek and parsha of Vayigash, I think that the explanation of the Vilna Goan on the טעמי המקרא that is the neginos, which the Baal Koreh reads and sings is very illuminating in this particular case. The first six words of the posek are ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדני , if you look at the נגינות , the trop on the words ויגש אליו יהודה you have קדמא ואזלא רביעי . The next few words are ויאמר בי אדני , on which there are זרקא מונח סגול and the Vilna Goan explains in his own inimitable style that these טעמי המקרא are themselves an explanation of the posek. Yehuda was, in fact, saying to Yosef (whom, we know from parshas Mikeitz knew exactly which brothers were older and younger) I was born number four of the sons and why am I the one who is coming to beseech you to let Binyomin free and take me in his place? It is because I guaranteed that he would come back to our father alive.

Therefore the trop קדמא ואזלא means, he stood up and went (to Yosef) and the next trop, on the word יהודה is רביעי , the fourth, in other words the fourth son. As I mentioned earlier on, he had told Yaakov Avinu that if he did not bring Binyomim back, Yehuda would forfeit his portion in Olam Haboh and therefore זרקא , I will be thrown out, he said, מונח סגול from being in the special nation of Am Yisroel. Indeed, a beautiful explanation.



I have had a different idea, which I think fits in perfectly with the posek.

If you look back just a few posukim, Yehuda had stated when the silver goblet was found in Binyomin’s sack, מה נאמר לאדני – האלקים מצא את עון עבדיך What can we say to our master, Elokim has found the sin of your servants. It does not say Hashem it says Elokim which is known as middas Hadin, the strict judge. Yehuda realised that this was not just a viceroy in Egypt being nasty, this came direct from הקב'ה . Now what does a Yid do who sees middos Hadin מתוחה עליו , Hashem’s stern judgement hovering over him. He beseeches Hashem that Yud Kay Vov Kay, namely Hashem of rachamim to intercede and overturn the middos hadin. This, I think, is encapsulated in the first posek of Vayigash.

I am going to give everyone here a copy of the first posek where I have highlighted the first letters of each word and also added in numerical numbers all with colour codes as you will see. I will explain it verbally as well, as follows:-

If you take the first six words ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדני you will find that the first letters together add up in gemmatria to 26. We all know that alef equals 1, and vov for example equals 6. The gemmatria of the first letters of the first six words adds up to 26 and you will note that it does not say ויגש יהודה אל יוסף , the מפרשים , comment that he was not only talking to the viceroy of Egypt, Yehuda at the same time was praying and beseeching Hashem so that the expression אליו fits perfectly. These six words state that Yehuda drew near to him (it could be Hashem of course, as well) and he said please, the next word אדני can also be read as, my Lord, meaning Hashem. What did he ask, that Hashem should overturn the middas hadin.

If you go on to the next two words which are ידבר נא the first two letters add up in gemmatria to 60. 60 plus the original 26 for the first six words are 86 in total which is exactly the gemmatria of Elokim, alef lamed hay yud mem.

Now, we find that basically, Yehuda had three problems on his hands, one problem was concerning Yosef. This was in fact an old problem because it has been going on for over 20 years and his father had asked the brothers to try and see if they could locate Yosef. The second problem was Binyomin. He was now faced with Binyomin being kept as a slave by this viceroy and, on top of it all, of course, Yehuda had the problem with Yaakov, because he was going to be in great trouble with his father as I mentioned above. Let us proceed with the posek. After ידבר נא we have עבדך which has got an ayin at the beginning of the word, an ayin is 70. If you add this 70 to the 86 previously, all the roshe hatevos, first letters, then add up to 156 which is exactly the gemmatria of Yosef יוסף.

The first letters of the next two words דבר באזני total 6.

6 plus 156 is 162, and that is exactly the numerical value of Binyomin as it is written when he was born and Yaakov named him בנימין beis nun yud mem yud nun.

If you now go forward to the rest of the posek, the next words are אדני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך and the first letters of those words add up to another 20, add this to 162 and you have 182 and that is the exact gemmatria of the name Yaakov יעקב, yud ayin kuf beis. So we see a precise pattern. Yehuda had in mind when speaking to Yosef, the middos harachamim (Haviya) should overcome the middos hadin, (Elokim) in respect of Yosef, Binyomin and Yaakov.

But let us just go one stage further. If you go back to אדני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך דבר באזני Again the rosh hateves, the first letters add up to 26, and therefore you have Haviya again and the first letters of the last three words of the posek כי כמוך כפרעה , three times כ20 equals 60. If you add that 60 to the 26 I mentioned just before you again have a total of 86 which is again Elokim. So in fact, in the posek you have encrypted Haviya, Elokim, Yosef, Binyomin, Yaakov, Haviya, Elokim. A very neat sandwich giving the whole story.

This, together with the Vilna Goan’s explanation just amplifies the depth of the posek which I highlighted by mentioning that Rashi gives four explanations.

Truly our Torah is deep. Sometimes, we have the merit to find hidden depths in it.

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SHABBOS CHANUKAH

The Haftorah of Shabbos Chanukah is taken from the prophecy of זכריה Zachariah, commencing in the middle of the second chapter and going forward to the third and fourth chapters.

Rashi commences his commentary on Zachariah with the following words
נבואת זכריה סתומה היא מאד כי יש בה מראות דומות לחלום הניתן לפתרון ואין אנו יכולים לעמוד על אמיתת פתרונו עד יבוא מורה צדק
(Free translation) The prophecy of Zachariah is very deep, esoteric and difficult to understand. It consists of a number of visions which are more like dreams and they can, therefore, be interpreted in various ways. We cannot really be sure of the true interpretation until Moshiach will come. Rashi then comments that he will attempt to interpret as far as he can with the help of other interpretations and the translation of Targum Yonosan.

It, therefore, appears that one is free to interpret the visions oneself, bearing in mind חז''ל.

The time that Zachariah lived and prophesied in was towards the end of the exile of the 70 years, just before the second Bais Hamikdosh was built. The Haftorah commences with the words 'רני ושמחי בת ציון כי הנני בא ושכנתי בתוכך נאום ה
(Free translation) Rejoice and be happy daughters of Zion because I am coming and I will dwell among you, so says Hashem.

The beginning of the third chapter speaks about the Kohen Godol whose name was Yehoshua. The fourth chapter which is towards the end of the Haftorah speaks about a Menorah of gold. This would appear, at a first glance, to be the reason why this Haftorah is read on the Shabbos Chanukah, because of the nes of the oil and the lighting of our menorahs on Chanukah, and this is similar to the Menorah shown to Yehoshua the Kohen Godol.

I believe, however, that substantially the whole Haftorah can be explained as referring to the time of the Chashmonaim and the miracle of Chanukah.

Firstly, as I mentioned earlier on, the Haftorah itself starts with the words
'רני ושמחי בת ציון כי הנני בא ושכנתי בתוכך נאום ה
As translated above, this would refer to the Bais Hamikdosh which had been defiled by the Greeks and Hellenists and was rededicated by the Chashmonaim when they retook Jerusalem and the Bais Hamikdosh. At that time, there was a fresh השראת השכינה, The resting of Hashem’s Shechina on the Holy site. This, of course, caused great simcha and the oil carried on burning miraculously for eight days.

We say in Shemonei Esrai on Chanukah, concerning the actual happenings at that time,
חשמונאי ובניו בימי מתתיהו בן יוחנן כהן גדול,
In the days of Mattisyahu the son of Yochanon the High Priest and his children.
He was the first person who stood up and fought against the Greeks. In the same way, the Haftorah talks about Yehoshua Kohen Hagodol. It is interesting to note that יהושע means salvation. This was represented by Mattisyahu, who raised the flag of revolt which led to the eventual salvation and victory of the Chashmonaim.

Zachariah continues, והשטן עמד על ימינו לשטנו, (Free translation) the Satan stood on his right hand side to accuse him (Yehoshua). This hints at the Greeks who were intent on destroying Yiddishkeit, as we say in davening, להשכיחם תורתך וכ''ו-.

The next verse continues
ויאמר ה' אל השטן יגער ה' בך השטן ויגער ה' בך הבחר בירושלם הלא זה אוד מצל מאש.
And Hashem said to the Satan, May Hashem denounce you O Satan, May Hashem who chose Jerusalem denounce you. Indeed this man (Yehuda Hamaccabee, the son of Mattisyahu, who took over from him) is like a fire brand saved from a fire.

This obviously refers to the Greeks who defiled Yerushalayim and the Bais Hamikdosh and the children of Mattisyahu who recleansed it.

The prophet continues, ויהושע היה לבוש בגדים צואים and Yehoshua was dressed in dirty garments.

This refers to the fact that, instead of wearing the בגדי כהונה, the holy vestments, Mattisyahu and his children changed into warriors’ clothes in order to defeat the Greeks and their Hellenistic Jewish allies.

Zachariah carries on, telling people to remove these dirty garments from him, and says to Yehoshua,
העברתי מעליך עונך והלבש אתך מחלצות I have removed your sins from you and dressed you in clean attire. Implying that Yehuda Hamaccabee should not think that by killing these people, he was, in any way, defiling himself.

The verse continues וישימו הצניף הטהור על ראשו וילבשהו בגדים
And they (the angels) put a pure turban on his head and dressed him in clean clothes.

This, refers again to the donning of the בגדי כהונה, the vestments of the Kohen Godol and that it would continue in the next generations of Kohanim, the Chashmonaim.

The novi then admonishes as follows:
כה אמר ה' צבאו' אם בדרכי תלך ואם את משמרתי תשמר וכ''ו ונתתי לך מהלכים בין העמדים האלה

Hashem said, If you will go in My ways and safeguard My commandments, I will grant you “walking” among the angels who stand.

To understand these phrases, one needs to be aware that whereas an angel, once created, cannot elevate himself but is what is known as an “עומד”, always continuing on one spiritual level, a person can elevate himself in holiness and purity etc. and is therefore referred to as a הולך, going further. The implication is that the future generations of Chashmonaim would only succeed if they continued in a pure unadulterated Torah way.

Zachariah then continues,
שמע נא יהושע הכהן הגדול אתה ורעיך היושבים לפניך כי אנשי מופת המה
(Free translation) Listen now, Yehoshua, the Kohen Godol, you and your friends who are sitting before you, they are people of miracles.

This is referring not only to Mattisyahu as Kohen Godol but his five sons who all had miracles performed, both in war and then at the time that the Menorah was lit.

Zachariah continues, על אבן אחת שבעה עינים, there are seven eyes towards one stone.

This alludes to the fact that there was only enough oil to light the Menorah for one day and the miracle was that it continued to stay alight for a further seven days and could be see by all eyes.

The verse continues
ומשתי את עון הארץ ההיא ביום אחד וכ''ו and I will remove the sin of this land on one day.

This refers to immediately before Chanukah when the evil forces were defeated and the Jews could rest in peace.

The Haftorah then continues with the story of the golden Menorah which Yehoshua saw. This hardly needs any explanation but there are clear indications that this refers to the Menorah lit in the Bais Hamikdosh. Rashi explains that וגלה על ראשה means, and a bowl on the top (of the Menorah). This is obviously a hint to the פך שמן, the crucible of oil that was found and the verse continues regarding the seven lamps and seven ducts for the lamps, meaning that the oil lasted for an extra seven days.

The final words of the novi are to exhort לא בחיל ולא בכח כי אם ברוחי אמר ה' צבאו', Hashem said, Not through an army, and not with strength but through My spirit said Hashem, Master of the legions.

This obviously was a further warning to Mattisyahu and his children that once they had won the war against the Greeks, they should not think that it was anything to do with their own strength but they should, instead, concentrate on spiritual matters keeping Torah and mitzvos.

I believe that I have demonstrated how the whole of the Haftorah can be shown as full of allusions to the story of the Chashmonaim and Chanukah.

כ''ו כסלו תשס''ט

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CHANUKAH פך שמן – THE CRUCIBLE OF OIL

There is a Midrash that states that when Yaakov Avinu had the famous dream with the angels going up and down the ladder and he then woke up in the morning, the Torah tells us that he made the stone on which he slept into a מצבה, the Torah continues ויצק שמן על ראשה, He poured oil onto the top of it. The Midrash asks where did he have the oil from. It answers that this was sent to him “מן השמים” this was heavenly oil. Because Yaakov found the oil, unaccountably there, he realised that he was supposed to anoint the stone with oil. That way he would be able to recognise which particular stone it was and, therefore, to eventually, when he returned to that place, comply with his promise והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה יהיה בית אלקים And this stone which I have set aside as a testimony shall become the House of Hashem.

I heard a tape by Rabbi E Meisels where he quoted that Midrash and continued with the story of Yaakov being attacked overnight when the rest of the family had been transferred by him to the other side of the river יבק. The Torah says ויותר יעקב לבדו And Yaakov remained on his own. Rashi comments שכח פכים קטנים, He forgot the small vessels and Rabbi Meisels suggested that this in fact refers to the oil that had been found by Yaakov Avinu and which he had used to anoint that famous stone.

Rabbi Meisels then added that this was the very same פך של שמן, the crucible of oil, which was found almost 1400 years later when they were searching for oil with which to light the Menorah. This was the oil from which came the נס, miracle, of Chanukah.

It occurs to me that immediately after the Torah states ויותר יעקב לבדו, That Yaakov remained on his own and Rashi comments that he forgot the small vessels, the Torah then says ויאבק איש עמו, A man wrestled with him. Our Chazal tell us that this was the angel who looked after Eisav, שרו של עשו. Would it be too fanciful to suggest that because Yaakov “forgot” these vessels with the special oil in them, although the angel could not defeat Yaakov, nevertheless, he managed to touch כף ירכו, the socket of his hip. You will note that the word כף is exactly the same letters as פך but inverted.

The Gemorra says that the פך שמן was found בחותמו של כהן גדול, had on it the seal of the Kohen Godol. Before the Kohanim were appointed, the עבודה, service to Hashem was carried out by the בכורות, the firstborn.

In view of the fact that Yaakov had purchased the right of the בכורה from Eisav, and he was presented with this crucible of oil, מן השמים, it would be, I would suggest, possible to say that the בחותמו של כהן גדול mentioned by the Gemorra was, in fact, from Yaakov Avinu.

When the Bnei Yisroel fought לשם שמים, for the sake of heaven, at the time of the second Bais Hamikdosh and on 25th day of Kislev, they entered the Bais Hamikdosh, they found that very same פך, crucible of oil, and it was only fitting that this should be the oil that should be used. This is especially as Yaakov Avinu had said in his tefillo to Hashem והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה יהיה בית אלקים. It came back full circle to the original place where Yaakov had anointed the stone. Bearing all the above in mind, one can also understand how the oil burned miraculously for eight days.

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HALLEL ON CHANUKAH

Our Chochomim enacted that we should read the whole of Hallel every day of Chanukah to praise Hashem for all the miracles and salvations including those of Chanukah. But where is the נס of Chanukah hinted at in הלל.

If one takes the posek אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא, the first letters, ראשי תיבות, add up numerically to 66. This is exactly the numerical value of יון, Greece. It was מלכות יון, the Hellenistic Kingdom, that Dovid Hamelech saw in advance and he was pleading with Hashem that the Chashmonoim should have a ישועה, a salvation in their fight against Antiochus and his henchmen.

Furthermore, the ראשי תיבות, first letters, of the next phrase אנא יהו'' הצליחה נא, also equals 66 and also refers to יון, the Hellenists. This was to reinforce the fact that after they had achieved salvation, they should have further success, הצלחה.

We also say in the Hallel, הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, praise ה' because He is good, His kindness is forever. This is followed by further pesukim with the phrase כי לעולם חסדו repeated. The first letters of כי לעולם חסדו add up to 58 this is exactly the same as the ראשי תיבות, the first letters of, נר חנוכה, which also add up to 58, therefore, one has a further hint to Chanukah in Hallel, namely we praise Him for His kindness concerning the נס of Chanukah.

One can add, I think, that the famous son of Mattisyahu known as יהודה המכבי, is called so because before every battle, he used to rally his troops against far superior numbers and better equipped enemies with the rallying call of מי כמכה באלים יהו''. The first letters of that phrase are מכבי.

He was telling his faithful followers that in the same way as at the time of the קריעת ים סוף, there appeared to be no natural way for the Bnei Yisroel to escape the oncoming army of Pharoh. Nevertheless, Hashem made the miracle of splitting the sea and the Egyptians lost the battle and were drowned. Likewise, יהודה המכבי told his troops, Hashem will help us against all odds!! And so it was.

The letters מ כ ב י add up together to 72 and this, the Zohar Hakodosh (see also Rashi on a Mishnah in Succah מ''ה) tells us was the שם ע''ב, the name of Hashem as spelled out amounting numerically to 72. This, in turn, is taken from the three verses before the Shira which commence with the words ויסע ויט ויבא, the last words at the end of the third verse are ויבקעו המים, the waters split. 72 is also the gemmatria of חסד.

Please note that the second chapter of הלל speaks about קריעת ים סוף. Once again we have a connection between Hallel and Chanukah.

To return to Hallel, the verse before אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא is as follows זה היום עשה יהו'' נגילה ונשמחה בו, this is the day made by Hashem, let us be happy and rejoice in it.

Again this can refer to Chanukah.

The numerical value of the first letters of that posuk are 150.

The next verse continues אנא יהו'' הושיעה נא, the first letters together totalling 66. Added to the previous 150 mentioned just above, they total 216. That is exactly the complete numerical value of שם ע''ב which itself consists always of three letters one from each verse mentioned above (ויסע ויט ויבא) three times 72 equals 216.

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VAYISHLACH - THE MEETING BETWEEN YAAKOV AND EISAV

Yaakov Avinu had been forced to leave his parents home at the age of 63 after he had received the brochos from Yitzchok for which Eisav did not forgive him. In fact, the Torah tells us that Eisav hated Yaakov because of this and Yaakov then went into hiding for 14 years learning day and night in the Yeshiva of Eiver, the great grandson of Shem. He then made his way to Choron as instructed, but Elifaz, the son of Eisav, ambushed him and all the valuables that he had with him, given to him by his parents, were handed over as ransom for his life.

As the medrash tells us, Elifaz stated that he had been sent to kill Yaakov but Yaakov told him עני חשוב כמת a poor person is counted as dead.

Yaakov then spent 20 years with Lovon amassing a family and wealth.

On his way back to Eretz Yisroel, he was confronted by Lovon and successfully made a pact with his father-in-law.

As we are told by Rashi, quoting the medrash, Yaakov Avinu was still very apprehensive about this brother’s attitude to Yaakov. He, therefore, sent מלאכים ממש , namely angels who were with him, as mentioned right at the end of the sedra Vayeitzei, to find out whether Eisav had by now calmed down and whether his hatred had become diminished.

The sedra of Vayishlach commences with the story from that point onwards. We are told that the angels came back and reported to Yaakov that “We had come to your brother but he was still the same Eisav”, in a very nasty frame of mind. Not only that, but he is coming towards you and your family with 400 men. Yaakov Avinu was terribly afraid. He split his family and belongings into two separate camps and he prayed to Hashem. He also sent lots of presents to Eisav in the hope that this would satisfy him but he then had a further problem.

Overnight, after he had transferred his family and belongings to the other side of the small river יבק, Yabok, he was confronted by a man. Our חז''ל tell us that he was none less than the שרי של עשו, the angel who looked after and represented Eisav. Whilst it is true that Yaakov bested the angel, he, nevertheless, suffered a serious injury, ותקע כף ירך יעקב, and Yaakov’s hip became dislocated.

The next morning, before Yaakov could take precautions, when he was in a bad physical state, all of a sudden Eisav appeared. Yaakov tried to separate out the various wives and children into three separate groups and the stage was set for the two brothers to meet for the first time in 34 years.

Let us examine in detail what happened, Yaakov bowed down to the ground seven times when he reached Eisav. Eisav ran towards him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him and cried. He then proceeded to speak to Yaakov very civilly as the Torah continues to tell us.

Truly extraordinary!!

We are told only a day or two before this, that the malochim had reported back to Yaakov that Eisav was still in a terribly ugly mood and out for revenge. Surely the presents that Yaakov had given didn’t change the position so dramatically?

I think that the answer to the point raised lies in the fact that Yaakov bowed down to the ground seven times and got up again.

Remember Yaakov was limping badly, having a dislocated hip. I once asked my dear friend Dr A S Levy, whether it was possible for somebody with a dislocated hip to actually bow down flat onto the ground. After consideration, he said that he thought that it was possible. How about him then getting up onto his feet? I enquired. That would be a virtual impossibility unless he was an extremely strong person both physically and mentally, was the answer. I continued with my enquiries. To be able to do this seven times?, I asked. He just shook his head in disbelief.

I believe that the same thing happened when Eisav watched Yaakov coming towards him.

Eisav’s ethos was, כחי ועוצם ידי, my physical strength is what beings me all my greatness.

He watched in disbelief when his brother, תם ויושב אהלים, the simple man used to sitting in the houses of study suddenly turned out to be a very, very strong person physically. The one thing that Eisav respected was brute strength.

(The Torah revealed to us previously that Yaakov was very strong. This was when he removed the large stone from the well outside Choron. All the shepherds were needed each day to perform that task together. Yaakov did it himself with ease. Eisav, however, did not know about that incident.)

When he saw this display of strength and courage by Yaakov, Eisav’s resolve melted and he decided that discretion was the better part of valour. That is why, I would suggest, he ran towards Yaakov embraced him, kissed him and cried, because he was afraid that if he tried any strong arm tactics, he would be defeated.

No doubt, Yaakov’s tefillos to Hashem had a strong effect, but the crunch was seeing Yaakov bow down seven times and then him raise himself up without assistance.

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VEYEITZEI - THE NAMING OF THE AVOS

We find in this week’s sedra that when, at long last, Rochel gave birth to a son, the Torah tells us the following. ותקרא את שמו יוסף לאמר יסף ה' לי בן אחר She called his name Yosef, יוסף, saying, Hashem should add for me, יסף, another son. As a baal koreh, I immediately noticed that the first time the Yosef is spelt, it has in it a ו, יוסף, whereas the second time the ו is omitted. There must be a very good reason why, especially in the same verse, a word is spelt מלא, and then חסר.

In order to understand this, I think we have to go back to the first time we find a person is instructed to give his son a name in Torah. I am referring to Avrohom who was told to name his son Yitzchok, יצחק. Rashi explains that this was because of the merriment and happiness that Avrohom experienced when he learned that he was going to have a son, at long last, at the age of 100 with his beloved wife, Soroh, who would then be 90.

Rashi, furthermore, comments that each individual letter has a significance. The י refers to the 10 tests that Avrohom was put through. The צ refers to the 90 years of Soroh. The ח is an allusion to the 8 days of the bris mila. Finally, the ק is the 100 years, the age of Avrohom at that the time that Yitzchok was born/

Obviously, there is more depth in that name than just a simple explanation, as we can all see.

What occurred to me, was that the full gemmatria, numerical equivalent, of the name Yitzchok is 208 (י equals 10, צ is 90, ח is 8 and ק equals 100).

The significance of that figure is that it is exactly 8 times 26. 26 is the numerical value of י-ה-ו- ה. We have a rule that 7 is the apex of nature. Hashem created the world in 7 days, we have 7 in the case of shmitta etc. 8 refers to that which is למעלה מן הטבע higher than nature, supernatural.

As both Avrohom and Soroh were elderly and it was a miracle, למעלה מן הטבע, that they were blessed with a son. Not only were they blessed with a son, but one who was very holy. Therefore, his name, numerically 208, is 8 times 26 as mentioned above.

When Yitzchok had two sons, everybody called Eisav by his name, as the Torah states. In the case of Yaakov, Rashi comments that הקב''ה called him by that name. Yaakov equals 182 (י equals 10, ע is 70, ק is 100 and ב equals 2). This equals 7 times הוי'. Yaakov Avinu represented the maximum that a person could elevate himself naturally in this world. Our chochomim tell us that the beauty, שופרא, of Yaakov was similar to that of Odom Harishon. Namely, his spiritual level reached a similar level to that of Odom Harishon the prototype, ideal man created by Hashem, Himself.

At the beginning of Vayeishev, the Torah tells us אלה תלדות יעקב יוסף. The commentators tell us that the main son of Yaakov was Yosef who was on a higher level than the 11 שבטים, his brothers. If you calculate the gemmatria of יוסף, it adds up to 156 (י equals 10, ו equals 6, ס is 60 and פ is 80). This equates to 6 times 26.

We therefore see a pattern emerging. Yitzchok equals 8, Yaakov equals 7 and Yosef equals 6 times the שם הוי'.

As far as Avrohom is concerned, we all know that his father was Terach, who originally named his אברם, therefore his name does not fit into the pattern. Hashem gave him the extra ה in his name and by doing so the numerical value of אברהם equals 248 (א equals 1, ב equals 2, ר is 200, ה is 5 and מ equals 40). That, of course, is the same as the 248 limbs which a man possesses. It is also equal to the 248 positive mitzvos in the Torah. Avrohom positively elevated his whole being physical as well as spiritual to an indescribably high level.

Coming back to the original question I posed as to why in the one verse the name Yosef is spelt with a ו and then without, I believe that the answer is now apparent. The first time, it is spelt fully, as I have explained above, because it equals 6 times 26 and it is to convey the continuity of the holiness of the generations of our אבות. However, although Rochel was asking for another son, she knew that even though her son, eventually born, namely Benyomim, would be a Tzaddik, he could not be on the same level as Yosef. Therefore, the ו is omitted and the word is spelt יסף.

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VEYEITZEI

Yaakov Avinu wished to marry Rochel. His future father-in-law, Lovon, duped him into taking Leah first and the net result was that he ended up with both Rochel and Leah, as well as their handmaidens, Bilhah and Zilpah as wives.

He also had to agree to serve Lovon not just for seven years, as he had suggested for Rochel, but a further seven years as a sort of payment for dowry.

Not only that, there was a further six years that Yaakov worked very hard trying to build up his own flocks of sheep and capital.

As we find towards the end of the sedra, Yaakov himself declared that he hardly had any time to sleep as he was so busy looking after Lovon’s sheep etc.

Children born to Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah came very quickly indeed and in the space of only six or seven years, Yaakov had, in fact twelve children including one daughter, Dina, and Yosef was finally born to Rochel after much trial and tribulation.

One interesting fact that I have not seen discussed, is that the children’s names were give by the two main wives of Yaakov, namely Leah and Rochel. Why did not Yaakov give them names at all, at least of some of them?

The only time we find that Yaakov himself gave a name, was when the family finally returned to Eretz Yisroel and Rochel was expecting her second son, and she had great difficulties. Just before she died, she named him בן אוני, the son of my anguish. Yaakov then renamed him בנימין.

Why was it that the two אמהות named the children.

I believe that the answer lies in the whole set up of the family relationship and Lovon being the father-in-law. Yaakov had a major problem with regard to the chinuch of his children. He was preoccupied day and night and could not give them very much attention. It is true that Rochel and Leah were both צדקניות, very righteous people and also נביאות but even so, they were in the same town as Lovon and the whole atmosphere of Aram Naharaim was not conducive to bringing up children in the way that Yaakov had, himself, been brought up in the home of Yitzchok and Rivka, and Avrohom as well. It was going to have to be the ladies who were going to take the whole brunt of bringing up the children correctly. In order to give them even more incentive to care for each child, to ensure that they adhered to the correct path, Yaakov gave them the task and pleasure of naming the children one by one. This, no doubt, gave them even more reason to look after each child very carefully and deal with the responsibility in a very mature manner.

The one exception to the rule was in the case of Levi, where, although Leah had said, הפעם ילוה אישי אלי, “this time my husband will accompany me more”. The verse continues על כן קרא שמו לוי. It does not say that she called him לוי but that He called him לוי. Rashi quotes our Chazal that Hashem sent the Malach Gavriel to bring him before Hashem and He called him that name.

Why was it that just in this case, Leah did not give the actual name.

May I suggest that this was because after having named both ראובן and שמעון in each case mentioning the name of Hashem, in the case of לוי she did not mention Hashem at all. In order that לוי should have that extra spiritual level, Hashem himself gave the name and, therefore, as Rashi adds, Hashem gave him the 24 special מתנות כהונה, special presents which a Kohen receives.

In respect of the fourth son, born shortly afterwards, namely יהודה, Leah reverted to mentioning Hashem, הפעם אודה את יהו' , this time I will thank Hashem. Because she actually did this, rather than just mentioning Hashem having seen her affliction, in the case of ראובן and seen that she was “hated” in the case of שמעון. In the case of יהודה, she thanked Hashem. Because of this positive thanking, one can understand why the eventual Malchus, the kingship of all of Israel comes from the tribe of יהודה. It is particularly epitomised by Dovid Hamelech.

Turning to the youngest son, בנימין, whom I mentioned above, we know that prophecy only comes through simcha. Obviously, in the case of Rochel when she was in death throes and gave the name בן אוני, this was not with prophecy. Therefore, Yaakov named his son בנימין. Rashi explains that this means the son who was born in the south of Eretz Yisroel or alternatively, who was born in Yaakov’s old age. The Ramban suggests that “the son of my strength” is a sensible explanation of the name.

At that time, Yaakov had no further bad influences such as Lovon and Aram Naharaim to worry about as he was already in Eretz Yisroel and on the way back to his father’s house. He, therefore, himself named his youngest son with the name by which he is still known to this day.

When the Bais Hamikdosh was erected the greater portion of this was in the land of tribe of יהודה. This obviously went with the malchus.

However, the holiest part, the מזבח and קודש קדשים were built on the land of בנימין. I would suggest that this was not only because בנימין was the one child who was born in Eretz Yisroel, furthermore, he was the one son who had not bowed down to Eisav but in addition to this, his name was given by his father Yaakov. Yaakov had a famous dream mentioned at the beginning of the sedra and he laid down on the stones which appear to have been of that very place, namely the Holiest part of the Bais Hamikdosh the קודש קדשים or alternatively the מזבח. In any event, it is fitting that as he, himself, given the name to his youngest son, that son’s portion in Eretz Yisroel should be the one designated for the מזבח and the קודש קדשים.


PLEASE ALSO READ MY EARLIER POST ON THIS BLOG "YAAKOV'S SHEEP"

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אותיות משונות בתורה

UNUSUAL LETTERS ETC. IN TORAH
(AND AN EXPLANATION ON פרשת תולדות)

We are all aware that a Sefer Torah is written with every letter in a special shape. This is in accordance with the tradition handed down to משה רבנו when he received the Torah and reiterated by Ezra, the famous leader of the Bnei Yisroel at the commencement of Second Temple. Some letters have on them what are called Tagim. These are either crowns or small lines written above certain letters. All this also in accordance with the original tradition received by משה רבנו.


Many people know that there are certain letters that are traditionally written in Torah enlarged, for example, the ב of בראשית. There are also letters for which we have a tradition, קבלה, also handed down from משה רבנו, that they are written small, for example the א of ויקרא. Less well known is the fact that there are occasional letters which have dots above them. For example, when the angels came to Avrohom and asked “Where is Soroh?” the posek tells us ויאמרו אליו “And they said to him” on the three letters א י ו of אליו there is a dot above in each case. Rashi quotes our חז''ל that they also asked Soroh where Avrohom was.

In each case that there are these “abnormalities” we find explanations given and numerous דרשות.

What is less known is that there is a קבלה, a tradition, that in certain places in Torah letters are written not in the normal manner but in a special type of way.

I reproduce hereunder a page from the Machzor Vitri written by Rebbenu Simcha a pupil of Rashi (following page 799 in the Nuremburg print of תרפ''ג).

In addition the Meiri wrote a sefer, קרית ספר, which also quotes traditions of these unusual letters and different Taggim in certain places in Torah.

The Rambam, in the 7th chapter of the laws of mezuzah, 5th halocho, states as follows,ויזהר באותיות הגדולות ובאותיות קטנות ובאותיות הנקודות ואותיות משונות כגון הפאי''ן הלפופות והאותיות העקומות כמו שהעתיקו הסופרים איש מפי איש ויזהר בתגין וכו'.
(Free translation) “A Sofer when writing a Sefer Torah should take care with writing correctly the larger letters, the smaller letters, letters with dots, unusual letters for example the פ which has a small פ inside and twisted letters as the scribes received a tradition, generation by generation, and he should also be careful with all the Tagim etc.”

The Rabbenu Bechai, one of the early commentators on Torah (lived approximately 750 years ago in Spain) at the end of Noach, on the last word of the sedra that is, חרן, which Rashi says has a הפוכה נון turned round, also discussed these “abnormalities”. Rabbenu Bechai states as follows הנה זה משלימות התורה ומן הרמזים הצפונים באותיותיה כי על כן באו בתורה אותיות הפוכות ותלויות וכן עקומות ולפופות וכן גדולות וקטנות וכן מנומרות ומנוקדות יתגלו מתוכם חמשים שערי בינה שנגלו למשה. (Free translation) “This is part of the completeness of Torah and of the allusions, Ramozim, hidden in its letters. Because of this, in Torah, we have letters which are written “inverted”, sometimes hanging above or below line, written at some unusual angle, small letters inside large, large and small and other unusual shapes. From these can be revealed the 50 gates of understanding which were revealed to Moshe Rabbenu.”

I have also had the privilege of seeing a very old hand written Tikun called the Tittled Bible which the then Sephardi Chacham Gaster published some 80 years ago which has numerous such letters and Tagim and is now in the British Museum.

The last Sifrei Torah which appear to have been written with such traditions incorporated, were in Moravia, the Czech Republic until approximately 250 years ago and I have seen two such Sifrei Torah owned by my dear friend Dr M N Rosenfeld נ''י

A study of these letters is, indeed, fascinating and there is a whole section in the monumental and encyclopaedic production by Rabbi Mendel Kasher known as תורה שלימה where before Tazria a volume in excess of 200 page was produced by him. This includes background into the precise tradition and also shows numerous letters going through the whole א-ב as gleaned not only from the sources I have mentioned above but also some Yemenite old texts etc. I show below a few of the letters so that one can, at least, get a flavour of what is being discussed.

Let us now turn to the sedra תולדות and the first few verses. Yitzchok and Rivka had not had children, they had been married for 20 years. They then prayed very hard to Hashem and were blessed with Rivka expecting twins. The posek continues,ויתרצצו הבנים בקרבה and Rashi says as follows,
על כרחך המקרא הזה אומר דרשוני שסתם מה היא רציצה זו, וכתב אם כן למה זה אנכי
“I am forced to explain this verse by a way of drash (not peshat) because what the jostling between the children was about has to be explained and why did Rivka say “למה זה אנכי” “What am I here for” Then Rashi goes on to comment that our Rabbis explain that this ריצה, jostling or running was, that when Rivka went by the Yeshiva of Shem and Eiver, Yaakov tried to get out. When she went past an עבודה זרה, place of idol worship, Eisav tried to get out. One has to understand what causes Rashi to make such comments. After all, every baby in the womb moved around and if there are twins, there is even more movement. Secondly what does Rashi mean by the words, וכתב אם כן למה זה אנכי.

Thirdly, Rashi changes things from the wording in the medrash quoted by him. Whilst Rashi says that Yaakov tried to go out, the medrash only says that Eisav tried to run out from his mother’s womb (Yaakov is not mentioned).

One can also ask why was it that such a Tzaddik and Tzaddaikes as Yitzchok and Rivka should have a son like Eisav.

In order to understand this, it is very instructive to know that on the word ויתרצצו there are three letters which are “unusual”. The י and צ and the second צ are all written in an unusual manner. This is mentioned in the Machzor Vitri and no doubt, if Rabbenu Simcha who was a pupil of Rashi knew about it, his teacher, Rashi, also had the same קבלה, tradition. Therefore, one can understand why Rashi starts off by saying that this verse has to be interpreted by way of drash because he knew that letters were written in a special manner and had some hidden significance. In order to explain this, Rashi, therefore, had to go into depth.

One further letter in the next phrase, that is the מ of למה זה אנכי is also written in an unusual manner. Therefore, I think that is why Rashi quotes the few words וכתב אם כן למה זה אנכי , to explain with it what the medrash tells us, namely that Rivka thought that she was expecting one child. She was very worried that that child apparently wanted to get out both when passing a Yeshiva as well as when passing an Avoda Zorah and Rivka was, therefore, saying “why did I have to ask for a child in such circumstances, if I am going to have such a son”.

Turning to why Rashi changed the quote from that of the medrash by not only saying that Eisav tried to רץ, jump out, but also Yaakov tried to jump out, can perhaps be understood by a comment of the Maharal on that posek. He queries as why was it that Eisav tried to go out. We know from a Gomorra in Niddah that the Yetzer Horah does not come to a person until the day of birth. The Maharal answers, that it is true the Yetzer Hora does not try to ensnare the person until actual birth takes place, but the nature of the person is already determined beforehand and, therefore, Eisav wanted to go to that which attracted him, namely Avoda Zorah. In the same way Yaakov was attracted, due to his latent nature, to the Torah.

But the Gomorra also quotes in the same place in Niddah, that, before a child is born, an angel comes and learns with the foetus. No doubt, this happened to Yaakov and Eisav. However, Eisav refused, whereas Yaakov accepted it with love and willingly. That is why Rashi adds that Yaakov wanted to jump out because he wanted to sit in the yeshiva and learn, not just have an angel learning with him.

I mentioned above that the י and צ and the second צ of ויתרצצו are written in an unusual manner. May I suggest that these letters were particularly highlighted because they are also in the name of Yitzchok, יצחק. The י is the first letter and the צ can be explained in two ways. When Avrohom heard that he was going to have a son the Torah says ויצחק and he laughed, and Rashi explained because of his great joy he was smiling and full of laughter, but he believed what he had been told. However, when Soroh heard, it also says ותצחק שרה Soroh laughed but hers was a laugh of disbelief. Could one perhaps explain the allusion here as being that the two different reactions and the צ in each case led to two children, one who believed, namely Yaakov and one who made fun, Eisav. (The root of the word is צחק, which commences with a צ).

In any event, the point I am trying to make is that our Torah is much deeper than appears on the surface and the, almost forgotten, use of these special and unusual letters needs to be looked into, explained and highlighted.

I hope that in the future from time to time I will be able to throw light on other such “anomalies” בע''ה.

ר''ח כסלו תשס''ט

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טעמי המקרא - שלשלת

At the same time as Moshe Rabbenu was given the Torah by Hashem, he was not only given the actual words to write down, but the vowels, the way to pronounce words, were given to him at the same time, for example, when to use a קמץ, חיריק, חולם etc. Also at the same time, he was given the טעמי המקרא, the cantillations, trop, the notes to be sung on each word.

You will note that these are called טעמי המקרא, they are not just fanciful musical accompaniments they are, in fact, deeper hints and guidance to understanding some further depth in Torah which does not appear by just reading the words even with the vowels.

There are two types of טעמי המקרא. They are known as מלכים and משרתים, kings and servants.

Basically, a servant is a note or series of notes leading to a final note, where there is then a distinct pause. The final note is known as a מלך, melech, a king.

There are a number of these notes known as melech but the greatest one is the שלשלת, the “King of Kings”.

The note only appears a few times in the whole of Torah and its significance is, therefore, even greater.

I would like to go through the various places that a שלשלת is found and discuss the matter in some depth.

The first time we come across a שלשלת is in the sedra וירא. Lot was told to get out of Sedom fast, in order that he should not be destroyed with Sedom. The Torah continues, ויתמהמה, and he tarried. On that word there is a שלשלת.

In order to understand why there is this “King of Kings” special note at this juncture, let us go back a little while. Avrohom Avinu was told to leave his homeland and go, in fact, to the land of Canaan, and Lot joined him. When they arrived, there was immediately a famine and they went down to Egypt. They were very poor at that time. Avrohom Avinu had to borrow money to keep going.

When they came out of Egypt three months later, not only Avrohom was rich but Lot also. We then see that Avrohom on his way back, as Rashi states, פרע הקפותיו, paid up his debts. Avrohom was not affected by the sudden wealth he received, he ruled his money and not his money ruling him.

Lot, however, did not have the same attitude. Immediately afterwards we find that his shepherds were involved in a squabble with Avrohom’s shepherds. Rashi tells us that Lot’s shepherds were feeding from the pastures of individual people and when Avrohom’s shepherds objected, the rejoinder was, “Well Avrohom has no children and, therefore, Lot will, in due course, inherit his lands and these lands have been promised to Avrohom. Therefore we are doing no wrong.”

Very bad thinking. Obviously, this was coming from Lot himself. Not only had he acquired wealth, he wanted to acquire even more wealth in whatever manner he could, not caring too much about the means. Avrohom said to Lot “We must part company even though we will remain brothers.” What did Lot do? Instead of making up with Avrohom, promising to improve and that his shepherds would not do this in future, he looked out at the best part of the land, namely Sedom and its environs (now the site of the Dead Sea) and decided that that was the place for him to live.

The Gomorra in Sanhedrin ק''ט and in particular, in even more detail, in the Sefer Hayosher, a famous medrash sefer, goes into great details as to how beautiful and lush that particular part of the country was. Because of this, the effect on the citizens was that they became very miserly and did not want anybody to share their good fortune. They passed draconian laws to stop people even passing through their land.

This was the place that Lot wanted to go and live and he did go there. His character was flawed and his eagerness for the good life and luxury, leading to his latent bad middos being brought forth at full blast, was the consequence.

He was once taken away from Sedom by the four kings who rampaged through the area. Avrohom chased the four kings and released him, but Lot went back to Sedom. He could not keep away from the fleshpots of luxury together with the licentiousness.

When finally, the angels came to save him, in the merit of Avrohom, despite the fact that he was told that if he did not leave, he would be destroyed together with the inhabitants and everything else in Sedom. ויתמהמה, he tarried. The שלשלת is a treble note as the word שלשלת implies because it comes from the root of שלש, three. He Tarried, and Tarried and Tarried and the angels had to turn themselves into men and take himself and his wife and daughters by the hand to physically eject them from Sedom.

We can see the importance of the שלשלת.

This was not only a lesson for what happened in the past, history repeats itself. Nowadays, we are in the midst of a major world financial upheaval. The monies which have been made over the past years, one could almost say the obscene monies made over the past years by fair means and foul have unfortunately, in many case, led to people doing almost anything in order to increase their wealth. The money, unfortunately, has been ruling the person and the chickens have now come home to roost, as is well known.

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Turning to the next שלשלת we find, it appears in חיי שרה. Eliezer had just reached ארם נהרים having been sent to look for a shidduch for Yitzchok, and he tethered the camels and then he prayed to Hashem for success. On the word ויאמר there is a שלשלת.

Once again the background leading up to this is very important. Avrohom and Soroh were fortunate enough, after many years of not having children to, at the age of 100 and 90 respectively, to have a son called Yitzchok. When Yitzchok was 37 years of age, the story of the עקידה took place and Soroh died. Subsequently, Avrohom thought to himself that he must look round for a suitable wife for his son as a matter of urgency.

This was a major problem because of various factors. Avrohom was, of course, known as the standard bearer of the new revolution proclaiming that there was a one and only Hashem in the world. People had got used to him and he was even known as אב המון גוים, father of all the nations. He and his wife were known as people of great kindness, אנשי חסד.

Yitzchok, however, concentrated on serving Hashem in a different way, namely with fear of heaven and strength of purpose. There were no compromises, no easy way. He was very strict on himself.

Furthermore, he had to stay in our Holy Land and, in fact, never went out of it for all his life.

Eliezer was faced with three major problems. He had to look for a wife who was suitable for such a person as Yitzchok and also the prospective Choson would not come to visit her or her family and Eliezer realised that in order to create a good marriage, the wife for Yitzchok had to be somebody with utmost kindness, similar to Avrohom and Soroh. He, therefore, started off his plea to Hashem to show him a girl who would fit this task and also belong to the family of Avrohom and so they would be able to continue the dynasty commenced by Avrohom and Soroh.

The Torah emphasises the Tefilla of Eliezer, with the שלשלת on ויאמר.

He was, of course, successful as we all know.

This is also a lesson relevant to shidduchim in our times. People have been known to arrange marriages with an eye on the יחוס of the family, the wealth and prestige and what the world will say, etc.

My Rebbe, the Bais Yisroel, used to quote the verse כי יקח איש אשה חדשה נקי יהיה, When a man takes a new wife he should be נקי, which is normally translated as free or unencumbered. However, if one looks at the three letters, a נ has a numerical value of 50, a ק has a numerical value of 100 and י is 10. The hint, that the Bais Yisroel used to quote, I believe in the name of his father, the Imrei Emess, was how to approach a shidduch. People usually look for three things, first there is the נדן, dowry represented by the letter נ. If only 50% of the figure originally floated is actually forthcoming, be satisfied.

ק represents קרן, the prospective Choson or Kallah themselves. This has to be 100%, it is the most important part of a shidduch.

י represents the יחוס, if this is only 10% of that which is mentioned, that is enough.

The most important thing in a shidduch is that the boy and girl should be of first class quality. They should be compatible and be able to live together happily and bring up future generations in the correct manner. The rest is bonus.

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The next time we find a שלשלת is in וישב. Yosef had been purchased by Potiphar, one of Pharoh’s ministers and he became his “head of the household”. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him and Yosef refused. ויאמן (“He refused”) has a שלשלת, once again a three fold note, No, No, No.

If we look at the background of the whole story, we will see how great this act was.

Yaakov finally had a son by his beloved wife Rochel. Yosef grew up to be a special lad, the apple of his father’s eye. At the age of 17 he was suddenly torn away from all this and sold by his brothers and eventually was sold to Potiphar a minister of Pharoh in Egypt. Yosef had gone from a household of righteousness, of Yaakov as well as Yitzchok who was still alive and the great matriarchs, into a degenerate society in Egypt. He was depressed and broken. He could easily have been influenced the wrong way and have done the wrong thing. The Chochomim tell us אין אפוטרפוס לעריות

As our Chazal tell us, Yosef saw the face of his holy father and had the strength of character not to be influenced. He emphatically said “No” whatever the consequences. And there were consequences. We all know that he ended up in prison for many years, but the end of the story was that he came out of prison and became the second in command in Egypt and eased the path of Yaakov and his children and the Bnei Yisroel in their going down to Egypt.

Not for nothing, is there a שלשלת at ויאמן.

Today, this is also very relevant to ourselves.

We live in a society where media in general, and the internet in particular, are trying to seduce many people, righteous, naïve etc. with very attractive filth. We must have the strength of character to say “No, No, No”.

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The final שלשלת is in פרשת צו. Once again the background here is very important. Aaron and his sons had been appointed to be Kohanim and the Torah tells us the procedure that was carried out to complete the investiture. After they had put on special clothes and in particular Aaron with the eight special vestments, the Torah continues with the korbonos, the sacrifices which were specially brought all on the 1st day of Nissan, the day the Mishkon was consecrated. The final sacrifice was the איל המלאים, the inauguration ram. Then, Moshe having carried out the final acts that Hashem commanded to do to Aaron, he became the Kohen Godol. On the word וישחט, “he slaughtered” (the איל המלאים) there is a שלשלת. This is because it was the culmination of the investiture of Aaron as Kohen Godol and his children as Kohanim.

This was a great event at the time because it was in the merit of Aaron that the Shechina came down and dwelt in the Mishkon. Aaron blessed the Bnei Yisroel and it was the inauguration of a new way of life for the Bnei Yisroel which has continued ever since.

Once again, it was not just for that particular time, it was for all generations including ours.

Furthermore, the word שלשלת nowadays is applied to a family tree, in the same way as the Kohanim have a separate family tree.

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You may have noted that all the four places mentioned above are leyned in the winter months (צו is actually read before פסח). This is a רמז, hint, to us that even when things look dark, one can overcome difficulties בס''ד.

As one can see the use of a שלשלת highlights very important matters that are not to be glossed over.

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AVROHOM AND SEDOM

Over the weekend whilst reviewing the sedra וירא, I was struck by a thought; ה' revealed to Avrohom that he was about to destroy, or at least, severely punish Sedom and its satellite towns because they were so evil.

Avrohom, who felt responsibility for the whole world, (after all, ה' had named him אברהם, אב המון גוים, father of a multitude of nations) felt the need to spring to their defence. We all know that Avrohom’s middoh was חסד, kindness, and he marshalled all the arguments he could find, חלילה לך You will surely not destroy a Tzaddik together with a Rosha etc. We all know how Avrohom commences with 50 Tzaddikim to save the five towns, he goes down to 45, 40, 30, 20 and finally 10 in the hope that at least one of the five cities will be saved, ה' assures him that if he could find these ten righteous people, He would indeed save them and all the city in their merit.

The posek then continues, אברהם שב למקומו, Avrohom returned to his previous place. The result was that the angels went to Sedom and destroyed all the cities and the surrounding area.

My question was, Why did not Avrohom take matters further, why did he not, instead of going back to a “place where he had been”, proceed to Sedom and try to persuade the populace that they should repent and improve their deeds, to do תשובה? After all, Avrohom had been trying to get people to improve for many years.

We find the classic example of the prophet Jonah. He was very reluctant to go to Nineveh but when he finally did go and announced that ה' was going to destroy the town in 40 days, the populace did repent and ה' relented. Why did not Avrohom do this?

I can think of reasons why and I will outline below further my thoughts on the matter, but what intrigues me most of all is that when I went to the Classic commentators (מפרשים) and for that matter, numerous other ones, I could not find anybody who touched on the question.

I found that the Zohar Hakodesh compares Noach, Avrohom and Moshe as follows. Noach, when told that the rest of the world was going to be destroyed did not pray and intercede on their behalf. Avrohom, when told what was going to happen to Sedom did intercede but stopped after he could not persuade ה'. Moshe, when praying for the Bnei Yisroel after the incident of the golden calf, not only prayed but stated that if ה' would not forgive them, מחני נא מספרך, blot me out from your Holy Book, and indeed ה' said סלחתי כדברך, I forgive them as you requested.

Furthermore, the Zohar also states that Avrohom must have been rather fool hardy, in that when he learned that Lot had been captured by the four kings, and taken away by them, he chased after them and in the middle of the night attacked them and recaptured Lot, as well as all the booty which had been stolen from the king of Sedom etc. However, as the Zohar tells us there, he was intent on trying to save Lot as he had undertaken to always come to his aid, after they had decided to part ways.

We know that Avrohom was no coward and had been in difficult situations from which ה' had saved him. These included אור כשדים the burning furnace into which he was thrown and miraculously was saved. The incident in Egypt when Pharoh took Soroh and she was returned to him. The story just mentioned above about the recapture of Lot. The further story with Avimelech and Soroh etc.

Avrohom knew that ה' stood with him at all times.

Why did he not go the one step further and go to Sedom, as I queried above?

You might very well ask why was it that he even prayed for the people of Sedom. I believe that that lies in the words mentioned to him by ה', ארדה נא ואראה please let me go down and see. The word נא, “please” is strange, as if somebody could stop ה'!! If we compare this with the story after the golden calf, where ה' said to Moshe הרף ממני stop troubling me. From this Moshe deduced that ה' expected him, Moshe, to intervene and intercede on behalf of the Bnei Yisroel. I think here also, Avrohom deduced that the נא was a plea, almost an invitation, by ה' that Avrohom had the right and power to intercede on behalf of the people of Sedom which he did. One might also object to my question and comparison with Nineveh, on the basis that Yonah was actually told to go and tell the king and people of Nineveh what was going to happen if they did not repent, whereas ה' had not told Avrohom this. However, Avrohom was not told that he should not go to Sedom. At least I can’t find anywhere that it says so.

I find it all very puzzling.

Perhaps somebody can help me out and, first let me know of at least one of the מפרשים, commentators, who actually asks the question. I would, then, of course, be delighted if there were any possible answers given.

Let me suggest a possible reason why Avrohom did not go into Sedom.

The Gomorra tells us in Sanhedrin ק''ט how wicked the people of Sedom were and gives various examples. One of them was concerning Eliezer the servant of Avrohom who once went to Sedom, was hit with a stone by a man and blood came out. That man then had the effrontery to demand money for having made הקזה, bloodletting. When Eliezer objected and was hauled before the magistrate, the magistrate confirmed the payment was due. Eliezer then took a stone himself and hit the judge on his face, so that blood ran there and remarked to the judge “You now go and settle the bloodletting money with the person who hit me” and Eliezer left Sedom.

This story and various other incidents are related in greater detail in the ספר הישר.

I believe that Avrohom would have heard about this story. After all, his chief of staff turned up looking very bruised, Avrohom decided that one does not go into a lion’s den even with the best intentions. Even if your name is Avrohom whom the people of the world accept as a righteous man and look up to. When it came to their own patch of land, the people of Sedom and the surrounding towns passed such draconian, beastly laws and carried out such horrible punishments on wayfarers that they would not only not listen to him, Avrohom, but were likely to not let him get out alive.

In all the other cases mentioned above, the ingredients were not the same. When Avrohom was thrown into the furnace by Nimrod, he could not defend himself and he was given no option. When he went to Egypt, he sidestepped problems by saying that his wife was his sister and felt that this would save him from being killed.

Likewise, when he went to Gerar and Avimelech took Soroh.

Even when he went to fight the kings in order to snatch back Lot, this was done on neutral ground, in the middle of the night, by surprise attack. It would have been completely different if he would have turned up in Sedom and been surrounded by the populace.

No doubt, the evil, כח הטומאה in Sedom also acted as a further deterrent.

To demonstrate how bad, thick and callous the people of Sedom were, let us look at what happened when the angels arrived. They went to Lot’s house and the house was surrounded by the whole populace. The angels ensured that everybody suddenly turned blind and, therefore, could not harm the inhabitants of the house. Nevertheless, when Lot went to speak to his sons-in-law and daughters to try and save them, they just laughed at him. The fact that there had been this great miracle and that they, among other people, had all gone blind a few hours before, had no effect at all on their behaviour.

As I have said at the beginning I was struck by this question out of the blue and am still groping for an adequate answer as well as, of course, somebody who could point to a commentator, anyone of the מפרשים who discusses this matter.

כ מרחשון תשס''ט

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CHAYA SOROH

This week’s sedra commences with the death of Soroh and then goes into detail concerning the purchase of the Meoras Hamachpela, the cave within a cave in the town of Chevron which Avrohom Avinu purchased with great political skill as well as at considerable cost. As usual I have a few questions on the subject.

Firstly, what was Soroh doing in Kiryas Arba, Chevron?

According to the medrash, Avrohom Avinu was in Be’er Sheva before the famous story of the Akeidah and, after the Akeidah, returned there. We know that the medrash mentioned by Rashi at the beginning of the sedra tells us, that because the Soton informed her about the happenings at the Akeidah, and that Yitzchok almost died, that her soul left her body. Why was Soroh not in Be’er Sheva?

The second question is, “This all took a considerable time after the Akeidah.” Avrohom had to return from Yerushalyim to Be’er Sheva which obviously took him approximately three days because it states clearly when he was going to the Akeidah that on the third day he saw the place he was supposed to be going to, namely Har Hamoriah. So if it took him a further two or three days to get back, and then he learned that she had died, he had to once again to go back to Chevron from Be’er Sheva, about a day’s journey and then he again had to negotiate with Efron and the Bnei Chais. This all took approximately five days. My question is why didn’t Avrohom hurry the burial instead of carrying on delicate negotiations, with first of all the Bnei Chais and then Efron and finally purchasing the field and its cave.

My third question is, that at the end of the first Parsha, it says ואחרי כן , after this Avrohom buried Soroh in the Meoras Hamachpelah. Rashi comments earlier in פרשת לך לך that that wherever the expression אחר is used it means immediately afterwards, whereas אחרי means sometime afterwards. This, of course, reinforces my question as to why Avrohom tarried so long in burying Soroh after he had finally achieved that which he set out to do, namely, purchase the Meoras Hamachpelah. I would have thought that he would have immediately hurried to bury his dear beloved wife?

We must also remember that at that time, there was no such thing as refrigerated mortuaries and leaving a dead body decaying for five days would be a major consideration.

If we look at the detailed negotiations, which took place, we can see the manoeuvring between Avrohom and the Bnei Chais and afterwards with Efron, who tried to make out, that he, like the rest of Bnei Chais, were very nice people and wanted to give Avrohom a free burial plot but, in fact, he was after a lot of money. We can also see that Avrohom was not happy to accept any gift and wanted to pay the full price, a very full price for the cave.

Altogether a very puzzling set of circumstances.

I believe that in order to understand matters more clearly, one has to go back in time. We find that when Avrohom performed the bris mila on himself, Hashem came to visit him and then all of a sudden three people, who turned out to be the angels Michoel, Gavriel and Rofoel, also turned up and he offered them food and drink. The Torah then tells us, ואל הבקר רץ אברהם , Avrohom ran to the herd of cattle and Rashi explains that he wished to slaughter three animals in order to give each of his guests a tongue, which was obviously a great delicacy.

The medrash tells us that the particular animal he was aiming for, ran away from him and he pursued it until it came to a cave and it disappeared inside. When he followed it, he saw a great light and eventually realised that buried there were Odom and Chava. He also realised that there was a good reason why he was being shown this. This was in fact the Meoras Hamachpela.

You will all remember that one explanation why this is called Meoras Hamachpela, a double cave, is because there were four pairs of husband and wife buried there eventually, Odom and Chava, Avrohom and Soroh, Yitzchok and Rivka, and Yaakov and Leah.

No doubt, Avrohom did not tell anybody about this, except, of course, for his wife Soroh, and possibly Yitzchok.

They, therefore, knew the importance and holiness of that particular place and Avrohom would surely have reasoned that he was shown this in order that he should, likewise, arrange for this to be his family burial site.

However, there were a number of major problems. Avrohom and Soroh lived in Be’er Sheva and not Chevron. If Avrohom would have turned up in Chevron and asked to buy this particular site, people would have asked questions and, no doubt, there would have been a major investigation and very likely the fact that Odom and Chava were buried there would have been discovered. Remember that the Bnei Chais were also descendants of Odom Harishon and there had only been twenty generations from Odom. Furthermore, Odom had only died about one thousand years before. Everybody would have wanted to be buried there and nobody would have contemplated selling this cave to Avrohom Avinu at any price.

We also find that Soroh was a nevia, a prophetess. When she discovered that Yishmoel as a boy was trying to influence Yitzchok in a bad manner, she suggested to Avrohom that he should send Yishmoel away. Avrohom was very upset but Hashem said to him כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה , whatever Soroh tells you, you listen to her. Rashi explains, listen to the prophetic voice coming from inside her.

What I suggest happened is, that when Avrohom went off with Yitzchok to the Akeidah, Soroh felt impelled to journey to Chevron from Be’er Sheva. She had a sort of prophetic vision, that Chevron was where she was supposed to be, and therefore, when the Soton came and told her that Yitzchok had almost been killed, she died of fright in Chevron.

When Avrohom found out about this, it made his task that much easier as far as acquiring the Meoras Hamachpela. He came to Chevron to, as the possek tells us, לספוד לשרה ולבכותה to eulogise her and to cry over her and obviously it would make sense that he would then look around to bury her there and not transport her back to Be’er Sheva.

Nevertheless, he had to be careful not to appear too anxious to acquire a particular plot. Therefore, he spoke to the leaders of the Bnei Chais and just asked them in general terms, “Please give me a burial site which should be the family burial site, so that I should be able to bury my wife there”. They replied “Of course we will agree to this, nobody will deny you the right to bury your wife, whichever place you choose.” At that time, he asked them (he did not ask Efron yet) “Listen to me and please I implore you speak to Efron Ben Tzochar, and he should give me the Meoras Hamachpela. It is only at the end of his field, it is not at the middle of the field, so it will not affect him and I will pay for it, I don’t want any gifts”

As the medrash tells us, they elevated Efron, who was not one of their leaders, right into their main tribal council and he answered Avrohom and said “I don’t need any money, please take the field as well as the cave” etc. Avrohom made sure that the whole of the Bnei Chais who lived in Chevron stayed on board because he bowed down to all of them before speaking to Efron and then went into detailed negotiations. This resulted in Efron finally stating a price, four hundred talents of silver. We are told that Avrohom did not just give him four hundred normal ones, but four hundred top, top quality ones worth considerably more, apparently worth 100 times as much. The deal was done.

So, we have a done deal, signed and sealed by Efron in the presence of all his city and witnessed, so there should be (apparently) no doubt, regarding the matter and no turning back. The field and the cave were acquired by Avrohom.

We then have this strange verse which I mentioned above, at my third question. Possek Yud Tes, starts off ואחרי כן קבר אברהם את שרה אשתו Avrohom waited some time before burying his wife. You would have thought that he would have now rushed to do it, but I think that there was a very good reason why he did not. That was, because he reasoned that if he would have immediately taken Soroh and buried her, all the people that were there, the Bnei Chais as well as Efron would have, as a matter of honour to him, dutifully followed, to join in the levayo. The secret would have come out that Odom and Chava were buried there and he might very well have been faced with a major problem. You will also note that it says in that possek, Yud Tes, Avrohom buried Soroh his wife, why does it need to say אשתו , even more peculiar is the use of that word, in so far as she was no longer his wife, she had passed away?

Normally, a person’s death is caused by the Malach Hamoves inserting a sort of poison, moroh. However, in the case of very great Tzaddikim, they are taken from this world without the malach doing that. In such a case, there is no decay and the features remain the same.

You may recall the extraordinary story of the Noam Elimelech of Lizhensk when, during the course of the Second World War, the Nazis Yimach Shemom, wanted to destroy his kever, but each time somebody approached with a implement, that person died or became ill on the spot. They finally took some local Jewish people and ordered them to dig up the kever or be killed themselves. The Yidden asked mechila of Reb Elimelech and started digging and his body was revealed which was not decayed and his countenance was still shining. However, when the German who was in charge tried to draw near, he suddenly dropped dead and the whole project was abandoned. That was approximately 200 years after the petirah of the Reb Elimelech.

I believe that likewise Soroh’s body did not decay and, therefore, there was no בזיון המת , by her being allowed to go without burial for so many days. That is implicit in the words שרה אשתו because she still looked like his wife now, as when she was alive. Therefore, Avrohom waited until everybody had dispersed, the excitement had calmed down and only after that did he himself go and bury Soroh in the Meoras Hamachpela.

All three questions I raised have therefore been dealt with. I think we now appreciate better the first parsha of Chaya Soroh.



As I mentioned above, later on, Avrohom himself was buried in Meoras Hamachpela and subsequently, Yitzchok and Rivka.

We also know that Leah was buried there and when Yaakov Avinu was giving his final instructions to his children to take him back from Mitzraim, from Egypt to bury him in Eretz Canaan, he specified very clearly that he should be buried in Meoras Hamachpela which Avrohom had acquired as a family burial site.

The Medrash tells us that when the whole entourage arrived at the Meoras Hamachpela Eisav and his family where waiting and he protested that he wanted to be buried there and when the children of Yaakov said that Yaakov had bought the bechora from Eisav long before, there arose a considerable dispute. Naftali, who could run very fast, was sent back to Egypt to try and find the document which was apparently there. Meanwhile Chushim the son of Don who was deaf and could not quite understand what was going on got involved and when he finally realised that Eisav was causing trouble, went over to him and cut off his head. The tradition is that this head rolled into the Meoras Hamachpela and was buried there but the rest of the body of Eisav was taken back to Har Seir by his children.

I am not aware as to whether any of you have visited the Meoras Hamachpela, but in addition to the chambers which have the kevorim of Avrohom, Soroh, Yitzchok, Rivka, Yaakov and Leah there is a spot which is marked as being where Eisav’s head was buried.

As you all know by now, I am an accountant and indulge in gemmatria on occasion. You may be interested to know that the total numerical value of the words קרית ארבע הוא חברון בארץ amounts to 1554. The numerical value of אדם חוה אברהם שרה יצחק רבקה יעקב לאה is 1550 and they were four pairs, totalling 1554. They were all buried in the ground בארץ at קרית ארבע הוא חברון .


We find that the original names of our illustrious first of the Ovos and Imo’os were אברם Avrom and שרי Soroi. They were however changed by Hashem to Avrohom and Soroh as mentioned at the end of Parshas Lech Lecha. You may recall that at the bris bein habisorim Hashem told Avrohom to go outside and count the stars, if it would be possible, and so numerous would be the multitudes of his future generations. Rashi comments there that Avrom, as he was then called, should forsake his astrology and ignore the fact that as Avrom, and his wife Soroi were unable to have children, Hashem said to him, Do not worry about that, Avrohom and Soroh will be able to have children and will, in fact, have children.

What is so significant about the addition of a Hay to Avrom and the change from a Yud at the end of Soroi to a Hay at the end of Soroh that enabled them to have children.

I would venture a suggestion.

Of all the letters in the Alef Bais, there is only one which is not down to the base, i.e. has not got its feet on the ground, and that is the Yud, it stands on its own suspended in mid air, so to speak. A Hay has two feet on the ground but one of the legs has a gap between itself and the roof, on the left hand side, as we know.

The Gemora says in Menochos, that Hashem created this world and the next world with a Yud and a Hay. The Gemora says that the Hay represents this world and the Yud represents the next world. The Yud represents a Tzaddik, as the Gemora says there as well. Yud represents the most spiritual letter on a high level, not attached to this world, not on the ground. It is, of course, the first letter of Shem Haviya. What occurs to me is that as long as Soroi, which means my Princess, ended with a Yud, she was too much up in the clouds to have physical children, so the Yud was replaced with a Hay which, as we know represents the feminine in Loshen Hakodesh, for example איש is a man, אשה with a Hay at the end is a woman. By doing so, she was enabled to have her own child.

Likewise, אברם translated simply means father on high, that is רם . The Malbim explains that the word רם means something which is not attached to the ground but high above. More up in heaven. Once again implying that Avrom was too elevated to be able to have physical children with Soroi.

Oh yes, they together could have children, but only spiritual ones, ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן the souls that they drew near to Hashem in Choron, namely, they were spiritual parents to those people.

You might ask that Avrom had had a child with Hogor, namely Yishmoel. However, if you look at what Hashem via a Malach promised Hogor, I think we will find an answer to that conundrum. Yishmoel was going to become a פרא אדם a wild man, and I believe that this stemmed from being the son of Hogor who, herself as the medrash says was a daughter of Paroi and the Targum Yoinason Ben Aziel says that Paroi was a son of Nimrod, Avrom’s old foe. Avrom’s involvement was relatively minor. In order to have a relationship with Soroi, his wife, rather than a handmaiden, Hogor, Avrom needed to have his name changed by the addition of a Hay.

We all know the problems that have arisen in the world from the Bnei Yishmoel of late. I once heard a story of the famous Rov of Yerushalyim Reb Shua Leib Diskin who 100 years ago, or so, was walking home from his Beis Hamedrash on Friday night after davenning with a number of other mispalalim. All of a sudden, an Arab started throwing stones and they all scattered in panic, except Reb Shua Leib himself. He continued calmly to his home.

Later on, the various members of his minyan, who were embarrassed at having left their beloved Rov to fend for himself, came round to his humble dwelling to ask his mechila.

One of them said to him, “Why was it that we all became so shocked and frightened that we all ran off, whereas you were calm?”

His answer was, “It is a Possek in the Torah.”

The Talmidei Chochomim of Yerushalyim, whom they were, tried to find the particular possek One of them suggested ומראם וחתכם יהיו which is the brocho that Hashem gave to Noach that people and animals etc. will fear him. Another one tried the posek וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך and all the people’s of the land will see that the name of Hashem is on you and will fear you, etc. Reb Shua Leib was not having any of this. “No,” he said, “it is something different” Eventually they gave up and asked him to explain.

He said, “We find in the case of Yishmoel that he was a פרא אדם a wild man. In loshen hakodesh unlike English, the noun comes before the adjective, for example nice person would be אדם נעים, the word אדם coming before the adjective נעים. Therefore a wild man should be אדם פרא,. But the Torah says Pere Odom. Reb Shua Leib Diskin said “That itself is the answer, the essence of Yishmoel and his family is that they are wild. They just look like a man, they have the outer resemblance.”

I believe that this story is unfortunately, very apt and relevant to us nowadays. We have to pray to Hashem that he should save us from the excesses of Yishmoel’s descendants.

Returning to my suggestion regarding the use of the Hay and adding it to Avrom’s name, by doing so Hashem enabled him also to be attached to this world. But where exactly should the Hay be placed?

The Hay could not have been placed at the end of the word because then that would have been a feminine form. If it would have been between the Alef and the Bais one would then translate it as אהב רם, Ohaiv Rom, loves the exalted, again not attached to the earth. If it would have been placed between the Bais and the Reish, it would be read as אב הרם , Av Horom, once again this would mean, father of that which is exalted. The only place where it would fit in the middle of the word and still represent a definite affinity to this world would be where it was finally put, אברהם, Avrohom.

After they had been given the name changes, Yitzchok came into this world.



I would like to add something here on a personal note,. This Succos I was in Eretz Yisroel and for the first time for many years, I decided to visit the Meoras Hamachpela. So on Chol Hamoed Succos, erev Hashonah Rabba, I went together with my wife as well as many other Yidden, to the Meoras Hamachpela. We davanned Mincha with a minyan with the kevorim of Avrohom and Soroh on my right hand side, Yitzchok and Rivka in front of me and Yaakov and Leah on my left. I can assure you that standing at the beginning of Shemona Esra and saying Elokai Avrohom, Elokai Yitzchok, Elokai Yaakov has a completely different feel, depth and even meaning when one is praying at the Meoras Hamachpela.

We have to be grateful to Soroh for having the presence of mind to travel specifically to Chevron, as well, of course, to Avrohom who skilfully purchased the Meoras Hamachpela so that future generations should be able to have the opportunity to visit this site and pray to Hashem that in the zechus of our ancestors, from whom Klal Yisroel became a nation, we should be saved from problems with Bnei Yishmoel. Furthermore, we should always say with kavannah וזוכר חסדי אבות . Hashem should remember the kindness of our forefathers ומביא גואל לבוי בניהם and He should bring the redeemer, Moshiach, his grandchildren and we pray that this should happen in our time.

24TH MARCHESHVAN 5767

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