YAAKOV’S SHEEP

The Sedra Veyiteizei contains the whole story of Yaakov’s sojourn in Haran. We are told that he wished to marry Lovon’s younger daughter Rochel and was duped by Lovon who switched Rochel with Leah. Yaakov did finally marry both plus, of course, two further hand maidens, Bilhah and Zilpah. From these good ladies came the twelve sons of Yaakov known as the shevotim and, of course, Dinah. In order to marry Rochel, Yaakov worked for seven years, as a shepherd, for Lovon and then worked a further seven years after he was given Leah before Rochel. At the end of the 14 years he approached Lovon with a request that he be allowed to earn as an independent person rather than employee and so build up some capital himself. Interestingly enough, Yaakov did not request money or chattels in payment.

We then have the extraordinary suggestion made by Yaakov as follows; there were sheep of all colours, plain white, speckled, striped etc, other than white. Yaakov suggested that all the animals that were not pure white should be separated out and kept completely separate from the ones that were with white wool.

He, Yaakov, would retain the ones that were pure white and only the off spring of those white sheep which were striped, speckled and otherwise coloured in some way would be Yaakov’s property to retain.

Lovon jumped at this suggestion because it meant that he did not have to actually physically pay any money but he also did something which had not been agreed, namely, Yaakov, suggested that he himself would separate out the pure white from the others but Lovon and his sons went and did it the same day, obviously because they were scared that some sheep would not be separated properly.

The posek carries on והכשבים הפריד יעקב, Yaakov separated the lambs. The Seforim HaKedoshim state that this alludes to the souls, 600,000 plus males over 20 years of age who stood at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah. Yaakov then proceeded to use a number of objects including dark coloured ones to put in the troughs where the sheep came to drink and subsequently all sheep born were not white, but speckled, striped etc.

It is related about R’ Moshe Teitlebaum, the Yismach Moshe, that he said that he could remember being one of the sheep concerned and even showed a mark on his back where Yaakov had once hit him to get him into line. Indeed, remarkable!!

Yaakov’s flocks increased rapidly and he became rich. The Medrash states that Yaakov’s sheep were measured in the millions. This, of course, could tie in with the males, females and children of Bnei Yisroel who, no doubt, exceeded 3 million at the time of יציאת מצרים .

The Sepher גלי רזיא states that we find a verse as follows דבר צוה לאלף דור Hashem gave the Torah (at the end of) a thousand generations. The Gemora says that we only received the Torah 26 generations after בריאת העולם, and there were 974 generations previously. Those generations were not actually brought down in this world. What the גלי רזיא says is that the souls of those generations were מתגלגל reincarnated (?) into the pure white sheep set aside by Yaakov.

The גלי רזיא also states that this accounts for the great and rapid increase in the numbers of the Bnei Yisroel during their 210 years sojourn in Egypt. They had to achieve over 600,000 males alone after having gone down to Egypt with only 70.

We, therefore, can understand why Yaakov wanted to have as his reward, lambs that had been separated in the particular way. The question occurs to me as to why Yaakov suggested the separation that particular way round, namely that he should retain the white sheep and all the others should be taken away by Lovon. Subsequently, all the ones that were striped, speckled etc. were Yaakov’s reward. He could have done it the other way round, namely that he should retain all the spotted, speckled etc. sheep and Lovon should take the white ones. In fact, it would have made sense because of the name, Lovon, meaning white.

I would suggest that Yaakov wanted to produce the souls of the Jewish nation who accepted the Torah from a completely pure source, namely, those which had not been utilised, being from the 974 generations before the world was created. However, Yaakov realised that however pure these souls were, because we have a verse which states כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא , there is no righteous person on this world who does only good and has never sinned, that is was incumbent on him to prepare these souls himself, for use. Therefore, although they would become somewhat “soiled” over later generations, because of Yaakov’s involvement, it would be possible to purify the souls once again subsequently לתקן אותם

Because of this, he retained the pure white ones, and then proceeded to make the offspring speckled, striped, etc.

As I stated earlier on, the souls of the Bnei Yisroel stood at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah. We find at the beginning of Bamidbar that Moshe was told to count them and the total count then was 603,550. The word לגולגלתם is mentioned twice, it is usually translated as a head count but I am suggesting that this refers back to the original souls of the 974 generations which via the intercession of Yaakov had passed over to the members of Bnei Yisroel.

We also find that Hashem instructed Moshe to tell the Bnei Yisroel to set aside two sheep each day, one to be sacrificed in the morning and one in the afternoon
את הכבש האחד תעשה בבוקר – ואת הכבש השני תעשה בין הערבים. The lambs had to be perfect תמימם. This is known as the קרבן תמיד.

If one bears in mind that the Jewish year is based on the lunar calendar but 7 in every 19 years had a leap month, an extra Adar, to bring it in line with the solar calendar this would mean that there were be 365 times 2 equals 730 sheep sacrificed each year, as the קרבן תמיד. The first temple stood for 410 years. The second stood for 420 years, totalling 830 years. If one multiplies 730 by 830 this comes to 605,900 sheep in total for the two Temples.

However, we know that for three years before the Chashmonaim recaptured Yerushalayim and the nes of Chanukah is celebrated the קרבן תמיד was not sacrificed.

Antiochus had decreed that the bringing of קרבנות should be stopped and it took three years until this was restored. (See History of the Jewish People, The Second Temple Era, pages 64 and 72.)

This would, therefore, amount to 3 x 720 = 2,160 sheep not having been brought as a קרבן תמיד during that period. This would, therefore, leave only 603,740 sheep during the 830 years that the two בתי מקדש stood.

Furthermore, the Gemora tells us in three places (Sotah 49b etc.) that two descendents of the Hasmonean, named Hyrkonus and Astrobolus, were fighting one another. There was a power struggle to rule the country. Whoever controlled Yerushalayim would control the whole country. Hyrkonus was outside Yerushalayim and Astrobolus inside. There was a shortage of lambs for קרבנות. The people inside sent money over the walls and lambs were hauled up. Hyrkonus was supported by the Hellenists who spoke Greek and tried to adopt the Hellenistic culture. One elderly person who understood this, told them that as long as the service in the Temple continued, i.e. sacrificing the קרבן תמיד, etc., those outside would not defeat the ones inside. Therefore, the next day, when money was sent over the wall they sent an unclean animal, a pig, and when it reached halfway up the wall it put its nails into the wall and the whole of Eretz Yisroel was shaken by this.

From this we see that there were times when the קרבן תמיד was suspended and not sacrificed. Furthermore when the Romans besieged Yerushalayim some time before the destruction of the second Temple, it would appear that there was nothing to eat in the city and therefore, there was very unlikely to have been any animals to sacrifice, as they would have, otherwise, been used to give people food to eat.

We even find this in respect of the first Temple where, before its destruction, Nebuchadnezar besieged the city and once again there was hunger. It would therefore be fair to assume that the lambs needed for the קרבן תמיד were just not available. Therefore the total figure of 605,900 needs to be reduced somewhat.

The number of Jewish People, who were counted at the beginning of Bamidbar, amounted to 603,550 as I mentioned above. Would it be too fanciful to suggest that the amount of sheep sacrificed in total at the time of the two temples was the same as the amount of Jewish people counted as mentioned above. These, in turn, had the souls of the sheep that Yaakov had set aside 250 years earlier and these souls themselves had come from the 974 generations before בריאת העולם.

The verse I quoted earlier on was והכשבים הפריד יעקב, the gemmatria of כשבים is 372. Remarkably all the other lambs which were brought as קרבנות in a year, other than the קרבן תמיד twice daily, add up to 372, this is arrived at as follows:-

Every Shabbos 2 x 52 104
Every Rosh Chodosh 7 x 12 84
7 days of Pesach 7 x 7 49
2nd Day of Pesach extra 7 7
Shavous 9
Rosh Hashanah 7
Yom Kippur 7
Sukkos 7 x 14 98
Shiminei Atzeres 7
372

You will, perhaps have noticed that the original verse I quoted והכשבים הפריד יעקב refers to the lambs as being כשב. When I quoted the verses concerning קרבן תמיד, it is called כבש. Whilst the first letter remains the same the ש and the ב are inverted. In most every place in Torah where “lamb” is mentioned, it is written כבש. Perhaps we can understand why when Yaakov separated the lambs the order of the letters is inversed and we have כשב.

There is a very famous Medrash about the letters of the alef bais appearing before Hashem and requesting that the whole of Torah be commenced with that particular letter and it starts from ת and works backwards. Finally, Hashem says to the ב yes I am going to chose you because you represent ברכה a blessing. That is why the first letter in the Sefer Torah is a ב. Bearing in mind that I mentioned above the pure unsullied souls that Yaakov utilised in respect of the lambs came from the 974 generations before creation of the world, prior to בראשית, by writing the word כשב with the ב as the last letter, there is an allusion to the fact that this all came from prior to the ב.

However, later on when the קרבן תמיד was sacrificed and other korbonos were brought from lambs normally the expression used is כבש because these were sacrificed subsequently to the Torah having been given.

חז''ל tell us מעשה אבות סימן לבנים the actions of our forefathers, Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov, have a bearing on, and influence how, future generations behave and what transpires in future generations. I believe that Yaakov’s sheep are a prime example.

ב טבת תשס''ח

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THE DAY THE BNEI YISROEL CROSSED THE JORDAN

Moshe Rabbenu passed away on 7th Adar 2488, at the end of the 40th year after the Bnei Yisroel left Egypt. The Bnei Yisroel mourned him for 30 days and then Yehoshua commenced the arrangements for the whole of the Bnei Yisroel to cross over the Jordan into our Holy Land. This took place on 10th day of Nissan. That day was the 41st anniversary of the carrying out of the first mitzvah that the Bnei Yisroel had received as a people, namely, the setting aside of the korban Pesach on 10th Nissan in the year they left Egypt.

The Gemora in Sotah (from page 32 onwards) speaks at length about the various happenings that day and the ניסים, the miracles, which took place. On page 36a, the Gemora states as follows Let us enumerate how many ניסים took place on that date. The Jews went over the Jordan. They went from there to Har Gerizim and Har Aivol, (near Shechem) more than 60 Mil (approximately 40 miles) nobody could stand in their way to stop them and the Gemora continues, They took stones (which they had taken out of the Jordan) and built an altar, מזבח, coated it with plaster and wrote the whole of the Torah on it, in 70 languages. They brought offerings, ate, drank and rejoiced and then carried out that which they were enjoined in the Torah by Moshe Rabbenu, ברכות וקללות (see next paragraphs for details). They then took the stones with them and finally rested at another place called Gilgal approximately 20 miles south east of Har Aivol and Har Gerizim, all in the one day, 10th Nissan. By returning to Gilgal they came back towards where they crossed over the Jordan.

Moshe Rabbenu told the Bnei Yisroel at the beginning of Parshas ראה
והיה כי יביאך ה' אלקיך אל הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה ונתתה את הברכה על הר גרזים ואת הקללה על הר עיבל. הלא המה בעבר הירדן אחרי דרך מבוא השמש בארץ הכנעני הישב בערבה מול הגלגל אצל אלוני מרה.

And it shall be when Hashem, your G-d, brings you to the Land which you are coming to, to possess it, you should pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Aivol. Behold, they are on the other side of the Jordan, far away, in the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain, far from Gilgal, near Alonei Moreh.

Later on, in כי תבוא , the Torah tells us in chapter 27 in detail, that on the day that the Jews were to go over the Jordan, they should take large stones and coat them with plaster, write on them all the Torah, and erect them on Har Aivol. They should build an altar there with those stones and bring sacrifices and rejoice and finally it says that they should write on the stones the whole of the Torah באר היטב. The Gemora in Sotah 36 explains that this means in 70 languages.

The Torah then continues instructions as to how six of the tribes stood on the top of Har Gerizim, namely, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yissochar, Yosef and Binyomin and the six others stood at the top of Har Aivol, that is Reuvain, Gad, Osher, Zevulun, Don, and Naftali. Meanwhile, in the valley stood the Kohanim and the rest of the Levi’im who had served in the Mishkon, namely from 30 to 50 years of age. They proclaimed in a loud voice twelve proclamations in loshen hakoshen, commencing with.

ארור האיש אשר יעשה פסל ומסכה תועבת ה' מעשה ידי חרש ושם בסתר וענו כל העם ואמרו אמן.

Cursed is the man who will make a graven or molten image which is an abomination of Hashem, a craftsman’s work and emplaced in secret, and all the people shall say Omain. There are eleven such curses and the final one is
ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת לעשות אותם ואמר כל העם אמן.

Cursed is the person who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them and everybody shall say Omain.

In fact, the Gemora tells us in Sotah that before the curses, the Levi’im who were calling this out across the valley up towards the mountains turned to the six tribes on the Mount Gerizim, and said, Blessed is the person who does not make molten images etc. and everybody answered Omain and the same for all the other ones which start off in Torah with a curse, there was in fact a brocho, a blessing for the ones who would not do these things, followed by the curses. This is the ברכו וקללו mentioned earlier on.

I have just given you the bare outlines of what happened in that day but I want to consider this in much greater detail based on the Gemora in Sotah and the Seder Olam Chapter 11 (with the commentary of Rabbi Moshe Yoir Weinstock).

I mentioned that there were miracles but if one goes into the detail of the story as told in Chapters 3 and 4 of Yehoshua and elaborated on in the Gemora Sotah and the Seder Olam, one finds ten major miracles which occurred on that very day.

1) The ארון , the Ark, was taken by the Kohanim towards the Jordan. As soon as the feet of the Kohanim touched the water, the river stopped flowing. Remember that this was in Nissan after all the winter rains and there was a very strong flow of water.

2) The Bnei Yisroel, 2 or 3 million people, crossed over the dry water bed down stream from where the Kohanim were standing. This happened quickly, nobody was injured or even became wet.

3) Meanwhile, the waters of the river piled up very high (300 mil, Sotah 34) so that it was visible as a tower of water for tens of miles, maybe even hundreds of miles around. Miraculously, the water did not overflow its banks or flood the surrounding area.

4) As commanded by Hashem, Yehoshua them took twelve large stones out of the Jordan and replaced them with others from around the countryside. The stones he removed weighed 40 סאה (approximately 280 kilos, about 40 stone) each and one person from each tribe carried a stone from the crossing all the way to Har Gerizim and Har Aivol, namely to Shechem, 40 miles away!!

5) Only after the Bnei Yisroel had safely moved away from the river into Eretz Yisroel proper did the waters come crashing down and raced away into the Dead Sea, nobody was hurt by it, and it did not flood the surrounding area.

6) Once the Bnei Yisroel had crossed into Eretz Yisroel, the Kohanim and the Aron went back to the other side of the Jordan and then miraculously they took off and flew over the river which, by then, was coursing down as normal. ארון נושא את נושאיו.

7) The whole of the Bnei Yisroel, 2 to 3 million people, travelled (by air lift?) to Shechem nearly 40 miles on that day.

8) They build the מזבח, the altar, covered it with plaster and brought sacrifices, ate, drank and rejoiced and wrote the whole of Torah on those stones.

9) They then wrote the Torah in seventy languages on the stones, miraculous indeed. (They had, by now heard the ברכות and קללות mentioned in detail above.)

10) They then took the stones with them and travelled another 15 to 20 miles (another air lift?) to Gilgal.

ALL THIS TOOK PLACE ON 10TH NISSAN, IN ONE DAY.

I think you will agree with me that it was an extraordinary day in the history of the Jewish people.

To put it in context, we have to remember that the Bnei Yisroel who had been travelling around the desert for 40 years, had grown used to Moshe Rabbenu as their leader. He, of course, had performed and been intimately involved in so many ניסים that they were used to their leader having this great quality. Do I have to enumerate them, the Ten plagues, the splitting of the Yam Suf, the מן, Mannah, ענני הכבוד and the special Well that travelled round with the Bnei Yisroel during the 40 years in the wilderness etc. When Moshe died, they, no doubt, felt that they had not just lost a great leader but a person in whose merit miracles took place regularly.

Yehoshua took over and after the 30 days of mourning for Moshe Rabbenu, just three days later on 10th Nissan, he was given this great boost as it says in Yehoshua This day I will bring miracles and make you great and famous. But this was also with the merit of keeping the Torah, symbolised by the Aron, the Ark, with the Luchos, the tablets, in them.

Therefore, one can understand the first miracle whereby the Aron and the Kohanim just stepped into the River Jordan and the waters stopped. Not only that, but millions of Jews crossed over miraculously in a short time. The waters then piled very high which showed all the nations around that the miracles which had taken place previously under Moshe Rabbenu were going to continue under Yehoshua. The waters then crashed down and went on as previously and finally the ארון which was still on the other side of the Jordan flew miraculously with the Kohanim into Eretz Yisroel and this was, no doubt, sufficient to convince the whole of Bnei Yisroel that Yehoshua was great and Hashem was with him. The miracle at the river Jordan was akin to the splitting of the ים סוף, the Red Sea.

Dare I suggest that the ten miracles that took place on that day are an echo of the first major miracles carried out by Moshe, namely the Ten plagues. Furthermore, remember that all this took place on 10th day of Nissan, the anniversary of the setting aside of the korban Pesach which was the mitzvah which the Bnei Yisroel carried out, of course, in Mitzraim and are, therefore, themselves mirrored by the mitzvos carried out on the first day that the Bnei Yisroel entered the Holy Land.

At the same time, these miraculous happenings, especially the drying up of the Jordan and piling up of the waters high into the sky were giving forewarning to all the nations around that the Bnei Yisroel had arrived and they would take over Eretz Yisroel.

I find it, however, difficult to understand why certain of the miracles that took place were necessary. Why was it so important that all the happenings mentioned above, with the ten miracles, should all take place on the same day, the very day that Bnei Yisroel crossed over into Eretz Yisroel?

Why was it so important that the ברכות and קללות, the blessings and the curses, should be carried out on Har Gerizim and Har Aivol? We can see how important the location was because going back to the verse I quoted, at the beginning of Parshas ראה, no less than six indications of the location are made there. “You should pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Aivol and then behold they are on (1)the other side of the Jordan, (2) far away, (3) in the direction of the sunset, (4) in the lands of Canaanites who dwell in the plain, (5) far from Gilgal, (6) near Alonei Moreh”.) What was so important about that location?

Thirdly, what was the necessity of taking the stones out of the Jordan, carrying them all the way to Shechem, making an altar out of them and plastering them and writing on them, not only the Torah in loshen hakodesh but also in 70 languages? Remember all in one day.

Why could not the ceremony of the ברכות and קללות and all other things on Har Gerizim and Har Aivol not have taken place just over the Jordan, on the side that is in the Land of Israel. What was the necessity to take so many people 40 miles away. If there was an importance to do this at a special site, why could this not have been Yerushalayim, that is much nearer, only approximately 15 to 20 miles away inland. Alternatively, why not Chevron, where the Ovos are buried. Why did it have to be near Shechem at a precise location mentioned there?

Finally, why could they not have slept near Shechem overnight, what was the point of going on another journey (another air lift?) to Gilgal for the night? Remember we are taking about millions of people being moved around.


I would venture to suggest a way of understanding this series of events as follows.

The Bnei Yisroel had travelled around for 40 years in the wilderness and become a homogenous nation based around the Mishkon and the holiest part, ארון, the Ark, with the ענני הכבוד, pillars of glory surrounding them and protecting them. They were physically and spiritually moulded into one Nation. In parshas Pinchas, Moshe Rabbenu was enjoined to split the land of Israel into various portions, one for each tribe and smaller plots for each individual family. This, of course, did not take place until after they were in the Land of Israel, but nevertheless, the Bnei Yisroel knew when they crossed over the river Jordan that this was the aim. They would no longer be a nation living in close proximity, together.

The last day when the Bnei Yisroel were physically and psychologically an Am Echod, one unified people, was the day that they crossed over the Jordan. The day after that although they may have been physically all together in Gilgal they were individually thinking already about occupying their own patch of land once they had conquered it. There was not the same unity as there had been over the previous 40 years. It was, therefore, necessary to carry out all the matters ordained in Re’eh and Ki Sovo without any delay whatsoever. This would, therefore, have the maximum impact.

The point of extracting these very large stones from the river bed of the Jordan was to remind everybody of the great miracles that had taken place in that they all passed over a river which had become dry, whilst the water was piling up, a short distance away. Those stones were then utilised as an altar and subsequently had written on them the whole of Torah. This was to show the centrality and importance of bringing sacrifices for Hashem after having physically lugged these stones a long distance followed by using the same stones to engrave the Torah thereon. That being the raison d’être of the Children of Israel, namely to keep the Torah and serve as an example to the rest of the world.

In order to reinforce this, there were the blessings and curses, ברכות and קללות pronounced in a most extraordinary manner by the Levi’im in the valley between the two mountains as mentioned above. (Incidentally, having visited that area, I can confirm that on Har Gerizim, towards which the brochos were given, there is vegetation on top whereas Har Aivol is virtually barren on top.)

The importance of these utterances were to impress on all present the necessity at all times to keep the Torah and not be influenced by the current inhabitants of the land of Canaan, who were idolaters and worse. Please read through the eleven individual oral curses, ארורים (mentioned below on page 13/14) and you will see the thrust of this in detail.

One begins to understand why these major events had to all take place on that very day.

Turning to the location chosen, I have discovered that Shechem (and Har Gerizim and Har Aivol) are virtually at the centre point of the whole of the land of Israel as delineated to the Bnei Yisroel by Moshe Rabbenu in פרשת מסעי. Both east and west, that is from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, Shechem stands at a midpoint. Furthermore, from north to south, based on the map in Stones Tenach page 2048 and other contemporary maps (see אלה מסעי page 14), Shechem stands right in the middle!!

In order to understand the significance of this, perhaps a משל, a parable, would assist. Let us assume that a person living in say, London, (England), had a major spiritual awakening at a Seed seminar arranged in, say, Glasgow, (Scotland). Whenever he would visit Glasgow or anywhere near the venue in which the seminar was held, this would bring back strong memories. The further he was from this venue, the less the memory would be there.

Hashem wanted the impressive ceremony of Har Gerizim and Har Aivol to leave as lasting an impression as possible on the people who were present. If the whole ceremony would have taken place at, for example, Yerushalayim or, say, Chevron, these cities are to the south of Eretz Yisroel. Therefore, they would be further away in distance from the tribes who occupied the far north, such as Osher, Don, Zevulun etc. Likewise, if the place chosen would, perhaps have been the hills of Zfas, the tribes in the south, Yehuda, Binyomin and Shimon, would have been very far away. Shechem is the central point which would, therefore, be as near as possible to everybody, so that this would have the maximum effect as mentioned above in the parable and illustration.

Regarding later generations, who lived in the Holy Land, they could recall the happenings Yisroel to their ancestors on the first day in Eretz and in particular the ברכות and קללות on Har Gerizim and Har Aivol.

However, Hashem knew that there would be changes in circumstances, both in Eretz Yisroel over the next few hundred years and that the Bnei Yisroel would then go into Golus for 70 years in Bovel, come back again for a further 420 years and once again go into Golus. This could be the reason why there was a final journey from Shechem to a town called Gilgal. This name has an affinity with gilgulim, changed circumstances and change of places as well. Furthermore, that would be a very good reason as to why the Torah was written on the stones in 70 languages. This would ensure that wherever Jewish people would disperse to and whichever language they spoke, they could still have an affinity with our Holy Torah and Mitzvos and study it in the vernacular.

Gilgal may also refer to the neshomos who would come back in future generations and could complete their rectification through the study of Torah and keeping the mitzvos.



I believe that there may be an additional reason why the ברכות and קללות were given in the vicinity of Shechem.

It is interesting to note that in כי תבוא just after Chamishi, the tribes who were to stand on Har Gerizim are mentioned as follows, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Issochar, Yosef, Binyomin. The ones on Har Aivol were Reuvain, God, Osher, Zevulun, Don, Naftali. Nevertheless, the Levi’im stood in the valley and proclaimed in the loud voice the ברכות and קללות. The commentators discuss exactly the role of the Levi’im and which Levi’im stood on Mount Gerizim and which ones stood in the valley. Normally, we find that Yosef’s tribe was split into two, Ephraim and Manasheh but here it is just referred to as Yosef including both Ephraim and Manasheh. Because of this, Levi therefore makes up one of the twelve tribes and only some members of the tribe who actually proclaimed the ברכות and קללות remained in the valley, with the Kohanim.

I would suggest that the reason for the inclusive name Yosef was to do with the incident that took place over 270 years prior to the Bnei Yisroel entering Eretz Yisroel. You will no doubt recall that Yaakov instructed Yosef to go and look for his brothers who had gone to Shechem with the sheep. We all know that when Yosef got there and finally found them nearby at a place called Doson, they threw him into a pit and nearly killed him but had second thoughts. Instead they sold him and he eventually ended up in Egypt and this was, of course, the beginning of the Golus to Mitzraim from which the return to Eretz Yisroel by the Bnei Yisroel was the culmination.

Let us examine the pesukim in detail.
ארור האיש אשר יעשה פסל ומסכה תועבת ה' מעשה ידי חרש ושם בסתר וענו כל העם ואמרו אמן
Accursed is the man who will make a graven or molten image, an abomination of Hashem, a craftsman’s handiwork, and emplace it in secret. And the entire people shall speak up and say Amen.

ארור מקלה אביו ואמו ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who degrades (מזלזל) his father or mother. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור מסיג גבול רעהו ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who moves the boundary of his fellow. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור משגה עור בדרך ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who causes a blind person to go astray on the road. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור מטה משפט גר יתום ואלמנה ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who perverts a judgement of a proselyte, orphan or widow. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור שכב עם אשת אביו כי גלה כנף אביו ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who lives with the wife of his father, for he will have uncovered the robe of his father. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור שכב עם כל בהמה ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who lives with any animal. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור שכב עם אחתו בת אביו או בת אמו ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed us one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור שכב עם חתנתו ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who lies with his mother-in-law. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור מכה רעהו בסתר ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who strikes his fellow stealthily. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור לקח שחד להכות נפש דם נקי ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who takes a bribe to kill a person of innocent blood. And the entire people shall say Amen.

ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת לעשות אותם ואמר כל העם אמן
Accursed is one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them. And the entire people shall say Amen.

If you look carefully at the various curses mentioned, I believe a majority have a bearing on or affinity to what happened to Yosef.

We all know that once Yosef was sold off and his brothers produced “evidence” that he had been killed, Yaakov Avinu refused to be comforted, it took 22 years until they were finally reunited. I believe that ארור מקלה אביו really means that this is what happened, that the children by their actions towards Yosef, were degrading and making a mockery of their father.

Turning to the next one, ארור מסיג גבול רעהו, the commentators tell us that the argument between Yosef and his brothers was a deep one. They felt that he was trying to lord it over them and in fact, if we look at what happened whilst they were all in Egypt, he was in fact, the viceroy and was at a higher level both in a material sense and spiritually than his brothers. They, however, did not want to accept it and this is contained in מסיג גבול רעהו , encroaching on the boundaries of Yosef, in this instance. מידת יסוד , characterised by יוסף, is above מלכות, characterised by יהודה.

ארור משגה עור בדרך. Accursed is one who causes a blind person to go astray on the road. Well, they went further than this, in that they even sold him off.

ארור מטה משפט גר יתום ואלמנה includes perverting justice to a יתום, an orphan, which remember that Yosef was, because he had lost his mother. They refused to listen to his entreaties when they threw him into the pit.

Skipping a few we come to ארור שכב עם חתנתו, his mother-in-law. We all know the story of the wife of Potiphar who tried to seduce Yosef but he refused steadfastly and ended up in prison for ten years for his efforts. When he was eventually released Yosef married the daughter of Potiphar and his wife.

Finally, ארור לקח שחד להכות נפש דם נקי. To kill a person who was innocent. We only have to refer to the statement of two brothers, “and now let us go and kill him” referring to Yosef which fortunately did not take place.

However, as I mentioned, the majority of these statements have a significant connection with the story of Yosef and his brothers and, therefore, it was fitting that the ברכות and קללות should be given at a place that had an affinity with the original request by Yaakov to Yosef to go and visit his brothers who had gone to Shechem.

It is noteworthy that Yosef’s bones were buried in the vicinity of Shechem just adjacent to Har Gerizim and Har Aivol. I had the זכות to visit the site where both Menasheh and Ephraim are also buried.

(One could even go so far as to say that the last of all the statements ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת לעשות אותם also has an affinity with Yosef and his brothers. The פרשת דרכים states that the argument between Yosef and his brothers regarding various laws and whether they were being kept properly by the brothers depended on whether the children of Yaakov had the דין of Bnei Yisroel or of Bnei Noach. Yosef maintained that they had a din of Bnei Yisroel and, therefore, reported to his father that they had eaten for example, אבר מן החי flesh torn from a live animal. In short what I am driving at is that there may have been room for argument until the Torah was given, but when the Bnei Yisroel stood on these two mountains, there was no shadow of a doubt that they had to all agree that they must uphold the words of the Torah and perform them.)



Bearing in mind all the above, we have gained a greater understanding of the need for all the ניסים and happenings that took place and the journeys to Har Gerizim and Har Aivol and finally to Gilgal, all on the same day, 10th Nissan 2489, the day the Bnei Yisroel crossed the Jordan.


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כ''ז תמוז – תשס''ח ד' מסעי

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תתן אמת ליעקב - GRANT TRUTH TO YAAKOV

This is the final posek of the prophecy of Micah. It defines the special quality, מידה of Yaakov Avinu.


Yaakov Avinu was given his name by הקב''ה, (or alternatively by Yitzchok) as Rashi states at the beginning of תולדות. The Midrash and Zohar tell us on the posek in Tehillim אשר שם שמות בארץ that the first inhabitants of this world knew why they gave a particular name to a child. It encompassed their potential and events that might take place in the person’s life. Yaakov Avinu was given the potential to elevate the whole of the טבע to the level of אדם הראשון when he was created. At that time there was only אמת in the world. חז''ל tell us חותמו של הקב''ה אמת the seal of Hashem is truth. In the same way the special quality attributed to Yaakov is אמת as stated above in the last verse of Micah’s prophecy.

If we go back to the first three words in Torah בראשית ברא אלקים, the last three letters are אמת. The final letters of the three words ending the description of the seventh day of creation, ברא אלקים לעשות, once again spell out אמת, because Hashem created the world with the quality of אמת.

Unfortunately, after the sin of Odom Harishon, the world became spoiled and we now have an עולם השקר a world full of lies and deceit.

I believe that we will be able to see that יעקב actually reached the level of Odom Harishon קודם החטא and he fulfilled the potential embodied in his name..

Yaakov Avinu’s life was connected to, and I would suggest predicated on, the number 7. In fact, יעקב totals 182 which is itself 26 times 7. The world was created in seven days and 26 is the numeric value of הוי', the name of essence שם העצם of Hashem. This, therefore, reflects the potential within him.

As we look through his life we find that at the age of 63 (9 times 7) he received the brochos from Yitzchok which commenced ויתן לך. It is significant that the brochos included the following יעבדוך עמים וישתחו לך לאומים הוה גביר לאחיך , Nations will serve you and peoples bow down to you. He was explicitly given the power over the inhabitants of the world including his own brother.

A little later, still at the age of 63 (9 times7) he was told to go to Lovon and choose a wife there.

Just as an aside, I believe the reason why he did not go immediately as instructed by his father, was that we are told in סדר עולם , that when Yaakov reached the age of 63, that was the year that bothרחל and לאה were born. They were twins. Therefore there was not much use in going to Lovon when they had just been born and even at the age of 7 they would not have been very grown up. He, therefore, waited for the next multiple of 7 (2 times 7 = 14) and then did what his parents told him to do, namely go to Choron to find a wife.

On his way to חרן, when he was 77 (11 times 7) he had the famous dream of the ladder stretching from the earth to the heavens with angels ascending and descending on the ladder. Hashem promised him the land of Israel and that it would pass onto his descendents.

He arrived at Choron when he was 77 years of age (11 times 7). He undertook to serve Lovon for 7 years for the hand of his daughter רחל. When after seven years he was tricked by Lovon, he then served for another 7 years and therefore, had both רחל and לאה as full wives.

Lovon duped him by switching Leah for Rochel and when Yaakov reproached him, replied מלא שבוע זאת, complete 7 days and I will give you Rochel as well on condition you work a further 7 years.

The name רחל, the lady who he specifically wanted to marry, has a numerical value of 238 (34 times 7).

Yaakov wanted to marry her when she was 14 but did not have any money because Elifaz had taken all his wealth and, therefore, he had to wait for another 7 years until she was 21 (3 times 7) and he did marry her then, albeit 7 days after having inadvertently married Leah.

7 years later, at the age of 91 (13 times7) Yaakov asked Lovon to allow Yaakov to amass his own wealth and the extraordinary story of the white, speckled and striped sheep took place.

Meanwhile, Yosef had been born when Yaakov was 91, (13 times 7) and Rochel was 28 at the time (4 times 7).

When Yaakov finally left Choron with the whole family, without telling his father-in-law, and was chased, there took place the famous altercation between Yaakov and Lovon. During this Lovon accused Yaakov of stealing his תרפים, idols, which in fact Rochel had taken to try and save her father from further idol worship or divining what had happened.

Inter alia, Yaakov said to Lovon .עם אשר תמצא את אלהיך לא יחיה Whoever should be found with your idols shall not live, and Yaakov, not knowing that his wife Rochel had taken it, inadvertently passed her death sentence. Rochel was 34 at that time and her gemmatria as mentioned above, was (34 times 7) 238.

Yaakov knew that Rochel was his זיווג by, among other things, noting that all the 7’s fitted together.

Interestingly enough, Yaakov worked for six years amassing his fortune and did not work for 7 years as Hashem told him to return to Eretz Yisroel. Could it be that as his life was predicated on 7 and the 7 days of creation were in fact 6 days of work and on the 7th day שבת וינפש “Hashem rested” in the same way Hashem arranged for Yaakov not to work that 7th year for himself but to return to Eretz Yisroel.

When Yaakov finally met Eisov after 34 years, we know that Eisov had nurtured his anger for all that time. We find that nevertheless, when they finally met the Torah states that Eisov ran over to Yaakov וישקהו ויחבקהו, he embraced him and he kissed him. That was, of course, extraordinary but if you look carefully at what happened immediately prior to that, Yaakov bowed down seven times. I would suggest that as Yaakov Avinu had so elevated himself, he had, in effect control over Nature and, therefore, Eisov had no option but to make it up with Yaakov.

All this shows comprehensively that Yaakov’s life was tied to the number 7. However, let us go further. We know that Yaakov lived for 147 years (21 times 7). One of the names of Hashem is אהי'ה = 21. Not only did Yaakov have an affinity with 26 times 7 (182) represented in his name. He also had this affinity with 21 times 7. He died in מצרים. We all know that Bnei Yisroel went down to Egypt and were there for 210 years (30 times 7). Right at the end, before they were taken out of Egypt, Hashem appeared to Moshe Rabbenu and we have the famous story of the burning bush mentioned at the beginning of parshas Shemois.

At that time Moshe Rabbenu asked Hashem “When the Bnei Yisroel ask me who sent me, what should I say?” He is told אהי'ה אשר אהי'ה, אהי'ה שלחני אליכם Our ancestor Yaakov Avinu had established in his final years of life, leading up to 147 (equals 21 times 7, אהי'ה) the basis for the Bnei Yisroel being taken out of Egypt again, with אהי'ה , being the name Hashem had told Moshe to show as His representation at that time. You will also note that the Bnei Yisroel were in Egypt for 210 years which equals 10 times 21. At the end of that period once the 10 plagues had been brought down on the Egyptians, they went out from bondage.

Coming back to the posek that I quoted at the beginning, תתן אמת ליעקב, the word אמת totals 441 that is 21 times 21, this equalsאהי'ה times ( אהי'ה אשר אהי'ה) אהי'ה . Remember that מדתו של יעקב was אמת, the outstanding quality of Yaakov was truth.
Furthermore, 63 times 7 equals 441. You may recall that earlier on, I mentioned that at the age of 63 Yaakov had been blessed by his father and told to find a wife. Obviously, to continue future generations and we know that all the children of Yaakov were Tzaddikim.

We are all aware that Yaakov was the third of our Ovos, Avrohom, Yitzchok and then Yaakov. If you take the 441, אמת and divide it by 3 you have exactly 147, precisely the years of his life.

We find that Hashem said to Avrohom, אנכי מגן לך The word מגן has a value of 93. We know how important this statement is because the first brocho of Shemono Esrai, which is know as the brocho of Avrohom, ends מגן אברהם, the shield of Avrohom.

The second brocho is known as Yitzchok’s brocho, אתה גיבור and the quality of גבורה is that of Yitzchok.

The third brocho אתה קדוש ends ה'אל הקדוש , א'ל represents Yaakov and it adds up to 31, exactly one third of the 93 mentioned above, and this is the same pattern of the third generation representing one third of its value. (93 divided by 3 = 31)

In addition to Yaakov taking the multiple 7 which represents טבע, nature, and elevating it to the utmost degree, he worked on various other מדות , qualities.

At the time of his dream of the angels ascending on the ladder (as mentioned above age 77, 11 times 7) we find that he stated as follows אם יהיה אלקים עמדי. He undertook to fulfil various things, as mentioned in Torah. We know that the name אלקים represents Hashem as מידת הדין strict judgement. א'ל represents the softening of the מידת הדין. Yaakov achieved it to such an extent that we find a verse which says ויקרא לו א'ל אלה'י ישראל and Rashi explains that Hashem called Yaakov א'ל , he represented this to such an extent that eventually he acquired a new name Yisroel, ישרא'ל which translates as completely upright, ישר with א'ל. That is why the only brocho in the whole of Shemono Esrai which ends with a name of Hashem is the one, mentioned above, the third brocho which ends ה'אל הקדוש . We are blessing Hashem as not only א'ל but at the same time implying that Yaakov epitomised that particular מידה. Please also note that all the words in that brocho according to Nusach Ashkenaz and Arizal total 14, (2 times 7).

I mentioned earlier on, that each of the individual Ovos had their own special quality. That of Avrohom was Chesed. The very posek that I started with in Micah says תתן אמת ליעקב חסד לאברהם Yitzchok’s middoh was Gevurah and Yaakov had a mixture of the two which is known as תפארת splendour. His splendour reached the level of emulating Odom Harishon before he sinned. In fact, the Gemora says שופריה של יעקב מאין שופריה של אדם הראשון. The (spiritual) beauty of Yaakov was similar to that of Odom Harishon.

The mekubalim tell us that there are five levels of Gevurah and in order take the sting out of them and sweeten them, המתקת הדינים we have to utilise Yaakov’s כח and especially in his emanation as Yisroel. Not for nothing, before we start our Shemonah Esrai, do we use the name Yisroel five times צור ישראל – גאל ישראל. The word Yisroel is the one introducing the Bnei Yisroel to the highest level of communication with Hashem, standing before him in Shemonah Esrai.

I mentioned earlier on that מגן equals 93 and א'ל equals 31 and that Yaakov, the third of the Ovos after Avrohom is represented by a third in numerical value. However, I would suggest that once he was given a new name by Hashem, ישראל, he had, in fact, elevated himself back personally to a level almost equivalent to Avrohom. יעקב equals 182. Three times 182 equals 546. ישראל equals 541. There is a difference of 5 represented by a ה.

As Avrohom’s name was originally אברם and Hashem had given him an extra ה, that ה 5, had already been utilised by Hashem for אברהם.

If we look at the name of Hashem י'ה'ו'ה' and spell in out in full, there are four ways of spelling it. If spelt יוד הי ויו הי the total comes to 72 which is the same number as חסד. That represents the highest level alluding to Avrohom whose middo was Chesed.

The next level is יוד הי ואו הי and this totals 63, this is known as Yitzchok’s level. Isn’t it interesting to see that the number 63 pops up again. I mentioned earlier that Yaakov was 63 years of age when יצחק gave him the ברכות and when he was told by his father to go and find a wife and from that to build up the בני ישראל.

Yaakov is represented by יוד הא ואו הא which adds up to 45. That is exactly the same number as Odom אדם which adds up to 45 and I mentioned above that Yaakov Avinu reached the level of Odom when he was created.

Yaakov Avinu, of course, had two wives, not only Rochel but Leah לאה. It is interesting to note that the word הא'ל has exactly the same letters as לאה. After all, the majority of the children born to Yaakov, six sons and one daughter (7 in total) came from Leah and all of them were born in the space of 7 years.

Of course, הא'ל and לאה both equal 36. The Gemora tells us that in every generation there are 36 hidden tzaddikim. Taking the הא'ל as representing the male tzaddikim and לאה representing the female צדקניות together they add up to 72. That, once again, is the numerical value of chesed, which together they created in the world.

Occasionally, you get a generation where there is one such great and holy Tzaddik that he carries the whole world spiritually on his shoulders. Yaakov Avinu represents such a Tzaddik and we known that R’ Shimon Bar Yochai and R’ Yehoshua Ben Levi also represented a similar level צדיק יסוד עולם

One other example of the affinity of Yaakov to a multiple of seven is that in respect of the קרבנות brought in the Bais Hamikdosh, we find that the only time that there were 14 lambs brought each day were during the seven days of Succos where there were 14, 2 times 7, and Succos is known to represent the Yom Tov of Yaakov.

The sefer Beraishis commences with Odom Harishon and ends with the passing away of Yaakov. Looking at the parshas of Torah (I do not mean the sedras but the individual paragraphs in the Sefer Torah) we find that many, in fact most, start off with the letter ו, Vav, being the continuation of the previous paragraph or chapter. There are, however, exceptions.

Going through sefer Beraishis, we find the following exceptions [for ease of reference I am quoting according to the chapters and verses quoted in all Chumoshim nowadays. This is not a Jewish concept and was in fact first introduced by a Non-Jewish priest many hundreds of years ago but has been utilised in common practice.]

Chapter 2 verse 4 אלה

Chapter 3 verse 16 אל האשה

Chapter 5 verse 1 זה ספר

Chapter 6 verse 9 אלה תולדת נח

Chapter 11 verse 10 אלה תולדת שם

Chapter 15 verse 1 אחר הדברים האלה

Chapter 36 verse 20 אלה בני שעיר

All the other paragraphs and chapters which start not with a Vav, are in פרשת ויחי commencing with chapter 49 verse 5 שמעון and after that we have יהודה, זבולן, יששכר, דן, גד, מאשר, נפתלי, בן פורת יוסף, and finally בנימין .

The gematria of the first letters of all those I have enumerated above, being the first letter of a new chapter (i.e. פרשה) total 441, which is exactly the same as אמת. The final chapter, which starts with the word בנימין has in it the story of the passing of Yaakov from this world, therefore, it is the fitting climax to have the final ב of Binyomin completing the sum of 441 to emphasise the special quality of Yaakov, namely אמת. The Targum on the words תתן אמת ליעקב translates, Give the truth of Yaakov to his children, namely that this quality of truth passed on as an inheritance to the Bnei Yisroel.

If one examines the verses commencing with בנימין, that is the Chapter 49 verse 27, and takes the first letter of each verse, for example the second verse starts with the word כל and one goes forward to Chapter 50 verse 12 which starts ויעשו בניו לו and counts the first letters of each verse, these again add up to 441. Namely the quality of אמת passed over to the children and the final verse ends כאשר צום, as he commanded them.

There are other allusions to the word אמת which are worth mentioning.

Our Rabbis tell us אמת יש לו רגלים, שקר אין לו רגלים. If you look carefully at the letters א מ and ת they each have two legs and one can stand easily and firmly on two legs whereas ש ק ר have each only got one leg and it is much more difficult to stand on one leg. The idea is that truth is firm and cannot be shaken. There is a Zohar Hakodesh which says that the word אמת represents the first letters of אלף מאתים תשעים which are mentioned at the end of the prophecy of Doniel about the time when Moshiach will come.

We also find that the א is the first of the letters of the Aleph Bais, and ת is the last one. If one includes the five extra end letters ם ן ץ ף ך one then has 27 letters in total. If you go to the middle letter i.e. the 14th letter this will be the מ and, therefore, אמת represents the beginning, the middle and the end all in one straight order .

Turning to the פסוקי דזמרה, immediately after Ashrei we have the הללוי'ה which includes the following אשרי שא'ל יעקב בעזרו, Praiseworthy is the person whom Hashem of Yaakov will be his help and it continues השמר אמת לעולם, Who guards the truth for ever. The end of that מזמור is ימלך יהו' לעולם אלהיך ציון לדר ודר הללוי'ה the gematria of the first letters is 182, exactly that of Yaakov. This is also the final part of the קדושה said every day when there are ten males together at the third brocha, which as mentioned above, is that of Yaakov. Please also note that both א'ל and יעקב are emphasised in this מזמור.

Looking at Shemonah Esrai, we find another reference to אמת. That is a mention of אמת in the middle of the paragraph commencing על הצדיקים. Obviously righteous people are the ones that cleave to the אמת. Once again, near the end of Shemonah Esrai, the expression used is ויברכו את שמך הגדול באמת. Again, the idea is, that we bless Hashem’s great name “in truth”. In the middle of the Shemonah Esrai for Shabbos we say וטהר לבנו לעבדך באמת. Finally, in the Tefilloh of Mincha of Shabbos where Yaakov is specifically mentioned, יעקב ובניו ינוחו ובו , it says מנוחת אמת ואמונה . The Tefilla of Mincha of Shabbos represents Yaakov Avinu.

Both in Tefillas Shacharis and Maariv immediately after Krias Shema (which of course we know that Yaakov and his children said between them) the final words as articulated by the Baal Tefilla are ה' אלקיכם אמת.

There is a well known quote from חז''ל יעקב אבינו לא מת,. One can perhaps suggest that Yaakov did not die (in a spiritual sense and as a continuing symbol to his children) because the א before מת was never separated, he always adhered to the אמת. In fact, you could say that the א is shaped like a י a ו and another י which together add up to 26 which represents הוי' and a spiritual aspect. The Torah tells us ויעקב איש תם, , תם is the opposite of מת.

Let us turn to the Nes of Purim. The court of Achashverush, Homon and Vashti was the epitome of שקר, lies and deceit. Both Mordechai and Esther had to work against this with אמת. When the decree was issued Mordechai’s reaction was to gather together the Jewish children in Shushan and teach them Torah, the first letters of אסתר מרדכי תורה are אמת.

Esther’s reaction was to call all Jews in Shushan to fast. Once again, this spells out the same message אסתר מרדכי תענית. The first letters spell out אמת.

Together they achieved their object and the Jews had salvation. That is represented by אסתר מרדכי תשועה.

This was not just a miracle for that time, but as we say in ,שושנת יעקב תשועתם היתה לנצח it was a miracle for all times and we celebrate Purim each year.

This was in the zechus of Yaakov whose middo was אמת.


Just in case you might think that that I have given a complete picture of how Yaakov’s life was tied to the letter 7 let us explore a few more ideas.

The main wife of Yaakov, as we all know, was, of course, Rochel and we find that there were exactly 14 (2 times 7) of her offspring that went to Mitzrayim as mentioned in Parshas Vayigash .

As we know after Rochel died, Yaakov transferred to the tent of בלהה. בלהה totals 42 (6 times 7).

We find that both in Vayigash and again in the parsha of Shemos it is mentioned that the Bnei Yisroel who went down to Egypt amounted to 70 souls. This is despite the fact that one has to add in not only Yosef and his two sons (who were born in Egypt and they were already in Egypt when the Bnei Yisroel went down to Egypt) but Yocheved who was born just as they reached the gates of Egypt. In order that the Bnei Yisroel should have a strong affinity with Yaakov and be able to survive in Egypt and eventually leave the country, there had to be an affinity with 7. 10 times 7 = 70.

Another mention of 70 is when the Egyptians mourned Yaakov for 70 days. This was followed by his children making an official 7 days of אבל on the way to Eretz Yisroel with his body.

There are also exactly 7 sedras from the time Yaakov birth is mentioned in תולדות until ויחי when he passed away.

The time that the Bnei Yisroel were in Egypt from the date that Yaakov came down to Egypt was, of course, 210 years, 30 times 7.

We find that at the time of the sin of Odom and Chava, Chava took from the fruit of the tree and, no doubt, used her hand, יד to do so. She then gave the fruit to her husband, Odom, and again used her hand. Perhaps one could suggest that Yaakov Avinu wished to rectify these two matters and, therefore, learned Torah for 14 יד years and then spent another 14 years יד in order to acquire wives and a family to continue with the correct Torahdik way of life. This, of course, had been lost by Odom and Chava because they had eaten from the Etz Hadaas and יד had been used twice as I mentioned above.

Bearing this in mind, one could also understand why it was that when Yosef brought his two sons Ephraim and Menasheh to be blessed by Yaakov, Yaakov switched his hands and put his right hand יד onto Ephraim and the left hand יד, on Menasheh. Ephraim represents Torah and Menasheh the more mundane world. This would fit in with the fact that Yaakov had learned Torah first for 14, יד years and then spent 14 years יד acquiring wives and a family.

It is also significant that Yaakov’s expression about Ephraim and Menasheh is כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי. This really meant that in addition to being the natural successors by birthright of Yosef, Ephraim and Menasheh were children to Yaakov as were the children of Leah also and, therefore, the יד applied to both of them from all sides, so as to speak.

The Bnei Yisroel carried on the tradition of affinity with 7 in numerous ways. Seven weeks after the Bnei Yisroel left Egypt they received the Torah. This of course, has an affinity with Moshe’s first vision at the burning bush which in turn was triggered by Yaakov coming down to Egypt and preparing the ground for Bnei Yisroel to last out there as a nation and finally leave Egypt.

When the korbonos were brought at the time of the consecration of the Mishkon it says מזרק אחד כסף שביעים שקל one bowl weighing 70 shekolim (10 times 7). The bowl alluding to Yaakov and the 70, of course, to the 70 Bnei Yisroel who went down to Egypt.

Furthermore, the שלש רגלים represent the three Ovos. Pesach is represented by Avrohom, Shavuos Yitzchok and Succos Yaakov. On Succos each day 14 lambs (2 times 7) were sacrificed, twice the normal of any other Yom Tov. You will recall that Yaakov originally, when asked for his reward by Lovon, suggested separated sheep. This is all connected together.

The Haftorah of Vayechei talks about the death of Dovid who lived exactly 70 years (10 times 7). We are told by the Medrash that Odom Harishon gave him those 70 years as Odom should have lived 1,000 years but only lived 930 years. Yaakov Avinu reached the spiritual heights of Odom Harishon and was the “king” of his children and the Bnei Yisroel. Dovid Hamelech was, of course, king of Bnei Yisroel.

Let us hope and pray that the זכות of יעקב אבינו and his affinity to אמת, coupled with his strong connection with the letter 7 should stand us in good stead so that we should be able to cleave to the אמת and have an affinity with 7 by keeping Shabbos and Shmitta etc. until the coming of משיח , במהרה בימינו אמן.

ניסן תשס''ח

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LAG B’OMER 5768

Good morning gentlemen and I hope that you have been enjoying Lag B’Omer, bonfires and all.

What is so important about Lag B’Omer? We know that we are allowed to make a Chasanah on Lag B’Omer, that it is a time of simcha, we don’t say Tachanun, etc.

We have all heard of the Gomorra that tells us that 12,000 (or possibly 24,000) pupils of Rabbi Akiva died for 33 days between Pesach and Shavuous but Lag B’Omer, was either the day that they ceased passing away or it was the day in the period on which nobody died.

Recently, we have seen another phenomenon, namely that thousands, no tens of thousands, of people stream to Meron on Lag B’Omer to the Tziyon of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai. What has this got to do with Lag B’Omer? Now I know that people say that his Yahrzeit was on Lag B’Omer but I am going to stick my neck out and ask where do they have the proof for this. I have researched the matter and the earliest reference that I can find is a letter written by R’ Ovadia Bartenura, the famous commentator on Mishnayos who when he emigrated to our Holy Land from Italy wrote to his son and in passing mentioned that he was in Meron on Lag B’Omer and “as everybody knows this is the yahrzeit of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai”. There is no mention of the date in the Zohar, as far as I am aware, although, the actual happenings during the day when R’ Shimon passed away are detailed over many pages.

I must tell you that I have just returned from Eretz Yisroel and I was in Meron this Sunday, the preparations for Lag B’Omer are unbelievable. The organisers say that over ¼ million people come to visit over the two or three days of the Lag B’Omer period.

In any event, I am curious as to why R’ Shimon was zoche to such a tremendous influx of people coming just to his Tziyon.

On last Sunday I did a round tour of Teveria, Tzfas and then Meron. I started off at the cave where Rabbi Akiva is buried. Rabbi Akiva, for your information, was the Rebbe of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai. The Gemora tells us that after the untimely death of all the other disciples Rabbi Akiva went to the five learned Rabbis including R’ Shimon, and there was R’ Meir, R’ Yehuda, R’ Yose and R’ Elozor and taught them and from them we have a tremendous amount of the tradition and lots of mishnyas are in the names of these great tanoim. People don’t go to visit Rabbi Akiva the way the mass movement to visit R’ Shimon takes place!!!

You may recall that Rabbi Akiva was for 40 years an Am Ha’aretz, the next 40 years he was a pupil of the leading Rabbis and the last 40 years in his life, he was acknowledged as the great Torah leader. Finally, at the age of 120 he was hunted down because he was teaching Torah in public and he was killed in the most horrible way, with the words of Shema Yisroel on his lips as the Gemora tells us at the end of Brochos.

The Gemora in Menochos mentions that he quoted many many halochos on every tag, תג that is the little crowns on top of the letters of the Sefer Torah, to the extent that Moshe Rabbenu was shown this happening and couldn’t quite understand everything. Moshe was very upset until he heard somebody asking Rabbi Akiva a particular question and Rabbi Akiva answered that is halocho l’Moshe m’Sinai. We, therefore, do not have any understanding of how great Rabbi Akiva was and although many people go to visit Rabbi Akiva’s kever, there is nowhere near the ¼ million that R’ Shimon receives.

I then went further down the hill in to the city of Teveria where R’ Yochanan Ben Zakai and a number of his leading talmidim, including R’ Eliezer Ben Horkenus are buried right near the Rambam and Shloh Hakodesh.

You may recall that Rabbi Akiva was a leading talmid of R’ Eliezer ben Horkenus, the famous tanna who made the Pirkei to R’ Eliezer.

We are now at the time of year when Pirkei Avos is learned and read. You will, therefore, recall that R’ Yochanon ben Zakai was the Rebbe of R’ Eliezer ben Horkenus, R’ Yochanon ben Zakai was the leading rabbi at the time of the chorban Bais Hamikdosh who managed to get out alive because R’ Eliezer and R’ Yehoshua carried out his body from Yerushalyim, ostensibly because he had died. He then appeared before the Roman Emperor Vespasian and persuaded him to allow the Rabbonim to continue with their work., תן לי יבנה וחכםיהHe, as you can see, was the Rebbe of R’ Eliezer who in turn was the Rebbe of Rabbi Akiva who in turn was the Rebbe of R’ Shimon. People do visit the graves of R’ Yochanon Ben Zakai and R’ Eliezer Ben Horkenus but there is nowhere near the crowds that there are for R’ Shimon.

Let us turn to the Rambam, that very, very great person was the first to codify the whole of halocho, the whole of Jewish Law comprehensively and lucidly in perfect Loshen Hakodesh for all generations. We all know the expression m’Moshe ad Moshe lo com c’Moshe that was used about him. There was nobody as great from the time of Moshe Rabbenu as the Rambam. Nevertheless, once again, I make the same point, people do go in great numbers to the tombstone of the Rambam but I don’t think that it comes anywhere near the ¼ million for R’ Shimon and remember that R’ Shimon ben Yochai is visited at other times of the year as well by many hundreds of thousands of people.

So I repeat my question of the moment, why is it that on Lag B’Omer, especially over the last 50 years or so there has developed a mass movement for people not only in Eretz Yisroel but the whole world over who fly to Eretz Yisroel and join the throngs, the hundreds of thousands, who stream to the kever in Meron of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai.


I think that in order to find an answer, we need to examine the well known Gomorra in Shabbos Daf ל''ג(note that its ל''ג like Lag B’Omer) where three great Rabbis of the time where sitting discussing what had happened practically in Eretz Yisroel, they were R’ Shimon, R’ Yehuda and R’ Yose. Now I think a little bit of historic perspective is called for here. When the chorban Bais Hamikdosh took place, the Emperor allowed the Rabbis to regroup in Yavneh quite far away from Yerushalyim but about 50 years after that, there was a revolt lead by Bar Kochba and in fact encouraged by Rabbi Akiva, that was brought to a bloody end by the Roman soldiers and the city Beitar was destroyed and millions of Jews with it. The Romans who had conquered the country ruled with an even harsher iron fist.

The Romans felt that the Rabbis had let them down, they thought that they were only teachers but once Rabbi Akiva had been involved in the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans decided otherwise. They decided to crack down on any study of Torah in public. That is why Rabbi Akiva finally was killed and many of the עשרה הרוגי מלכות were killed around the same time.

When the three Rabbis I mentioned earlier on, R’ Shimon, R’ Yehuda and R’ Yose were discussing the current political situation, R’ Yehuda observed that the Romans had done good. “Look at the market places, the bridges and bathhouses they have constructed.”.

R’ Yose was silent.

R’ Shimon Bar Yochai said “All that they built was for their needs and good”, not to help us. Somebody called Yehuda Ben Gerim heard this conversation and it got back to the Roman authorities. When they heard what had been said, they issued a decree, R’ Yehuda should be ראש המדברים בכל מקום, the official leading speaker for the Jewish people. R’ Yose who was silent, should be exiled. R’ Shimon Bar Yochai who denigrated them, should be killed.

When R’ Shimon heard about this he took his son R’ Elozor Ben Shimon and they went to learn in a private Bais Hamedrash, not in public. His wife used to bring them food, but after a short while R’ Shimon said to his son that he was worried that one day the Romans would turn up, torture his wife, and she would reveal where they were. Therefore, with no further ado, he and his son went off, found an inaccessible cave and decided to stay there, and then a miracle took place. In the cave a spring of water started running and a carob tree started growing with fruit and R’ Shimon and his son stayed there for 12 years. The Gemora tells us that in order that they should not completely wear out their clothes they dug into the sand and learned with the sand covering them and when they wanted to daven or eat etc. they came out of the sand, put on their clothes and this carried on, as I said for 12 years.

By that time, the decree that had been issued had already been annulled and Eliyahu Hanovi came to the door of cave and stated this fact. R’ Shimon and his son then went out into the wide world but they were by then so spiritual, so uplifted that whenever they looked around and saw people doing mundane things, not learning, not davening not particularly doing a mitzvah that they could see, they could not bear it and wherever they looked fixedly, it burnt down. A voice came from heaven and said “Are you trying to destroy my world, go back into the cave,” and they did so for a whole year.

After that time R’ Shimon said, even judgement of real rishoim, even people in Gehenom is only for 12 months so I think that we can go out again. They heard a voice from heaven telling them that they may go out. They did, and when R’ Elozor Ben Shimon, his son, could not stand what he was seeing, R’ Shimon said to him, hold on, don’t get too hasty; let us go and see what people are doing and why. They found an elderly person running along just before Shabbos with two haddassim, myrtles, in his hands. R’ Shimon and R’ Elozor asked why he was doing it and where he was going. The old man replied that it was לכבוד שבת and I am taking them home so that there should be beautiful smell in the house. We all know the smell of myrtles is very, very nice. But why two? They asked. One, because we are told זכור and the second one because of שמור את יום השבת . R’ Shimon turned to his son and said “You see how marvellous our Jewish brethren are”.

It was during that period in the cave that the secrets, the pnemius the innermost parts of Torah were revealed to R’ Shimon on which is based the Zohar Hakodesh.

Prior to that R’ Shimon had been one of the great Rabbis in what we call nigleh the revealed parts of Torah but now he was the greatest authority in the hidden part of Torah, the kabboloh.

Let us go back a few hundred years before that. In the middle of the first Bais Hamikdosh period there was a king called Iziyahu and he decided that he wanted to bring the ketores that the Kohen had to bring each day in the Heichel, although he was warned not to do it, he insisted and because of that, he became a Metzorah. Immediately after that Yeshiya who was then the greatest novi had the vision of Hashem sitting on a great throne with angels surrounding it and this is from where we get the famous posek which is the central part of the kedushah, קדוש קדוש קדוש ה' צבאות

The prophet Isaiah, Yeshiya, was given this special vision but why? What I am suggesting is that all of the Bnei Yisroel stood in awe of the Bais Hamikdosh, they knew that it was holy. The fact that this king decided that he would go in and bring the incense, the ketores, even though he was punished immediately by becoming a Metzorah, nevertheless, took away from the awe, the reverence, the holiness. In order to counteract that, Hashem gave this special vision took Yeshiya that people should realise to some extent what means the holiness of Hashem, Kodesh, Kodesh, Kodesh, Hashem of all the hosts and he was therefore shown hosts of angels all singing.. This was the antidote to what the King Iziyahu had done.

If we go forward a couple of hundred years, we find that Yechezkiel Hanovi, who lived during the time of the chorban of the first Bais Hamikdosh but then went to live in Bovel, also had a vision, even though he was in Chutz L’Eretz. He saw what we call מעשי מרכבה. It looked like a chariot, and the story ends with the famous posek which is also part of the Kedushah, ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו Blessed is the glory of Hashem from his place. Why was he shown this, especially as he was in Golus already, he was not even in Eretz Yisroel and normally the nevios was given only in Eretz Yisroel. I believe that the reason was that the Bnei Yisroel had become so broken and depressed, they had lost the Bais Hamikdosh, they had been killed in hundreds of thousands and even millions and so many were taken into captivity to Babylon that they needed a special uplift, an injection. That is why Yechezkiel had this special vision, to tell us that even though the Bnei Yisroel are in Golus, nevertheless, Hashem is there watching and looking after us. That is the meaning of the words ברוך ה' כבוד ממקומו, from his place, we can’t see him it is not where we are supposed to be, in Eretz Yisroel, its Mimkomo. The Glory of Hashem is really everywhere we only have to look for it.

We then go forward to the time of the second Bais Hamikdosh and that was finally destroyed. As I mentioned above, there was then a revolt by Bar Kochba and that was brutally put down. What I am suggesting is that R’ Shimon Bar Yochai was given a special present, the great secrets of Torah were revealed to him in detail, I am sure that other great Rabbis before him knew them in principle but his greatness was that he knew them in detail and then taught them to his select band of disciples so that the Bnei Yisroel should always know that even when things look terrible surrounded by enemies trampled on by the Romans, Hashem is with us and looking after us, even revealing the secrets of the Torah.

Why did R’ Shimon have this special gift bestowed on him? I believe it is because he did not deviate in any way from the מדת האמת from telling the whole truth. Going back to the Gemora in Shabbos, it was true that which R’ Yehuda said, namely, that the Romans had built the roads bridges and bathhouses etc. and of course, in some small measure the Jewish populace left there had some benefit, but R’ Shimon was right, they weren’t doing it in order to help the Jews, they were doing it for their own agenda and reasons as the Gemora states in detail.

If we go forward many hundreds of years, you will recall that there were the Crusades which started off in England, went towards France, Germany and were supposed to be going to recapture the Holy Land. On the way, unfortunately, the mob decided to kill and pillage the Jewish populace. You can imagine how depressed and low our brethren at that time were. Immediately after that, there was the golden flowering of the baalei Tosefas.

If we switch over to Spain a few hundred years later, when the expulsion took place, once again many thousands were killed others were forcibly baptised and others eventually wandered to other countries.

From those who managed to escape there became a great flowering of Torah, the Bais Yosef, R’ Yosef Caro, who ended up in Tzfas and at the same time the Arizal, R’ Yitzchok Luria together with other great people, the Alshich Hakodesh, R’ Shlomo Alkabetz, who made Lechla Dodi, the Baal Hacharedim, all led to a great flowering of Torah and in particular kabbalistic interpretations based on the Zohar which once again uplifted the whole of the Bnei Yisroel.

Coming nearer to our period, there was the Chelminicki riots in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and that part of the world and about the time, the Shabsai Tzvi, false messiah story, the gloom that descended on the Bnei Yisroel was considerable. Almost immediately afterwards there was the Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov who once again brought up the whole populace from their despair. It is worthwhile to note that they were both great in Kabbolah and Zohar.

If I may add, we have just had in our lifetime, the Second World War with the Holocaust of well over 6 million Yidden being killed and look what happened afterwards, there was a sudden great reflowering, flourishing Yeshivas, Bais Yaakov seminaries, an uplift of Torah learning and dedicated sincerity almost without precedent. It is just at this time that R’ Shimon Bar Yochai’s tziyon has become such a focal point, hundreds of thousands of people flocking just there. I think that the key as to why this is so and why Lag B’Omer has become almost a major Yom Tov is in what I have said. He lived shortly after Churban Bais Sheni followed by the Bar Kochba revolt, during which period millions of Yidden were killed. We are living at a similar juncture of history.

R’ Shimon showed that one can reach great, great heights if one sticks to the emes without making any פשרה.

So to sum up, we are in an historic period and all we now have to look forward to is ביאת משיח צדקינו במהרה וימינו אמן.

Start the Day the Torah Way
ל''ג בעומר תשס''ח

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