THE STORY OF YOSEPH

The story of Yoseph being sold to Egypt, ending up in prison and then being appointed the viceroy to the king of Egypt is well known. Nine years later, ten of his brothers, all of them except Binyomin, were send by Yaakov, their father, to Egypt to replenish their supplies.

At the same time, bearing in mind how their father had for 22 years grieved over the loss of his beloved Yoseph they decided that they would try and find him and make extensive enquiries in Egypt in order to do so.

When they finally arrived, they split up and went into the country via ten different entry points. As Yoseph received lists of all the foreigners who were entering Egypt to try and buy food to take back abroad, the fact that ten people called Reuven ben Yaakov, Shimon ben Yaakov etc all arrived on the same day at different entry points did not escape his attention.

He, therefore, instructed his employees to look out for these people and when they finally were discovered, searching for Yoseph, they were brought before him.

We are told that his brothers bowed down before him and Yoseph recognised them and spoke to them harshly. They explained that they had come from Canaan to buy food and then the Torah repeats “Yoseph recognised his brothers and they did not recognise him.” Rashi comments that he had left as a 17 year old boy and his beard had not yet grown whereas now he was a 39 year old man who had a full beard.

Yoseph then went on the attack. He suggested that they were, in fact, spies and they had come to spy out the land. They denied it, but Yoseph stuck to his line pointing out that they had entered at ten different places. The brothers then tried to explain that originally there were 12 brothers, one of them was young (Yaakov had said he would not let him go down for fear of the same thing happening to Binyomin as had happened to Yoseph, namely disappearing) and they continued, that as being 10 brothers they would not all be sent as spies.

The Medrash as quoted by Rashi explains that Yoseph then asked them what would happen if they would find their long lost brother. They answered, “We would take him back with us to our father”. “And what happens if you were not allowed to do so” “Oh, we would find a way of doing it, even if we had to fight to achieve this.”

“Ahh” said Yoseph “I did say that you were spies and wanted to spy out the land. Now you are contemplating fighting as well, you are troublemakers.”

Yoseph then continued “I am only going to let you go if your younger brother comes here to prove that you are telling the truth. Chose one brother to go back to Canaan and he should go and fetch Binyomin here.” Meanwhile, he put them all in prison.

Three days later, he called them in again and said, “On reflection, nine of you can go home, but I am going to keep one as a hostage”. He then had Shimon, who was kept by him, bound up in chains in front of them. The nine brothers then proceeded to return home. On the way, Levi opened his sack and found the money that had been used to pay for the food in his sack and then they all opened theirs and also found money. This shook them considerably.

When they returned to Yaakov and he saw that Shimon was not there, he was extremely upset. He had lost Yoseph, he lost Shimon and now they wanted to take Binyomin as well, “I have had enough” declared Yaakov.

Reuven suggested that his two sons should be a security that he would make sure that Binyomin would come back. Yaakov flatly refused.

However, when they once again ran out of food, and Yaakov suggested, please go and bring some more from Egypt, Yehuda stated “there is no way that we could go down, if we do not bring our brother Binyomin with us.” To which Yaakov Avinu retorted, “Who asked you to mention that you had another brother”. At that stage, Yehuda said, “the man, the viceroy, asked about everything to do with our family and knew the details of our babyhood and childhood. We are not to blame.”

Finally, very reluctantly, Yaakov allowed them to take Binyomin with, also sending presents and they appeared once again before Yoseph. Yoseph saw Binyomin and, therefore, instructed that all the group should be taken to his own house. That was done.

When Yoseph finally came home, and the brothers were brought into his house, they bowed down to him. He greeted them and asked how their old father was and was his still alive, and they said “Yes, he is” and they again bowed down to him. He then saw Binyomin and blessed him. He ordered that food should be brought in and the Medrash tells us that he, using his goblet as a diviner, stated that the oldest six sons, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yissochar, Zevulun, all having one mother, should sit at one table, that the four others, Gad, Osher, Dan and Naftali should also sit together. Finally, he turned to Binyomin and said “you have no mother, I have no mother, you are going to sit with me.”

I find all this incredible!!

Ten brothers who have been looking for Yoseph, could not collectively or at least individually, one or two of them at least, have picked up on the fact that this person, the viceroy of Egypt, knew too much. To the extent, that when Yoseph finally revealed himself to his brothers, they were gobsmacked, unable to say anything, shocked to the core.

I mentioned, earlier on, that Rashi states that Yoseph had left them without a beard and now had a beard. But to me, this does not seem to be a sufficient reason for them to not even consider the remote possibility that they were speaking to Yoseph. We know that at that time, people believed in astrologers, psychics etc. and as Yoseph used his goblet as a “diviner” it might have explained his knowledge of the family etc but, alternatively, it might not!!

I have even heard it suggested that what might have passed through their minds, was that Yoseph had met this person who was now the viceroy and had been told his life story. Therefore, he knew so many intimate facts about their family.

Furthermore, why had the brothers not asked anybody about this viceroy and his antecedents? You would have thought, that after all the trouble that he caused them, putting them in prison and then sending them home without Shimon etc. they would have questioned people as to his background, if only to understand how to deal tactically with him. We do not find this, at all. The whole episode is most puzzling and for years I have wondered as to how it could be that the penny did not drop for at least one of ten brothers namely, that maybe, just maybe, the person who was their adversary was, in fact, their own brother, Yoseph.

We know that Yoseph never spoke to them directly because there was an interpreter involved. That interpreter we are told, was his son Menashe, and we also told by the Medrash that when Shimon tried to struggle whilst being tied up, Menashe came and gave him such a blow between his shoulder blades that he was forced to stop struggling and said “That blow came from somebody connected with our family.” Even then, the penny still did not drop!!

On Shabbos Chanukah, I had the pleasure of having our children and grandchildren with us for Shabbos. Our seven year old grandson mentioned that he liked the stories in the Sefer HaYosher. This is an old Medrash which has certain stories and explanations which do not appear in other medrashim. I retrieved the sefer from my library and looked through it, and it was Parshas Miketz, I read about this particular incident.

I discovered something which gave me a key to an explanation which in turn has given me some satisfaction regarding my puzzlement.

In the Sefer HaYosher, it states that when Pharaoh appointed Yoseph as his viceroy, he not only gave him royal clothes and a crown, as well as a special chariot which originally belonged to Pharaoh on which to ride, he did more. Pharaoh gave him 100 servants and Yoseph acquired hundreds more. Yoseph also had 4,600 people who bore arms. In effect he had his own retinue, bodyguard and a small army. Thinking about this, I realised, that my idea of how the brothers met Yoseph and saw him, etc., was flawed.

I had assumed that they had been brought to Yoseph into a normal room. Perhaps they stood by the door with Yoseph was sitting maybe five or ten yards away from them and with an interpreter shuttling between them. However, bearing in mind the amount of servants and guards that Yoseph had as a private retinue, I therefore, revised my thinking and realised that he would, have, therefore, sat in a very large room, perhaps on a small throne with many servants there, as well as armed soldiers around guarding him as well as patrolling the whole room.

The Sefer HaYosher states clearly that when they came before him, he was sitting בהיכלו, in his state room. He was surrounded by גיבורים, warriors. The whole atmosphere created a feeling of awe and fear.

Perhaps one could compare this to the very large state rooms at say Windsor Castle or other such palaces, which the readers of this article might have visited. It is true that they appeared before him and bowed to him but his brothers were maybe 50 yards or more away from him and, at that distance, could not see clearly a person’s features. They saw a king or viceroy in all his royal glory with servants flanking him, and armed soldiers watching them intimidatingly. In addition, as Rashi states, the person they were looking at had a beard, whereas the Yoseph that they knew, was without a beard.

By Yoseph immediately suggesting to them that they were spies, he stopped an avenue of investigation by them. A spy asks people about things that he feels are important, and what could be more important if they were really spies than finding out about the person who was interrogating them, bullying them, and terrorising them. By virtue of him accusing them of being spies, they had to keep their mouths shut and not ask about him because otherwise, that would have more or less proved that they were spies. Remember, we are concerned with a viceroy who had the power of life and death in his hands and answerable to virtually nobody. Life was very cheap in Egypt.

Yoseph was afraid that as he had only been appointed to his position nine years before and, at that time, people knew he was an Eved Ivri, a slave and an Ivri, not a Canaani, this would easily get to his brothers’ knowledge unless he stopped them from asking, they would be able to put two and two together.

Furthermore, he used his goblet as a “diviner” to start telling them details about their life from the time they were small children, therefore, this reinforced the impression that he would almost a “divine” being rather than an ordinary human being.

He then put them in prison to sweat for a few days, changed his mind as to how many could stay or go back and, then to trump it all, instructed that the money they had paid for the food should be hidden in the sacks.

Not for nothing were they in a state of panic whilst they were travelling and when they got back to their father, even more so.

Yoseph had created a situation whereby they could not think straight, and completely put them off the trail. He mesmerised them,

When they came back the second time with Binyomin and the brothers were brought to his house, once again, I originally was under the impression that as it was his own house the tables would be set very near one another. Remember that he told six of them to sit at the table and another four at another table and he sat together with Binyomin at a third table.

But, on reflection, as he was the viceroy and bearing in mind the size of the state rooms at Windsor Castle and other such palaces, one can understand that they really did not sit near one another. There were still many yards between them and this viceroy who was leading them a merry dance. They must have been scared to look him in the face, because he had the power to have them put back in prison at any moment or even worse, take away Binyomin or even have them all killed. There was an interpreter shuttling between them all the time.

To cap all of that, once they went back home the second time, he, of course, had the goblet that he used, ostensibly as a diviner, hidden in Binyomin’s sack and this was finally discovered.

One revealing point is that Binyomin, at that stage, did not complain, he did not deny the fact that he had this goblet, did not deny the fact that he had stolen it, did not shout scream or otherwise object. The medrash tells us that Yoseph asked Binyomin if he had any children. Binyomin replied that he had ten of them all named, in one way or another in connection with Yoseph.

Once again, I turned to the Sefer HaYosher, which tells us that when he was sitting with Binyomin at the meal on his throne, with Binyomin sitting next to him, also on a throne, Yoseph then produced a type of globe, a star gazing instrument. He suggested to Binyomin that he should try and find Yoseph on this globe. Binyomin finally exclaimed “I can see my brother Yoseph sitting near me.” Yoseph then said to him “Shhhh, yes, it is me, but don’t tell the other brothers. I am just trying to make 100% sure that they really regret what they did when they sold me originally 22 years ago.” In view of that, Binyomin just played along with the whole story.

We then come to the final episode, Yehuda, who had undertaken to bring Binyomin back and if not, lose both worlds, stepped up to Yoseph to beg him to have mercy and if necessary take him in place of Binyomin.

Yehuda was obviously in a state or turmoil. He realised that this test had been sent by Hashem and was struggling to find the right words with which to address Yoseph. He was not concentrating on looking this viceroy in the face, who had caused such misery to him and his family. He was trying to clarify his thoughts on the best way of retrieving this horrible situation. The atmosphere of awe and fear was, if anything, even more intense than when they first stood before Yoseph.

Not for nothing was it, therefore, that when Yoseph finally said to his brothers “I am Yoseph” they were shocked and gobsmacked.

I would like to hear people’s comments on this possible explanation of a very interesting and strange episode.

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LECH LECHA The relationship between Avrohom and Lot

It is interesting to note that the description of Lot in relation to Avrohom is not constant.
In the beginning of Lech Lecha posek ד, וילך אברם- וילך אתו לוט with no description of the family relationship. The next verse commences with the wordsויקח אברם את שרי אשתו ואת לוט בן אחיו here Lot is referred to as his nephew (brother’s son). In fact, we read at the end of Noach that Lot was the son of Horon. Avrohom’s brother.

Further on, in chapter 13, verse ה, we have, with no description, וגם ללוט ההלך את אברם. In posek ח we have ויאמר אברם אל לוט – כי אנשים אחים אנחנו, we are brothers. In chapter 14, posek יב, we have ויקחו את לוט ואת רכשו בן אחי אברם וילכו brother’ son (nephew) and immediately afterwards, in posek יד, we have וישמע אברם כי נשבה אחיו his brother (not nephew). In posekטז , we have וגם את לוט אחיו ורכשו השיב again referring to Lot as his brother. So we see that Lot is described on occasion without any particular relationship, also as the son of his brother, that Avrohom refers to him as brother, אנשים אחים, later on he is again referred to as the son of the brother of Avrohom, followed by him being referred to as his brother. Very puzzling, I believe.

One other important point to bear in mind is that both when Avrohom went down to Egypt with Soroh and again when Avimelech enquired after her, Avrohom referred to his wife, as אחותי, my sister.

In order to understand the nuances and apparent contradictions, one has to bear in mind a very important point which is perhaps not well know. Not only was Lot the son of Horon, the brother of Avrohom, the son of the brother who had been burned in the Ur Chasdim, in place of Avrohom (Rashi, quoting the medrash at the end of Noach), in fact, Lot was also Avrohom’s brother in law. Because Soroh was also the daughter of Horon as Rashi once again brings at the end of Noach, namely that יסכה and שרי were one and the same person.

Let us now go through the various verses quoted above. When Avrohom left the town of Haran, to go to Eretz Yisroel, the Torah states וילך אתו לוט, Lot went with him. Really this could have been for one of two reasons, either because he was his nephew or because he was his brother in law, or for both reasons. The Torah, in the next verse, clarifies this, because we are told that Avrohom took his wife and his brother’s son (not his wife’s brother). Avrohom felt a responsibility for Lot. The medrash tells us that Avrohom was thrown into the fire on the orders of Nimrod and miraculously survived. Horon who was watching this, was not quite sure which side he should come down on, that of Avrohom or that of Nimrod. He reasoned to himself that if Avrohom would emerge unscathed, he would come down on Avrohom’s side. When he was asked by Nimrod “and whose side are you on” he said, Avrohom’s side. He was promptly thrown into the Ur Chasdim, the furnace and died because he was not the righteous person, the Tzaddik, that Avrohom was. Because of this, Avrohom felt a responsibility to look after his son, Lot as he felt that, to some small extent, he, Avrohom, had contributed to Horon’s (Lot’s father) death.

Avrohom journeyed to Egypt after a few months in Eretz Yisroel due to a famine. He was asked, “Who is this beautiful woman?” and he stated, אחותי she is my sister. Can you imagine Lot’s feelings when he hears about his sister that her husband (Lot’s uncle and brother-in-law) was saying, Soroh is my sister. Soroh was, of course, in a certain manner his sister being in fact his niece. Lot kept his mouth shut and, in fact, Rashi quotes later on, that because of that zechus, merit, Lot was saved from the fate of Sedom.

Avrohom, therefore, was grateful to Lot and held him in great esteem.

With this, we can also understand the fact that when they returned from Egypt, not only Avrohom had considerable possessions which had been given to him by Pharoh and the Egyptians, but Lot also had sheep, cattle and tents. Where did he have this from? Well, we are told that Lot looked very similar to Avrohom and, therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that in order to curry favour with the whole family, not only did they give Avrohom matonos, presents, they gave somebody who looked like his younger brother, namely Lot, presents. Their objective at the time was that Avrohom and Lot should agree to the “betrothal” of Soroh to Pharoh

When they returned to Eretz Yisroel and the shepherds of Lot started acting as if they already owned land, Avrohom remonstrated with Lot and at that stage, he called him, my brother, כי אנשים אחים אנחנו. Lot, no doubt, had indicated to Avrohom that Avrohom had used a subterfuge in calling his wife, his sister, and therefore, what his shepherds were doing was nothing so terrible. However, pure stealing is not comparable to calling a niece a sister, as we all appreciate. We see from the way Avrohom begged Lot to just step away from him, but that he would, nevertheless, come to his assistance if ever necessary, that Avrohom still retained this feeling that he had to look after Lot as mentioned earlier on.

We then turn to the story of the four kings who came from the region of Iraq and rampaged through our Holy Land. The chief one being אמרפל whom we are told was actually Nimrod. They captured Lot and he is referred to, at that stage, as בן אחיו, the son of his brother, of Avrohom Avinu, of course, because Nimrod had an old account to settle with Avrohom.

Avrohom, on the other hand, when informed of what had happened, chased the kings with all their prisoners and booty as he had heard כי נשבה אחיו, that his brother had been captured. This refers to Avrohom’s memory that Lot had not revealed to the Egyptians that he, Lot, was, in fact, the brother of Soroh and that Avrohom by describing Soroh as his sister was becoming like a brother to Lot (he was his brother-in-law). Therefore, when Avrohom defeated the kings and וגם את לוט אחיו ורכשו השיב, he returned Lot and his possessions and freed them, he once again emphasised the aspect of them being brothers and, of course, the possessions were a direct result of Lot being given presents in Egypt because of that whole incident, as I mentioned earlier on.

One, therefore, can see the necessity for the different titles and names being utilised, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Although Lot was by no means an ideal character, he had the zechus of fathering two nations מואב and עמון from whom came רות המואביה and נעמה העמונית. The first being the great grandmother of Dovid Hamelech and the second being the mother of Rechavom, the son of Shlomo Hamelech. Perhaps one could suggest that this was a reward for him having twice heard his own sister being referred to as the sister of Avrohom and him having kept quiet and because of that two of his descendents, generations later, married into the Royal family of Yehuda.

ז מרחשון

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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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