VAYIGASH

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

As usual, I have a few questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

All this took place before Yosef was born.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CHANUKAH פך שמן – THE CRUCIBLE OF OIL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

כ''א כסלו תשס''ט

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VAYISHLACH - THE MEETING BETWEEN YAAKOV AND EISAV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Truly extraordinary!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

יב כסלו תשס''ט

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VEYEITZEI - THE NAMING OF THE AVOS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VEYEITZEI

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why was it that the two אמהות named the children.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

ה כסלו תשס''ט

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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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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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