If You Can Beat Them
If You Can Beat Them
Before his passing, Yaakov rebuked Shimon and Levi and cursed their rage, "For in their wrath they killed a man…" The Midrash (cited by Rashi) explains that the "man" that Shimon and Levi are said to have killed is actually a reference to quite a few men: the entire adult male population of Shechem. Yaakov calls all of them "a man," because before G-d, to defeat all of Shechem was as simple as defeating one man.
Why did Yaakov pay tribute to the ease with which Shimon and Levi—endowed by G-d with extraordinary strength—decimated the population of Shechem, while he was rebuking them for actions? Implied is that this extraordinary strength was in fact part of the reason for Yaakov's displeasure with Shimon and Levi's rage-driven actions.
One explanation for this is that Yaakov agreed with Shimon and Levi that it was justified to punish the people of Shechem. He was only critical of their deceitful means of doing so. They promised the people of Shechem peace if the entire male population would circumcise themselves, but then exploited the weakness and pain of the men of Shechem to attack them in violation of their agreement. Such deceitfulness was a disgrace for Yaakov and for the belief-system for which he stood.
Yaakov therefore rebuked Shimon and Levi saying that, considering their ability to wipe out the entire city with the ease of killing one man, they had no need to deceive them. They could have confronted the people of Shechem for their crimes directly and punished them honorably. "Cursed be their rage!" said Yaakov, for it blinded them from recognizing their ability to mete out punishment on the people of Shechem without resorting to trickery.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 5, pp. 151-152
Sponsor a Lightpoints email
A project of Or Hachassidus
ביוזמת ולזכות הרה״ח הרה״ת ר' ישעי' זושא ווילהעלם שליט״א להצלחה רבה לו ולכל משפחתו בגו״ר
This email is sent from Machon Or Hachasidus - likras shabbos. We'd love to stay in touch with you, but if you wish to be unsubscribed from this list please click here, or click here to manage your subscriptions. Sent via ChabadOne Communicator
12/23/15
If You Can Beat Them
12/22/15
Made in Egypt. Insider Information
Made in EgyptInsider Information
Insider Information
The Talmud (Pesachim 56a) explains that Yaakov sought to reveal to his sons the end of the days (i.e., the time of the ultimate Redemption), but the Shechinah, the Divine Presence, withdrew from him.
What did Yaakov want to achieve by revealing this information to his children, and why did G-d not approve? One explanation is that Yaakov foresaw that the redemption from Egyptian bondage could potentially be the complete and ultimate Redemption, meaning, that the Jewish people would never be exiled again (see Zohar, vol. 3, p. 221a). He desired to reveal this to Bnei Yisrael, (who knew that the Egyptian exile would not be longer than 400 years, as stated in Bereishis 15:13-14,) in the hope that this would motivate them to maintain their righteousness and indeed merit the complete redemption at that time. Moreover, knowing that the ultimate redemption was potentially very near, they would increase their good deeds and bring about their compete redemption even sooner.
Nevertheless, G-d restrained Yaakov from revealing this information to his children. For the highest form of divine worship is when you serve G-d on your own initiative, and your drive to be righteous comes from within. This would be lost to some degree if Bnei Yisrael's motivation to increase their good deeds were based on prophetic information regarding the potential of their deeds to bring about the ultimate redemption by a given date. Their righteousness would not be regarded as "their own," as it had been motivated by outside sources of inspiration, and their merit would therefore not be complete.
The Shechinah therefore withdrew from Yaakov. Whereas Yaakov preferred to bring about the final redemption sooner, G-d preferred to give Bnei Yisrael the opportunity to truly merit the redemption on their own accord, and to thereby bring about the most perfect and complete redemption possible.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 25, pp. 228-232
Sponsor a Lightpoints email
A project of Or Hachassidus
ביוזמת ולזכות הרה״ח הרה״ת ר' ישעי' זושא ווילהעלם שליט״א להצלחה רבה לו ולכל משפחתו בגו״ר
This email is sent from Machon Or Hachasidus - likras shabbos. We'd love to stay in touch with you, but if you wish to be unsubscribed from this list please click here, or click here to manage your subscriptions. Sent via ChabadOne Communicator
12/21/15
Mother Rochel
A Mother's Sacrifice
Rachel's burial place would naturally have been in Me'aras Hamachpelah, alongside her husband. Instead, Yaakov buried her on the roadside near Beis-Lechem. Rashi tells us that before Yaakov passed away, he explained to Yosef that his mother's burial there would one day serve an important role in hastening her children's return from exile. When they would pass her grave as they were led into exile, Rachel would emerge from her grave and weep and beg G-d's mercy for them. As the verse states (Yirmiyahu 31:14), "A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children." And G-d replies to her, "There is reward for your work… and the children shall return to their own border" (ibid 31:16). With this explanation, Yaakov consoled Yosef over his mother's seemingly second-rate burial place. For considering the benefit that her burial there would bring to her children, it was certain that Rachel too would have preferred to be buried there and not in Me'aras Hamachpelah.
The willingness to sacrifice for her children that Yaakov attributed to Rachel epitomizes the Jewish woman's unique quality and role as the akeres habayis, the mainstay of the family.
Whereas both men and women must equally serve G-d with every aspect of their lives, yet practically, only men are obligated in mitzvos that are time-sensitive, as well as the constant mitzvah to study Torah (see Talmud, Kiddushin 29a-b). Women are exempt from these time-oriented or constant obligations because a woman is constantly tending to the needs of her family and home. Thus, the Jewish woman "sacrifices" the satisfaction and spiritual experience that comes with the observance of those mitzvos, serving G-d instead by nurturing her family and caring for her home.
This explains why, among Yaakov's wives, specifically Rachel was buried on the roadside and not in the holy and special burial grounds of Me'aras Hamachpelah. For as Rashi states elsewhere (Bereishis 31:4), Rachel was the akeres habayis of Yaakov's household. Therefore, just as she personified the "woman's sacrifice" in her lifetime, in her passing too, her unique place of burial allowed her to implore G-d on her children's behalf and to guarantee their return home.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 30, pp. 239-240
Sponsor a Lightpoints email
A project of Or Hachassidus
ביוזמת ולזכות הרה״ח הרה״ת ר' ישעי' זושא ווילהעלם שליט״א להצלחה רבה לו ולכל משפחתו בגו״ר
This email is sent from Machon Or Hachasidus - likras shabbos. We'd love to stay in touch with you, but if you wish to be unsubscribed from this list please click here, or click here to manage your subscriptions. Sent via ChabadOne Communicator
