Rabbi Dr. Michael Avraham – The Relationship Between Halakhot and Factual Characteristics as a Basis for Understanding the Hermeneutical Principles (Revised) – Amitai Hoze

Table of Contents

• Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli and realizing one’s true self
• The Torah as a sequence of letters and the names of the Holy One, blessed be He
• Black fire upon white fire and combinations of letters
• Genesis, “one day,” the hidden light, and unity versus separation
• Vayetze: Jacob’s departure, exile, the ladder, the evening prayer, and building out of darkness
• Vayechi: Ephraim and Manasseh, the withdrawal of the Divine Presence, blessings, and one extra portion of Shechem
• The stones that became one stone and the power of unity
• The Ark: half-measures, the broken tablets, and being inwardly as one appears outwardly
• Bamidbar: counting, banners, the tribe of Levi, and the place of the individual
• The hiding of the divine face, truth and falsehood with Laban, and the Ramchal on the governance of unity
• Open and closed portions: Maimonides, the Rosh, and the form of a chet
• Vayechi: a closed portion, “kindness and truth,” and the Land of Israel
• Laws of sacred scribal writing: miniature letters, the quill, and precision in letter forms
• Vayeshev: the tranquility of a righteous person, Joseph’s turmoil, the pit, and providence
• Whoever teaches his fellow’s son Torah is considered as if he fathered him
• Vayishlach: the meeting with Esau, fear, prayer-gift-war, and redemption
• Do commandments require intention: the act of a commandment and the fulfillment of a commandment
• Lebanon: the Temple, Moses our Teacher, and the copper serpent
• First-fruits, gratitude, and the month of Elul
• Man and woman: the Divine Presence between them, or fire consumes them
• Sukkah: the shade of faith, the clouds of glory, and the ushpizin
• The evening Shema: nightfall, priests, and the watches of the night

Summary

General Overview

Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli weeps on his deathbed because he is not afraid that he will be asked why he was not Moses our Teacher or Abraham our Patriarch, but because he will be asked, “Zusha, why were you not Zusha?”—and to that he has no answer. From this it is established that the Holy One, blessed be He, asks every person to realize the strengths, talents, and challenges he was given, rather than imitate others, so that the real question at the end of life is whether he was truly himself and made use of the gifts the Creator gave him. The Torah is understood as an inner life-force and as a reality that renews the world at every moment; on an inner plane it is entirely the names of the Holy One, blessed be He, and it is bound up with the unity of “one day” and with the hidden light concealed within the Torah, and with the power of unity that repairs separation, exile, and the hiding of the divine face. Throughout, the lecture brings teachings and verses from Rashi, Nachmanides, the Zohar, the Ramchal, and Rabbi Chaim of Brisk, alongside laws of sacred scribal writing concerning open and closed portions and the form of letters, and discussions of the portions Vayetze, Vayeshev, Vayishlach, Vayechi, and Bamidbar, with emphasis on exile and the Divine Presence, truth versus deception, humility in Torah, responsibility for Torah study, peace in the home, faith in the sukkah, and the times for the evening Shema according to the watches of the night.

Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli and realizing one’s true self

Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli says he is afraid that he will be asked, “Zusha, why were you not Zusha?”—and he has no answer to that question. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not ask a person to be someone else, but to truly be himself. Each person has been given tools, talents, abilities, and also difficulties. The task is not to look at the neighbor’s grass and not to imitate others, but to draw out the maximum from the place one was given. And the question at the end of one’s days is whether a person made use of the gifts the Creator gave him. The Talmud in tractate Kiddushin says, “Let the words of Torah be sharp in your mouth,” so that Torah becomes an inner vitality that accompanies a person at every moment. And it is said: “May it be God’s will that we all merit to fulfill our unique mission in this world with joy and gladness of heart.”

The Torah as a sequence of letters and the names of the Holy One, blessed be He

Nachmanides says that originally the Torah was one continuous sequence of letters that could be read either as the names of the Holy One, blessed be He, or as stories. Moses our Teacher wrote the Torah “like a scribe copying from a document” and “like one copying from an ancient book,” as the Holy One, blessed be He, told him the words and Moses wrote them. Nachmanides says that Moses our Teacher saw the letters in an unbroken sequence and divided them into words according to what he was commanded by the mouth of divine might. This is the great secret that the entire Torah is made up of the names of the Holy One, blessed be He, and even “In the beginning God created” and the stories of the Patriarchs are names of the Holy One, blessed be He. The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted the Torah to be given in the form of stories so that we could learn ethics and proper conduct, but on the inner plane everything is sacred names.

Black fire upon white fire and combinations of letters

The midrash says that the Torah was written in black fire upon white fire, with the white fire as the background and the black fire as the letters. The letters are the forces through which the world was created, and one who knows how to combine the letters of the Torah can do wonders, as is said of Bezalel that he knew how to combine the letters by which heaven and earth were created. The Torah is presented as the present reality of the world, and the Holy One, blessed be He, renews the work of creation every day through the letters of the Torah. That is why the Torah is called a Torah of life and the source of life for all created beings. Anyone who engages in Torah for its own sake connects to the names of the Holy One, blessed be He, and becomes part of this divine reality. The labor is to deepen the connection between the letters and reality, and between the words and the sacred names, in order to “reveal the glory of God in the world through the holy Torah.”

Genesis, “one day,” the hidden light, and unity versus separation

It says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and “There was evening and there was morning, one day.” Rashi asks why it says “one day” and not “the first day,” and the answer is that on the first day the Holy One, blessed be He, was alone in His world; even the angels had not yet been created. On the second day separation appears in “Let there be a firmament… and let it divide between waters and waters,” and there the number two begins. Man’s purpose is to take the world of separation, the world of the workdays, and return it to the unity of “one day.” The holy Zohar says that the light of the first day was concealed for the righteous in the future to come, and it was concealed in the Torah, so that Torah study connects a person to the hidden light and to “one day.” And so it is said: may it be God’s will that we see this light in all the work of our hands and merit a good and sweet year of renewal in Torah and fear of Heaven.

Vayetze: Jacob’s departure, exile, the ladder, the evening prayer, and building out of darkness

Jacob’s departure from Beersheba affects the local residents, and they feel that the splendor and glory have departed. It is said that there are times when a person must go out into exile in order to build himself and repair distant worlds. Jacob goes to Haran, to the house of Laban the Aramean, in order to bring out holy sparks and establish the tribes. The Talmud in tractate Megillah says that wherever the Jewish people were exiled, the Divine Presence went with them, and so regarding Jacob’s departure it says, “And behold, I am with you.” The dream of the ladder teaches that when a person is down below on earth, in the midst of hardship and trial, his head still needs to reach the heavens and remain connected to the higher source. The Torah says, “He encountered the place and spent the night there because the sun had set.” The Sages say this was Mount Moriah, and Jacob our Patriarch established the evening prayer there, which symbolizes darkness and exile. Yet in the darkness he discovers that it is “the gate of heaven,” and it is established that even in Haran and in hardship one can build a faithful house in Israel out of the promise, “And behold, I am with you.”

Vayechi: Ephraim and Manasseh, the withdrawal of the Divine Presence, blessings, and one extra portion of Shechem

It says, “Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years,” and Joseph comes with Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob says, “And now your two sons… they are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine like Reuben and Simeon.” Jacob mentions, “Rachel died to my grief,” and Rachel’s burial on the road to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. The midrash asks about “Who are these?” and says that he saw by divine inspiration that wicked people would descend from them, and the Divine Presence departed from him. Jacob embraces them, kisses them, and blesses them with, “May the angel who redeemed me from all evil bless the lads.” He crosses his hands and places his right hand on the younger Ephraim. Joseph says, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn,” and Jacob replies, “I know, my son, I know… yet his younger brother shall become greater than he.” It says, “By you shall Israel bless, saying: May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh,” and finally, “And I have given you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”

The stones that became one stone and the power of unity

It is said that every stone wanted the righteous man to place his head upon it, so that it might be sanctified with the sanctity of Torah and the sanctity of the faith of Jacob our Patriarch. When they became one stone, this teaches that all the forces in the world must unite toward one goal: the service of God. When all the forces are united, the Divine Presence rests among them. That is why it says, “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall become a house of God.” The stone becomes a house of God when it unites multiplicity and dispute into one great unity. This message is tied to Jacob’s departure for Haran, in that he takes with him a power of unity into a place of darkness and conflict in Laban’s world.

The Ark: half-measures, the broken tablets, and being inwardly as one appears outwardly

About the Ark it says, “its length shall be two and a half cubits… its width a cubit and a half, and its height a cubit and a half.” All the measurements are halves, in order to teach that one who wants to merit Torah must always feel incomplete, like a half, always aware that there is more to complete and more to learn. It says, “The tablets and the broken tablets were placed in the Ark,” and brokenness itself is defined as a vessel. The verse, “You shall overlay it with pure gold; from within and from without shall you overlay it,” is brought together with the Talmud in Yoma in the name of Rava: “Any Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside is not a Torah scholar.” A person is compared to wood overlaid with gold inside and out, so that the heart is as pure as the outward actions, and there is full correspondence between interior and exterior. This is said to be the way to become “an Ark for the covenant of God” and to hold the Torah honestly and wholeheartedly. It concludes with a prayer that we merit humility and purity.

Bamidbar: counting, banners, the tribe of Levi, and the place of the individual

The portion of Bamidbar opens the book of counting, and the Holy One, blessed be He, commands Moses to count the children of Israel “because of His love for them,” as Rashi explains. The counting is recognition of the value of each and every individual. Every Jew has a letter in the Torah and has a place in the camp. The Torah describes the arrangement of the banners around the Tent of Meeting as an order that teaches harmony, where each person knows his role and respects his fellow. The tribe of Levi is counted separately, and its role is to serve in holiness. In this way, the importance of Torah study and the service of God is highlighted within the general structure.

The hiding of the divine face, truth and falsehood with Laban, and the Ramchal on the governance of unity

The Holy One, blessed be He, created the world in a mode of hiddenness, so that what appears is not always the absolute truth. In the portion of Vayetze, Jacob our Patriarch is “a man of truth,” and he arrives to Laban the Aramean, “the father of all deceivers.” His entire stay with Laban is a lesson in coping with a world of falsehood. Laban deceives him by switching Rachel for Leah and by changing his wages “ten times,” but Jacob does not break; he remains attached to truth because he knows that above Laban there is a Master of the world. The Ramchal explains that the governance of God’s unity directs the world even when it seems that the wicked are succeeding, and in the end the truth will come to light. Jacob keeps the commandments—“I lived with Laban, yet I kept the 613 commandments”—and this is defined as the power of the Jew in every generation: to know that the world is a temporary corridor and truth is eternal.

Open and closed portions: Maimonides, the Rosh, and the form of a chet

The subject of open and closed sections is defined as complex and important in the laws of a Torah scroll, tefillin, and mezuzot. The view of Maimonides was accepted as Jewish law among Eastern communities, as Maran the Shulchan Arukh ruled in section 32. In chapter 8 of the laws of a Torah scroll, Maimonides defines an open section as one that begins at the start of a line after the previous section ended in the middle of the line and the rest of the line was left blank. Maimonides defines a closed section as one that begins in the middle of a line after a blank space of nine letters from the previous section, which ended on that same line. The Rosh disagrees and holds that a closed section exists specifically when there is a blank space at the beginning of the line and the section begins from the middle onward. This dispute creates difficulty, because changing an open section to a closed one or vice versa is disqualifying and invalidates the scroll. The halakhic authorities devised the “form of a chet,” a blank space that begins at the end of one line and continues at the beginning of the next line, so that it will count as a closed section according to all opinions. In practice, the view of Maran the Shulchan Arukh follows Maimonides, and that is how most Sephardic sacred scribes conduct themselves, while many Ashkenazim are stringent and take the Rosh’s opinion into account as well.

Vayechi: a closed portion, “kindness and truth,” and the Land of Israel

Rashi asks why the portion of Vayechi is closed, with no gap at all between the end of Vayigash and its beginning. He says that once Jacob our Patriarch died, “the eyes and hearts of Israel were closed up because of the suffering of the bondage,” as the Egyptians began to enslave them. Another explanation is that Jacob sought to reveal the end of days, but it was concealed from him. A difficulty is raised, because the verse says “Jacob lived,” and the seventeen years in Egypt are described as good years, peaceful years, years of Torah. It is explained that the Torah teaches that through Jacob’s holiness during those seventeen years, his children received the strength to endure the later bondage and exile. Jacob asks Joseph, “Do with me kindness and truth,” and Rashi says that kindness done with the dead is true kindness, because it expects no repayment. He asks, “Please do not bury me in Egypt,” because “Egypt is destined to become lice,” and the dead will have to roll underground until they reach the Land of Israel at the resurrection of the dead, and he does not want the suffering of rolling through tunnels. Joseph swears to bring him up to the Cave of Machpelah, and this symbolizes the eternal bond of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel: even in the exile of Egypt, their eyes and hearts are lifted toward the land of the Patriarchs.

Laws of sacred scribal writing: miniature letters, the quill, and precision in letter forms

It is said in the laws of sacred scribal writing in section 32 that the form of the letters must be exactly as we have received it. The book Panim Chadashot by the author of Melekhet Shamayim writes regarding miniature letters, such as a small dalet or a small vav, that one must be very careful that the form of the letter not be altered because of its small size. So too wrote Mateh Ephraim in section 602. A discussion is brought regarding writing with a quill, and it is said that the halakhic authorities disagreed. Evidence is cited from the Talmud in tractate Menachot 29 concerning the crownlets and the letters. It is said that every God-fearing scribe must know these laws thoroughly so as not, Heaven forbid, to produce an invalid scroll. Rabbi Akiva Eiger is cited as saying that one must be exact regarding the squareness of the letters, and everything here is indispensable. Any change in the form of a letter, even a minute one, can invalidate the entire scroll, and so one must be extremely precise about this.

Vayeshev: the tranquility of a righteous person, Joseph’s turmoil, the pit, and providence

Rashi brings the midrash: “Jacob wished to dwell in tranquility; Joseph’s turmoil sprang upon him,” and it is said that this world is a world of labor and trials. Joseph is sold to Egypt and goes down into the pit, and the pit is the beginning of salvation. “The pit was empty; it had no water in it,” but “there were snakes and scorpions in it,” and a person needs to know that providence is with him even there. Joseph’s sale is defined as the root of exile and also the root of redemption. It is said, “Many are the thoughts in a man’s heart, but the counsel of God—it shall stand,” because the brothers intended one thing, while the Holy One, blessed be He, brought about good through it. “A peaceful and blessed Sabbath” is preserved as stated.

Whoever teaches his fellow’s son Torah is considered as if he fathered him

It is said, “Whoever teaches his fellow’s son Torah, Scripture considers it as though he fathered him,” based on “These are the generations of Aaron and Moses” as against “These are the names of the sons of Aaron.” The conclusion is that Aaron fathered them, but Moses taught them, and therefore they were called by his name as well. The deeper point is explained this way: when a person teaches Torah, he gives spiritual life and builds personality. The father gives the body, and the rabbi gives the soul. It is also said that one who teaches Torah to his grandson is considered as though he received it from Mount Sinai, based on “You shall make them known to your children and your children’s children,” which appears next to “the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb.” This is defined as the power of the Torah tradition, that every act of learning is like standing anew at the foot of the mountain.

Vayishlach: the meeting with Esau, fear, prayer-gift-war, and redemption

In the portion of Vayishlach, Jacob returns after twenty years with Laban and sends angels—“actual angels”—to Esau in order to check the situation. They return with the report, “And he too is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Jacob “was greatly afraid and distressed,” and it is said that he prepared himself for war, for prayer, and for a gift. This is defined as a general principle, “The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children,” for all exiles. We are told that one must learn from this how to conduct oneself among the nations, how to preserve identity in exile, and how to trust that the Holy One, blessed be He, always protects. The struggle with the angel, the ministering force of Esau, symbolizes a spiritual victory over the powers of impurity. And in the end, “the sun rose for him,” as a statement that the light of redemption will come after the long night of exile.

Do commandments require intention: the act of a commandment and the fulfillment of a commandment

It is said that a person performs a commandment not because of the physical act as such, but because of the command itself. The act is a vessel; the content is the command of the Holy One, blessed be He. From here comes the question: “Do commandments require intention?” Rabbi Chaim of Brisk explains that there is the “act of a commandment,” which is the technical side, and the “fulfillment of the commandment,” which is the essential side. In taking the lulav, the act is the taking, and the fulfillment is carrying out the will of God. It is said that the depth of the commandment lies in consciousness, and that this changes one’s relation to the service of God into a relationship of command and listening. It is said, “The Merciful One wants the heart”—the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart—and the action is the gateway to an encounter that takes place in thought and in inner speech.

Lebanon: the Temple, Moses our Teacher, and the copper serpent

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai testifies that the Temple is called Lebanon because it whitens the sins of Israel. Moses our Teacher asks, “Please let me cross over… this good mountain and the Lebanon,” in order to enter and see the Temple for the sake of the forgiveness of sins. The midrash describes the Holy One, blessed be He, as saying, “It is too much for you; do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter.” The explanation given is that in the portion of Chukat, Moses saved Israel from the snakes by means of “the copper serpent.” If Moses were to enter and build the Temple, people would say that it is specifically he who whitens sins, and not the Temple. Therefore it is said that Moses is “an aspect of Lebanon.” It is also said that he prayed 515 prayers, corresponding to the numerical value of “Va’etchanan,” in order to merit entering the Land of Israel.

First-fruits, gratitude, and the month of Elul

Regarding the commandment of first-fruits it says, “And it shall be, when you come into the land that the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.” A person takes the first of his produce, brings it up to Jerusalem, and recites, “An Aramean sought to destroy my father.” The question is asked: why mention exile and hardship at a moment of joy? And the answer given is that this is the essence of gratitude: to remember where one came from and who brought him to this point—that everything is the kindness of God. These ideas are connected to the days of the month of Elul, days of mercy and selichot, to strengthen ourselves in thanksgiving and to ask for mercy for the coming year, with the blessing for “a good inscription and sealing… for a good life and for peace.”

Man and woman: the Divine Presence between them, or fire consumes them

The Talmud in Sotah 17a brings Rabbi Akiva’s teaching: “Man and woman—if they merit it, the Divine Presence is between them; if they do not merit it, fire consumes them.” Rashi explains that the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is divided, and the yud is placed in man and the heh in woman. If they merit it, the Divine Presence dwells among them. If they do not merit it, the Holy One, blessed be He, removes His name, and what remains in both is “fire.” It is said in the Talmud that a woman’s fire is harsher than a man’s because she is more constantly present in the home. The conclusion is that peace in the home is a measure of the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the home. When there is no peace, the Divine Presence departs, and the fire of strife remains. Each person is obligated to do what he can to bring the Divine Presence into his home through yielding, understanding, and a warm countenance.

Sukkah: the shade of faith, the clouds of glory, and the ushpizin

The holy Zohar says that the sukkah is “the shade of faith,” and when a person enters the sukkah, he enters under the wings of the Divine Presence. The commandment of sukkah is unique in that the whole body is inside the commandment. The idea is to leave a permanent dwelling for a temporary dwelling, where the only protection is the roofing of branches, which represents the clouds of glory. Sitting in the sukkah is defined as a statement of trust in God—that true protection comes from Him and not from the walls of the house. In that way faith becomes tangible and the presence of God surrounds a person. The Zohar says that the seven exalted guests come to the sukkah: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. It is said that “the season of our rejoicing” is a joy of connection to the Divine Presence and a recognition that the world is temporary and the essential thing is the bond with the Creator.

The evening Shema: nightfall, priests, and the watches of the night

The Talmud asks why the Mishnah does not state an explicit time such as nightfall, but instead gives the sign of the priests. It is explained that the tanna wanted to teach that priests who had become impure and immersed may eat terumah as soon as the stars come out, and that this is the exact time for the Shema. The Mishnah says, “until the end of the first watch,” according to Rabbi Eliezer. The Talmud discusses the watches and concludes, “The night has three watches,” and brings a baraita of Rabbi Eliezer that at each and every watch, the Holy One, blessed be He, “roars like a lion” and says, “Woe to the children, because through their sins I destroyed My house, burned My sanctuary, and exiled My children among the nations.” The Talmud brings signs for the watches: in the first, a donkey brays; in the second, dogs bark; in the third, a baby nurses from its mother’s breast and a woman speaks with her husband. These signs allow one to know the time even in a dark house without seeing stars or the sun. Rabbi Eliezer defines the time of lying down as lasting until the end of the first watch, and therefore that is the time for the evening Shema according to his view.

The famous story about Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli: when he was on his deathbed, he was crying. His students came over to him and asked, “Rabbi, why are you crying? After all, you performed so many commandments, you studied so much Torah, you are completely righteous—what do you have to fear?” Rabbi Zusha answered them: “I’m not afraid that the Heavenly Court will ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses our Teacher?’ because I’ll answer them that I did not have the powers or the soul of Moses our Teacher. I’m also not afraid that they’ll ask me, ‘Why were you not Abraham our Patriarch?’ because I have a ready answer for that too. What am I really afraid of? I’m afraid they’ll ask me, ‘Zusha, why were you not Zusha? Why did you not become what Zusha could have been?’ And to that question,” Rabbi Zusha said, “I have no answer.” The message of this story is enormous. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not ask us to be somebody else; He asks us to be ourselves—but truly ourselves. Each one of us was given a set of tools, talents, abilities, and also difficulties. Our task in this world is not to look at the neighbor’s grass and not to try to imitate others, but to take what we were given and bring out the maximum from it. When a person reaches the end of his days, the great question that will echo is whether he was himself, whether he made use of the gifts the Creator gave him. We see in the Talmud, tractate Kiddushin: “Let words of Torah be sharp in your mouth, so that if a person asks you something, you should not stammer and tell him.” The meaning is that Torah should be part of us, not something external, but an inner vitality that accompanies us at every moment. May it be His will that we all merit to fulfill our unique mission in this world with joy and a glad heart. Meaning, when we read the Torah, we read it divided into words, but originally the Torah was one continuous sequence of letters, which you can read as the names of the Holy One, blessed be He, and you can also read as stories. And Nachmanides says that this is the secret: when Moses our Teacher wrote the Torah, he wrote it like a scribe copying from a document, or as he says there, “like one copying from an ancient book.” The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him the words, and Moses writes. But he says that Moses our Teacher saw those letters as continuous, and he divided them into words according to what he was commanded from the mouth of divine power. And this is a great secret: that the entire Torah is the names of the Holy One, blessed be He. And Nachmanides says that even the stories in the Torah, such as “In the beginning God created,” or the stories of the Patriarchs, all of it is the names of the Holy One, blessed be He. It’s just that the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted the Torah to be given to us in the form of stories, so that we could learn ethics and proper conduct from it. But on the inner level, all of it is holy names. And this is what is written in the midrash, that the Torah was inscribed in black fire upon white fire. The white fire is the background, and the black fire is the letters. And these letters are the powers with which the world was created. Therefore, one who knows how to combine the letters of the Torah can do wonders, as we saw with Bezalel, who knew how to combine the letters with which heaven and earth were created. And this is the depth of Torah: Torah is not only things that happened once, but the present reality of the world. At every moment, the Holy One, blessed be He, in His goodness renews every day continuously the work of creation through the letters of the Torah. Therefore the Torah is called a Torah of life, because it is the source of life for all created beings. And anyone who engages in Torah for its own sake connects to the names of the Holy One, blessed be He, and becomes part of this divine reality. And this is what Nachmanides wants to tell us: the Torah is far more than what appears to the eye. It is a whole world full of secrets and hints just waiting for us to uncover them. And that is the idea of toiling in Torah—to deepen and understand the connection between the letters and reality, and between the words and the holy names. And that is our work here in this world: to learn and to teach, to observe and to do, and to reveal the glory of God in the world through the holy Torah. With Heaven’s help, we are beginning the Torah anew: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Rashi asks: why does it say “one day” and not “the first day”? And the answer is that the Holy One, blessed be He, was alone in His world. Meaning, on the first day there is absolutely nothing besides Him. Even the angels had not yet been created. When we say “one day,” we are speaking about the essence of unity. On the second day division already appears: “Let there be a firmament within the waters, and let it separate between waters and waters.” There you can no longer say one; there the number two begins. The goal of a person in this world is to take the world of division, the days of action, and return them to the unity of “one day.” It is written in the holy Zohar that the light of the first day was hidden away for the righteous in the future to come. Where was it hidden? In the Torah. When a person studies Torah, he connects to the hidden light, he connects to “one day.” “In the beginning God created”—everything begins from the beginning, from the inner point where everything is united. May it be His will that we merit to see this light in all the work of our hands, and merit a good and sweet year, a year of renewal in Torah and reverence for Heaven. Today we will try to go deeper into this point and see how it touches the life of each and every one of us. When we look into the words of Rashi, we see that there is a great principle here in the service of God. A righteous person is not only someone who studies Torah for himself, but someone who influences his whole surroundings. Jacob’s departure from Be’er Sheva was an act that affected all the residents there. They felt that something was missing, that the radiance and splendor had departed. But why did Jacob have to leave? After all, he could have stayed and studied Torah in the Land of Israel. The answer is that there are times when a person must go out into exile in order to build himself and in order to repair distant worlds. Jacob goes to Haran, to the lowest place, to the place of Laban the Aramean, in order to bring out from there the holy sparks and in order to establish the tribes. The Talmud in tractate Megillah says that wherever the Jewish people went into exile, the Divine Presence went with them. Even when Jacob goes into exile, the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanies him. And this is what was said to him in the dream of the ladder: “And behold, I am with you.” The Holy One, blessed be He, promises him protection not only when he is in the Land of Israel, but also when he is outside the land, in Laban’s house. This dream of the ladder teaches us that even when a person is down here on earth, within the difficulties and trials of this world, his head must still reach heavenward. He must always remain connected to the higher source. The Torah tells us that Jacob encountered the place and lodged there because the sun had set. Our sages say this was Mount Moriah. Jacob our Patriarch instituted the evening prayer there. The evening prayer symbolizes darkness, exile, difficult times. Precisely in the darkness, Jacob finds the greatest light. He discovers that this is the gate of heaven. Each one of us goes through times of “and he went out,” situations of leaving the familiar and the known and going into the unknown. The message of the portion is that even in Haran, even in hardship, one can build a faithful house in Israel if one remembers the promise, “And behold, I am with you.” “And it came to pass after these things that one said to Joseph, ‘Behold, your father is ill,’ and he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob and said, ‘Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,’ and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed.” Jacob our Patriarch says to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.” He promises him that the Holy One, blessed be He, will make him fruitful and multiply him and will give the land to his descendants. “And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt—they are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine like Reuben and Simeon.” They are considered tribes in every respect. “And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan on the way”—he mentions Rachel’s burial on the road to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. “And Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, ‘Who are these?’” The midrash asks: did he not recognize them? Rather, he saw through divine inspiration that wicked people would come from them, and the Divine Presence departed from him. Joseph said to him: “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Please bring them to me and I will bless them.” “And the eyes of Israel were heavy with age; he could not see. And he brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees and bowed with his face to the ground. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand to Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand to Israel’s right.” “And Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger; he crossed his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, ‘The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has shepherded me from my inception until this day, the angel who redeems me from all evil, may he bless the youths.’” “And Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it displeased him.” He said to him, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become great, but his younger brother shall become greater than he.” “And he blessed them on that day, saying, ‘By you shall Israel bless, saying: May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’” And Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, and God will be with you. And I have given you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.” But every stone wanted the righteous one to lay his head upon it so that it might be sanctified with the holiness of Torah and the holiness of faith of Jacob our Patriarch. And by their becoming one stone, this teaches us that all the powers in the world need to unite toward one purpose: the service of God. When all the powers are united, then the Divine Presence dwells. Therefore it is written afterward, “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house.” When does the stone become God’s house? When it unites within itself all the multiplicity and dispute and turns them into one great unity. And this is the message of Jacob our Patriarch as he goes out to Haran. Even though he is going to a place of darkness, to a place of dispute with Laban, he takes with him this power of unity, the power that unites all the stones into one stone. “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length, one and a half cubits its width, and one and a half cubits its height.” We see something interesting here: all the measurements of the ark are half-measures. Why half-measures? To teach a person that anyone who wants to merit Torah must feel that he is always lacking, always only half, that he still has more to complete and more to learn. Someone who feels he is already complete has no room to bring Torah in. And this is what our sages say: “The tablets and the broken tablets were placed in the ark.” Even brokenness is a vessel. And the Torah says: “And you shall overlay it with pure gold; from inside and from outside shall you overlay it.” The Talmud in Yoma says: Rava said, “Any Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside is not a Torah scholar.” There were three arks there: gold inside, wood in the middle, and gold outside. The person is the wood, and he needs to be overlaid with gold from every direction. His heart should be as pure as his deeds are outwardly. There should be complete harmony between inside and outside, pure reverence for Heaven inwardly just as it appears externally. Inner truth with no falseness. Only this way does one merit to be an ark for the covenant of God, to truly and sincerely hold the holy Torah within us. May we all merit to be worthy vessels for the indwelling of the Divine Presence and for Torah study with humility and purity. A peaceful and blessed Sabbath. The portion of Bamidbar opens the Book of Numbers, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, commands Moses to count the children of Israel. Out of His love for them, He counts them at every opportunity, as Rashi explains at the beginning of the portion. This counting is not just statistics, but recognition of the value of each and every individual. Every Jew has a letter in the Torah, and each one has a place in the camp. The Torah describes for us the order of the banners, how each tribe camps in a certain arrangement around the Tent of Meeting. This order teaches us about the harmony that should exist within the Jewish people, when each one knows his role and his place, and respects the other. The tribe of Levi, whose role is to serve in holiness, is counted separately, and by this the importance of Torah study and the service of God within the overall fabric of the nation is emphasized. May we merit to learn from this portion the greatness of every single Jew, and the power of unity around the holy Divine Presence. The Holy One, blessed be He, created this world in such a way of hiddenness of face, that basically everything we see around us is not always the absolute truth. In our portion, Vayetze, we see Jacob our Patriarch, who is a man of truth—“Grant truth to Jacob”—and he arrives at the house of Laban the Aramean, who is the father of fathers of deceivers. And in essence, Jacob’s whole stay with Laban is one great lesson in how to deal with a world of falsehood. Laban tries to deceive him again and again; he switches Rachel for Leah, he changes his wages ten times, but Jacob our Patriarch does not break. He remains attached to his truth. Why? Because he knows that above Laban there is a Master of the world. This is what the Ramchal explains in his books: that the governance of God’s unity is what runs the world even when it looks as if the wicked are succeeding and falsehood is winning. In the end, the truth will come to light. Jacob our Patriarch teaches us that even when a person is in hardship, in deception, in Laban’s darkness, he has to preserve his tools, preserve his commandments: “I dwelled with Laban, and I kept the 613 commandments.” This is the power of the Jew in every generation: to know that this world is a corridor, it is temporary, and the truth is eternal. When we cling to Torah and commandments, we connect to eternity and do not let Laban’s falsehood bring us down. The issue of open and closed sections is one of the most complex and important subjects in the laws of a Torah scroll, tefillin, and mezuzot. Maimonides’ approach regarding an open and closed section is the approach that was accepted as Jewish law among the Eastern communities, as ruled by Maran in the Shulchan Arukh, section 32. Maimonides, in chapter 8 of the laws of a Torah scroll, explains that an open section is one that begins at the start of the line, after the previous section ended in the middle of the line above it and the rest of that line was left blank. Meaning, the end of the previous line remains open. And a closed section is one that begins in the middle of the line, after leaving a blank space of nine letters from the previous section that ended on that same line. The Rosh disagrees with Maimonides and holds that a closed section is specifically where there is a blank space at the beginning of the line and the section begins from the middle onward. This dispute created a major difficulty, since changing between open and closed is indispensable and invalidates the scroll. Therefore the halakhic authorities devised what is called the “chet form,” which is a space that begins at the end of one line and continues at the beginning of the next line, and in that way it is considered closed according to all opinions. However, in practice, the opinion of Maran in the Shulchan Arukh is like Maimonides, and according to that most Sephardic scribes of sacred texts operate, while many Ashkenazim are stringent to take the Rosh’s opinion into account as well and to make the “chet form” in the relevant places. “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.” Holy Rashi asks: why is this section closed? In all the portions of the Torah, between one section and another there is a gap of nine letters, whether an open section or a closed section. But here, between the end of the portion of Vayigash and the beginning of the portion of Vayechi, there is no gap at all, not even one letter. Why is this section closed? Rashi says: because when Jacob our Patriarch died, the eyes and hearts of Israel were closed because of the anguish of the enslavement, for the Egyptians began to enslave them. Another explanation: because Jacob sought to reveal the end to his sons, and it was closed off from him. And we need to understand: after all, it says here, “And Jacob lived”; the portion speaks about Jacob’s life in Egypt, about his best seventeen years, in which he lived in tranquility, with all his sons around him on the path of Torah. So why is there already here a hint of closure and enslavement? Rather, the Torah teaches us that specifically out of Jacob’s life, out of the holiness he infused into his sons during those seventeen years, they received the power to withstand the enslavement and exile that would come afterward. “And the days of Israel drew near to die, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, place your hand under my thigh, and deal with me kindness and truth; please do not bury me in Egypt.’” The commentators ask: what is “kindness and truth”? Rashi says: the kindness done with the dead is a kindness of truth, because one does not expect payment or reward. Jacob our Patriarch asks Joseph: do not bury me in Egypt, because Egypt is destined to be struck, and the dead there will roll under the ground until they reach the Land of Israel at the resurrection of the dead, and I do not want to suffer the pain of rolling through tunnels. Therefore he made Joseph swear that he would bring him up to the Cave of Machpelah, the place where he had buried his fathers. Joseph promises him: “I will do as you have said.” This oath symbolizes the eternal bond of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, that even in the exile of Egypt, their eyes and hearts were directed toward the land of their fathers. Behold, it is explained in the laws of sacred scribal texts in section 32 that the form of the letters must be exactly as we received it, and one must consider what was written in the book Panim Chadashot, in the work of the author of Melekhet Shamayim, who wrote there regarding miniature letters, such as a small dalet or a small vav, that one must be very careful that the form of the letter not change because of its smallness. And so too wrote Mateh Ephraim in section 602, and see there at length what he wrote on this. And there is also room to discuss the matter of writing with a quill, whether it specifically has to be in a certain manner, and on this the halakhic authorities disagreed. A proof can be brought from the words of the Talmud in tractate Menachot 29, where the matter of the crowns and the letters is discussed. Every God-fearing scribe must know these laws thoroughly so as not, Heaven forbid, to produce an invalid scroll from under his hand. And one should note what Rabbi Akiva Eiger wrote in his novellae there, that one must be exacting about the squareness of the letters, and all of this is indispensable. And there is a great rule in Melekhet Shamayim that any change in the form of a letter, even the slightest, can invalidate the entire scroll, and therefore one must be exceedingly precise in this. The portion of Vayeshev: “And Jacob settled in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.” Holy Rashi brings the famous midrash: Jacob sought to dwell in tranquility, and Joseph’s trouble sprang upon him. What is the depth of these words? Why can’t a righteous person sit in tranquility? Rather, this world is a world of labor, a world of trials. Joseph the righteous was sold to Egypt, went down into the pit, but that pit was the beginning of salvation. “And the pit was empty, there was no water in it”—but there were snakes and scorpions in it. When a person is in a pit, he must know that providence is with him there as well. The sale of Joseph is the root of exile, but also the root of redemption. We see how “many are the thoughts in a man’s heart, but the counsel of God—it shall stand.” The brothers thought one thing, but the Holy One, blessed be He, turned it for good. A peaceful and blessed Sabbath. “Whoever teaches his fellow’s son Torah, Scripture considers it as if he fathered him, as it is said: ‘And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses.’ And it is written: ‘And these are the names of the sons of Aaron.’ Did Moses father them? Aaron fathered them! Rather, Aaron fathered them and Moses taught them; therefore they are called by his name. This teaches you that whoever teaches his fellow’s son Torah, Scripture considers it as if he fathered him.” And one must understand what the depth is here. After all, Aaron is the biological father. But a very deep principle is hidden here. When a person teaches another Torah, he gives him spiritual life, he builds his personality. The father gives him a body, but the rabbi gives him a soul. Therefore it is considered as if he fathered him. And so too we find regarding one who teaches his grandson Torah, that Scripture considers it as if he received it from Mount Sinai, as it is said: “And you shall make them known to your children and your children’s children,” and right next to it: “the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb.” The connection of Torah passes from generation to generation, and every time Torah is taught, it is as if we are standing once again at the foot of the mountain and hearing the voice of God speaking to us. This is the power of Torah tradition. In this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, we meet Jacob our Patriarch on his way back to the Land of Israel after twenty years with Laban. Jacob prepares for the encounter with Esau. The Torah says, “And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother.” Our sages say: actual angels. Why did he need to send angels? Jacob wanted to survey the situation. He knew that Esau still held on to his hatred. When the angels return, they say to him, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is also coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Jacob understands that there is great danger here. “And Jacob was very afraid and distressed.” He is afraid. On one hand he prepares himself for war, on the other hand for prayer, and on a third hand for a gift. This is the great rule that the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children. Everything that happened to Jacob our Patriarch in his encounter with Esau is what happens to the Jewish people in all the exiles. We need to know how to conduct ourselves before the nations, how to preserve our Jewish identity even within exile, and how to believe that the Holy One, blessed be He, always watches over us. Jacob’s struggle with the angel, the ministering power of Esau, symbolizes the spiritual victory of the Jewish people over the forces of impurity. In the end, “and the sun rose for him.” The light of redemption will come after the whole long night of exile. Again, this process that happens, in which a person performs the commandment—the question is, what exactly is happening here? He is fulfilling a commandment; that’s what he’s doing. He is not doing it from the side of the act itself, but from the side of the command. Meaning, the act is only the vessel, but the content is the command of the Holy One, blessed be He. And here we arrive at the fundamental question of whether commandments require intention. If the commandment is the action, then the action was done. But if the commandment is the response to the command, then without intention, the heart of the matter is missing. Rabbi Chaim of Brisk explains that there is a concept of the act of a commandment and a concept of the fulfillment of the commandment. The act is the technical side, and the fulfillment is the essential side. When a Jew takes the lulav, the act is the taking, but the fulfillment is carrying out the will of God. Therefore, the depth of the commandment is not found in the hands but in the mind. And that changes our entire attitude toward the service of God. It is not a collection of actions, but a relationship of command and listening to the voice of God. This is reflected in every single detail in Jewish law, from the laws of prayer to the laws of damages. Everywhere we look for the inner intention, the will that motivates the act. Because in the end, the Merciful One wants the heart—the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the person’s heart. The action is only the gate through which a person enters the king’s palace, but the real encounter takes place in thought and in inner speech. Therefore it is very important to understand this principle: that the commandment is not just a physical movement in the material world, but a spiritual connection that begins with the divine command and ends with the person’s devotion. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai testifies that the Temple is called Lebanon because it whitens the sins of Israel. Moses our Teacher asks the Holy One, blessed be He: “Let me pass over, please, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon.” Moses our Teacher wants to enter the Land of Israel and see the Temple, so that the sins of the Jewish people may be forgiven. The midrash says: the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, “It is too much for you; do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: “You wish to enter the Land of Israel and see the Temple that whitens the sins of Israel? But you yourself, in the portion of Chukat, when the children of Israel complained about the manna, they said, ‘And our soul is disgusted with this miserable bread.’ Then the serpents came and bit the children of Israel. And you, Moses our Teacher, prayed for them, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to you, ‘Make for yourself a fiery serpent and place it on a pole, and it shall be that whoever is bitten and sees it shall live.’” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: “The Temple whitens the sins of Israel, and you, Moses our Teacher, saved the people of Israel from the snakes through the copper serpent. If you enter the Land of Israel and build the Temple, then the Jewish people will say that you are the one who whitens their sins, and not the Temple.” Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: “It is too much for you; do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter.” Because Moses our Teacher is in the aspect of Lebanon—he is the one who whitens the sins of the Jewish people. And this is what is written in our portion: “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying.” Moses our Teacher prayed 515 prayers, according to the numerical value of “and I pleaded,” in order to merit entering the Land of Israel. Here in this week’s Torah portion we find the commandment of first-fruits, which is the first commandment in the portion. The Torah says, “And it shall be when you come into the land that the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.” The moment a person settles in the land and sees his fruits growing, he takes the first of them and brings it up to Jerusalem. There he recites the section, “An Aramean sought to destroy my father.” The commentators ask why one has to mention all the exile and hardships specifically at the moment of the joy of bringing the first-fruits. And the answer is that this is the very essence of gratitude. A person has to remember where he came from and who brought him this far. Everything is the kindness of God. When one recognizes the goodness of the Holy One, blessed be He, one merits additional abundance. We are now in the days of the month of Elul, the days of mercy and penitential prayers, and this is the time to strengthen ourselves in thanking God for everything He gave us in the outgoing year and to ask for mercy for the coming year. May we all merit to be written and sealed for good in the book of the completely righteous, for good life and peace, and for a year of blessing and great success in all the work of our hands. The Talmud in tractate Sotah 17a says: Rabbi Akiva taught, “Man and woman—if they merit it, the Divine Presence is between them; if they do not merit it, fire consumes them.” Rashi explains there: the name of the Holy One, blessed be He—the letter yod and the letter heh—the Holy One, blessed be He, divided and gave the yod in man and the heh in woman. The word for man has a yod in it, between the first and last letters; the word for woman has a heh at the end of the word. If they merit it and go in a proper path, the Divine Presence dwells between them. But if they do not merit it, the Holy One, blessed be He, removes His name from them, removes the yod from the man and the heh from the woman. What remains? With the man, what remains spells fire, and with the woman, what remains spells fire. The Talmud says: Rava said, and some say Rav Chisda, “A woman’s fire is harsher than a man’s.” Why? Because this one is found in the house and that one is not found in the house. Or: this one is found inside the house and that one is found outside. From here we see that the whole issue of peace in the home is not just a social or family matter, but the measure of whether the Holy One, blessed be He, is present within the home or not. When there is peace, the Divine Presence is there. When there is no peace, Heaven forbid, the Divine Presence departs, and then only the fire remains—the fire of dispute, the fire of anger, the fire that burns up every good part. Therefore each and every person is obligated to do everything in his power to bring the Divine Presence into his home: to yield, to understand, to show a pleasant face, and through that we will merit blessing and success in all the work of our hands. Why does the Divine Presence rest specifically in the sukkah? It is written in the holy Zohar that the sukkah is the shade of faith. When a person enters the sukkah, he enters under the wings of the Divine Presence. The commandment of sukkah is uniquely special because the person enters it with his whole body, with his whole existence. Usually when we fulfill a commandment, we do it with a particular limb—with the hand, the head, the heart. But in the sukkah, the whole body of the person is inside the commandment. Even his shoes enter the sukkah. This shows that holiness surrounds the person from every side. The idea of the sukkah is to leave a permanent dwelling and sit in a temporary dwelling. We leave our protected house, the strong walls, and go outside to a place whose only protection is the roofing. And that roofing represents the clouds of glory, the clouds of glory that surrounded the Jewish people in the wilderness and protected them. When a person sits in the sukkah, he is basically saying to the Holy One, blessed be He: I trust in You, I know that the real protection comes from You and not from the walls of my house. Therefore the sukkah is called the shade of faith. It is the place where a person’s faith becomes tangible. He feels the presence of God surrounding him. The Zohar says that the seven exalted guests come to the sukkah—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. Each day one of them is the main guest and brings with him a special illumination. And this is the secret of the season of our joy. True joy is not in possessions and not in material things, but in connection to spirituality, in connection to the Divine Presence. When a person feels that he is in the shade of the Holy One, blessed be He, there is no greater joy than that. This is the great lesson of the festival of Sukkot: to know that this world is temporary, and the main thing is our bond with the Creator, and that is what remains with us forever. The Talmud further asks: why does the Mishnah not state an explicit time like nightfall? Instead, it gives the sign of the priests. The explanation is that the tanna wanted to teach us an additional law in passing: that priests who became impure and immersed can eat terumah immediately at nightfall, and that is the exact time of the recitation of the Shema. The Mishnah continues: “Until the end of the first watch,” these are the words of Rabbi Eliezer. The Talmud discusses the concept of a watch and brings a baraita: it was taught, Rabbi Eliezer says, “The night has three watches, and at every single watch the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and roars like a lion and says: Woe to the children, because on account of their sins I destroyed My house and burned My sanctuary and exiled My children among the nations.” The Talmud asks: what does Rabbi Eliezer hold? If he holds that the night has three watches, let him say until the end of the first watch. And if he holds that the night has four watches, let him say until the end of the first watch. And the Talmud’s conclusion is that indeed the night has three watches. The Talmud also brings signs for every watch: first watch, a donkey brays; second, dogs bark; third, a baby nurses from its mother’s breast and a woman speaks with her husband. The Talmud says these signs were needed so that one could know the time even when a person is in a dark house and cannot see the stars or the sun. Rabbi Eliezer holds that the definition of bedtime is until the end of the first watch, and therefore that is the time for the evening Shema according to his view.