Shabbat VAYEITZEI (and he went out): The story of JACOBS JOURNEY to CHARAN is the story of every souls descent to the physical world. Torah reading: Gen. 28:10-32:3. chabad.org/parshah/default_cdo/aid/9173/jewish/Vayeitzei.htm And Jacob went out from Beer-Sheva, and he went toward Charan. So opens the Parshah of Vayeitzei which describes the 20 years Jacob spent on the outside -- outside of the Holy Land, and outside of the tents of (Torah) learning within which he had been sheltered for the first half of his life. The soul, too, leaves behind the spiritual idyll of BEER SHEVA (literally, Well of the Seven -- a reference to the supernal source of the SEVEN DIVINE ATTRIBUTES or SEFIROT from which the soul derives) and journeys to Charan (literally, Wrath): a place of lies, deceptions, struggle and hardship; a place in which material concerns consume ones days and nights, sapping ones energy, confusing ones priorities, and all but obscuring the purpose for which one has come there in the first place. Yet it is in Charan, in the employ of Laban the Deceiver, not in the Holy Land and its tents of learning, that Jacob founds the nation of Israel... The soul, too, achieves its enduring significance only upon its descent into Charan. Only as a physical being, invested within a physical body and inhabiting a physical environment, can it fulfill the purpose of its creation, which is to build a DWELLING FOR GOD in the physical world (From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe). SEVEN DIVINE ATTRIBUTES, SEFIROT: The Seven Shepherds; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and King David; each correspond to a fundamental spiritual pathway (SEFIRAH) through which the world is metaphysically nourished and perfected (Derech Hashem 3:2:5, Zohar Chadash, Toldot 26c; cf. Zohar 2:256a). Our forefather Abraham was the personification of the attribute of lovingkindness (CHESSED): He fed and sustained everyone with his great love, and with his overwhelming kindness he brought them under the wings of the Shechinah (Gods Presence). Abraham would convert the men and Sarah would convert the women “the souls they had acquired in Haran” (Genesis 12:5). He had no jealousy, cruelty, or hatred in his character. Our forefather Yitzchak personified the attribute of strength (GEVURAH). Through him fear of God was introduced to the world. All of his strength was devoted to serving God and fearing Him. OUR FOREFATHER YAAKOV was the personification of glory (TIFERET). Everything he that he accomplished was done with simplicity and perfection. He was pure in his relationship to Heaven and to his parents. All that he did, he did with perfection – in his relationship with Lavan, in his relationship with Esav, in his struggle with the angel. He was devoid of deceitfulness and treachery. We might think that he was devious or crooked in his dealings with his father or his brother Esav, but the Torah (Genesis 25:27) testifies to his true stature before God and man: AND YA’AKOV WAS A PERFECT MAN – perfection to an extent that had never been seen before. There are people who seem righteous in their nature and just in their actions, but are really corrupt. On the one hand, although Ya’akov’s actions may appear devious, when we closely examine his character, we find that HE IS THE EPITOME OF GLORY AND UPRIGHTNESS. Our teacher Moses was the personification of eternity (NETZACH) – the eternity of Torah... Moshe who was willing to give his life for Torah – merited to become its teacher and to transmit it to all the generations. Aharon personified the attribute of splendor (HOD), loving peace and pursuing it, loving mankind and bringing them close to the Torah. Anyone who saw Aharon’s splendor and holiness was immediately drawn to emulate him and his way... Yosef personified the attribute referred to as the foundation: moral virtue (YESOD). The righteous morality of Yosef was so great that he achieved the highest level of sanctity. This characteristic is called the foundation, for it is the main base upon which the world rests... (Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov). The family unit is the foundation of every thriving society. A nations moral condition and its strength of character are the key to its endurance. David ha-Melech was the personification of the attribute of sovereignty (MALCHUT).” He represents the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth: When we act in ways that manifest one of these spiritual attributes, THE DIVINE LIGHT (as directed through that particular transcendental conduit) shines down into the world and brings it closer to its completion (Derech Hashem 4:2:2,5). Each of these seven attributes is related to the others; if there is no strength, then there is no lovingkindness, for the latter attribute becomes soft-heartedness is it is not joined to strength. Similarly, if lovingkindness lacks an element of glory it can degenerate into sin. In the same vein, none of the other attributes can be considered complete if they lack an element of lovingkindness. EACH ATTRIBUTE HAS A LIGHT OF ITS OWN THAT SHINES FORTH FROM ITS COMBINATION WITH OTHERS (R E. Kitov). GOD HAS NOT CREATED HUMANS FOR AGGRESSION, bloodshed, rancor, selfishness and destruction. He made humans His vicegerents on earth and has asked them to, on the one hand, make earth prosper by using their God-given potentials and to prepare the ground for the growth of divine attributes in all humans, and to provide all with a life full of beauty, amity, freedom, justice and goodness; and on the other hand in pursuance of this path, to prepare for a prosperous, everlasting life endowed by Gods mercy. God has obligated humans to live divinely and socially, FOR IT IS ONLY THROUGH SOCIAL LIFE AND INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS THAT DIVINE ATTRIBUTES MAY EMERGE... (Ahmadinejad). EACH AND EVERY SOUL of the House of Israel comprises within it something of the quality of our teacher Moses, peace unto him, for he is one of the seven shepherds who cause vitality and Godliness to flow to the community of the souls of Israel, for which reason they are called shepherds. Just as a shepherd provides nourishment for his sheep, thereby supplying them with vitality, so too do the seven shepherds sustain Jewish souls with vitality and Godliness, each from his own spiritual level. Abraham provides the Jews with the spiritual faculty of Chessed and love, and so forth (Likutei Amarim, Chapter Forty-Two). EVERY CREATED ENTITY has a spark of Godliness within it, a pinpoint of divinity that constitutes its soul, its spiritual function and design. When we utilize something to serve the Creator, we penetrates its shell of mundanity, revealing and realizing its divine essence. Thus we elevate these sparks, reuniting them with their Source (The Chassidic Masters, Exodus 25:2). Isaiah 40:5 “And the כְּבוֹד יְהוָה glory of God will be revealed and all flesh will see it together.” In the Era of Redemption ALL FLESH WILL REVEAL GODLINESS. The glory of God is normally understood as the reality and presence of the Almighty that will be recognized in the world. Nothing visually will be seen, but we can become aware of realities that we cant see, like the wind, like love, like beauty...G-d now is not acknowledged by the world - but one day He will be (Rabbi Michael Skobac). A DWELLING FOR GOD: Torah study — is the only sanctuary and abode which the Holy One, blessed be He, has in His world; i.e., Torah is the only abode for the revelation of His unity. That God should have an abode here below. An earthly dwelling place for God is the purpose of creation... Man’s faith in God’s Unity fulfills this goal. For when God’s Unity is revealed in the mind and in the heart of men, then this world will be an abode for God... ”Therefore, say; So said the Lord God: Although I have removed them far off among the nations and although I HAVE SCATTERED THEM IN THE LANDS, I have become for them a minor sanctuary in the lands where they have come” (Ezekiel 11:16). The study of Torah, will cause us to be a sanctuary for God and AN ABODE FOR GODLINESS. HAFTORAH: Hoshea 12:13 - 14:10 by Rabbi Dovid Siegel torah.org/learning/haftorah/vayeitzei.html God reminds Ephraim that He is the God who brought them out of Egypt, and despite their waywardness He will eventually bring them to dwell again in tents - the tents of Torah study - just as in the time when Jacob was pure and simple, dwelling in tents (Genesis 25:27; Rashi on Hosea 12:10). TORAH FOR THE NATIONS azamra.org/TFTN/VAYEITZEI.htm
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 21:45:55 +0000
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