The Parasha starts by saying; “Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and the days of Yaakov, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years. The time approached for Yisrael to die, so he called for his son, for Yosef, and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do kindness and truth with me; please do not bury me in Egypt.” There are two obvious difficulties; 1) what is the importance of informing us the number of years Yaakov spent in Egypt? Anyway, this detail is evident: last week Parasha mentions Yaakov’s age, at the time he came to Egypt, as being 130 years old. This week Parasha state that he lived 147 years, the difference, which is the time he spent in Egypt is 17 years. 2) The first Pasuk calls him by the name Yaakov, while the second which informs of his imminent passing calls him by the name Yisrael, what is the reason? Rabeinu Bachayei sees here a message from the Torah about the importance of giving Tzedakah, as Hashem will also compensate the person in this world. These are his words: “In the merit of Yaakov supporting Yosef for seventeen years, we find that Yosef supported Yaakov in Egypt for seventeen years—tit for tat [“midah keneged midah”]. This is the significance of that which is written, “Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years.” This raises another difficulty; the Torah previously mentioned that Yaakov was immensely rich, then, he required no financial assistance from his sons. The opposite is true, he left them a very significant inheritance that turned each one of them very wealthy. The Zohar learns that the Torah is informing us about the quality of life of Yaakov last seventeen years. Now that Yosef was found alive and were all reunited and learning Torah together; life was peaceful and pleasurable. Those seventeen years were not spent fearing Eisav or Lavan, hence they were years of true life. The Zohar adds that there is another hint in the Verse; it says “י ח י ו “which numerical value is 34. This teaches us that the 34 years Yaakov spent with Yosef were the only pleasurable years of his life. Yosef was seventeen years old when he was separated from his father; they spent another seventeen years together in Egypt; all told, they were together thirty-four years. As long as Yosef was with his father, Yaakov did not fear Eisav, as the prophet Ovadia [1:18] stated; “The House of Jacob shall be fire, And the House of Joseph flame, And the House of Esau shall be straw; They shall burn it and devour it, And no survivor shall be left of the House of Esau —for Hashem has spoken.” Eisav is powerless as long as Yosef, the Tzadik, is among us. The Alshich Hakadosh answers our second question; why the Verse calls him once Yaakov and once Yisrael. He writes that Yaakov Avinu possessed two distinct souls. The first soul was the one he was born with and called Yaakov. The second and more exalted soul named Yisrael was earned by combating the angel of Eisav and vanquishing it. This is reflected by the angel’s declaration [ibid. 29:39] “No longer will it be said that your name is Yaakov, but Yisrael, for you have striven with the Divine and with men and you have overcome.” Since the Verse informs us of the passing of Yisrael, while the name Yaakov adjacent to the word “life”, this notifies that only the exalted soul departed from Yaakov’s body, while the other soul remained there forever. This explains the Talmud statement [Taanis 5a]: “Yaakov Avinu did not die.” Indeed, whenever death is mentioned about Yaakov, the name Yisrael is used, but never the name Yaakov. the Shela Hakadosh [Vayishlach] relates an incredible explanation based on the Verse [Ecclesiastes 4:2]: “I consider more fortunate the dead who have already died”. The Shela reveals that when Yosef was sold into slavery, and especially after the brothers took along Binyamin to Egypt, Yaakov’s soul left him, leaving him only with Yisrael’s soul. When the brothers informed him that Yosef was still alive, Yaakov’s soul returned. This is the message conveyed by the Verse; “When he saw the wagons that Yosef sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Yaakov was revived. In other words, Yaakov’s soul had returned. Now, we understand why that soul never left him again, as it had already experienced the taste of death, when it departed due to the agony resulting from the sale of Yosef. Therefore, in the first verse that deals with life, this soul is mentioned, while when mentioning death only the soul name Yisrael is mentioned. Our minds have been poisoned with Hellenic rationality. Thus, the Torah works above and beyond the rational boundaries as we can learn from the following story. Young and old, men and women, observant and secular, Sephardim and Ashkenazim of every stripe, all streamed to the door of the great kabbalist and tzaddik, Baba Sali, in Netivot, seeking his blessing and help. Everyone, without exception, held him in the highest esteem. Once a man from Holon, Eliyahu, was scheduled to have his legs amputated as he had received a bullet during Yom Kippur war, and despite the numerous surgeries they have been unable to remove it. He had already spent much time in the hospital, and so was reconciled to his fate. The procedure was to take place on Friday. That Thursday, an elderly woman acquaintance suggested that he receive a blessing from Baba Sali before the surgery. She said that she knew of someone who had been paralyzed yet was healed through Baba Sali’s blessing. Although Eli was not at all observant, but out of desperation he felt he had nothing to lose. It would have been impossible to get permission to leave the hospital the day before the operation, so Eli snuck out. He didn’t even disclose his intention to see Baba Sali to his concerned family. Eli sat on a chair in the waiting room near the entrance to the tzaddik’s room. After many hours, finally his turn came. The custom was, before anything, to approach Baba Sali on his couch and kiss his hand, but because of the advanced thrombosis of his legs and the crippling pain that accompanied it, Eli was unable even to rise to enter the room. Following Baba Sali’s instruction, Rabbanit Simi, his wife, approached Eli and asked, Do you keep Shabbat? “Do you put on tefillin?” Do you say blessings? “No,” admitted Eli, and burst into sobs. Baba Sali seemed to be moved by Eli’s suffering and his sincerity. He said to him, “If you do my will and observe the Shabbat and repent completely, then Hashem too will listen to my will.” With great emotion, Eli promptly cried out, “I accept upon myself the obligation to observe the Shabbat in all its details. I also promise to do full teshuvah, to ‘return’ in repentance all the way.” At Baba Sali’s directive, Eli was served tea. After he drank it, the Rabbanit suggested that being that the Rav had blessed him, he should try to get up, in order to go and and kiss the Rabbi’s hand. After much effort and pain, Eli managed to rise. He couldn’t believe it -– his legs were obeying him! Shakily, he walked over to Baba Sali and kissed his hand! By then nearly delirious with shock and joy, he began to thank Baba Sali profusely. The Rav interrupted him, saying with a smile, “Don’t thank me. Just say: ‘Blessed are those who sanctify His name publicly!’” As if in a dream, Eli stumbled out the door and descended the stairs. He experimented, walking this way and that. He had to know: Was he really awake? Could this truly be happening? With each step, his legs felt better. On his “new” legs, he went over to Yeshiva HaNegev, not too far from the home of Baba Sali. When the students realized they were seeing the results of a miracle that had just occurred, they surrounded Eli with happy dancing and singing, and words of praise and gratitude to G-d. Rejoicing in his new-found ability to walk, Eli returned to the home of Baba Sali to say goodbye properly and to thank him again. He also expressed his fear that his legs would relapse to their previous weakness and disease. Baba Sali calmed him, saying cheerfully, “Don’t worry. In the merit of your oath to ‘return’ and repent, and especially that you promised to observe Shabbat according to its laws, which is equal to all the commandments, G-d has done this miracle and nullified the decree against you. Now it is up to you to fulfill your words.” Leaving Baba Sali’s house again, Eli telephoned his wife. “I’m all better!” he shouted, without explanation. His wife figured that fear of the surgery had caused him to lose touch with reality. “Are you coming home?” she asked with concern. “Or will you go straight to the hospital?” Eli then told his wife what he had promised Baba Sali, the blessing that he had received from the tzaddik, and the miraculous improvement that had already occurred. As soon as he hung up, he called his doctor at Echilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and informed him of his cure. The doctor told Eli to be back at the hospital the following day, and to “stop acting crazy!” Eli did go to the hospital the next day. The doctor was barely able to accept the evidence before his eyes. After a few days and many tests, Eli was released. The first thing he did was to return to Netivot, to thank Baba Sali again. The Rav requested of his household to prepare a seudat hoda’ah, a meal thanksgiving to Hashem in honor of the miracle. At the end of the meal, Baba Sali blessed a bottle of water and told Eli to deliver it to the hospital so that his doctor could drink l’chaim from it. “And tell him,” added Baba Sali, “not to be so hasty to cut off legs.” Baba Sali’s gabbai (attendant) during most of his years in Netivot, Rabbi Eliyahu Alfasi [who witnessed much of the story and heard the rest of the details from Eli of Holon], reports that he once asked Baba Sali how he performed this great miracle. The tzaddik answered him innocently, “Believe me, Eliyahu, all I did was tell him ‘Stand up!’”  

By Rabbi Fridmann * [email protected] * 305.985.3461

Have A Question? Ask The Rabbi and he will Answer

990 NE 171 Street  –  North Miami Beach, Florida 33162  –  (786) 405-9692  –  www.badatzmiami.com