Vayechi: Revealing the Hidden Time for Redemption
From the desk of Rabbi Nissim Lagziel, Mashpia in Oholei Torah: The central narrative of this week’s parsha, Vayechi, is Yaakov giving blessings to the twelve tribes. Yaakov has his twelve sons gather around his bed and he tells them, “What will happen to you at the end of days.” What message is there in this for us today? • Full Article
By Rabbi Nissim Lagziel
BEGIN WITH A GRIN
Mr. Rubinstein, are you satisfied with your new hearing aid?
Very satisfied, doctor! I’ve already changed my will twice since I began using it.
THE UNSPOKEN ‘HIDDEN’ MESSAGE
The central narrative of this week’s parsha, Vayechi, is Yaakov giving blessings to the twelve tribes. Yaakov has his twelve sons gather around his bed and he tells them, “What will happen to you at the end of days.”
Every cheder boy can quote the Rashi (from Pesachim 56a) that says that Yaakov wanted to reveal when the Geula would occur but the Shechina departed from him and he began saying other things. With the departure of the Shechina, he understood that the G-dly will was to conceal the time of the coming of Moshiach. The “other things” that Yaakov said are the blessings which we read in subsequent verses.
The question is, what compels Rashi (and the Sages of the Talmud) to interpret the verse in this way? Rashi usually explains the simple meaning of the text. How does he know that Yaakov wanted to reveal when the Geula would occur and that the Shechina departed from him? How is this alluded to in the text? Is it really out of the question that Yaakov just wanted to bless his children before he passed on to the next world?
The commentators on Rashi (Gur Ayreh and Sifsei Chachamim) explain that the proof is in the textual use of the phrase, “acharis ha’yamim” which means “end of days,” a reference to the true and complete Geula, in line with the verse (Yeshaya 2:2), “And it will be, at the end of days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be firmly established at the top of the mountains.”
It sounds convincing but it is very hard to accept this explanation for two reasons. First, the term “end of days” is not always understood to be the future Geula. Even Rashi himself in his commentary on Bilaam’s prophecy, explains this phrase (“that this nation will do to your nation at the end of days”) as a reference to the era of Dovid HaMelech and his war on Moav, and not to the Geula.
Second, even if we assume that Yaakov wanted to talk about the Geula, who says, and where is it alluded to, that he wanted to reveal when Moshiach would come, something which the Medrash says even regarding Hashem Himself that “the heart did not reveal to the mouth!” Maybe he just wanted to tell them what would happen then as he actually does in the subsequent verses.
The Rebbe explains, with ingenious simplicity, that Rashi’s explanation is based on the seeming redundancy of the verse. Chapter 49 begins with, “Yaakov called for his sons and said, ‘Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days.’” In the very next verse it says, “Gather and listen, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father.” Why does he tell them to gather two times?
We must say that Yaakov gathered his children twice! The second time, he gave them the blessings. What happened when they gathered the first time? Why doesn’t the Torah tell us explicitly? From this, Rashi learns that the first time Yaakov said nothing! He gathered his sons who all came quickly to his bedside, ready to hear about the “end of days,” and … silence. Yaakov said nothing. Why? Apparently he had what to say about the end of days but he felt the Shechina depart from him and so he was forbidden from talking about it.
Okay, so from here we learn that Yaakov had a secret which he was taking with him to the grave, but who says it was a secret about when the Geula would occur? Maybe he just wanted to tell them about the material plenty and the size of the grapes in the era of Moshiach, or teach them about the war of Gog and Magog or maybe about the use of nuclear weapons. Who says he wanted to reveal when Moshiach would come?
THE MORE ‘HIDDEN’, THE MORE IMMINENT
As always, Chassidus (and the Rebbe) have all the solutions. We find that the holy Zohar explains with very clear distinctions the difference between three words: dibur, amira, hagada. Dibur refers to the act of verbal expression; amira is from the heart, while hagada is an expression from the inner voice of the G-dly soul. The mouth sometimes speaks nonsense, things a person does not believe and does not feel. Even amira which is sourced in feelings can be in contradiction to the true inner essence of a Jew. For example, a person can say (to you, on mivtzaim) that he does not want to put on tefillin; he really feels that way. However, we know that this is in contradiction to his essence. His essence wants very much to put on tefillin, because every Jew (as in the famous Rambam, Hilchos Geirushin 2:20), “wants to do all the mitzvos and stay away from sins.”
That means that amira does indeed come from the heart but only from the external layers of the heart. It does not accurately express the innermost heart of a Jew. Hagada, on the other hand, comes from the depth of who a person is. In Torah too, the hagada (Agada or Agadeta) part contains the secrets of Torah which is why the Sages say (Sifri Devarim 11:22) “Do you want to recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being? Learn Agada, for by doing so you will recognize the One who spoke and the world came into being.” Hagada represents the inner dimension of Torah, the inner dimension of the Creator and the inner dimension of man!
With the words, “And I will tell (agida) you … end of days,” Yaakov wanted to say something deep, very inward, very hidden, about G-d, His holy Torah, and His dearly beloved Jewish people. What is the deepest, most hidden thing if not … the time of the true and complete Geula?
So, why didn’t he say it? Why did it remain hidden? The answer is that Yaakov knew precisely whom he was dealing with. He knew that in the current situation, his children were not deserving of this G-dly revelation. He was operating under the assumption that after his sons united and gathered (in the deepest sense of the word, with the proper intention for a a revelation like this), that they would be deserving. It turned out he was mistaken. They were not deserving of a revelation of the Shechina such as this.
What message is there in this for us today?
There are those who think, how is it possible in this orphaned generation, which is so spiritually low, a state in which “the Shechina departed,” that we will merit the wondrous revelations of the Geula, revelations which earlier generations who were giants of the spirit, did not merit.
The answer is, Yaakov Avinu! Through Yaakov’s request to reveal this information to his sons, the ability was given to every Jew, at every time, even when, as in this generation, “the Shechina departed from him,” and it is hidden under a covering of deep darkness, to merit, in the blink of an eye, “to reveal the keitz,” the true and complete Geula.
Those who maintain that we are not worthy, actually help bring the Geula for our Sages say, “Moshiach will come with hesech ha’daas (when our minds are diverted).” It is specifically in a generation like ours, which has trouble even considering the idea of Geula that the Geula is more imminent than ever.
TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY
We will end with a story of a Chassid who did not ask, but took action; who did not sob bitterly about the spiritual deterioration of the generations but used unconventional ways to be mekarev Jews and bring the Geula.
R’ Folye Kahn lived in Ramat Gan. The custom was that on Simchas Torah, all Lubavitcher families with their wives and children, gathered in R’ Folye’s house and he would farbreng in his fiery, passionate way. After the long, uplifting farbrengen, everyone, with the Chassidim leading the way and followed by their families, would walk together in song and dance to the house of the rav to drink and farbreng a bit, and then they would go to all the homes of the Chassidim. At each home they would stop in for a brief ‘mini-farbrengen.’ The homes of the few Chassidim in Ramat Gan were spread around the city so that the tahalucha had to cross major streets.
Whenever they arrived at a busy avenue, R’ Folye would stand in the center, stop all the traffic, and explain in a loud, joyous voice about Simchas Torah, urging people to observe Torah and mitzvos, and conclude with, “Today is Simchas Torah. We must rejoice, dance, and even make a somersault!” Then before the amused, astonished eyes of all the drivers and passengers (most of whom knew him), he would make a somersault in the street! Other Chassidim did the same. They did this every time the procession came up to an intersection.
Good Shabbos!
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