The Living Path of the Avos in Exile

1“And these are the names of Bnei Yisrael who came to Egypt; with Yaakov …”¹ Notice the word Ve'eileh, “And these,” with its added vav, the letter that adds. As is well known, wherever the Torah says ve'eileh, it adds to what came before.² What, then, does the verse come to add to the account, at the end of Parshas Vayechi, of the passing of Yaakov Avinu and Yosef HaTzaddik?

2We must also ask why they are called here “Bnei Yisrael,” the sons of Yisrael, and not “the sons of Yaakov.” We know that the name “Yisrael,” which Yaakov received after he prevailed over the angel, denotes an exalted level.³ Yet here, as they went down into the exile of Egypt, they were in a lowly state. As Rashi wrote at the beginning of Parshas Vayechi, their eyes and hearts were closed by the anguish of the bondage, since the Egyptians had begun to enslave them.⁴

3The Gemara relates: “Rav Nachman and Rav Yitzchak were sitting at a meal. Rav Nachman said to Rav Yitzchak, ‘Let the master say something.’ … Rav Yitzchak answered, ‘We do not talk during a meal.’ After they had eaten, he said to him, ‘This is what R' Yochanan said: Yaakov Avinu did not die.’ Rav Nachman asked, ‘Was it for nothing that the mourners eulogized him, the embalmers embalmed him and the gravediggers buried him?’ Rav Yitzchak answered, ‘I am expounding a verse, as it says, “And you, do not fear, My servant Yaakov, says Hashem, and do not be dismayed, Yisrael, for behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity.” The verse compares Yaakov to his offspring: just as his offspring are alive, so he too is alive.’”⁵ The holy sefarim ask about this: the Maharal in his Gur Aryeh, the Alshich and the Noam Elimelech.⁶ Rav Nachman's question rested on the plain facts. Rav Yitzchak answered him by expounding a verse, but how does that settle a question of fact? Yaakov Avinu did die!

4aWe can explain it this way. A great foundation of avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem, is this: even once we have been privileged to learn and engage in Torah and mitzvos, we must always know that we are still standing far off. We have not reached even half of what we should in avodas Hashem. The holy sefarim, the Noam Elimelech and the Yismach Yisrael, explain the verse “From afar Hashem appeared to me” in this way.⁷ It is precisely when a person feels that he is far, as it were, from Hashem that Hashem appears to him, for only then can he attain avodas Hashem.

4bThis is like the teaching quoted in the name of the holy R' Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, zt"l, on a saying of Chazal: “From where do we learn that a person must visit his rebbe on the festival? For it says, ‘Why are you going to him today? It is neither Rosh Chodesh nor Shabbos …’”⁸ The Rebbe of Rimanov pointed out that the verse there ends, “And she said, ‘Shalom,’” meaning “All is well.” A person may feel shalem, complete, in the spirit of “All is well with me, my soul,”⁹ like the woman who said “Shalom.” That, he explained, is precisely when he must go to visit his rebbe. He must learn from his rebbe the ways of serving Hashem and come to see how much he has yet to perfect in his soul, for he is still a long way from completeness.

5This lets us explain Chazal's saying, “Yaakov Avinu did not die.” It is along the lines of another teaching of Chazal, in the early Midrash Tanna Devei Eliyahu: every single Jew must say, “When will my deeds reach (yagi'u) the deeds of my fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov?”¹⁰ We are taught that yagi'u comes from negi'ah, “touching.” The Sfas Emes quotes this in the name of the Chiddushei HaRim, who had it from the holy R' Bunim of Peshischa, and the Shem MiShmuel quotes it in the name of the holy Rebbe of Kotzk.¹¹ A person must be connected with the holy Avos' path of serving Hashem, in touch with it, and know that everything comes from their power. If we connect ourselves with the Avos' path, then they are alive, handing down to us the way of avodas Hashem even after their passing. This is what Chazal meant by “Yaakov Avinu did not die”: he lives, because he hands down to us the path of serving Hashem. And this is what Rav Yitzchak told Rav Nachman: “Just as his offspring are alive, so he too is alive.” Since Yaakov's offspring are alive and walk in the ways of the holy Avos, he is always present with his children in avodas Hashem, and in the spiritual sense the word “death” does not apply to him.

6aIn the story we quoted, Rav Nachman asked Rav Yitzchak to tell him a word of Torah at the meal, and after they had eaten, before Birkas HaMazon, the blessing after the meal, Rav Yitzchak answered with this teaching in the name of R' Yochanan. Why did he choose to say this teaching at a meal, of all times? The Chiddushei Geonim, printed with the Ein Yaakov, looks closely at the Gemara's words “they were sitting at a meal,” rather than “they were eating at a meal.” This implies, it says, that they were reflecting on the meal itself, and that Rav Nachman asked Rav Yitzchak for a teaching of Aggadah on this very subject.

6bWe can explain this through what my holy father and teacher, zt"l, said on the verse “All the commandment that I command you this day you shall take care to do, so that you may live.”¹² Just as the body needs food to live, and demands it and reminds a person that he must eat, so in avodas Hashem the goal is for a person to feel on his own that his soul needs the mitzvos of Hashem to keep it alive. With this my holy father explained the verse “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless Hashem your God.”¹³ The blessing must be like the eating: just as the body demands that a person eat, so his body must demand of him the blessing he still has to say. At the very least, when a person comes to bless, his body itself should remind him of the blessing. Those are his holy words.

6cWe know that the holy Avos were on this level: their holy bodies, of their own accord, demanded their spiritual food, the mitzvos. As Chazal said, the two kidneys of Avraham Avinu were like two stones that welled up with Torah,¹⁴ which means that even his body demanded and sought to do mitzvos. We can see this in our own times too, in spiritual people whose bodies demand spirituality. That is why Rav Yitzchak said this teaching precisely at the meal. He wanted to teach us this principle: the Avos' avodas Hashem was like the body's demand for food. Just as in eating the body demands what it needs, so in avodas Hashem the body demands to do the will of the Creator.

7This is what the verse means: “And these are the names of Bnei Yisrael who came to Egypt.” Ve'eileh, “and these,” adds to the ones before. As Bnei Yisrael went down into the exile of Egypt, they too took upon themselves the path of their fathers Yaakov and Yosef, who were mentioned just before. They resolved to perfect themselves and to bind themselves to the service of the holy Avos. So they stood on a great level, and that is why they are called “Bnei Yisrael,” the name of a higher level. For even as they went down to Egypt, Bnei Yisrael wanted to rise higher, to walk in the ways of the Avos and to make their souls whole.

8May Hashem help us always to walk in this path and to perfect ourselves until we reach the completeness of man. May the verse be fulfilled in us: “The end of the matter, when all has been heard: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.”¹⁵ And in this way may we bring near the coming of Moshiach. Amen, may it be His will.