Settled by Humility: The Tribes as Levels of Israel

18Or we may read “And Yaakov settled …” as a promise to anyone who holds on to even one good trait. We begin with the verse Dovid HaMelech said: “Surely goodness and kindness shall pursue me all the days of my life …”¹ At first glance the word yirdefuni, “shall pursue me,” is hard to understand, for pursuit belongs to someone who runs away while others chase him. But there are people whose deeds are corrupt, and yet they have some good trait by nature: a good heart that does kindness and good to others. This helps them, and they return to the good. That is what Dovid said. Ach, “surely,” is a word that limits: the little goodness and kindness in me “shall pursue me all the days of my life” [even when I run from the good]. “And I shall dwell …” means that I will sit in the house of Hashem for length of days.

19This is “And Yaakov settled …” Sitting, yeshivah, is said of a person who serves Hashem constantly: he has settled into the service of the Creator, blessed be He, and Hashem is with him. So we find with Avraham Avinu: “He wanted to stand. The Holy One said to him: Sit, and you are a sign for your children that I will one day stand in the assembly of judges while they sit.”² So we find sitting in the place where Hashem dwells, in the assembly of holy ones engaged in a mitzvah. And the verse is telling us that a person can earn this even through one trait he has: being lowly in his own estimation, like a thing trampled under the heel. Yaakov (יעקב) hints at this, for it speaks of akev (עקב), the heel: he holds himself low. Through this too he will be privileged to sit settled in the service of the Creator and to do what is good in Hashem's eyes, as we saw with “goodness and kindness shall pursue me.” So “And Yaakov settled” means: through the trait of akev, the heel, which is humility and lowliness, a person will earn this settledness. Then the verse says, “in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.” Even if such a person has grown used to corrupt deeds through a habit he saw in his own father, that is “his father's sojournings,” for his father conducted himself with corrupt deeds; “the land of Canaan” hints at this.³ Seeing this, he did as his father did. Even so, through the humility and lowliness he holds to, he will be privileged to return to Hashem.

20“These are the generations of Yaakov: Yosef …”⁴ These are the offspring of this man who is lowly in his own estimation: Yosef, “he will add.” Every single day he will add upright conduct, good traits, mitzvos and wholeness. Once he has held on to some good trait or some mitzvah for a day or two and sees that he is already firm in it, the next day he adds another good trait or another mitzvah to hold on to. And the verse is saying that all this is service in katnus, the small state. That is the hint in “seventeen years old,” for the Name Havayah (הויה) in katnus, by the small count, is seventeen.⁵ The verse says ben, “a son” of seventeen years: even though he is called a son of the Omnipresent, blessed be He, this is still the small state. After he comes to a further level and holds on to greater holiness, he will be privileged “to shepherd his brothers with the flock”: to turn “many away from iniquity”⁶ and bring them back to the good.

21aThis is “and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah …” To explain it, we begin with several precise points in the verses, read in our way. These are the verses of the births of Leah's first sons and of the maids' sons: “Hashem saw that Leah was hated … She conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuven …” Then: “She conceived again … and she called his name Shimon … ‘for Hashem has heard that I am hated …’” Then: “And Rachel envied … She said, ‘Here is my maid Bilhah; come to her … that I too may be built up through her.’ Bilhah conceived and bore a son. And Rachel said, ‘God has judged me … and has also heard …’” And: “She conceived … And Rachel said, ‘Mighty wrestlings …’” Last: “And Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, and she took Zilpah …”⁷

21bNow for the precise points. First: how could it enter anyone's mind that Yaakov Avinu would hate his wife? Second: Leah called her second son Shimon for the reason “Hashem has heard that I am hated.” Surely reason says that the first son should have been called Shimon for this reason, since the hatred was there from the beginning, as the verse says, “Hashem saw that Leah was hated …” Third: “Rachel said, ‘God has judged me … and has also heard my voice and has given me a son.’” Was he her son? He was her maid's son! Her whole intent was that she too would bear, and she had not yet borne. And when Bilhah bore Naftali, Rachel said, “Mighty wrestlings … I have also prevailed”; at first glance, this too is hard to understand. Fourth: “Leah saw … and she took Zilpah …” What did Leah intend by this gift? She had already borne children!

22aTo understand it: the Imahos, the Matriarchs, knew that twelve tribes would come from them, and that through them the whole world would be perfected and founded. From them would come lofty tzaddikim on four levels, and Leah hinted at these in the names she gave her four sons: the four levels of tzaddikim who would be among the people of Israel. The first she called Reuven, as in re'u ben, “see, a son,” hinting that he is a son to the Omnipresent, blessed be He. This is the tzaddik who serves Hashem from love and gladdens the Omnipresent with joy and delight; he is called by the name “son.” That is what Chazal said: “Here, when they do the will of the Omnipresent, they are called sons of the Omnipresent.”⁸ By “do His will” they meant that those who gladden the Omnipresent with their good deeds are called sons.

22bOnce he is such a tzaddik, called a son, he comes to a further level: people's envy rises against him, and they envy and hate him. So we find in the words of Chazal: “A Torah scholar whom the people of his town love, it is not because he is superior, but because he does not rebuke them in matters of Heaven.”⁹ It follows that when he does rebuke them in matters of Heaven, they hate him. And Hashem, blessed be He, hears all the prayers of this tzaddik, as the verse says, “And God seeks the pursued.”¹⁰ Leah hinted at this when she called her son Shimon, “for Hashem has heard (shama) that I am hated”: Hashem heard all his prayers because he is hated, and he is a complete tzaddik. This answers the second question.

22cThe third son she called Levi, hinting that after this he will come to a great level, great deveikus, cleaving to Hashem. Levi hints at this, for it speaks of levayah, accompanying, and of cleaving, as we have written several times.¹¹ The fourth son she called Yehudah, from hoda'ah, thanksgiving: he thanks and praises Hashem, blessed be He, with songs and praises. Through this the Name Havayah is made whole and set right, for its four letters are in the name Yehudah (יהודה). And the letter dalet (ד) in the name Yehudah hints at the holy Shechinah, which we know is called dalet:¹² through the holy Name he raises the Shechinah. As is well known, it also hints at Dovid. Understand this.

23This is what Chazal said: “Whoever does not bow at Modim, after seven years his spine becomes a snake.”¹³ Modim is the blessing of thanksgiving in the Amidah, and the saying hints at this level. Whoever has not yet reached the level of bowing at Modim, being full of songs and praises to thank and praise His great Name, is not yet set right as fully as he needs. The “seven years” are the seven well-known levels: even if he has gone through all of them, there is still something in him of the kind of the primordial serpent. This is what Leah, who is alma de'iskasya, the hidden world,¹⁴ hinted at with these four levels, through which the holy Name is set right and the Shechinah is raised.

24The Imahos also knew that over against these four levels of tzaddikim there would be four more levels among Israel: two of lowly and base people, and two of simple folk. That was Rachel's intent in giving her maid Bilhah to Yaakov: that the names hinting at the lower levels would come from the maids. So she called the son Dan, which speaks of din, judgment, to hint at the lowly people who are always all judgment: their mouths are full of curses and imprecations, vanity and falsehood and the like. Bilhah's second son she called Naftali, hinting at lowly people who say nofes li (נופת לי), “honey for me”: all the sweetness of this world is fit for me, not for others, the poor and needy scholars. That is the hint in Naftali (נפתלי), nofes li. This was Rachel's intent. She saw that Leah had already borne the four who hint at the tzaddikim, and she was afraid that the four who stand opposite them might come from her. For she knew there would be twelve tribes, and six would fall to her share. So she gave Yaakov her maid.

25Leah too saw that she had stopped bearing after her four sons, and she was afraid that the two more hinting at simple folk, which would fall to her share, might come from her. So she too gave her maid Zilpah to Yaakov, so that those two would come from Zilpah. This answers the fourth question. She called one Gad, “And she said, bagad,” which Rashi explains as “good fortune has come,”¹⁵ hinting that among Israel there will be people with good fortune in wealth. “She conceived again and called his name Asher, ‘for the daughters will call me happy’”:¹⁶ this hints at the fourth of these levels. There will be people among Israel who are not Torah learners, but they behave properly and are upright in the eyes of simple people. These simple people are called “daughters,” for they are from the side of the nukva, the feminine side, the side that receives; and they praise them.

26After the Imahos saw that these four levels had come from the maids, they knew there would be four more levels, through which the simple folk would be sustained, and which would bring them into His service and bring the lowly back in teshuvah. So Leah called her fifth son Yissachar, as in yesh sachar, “there is reward.” She hinted that her intent was to provide sustenance for the maid's son whom she had called Gad, hinting that he would have fortune in money and wealth. It must flow to him through the tzaddik: even though he has fortune, the flow of blessing comes only through the tzaddik. And she called him Yissachar, “for I have surely hired you (sachor secharticha) with my son's mandrakes.”¹⁷ For “there is no reward for a mitzvah in this world”;¹⁸ only the fruits of a mitzvah does a person eat in this world,¹⁹ and the fruits come when he does the mitzvah with joy and gladness. That is what she hinted in her words “with my son's mandrakes (duda'ei)”: the word speaks of dodim, the love and affection of my son. Through the love and joy of the mitzvah, reward in this world becomes fitting.

27aThe second of these she called Zevulun. She hinted that through the maid's son whom she called Asher, the man who behaves properly, the Shechinah will rest on the tzaddik, and its resting will not be held back on that man's account. That is “This time my husband will dwell with me (yizbeleini)”:²⁰ Hashem, blessed be He, will make His dwelling with the tzaddik. This is like the sweet parable I heard from the mouth of my master and teacher, the Rav, the Maggid of the holy community of Rovno, zt"l.²¹ We see that now, in the bitter exile, there are people who attain ruach hakodesh, the holy spirit, more easily than in the days of the prophets. Then they needed adjurations and much seclusion to attain prophecy and ruach hakodesh.

27bHe told a wonderful, sweet parable. A king is in his place of honor, in his own house, in his court, in his palace. One who loves the king comes and wants to invite him home to a meal. The king will surely be angry with him, for it is beneath a king's honor to leave his palace for the house of others, even if the meal is very great indeed. He cannot invite the king home without first making every preparation and appointing great advocates and spokesmen, so that the king will look kindly on coming to the meal. But when the king is traveling and wants to stop for the night on the way, then if he finds a clean place, a clean inn, he lodges there, even if the inn is in a village, as long as it is clean.

27cThe meaning of the parable is plain. When the Beis HaMikdash stood and the Shechinah of His glory was in the Holy of Holies, a person who wanted to draw ruach hakodesh or prophecy needed great labor, as we find at the Simchas Beis HaSho'evah, the celebration of the water-drawing, where they drew ruach hakodesh.²² But now, in the bitter exile, the holy Shechinah too has gone into exile with us, and, because of our many sins, she wanders and roams the earth. Her longing to find a dwelling place is very great. If she finds a resting place, a clean place, a person who is only clean of transgressions and sins, there she makes her dwelling. “The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious.”²³ This is “This time my husband will dwell with me”: yizbeleini speaks of dwelling. In the bitter exile the Shechinah will have a dwelling.

28aRachel Imeinu wanted to set right the two levels born from her maid Bilhah, so she called her son Yosef: “And she said, ‘God has gathered away (asaf) my disgrace’ … saying, ‘May Hashem add (yosef) to me another son.’”²⁴ At first glance she should have called him Asaf, as she said, “God has gathered away my disgrace.” But in the name Yosef she hinted at two things at once. She knew that she would die giving birth to Binyamin and call him Ben Oni,²⁵ and in that name she could not hint at these levels. So she hinted at everything in the name of her son Yosef. He would set right the lowly level of people she had hinted at with the name Dan, which speaks of din, judgment: those whose mouths are full of curses. Through this tzaddik, “God has gathered away my disgrace,” for he will bring them back to the good.

28bHe would also set right the lowly level of people she had hinted at with the name Naftali, the “honey for me” people. So she called him Yosef (יוסף), hinting at a great level, for Yosef is Musaf (מוסף), the additional prayer, when all the worlds rise up as high as the level of Chochmah, the sefirah of Wisdom, as those versed in the hidden wisdom know. And she said, “May Hashem add to me another son,” hinting that he would stand on a greater level than the son Leah hinted at when she called him Reuven, re'u ben, “see, a son.” And he will set everything right.

29To return to explaining the verse “and he was a lad (na'ar) with the sons of Bilhah”: it hints that after this he will come to a great level. Na'ar hints at a great level, as we find that Yehoshua was called na'ar,²⁶ and as the verse says, “When Israel was a na'ar, I loved him.”²⁷ And he brings back the sons of Bilhah, the lowly, base people hinted at in the names of Bilhah's two sons, Dan and Naftali: he brings them back to the good and leads them into holiness. After this he will come to an even greater level: “and Yosef brought their evil report to their father.” Whenever something bad, Heaven forbid, happens to any Jew, he brings that thing before their Father in Heaven and prays for them, that He remove every bad thing from them.

30a“And Yisrael loved Yosef … for he was a son of his old age (ben zekunim) to him.”²⁸ This hints that after he is privileged to reach the highest level, called by the name “Yisrael,” he awakens and unites the world called Yisrael Saba, “Yisrael the Elder.” This is “Shema Yisrael, Hear, O Israel”:²⁹ shema is the word in “Vayeshama Shaul, Shaul summoned the people,”³⁰ which speaks of gathering in and uniting. That is, he unites Yisrael below with Yisrael above. Understand this. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is also called by the name “Yisrael,” as those versed in the hidden wisdom know, “loved Yosef,” who raises the Shechinah from Malchus, the sefirah of Kingship, to Chochmah, as we saw with Musaf. He loves him “more than all his sons, for he was a ben zekunim to him,” which the Targum renders “for he was a wise son to him”:³¹ a hint to what we said, that he raises the Shechinah up to Chochmah, Wisdom.

30bThis is “Im ein ani li, mi li, If I am not for myself, who is for me?”³² Ani, “I,” hints at the Shechinah, which is called Ani, and Chochmah is called Ayin, “nothing,” written אין like the saying's ein. So “Im ein ani” means: when he raises the Shechinah, ani, up to Chochmah, ein, then the Name Mi (מי), “who,” comes forth from them, and that is great mercy. This is “I am Hashem Who brought you out of the land of Egypt”:³³ through the union of the Shechinah above, I brought Israel out, “to be your God”: so that the Name Elokim would be in your hands.³⁴ Understand this. “And he made him a coat of many colors (kesones passim)”: Hashem, blessed be He, makes him holy garments from the whiteness above, for the World to Come. Understand this.