The Broken Heart That Draws Down Blessing and Grace

1The holy Zohar and the Gemara teach: “A person should always stir up [his good inclination against his evil inclination]” (Berachos 5a). If that fails, he should learn Torah; if that fails, recite the Shema; and if that fails, remind himself of the day of death. The point is that when his heart is broken by the fear of death, he then merits Torah and the Shema. In this light we can read “Yaakov saw that there was shever (grain) in Egypt” [Bereishis 42:1]. The Midrash Rabbah and the holy Zohar connect it with “whose hope (sivro) is in Hashem his God” [Tehillim 146:5], reading sivro as shivro, his brokenness. Now, guarding the covenant of holiness brings a person to humility, while damaging it leads to arrogance. Such damage harms the mind, which corresponds to Chochmah, wisdom. Chochmah is ko'ach mah, “the power of ‘what,’” the sense that one has nothing of one's own, as in “what have you acquired?” Damage to the covenant damages that mind of Chochmah, and every arrogant person is a fool. So when Yaakov saw that the flow of blessing was to be found in “the nakedness of the land” [cf. Bereishis 42:9], among people steeped in lewdness, he understood something. It is impossible to draw down children, life and sustenance without a broken heart. How, then, did the Egyptians have it? It could only be that the tzaddik, “the foundation of the world” [Mishlei 10:25], was there: Yosef. Look carefully at the holy wording of Rashi: “‘He sold (vayishbor) grain (shever)’: a term for selling and acquiring” [Rashi on Bereishis 41:56]. He was hinting at our subject. Even to acquire Torah, one needs a broken, humble heart, as we have explained at length. (From the author's handwritten manuscript.)

2a“He said, ‘Is this your youngest brother of whom you told me?’ And he said, ‘May God be gracious to you, my son’” [Bereishis 43:29]. This follows Chazal's words: “Your ‘small’ brother: because he makes himself small.” It is known that some mitzvos carry a special power for a particular blessing. Honoring one's father, for example, brings long life: “so that your days may be lengthened” [Shemos 20:12]. In the same way, humility brings chein, grace and favor, as it says, “and to the humble He gives grace” (Mishlei 3:34). We find this with Esther too: “Esther found grace in the eyes of all who saw her” (Esther 2:15). She found it because she said, “And so (u'vchein) I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law” [Esther 4:16]. She was saying: I know how lowly my standing is. My coming to the king is not according to the law. I trust only in Hashem's kindness, that He will be gracious to us from His treasury of free, unearned gifts. That is the meaning of u'vchein, “and so.”

2bThe letters of bechein have the numerical value seventy-two, alluding to the seventy-two-letter Name, the Name of kindness. And “a broken and crushed heart, O God (Elokim), You will not despise” [Tehillim 51:19]. As is known, the Name Elokim alludes to the attribute of strict judgment: even judgment does not despise a broken heart. The opposite is the fool who takes pride in himself and imagines he is righteous and upright. He is hated and abhorred even when the attribute of mercy rules. As my holy teacher of Radzymin¹, zt"l, explained the verse “Every haughty heart is an abomination to Hashem” [Mishlei 16:5]: the four-letter Name of Hashem is known to stand for mercy, so even the attribute of mercy abhors the haughty heart. This is what Chazal meant by “because he makes himself small”: in the merit of his humility, Binyamin earned the blessing of grace. And this is why Yosef said, “May Elokim be gracious to you.” Even Elokim, judgment, will not despise a broken and crushed heart, even at a time when judgment rules, for “Hashem is close to the broken-hearted” [Tehillim 34:19]. This is also the verse “May Elokim be gracious to us” (Tehillim 67:2). The blessing of grace can be earned even when judgment rules, but only through humility, as we said.

3“The man brought the men into Yosef's house” [Bereishis 43:24]. Rashi explains: “One bringing after another. They kept pushing him outside until they had spoken with him at the entrance of the house.” The hint in Rashi's words is this. When the brothers went down to Yosef, Yaakov Avinu blessed them: “May E-l Shad-dai grant you mercy” [Bereishis 43:14]. In their time of trouble they wanted to awaken that blessing of Yaakov's, so they pushed the man to the entrance of the house. For that Name, Shad-dai, is written on the mezuzah at the entrance of the house. Then, once he told them, “Peace be with you” [Bereishis 43:23], they were drawn along and came in after him.