Yaakov's Undivided Heart and Hidden Spark

1a“Yaakov lived” [Bereishis 47:28]. Rashi asks why this parshah is “closed,” written in the Torah with no space separating it from the one before. He answers that once Yaakov Avinu passed away, the eyes and heart of Israel were “closed” by the anguish of the bondage, for the Egyptians began to enslave them. My father and teacher, R' Yechiel of Alexander, zt"l, explained this in his holy words. The Gemara says (Pesachim 56a): “Reish Lakish said: ‘Yaakov called his sons’ [Bereishis 49:1]. Yaakov wanted to reveal the final End to his sons, and the Shechinah departed from him. He said, ‘Perhaps, Heaven forbid, there is someone unfit among my children, as Yishmael came from Avraham and Esav came from my father Yitzchak.’ His sons said to him, ‘Hear, Israel: Hashem is our God, Hashem is One’ [Devarim 6:4]. They said, ‘Just as in your heart there is only the One, so in our hearts there is only the One.’ At that moment Yaakov responded, ‘Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.’ The Rabbis said: What shall we do? Shall we say it? Moshe Rabbeinu did not say it. Shall we not say it? Yaakov said it. So they instituted that it be said quietly.”

1bThe explanation is this. It is known that a “portion of God from Above” [Iyov 31:2] is planted and rooted in every Jew, as we say, “the soul You breathed into me,” and “one who breathes, breathes from within himself” (Sefer HaKanah, Bereishis). No sin touches this point. It stays clean of every blemish and flaw, and of it the Torah says, “Who dwells with them in the midst of their impurity” [Vayikra 16:16]. But when a person sins and rebels, his corrupt deeds create screens that separate him from it. They cover and hide it, like chaff covering the wheat or a cloud covering the sun, until he no longer sees that the precious, sweet light is still within him. That is what Rashi means by “the eyes and heart of Israel were closed.” The anguish of subjugation to the nations and of “the leaven in the dough” [Berachos 17a], the yetzer hara, and the mass of screens created by their sins closed their eyes. They could no longer see how precious their souls were, that the portion of God from Above was still within them. And Rashi says “their eyes and their heart” because “their heart” is Hashem's portion. The Holy One, blessed be He, is called the heart of Israel, as Chazal say on “Rock of my heart and my portion is God forever” [Tehillim 73:26] (cf. Shir HaShirim Rabbah 5:2)¹, and so too in the holy Zohar (II:128a).

1cThis is what Chazal mean by “Yaakov wanted to reveal the final End (ketz hayamin) to his sons.” As the holy Zohar explains on our parshah (I:234b; cf. II:134), there is an end of the right and an end of the left, ketz hayamim, “the end of days,” and ketz hayamin, “the end of the right.” As is known, the heart has a right chamber and a left chamber, the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara. Yaakov wanted to reveal to them the end of the right: to reveal the good, the portion of God, the inner point. Then the light would no longer be dimmed and clouded [cf. Zechariah 14:6]. He wanted to reveal to them the light of da'as, as it will be when the righteous redeemer comes, speedily in our days, as it says, “the earth shall be filled with knowledge” [Yeshayahu 11:9]. They would no longer have to endure suffering, and everything would be at once as it is destined to be. That is what Rashi writes there: ketz hayamin is when He restores His right hand, for “He drew back His right hand before the enemy” [Eichah 2:3], and the enemy is the yetzer hara. But the Shechinah departed from Yaakov, because it was not yet the time of the redemption. That must wait until we merit the eternal redemption, speedily in our days.

2When Yaakov Avinu saw that the Shechinah had departed from him, he said, “Perhaps there is someone unfit among my children.” In other words: perhaps you do not love and fear Hashem with all your heart. As the Midrash says (Bereishis Rabbah 98:3) on “I will tell you what will befall you” [Bereishis 49:1]: “A parable: a friend of the king was leaving the world, and his sons stood around his bed. He said to them, ‘Come, and I will reveal the king's secrets to you.’ He lifted his eyes and saw the king, and he said to them, ‘Be careful with the king's honor.’ So too, Yaakov Avinu lifted his eyes and saw the Shechinah standing over him, and said to them, ‘Be careful with the King's honor.’”

3A person must love Hashem with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might, as the holy Torah says (Va'eschanan), “You shall love Hashem your God with all your heart” [Devarim 6:5]. His heart must be empty of all the desires and pleasures of this world, and of every strange and foreign love. He must love Hashem alone, with all his heart, with a great, abundant and intense love. If there is still one place in his heart that he has not cleared of foreign love, that is a clear sign that his “lovesickness” [cf. Shir HaShirim 2:5], his love of Hashem, is lacking. For how could he love any of this world's loves if he loves Hashem? “Your friendship is sweeter to him than honey and every taste” [Yedid Nefesh]. The tribes told Yaakov, “Hear, Israel: just as in your heart there is only the One, so in our hearts there is only the One.” Just as your 248 limbs and 365 sinews have been refined, and all your desires are for Hashem alone, with no part of you divided from His will, so in our hearts there is only the One. We love Hashem with all our heart.

4aThen the elder responded, “Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.” The truth is that we cannot say this aloud in our times because of our lowly state. That will last until “Hashem looks down and sees” [Eichah 3:50], Jerusalem is rebuilt speedily, and “the earth shall be filled with knowledge of Hashem” [Yeshayahu 11:9] is fulfilled in us. Then the whole congregation will be holy and pure, with holy thoughts and pure minds. But Yaakov Avinu saw the righteousness and holiness of “the tribes of Yah” [Tehillim 122:4]. He thought that their holiness and righteousness would last forever, and that they would always stay at this level, high above high [cf. Koheles 5:7]. So he responded, “Blessed be the Name...”

4bMoshe Rabbeinu lived later. He saw and looked into the last generations, who would be in a lowly state and a darkness of da'as. As the holy books say, the name Moshe (משה) stands for mah shehayah hu sheyihyeh, “what has been is what will be” [Koheles 1:9], for he looked at what would be until the time of the End. He could not write it, because the Torah is for the whole world until the end of all generations. That is why he did not say “Blessed be the Name.” This is what Chazal mean: “What shall we do? Shall we say it? Moshe did not say it.” Moshe Rabbeinu did not say it because he saw our lowly state and our poverty of da'as, that the light of da'as would be darkened for us, and “there is none among us who knows how long” [Tehillim 74:9]. “Shall we not say it? Yaakov said it.” And the portion of Yaakov is in every Jew. So they instituted that it be said quietly, to hint that the portion of Yaakov is hidden and concealed in the innermost depths of the Jewish soul. That is why on Yom Kippur we too say it aloud. Yom Kippur is the secret of the World to Come (as the holy Zohar says, Mishpatim, cf. II:177), the secret of Binah, the Divine attribute of understanding, and Binah is the source of teshuvah. On that day all Israel are holy and pure like the ministering angels.

5My holy father's words also help us understand the Rambam (Hilchos Kerias Shema 1:4). He writes: “We have a tradition that when Yaakov Avinu gathered his sons in Egypt at the time of his death, he commanded and urged them about the unity of Hashem and the way of Hashem in which Avraham and his father Yitzchak had walked. He asked them, ‘My sons, perhaps there is something unfit among you, someone who does not stand with me in the unity of Hashem?’ This is like what Moshe Rabbeinu said: ‘Lest there be among you...’ [Devarim 29:17]. They all answered, ‘Hear, Israel...’” The Kesef Mishneh asks where the Rambam found that Yaakov “commanded and urged them”; see there. It seems that the Rambam's source is the Midrash on our parshah: “When Yaakov Avinu was leaving the world, he called his twelve sons and said to them, ‘Listen to Israel your father’ [Bereishis 49:2]: perhaps there is a dispute in your hearts against the Holy One, blessed be He? They said to him, ‘Hear, Israel: just as there is no dispute in your heart against the Holy One, blessed be He, so there is none in ours. Hashem is our God, Hashem is One’” [cf. Bereishis Rabbah 98:3; Devarim Rabbah 2:35].

6aWe must understand the Midrash. How could there be a “dispute against the Holy One, blessed be He”? The point is that Yaakov Avinu commanded and urged them about the unity of Hashem: that they unify their hearts, the whole heart without leaving even a little, so that it belongs to Hashem alone. He asked whether any of them did not stand with him in the unity of Hashem, that is, whether there was still a place in his heart not free for the love of Hashem. That is the “dispute against the Holy One, blessed be He”: a division of hearts and desires. It is like what Moshe Rabbeinu said: “Lest there be among you a root bearing gall and wormwood” [Devarim 29:17]. Seemingly, how could Yaakov Avinu suspect them of idolatry, Heaven forbid? Rather, he suspected that there was a division of hearts among them, which grows from pride. One person holds himself above his fellow. He sees in himself great qualities and talents, and it does not suit his high standing to set himself aside before someone less than he.

6bPride is a branch of idolatry, as Chazal say (Sotah 4b): “Anyone who is arrogant is like one who worships idols.” That is what Yaakov asked: “Lest there be among you” someone who “blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace’” [Devarim 29:18]. This is the person who does not set himself aside before his fellow and does not feel his fellow's pain and hardship, but says, “I'm at peace, so all is well.” That is a clear sign that he does not stand in the unity and love of Hashem. For one who loves the Maker loves what He has made, and one who loves the father loves the children too. That is why the holy Torah says (Kedoshim), “You shall love your fellow as yourself; I am Hashem” [Vayikra 19:18]: love him out of your love of Hashem. And that is what the Targum Yerushalmi says [on Bereishis 49:2]: “Yaakov said: I am afraid that there may be among you a man whose heart is divided against his brothers, who will go and worship other idols.” From here the Rambam derived that Yaakov “commanded and urged them about the unity of Hashem.” (See also the Yalkut on Va'eschanan.)

7That is why Yaakov told them, “Gather together and listen” [Bereishis 49:2]. “Gather together” refers to the bodies: the holy bodies should unite and come together and accept the kingship of Heaven. “Listen” also means gathering, as in “Shaul summoned (vayeshama) the people” (Shmuel I 15:4). But this is a spiritual gathering. Listen: gather and bind your thoughts, bodies and souls, “to Israel your father,” to our Father in Heaven. As the Sefer Chareidim writes, and as the Kabbalists write on “Shema Yisrael,” all the threads and powers must be gathered in. They must be included and bound into one band, in love and brotherhood. For through the unity of Israel we can come to know Hashem and testify to the Creator's oneness. As the Midrash cited in Tosafos (Chagigah 3b) says: “Three testify to one another: Israel, Shabbos and the Holy One, blessed be He. Israel and the Holy One, blessed be He, testify about Shabbos. Israel and Shabbos testify about the Holy One, blessed be He, that He is One. The Holy One, blessed be He, and Shabbos testify about Israel that they are unique.” On this basis we say “You are One” at Minchah on Shabbos: “You are One and Your Name is One, and who is like Your people Israel, one nation.” And this is what the tribes meant by “Shema Yisrael”: we bind and unite ourselves in brotherly love, with one heart, to serve Him “with one shoulder” [Tzefaniah 3:9].

8We can also say that Yaakov Avinu did not mean, Heaven forbid, to suspect them of actual idolatry. He was asking whether there might be some one part of their hearts that was not for the sake of Hashem. For the tribes, given their great stature, that would count as actual idolatry. As the holy books explain on “and you turn aside and serve other gods” [Devarim 11:16]: as soon as you turn aside even slightly from the path of holiness, it is considered actual idolatry.

9aMy holy father said that we cannot say “Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever” aloud until the time of the End. This can be explained through the words of the holy Maggid of Kozhnitz in his Avodas Yisrael (Likkutim), on what Chazal say (Chagigah 13b): “One verse says ‘six wings’ [Yeshayahu 6:2], and one verse in Yechezkel says ‘four wings’ [Yechezkel 1:6]. There is no contradiction. One describes the time when the Beis HaMikdash stood, the other the time after the Destruction.” Yechezkel saw the angels after the Destruction, when two of their wings had been taken away. The holy Zohar hints that the six words of “Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever” are six wings; see there. The Maggid explained that the first letters of these six words are like wings to the glorious Name, ba, sha, ka, ma, la, va². They are attached to the Name, before Him, and with them the angels fly to proclaim the greatness of the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. While the Beis HaMikdash stood, the kingship was complete, so the angels had six wings. But when Mount Zion was destroyed, our glory went into exile, and the glory of His kingdom was hidden and no longer plainly seen. So Yechezkel saw four wings, for two were missing.

9bThe Kabbalists disagree about which two wings are missing. The Rebbe R' Elimelech of Lizhensk, zt"l, and the holy Maggid of Kozhnitz wrote that the two wings missing are those of “His glorious kingdom” (kevod malchuso). The holy Rav of Mezhibuzh, the Apter Rav, zt"l, and many other holy books wrote that they are “forever and ever” (l'olam va'ed). This is the substance of their dispute. After the Destruction, when Mount Zion lay waste and His rule is not seen and recognized over the whole world, it cannot be called “the glory of His kingdom.” So the first view holds that “His glorious kingdom” is missing. Chazal do say (Yoma 69b) that the Men of the Great Assembly restored the crown to its former glory, for “otherwise, how could a single nation survive among so many nations,” one sheep among the wolves [cf. Esther Rabbah 10:11]? Still, His kingdom is not plainly visible to every living eye until Hashem has mercy and reveals the glory of His kingdom over us with the coming of the redeemer. The other view relies on that same teaching, that they restored the crown to its former glory. They restored the glory of the kingship to the Creator by saying, “These are His mighty deeds, these are His awesome deeds” [Yoma 69b]. That is His glory, even though it is hidden and concealed. What is missing is “forever and ever.” It will be missing until Hashem has mercy and “the earth shall be filled with knowledge” [Yeshayahu 11:9], when the yetzer hara is abolished. Then the glory of the kingdom of Heaven will be “forever and ever.”

10aTheir words can be explained through Chazal's saying, “There is no person who does not have his hour” (Avos 4:3). In every person, at times, the Divine spark, the Godly soul, wakes up. He accepts upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven and resolves never to return to folly [cf. Tehillim 85:9]. But it is like a passing shadow. “The leaven in the dough” and the harmful influences of people [cf. Shmuel II 7:14] disturb his thoughts and hold him back from serving Hashem. This is the beinoni, the “intermediate” person, whom the Rav of Liadi discusses at length in the Tanya. The great tzaddikim serve Hashem and are occupied with His Torah day and night, bound to Him in their thoughts with all their heart and soul, in wondrous closeness. The wicked are the opposite: the thoughts of their heart are “only evil all day” [Bereishis 6:5]. And there is another kind, the beinoni. At times he wakes up and longs with all his will to serve Hashem, but it is like a passing shadow, for the workers of wrong hold him back and disturb him. The main thing is that the awakening and the enthusiasm last forever and ever, so that the yetzer tov overcomes the yetzer hara and rules over it in the end.

10bAs our great teacher, the Rebbe R' Bunim of Peshischa, zt"l, said on Rashi's words (Toldos, Bereishis 25:22): “‘She went to inquire of Hashem’: what would be in the end.” Rivkah thought it was a single child, whose times and wishes kept changing, sometimes toward good and sometimes the opposite. When she passed the houses of study, it struggled to come out, and the reverse when she passed houses of idolatry. So she inquired of Hashem to know what would be in the end: whether at least the good part would win out in the end, so that “she will laugh at the last day” [Mishlei 31:25] and all would be good. So it is as long as a person is in this world: he serves now his inclination and now his Creator. But in the time to come it will be “forever and ever,” for then the yetzer hara will be abolished. That is what we pray: “Establish Your kingdom always, and reign over us forever and ever.” We ask that the enthusiasm of the mitzvah remain in us forever, that the burning fire of the mitzvos never go out within us. That is how it will be in the time to come: the good will win out over the bad. When Yaakov Avinu saw how great his sons' righteousness and holiness were, he thought it would stay that way forever and ever. So he responded, “Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.”

11The Maharsha writes [on Pesachim 56a] that when Yaakov Avinu heard his sons mention the glorious and awesome Name, he answered “Blessed be the Name...,” as is done in the Beis HaMikdash (Yoma 37a). Moshe Rabbeinu did not say it, because he said the Shema not as someone reciting it but as someone teaching; see there. At first I did not understand this. In the Beis HaMikdash the Kohen Gadol pronounced the Explicit Name as it is written, while Yaakov heard the Name as it is ordinarily read. Then I saw in the Ner Yisrael of the holy Maggid of Kozhnitz that at the time of Yaakov Avinu's passing, with the tribes of Yah standing there, the air and the place were like the Beis HaMikdash and the Holy of Holies, and they pronounced the Name as it is written. That resolves the Maharsha's words. But Moshe Rabbeinu, the Faithful Shepherd, gave the holy, eternal Torah for all generations, to each person according to his level. “From His dwelling place He watched” (mimechon shivto hishgiach), whose first letters spell Moshe, “over all the inhabitants of the earth” [Tehillim 33:14]. Moshe looked ahead to the last generations and saw that they would be “inhabitants of the earth,” earthly and sunk in physicality, without great holiness and purity of heart and mind. That is why he did not say “Blessed be the Name.”

12aMy holy father, zt"l, explained the words of the holy Arizal in his zemer for Shabbos day [Asader Lis'udasa]. “May He send us His beauty (shufrei)”: this is the portion of Yaakov, as Chazal say (Bava Metzia 84a)³, “The beauty of Yaakov resembled the beauty of Adam HaRishon.” “And may we behold His glory (yekarei)”: that we may merit to see the light of the soul's preciousness (yakrus) and the revealed glory of the Shechinah. “May He show us His secret that is said in a whisper”: then we will know why we say “Blessed be the Name...” in a whisper, for then we will be able to say it aloud. “May He reveal to us the reasons of the twelve loaves”: as is known, the twelve loaves of the showbread correspond to the twelve tribes of Yah. We ask Hashem to reveal to us the taste and sweetness of Torah and mitzvos, as He revealed it to the twelve tribes alluded to in the twelve loaves. “Which are a letter in His Name, doubled and faint”: this is the letter vav, which is “doubled,” as is known. “The bond above, in which all life is bound”: that we may merit to cling and be bound to the true, eternal life, as the verse says, “For with You is the source of life” (Tehillim 36:10).

12b“May its strength grow and rise up to the head”: the name Yaakov (יעקב) combines yud and akev, “heel.” As is known, the letter yud hints at Chochmah, wisdom, and Yaakov Avinu drew wisdom down to the heel, even to people who are like the heel, far from the head. For it is known that the earlier generations were like the body of Adam HaRishon, while now, in the last generations, they are like the end of the feet, the heel. That is ikvesa d'Meshicha, the “heels” of Moshiach, as in “and Your footsteps (ikvosecha) were not known” (Tehillim 77:20), for “there is none among us who knows how long” [Tehillim 74:9]. So we ask, “and may it rise up to the head”: that we may merit da'as and know everything, like the early generations, who were like the head. Then we will be able to strengthen ourselves and bear the sufferings and pain until Hashem looks down and has mercy on us [cf. Eichah 3:50]. And there will be fulfilled in us, “Hashem shall be your everlasting light” [Yeshayahu 60:19], and “the earth shall be filled with knowledge” [Yeshayahu 11:9]⁴. “The earth,” the lowest level, will be filled with knowledge. May we speedily merit a widening of da'as and the complete redemption, Amen.

13a[“Rejoice, harvesters of the field, with speech and with voice”: the speech and voice of the holy Torah. It is known what the interpreters of allusions said: Yisrael (ישראל) stands for yesh shishim ribo osiyos laTorah, “there are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah,” for every Jew has a portion in the holy Torah. That is why we say, “And grant our portion in Your Torah.” With the power of the holy Torah we can sweeten all harsh judgments, and that is “sweet as honey.”] “Before the Master of the worlds, with hidden words, you will reveal sayings and speak new things.” Through the wondrous light of the holiness and preciousness of Shabbos, which shines in its glory, a person merits truth. As the Yerushalmi says (Demai 4:1), “An unlearned person is afraid to lie on Shabbos, for the awe of Shabbos is upon him.” And as the holy Zohar says (Mikeitz), Shabbos is a taste of the World to Come, which is the World of Truth. On Shabbos a person comes closer to the source of truth, as it says, “Hashem God is truth” (Yirmiyahu 10:10). Through his point of truth he reflects more truthfully on how small he is. Against this he sees how precious and exalted the holy Torah, Hashem's Torah, is, who he is that learns and ponders it, and before Whom he is learning: “before the Master of the worlds,” before the holy King. It is like what the holy Zohar says (III:245)⁵: “The first preparation is to set the table, as one who eats before the King.”

13bThrough this reflection he becomes bound and joined to the source of truth, for “in the light of the King's face is life” [Mishlei 16:15]. Then he merits “with hidden words you will reveal sayings”: to reveal the secrets of the Torah. In the realm of the soul, he comes to know how precious his soul is, the Divine portion planted and rooted in his heart, for the body is what is revealed and the soul is the secret. “And speak new things”: he merits new perceptions and insights that until now were hidden from his mind. On Shabbos he can find more new insight than on weekdays, when the separating screen stands in the way. This is the meaning of the verse “Torah (new) shall go forth from Me” (Yeshayahu 51:4)⁶. But the Torah will never change; that is one of the Thirteen Principles of Faith. So how can there be a “new Torah”? Rather, in the future, when Hashem rolls the stumbling block away from us and removes the separating screen, our eyes will open to see a new light, new insights and perceptions. As Chazal say (Vayikra Rabbah 13:3), “R' Avin bar Kahana said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘A new Torah shall go forth from Me,’ a renewal of Torah shall go forth from Me.” That means new insights and perceptions that were hidden until now. And that is why the holy Torah is called Atzilus, emanation.

14Using my holy father's words on the Gemara in Pesachim, the Midrash and the Rambam, we can explain the Midrash on Naso⁷ [cf. Bamidbar Rabbah 14] about “On the eighth day, the prince of the sons of Menashe” [Bamidbar 7:54] and “he placed Ephraim before Menashe” [Bereishis 48:20]. By way of hint, these are two levels. My father, zt"l, spoke about the dispute of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel on Chanukah (see above, Chanukah, maamar 32), where the halachah follows Beis Hillel. On the view that “placing the lamp is the mitzvah” [Shabbos 22b–23a], he explained “placing” (hanachah) in the sense of “they leave (vehinichu) their remainder” [Tehillim 17:14]. A person wants to do the mitzvah completely, so that its enthusiasm stays with him forever and its burning fire never goes out within him. That is “forever and ever,” as we explained above. And that is our prayer, “Establish Your kingdom always, and reign over us forever and ever.” But for now we cannot do this, and “one who watches the wind will not sow” [Koheles 11:4]. So the halachah is that “kindling is the mitzvah,” as we discussed at length, with Hashem's help. [From the paragraph beginning “Using my holy father's words” to here is from the author's handwritten manuscript. See above, Chanukah, maamar 32, where he also cites this Midrash; consider it carefully.]