Gensis 37,1. “Yaakov settled in the land where his father sojourned, in the Land of Canaan.”In his volume called האמונה והבטחון, “Faith and Confidence”, Nachmanides postulates the following principle. Although G’d had made numerous promises to our patriarch Yaakov, Yaakov continued to fear that due to any sins he might commit or have committed, these promises might not be honoured. One of these “sins” might have been that he did not serve the Lord in the manner required.
Such sins of omission are very easily committed as the duty to serve the Lord is applicable 24 hours a day seven days a week.[Nachmaindes explains that everyone who has confidence, בוטח, has faith, מאמין, else what would he be confident of, whereas not everyone who has faith also possesses confidence. Ed.]. The human condition described by our sages as שמא יגרום החטא, “maybe one’s sin results in one’s confidence being misplaced, disappointed,” is what Nachmanides has in mind when he says that not every believer also possesses confidence. Proper service of the Lord also presupposes that the person who serves Him does so with a feeling of joy, joy that he is able to perform this service.
Such “joy” must not be dependent on his joyful experiences on earth; our whole personality including our bodies, must participate in this joy; [as opposed to the angels who serve the Lord without mental reservations at all times as they are disembodied beings, Ed.]When we remember this, Yaakov’s frequent “fears,” something unusual when compared to Avraham and Yitzchok, is easily understandable, and does not reflect lack of אמונה, “faith.” Whenever the Jewish people experience “bad times,” every Jew must immediately ask himself how he had been remiss in his service of the Lord.
Yaakov excelled in this constant critical review of his service of the Lord, and instead of such statements in the Torah as ויירא יעקב, “Yaakov was afraid,” reflecting a lack of faith, they reflect Yaakov’s constant concern if his service of the Lord had been adequate. Another approach to the verse above, which appears to be a prelude to Yaakov experiencing painful experiences apparently linked to his settlement on holy soil.We have a rule, (Avot 6,10) that all of G’d’s creations were designed only for His honour, from which it follows that all of man’s activities must be aimed at pleasing his Father in heaven.
In order to illustrate what the author of the statement in the Mishnah had in mind when he said that whatever G’d created was designed to enhance His honour, consider that even when we sit down to perform a necessary activity such as eating in order to keep our bodies healthy, we must at the same time have in mind that by remaining healthy we can better serve our Creator. [If we do this consciously, every meal we eat is a סעודת מצוה, a meal that has been sublimated from being merely a mundane activity to performance of a sacred duty.
Ed.] Such hallowing of what appear on the surface to be secular activities, also enables us to help the “sparks” of the “Shechinah” which had been condemned to enter our domain, to return to their origin having proved to their Creator that they had put their sojourn on earth to good use. (Compare our comments in square brackets on page 21). These “sparks” from the Shechinah, though in “exile,” on earth, had preserved the lower universe’s inhabitants’ ability to eventually find their way back to the innocence, the ideal state in which man had been created, before he had committed a capital sin.
The “sparks” that had separated from the Shechinah at the time had become an almost integral part of the physical universe, having some presence in everything that serves man to continue to live on earth, so that all organic matter that serves man as food also contains parts of these “sparks.” When man sublimates this “food” by consuming it with the intention of enhancing his service of the Lord, he has “opened” a path for such a “spark,” or part of it, to return to the celestial regions from which it originated.The deeper meaning of the halachah requiring us to wash our hands and to recite a benediction over this, i.e. something we do not do when we wash our hands in order to cleanse them from dirt, is also connected to the hopefully sublime nature of the food that we are about to consume.
The prophet Isaiah 63,9 refers to this נטילת ידים, “washing one’s hands,” as a religious rite,” with the words: וינטלם וינשאם כל ימי עולם, “He washed them and exalted them, for ever.” According to the kabbalistic interpretation of that verse, the words יד הגדולה in that verse in Isaiah refers to “three types of hands,” when G’d uses His יד הגדולה, when performing redemption, the letter ג in the word הגדולה, alludes to three different levels of elevating, sublimating something that was mundane, secular.
The benediction which ends with the words המוציא לחם מן הארץ, is accordingly understood as the raising of something that was merely earthly, bread, to a progressively higher status through the thoughts that will course through our hearts and minds while we eat the bread, i.e. the meal. The deeper meaning of the benediction is that although it is apparently pronounced over the most basic material component of the physical earth, bread, the staff of life, it contains within it, through being sublimated, the potential to enable one of the exiled sparks from heaven to begin its journey homeward, to its roots in the celestial spheres. In support of the arguments just quoted, our author sees further proof in Song of Songs 8,1 where Solomon says: מי יתנך כאח לי, יונק שדי אמי, אמצאך בשוק אשקך, ”if only, when I find You in the street you were like a brother to me, someone who had nursed at my mother’s breast; so that I could kiss you in the street” (a public place, without feeling ashamed).
In this verse Solomon alludes to two types of “love,” i.e.אהבה מגולה , “love openly displayed,” and אהבה מסותרת, “loves that is concealed.” The love between a man and his wife is considered as “hidden love,” as it is expressed within the privacy of their home. The love between brother and sister, on the other hand, is described as a love that is openly displayed; so much so, that on occasion brothers and sisters are observed kissing in public and no embarrassment attaches to this display of their fondness for one another in spite of that love being displayed openly.Solomon portrays the כנסת ישראל, the collective soul of the Jewish people, expressing the wish to be able to display its fondness for G’d and G’d’s fondness for the Jewish people openly, publicly; [although, ideally, the relationship of G’d and the Jewish people is portrayed (allegorically) as like that between groom and bride, a brother-sister type relationship also has its advantages as it may be displayed openly before the gentiles. Ed.]
This is an allegory of G’d’s proximity being found in the form of the previously mentioned “sparks” of the Shechinah, in the most unlikely places, “on the street,” as opposed to “inside the synagogue or Yeshivah.” This loving relationship is completely devoid of any physical attraction or desires between the parties concerned. Love such as this, has been described as אהבה עזה כמות, a love as powerful as death, in Song of Songs 8,6.
It is recognizable when the person concerned is able to accept painful afflictions as willingly and even joyfully, as he would welcome manifestations of G’d’s grace discernible as such to any ordinary human being. Our sages in B’rachot 54 explain the word מאדך in the first paragraph of the keriyat sh’ma as referring to this kind of love, where the Torah asks us “to love the Lord your G’d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your capacity.” (Deut.6,5) The word מאד there is understood as an alternative for the word מדה, i.e. we are to accept with love every attribute of G’d with which He sees fit to relate to us.
For a person who is truly convinced that everything that the Creator does is intended for our benefit, even if this is not immediately apparent, it is possible to say, without being hypocritical, גם זו לטובה, “this (unwelcome blow of fate), is also meant for the best.”When a person has attained this level of spiritual maturity, what had been intended by G’d as a reminder that he must perfect himself further, will be converted into an act of Mercy rather than an act of Justice and reproof.
When looked at allegorically, this is the message of Deut. 8,15 that “G’d makes water come out of a rock in the desert that is as hard as granite.” The word מים is usually a symbol of “life-giving” material, whereas the word צור, symbolizes something rock-hard, unyielding. The manner in which a person is able to accept what must at first glance appear as a harsh decree by G’d determines the extent to which it is converted into a benevolent decree, something that will be recognized as such retroactively by the person concerned. Yaakov was able to accept what appeared as harsh in such a spirit, thereby displaying what Solomon described in Song of Songs as אהבה עזה, a powerful love for G’d.
This is why he was now able to settle in the land in which both his forefathers had always remained “strangers,” though they sojourned there many years, Yitzchok during all of his life. Our author understands the word מגור in the verse above as derived from ויגר, “he was afraid,” i.e. as opposed to his father who was never at ease. Genesis 38,28. “while she was in labor, one of them put out his hand, etc.;” “when he subsequently withdrew his hand, etc.,” “afterwards his brother emerged (completely); he called him Peretz, and he called his brother Zerach.”
The name זרח, reflects what we are told in Niddah 30 that as long as an embryo is still within the womb of its mother, a light keeps shining above its head. This light enables the embryo to see from one end of the earth to the other. The Talmud uses this parable to describe that as long as the embryo is as innocent of sin as was Adam before he sinned when he could see all parts of the globe, the embryo is in a similarly sublime condition.
When it enters our world upon leaving its mother’s womb, an angel slaps his face so that the infant promptly forgets all it had known thus far, and experiences a new awakening which includes its ability to dedicate itself exclusively to the service of its Creator. It is G’d’s will that man’s spiritual maturity will be attained not as a gift sent from heaven, but after he has undergone trials, so that the accomplishment, when it is attained, is the result of his own efforts though aided by G’d once man has initiated it. This is what the Zohar 1,77 alludes to as אתערותא דלעילה, quoting Isaiah 62,6 and psalms 83,2 “do not keep silent,” or “you who make mention of Hashem take no rest,” so that there will always be an awakening from below, as a result of which an awakening from above is aroused.
At the same time, so that man does not think that everything in our “lower” world is by definition, irreparably evil, and that all the pleasurable experiences on earth are not only transient, but contribute to our becoming victims of the evil urge, G’d maintains a “window of opportunity,” that is open to a higher world by means of which it is possible to sublimate experiences on earth, hallow them and thus make them instruments of our service of the Lord and our coming ever closer to Him.
In other words, man has not been placed on earth in order to negate earth, but in order to be G’d’s tool that elevates the material universe to serve the aggrandizement of His name universally. In kabbalistic parlance, the tool G’d holds out to us humans is called “white light,” as opposed to the physical light that we make use of everyday that is perceived by contrast as “black light.” [I have rephrased some of our author’s words in order to make them easier to follow.
Ed.]The author proceeds to explain the description of the twins Peretz and Zerach in terms of the concepts we have just explained. The word פרץ, breaking forth, bursting out of one’s mould, describes that on doing this the infant suddenly sees brilliant light, זרח. A “dark” womb has suddenly been opened with a vista to overpowering light. In light of that experience the newly born is likely to opt for a denial of all that reminds him of his previous dark, opaque existence.
When the infant extends his hand into this brilliant world, G’d extended to this newly born (not quite) a glimpse of overpowering light as encouragement, before the soul had a chance to taste all that is wrong and evil on earth. On the other hand, immediately thereafter, in order not to hand man his salvation on a platter so that he cannot claim a share in having personally achieved spiritual maturity, this “hand” was withdrawn and replaced by the “twin” brother, symbolizing that life on earth is a “two edged sword.”
The author informs us that the Jewish people, though one people, are on occasion referred to as אחים, brothers, as in psalms 122,9 למען אחי ורעי, “for the sake of my brothers and companions,” so that his allegorical exegesis of why the Torah describes the birth of these twins in such detail appears amply justified. Genesis 39,8. “he refused, saying to his master’s wife, etc.” the tone sign shalshelet over the word וימאן signifies that Joseph raised his voice in protest and amazement at the suggestion of his master’s wife that he commit adultery with her.
He expressed his disgust at such an immoral demand on her part. The name of the tone-sign שלשלת, is based on the number three, an allusion to a chain, as pointed out in Zohar II,10. Joseph had to be strengthened by the three patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchok, and his father Yaakov, to enable him to withstand the seduction by Potiphar’s wife. Another explanation of the tone sign shalshelet over the word וימאן is based on its shape, which resembles the letter ל, according to Zohar I 168. where it discusses how David, who originally was meant to die at birth, was kept alive when the patriarchs heard about this, each one “donating” part of their lives to make up the seventy years that David lived.
According to the Zohar, Joseph donated 37 years of his life (he died at 110 whereas his father had lived to be 147 years) so that he had contributed the lion’s share of David’s life. The letter ל is an allusion to David as our sages say when stating in kallah rabbati 8 that the attribute of מלכות, Royalty, can be acquired by 30 different virtues. The word שלשה is also an allusion to David, and by Joseph raising his voice when rejecting the demand by Potiphar’s wife that he sleep with her, he managed to invoke the combined merits of the three patriarchs who helped him to remain steadfast in his refusal. In Samuel II 23,8 the author lists 30 “heroes” that surrounded David, there is an interesting comment by Rashi on verse 18 about Avishai, described as the ראש השלישי, being the leader of a group of “three.”
Rashi says that this group of three was free from sin. This sounds plausible as the attributes possessed by David, as listed in Samuel I 16,18 are גבור חיל, נבון, ואיש תאר, “a capable, stalwart fellow, sensible, and of handsome appearance.” These three attributes distinguished Joseph from his early youth. When Joseph had a vision of David who possessed attributes similar to his own, this prompted him to donate 37 years of his life so that David would be able to accomplish his purpose in life.
He most certainly did not want to commit a sin that would make him forfeit the chance of being compared with the illustrious David. A different aspect of the tone-sign shalshelet is that it symbolizes how firmly attached (by a chain) Joseph was to G’d, so that He helped him withstand the temptation to give in to the urgings of Mrs Potiphar. Still on the subject of the tone sign shalshelet over the word וימאן, according to G’d’s plan, Joseph was meant to interpret the dreams of the Royal cupbearer and the chief of the Royal bakers.
The dream of the latter involved three baskets, whereas the dream of the former involved three grape bearing branches on a vine. According to the Talmud in Chulin 92, the dreams of these servants of Pharaoh are alluded to in the tone-sign that directs our attention to the number 3, as are the three names by which Joseph is called at various times in the Bible, i.e. יוסף, יהוסף and צפנת פענח which Onkelos translates as גברא דמטמרן “a man who could reveal that which was hidden.”
The שלשלת would refer to three dreams that Joseph had to interpret after this event. There is another approach to this word found in the explanation by Nachmanides, (last section) on פרשת בשלח, on Exodus 17,9 according to which whatever Moses and Joshua had done in their time would be re-enacted by the prophet Elijah and the messiah, descended from Joseph in due course. According to our tradition the messiah from the house of David will reveal himself only after the death of the messiah from the house of Joseph., so that the process of redemption will begin with the appearance of the prophet Elijah, followed by the messiah from the house of Joseph, and will be completed with the redemption under the messiah from the house of David.
This trilogy is alluded to by the shalshelet above the word וימאן. When Joseph reminded himself of this sequence, he was reinforced in his determination not to give in to the allure of Potiphar’s wife. This is also why the Torah reports in Genesis 50,23 וירא יוסף לאפרים בני שלשים, “Joseph was privileged to see a third generation of Ephrayim.” The final letter ם at the end of this verse is mysterious. [We would have expected the letter י instead, indicating the ordinal number “third.”
Ed.] This letter is an allusion to Isaiah 9,6 where the word לםרבה המשרה, is written with the final letter ם at the beginning of the word. According to our tradition (Sanhedrin 94) the final letter ם there is an allusion to the final letter ם in the word אפרים, a hint that the messiah from the house of Joseph will be a descendant of Ephrayim. (Compare Bamidbar Rabbah 14,2. Zohar II 100, also elaborates on the subject of the messiah from the house of David following the messiah from the house of Joseph when discussing aspects of the levirate marriage.) Another of aspect of the significance of the tone sign shalshelet above the word וימאן, can be understood from Rashi’s comment on Leviticus 19,2 where the Torah commands us to strive and be holy.
He writes that wherever the subject of illicit sexual relations in the Torah is mentioned, the subject of holiness is found nearby. Rashi quotes three examples, (Leviticus 21,7;21,15, and 21,6). The Jewish people (when at their best) have been “crowned” with two levels of holiness, something that is spelled out in a liturgical poem recited on the first day of Rosh Hashanah immediately before we recite the “kedushah,” where the author says that two of these levels of holiness have been granted to the Jewish people, i.e. מידו נתן שתי קדושות, whereas He, G’d is garbed in an additional level of holiness, i.e. ויקדש באחת משלוש קדושות. Yet another meaning of the shalshelet draws our attention to a mystical aspect of hitkashrut, the bond between disciple and master.
The numerical value of the letters in the name יוסף when deducting the respective “zeros” as the 0 in 60, is the same as in the name of G’d אהיה. This is the name of G’d, which according to שערי אורה, is the key to linking all of G’d’s names together. The numerical value of the name יוסף, i.e. 156 is also the same as the numerical value of the word ציון, and in Hoseah 14,6 the prophet says of G’d: אהיה כטל לישראל.
“I (G’d) will be as beneficial for Israel as dew.” In psalms 133,3 G’d also speaks of being like the dew that falls on Mount Hermon which descends on Mount Zion as a blessing. We also find that the abbreviated form of G’d’s name as a substitute כוזו used on the back of the מזוזה equal in numerical value the word טל =39. (Compare Zohar II 261 on this, where the author states that G’d’s name אהיה.includes all of G’d’s names and כנוים, “G’d’s pronouns.”)
The shalshelet over the word וימאן, is meant to alert us to all this. Another allusion conveyed by the shalshelet over our word reminds us of Proverbs 5,5 where Solomon says of the sexually immoral woman, the זונה, that “her feet go down to death, her steps support ‘she-ol,’ hell.” Joseph reminded himself of that dictum and was aware of the need to keep his distance from this kind of “death,” and to cleave to G’d instead.
G’d’s name is always linked to life, i.e. eternal life in the celestial regions, as King Chiskiyah (after recovering from his sickness) pointed out in his prayer in Isaiah 38,11אמרתי לא אראה י-ה, י-ה בארץ החיים “I said to myself that I would not see G’d, the G’d Who is in the land of the Living.” According to Sotah 36 the reason why the letter ה was added to Joseph’s name (psalms 81,6; so that it contained 3 of the letters of the tetragram) was that he sanctified the Lord’s name in the privacy of his master’s house. [Yehudah, who sanctified the Lord’s name in public (Nachshon at the sea of Reeds) had two letters added to his name, i.e. his name contained the entire tetragram.
Ed.] The shalshelet over the word וימאן alerts us to when Joseph earned eternal life. Genesis 39,17. “your servant has done to me unspeakable things.” According to Rashi the conversation described in the Torah here occurred while Potiphar and his wife were having marital relations. At first glance, this appears somewhat difficult to understand as in Genesis 41,45 when the Torah reports that Pharaoh gave Joseph as a wife the daughter of Potiphar, Rashi points out that Potiphar was impotent, as a penalty for having desired to use Joseph for homosexual practices, and that Ossnas was not his biological daughter.
We must therefore assume that the attempted seduction of Joseph occurred earlier. If so, why did he become impotent only at a later stage?Actually, the Almighty Who performs wonderful deeds completely unassisted, arranges events in such a way that the wicked will commit fatal errors, as we know from Job 12,23 משגיא לגויים ויאבדם, “He leads (wicked) nations astray and causes their destruction.”
If G’d had made Potiphar impotent earlier, he could not have believed his wife when she described that Joseph had engaged in similar activities to the ones practiced by her husband during marital intercourse. In addition to this, the Torah testified that Potiphar was aware of and admired Joseph’s absolute loyalty and sincerity, as we know from 39,3 and 4. The Torah sometimes shows us how G’d, on occasion, lets a wicked person enjoy a degree of success even when they are in the process harming the righteous, so that the righteous has a chance to become stronger in his faith in G’d.
When this happens the wicked interprets it as proof that G’d approves of what he has been doing, whereas in fact G’d is only preparing the downfall of the wicked. Ultimately, in retrospect, G’d will be seen as having misled the wicked, as per Job 12,23. Genesis 39,20. “Joseph’s master took him and placed him in the jail reserved for high ranking prisoners (prior to their judgment).” ויהי שם בבית הסהר.
“He remained there for a considerable period.” On the face of it, this last sentence appears superfluous. At first glance, it appears as if when G’d unaccountably sends afflictions on people the “victim” if truly G’d-fearing, is not supposed to react by “physical countermeasures,” but is supposed to continue to have faith in G’d; as a result he will experience that in due course this “harmful” decree will prove to have been beneficial.
This is an example of what we have been taught in Taanit 21 that what ��appear to be painful reverses should be met with the acknowledgment of גם זו לטובה, “this too has been meant for our ultimate benefit.”The line describing Joseph as spending a considerable time in prison, although he was innocent of the charges against him, is to hint to us that through his remaining there he eventually interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker, only to come to Pharaoh’s attention and start a magnificent career.
Inaction, not publicizing his plight, leaving his fate in the hands of G’d, was the instrument that was most effective. Genesis 40,10. “and there were three branches on the vine.” According to one (Rabbi Eleazar hamodai) of numerous allegorical explanations in Chulin 92, the vine is symbolic of Jerusalem; whereas the three branches are symbolic of the Temple, the King, and the High Priest, respectively.
The words: והיא כפורחת עלתה נצה הבשילו אשכלתיה ענבים, usually translated as: “it had barely blossomed when out of it came its blossoms and its clusters ripened into grapes,” is understood allegorically by the Talmud. The reference is to the young priests who will mature and offer libations in the Temple. In order to explain this somewhat far fetched allegory, although the one preferred by the Talmud, our author quotes Yuma 29 where the rhetorical question of why Queen Esther has been compared to an אילה, a gazelle, hind, the Talmud defining the gazelle in psalms 22,1 as אילת השחר, Queen Esther as being like a gazelle in the morning, i.e. at the end of the night, sees in Esther and her experiences the last chapter belonging to the period of history described in the Bible.
No overt miracles in Jewish history have been reported in the Bible subsequent to her period.What did the Talmud have in mind when suggesting that after Mordechai and Esther, [in whose time these ”miracles,” were already not overt, Ed.] no more miracles occurred?We must distinguish between two kinds of wars. Usually, when we speak of “war,” we refer to an armed confrontation between warring nations.The second type of “war,” is one that originated in G’d subjecting the Jewish people to attacks by external enemies, in order to strengthen their faith in Him when He would save them from a fate which they were powerless to escape by any other means.
Psalms 91,2 refers to the psalmist acknowledging such miraculous escapes of the Jewish people. It is remarkable that the psalmist, in referring to his trust in the Lord, does so in the future tense, i.e. אלוקי אבטח בו, “my G’d in Whom I will put my trust,” instead of, as we would have expected, “in Whom I have put my trust.” The psalmist acknowledges that he now understands the purpose of the “war” that had befallen his people as having been a test, teaching the Jewish people to put their trust only in the Lord.
The same theme is found in psalms 118,10 כל גויים סבבוני בשם ה' כי אמילם, “all nations have surrounded me; by the name of the Lord I will surely cut them down.” The psalmist does not predict what he is about to do, but refers to what G’d had in mind by allowing His people to face such impossible odds, i.e. to strengthen their faith when they will be saved by Him. The psalmist makes it even plainer In verse 21 of the same psalm, when the words אודך כי עניתני ותהי לי לישועה, must be understood as: “I will express my thanks to You for having afflicted me so that You could demonstrate how You will be my salvation.”When G’d “rescues” the Jewish people, this occurs in either of two ways.
The most easily recognizable way are overt miracles in which His mastery over nature is demonstrated by His breaking all the “rules” that scientists have taught us are inviolate. The best known examples of this are the 10 plagues G’d visited upon the Egyptians, crowned by the splitting of the sea of reeds in which the Egyptian army drowned to a man, while the Israelites crossed the bottom of that sea safely.
Although in the song of thanks by the Jewish people after the drowning of the Egyptians the text is full of G’d being lauded for His performing “wonders,” (Exodus 15,11) what are “wonders” performed by G’d in our eyes, are, of course, nothing extraordinary when viewed from His vantage point, seeing that He had made the rules, He is certainly able to suspend them when it suits Him. The Jewish people praised Him not so much for what He had done, but for having found the Jewish people worthy to be saved by such spectacular means, involving the undoing of what G’d had done during the six days of creation. When the psalmist, in psalms 111,4 says of G’d: זכר עשה לנפלאותיו, “He has made a memory for His wonders,” the question arises why ”wonders” need to be commemorated by a special זכר? We would have thought that their very having occurred is their memorial!
The psalmist answers this unspoken question in the latter half of the same verse when he says: חנון ורחום ה', “Hashem is gracious and compassionate.” At the sea of reeds G’d demonstrated that in spite of His being compassionate He deliberately suppressed this attribute by drowning the Egyptians in order to “save” the Israelites. This “canceling” of one of His major attributes on account of the interests of the Jewish people is what are referred to both by the psalmist, and by Moses in the shirat hayam, the song of thanksgiving, as נפלאותיו or פלא, “wonderful, amazing.”The second type of ישועה, “rescue” is when G’d garbs Himself in the “clothing” worn by nature, i.e. makes use of natural law without disturbing its normal function.
A well known example of such an event is the “miracle” of Purim, which according to all that we know about it did not contain any elements that could be described as interference with the natural course of events.Achashverosh married Esther, and due to his jealousy of Haman who he thought had tried to rape his wife Esther, he hanged Haman. A similar “miracle” resulted in the festival of Chanukah, the king or chief general of the Seleucids lusting after Yehudit and trying to rape her, resulting instead in his being killed by her, and his army becoming demoralized.
In both the examples mentioned, many thousands of gentiles, antisemites, were killed in due course.The subject becomes easier to understand by means of a parable. A King built a palace for his son; originally, he had meant for his son to live in that house. After a while, some wicked people expelled the son from this house. It would be appropriate for the house that had served as the protector of its inhabitants to not only protest this action but to take counter measures.
However the house, i.e. the stones, are immobile, as pointed put by Chabakuk 2,11. Seeing that the stones of the house are immobile, they are powerless. The world was created for the sake of the Jewish people, i.e. the world is our “house,” as G’d has told Pharaoh that the Jewish people are His firstborn son when viewed in terms of the parable. (Exodus 4,22) When the gentile nations dispossess us or kill us, the “world” ought by rights to rise up in our defense.
As this is not possible, the owner of the world, G’d, will do this instead. This is why the numerical value of the word טבע, nature loosely translated as “world,” is the same as the numerical value of the word אלה-ים, G’d, i.e. 86. When “nature” smites the gentile nations, it is the same as G’d smiting them. The world is the sum total of the Creator’s creative activity.
G’d may be perceived as its father. The expression מעשה בראשית, a simile for the 6 days of G’d’s creative activity, contains the word ראשית, “beginning,” i.e. that the final product of G’d’s creative activity had been planned from the very beginning, i.e. as a home for the Jewish people, who are the whole purpose of G’d’s beginning the creation of the universe. At the conclusion of this process, אחרית, the Creator garbed Himself in what we are fond of calling טבע, “nature,” and all that this term entails.
When Moses said in Deuteronomy 32,18 צור ילדך תשי, “you (his people) neglected the Rock that begot you,” his words expressed similar sentiments.Before someone opens his mouth to say something, a person considers if the words he is about to utter are the ones appropriate for expressing his wish. If he wishes to make a request, he thinks about how best to phrase such a request in order that it may be granted.
By changing his mode of speech, he becomes a totally new person. When G’d issued directives to create the universe, He created the whole world with these oral directives. (Compare psalms 33,6 בדבר ה' שמים נעשו, “the heavens came into existence by a single word of the Lord”.) When it comes to “saving” this world from impending destruction, using the טבע, “nature,” as His instrument, He deals with something that is established, and therefore employs a different means than the one He had employed when bringing something into existence. According to our author the word טבע is closely related to the word חנוכה, completing a training program, consecration, i.e. establishing a kind of order, norms, imprinting a form on something, as in מטבע, coin.
G’d no longer needs to resort to something brand new, i.e. miracles.When Esther is described as אילה, a strong animal, (feminine of איל, ram) i.e. fully mature, our sages referred to the period of overt miracles in Jewish history having come to an end in her time, so that the salvation of the Jewish people in which she was instrumental did not require G’d’s intervention by upsetting the rules of nature through a miracle.[If G’d were forever to have to resort to miracles to achieve His purpose in the universe, this would reflect a basic flaw in that universe.
When at the end of the Purim story the Jews are described as voluntarily accepting what they had accepted at Sinai under tremendous pressure, this too is a compliment to G’d, whose children had matured. Ed.]The sages (at the beginning of 40,10) are quoted as seeing in one of the branches which the cup bearer saw in his dream, the young priests, the ones who would perform the sacrificial service in the Temple in due course.
If we revert to the allegorical approach that the author has adopted, the פרחי כהונה that the Talmud spoke about are the sacrifices offered in the Temple, which are symbolic of how miracles become converted into norms, טבע, seeing that most communal offerings are closely tied to certain days, weeks, months, or years, and these in turn symbolise how what had come into existence as an overt miracle at the creation, had been transformed into what we call natural phenomena, i.e. manifestations in nature that are not only predictable but can be calculated thousands of years in advance.[The author tries again to bring the subject of Chanukah into this portion, as the portion is always read around that time of year, draws on the Talmud Shabbat 21 where the subject is Chanukah.
Ed.] The Talmud there stipulates that the best time for lighting the Chanukah candles is the period immediately following sunset until it has become so dark that no more pedestrians are about. (There was no street lighting in those days) Our author sees in this a symbol of the gradual switchover from G’d performing overt miracles to working through letting טבע perform most of His intervention in the affairs of man.
The expression for complete darkness, used by the Talmud is עד שכלתה רגל מן השוק, usually translated as “until the pedestrians have ceased walking in the public domain.” Seeing that the word רגל does not only mean “foot, but is also directly related to רגילות, something habitual, he understands the Talmud as hinting at this “getting used to seeing no more brilliant miracles,” as the period following “sunset.”
The expression used by the Talmud for sunset is שקיעת החמה, the word חמה, “sun,” referring to something overt, highly visible.