פרשת וישב
This week’s Parsha opens by telling us how Yaakov settled in the land of Canaan. Although this may seem like a simple verse, the Midrash informs us that this statement contains in it a great victory for Yaakov Avinu. We know that in the end of last week’s Parsha, Yaakov has a confrontation with his brother Eisav who was then dwelling in Canaan at the time. By the verse telling us that it was Yaakov who settled there, the Torah is essentially telling us that in fact Yaakov emerged victorious in the battle for who would settle in Canaan. The Midrash goes on to ask, “How was it that Yaakov emerged victorious over the powerful Eisav”? To answer this, the Midrash quotes a verse in Yeshaya (57) which basically says that when the Jews gather together and cry out to Hashem, they can emerge victorious over any foe because they have gathered together. The Midrash deduces from this verse that Yaakov’s ‘gathering’, and all of his sons’ ‘gathering’, enabled him to triumph over Eisav. I believe that it must be understood why the Midrash seems to place such importance on the “gathering together” and not on the prayer itself. Furthermore, how is the word “gathering” applicable to Yaakov as he is just one man?
I once heard a beautiful explanation from R’ Chaim Katz, one of the Roshei Yeshiva of Telz from the previous generation. R’ Chaim explained that the word gathering refers to entering into one’s own consciousness. In order to do this, one must evaluate one’s strengths and weaknesses, and based on that evaluation, form an accurate assessment of what the most effective way is to “gather” all of his strengths and concentrate them to perform the will of God. In other words, it is a gathering into oneself. This kind of “gathering” is what Yaakov did in order to be successful in driving Eisav away from the land of Canaan. He evaluated each one of his abilities, from the most mundane, all the way to his depth of the origin of his soul in heaven, and focused them so completely that he became an extremely powerful human being. R’ Chaim explains that this is the reason he was able to overcome the angel of Eisav who fought with him the entire night. By honing his abilities to such a fine edge, Yaakov reached the point where even the angels themselves could not find a weakness in which to penetrate his defenses.
The Beis Halevi uses this explanation to understand the second half of the Midrash. The Midrash also stated that Yaakov gathered his sons together. Based on the way we defined “gathering”, Yaakov did not merely put them in a room together, rather he made an in depth personal evaluation of each one of his sons in order to assess their strengths and help them bring them out to the fullest. By doing this, he created an extremely powerful “Tzibur”, because he found a way to utilize each one’s unique gifts for the benefit of all of them. Parenthetically, the Beis Halevi goes on to say that today, very often you have many people in a room together in prayer, but this is not necessarily called a Tzibur. Only a Tzibur like that found in a Yeshiva, where each one’s personal talents are being utilized, is truly what Chazal were referring to when they instructed us to pray and function in a “community”.
There is a Gemorah in Chagigah (9) which is oft quoted but R’ Chaim asserts that it is just as often misunderstood. The Gemorah quotes a verse in Kings (17) which says, “And you will return and see the difference between a righteous person and a wicked person and between a servant of the Lord and one who is not”. The Gemorah learns from this verse that one cannot compare a person who has gone over an issue 100 times to one who has reviewed it 101 times. Most people understand this Gemorah to be telling us that if one studies a piece of Torah 101 times, even though he has already seen it so many times, by doing it that one more time, he is bound to see more insight then he had already gathered which is certainly correct. However, R’ Chaim explains that these people did not carefully examine the Gemorah’s quoted verse. The Pasuk in Kings is referring specifically to one whose examination leads him to becoming a righteous person. In other words, an examination which is a self introspection which will ultimately result in a person’s perfecting of their character traits. On this type of introspection the Gemorah concludes that 101 times is significantly more effective then 100 times. On the 101st time of deep personal introspection, the Torah is teaching us that one will make significant headway into one’s self-understanding and will be able to reach the level where he can perfect himself far more then he was able to on the 100th time. This level of introspection is what the Torah demands of us in order to reach the point where our service of God is complete and focused.
What is the reason why such a high level of introspection is needed in order to detect the deviations in our service of God? Isn’t it obvious when we are doing the will of God and when we are straying? The answer is that our minds have a tendency to downplay the importance of our actions and very often we are simply unaware of the incredibly far reaching effect the smallest of actions can have on our soul. Sometimes an almost imperceptible deviation from the will of God, even an improper thought can have disastrous effects on us in the long run, and we are therefore required to go through all of our actions with a fine tooth comb in order to uncover these possible “slight” infractions.
There is a verse in Tehilim which we say every Shabbos, “And the sins which we have committed that have disappeared from before our eyes, are still in front of Hashem’s eyes”. There are many transgressions which are so slight that either we do not notice them, or if we do, we forget about them shortly afterward due to their apparent insignificance. But in Hashem’s eyes, which see clearly all the far reaching effects of every action, the transgression may look very different. To illustrate how a seemingly small action can have a devastating effect on us, let us analyze the Gemorah in Berachos (10). The Gemorah says that since the verse in Tehilim says that “We call out to you from the depths”, one must pray from a low place and not a high place. Now clearly the simple indication of the verse is to call out to God from the depths of one’s heart. Yet the Gemorah learns that if one is located in a high place, the small measure of arrogance that one feels is enough to invalidate the prayer and therefore rules that it is forbidden to pray from a high place. This is a small example where the average person may not have been sensitive to how damaging a seemingly insignificant factor can be in one’s Mitzvah observance. Yet Chazal saw with their foresight that this potential hazard of some person in the future feeling haughty because of where he was standing was so significant, that they took action to prevent it from happening. From all that we’ve seen, we can conclude how important it is for a person to be on constant vigil for any deviation that he may find in his service of God and to always attempt to focus his strengths and develop them to their fullest.
May Hashem help to reveal to us our deficiencies and aid us in discovering and developing our strengths!