When Yaakov Ovinu left his parents' home, he headed for the
School of Eiver, where he remained sequestered for the next
fourteen
years (Bereishis Rabba 68:5). These years
were spent in study
and self preparation for the upcoming
condition of exile through
which he would live for his
duration in Lovon's home.
When a Jew
goes forth into exile, he leaves his geographic
location but he never
goes into exile from his Torah and his
Jewish essence. World history
can point to many nations that
were ejected from their homeland, but
in the end, in the mere
course of years, at best some three
generations, their
national identity was obfuscated and they
integrated fully
into the countries of their new domain. Jews,
however, have a
special golus doctrine which enables them to
survive
with their identity intact, no matter what the circumstances
or conditions of their exile. The basis to this credo was
laid by
Yaakov Ovinu.
"It is important to understand why Yaakov saw the
need to
disobey, or rather suspend, his father's behest to go to
Choron, and remain ensconced, instead, for fourteen years, in
the
School of Shem and Ever. Was he not already an
established `dweller
of tents'? One who had spent his whole
life studying Torah? Yet,
apparently, he understood that the
teachings of his father and
grandfather, the ovos,
would not suffice to protect him in
alien territory.
"Avrohom and Yitzchok had both established
schools of their
own and disseminated Torah to the masses. This was
not true
for Shem who lived in the generation of the Flood, and Ever
who lived in the generation of the Dispersal. They succeeded
in
rising above their generations and their respective flaws,
as did
Yaakov. And now that the time had come for Yaakov to
leave the
proximity of the ovos, he felt he needed
extra reinforcement
from those who had succeeded in studying
Torah even in times of
threat, in hostile environments.
"Rashi explains further that
everything that Yaakov gleaned
in Yeshivas Shem and Ever was
transmitted to his son Yosef
[during the seventeen years of
tutelage]. Apparently, Yosef,
who was destined to go forth into exile
as well, all alone,
would need to be fortified by this doctrine, this
code of
exile-survival. The teachings of the ovos were not
sufficient; he needed the extra reinforcement of the
teachings of
Shem and Ever, survival tactics that would help
him withstand the
trials of a hostile environment" (Iyunim
Bamikro by HaRav
Yaakov Kamenetsky zt'l).
"And lo, heavenly angels ascended
and descended upon it"
(28:12). The rungs of ascent represented the
subjugating
nations of Babylonia, Medea, Greece and Rome (Baal
Haturim: Midrash Tanchuma Vayeitzei 2). The Midrash
states that
the exit of Yaakov from his home to strange lands
comes to hint at,
to represent, the future exile of the
Jewish people. That is why he
was shown that even in exile,
the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdosh
would accompany Jewry.
This sanctity would spread to all the houses
of worship and
houses of study in the very same manner that Mt.
Moriah was
uprooted and came to join Yaakov, as it were, as he lay at
the border between Eretz Yisroel and foreign territory. We
see this
when Yaakov declared, "Indeed, Hashem is verily to
be found in this
place." He was shown that even "in this
place," i.e. in exile, the
Shechina would accompany
him and not abandon him or his
children. This was a
revelation which he had heretofore not known.
"And I did not
know" (Melo Ha'omer: Maayono Shel
Torah).
*
Yaakov needed to learn this message so that he
could take
Eretz Yisroel and its sanctity along with him in exile.
"How
awesome is this place. Surely it must be the House of
Elokim, and this be the gateway to Heaven" (28:17).
And Rashi
comments: "I maintain that Har Moriah was uprooted
and came there."
The elite of the ovos set a precedent
and pattern for future
generations. The mobile, "itinerant
homeland," the wandering home of
the wandering Jew, was none
other than the Torah through which he
would be able to
survive and persevere through all circumstances, in
all
situations, conditions and vicissitudes -- as our millennia-
long exile has surely proven. For every location that became
a
hostel to Torah incorporated an element of Eretz Yisroel.
The Torah
transformed and adapted hostile to hostel.
"The Torah does not
state that Yaakov `descended' from Beer
Sheva but denotes his exodus
as a leave-taking, even though
we find that all other exits from
Eretz Yisroel are referred
to as descents. This is because Yaakov
Ovinu took the
sanctity of Eretz Yisroel along with him. `He exited
from
there, and so departed its aura, departed its glory'
(Rashi). There was no expatriation in that exile,
since he
took the holiness of his homeland along with him.
And therefore, this
was not considered a descent for Yaakov,
since the elevation of Eretz
Yisroel is purely spiritual, it
is an advantage of sanctity, not of
physical height.
"And this accompanied Yaakov outside of Eretz
Yisroel; it was
part and parcel of his spiritual traveling baggage.
Wherever
he went -- there was the virtual, essential Eretz Yisroel"
(Maayono Shel Torah p. 122, according to Kedushas
Levi).
"`That earth upon which you are lying' (28:13). Rashi
brings
the Midrash that states that Hashem compacted all of
Eretz Yisroel underneath him. Chazal intend through this
simile
[which is scientifically valid, theoretically, if One
were to remove
all the empty spaces between the atoms . . . ]
to teach us that Eretz
Yisroel is not a physical, material
entity that we perceive with our
fleshly limited eyes.
Rather, it is essentially that very space
occupied by Yaakov
Ovinu, that which is coupled up [mekupal]
and
condensed under him. That is the essential Eretz
Yisroel.
The only Eretz Yisroel with significance of any kind
is such where,
and when, life is lived according to the
spirit of Yisroel
Sabba, Yaakov Ovinu. When its
sanctity is intact in true form,
then it can exist even in
the location of any diaspora! Eretz Yisroel
can exist
anywhere since it really represents an elevation of
sanctity,
not of geography!" (Maran HaRav Elozor Menachem Mann Shach
ztvk'l: Talellei Oros, Vayeitzei p. 17).
Yaakov Ovinu's
challenge was to pull down the Divine Presence
to the level of
domain, to rest on earth, as we see, "And he
called the name of that
place `Beis El'" (28:19). The
gemora says: "Not like Avrohom,
who called it a
mountain, and not like Yitzchok who called it a
field, but
like Yaakov who designated it as a house. A dwelling
place"
(Pesochim 88).
Avrohom was the first who drew down
[like a magnet] the
Divine Presence in Eretz Yisroel from the level
of a
mountain, which one visits only occasionally [because it is
less accessible]. Yitzchok drew it down further and made it
even
more accessible, like a field, which one frequents in
summer and
winter to tend to the agricultural needs of the
land. Yaakov Ovinu,
epitome of the ovos, drew it even
closer, so that one need not
go forth in search of the
Shechina, for It would verily dwell
immanently in
one's domain. He thus made everything holy, everything
was in
the purview of this sanctity and one need not go forth to
look for it. Even mundane things were imbued with holiness
(Tiferes Yisroel, Tchortkov, p. 22).
*
How marvelous
it is that the selfsame doctrine of
golus which Yaakov learned
in the House of Ever and
which he bequeathed to his son Yosef, is
what stood us, his
descendants, throughout our latest exile, "the
exile-amidst-
Jews," as Dr. Nosson Birnbaum labeled it.
R' Moshe
Sheinfeld was even stronger in his designating this
exile as a
"golus in the midst of Hebrew-speaking
goyim." This
label was stuck onto the secularists over
forty years ago when they
staged riots against the chareidi
Yishuv in Jerusalem over the right
to keep the Meah Shearim
area closed to traffic on Shabbos.
Upon
that occasion, R' Moshe Sheinfeld argued that those
Hebrew-speaking
goyim despised Torah Jewry for its having
mounted the barricades to
prevent the Jewish people from
assimilating among the nations and
causing it to be reduced
to "a small nation in a very small country,
encircled by
enemies and subjected to the threat of
annihilation."
How relevant are his words to the situation today!
We are
carrying on the way of Yaakov Ovinu as shown to us by our
teachers and rabbis who illuminate our path and guide us
along. They
show us which direction to take and how to
conduct ourselves along
our varied obstacle course and to see
to it that Hashem dwell in our
midst as Yaakov intended when
he made a House for the
Shechina.
Yaakov struggled for twenty years in the home of
Lovon the
trickster and swindler. "And I did not learn from his
wicked
deeds," as Rashi notes. On the contrary, after Lovon
overtakes him in the chase, Yaakov presents his case against
Lovon,
proving how he dealt honestly, with full integrity,
towards his
employer. He is careful to give him an exact
account for every single
penny. "I have been with you for
twenty years. Your sheep and goats
did not drop their young
nor did I eat the rams of your flock. I
guarded the sheep
lest they fall prey to predators. I held myself
accountable
for any sheep that was missing. Nothing was stolen by day
or
by night." (The Ohr HaChaim Hakodosh deals at length with the
details of his absolute honesty, reliability and
trustworthiness.
Everything that Yaakov did was imbued with
holiness, even his mundane
acts.)
There is no separation between the beis midrash and
the street, between Torah study and the necessity to make a
living.
"In all your ways, know Him" and "To know Your way in
the land." One
must have an awareness of Hashem's presence in
all things, even the
earthly ones, for a Jew's obligation to
the commandments of the Torah
is absolute and all-
encompassing, not only when we are sitting at
the table of
the King, so to speak, when the Beis Hamikdosh is
standing in
Zion and we are living in peace and serenity, but in
every
place, at every time, under every set of circumstances. When
we are in exile, when "during the day I was consumed by the
dry heat
and by night, by the frost. And sleep would evade
me." When we are
being persecuted and tortured -- then, too,
must we live according to
the Torah, "And Yaakov called it
house." A house where one resides
constantly.
*
At the end of thirty-four years of separation,
there takes
place a dramatic reunion between Yaakov and Eisov.
Possibly,
Eisov forgot all about Yaakov, gave him no second thought.
Even if his assassin-grandson Elifaz was foiled, Eisov could
trust
Lovon to "take care" of Yaakov and see that he not
flourish. "And
Lovon tried to uproot everything." At any
rate, Eisov never thought
that he would meet the same Yaakov
who had persevered as a meticulous
observer of Torah. Surely
Lovon had had some detrimental effect upon
him, to dilute his
holiness if not to sway him to his evil side
altogether.
And yet, not only does he encounter Yaakov alive and
well,
but he sees him accompanied by four wives and eleven
children,
many servants and huge flocks of livestock. Yaakov
reads Eisov's
mind: Granted that he is hale and hearty,
granted that he has
acquired great wealth, but surely he must
have been contaminated by
being close to Lovon, polluted by
the evil atmosphere. Yaakov cannot
have maintained his
spiritual level; he cannot have preserved the
purity of "You
shall give truth to Yaakov."
But Yaakov dashes
Eisov's hopes. He sends messengers to
declare that "I lived with
Lovon, yet I guarded/observed the
613 commandments." Here I am just
as I was before. I learned
the rules of golus-survival; I am
equipped with the
tools to withstand the test of a harsh and hostile
environment such as I encountered in the home of Lovon.
This is
the Toras hagolus, the doctrine of exile-
management, of
survival, which I learned in the House of
Ever, and which I
transmitted to Yosef -- particularly to him
of all my sons for he
will have to face the challenges of
being on his own, of contending
with a threatening
environment.
The rest of Yaakov's sons
descended to Egypt, but not before
Yaakov sent Yehuda ahead
lehoros, to establish a
yeshiva, a House of Study. For them,
this -- the teachings of
the ovos -- would suffice as
protection, says R'
Yaakov Kamenetsky zt'l. Our Torah sages,
faithful
shepherds which they were, bequeathed to us this awareness.
They especially fortified us for the difficulties of our
present
exile, the "golus amidst Hebrew- speaking
gentiles," through
Torah-true education, the holy yeshivos
and Bais Yaakov schools and
all the rest.
And here we stand today, some fifty years later,
with our
sanctity preserved and intact. "I guarded the 613
commandments." Thanks to these alone have we succeeded in
surviving,
though the political setup has not changed in the
least. We are still
"a small nation in a small country,
surrounded by enemies and
threatened constantly by
annihilation."
"This is the nature of
yeshiva attendance in our times as
well. In times of yore, when every
Jewish home was permeated
with Torah and pure yiras Shomayim,
no danger faced a
youth in his parents' home and in his immediate
environment.
This is not true for our present day. We are a
vulnerable
generation, exposed to the perilous winds of heresy which
blow threateningly, attempting to ruin every last stronghold.
Our
security, our well being, our blessing lies solely within
the four
cubits of Halocho, the four walls of the beis
hamedrash, even
if a person does not find personal
advancement in his study. Today,
our yeshivos serve as a
fallout shelter, a Noah's ark which protects
us and preserves
us from deterioration in our G-d-fear and from
plummeting to
the abyss of heresy and materialism" (Talellei
Oros by
R' Yisroel Yaakov Kanievsky zt'l). *
This was
the approach of our Torah leadership, their defense
against the
bitter realities of the internal exile: to
repulse the invasion from
the outside and augment the
holiness from within, increasingly, so as
to mitigate the
impact of the enemy and weaken it. This was our
protection
against a hostile environment -- the creation of a strong
inner hothouse of holiness.
Less than half a year after the
establishment of the state,
R' Moshe Sheinfeld published an article
titled, "The Exile of
the Shechina in Israel." It delineated a gloomy
scenario of
Orthodox Jewry versus an adamantly antagonistic secular
government. It is interesting to quote several parts from it
whose
relevance is still very actual; they address the
selfsame conflicts
which we face in this country today:
"A heavenly voice issues
forth every day from Mt. Chorev,
castigating humanity over the
debasement of Torah. It calls
to us and to our children to rebel. Not
with fists and
firearms, for we denounce the decisive role of
strongarm
power, of might makes right, especially in the area of a
spiritual struggle. We call for a rebellion within our hearts
and in
our internal awareness.
"We are commanded to believe, fully and
wholeheartedly, that
if, G-d forbid, the entire Jewish nation were to
exchange
Hashem's Torah for a code of law which it devised, it would
be devoid of all authority and obligating validity. A court
of law,
even if it be titled a supreme court, whose judges
are not worthy of
their office, which operates contrary to
the law of Torah, is a
meaningless formality. Every
government which boasts sovereignty and
legislative authority
separate from the Torah -- is an illegal
entity, even if it
is elected by the people. `You shall not follow
the majority
to err,' and the oath which the Jewish people made at
Mt.
Sinai shall never be abrogated . . .
"In short, if G-d
forbid, a secular government be established
in the state of Israel,
we will be forced to recognize it as
a pragmatic reality, but no
power in the world can coerce us
to recognize its validity
halachically. Furthermore, if
Jerusalem becomes our capital once
again and the borders of
our country expand eastward to Jordan, even
reaching the
borders established by Dovid Hamelech through conquest,
and
even if our economy flourish and the fear of our military be
imposed upon all of our neighbors -- we will continue to
rehearse,
to ourselves and our children, the fact that so
long as the
Shechina has been banished from Israel, we
must continue to
deny that the ultimate Redemption has
begun.
"Our bitter, harsh
existence here denotes the pre-messianic
period of suffering. But so
long as our King is still
shackled, as it were, and the Shechina
has not yet
returned to its resting place to rule in Eretz
Yisroel, this
state of affairs cannot be considered the redemption.
We are
still immersed in the exile and the Shechina's
suffering is also our own" (Digleinu, Tishrei
5709).
From then until today, we nurse that rebellion and fan it
within our hearts and our internal consciousness. At the same
time,
however, we march with the counsel of our Torah sages
and luminaries,
along the path blazed by Yaakov, choice of
the patriarchs: the tents
of Shem and Ever have increased and
expanded. And even though we must
still "reside alongside
Lovon," yet we continue to "preserve the 613
commandments."
We still nurse the selfsame hope expressed in the past
by
Yaakov Ovinu, that "I return in peace to my father's house."
Rashi comments: In peace -- sholeim -- whole, intact
with his
Torah, [he prayed] that he not forget all that he
had learned in
preparation for residing in Lovon's house.
The holy Torah is our
only lifeline, our only hope,
everywhere, under every condition and
in every
circumstance.
