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שבת שלום - פרשת בחקתי
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Video Shiur
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Click play to watch the
video shiur by Rav Meir Goldvitch
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News and Notes
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The Yeshiva was pleased to participate in a local blood drive this past Sunday, held at Yeshivat Lev Hatorah in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Well more than half of our students spent their lunch break donating blood to Magen David Adom, and we're proud of their concern for the welfare of Am Yisrael. (See photo gallery below)
On Thursday night, the yeshiva divided in two: about half of our students journeyed to Meron for the annual Lag BaOmer festivities at the kever of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, while the remaining students stayed in Beit Shemesh, watching and participating in the many bonfires that dotted the areas, and then joined a special Lag BaOmer mishmar at the yeshiva, featuring shiurim on a variety of "mystical" topics.
We wish a special Mazal tov Tov to our madrich, Yossi Silverman, who celebrated his completion of Masechet Sanhedrin with a siyum in the Beit Midrash on Wednesday. Yossi spent the past year in the Israeli army, and his siyum of Sanhedrin was the culmination of a learning project he began last year at Yesodei HaTorah, continued during his military service, and concluded this past week.
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Parsha Insights
By Rabbi Scott Kahn
And I will remember my covenant with Yaakov, and even my covenant with Yitzchak, and even my covenant with Avraham I will remember, and I will remember the Land. (Vayikra 26:42)
Despite the negative consequences with which He will inflict Israel should they fail to follow the Torah, G- d nevertheless assures them that He will remember his covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Strangely, the word "Yaakov" is spelled with an extra letter vav - a phenomenon found in only five places in the Tanach. Rashi thus explains, "In five places ['Yaakov'] is spelled 'full' [i.e., with the extra vav] , and 'Eliyahu' is spelled 'incomplete' [i.e., missing the vav ] in five places. Yaakov took a letter from [Eliyahu's] name as a guarantee that he will come and herald the redemption of [Yaakov's] children."
The Maharal, in his commentary on Rashi, explains that Eliyahu was only created for the purpose of redeeming Israel. A name is not merely a label, but a description of an individual's essence. Because Eliyahu has not yet completed his essential task, his name cannot be complete. The main purpose of his life - the redeeming of Yaakov - is not yet accomplished; accordingly, Yaakov retains part of his name until Eliyahu, by fulfilling his role, can regain it for himself.
Why, however, did Yaakov use a letter vav as a guarantee? What does this letter represent such that it was withheld from Eliyahu until the final redemption?
The answer can be seen through another case of a broken name: when Amalek attacked Israel soon after the Exodus, and G-d says that His name will not be complete until the memory of Amalek is utterly wiped out. The Torah states that Hashem's ineffable name is incomplete, for the last two letters - the vav and the heh - are disconnected from the first two letters, the yud and the first heh. The Netziv, referencing a classic Kabbalistic idea, explains that the letter vav represents G-d's divine providence that is l'maalah min hateva - that is, above and beyond nature, while the letter heh symbolizes G-d's divine providence b'derech hateva - that is, within nature. (See HaEmek Davar, Shemot 17:16) Accordingly, the letter seized by Yaakov is the letter that shows Hashem's miraculous and supernatural direction of the world.
The relevance of this symbolism can be better appreciated by analyzing the second half of the verse cited above, "Even my covenant with Yitzchak, and even my covenant with Avraham I will remember". Rabbeinu Bachaye notes that the Hebrew word for "even" is af, which carries with it a double connotation of "even" and "anger." (See Rashi on Bereshit 18:23) Therefore, the concept of divine judgment is referenced in the covenants of Yitzchak and Avraham. This is logical, explains Rabbeinu Bachaye, for Avraham and Yitzchak were equal participants in Akeidat Yitzchak, the binding of Yitzchak: Avraham as the individual who overcame his obvious reluctance to sacrifice his son, and Yitzchak who overcame his natural inclination to flee. Through their unprecedented act of submission, they earned tremendous reward for their children. Their offspring can be redeemed through judgment, for Avraham and Yitzchak earned that positive judgment.
Indeed, redemption arrives either because Am Yisrael earns it, or because of the promise made to our forefathers many years ago. In either case, then, redemption is a result of justice. In other words, redemption is directly related to G-d's providence within the laws of nature. There is nothing more natural than receiving a natural consequence of one's actions. This is the reason that the name of G-d representing judgment - Elokim - is also the name associated with G-d's direction of the natural world. The name Elokim, in fact, has the same numerical value as hateva, nature.
If the time for redemption has not yet arrived, then, we must assume that we have not yet earned the redemption, and that the requirements of strict justice cannot countenance our immediate salvation. If Eliyahu has not heralded the Geulah Shleima, then we must not be worthy of it. In the situation in which we lack merit, we require more than a guarantee of judgment; we need the promise of mercy. Yaakov, according to the primary Kabbalistic system, represents the sefirah of Tiferet, which is directly associated with mercy. Moreover, this same sefirah is symbolized by the letter vav. And mercy, which, by definition, means going beyond the requirements of the law, is the ultimate expression of l'maalah min hateva, that which is beyond nature, and which is also alluded to by the letter vav.
Eliyahu's delay results from our being undeserving of the redemption. The fact that we are undeserving means that we are in need of divine mercy - if not for the sake of redemption, then for our continued existence and success in the here and now. For this reason, Yaakov - himself the embodiment of mercy - used the vav as a guarantee. If the Geulah has not arrived, we cannot rely on judgment, but must look to G-d's promise of mercy.
We can sometimes forget that even during a period of exile, G-d still cares for us and speaks to us. The ultimate redemption will usher in a period during which G-d will be directly involved in the world in a clear and absolute manner. That does not mean, however, that Hashem is truly absent in the time that precedes the Geulah. G-d is concerned with His people even when He hides His face. Because we wait for Eliyahu's arrival, we know that we cannot now survive on justice alone. But because of the Torah's guarantee, we are assured of divine mercy even when we would not survive the exacting standards of judgment. May the redemption arrive today; but in the event that it does not, we hold tightly to the "vav of Eliyahu", confident in the promise that G-d's mercy will sustain us until he comes.
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