Vayechi

Why Today’s Mitzvos are Priceless

Author: Rabbi Moshe Pruzansky

In this week’s parashah, yaakov gives ephraim and Menashe the following blessing: all future generations will bless their sons that they should be just like you (48:20). Indeed, it is still the custom of every Jewish family to do so until this very day.

What made yaakov specifically choose ephraim and Menashe (his grandsons) to be the role models for all future generations? What made them unique? Furthermore, why didn’t he choose one of his own children instead? We can answer these questions through the following lesson from the Chafetz Chaim:

One day, as the Chafetz Chaim was walking down the street in radin, he met one of the town’s bakers. The baker looked sad and depressed. When the Chafetz Chaim asked him what was trou- bling him, he replied that his business was doing terribly. “Nobody likes my products. They complain that my goods are ‘too burnt, too underdone, or not shaped in an appealing fashion.’” a couple of months later, a ravaging war broke out. The Chafetz Chaim saw the baker again, but this time, he was grinning from ear to ear. The Chafetz Chaim asked him how business was going. he answered with a proud smile, “Business is fantastic! due to the war, there’s a shortage of food. People don’t care anymore about the condition of my products. In fact, food is so scarce that even my crumbs are valued like rare diamonds!”

The Chafetz Chaim explains that the same is true regarding our spiritual accomplishments in exile. Everything is relative. In previous generations when Torah giants were in abundance, it took tremendous accomplishment to be considered special. “Just” keeping all of the mitzvos was not noteworthy because everyone did it. These days, however, there is such a shortage of religious Jews and so few who are even aware of what a mitzvah is. Therefore, if one keeps even a “regular” level of Jewish obser- vance in today’s generation, it is valued like rare diamonds in the eyes of hashem. Similarly, rav Yeruchom Levovitz* said that these days one who even tries to understand a rishon’s explana- tion on a Gemara has the potential to receive even more reward than the rishon who actually wrote it!

We can learn from the fact that yaakov specifically chose ephraim and Menashe to be the role models for our children, that he con- sidered their spiritual accomplishments to be even greater than those of his own sons, the perfect Shevatim. The reason for this is because each of the Shevatim’s mitzvos were performed in the close proximity of yaakov Avinu, as well as in close proximity to ten of the greatest spiritual giants in our national history (the other Shevatim), and were performed in the holy land of eretz yisrael. ephraim and Menashe (yosef’s sons), on the other hand, grew up far from yaakov and the Shevatim’s spiritual influence and proximity. To make matters worse, they grew up in egypt, which was spiritually desolate and a place where impurity was especially rampant (see Rashi Lech Lecha 12:19).

Furthermore, they grew up in a palace with all of the money, secular education, and temptations imaginable at their disposal. Their sur- roundings were a spiritual wasteland. This made their mitzvos all the more of a rare commodity and were therefore even more precious to Hashem than those of the Shevatim.*

The reason why yaakov specifically chose ephraim and Menashe to be our role models, and why we bless our children to be like them, is because they embodied this important concept that a mitzvah is of infinitely greater value when performed in a setting where mitzvah observance is a rarity. yaakov knew that future generations would go through years and years of exile, and that each generation would be a little less perfect than the generation before it (yeridas hadoros). He also understood that this decrease in spiritual vibrancy may leave later generations feeling discouraged and feeling that their “small” spiritual accomplishments wouldn’t make much of a difference any- more. By instructing us to bless our children to be like ephraim and Menashe, yaakov intended to remind us that the reality is quite to the contrary. In fact, the less vibrant Jewish practice becomes, and the more temptations and distractions we are surrounded by, the more precious even our smallest mitzvos become to Hashem.

The rarer a valuable commodity is, the greater its value becomes. A recent study conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs concluded that out of the approximately 7.5 billion people in the world, there are only 14.5 million people alive today who are Jewish. However, an even more staggering statistic is that of the 14.5 million Jews, they found that only 850,000 people in our entire nation consider them- selves Torah observant!* Jews like you and I who are even aware of Hashem’s will, let alone trying to follow it, are such a rarity! Therefore, in a very real sense, our mitzvos count more now than ever before.

May we always be consciously aware of the tremendous opportu- nity that we have by being Torah Jews in this generation, and always realize how proud Hashem is of even our smallest mitzvos that we do in today’s world.

Our sages Teach us that there is an intricate correlation be- tween two parshiyos that are in sequence in the Torah. This also applies to one sefer of Chumash that is juxtaposed to an- other; by placing them next to each other, Hashem is communicating to us a deep message, one that can teach a profound lesson. (See the first Ramban in Parashas Shemos and the first and last Baal HaTurim in Parashas Chayei Sarah.)

What, then, is the connection between this week’s parashah (Vayechi), the final parashah in Sefer Bereishis, and the parashah/ Sefer Shemos?

We can answer this by first addresing another question: As the Romans were executing Rabbi Akiva — who was one of the asarah harugei malchus — even the angels themselves questioned Hashem.

Hashem responded by saying that if they persisted in questioning Him, He would bring the world back to nothingness and to the very state that it had been in before the first day of creation! The Vilna Gaon asks: Was this intended to be an answer to their question? If yes, how did Hashem answer it? Additionally, was it really necessary for Hashem to threaten to bring the world back to nothingness? He answers that Hashem’s response was indeed a holistic answer and explains with a parable:

A king wanted a new royal robe. he searched the globe for the most expensive and exquisite material that could be found. he located a merchant who carried just the right material, but due to the material’s rareness, he charged a large fortune. Unper- turbed, the king purchased all of the extremely rare material in the merchant’s possession. The king then gave this extremely expensive material to his tailor to create a royal robe. The tailor worked tirelessly, and after weeks of meticulous work, he pre- sented it to the king. The robe was simply marvelous and the tailor was very proud of his achievement. When the king asked the tailor for the leftover fabric, the tailor explained that he had used every bit of it to make the royal robe; there was no leftover material. The queen was not convinced and accused him of hav- ing kept some for himself. after all, the material was priceless, and even a tiny amount of it was worth a small fortune. Despite the tailor’s cries, the king consequently ordered him to prove his innocence or else he would be put to death. The tailor explained that because there were so many badges and metals on the robe, there was only one way to do this. Slowly, the tailor began unraveling the entire robe, taking off the many accessories that were sewn into it, until only thread remained. at that point, the material was weighed and it was confirmed that indeed every ounce of fabric given to the tailor had been used for the robe.

Similarly, hashem explained to the angels, everything he did from the very first day of creation was vital for trillions of other acts of kindness in his Master Plan to come to fruition. Throughout history, even the most minute occurrence was care- fully orchestrated by him for an infinitely significant purpose that would sometimes not bear results until hundreds or even thousands of years later. Indeed, all events are intertwined in his Master Plan. Therefore, if hashem would want to explain to the angels the beneficial reasons behind the murder of rabbi akiva and the other great Sages, it would require “unraveling” all of history and explaining every moment of creation from the very beginning of time. This, however, was something that they were not entitled to be privy to. although it is sometimes hard to see it in our short 120 years of life, everything hashem does is for our benefit and is the result of infinite foresight. one day, hashem will unravel all the events of history for us to see so for ourselves.

Yaakov worked seven long years to earn Rachel’s hand in mar- riage. When Lavan tricked yaakov on his wedding day and had the audacity to switch his intended wife Rachel for Leah, yaakov could have been crushed. He justifiably could have felt that Hashem allowed an evil act to befall him and that there couldn’t possibly have been Divine Providence in such a heinous crime.

Yet, in this week’s parashah, we are granted a rare glimpse of Hashem’s Master Plan and after the events become “unraveled,” it instantly becomes clear that every single “mishap” was really orches- trated by Hashem all along. Indeed, each event was not only necessary, but even extremely beneficial. In this week’s parashah it all became clear that the act of Rachel being switched for Leah was really for the very best and orchestrated by Hashem’s kindness all along. For, in our parashah, yaakov explained to yosef that he knew through prophecy that one day the Jews would sin so terribly that they would have the audacity to bring an idol into the Beis HaMikdash! At that point, Hashem would consider utterly destroying them. All of the Avos and Imahos would try to dissuade Hashem, but to no avail. Finally, Rachel Imeinu would come before Hashem and present the following powerful plea: “Hashem, I had mercy on my sister and allowed her to become a rival wife in the home that I was destined for. If I could have mercy and allow a rival to enter my home, how could you not have mercy on your children despite the fact that they allowed a rival into your home?” It was only after Hashem heard this winning plea that He promised Rachel that the Jewish nation would be saved. In our parashah, yaakov concluded that in the end, the “evil” act of Lavan had been orchestrated by Hashem all along in order to afford the Jewish na- tion one of the most incredible eternal merits of their national history. (see Rashi 48:7 and Be’er Yosef on Parashas Vayeitzei.)

One can only imagine the feeling of despair that yaakov must have felt after working seven long years for Rachel’s hand in marriage, only to be tricked by his evil father-in-law. It must have seemed like Hashem wasn’t involved and appeared to yaakov that, at least occa- sionally, evil triumphs. After all, how could Hashem allow him to be cheated in such a terrible way and allow Lavan to win? But then, in our parashah, it became clear that that hardship was really the greatest gift and cause for the greatest merit in history. It is for this reason that Hashem purposefully placed our parashah before the parashah/ Sefer of Shemos, which discusses and represents Jewish exile. By con- necting our parashah — which reveals that even what looks bad is really for our good and was all orchestrated by Hashem — to the next parashah, which discusses exile, Hashem is sending us a message: the very nature of exile is to be extremely challenging and difficult. When in exile, we will have challenges, and ultimately some may question Hashem. We might wonder whether He is involved in every challenge and hardship that we face and how it could possibly be beneficial. Sometimes we will think it is simply impossible for every difficulty to be for our best.

Each time this happens though, we should utilize this week’s parashah and recognize that yaakov could have felt the same way.

Yet, as we read our parashah — which unravels the mysteries — and are afforded a rare glimpse of the “big picture,” let us take to heart how suddenly it becomes clear that Hashem was guiding every single detail all along, all to ensure our nation’s greatest benefits and accom- plishments.* So too, within each and every circumstance, there is a similarly intricate spiderweb of details and history connecting it all.

May we utilize the juxtaposition of this week’s parashah and Parashas Shemos for its intended purpose: to supply us with the knowledge that even during the darkest periods of exile Hashem is intimately orchestrating every detail solely for our benefit — and one day all will become clear as Hashem unravels history for us.