Living the Good Life

The Torah portion Vayeishev opens with the statement:[110] "Yaakov settled in the land of his father's residence, in the land of Canaan." Commenting on these words, our Sages note:[111] "Yaakov sought to live in peace and tranquillity, whereupon he was confronted with the 'anguish of Yosef.' The righteous seek to live tranquil lives. G-d said: 'Does it not suffice that the World to Come is established for the righteous; they seek tranquillity in this world as well!?'"

Why does G-d find it disquieting that the righteous seek to live tranquil lives; what could possibly be wrong with the desire to live a tranquil life?

The commentators[112] clarify this based on the saying of our Sages[113] that "This world is like an ante-chamber before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the ante-chamber so that you may enter the banquet hall."

Since this world is merely a portal to the World to Come, one should always feel as if he exists as a mere sojourner in this world. Those who desire tranquillity in this world are considered "as if they are transferring the quality of the 'banquet hall' to the 'ante-chamber.'"

Truly, this must be understood. We are speaking here of Yaakov, the "select of the Patriarchs,"[114] all of whom were "veritable Divine chariots,"[115] i.e., "all their organs were completely holy and detached from mundane matters, and throughout their lives they served as a vehicle for nothing but the Divine Will."[116]

How is it possible to think that Yaakov would seek to "transfer the quality of the 'banquet hall' to the 'ante-chamber'"? Surely, then, Yaakov's seeking tranquillity was not to gain tranquillity for its own sake, but as a means for his divine service.

G-d's response, however, was that Yaakov was not quite ready to receive this degree of tranquillity. Only after he would be "confronted with the 'anguish of Yosef,'" would he be able to enjoy World-to-Come tranquillity in this world as well. For which reason Yaakov's last seventeen years of life were indeed filled with tranquillity.[117]

This will be understood by prefacing some thoughts regarding the general aspect of receiving a reward for the performance of mitzvos. We find two contradictory aspects concerning this matter:

On the one hand, the ultimate purpose of mitzvos is not to serve as a means for achieving a different end, such as reward and the like. Rather, the mitzvos' ultimate purpose is the commandment itself[118] -- "The reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself."[119] The reason why we do in fact receive a reward for performing mitzvos is entirely secondary; it is merely because "G-d does not deprive nor withhold from any creature its just reward," and the like.[120]

On the other hand, the reward for the performance of mitzvos is not something that is in no way related to the mitzvos performed. Rather, the reward for the performance of mitzvos is a direct result and consequence of the mitzvos themselves.[121]

In the words of the Alter Rebbe:[122] "For it is the mitzvah itself that causes [i.e., creates] its reward." Unlike, for example, the wages paid by the owner of a field to the laborer who plows and plants in it, where the laborer does not create the money he is paid, a mitzvah actually creates its own reward.[123]

We must thus understand the following: As previously explained, the reward for performing mitzvos is because of an entirely subordinate reason ("G-d does not deprive etc."). Seemingly, this reward bears no relation to the intent and purpose of the mitzvah itself. Why, then, are mitzvos so fashioned that they themselves are a direct cause of the wholly auxiliary reward?

G-d's ultimate desire in mitzvos is that whatever the level and station of the person performing them, the person should be able to realize the goodness and importance of performing mitzvos. Thus, G-d's desire for mitzvos was clothed in the garments of reward so that even a spiritual neophyte can realize their goodness and importance.

However, since there is an infinite gulf between Creator and created, it therefore follows that the true essential and infinite goodness of mitzvos is concealed from us at the present and will only be revealed to us in the Time to Come.

Nonetheless, the truly great tzaddikim merit to glimpse the revelations of the Time to Come included in which is the reward for mitzvos as it will then be revealed, in their present day spiritual labor as well.[124]

It was this degree of reward and tranquillity that Yaakov sought. However, Yaakov was not yet at that level where he could receive it. Only after he underwent further refinement through the "anguish of Yosef," was he able to merit the reward of utter tranquillity in a manner similar to the reward that will be revealed in the Time to Come.

Based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. XV, pp. 310-313

"Official Timekeeper"

The Midrash[125] comments on the verse[126] "[Joseph's] brothers envied him, and his father 'guarded' the matter," remarking: "Yaakov took a quill and recorded the day, the hour and the place." What prompted Yaakov to record these particulars, especially as no mention is made of his recording the actual event itself -- why record time and place when not recording the actual event?

"The events that transpired in the lives of the 'fathers' [the Patriarchs]," say our Sages,[127] "serve as 'signs' for their children"[128] -- the events and aspects of the Jewish people through history are enabled and empowered by the deeds of the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.

The connection between the Patriarchs ("fathers") and the Jewish people ("children"), mirrors the physical connection between father and child, wherein there are three distinct stages:[129]

1. As the child is still part of the brain of his father, where he does not exist as an independent entity -- there is but one being, the future child as he is yet a part of his father's brain;

2. as the child becomes separated from his father and becomes an entity unto himself;

3. the intermediate level, that of pregnancy, a state that binds the child as he exists within his father's brain to the child as an entity unto himself.

So, too, with regard to the Patriarchs of the Jewish people and the spiritual service of their progeny throughout time: There is that aspect of the Jewish people -- the "children" as they are included within the Patriarchs, in which state there exists no true division in the service of their progeny, and all particular Jews are included within the general whole of "the lives of the fathers."

There is also the element of the children becoming an entity unto themselves, i.e., the spiritual service of the Jewish people throughout the generations. This began at the time of the exile and liberation from Egypt and continues from then on in the various forms of the Jews' divine service. Then there is the intermediate stage that connects the Patriarchs and their divine service and the "children" and their spiritual service.

This is accomplished through Yaakov's children, the shvatim, or tribes. With the shvatim there began twelve different manners of spiritual service, each tribal head serving G-d in his own unique way.[130] Since all the distinct levels of their service is permeated with the aspect of "Yaakov, their father," this achieves the union of the particular "service of the children" with the general aspect of the "deeds of the Patriarchs."

Indeed, herein lies the novelty of Vayeishev. In previous portions, beginning with Lech Lecha, the Torah speaks of the lives of the Patriarchs and the various details relating to their lives. In Vayeishev, however, the Torah begins to speak of the shvatim as they exist as entities unto themselves.

The verse "[Joseph's] brothers envied him, and his father 'guarded' the matter," will be understood accordingly. All the shvatim were truly "tribes of G-d," and as such, G-d forbid for one to think that their jealousy and enmity toward Joseph was a matter of simple jealousy and hatred. Rather, it related to their different manners of divine service.[131]

With the onset of the different degrees and manners of divine service of the shvatim, there began to be palpably felt the differences between one manner of spiritual service and another; each of the shvatim felt the qualitative superiority of his particular manner of spiritual service.

Thus, when a message is received by all through Joseph's dream (all bowing down, i.e., subservient to Joseph) about the ultimate superiority of Joseph's manner of service and how specifically through him Jews could endure the exile, etc., the brothers were filled with spiritual envy.

The verse then continues that "his father 'guarded' the matter": Yaakov, as their father, did not feel how one tribe was fulfilling but one aspect of the overall service of the Jewish people, another tribe fulfilling yet another aspect, and Joseph fulfilling the main aspect. Rather Yaakov saw but one individual "matter" -- that the divine intent was to be fulfilled.

When one concentrates of that which is to be accomplished -- a dwelling for G-d in this world, rather than how it is to be accomplished, then

1. one is not aware of the "server" but of the service,

2. all the particular manners of service are seen as part and parcel of that which accomplishes the overall divine intent, that of transforming this world into an abode for G-d.

In light of the above we better understand the Midrashic comment, "Yaakov took a quill and recorded the day, the hour and the place." By doing so, Yaakov brought about that his manner of general and all inclusive service -- one all inclusive point of time and space -- be realized in the particular service of all Jews, at all times and in all places.

Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXV, pp. 204-210.

   

Notes:

110. (Back to text) Bereishis 37:1.

111. (Back to text) Rashi and Rabbeinu Bachya, ibid. See also Bereishis Rabbah, 84:3.

112. (Back to text) See Akeidah, Shaar 30; Yefei Toar on Bereishis Rabbah, ibid.

113. (Back to text) Avos, 4:16.

114. (Back to text) Zohar I, 147b.

115. (Back to text) Bereishis Rabbah, 47:6, 82:6.

116. (Back to text) Tanya, ch. 23.

117. (Back to text) See Zohar I, 216b.

118. (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah, Re'eh 28d and onward; Likkutei Sichos V, p. 243ff; XV, p. 247ff.

119. (Back to text) Avos 4:2.

120. (Back to text) Mechilteh, Mishpatim 22:30.

121. (Back to text) See Shalah 12:1ff.

122. (Back to text) Tanya beginning of ch. 37.

123. (Back to text) See "Lessons In Tanya," p. 483.

124. (Back to text) See Berachos 17a.

125. (Back to text) Bereishis Rabbah 84:12.

126. (Back to text) Bereishis 37:11.

127. (Back to text) See Ramban, Bereishis 12:6.

128. (Back to text) See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XV, p. 76, and sources cited there.

129. (Back to text) See Tanya, ch. 2.

130. (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah, Tzav p. 17a; Maamarei Admur HaZakein -- Parshiyos, Vol. I, p. 29ff.; Likkutei Sichos, Vol. X, p. 97ff.

131. (Back to text) See Shach al HaTorah, Bereishis, 37:9; Maamarei Admur HaZakein -- Parshiyos, Vol. I, p. 208; Toras Chayim, Vayigash, p. 94d.