The Pledge of Arvus

At the beginning of the portion Vayigash,[138] Yehudah explains to Yosef why he personally took it upon himself to save his brother, Binyamin: "For, I, your servant, have offered myself to my father as a guarantee -- areiv -- for the lad."

Rav Hunah states in the Gemara,[139] that Yehudah's sense of responsibility because of his verbal pledge to act as a guarantor teaches us that acting as a financial guarantor, an areiv, extends to verbal pledges as well. Thus, posits Rav Huna, a verbal commitment to act as a fiscal guarantor suffices; there is no need for a written contract or the like.

Rav Huna's position must be understood. What is the comparison between a fiscal guarantor to Yehudah's pledge of responsibility for Binyamin, where the laws of arvus and financial onus seemingly do not apply?[140]

We must therefore say, that Rav Huna does not mean to say that concerning Yehudah there was the law and obligation of arvus. Rather, since Yehudah couched his promise to Yaakov with the term arvus, we derive therefrom the laws of legal arvus with regard to monetary matters.

The explanation is as follows. The responsibility of a guarantor can be viewed in one of two ways:

1. the guarantor assumes the responsibility of assuring payment or fulfillment of another's debts and obligations;

2. the guarantor actually takes the place of the debtor -- it is as if the guarantor himself received the money from the lender. Thus, the obligation and commandment of a borrower to pay his debt falls equally upon the guarantor.[141]

Rav Huna views arvus in the latter manner, which is why he derives the laws of arvus from Yehudah, who obligated himself completely -- "I have offered myself" -- in his capacity as guarantor.

This will be better understood in light of the general concept of Arvus that exists among the Jewish people -- "All Jews are responsible for one another:"[142]

We thus find with regard to "Blessings over Mitzvos,[143]" that "Even one who is not charged with the performance [of a commandment] since he has already fulfilled his obligation, may nevertheless recite the blessing for one who has yet to fulfill the commandment ... for with regard to mitzvos, since they are obligatory, all Jews are responsible for one another, and he too is considered obligated when his friend has yet to fulfill his duty."[144]

That is to say, the concept of Arvus exists among the Jewish people because they are "as one person,[145]" "one body[146] and one entity,[147]" inasmuch as the Jewish whole forms a tzibbur -- a congregational entity that is not merely the sum of many parts, but one organic being.

The same is so with regard to monetary obligations: the arvus that all Jews have for one another, causes the obligation of the borrower to extend to the guarantor just as if he himself had borrowed the money and had to repay the debt.

This general Jewish arvus is because all Jewish souls are inherently one entity; with regard to their bodies, however, each Jew is an entity unto him or herself.[148]

According to Rav Huna, Jews are -- as the Alter Rebbe states[149] -- "one" even as they exist "on this earth," i.e., even with regard to "earthy" matters they are capable of revealing soulful divine unity. They are thus also capable of revealing this aspect of true unity even as it extends to purely monetary matters.

We may accordingly understand the reason why Rav Huna derives the law of arvus specifically from Yehudah, inasmuch as the arvus of Yehuda depicts a very special form of arvus, resulting from a truly lofty level of Jewish unity. In turn, this also affects Jewish unity regarding material matters.

For the most authentic unity regarding the unity of disparate organs of a physical body is when each limb feels that its main aspect and being is not its particular talent and function, but that it is part of the person as a whole. This truth extends equally to every bodily part -- all are equally part of the greater whole, and as such are wholly united.

The same is true regarding Jewish unity: all Jews are truly part of the greater whole of Klal Yisrael, something that results from the quintessential Jewish essence that is found equally within each and every Jew. This, then, is the true arvus of the Jewish people: there is no division of head and foot, as all are as truly one essence.[150]

This is why specifically Yehudah, the "King of the tribes,[151]" took upon himself a special arvus, for the aspect of kingship reveals the true unity of Israel, that they are truly one being -- an entity that transcends division. For a king unites the entire nation into one entity[152] so that there is absolutely no division among them. This was the unifying level and arvus of Yehudah.

Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXX, pp. 215-221.

   

Notes:

138. (Back to text) Bereishis 44:32 and commentary of Rashi. See also Bereishis 43:9; Tanchuma, Vayigash 5; Tanchuma Buber, ibid., 4.

139. (Back to text) Bava Basra 173b.

140. (Back to text) See Rambam Hilchos Malveh VeLoveh 25:14 and Raavad ibid.; Responsa Sho'el U'Maishiv, Mahadurah 4 1:45; Torah Shleimah on Bereishis 43:9.

141. (Back to text) See also Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXVI, p. 127 and sources cited there.

142. (Back to text) Shvuous 39a; Sanhedrin 27b.

143. (Back to text) Rashi, Rosh HaShanah 29a.

144. (Back to text) Shulchan Aruch, Admur HaZakein, Orach Chayim 167:23.

145. (Back to text) Tzafnas Paneiach, Sanhedrin 43b.

146. (Back to text) See Yerushalmi, Nedarim 9:4.

147. (Back to text) Tzafnas Paneiach, Makkos 24a.

148. (Back to text) See Tanya, ch. 32.

149. (Back to text) Iggeres HaKodesh, Epistle IX (p. 114a).

150. (Back to text) See also Likkutei Sichos, Vol. IV, p. 1141ff.

151. (Back to text) See Rashi, Bereishis 49:9 and 38:1.

152. (Back to text) See Tzafnas Paneiach, Sanhedrin 43b, that the Nasi integrates all Jews to form the one single being of tzibbur.