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Save "Vayetze ~ Knowing and Speaking"
Vayetze ~ Knowing and Speaking
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ ה' בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃

Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Ad-nai is present in this place, and I did not know it!”

ואנכי לא ידעתי. שֶׁאִם יָדַעְתִּי, לֹא יָשַׁנְתִּי בְּמָקוֹם קָדוֹשׁ כָּזֶה:
ואנכי לא ידעתי AND I KNEW IT NOT — for had I known it I would not have slept in such a holy place as this.

There are different ways of knowing.

There is the knowing that is just in the mind, and there is the knowing that changes the way you look to the world.

That is why, says the Piazeczna rebbe, Rashi says Yaakov would not have gone to sleep. Because there is knowledege that is merely a brain function, and it does not change your life. And there is knowledge that comes from deep inside. Knowledge that is merely a brain function is as if you were asleep it is merely lulling you from this activity to the next in your life. You might think you are awake, but you are really asleep. That knowledge that you are amassing does not transform or change you.

To illustrate this, let me tell you the story of my relationship with the Fibonacci sequence. When I first learned it, I learned a dry mathematics function, which the teacher told us could be found in nature. But in that context, it was merely another piece of math knowledge I stored in order to pass through the tests that would grant me a place at the University.

But later, as I was studying Chemistry, I encountered Fibonacci again, in the form of a workshop that actually showed pictures of things in nature and made Fibonacci make sense in a way I could see it. I came out of that workshop with a whole new way of looking at ferns, shells and flowers. And that also impacted how I understood God's presence in the world. And I understood deeply the words of Maimonides, when he says that God can be found in Nature and in Math. He also adds history, but that is a story for another day.

The second time I met the Fibonacci sequence - that was the kind of "knowing Anochi" that the rebbe understands that Yaakov speaks about.

The knowing here is a knowing that is supposed to engage your entire being - it is knowing "Anochi"

Because if you really know the presence of God, this is the knowledge that changes your outlook in life and everything. The rebbe wants you to re-read the text as follows:

(טז) וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ ה' בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃

(16) Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Ad-nai is present in this place, and "Anochi" - I did not know!”

How can the Piazeczna rebbe can say that?

He bases himself on a teaching on the first commandment of the Aseret Hadibrot or Aseret Hadevarim, aka Ten Commandments:

(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֱלֹקִ֔ים אֵ֛ת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ס) (ב) אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ ה' אֱלֹקֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִֽ֑ים׃

(1) God spoke all these words, saying: (2) I am Ad-nai your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:

או יאמר "וידבר כו' לאמר כו'", דהנה ע"י התורה אדם בא לידי דביקות, וזהו "את כל הדברים", "לאמר אנכי ה'" הוא הדביקות ואמונה.

Or say "God spoke ... to say", and behold through Torah a person comes through "devekut" [clinging to God's presence] - and this is "all these words [are] to say: Anochi" - this is devekut and faith.

The Noam Elimelech is saying that ALL of Torah, every single mitzvah and commandment have one direction: to speak "Anochi." It is not merely to open your mouth and let words tumble out. The fact that we are humans, who speak, and speaking is a main function of being human, is an old idea, brought to you by Onkelos, a translation attributed to Akila of Sinope, written around 110 CE.

וַיִּיצֶר֩ ה' אֱלֹקִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃
the LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
וּבְרָא ה' אֱלֹקִים יָת אָדָם עַפְרָא מִן אַדְמְתָא וּנְפַח בְּאַפּוֹהִי נִשְׁמְתָא דְחַיֵּי וַהֲוַת בְּאָדָם לְרוּחַ מְמַלְלָא:
And the Lord God created man, dirt from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils a living soul, and it was for a speaking spirit in man.

Being able to form words in your mouth is something that everyone does. But being aware of what you say, and using your ability to say figuratively Anochi - that is the challenge and the task of every Jewish person. Not just to use your words wisely - but to see them as conduits for God's presence in this world. That is what Noam Elimelech wants you to understand: just doing the mitzvot is not enough. Because you need to be awake and aware of your great power of bringing God's presence into this world with your words and your actions.

When the Piazeczna rebbe sees Yaakov, he sees someone who has just become aware of the lack of actually knowing "Anochi", knowing God. That knowledge transforms you and makes you walk more awake through life, being able at least to know what kind of knowledge you are putting inside your mind and soul.

May we walk a little more awake, a little more aware and a lot more transformed in the world this week.

ויצא. לֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לִכְתֹּב אֶלָּא וַיֵּלֶךְ יַעֲקֹב חָרָנָה, וְלָמָּה הִזְכִּיר יְצִיאָתוֹ? אֶלָּא מַגִּיד שֶׁיְּצִיאַת צַדִּיק מִן הַמָּקוֹם עוֹשָׂה רֹשֶׁם, שֶׁבִּזְמַן שֶׁהַצַּדִּיק בָּעִיר, הוּא הוֹדָהּ הוּא זִיוָהּ הוּא הֲדָרָהּ; יָצָא מִשָּׁם, פָּנָה הוֹדָהּ פָּנָה זִיוָהּ פָּנָה הֲדָרָהּ. וְכֵן וַתֵּצֵא מִן הַמָּקוֹם הָאָמוּר בְּנָעֳמִי וְרוּת (רות א'):
ויצא [AND JACOB] WENT OUT—It need have written simply “And Jacob went to Haran’’; why then does it mention his departure from Beersheba? But it intends to tell us that the departure of a righteous person from his city makes an impression. As long as a righteous man is in his city he is its glory and splendour and beauty; when he leaves it, there depart also its glory, its splendour and its beauty. This, too, is the meaning of (Ruth 1:7) “And she went forth out of the place”, stated in reference to Naomi and Ruth (Genesis Rabbah 68:6).
וילן שם בעל כרחו שהרי בא השמש וכדאמר רב יהודה לעולם יכנס אדם בכי טוב ויצא בכי טוב. אבל אם לא בא השמש היה הולך כפי היכולת כדי להרחיק מעשו.
וילן שם, “he spent the night there.” He was forced to do so by the prevailing conditions seeing that the sun had set. Concerning that line, כי בא השמש, Rav Yehudah (Pessachim 2) stated that a person should make it a rule to commence any journey on Tuesdays, the day of which the Torah writes twice that G-d saw that what He had created on that day was “good.” (Genesis 1,913) If the sun had not set unexpectedly, Yaakov would have kept walking to put more distance between himself and Esau.
ויקח מאבני המקום מאבני המזבח שיצחק אביו נעקד עליו ופרש״‎י שכולן נעשו אחת ונמצא באגדה רמז לו בהן שתהא מטתו שלמה. וי״‎מ ויקח אבן אחת מתוך אבני המקום והיינו דכתיב לאלתר ויקח את האבן אשר שם מראשותיו.
ויקח מאבני המקום, “he took some of the stones lying around on that place” (to make some kind of headrest for himself). According to tradition these stones had been part of the altar on which his father Yitzchok had been bound on the occasion of the Akeydah. According to Rashi, during the night these stones fused so that when he awoke there was only one stone. We have a tradition also that the meaning of this phenomenon was that Yaakov’s children as opposed to those of his father and grandfather, would all remain true to their father’s religious outlook. Some commentators (Rash’bam) claim that Yaakov had taken only a single stone and that this is the reason why the Torah wrote immediately after these words: (after he awoke) “he took the stone which he had placed as his headrest.”
וישכב במקום ההוא ולא על כרים וכסתות אף על פי שהיה קרוב לעיר כדכתיב, ואולם לוז שם העיר לראשונה. אלא לפי שהיה רוצה להשכים בבקר כדכתיב וישכם אברהם בבקר. ואם היה מתאכסן בתוך העיר לא היה יכול לצאת בהשכמה שהשערים סגורים. ד״‎א לכן שכב חוץ לעיר לפי שמקום מבוא העיר היה נעלם כדכתיב בשופטים גבי לוז, הראנו נא מבא העיר, ולא היה יכול אדם לעמוד על פתחה.
וישכב במקום ההוא, “he lay down in that place.” The Torah emphasises that he lacked the normal means to ensure a good sleep, i.e. sheets, cushion and a blanket to cover his body, even though he was very close to a town which could have furnished these items. This is why the Torah bothers to inform us that the name of that town used to be Luz when it was first founded. He was not forced to “rough” it, but seeing that he intended to get up early in the morning to continue on his journey, he chose to do this. We have proof of this when the Torah continued after relating his dream (18), with the words: וישכם יעקב בבקר, “Yaakov arose early in the morning.” If he had stayed at an inn in the town, he could not have left that early as the gates of the town were not yet open. An alternate exegesis: the reason why he stayed outside of the town overnight is that he did not know where the entrance to the town was located as we know from Judges 1,24, where it is written concerning Luz: הראנו נא מבא העיר, “please show us where the entrance to the town is located.”
עֲשִׂירָאָה בִּתְפִלָּה וְדָא שְׁכִינְתָּא עֲלָהּ אִתְמַר (תהילים י״ז:א׳) תְפִלָּה לְדָוִד שִׁמְעָה יְיָ צֶדֶק וְדָוִד בְּרוּחַ קוּדְשָׁא אָמַר בְּאַחֲרִית יוֹמִין דְגַלוּתָא, אָמַר עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל (תהילים י״ז:ג׳) בַּחָנְתָּ לִבִּי פַּקַדְתָּ לָיְלָה. וְלֵית לָיְלָה אֶלָּא גָּלוּת וְאִיוֹב מָה דְּאָמַר כוּלָא הוּא מָשָׁל עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל דְּאָמַר (איוב ז׳:ט׳) כַלָּה עָנָן וַיֵּלַךְ, וְשָׂטָן בָּעָא לְקַטְרְגָא לֵיהּ וְאָמַר קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא (איוב לה) אִיוֹב לא בְּדַעַת יְדַבֵּר אוּף בְּיַעֲקֹב בְּגִין דְּחָזָא בְּרוּחָא דְּקוּדְשָׁא דוֹחֲקָא דְגַלוּתָא (עד כאן מההשמטות)
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