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In memory of Shimshon Ben Shalom
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Parshat VaYeitzei In memory of Shimshon Ben Shalom
(כ) וַיִּדַּ֥ר יַעֲקֹ֖ב נֶ֣דֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר אִם־יִהְיֶ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים עִמָּדִ֗י וּשְׁמָרַ֙נִי֙ בַּדֶּ֤רֶךְ הַזֶּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָנֹכִ֣י הוֹלֵ֔ךְ וְנָֽתַן־לִ֥י לֶ֛חֶם לֶאֱכֹ֖ל וּבֶ֥גֶד לִלְבֹּֽשׁ׃ (כא) וְשַׁבְתִּ֥י בְשָׁל֖וֹם אֶל־בֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑י וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לִ֖י לֵאלֹהִֽים׃

(20) Jacob then made a vow, saying, “If God remains with me, if He protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, (21) and if I return in peace to my father’s house—the LORD shall be my God.

Doesn't it say in the Talmud that -

וְאָמַר רַבִּי אָבִין הַלֵּוִי: הַנִּפְטָר מֵחֲבֵרוֹ אַל יֹאמַר לוֹ ״לֵךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם״, אֶלָּא ״לֵךְ לְשָׁלוֹם״, שֶׁהֲרֵי יִתְרוֹ שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ לְמֹשֶׁה ״לֵךְ לְשָׁלוֹם״, עָלָה וְהִצְלִיחַ. דָּוִד שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ לְאַבְשָׁלוֹם ״לֵךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם״, הָלַךְ וְנִתְלָה.
And Rabbi Avin HaLevi said: One who takes leave from another should not say to him: Go in peace, but rather, he should say: Go to peace. As we see that, on the one hand, Jethro said to Moses: “Go to peace” (Exodus 4:18), and Moses ascended and was successful. On the other hand, David said to his son, Absalom: “Go in peace” (II Samuel 15:9), and Absalom went and was ultimately hanged.

If this is so (that you should never tell someone who is alive 'Go in peace', rather you should say 'go to peace'), shouldn't Jacob have said to HaShem to allow him 'to go to peace', the phrase used when one is alive, rather than whats stated above when Jacob says 'go to peace to my fathers house', simply because people that are alive should always say 'go to peace', and not 'go in peace'.

Furthermore, we can ask another question here regarding when Jacob says that 'HaShem Li L'Elokim' - 'G-D should be for me Lord', we already know that the name used here for G-D (the Tetragrammaton) implies the attribute of Mercy of G-D and the term Elokim (Lord) is used to connote the attribute of Judgement. (Source for this in the Zohar below)

(יא) אֶלָּא הָא אִתְּמָר יְיָ בְּכָל אֲתַר רַחֲמֵי אִיהוּ, וַדַּאי קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא, יְיָ שְׁמֵיהּ אִיהוּ, דִּכְתִיב, (ישעיהו מ״ב:ח׳) אֲנִי יְיָ הוּא שְׁמִי, וְחָמִינָן דִּלְזִמְנִין אִתְקְרֵי שְׁמֵיהּ אֱלהִים וְהוּא דִינָא בְּכָל אֲתַר

Every place the Tetragrammaton is used, its discussing mercy. Certainly this is the name of the Blessed on be He, as we see this from the scriptures -

Isiah 42:8 - "I am the G-D, that is My name;
I will not yield My glory to another, Nor My renown to idols."

There are times when G-Ds name is referred to as Elokim (Lord), and each time it is connoting strict judgement.

This being the case, the proper order should have been to mention the name of Elokim (justice/judgement) first, and then the name of G-D, which would be implying that Jacob is praying to have the attribute of strict justice swapped for the attribute of kindness... and not the other way around where the verse ends off with strict judgement.. So whats going on here?

It can be said, before considering all the unique questions that were asked by the sages on the above verse -

'"Jacob then made a vow, saying, “If God remains with me.... and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear.."

Wasn't Jacob the choice forefather to G-D? So how is it possible that he has to come and pray for such lowly physical needs like food and clothing? (Have you ever seen the chief advisor of a powerful king go hungry and without nice clothing?)

To answer this question we are going to say that actually, Jacob, may he be loved by peace, was praying for a very very great matter, which is indeed fitting for a man of his stature to be praying for! He was praying for the full and final rectification that is destined to come in the future to humanity.

As it was written and taught by the sages of Israel - 'After the sin of Adam and Eve, the whole of creation was broken, and because of this, until we are able to produce bread to eat, we have 10 specific acts of working and hustling to get to the end result starting from seed to bread. The same goes for clothing, there is a required 10 acts of labor needed in order to end up with the end product called clothing. This was not the case before the sin of Adam and Eve. Whereas in Eden, G-D had given bread to eat and clothing to wear, literally without any required work on Adam and Eves part. And similarly, in the future we will returtn to that edenic status may it come speedily in our days as a full rectification.

As it says in the writings of the sages -

וְתוּ, יָתֵיב רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וְקָא דָרֵישׁ: עֲתִידָה אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁתּוֹצִיא גְּלוּסְקָאוֹת וּכְלֵי מֵילָת שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״יְהִי פִסַּת בַּר בָּאָרֶץ״..

And furthermore: Rabban Gamliel sat and interpreted a verse homiletically: In the future, the World-to-Come, Eretz Yisrael will produce cakes and fine wool garments that will grow in the ground, as it is stated: “Let abundant grain be in the land.”

On this above concept, was specifically what Jacob was praying for! He was praying for the final rectification, this is why he said provide for me bread to eat and clothing to wear, literally. (Meaning that he wasn't asking for money or the means to buy or cook food.. he was asking for it to be a de facto part of reality without struggle..

And with this insight, we can now with G-Ds help make sense of our above questions. To do this we are going to look at what the Maharal of Prague said in his book Netivot Olam, where he explains the reasoning behind the following piece of Talmud -

וְאָמַר רַבִּי אָבִין הַלֵּוִי: הַנִּפְטָר מֵחֲבֵרוֹ אַל יֹאמַר לוֹ ״לֵךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם״, אֶלָּא ״לֵךְ לְשָׁלוֹם״, שֶׁהֲרֵי יִתְרוֹ שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ לְמֹשֶׁה ״לֵךְ לְשָׁלוֹם״, עָלָה וְהִצְלִיחַ. דָּוִד שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ לְאַבְשָׁלוֹם ״לֵךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם״, הָלַךְ וְנִתְלָה.

וְאָמַר רַבִּי אָבִין הַלֵּוִי: הַנִּפְטָר מִן הַמֵּת אַל יֹאמַר לוֹ ״לֵךְ לְשָׁלוֹם״, אֶלָּא ״לֵךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם״, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְאַתָּה תָּבוֹא אֶל אֲבֹתֶיךָ בְּשָׁלוֹם״.

And Rabbi Avin HaLevi said: One who takes leave from another should not say to him: Go in peace, but rather, he should say: Go to peace. As we see that, on the one hand, Jethro said to Moses: “Go to peace” (Exodus 4:18), and Moses ascended and was successful. On the other hand, David said to his son, Absalom: “Go in peace” (II Samuel 15:9), and Absalom went and was ultimately hanged.

Rabbi Avin HaLevi also said: One who takes leave from a dead person should not say to him: Go to peace, but rather, one should say: Go in peace, as it is stated: “But you shall go to your fathers in peace” (Genesis 15:15).

These are the words of the Maharal of Prague -

When one departs from the living, if he says, 'go in peace', it implies that this person is already full and rectified, and that he has already achieved total wholeness. The issue with this is that the living can continuously achieve wholeness without end, which is why we only say to the living 'go to peace', as if to say, connect yourself to the reality of peace, and always increase in that peace! But when you depart from the dead, you say 'go in peace', because this person has already reached his final fullness, and in that case its fitting to say 'go in peace', as this person is already at, and in peace.

This is why Jacob our forefather ended his prayers requesting that he should 'dwell in peace' in his fathers house.. Since he was praying for the final rectification of humanity, he chose the wording 'in peace', like it will be when all is complete and whole.

As well, in our very own daily prayers we ask for this same final rectification!

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה הַמְבָרֵךְ אֶת־עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשָּׁלוֹם:

Blessed are You, Adonoy, Who blesses His people Israel in peace.

This also settles our question of Jacob saying 'and G-D should be for me Lord' - as we can infer that his intentions here are to mean that the Lord (judgement/justice) should be for him G-D (kindness), as he hopes to flip the attribute of Justice to the attribute of Mercy. However, what we said above settles this well. As we know the beginning of this world was formed with Judgement/Justice - as can be seen from Rashi on the first verse in the Torah -

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

In the beginning God began to create heaven and earth—

ברא אלהים וְלֹא נֶאֱמַר בָּרָא ה', שֶׁבַּתְּחִלָּה עָלָה בְמַחֲשָׁבָה לִבְרֹאתוֹ בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין, רָאָה שֶׁאֵין הָעוֹלָם מִתְקַיֵּם, הִקְדִּים מִדַּת רַחֲמִים וְשִׁתְּפָהּ לְמִהַ"דִּ, וְהַיְינוּ דִּכְתִיב בְּיוֹם עֲשׂוֹת ה' אֱלֹהִים אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם:
ברא אלהים GOD [AS JUDGE] CREATED — It does not state 'ברא ה “The Lord (the Merciful One) created, because at first God intended to create it (the world) to be placed under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realised that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy allying it with Divine Justice. It is to this that what is written in (Genesis 2:4) alludes — “In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”.

This being the case, we see the world was created with strict justice, and since Jacob prayed for the final rectification to happen, he therefor says 'G-D should be for me Lord', because after the upcoming final rectification of reality, the world will resort back to a reality of strict justice, as it once was at the formation of the world prior to the sin of Adam. And Hashem should enlighten our eyes to the Holy Torah, Amen!

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