Parashat VaYeshaiv from Likutei Torah page 52
By Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Gedaliah Potash and William Schecter, MD
December 18, 2022
This draft has neither been edited nor approved by Rabbi Potash
The Elter Rebbe begins his commentary by quoting the first line of the Parasha:
וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּאֶ֖רֶץ מְגוּרֵ֣י אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֖רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן׃
Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan. (Genesis 37:1)
He then asks the question: why was it necessary to repeat the word land (ארץ)? He then quotes the passage:
אֶ֭תְהַלֵּךְ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה בְּ֝אַרְצ֗וֹת הַֽחַיִּֽים׃
I shall walk before the LORD
in the lands of the living (Psalm 116:9)
Comment: Notice in this passage that lands is plural
There are two lands, says the Elter Rebbe, which are the vessels for the supernal lives (and just like Chaim-life-is written in plural {lives} so, in this quotation from Psalms the word lands is written in plural). To explain this, we must understand why Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel) is called the Land of Canaan throughout the entire Torah.
Comment: Eretz Yisroel is not mentioned once in the entire Torah—only Eretz Canaan
Ham was the father of Canaan and what was the connection of the praise of Eretz Yisroel in this and we must also understand the passage:
כְּנַ֗עַן בְּיָד֛וֹ מֹאזְנֵ֥י מִרְמָ֖ה לַעֲשֹׁ֥ק אָהֵֽב׃
A trader who uses false balances,
Who loves to overreach {Hosea 12:8})
And also, to understand the passage:
וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֨ה כְנַעֲנִ֥י ע֛וֹד בְּבֵית־יְהוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת בַּיּ֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃
in that day there shall be no more traders in the House of the LORD of Hosts.
Comment: I was previously unaware that the word Canaan refers to business and that a Canaanite is a businessman or a trader. Perhaps the source of the definition comes from the fact that the Land of Canaan was the junction of several critical trade routes in the ancient world.
It is known that the entire Torah is taught comparing one issue or person to another. For example, the juxtaposition of Laban and Esau in the klipah and the Minister of Butchers and Pharoah’s Cupbearer in the story of Joseph. In this way each of these attributes have a holy element, one with the other, because this is the work of G-d.
Comment: The Klipah refers to the Klipat Nogah, the fourth material layer surrounding the Divine Soul which contains both good and evil elements. The Elter Rebbe is using examples from stories in the Torah to point out that even people seemingly representing evil or undesirable characteristics also contain an element of good because everything was created by G-d.
Now the Elter Rebbe refers to the sons of Noah. Noah had three sons. Ham was highest in Holiness. The rainbow had three colors: white, red and green. But in the Hishtalshalut (the descending cascading flow of energy) of the worlds, falling from one level to the next, Ham was made a corporeal being, the father of Canaan. To understand the Holiness of Canaan, the definition of Canaan is merchant, as it is written:
“מִ֚י יָעַ֣ץ זֹ֔את עַל־צֹ֖ר הַמַּֽעֲטִירָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר סֹחֲרֶ֙יה֙ שָׂרִ֔ים כִּנְעָנֶ֖יהָ נִכְבַּדֵּי־אָֽרֶץ׃
Who was it that planned this
For crown-wearing Tyre,
Whose merchants were nobles,
Whose traders the world honored?” (Isaiah 23:8)
Now the Elter Rebbe again quotes Hosea:
“כְּנַ֗עַן בְּיָד֛וֹ מֹאזְנֵ֥י מִרְמָ֖ה לַעֲשֹׁ֥ק אָהֵֽב׃
A trader who uses false balances,
Who loves to overreach (Hosea 12:8)
This means by way of analogy that when a merchant invests silver and gold with the expectation of earning a profit on his investment, the entire purpose of his financial investment is to reap additional financial reward. The community of Israel in the Diaspora is analogous to this merchant as it is written:
” וַיֹּ֕אמֶר בָּ֥א אָחִ֖יךָ בְּמִרְמָ֑ה וַיִּקַּ֖ח בִּרְכָתֶֽךָ׃
But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.” (Genesis: 27:35)
Comment: This of course is Jacob’s response to Esau when he begs his father to bless him as well after Jacob stole Esau’s blessing by subterfuge.
Because here it is written:
“אֶת־כָּל־זֶ֤ה רָאִ֙יתִי֙ וְנָת֣וֹן אֶת־לִבִּ֔י לְכָֽל־מַעֲשֶׂ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשָׂ֖ה תַּ֣חַת הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ עֵ֗ת אֲשֶׁ֨ר שָׁלַ֧ט הָאָדָ֛ם בְּאָדָ֖ם לְרַ֥ע לֽוֹ׃
All these things I observed; I noted all that went on under the sun, while men still had authority over men to treat them unjustly.” (Ecclesiastes 8:9)
That by investment of the Shekinah in Exile within you, to sustain them and though this call the Holy sparks become clear as the Sages said: “Israel was sent in exile in order to increase the number of converts” (Masechet Pesachim 77:b)
Comment: In this section of the Talmud, the Rabbis commented that were both positive and negative effects of the Exile (Galut). The first one, quoted by the Elter Rebbe, is the potential to increase converts to the Jewish People. The second advantage, not mentioned by the Elter Rebbe but discussed in the Talmud, is preservation of the Jewish People by dispersion. They refer to the story of Purim. If all the Jews were concentrated in one country and a policy was instituted to destroy all the Jews as occurred in the story of Purim and in the Third Reich, if this policy was successfully implemented, the Jewish People would be destroyed.
And death will disappear in the Future to come (after the arrival of the Messiah)
And I will transfer the impure spirit from the land and the Glory of G-d will be revealed because they will see eye to eye (Isaiah 52:8). And as He is in the entirety of the world so He is in the individuality of every soul of Israel in the service of G-d because here the soul, prior to its descent to this world to be enveloped in the body and soul of the external animal soul was bound and united with its Source and Root in the nobility in the flames of the fire of love in the fire ascending from it and it has the attribute of the natural love and fear in the great revelation which is the attribute of gold and silver, silver from the word yearning meaning yearning with love.
Comment: The noun silver in Hebrew, כסף, also means money. The verb תכסף means yearning. Notice that both verbs have the same three consonant semitic root כסף. I suppose the connection may be related to the fact that many people “yearn for money”?
And gold will come from the north which is the attribute of left which is the attribute of fear and after the descent of the soul to this world to a which were concealed and hidden in the physical heart which cannot see so much in the love and fear in the beginning and love it is found that love and fear have been taken away (or diminished) in their value
If this is the case, why did the soul descend to this world after its great descent and diminishment in the beginning. But here it is written “The Torah of Your mouth is more preferable to me than thousands of gold and silver. The word “thousands” means study as if to say that I have a greater advantage in Torah study in this world than the attribute of gold and silver that the soul was trained in Torah study prior to its descent into the corporeal world.
And the Sages said “one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is more beautiful than eternal life in the world to come” (Avot 4:17) and through supernal repentance from the depths of the heart will come a cleaving of the soul to the Living G-d more wonderous with the love of the heart and is written below.
Even though there is a deficit in the revealed natural love and fear in the exterior of the heart in any case it has a gain in the love of the heart in an internal point of the heart like a gain in the light coming from darkness. And the explanation is as it is written “I am the first, I am the last and without me there is no G-d” (Isaiah 44:6). The analogous interpretation is “I am the L-rd I have not changed and You preceded creation” (Malachi 3:6) Without any change because the supernal and lower worlds were not created to occupy a valid place at all (vis à vis G-d) and all exist as if they lacked true importance.
The interpretation of “Without me” is what is compared to me meaning through time it seems that the world is an existence and an entity unto itself, the attribute of time and place (space) “there is no G-d besides Me” for He is the Living G-d and King of the world as it is said “Without You we have no King Redeemer” and it is written that all the supernal and lower worlds were created from His Kingdom as it is written “Your Kingdom is the Kingdom of all the worlds etc.” and there they ascended to comprehend all the supernal and lower creations but G-d and His Glory and Essence “your intellect cannot comprehend Him” because He is elevated far above the boundaries of comprehension and he is not ensnared within the worlds, not with the attribute of filling all the worlds and not with the attribute of surrounding all the worlds, not with any intellect or comprehension in the world rather with love from the depths of the heart of man. As it is written “From the depths I called to You L-rd” (Psalm 130:1). Because if a person puts his heart to Him, this contemplation is drawn from the love of the heart. Man’s intellect cannot comprehend Him at all and He is elevated infinitely higher, higher even than the supernal Chochma (wisdom). If man yearns and nullifies his soul in G-d’s reality, the soul is freed from the prison of the body and its sheath its love and cleavage in its root itself achieves comprehension (because then the soul unites with the Infinite Eternal Light).
