Parashat Vayeitzei
Commentary by Rabbi Gedalia Potash on Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi’s discussion of Parashat Vayeitzei
Summary by William Schecter< MD
November 25, 2023
Rabbi Potash has neither edited not approved this summary
This parsha begins with Jacob fleeing Beer Sheba for Haran because of his fear of Esau after “stealing” Isaac’s blessing meant for Esau. En route, he dreams of a ladder reaching up to the heavens with angels ascending and descending the ladder. G-d promises that Jacob will return to the Land of Israel in peace. He reaches Haran, meets Rachel, the love of his life, at the well, is tricked by Laban into marrying Leah, subsequently marries Rachel as well as Leah and Rachel’s maid servants and then returns to the Land of Israel.
The Elter Rebbe begins his Kabbalistic commentary by quoting from our parsha :
וְשַׁבְתִּ֥י בְשָׁל֖וֹם אֶל־בֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑י וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לִ֖י לֵאלֹהִֽים׃
and I return safe to my father’s house— יהוה shall be my God.
Notice that the first name of G-d that the Torah uses is the Tetragrammaton which represents the revealed G-d. The second name for G-d that the Torah uses in this sentence is Elokim representing the concealed G-d. The Torah, says Rabbi Potash, does this intentionally to indicate that G-d is present throughout but is concealed in our world, after undergoing the process of Histalshallut (the cascading down from the supernal worlds to our own world of G-d’s light) and Tsimtsum (the contraction of the light so that the infinite energy would not destroy our world.
The Elter Rebbe then applies this concept to Jacob’s name—יעקב in Hebrew. Notice that the first letter Jacob’s name in Hebrew is the letter Yud. It is also the first letter of the Tetragrammaton יקוה. The Kabbalah teaches us that the letter Yud represents supernal wisdom. The next three letters of Jacob’s name-עקב spells heel and indeed Jacob got his name because when he was born, he was holding on to his twin brother Esau’s heel during delivery. Jacob’s name then indicates that he spans the entire breadth of knowledge and spirituality from supernal wisdom to the lowest level (as indicated by heel) and spirituality from the Land of Israel (the highest level of spirituality) to Haran (the lowest level of spirituality). The shoresh (three consonant semitic root) of the word חרן is not obvious. I looked it up on the internet and it has various meanings the most common of which is heat or burn. Rabbi Potash taught that Kabbalah views Haran in a negative sense, perhaps burning anger. So, by going from the Land of Israel to Haran, Jacob is spiritually descending and when he returns with his family at the end of 20 years servitude, he will be spiritually ascending.
One final point made by Rabbi Potash: In Kabbalistic cosmology, Chesed (loving kindness) is associated with Abraham, Gvurah (discipline) is associated with Isaac. Tiferet (translated as beauty) is intermediate between Chesed and Gvurah uniting the two. The attribute of Tiferet is associated with Jacob.
In summary, Jacob’s role is to unite the lofty with the mundane to emphasize Divine Unity even at the mundane level where Divine Unity is concealed (Elokim).