From: JoshHoff@aol.com

Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 1:36 AM

To: JoshHoff@aol.com

Subject: Netvort:parshas Vayechi, 5769

                                                  Who Knows One?
               By Rabbi Joshua ( futuristically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


When Yaakov called  his sons to speak to them before he died, he told them, " "Assemble yourselves and I will tell you what will befall you in the end of days," ( Bereishis, 49:1). He then went on to give them blessings, assigning them the various roles they would play in the emerging nation, but not, apparently, telling them what will occur in the end of days! The Talmud ( Peschim, 56a) tells us that Yaakov wished to reveal the end of all the exiles of the Jewish nation to his sons, but the shechinah, or divine presence, departed from him, and he was not abletoconvey this information.Therefore he began to speak about other things. While Yaakov was not able to transmit the specific information of the date of the end of days, it would seem reasonable to assume that what he did tell his sons had some relation to the era of the end of days. Otherwise, the simple sense of the entire section does not hold together. What, then, was relation?

The Talmud tells us that when the date of the end  of day sescaped Yaakov's mind, he was worried that perhaps there was some blemish among his sons, just as Avraham had a wayward son Yishmae and Yitzchak had awayward  son Eisav. He therefore asked his sons if, indeed, there was anyone among them who was blemished in his gfaith in God. They all answeed by saying the six words of Shema, ' Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem echad," or Hear Yisroel the Lord is our God the Lord is One", and added that just as there is in Yaakov's heart only one God, so too, in their  hearts, there is only one God. How did this answer remove Yaakov's fear? The anonymous author of  a recently published Torah commentry entitled Meoros Yitzchak explains based on Rashi's interpretation,in his commentarytopashas Vaeschanan of the first verse in Shema. Rashi there says that the meaning of that verse is that Hashem- the Lord- who is now Elokeinu- 'our God" -meaning, recogniozed only by the Jewish people, will, in the end of days, be One, in the sense of being recognized as the only God by all nations of the world. In order for that to happen, continues the Meoros Yitzchak, the various sons of Yaakov must work together as one, so that the nations of the world will understand that just as this nation, which represents God in the world, isone  unified people , so, too, is God really One.

According to Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt'l,themeaning of Godbeing one is that He is unique. The Rambam writes the the unity of God is not the same as ther meaning of the word one in a series beginning with one. Rather, God is One unlike any other notion of one. For this reason, Rabbi Soloveitchik's grandfather, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk,was opposed to singing the  song  at the end of the Haggadah, ' Who Knows One?' soince it seems to take the  unity of God as one in a series of one to 13, which would run counter to the Rambam's understanding of this principle. Rather, God is one in the sense that He is unique. Rav Soloveitchik went on to say that since we are charged by the Torah to walk in God's ways,we, too, must be unique. Each of us has a unique personality, inscribed in our souls by God,and we must each strive to bring out that un\que character.When Yaakov blessed his sons, he told them what their tasks in life were, thus informing each of them of their own unique personalit which they needed to actualize. Working together,each making his own unique contribution,  to form the unified collective character of the Jewish nation,they would reflect the unity of God,and thereby help bring about the end of days,whose date unsuccessfully attempted to reveal to his sons.



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