Netvort Parshas Vayeishev 5771:           A Work in Progress
By Rabbi Joshua (progressively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Dedicated by Dr. Lawrence Bryskin in memory of his father, Yitzchak Shlomo ben Label Halevy, whose Yahrzheit will be this coming Monday evening, the 23rd of  Kislev. May his memory be a blessing.

This week's parsha begins by telling us that Yaakov settled in the land of the sojourning of his father (Bereishis, 37:1).The Midrash, as cited by Rashi, says that the use of the word 'Vayeishev'- and he settled - in this verse implies that Yaakov asked to live in tranquility. Immediately, the troubles with Yosef sprung upon him. God said, is it not enough for the righteous, the tzadikim, that they will have reward in this next world, that they want tranquility in this world?  Many commentators ask why Yaakov warranted punishment for desiring tranquility.  After a lifetime of struggle and suffering, didn't he deserve some peace in his life?  There are verses in the Torah that present peace as a divine reward for proper conduct, and a number of Talmudic passages say that it is a good thing for tzaddikim to have reward both in this world and the next, although not many merit to have both.  Rabbi Baruch Epstein, in his work Tosefes Beracha, is bothered by these questions, and notes that, in fact, the original text of the Midrash cited by Rashi, found in the Midrash Rabbah, states that the copy setter of the Rashi text made a mistake, and no one ever caught it. This mistake, he continues, is disgraceful, and all printers of Hebrew books should be alerted to it, and make sure that the Rashi text is amended.

Rabbi Yehudah Shaviv, in his commentary Misinai Ba, notes, without mentioning Rabbi Epstein's comments, the original text of the Midrash Rabbah, but also notes that, in the old edition of the Midrash Tanchuma (Tanchuma Yashan), as edited by Shlomo Buber, the text reads as we find it in Rashi.  Rabbi Shaviv suggests that Yaakov's mistake was that he had reached a time in his life when he could stop struggling and just live in peace, whereas a person must always strive to grow in life.  Rabbi Yisroel of Gur, in his Beis Yisroel, gives a similar explanation of Yaakov's failing, according to the Midrash, and adds that this is especially true in regard to the patriarchs, who, as another Midrash says, paved the path for their descendants, and gave them the ability to meet the challenges that would meet them. Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, in his Ta'am Vada'as, gives a similar explanation, even while following the original text as found in the Midrash Rabbah. He asks, as do the other commentators, why Yaakov should be punished for seeking tranquility, and, in addition, asks why Yaakov should be punished for Satan's complaint.  He answers, similarly to Rabbi Shaviv and the Beis Yisroel that Yaakov should have welcomed challenges in life, and asked for Satan to present him with these challenges. Rabbi Moshe Alshich, in his Toras Moshe, says that the emphasis of the midrash is on the word 'bikeish'- he asked- which implies that Yaakov asked for tranquility, seeking it as a goal, while the goal of a tzadik Rabbi Aharon Soloveichik, z”tkl (see Facebook logo) often said that Torah is not a tranquilizer, and that it is not the goal of the Torah to achieve peace of mind, as was preached by a prominent  Reform rabbi, Joshua Liebman, in his best-selling book of that name, written in the 1950s. 

What typifies all of the approaches we have mentioned to explaining the Midrash is that they do not seem to connect the specific punishment of Yaakov - the troubles generated by the episode of Yosef and his brothers - to the failing of Yaakov in asking for tranquility. As Rav Reuven Katz points out in his Dudaei Reuven, when God punishes people, he does so in order to educate them, and therefore punishes them measure for measure, or midah keneged midah.  What was the educative element in Yaakov's punishment? How did the episode of Yosef and his brothers relate to Yaakov's mistaken request for tranquility in his lifetime?

Perhaps we can suggest that Yaakov mistake was in the education of his children. We noted, in Parshas Toldos, Rav Hirsch's comment that Yitzchak and Rivkah failed in their education of Eisav by not providing him with the type of training that he needed for his unique personality, but rather giving him the same kind of education that he gave Yaakov. Although the Midrash says that Yaakov gave over to Yosef all of the learning that he acquired in the study house of Ever, we do not find that he gave special attention to the education of the other brothers.  However, according to Rav Kook, the struggle between Yosef and his brothers was, in essence, a struggle over two different ways of carrying over the tradition of the patriarchs to the next generation. This struggle revolved around the question of engagement with the outside world, or confining oneself strictly to developing one's level of holiness. In fact, says Rav Kook, both approaches had validity, and the dynamic of each historical period would determine which approach should take prominence and to what extent it should do so.  Had the bothers understood this, there would have been no place for any struggle with Yosef. Yaakov, however, wished to live in tranquility and not invest his efforts in this balance of approaches. Rather, he concentrated his efforts on the education of Yosef, and as a result the brothers ended up quarreling over which of the two approaches was the exclusively correct one.  In this way Yaakov carried the mistake of his parents over into the next generation. Apparently, at the end of his life, Yaakov realized his mistake, and thus, before he died, he blessed each of his sons with a blessing uniquely suited to him in the context of his role within the Jewish nation as a whole.

Archives are available at http://www.yucs.org/heights/torah/bysubject/

In addition, archives from 5764-5768 are now available at yeshivasbrisk.freeservers.com/netvort.html    

Netvort joins FACEBOOK!
We invite you to "inspect our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/Netvort/119311111467149), where you'll be able to access every week's D'var Torah, make comments, ask questions, share Netvort with friends, and communicate with each other.