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Inheritance of Jacob 12:5
Translation and commentary by Rabbi David Slavin
According to what we have said previously, namely that Samael
has no power to remove a Jewish soul in Eretz Yisrael. That concept shall smooth
out a seemingly difficult saying of the Sages: "Regarding the verse 'The land
upon which you (Jacob) lay, I (G-d) am giving to you and your descendents' (Gen.
28:13), what kind of great gift is the space of four cubits as an inheritance?
Rather Rav Yitzchak teaches that the true meaning of this verse is as follows:
G-d folded the entire land of Israel underneath Jacob to indicate to him that
the conquest of the entire land will be as simple as conquering four cubits." (Chullin
91b) From here we should be exacting and deduce that if G-d had not folded the
land underneath Jacob, then we wouldn't be able to conquer it. If that is so,
what happened to the promise G-d made to Abraham at "the covenant between the
parts"? As it says, "On that day G-d made a covenant with Abraham saying, 'For
your descendents I have given the land.'" (Gen. 15:18) It is possible to say
that what G-d promised to Jacob was that his children will eternally inherit
the land, yet conquering it might be accomplished with much strife and
difficulty. Therefore it was imperative that G-d would promise the inheritance
through ease.
Yet still a question arises: Couldn't G-d have made that same
promise through a mere statement? What was the necessity of folding up the land
underneath Jacob?  | | " The intention of folding the entire land of Israel under Jacob was to envelope the Malchut in its garments...." | | |
Based on the secret [sod] level of Torah interpretation,
we can say as follows: "And he touched the "makom" [Hebrew for 'place']
and rested there". (Gen. 28:11) That night Jacob touched [or attained] and
connected to the level of Malchut of Atzilut, which is known as "Makom".
For the letters that are used to spell out " malchut" have the same
numerical value as "makom". That realm is also known as "Eretz Yisrael
Zuta [small]". Its place in the stellar world of partzufim is four
cubits behind Zeir Anpin, corresponding to tiferet, netzach,
hod, and yesod. Likewise Jacob (the partzuf of Yaakov)
stands in front of Zeir Anpin, at the level that corresponds to
those four as well. Yet when the patriarch Jacob connected with the Makom,
it became conquered underneath him as the secret of the Yichud
[unification]. That is why G-d told him that the land upon which he lays shall
be given to him; just as in marriage, the pair connect eternally.
"...[to him] and to 'zaro' [Hebrew for 'his descendants']
- as in the verse "A light is 'zarua' [Hebrew for 'sown'] for the
righteous" (Psalms 97:12), as per the explanation of the children of Rav Safra
in Zohar parashat Teruma p. 187. The intention of folding the entire land
of Israel under Jacob was to envelope the Malchut in its garments.
Her [Malchut''s] most external garments are from the
aspect of the Neshama of Asiya; the middle garments are from the
aspect of the Neshama of Yetzira; the innermost garments are from
the aspect of the Neshama of Beriya. Yet her "Ten Lights" remain
in Atzilut. They are the ten sefirot of Mah with its ten
lights. The thirty garments that descend they are from the aspect of Ban.
| | " The one who has lost something is the one who goes searching for it...." | | |
Just as the one who has lost something is the one who goes
searching for it, the purpose of the descent is to refine the refinement of the
vessels of Ban that had shattered and to re-elevate them to their roots.
This is what the idea of the land of Israel stretching out until it is four
hundred miles square means. This is so, for each sefira is comprised of
its own ten. Behold, the three worlds Beriya, Yetzira and Asiya
make up three hundred miles, and the ten sefirot of Mah that
remain in Atzilut are also comprised of their own ten, giving us the
total of four hundred square cubits as the area of Eretz Yisrael.
What did G-d do? He folded up the thirty vessels one atop the
other, and then brought them face to face with Jacob opposite his four cubits
which represent his tiferet, netzach, hod, and yesod.
Then they all united. That is the meaning of "And he [Jacob] lay down in that
place", for we would really desire that all her [Malchut's] thirty
sefirot would be enough that she could stand next to Zeir Anpin, face
to face.
This is the mystery of the statement "it was folded that it
should be as easy to conquer as four cubits": that it should be easy for his
descendants to rectify her [the malchut and the land], similar to the
rectification of tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod of
Zeir Anpin himself.
This Malchut at times connects with Jacob at the stage of
" Katnut" [immaturity], at times with Yeshurun during the stage of
" Yenika" [nursing], and with Yisrael at the stage of Gadlut
[maturity], as we shall discuss later, G-d willing, in the second book about the
Mishna of "The ten sanctifications" [Ed.: not yet available]. This instructs us
that Eretz Yisrael is the land in which is planted the above-mentioned three [Yisrael,
Yeshurun, and Yaakov], whose numerical value equals "Eretz"
[1290, with alef meaning "1000"]; the ending letters of those three spell
"Lavan" [Hebrew for "Laban"], which indicates to us that through the
house of Laban, Jacob [Yaakov] merited to ascend to the level of
Yisrael and Yeshurun. That was accomplished by his marrying Rachel
and Leah.
Yet in similar fashion, according to the book Galya Razya
by Rav Eliezer from Garmiza [known as the "Rokeach"], we can understand why G-d
folded up the entire land under Jacob:
"When G-d saw that his children would sin and perish from
the world, G-d, being that he desires that no soul of the Jews be lost,
established circumcision upon the flesh of all males. If a person fails to
perform this rite he has cut himself off of the nation. He also established
reincarnation, to rectify oneself, in order to return to its original
source.
| | " Samael...requested from G-d to grant him permission to make a covenant with Jacob...." | | |
At that moment, Samael and his seventy generals gathered
before G-d. They said, "Master of the world, we have also been formed by the
work of Your hands, You are the father for all creatures. Just as You have
established a path of rectification for the souls of the Jews by means of
reincarnation that each one will ultimately receive a portion of the World
to Come, so too do for us. What did You see that you chose the seed of
Abraham over us?
At that moment G-d responds to them, "Have you done for me
as Abraham did? Abraham recognized me even from his youth. He lovingly and
willingly subjected himself to enter the fiery furnace for Me, yet you saw
how I saved him from you and from the fiery furnace and nonetheless you
didn't believe Me to sanctify Me. Therefore, from here and onwards don't say
a word, neither positive nor negative. Samael responds, "The daughters are my daughters and the sons are my sons, and all you see belongs to me. For I cause them to have a desire for intimacy, Therefore I am the ultimate cause of their creation."
G-d replies, "Evil-one, being that I had known that you
would say such vile things, I preempted you and commanded Abraham to
circumcise his whole household. Further I wrote in the Torah, 'Any
uncircumcised man who doesn't remove his foreskin shall be cut off from his
nation' (Gen. 17:14); your portion shall be the foreskin, being that you
arouse lust."
When Samael saw that the judgement wasn't in his favor, he
requested from G-d to grant him permission to make a covenant with Jacob,
saying, "In the future he [Jacob] shall be my son-in-law, I [Samael] will
give him my daughters as wives and we shall live in peace together." At that
point G-d granted him permission to give his daughters to Jacob as wives.
| | " Jacob began crying and established the Evening Prayer through his tears...." | | |
Then [Samael left the heavenly courthouse in a similar
fashion to the way that his descendent Haman Left the palace of Ahasuerus.
As it says,] "And Haman left with happiness and content of heart." (Esther
4:9) Then Samael waited until the time when Isaac and Rebecca sent Jacob to
Paden Aram. He plotted to follow him and kill him for he was enraged with
him in regards to Jacob's deceiving Esau out of the blessing and birth rite,
especially after Isaac ratified it, as it says, "And the Lord Sha-dai
shall bless you...." (Gen. 28:3) Therefore, what did he do? As soon as Jacob
left Beer Sheva, Samael sent Elifaz to confront Jacob. Elifaz caught Jacob
on that very day and took every thing that Jacob owned. This is why the
verse "And Jacob left Beer Sheva and went to Haran" (Gen. 28:10), the
comma [or pause] indicates that each was its own episode. This also
indicates to us that Samael is associated with "Charon Af" [meaning
the characteristic of rage, a play on the name "Haran"] because of his
anger. This was displayed by his going out to exact vengeance upon Jacob.
We see that after the sun had set on Jacob he was overcome
with fear, becauase he was left all alone in a field at night; as we know, a
Torah scholar requires guarding. At that point Jacob began crying and
established the Evening Prayer through his tears. Upon viewing Jacob's fear
and humility, Samael left him, causing him no harm. Thus far the book
Galia Razia.
In my opinion the above is very far-fetched, for just because it
seemed that Jacob was afraid, Samael decided to leave him alone? On the
contrary, when one is afraid then his heavenly assistance is worsened and it is
very easy to do away with him, as it is said, "When the ox falls sharpen the
knife." (Shabbat 32a) Especially having such a deep-seated hatred towards
Jacob from the day he was born, how could he be transformed into pitying him
right when he had fallen into his hands? Furthermore, does Samael even have the
capacity for pity, for all bile and fury dwell within him? | | " Samael has no power over a Jew in Eretz Yisrael...." | | |
We can resolve this problem with what we had mentioned
previously. Namely, being that Samael has no power over a Jew in Eretz Yisrael,
G-d saw a way to protect Jacob. What did he do? He folded the entire land of
Israel underneath Jacob, which effectively prevented Samael from harming Jacob.
That caused Samael to grind his teeth at Jacob trying to figure a way to harm
him. Especially after G-d had shown Jacob all he promises (by means of the dream
with the angels and the ladder), Samael also saw part of Jacob promises. This
enraged him even more. For all was futile. That is why the next morning when
Jacob got up the Torah describes it as, "And Jacob lifted his feet and traveled
to the land of the sons of Kedem." (Gen. 29:1) The term of lifting feet implies
the alacrity and joy Jacob was feeling after receiving the promises and
reassurances from G-d. As our sages say, "the belly carries the feet" ( Bereishit
Rabba 70:8), meaning that when Jacob received the good tidings from G-d his
heart was elevated and lifted his feet. When the verse states, "...And he
traveled..", it is preceded by a comma [or pause]. That indicates to us that
there are two distinct occurrences: one was Jacob's joyous departure, the other
was Samael's journey to the land of the sons of Kedem, where he tried attaining
advice from the two fallen angels Aza and Aza'el as to how to destroy Jacob .
According to the above, we must try to understand what message
G-d was conveying to Jacob by showing him the vision of the Ladder.
Apparently, when G-d saw the fear of Samael upon Jacob, He
wanted to show Jacob the truth about the power of Samael. Therefore G-d showed
him the Ladder [in Hebrew, " Sulam" = 130 plus one for the kollel]
whose numerical value equals that of "Samael"
[= 131], for Samael is the symbol
of denying the unity of G-d.
Yet G-d was revealing to Jacob that even though Samael (i.e. the
"sulam"/"ladder") is on the earth attempting to eliminate you,
nonetheless "his head reaches heaven" (ibid.). This means that while Samael's
head is rooted in the heavens, he's ultimately controlled by
G-d and has no
permission to do neither good nor bad to you. His head reaches the angel
Metatron in the heavens; he has no permission to take any so/ul without the
permission of Metatron.
Furthermore when the verse says, "The angels were ascending and
descending upon it", "it" refers to Metatron. In other words Samael has
no permission in Eretz Yisrael, rather it is Gabriel who was granted permission.
This is why the Torah uses the term "Malachei Elo-him" [" Angels of
G-d"], For "Elo-him" implies the quality of judgment, and Gabriel and
Samael are both angels of judgment. "Ascending " - to prosecute and "descending"
- to take the soul. "Upon it" - with the permission of Metatron, who is the
ruler of the six days of the week.
"And behold G-d was standing above of him (Metatron)" -
this was to teach us not to make the same mistake that Elisha ben Avuya made.
For Elisha mistook Metatron as an independent power (G-d forbid). Therefore,
when you see all the heavenly angels performing the bidding of Metatron, taking
the quota of souls he assigns them, don't think that it is his independent
decision. For "G-d is standing above him", and therefore don't be afraid, for,
"Behold I am with you and I shall guard you wherever you shall go".
Even though Michael came and wrestled with Jacob, he is just one
of the seventy names of Metatron. "And he bruised him in the indent of the hip",
this happened when Jacob refused to let go of Michael. The forces of Michael
wanted to endanger Jacob, and at that point G-d appeared, frightening the hosts
of Michael, yet simultaneously weakening Jacob. This gave Michael the
opportunity to break free. He did this by bruising Jacob in his hip.
At that point, G-d rebuked Michael saying, "Nice job. You've
just rendered my High Priest invalid for service." Immediately Michael set out
to find Raphael [the angel of healing] to come and heal Jacob. After that, "And
Jacob lifted his feet", implying that Jacob was elated at the news of his
elevated stature, whereas Samael went to seek council from Nofel and
Giluyi Aynayim, as to how to contend with Jacob. The advice he received was
to go to Laban and convince him to give his daughters to Jacob.
Immediately, Samael went to Laban's house and enclothed himself
in the terafim [idols] of Laban. When Jacob made it to Laban's house
empty handed, Laban didn't want to receive him, for Laban remembered how Jacob's
grandfather's servant [Eliezer] had brought such lavish gifts when looking for a
wife for Isaac. Laban went to the terafim for advice. Samael, through the
terafim responded, "Don't send him away, rather give your daughters to
him so that they shall rule over him, he will thus be subjugated to the
kelipot and we'll be able to do what ever we want with him." Hence Laban
returned to Jacob saying, "Just because we are related should you work without
pay? Tell me your wages." (Gen. 29:15) Jacob responded that he only wanted to
marry Rachel. Subsequently, he married both of Laban's daughters.
Laban was under the impression that his daughters sided with him
and would be victorious over Jacob. Yet G-d foiled his plans, and in the very
same pot Laban planned to boil-up Jacob, he himself got boiled in. (His
daughters became completely righteous, giving birth to 12 tribes without flaw.)
That's how the advice of the general opposite holiness can reflect all ones'
strategies back upon the planner. That's what is meant by the verse. "Your
ruiners and your destroyers shall emerge from you" (Isaiah 49:17). Laban thought
his daughters would seduce Jacob to follow Laban's gods, yet they rebelled
against their father and his gods, as is says, "And they said we have no more
portion in our fathers' house" (Gen. 31:14).
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