Following the example of Yaakov, father to us all
In this horrific post-October 7 apocalyptic world, Rashi’s dictum, “Maaseh l’avot siman l’banim (the deeds of the forefathers are a signpost to the children),” has never been more relevant. We learn how to act and react to events, not from psychology texts, newspapers, broadcast news or social media, but from our heritage, as given to us in Tanach.
As we encounter this week’s parsha, Vayetze, we watch the maturation of Yaacov. And while his evolution will not be complete until his name change from Yaacov to Yisrael (which occurs later, in parshat Vayishlach), along with Yaacov we learn valuable life lessons.
While Chazal discuss many ways this is illustrated in our parsha, I want to focus specifically on Yaacov‘s relationship with the land of Israel. Unlike his father Yitzchak, who was commanded to never leave the Holy Land and not to descend to Egypt, Yaacov is told by Yitzchak and Rivka to leave the land.
How many times did Yaacov leave and return to the land of Canaan, later called the land of Israel?
First, when he is sent away by his parents and returns 36 years later in parshat Vayishlach.
Second, when he travels to Egypt upon the discovery that his beloved son Yosef is alive and returns after his own demise.
But the Talmud tells us there’s one more time.
On the words “Vayifga Bamakom (he encountered the place” (Bereishit 28:11), Rashi quotes the gemara in Pesachim 88a that “the place” is Har HaMoriah (what we recognize today as Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount), where his father Yitzchak was bound in akeidatYitzchak.
According to the gemara in Chullin 91b, Yaacov had already traveled far outside of Israel to Padan Adam and then realized he had not stopped by his father‘s most hallowed place. So Yaacov travels back to the land, to the area later called Jerusalem, to the place later called Har HaBayit. There, Yaacov has his famous dream (“Jacob‘s ladder,” with its ascending and descending angels) and has his first encounter with G-d. He is blessed with the gift of this land:
Haaretz asher ata shochev aleha lecha etnena u’lezarecha (the ground upon which you are laying, to you will I give it, and to your descendants).
• • •
There are valuable insights in this remarkable story. There are also various reasons why Chazal go to such a lengths to describe this almost extraneous point of why Yaakov needed to return.
The most important, in my opinion is that Yaakov needed his own zechut avot (the merits of his forefathers) to allow him to survive and succeed in the foreign land of Padan Aram. Thus, accepting that Yaacov did make this “extra” trip, he would have left and returned three times, not two.
Returning to the idea of maaseh l’Avot:
•As the children of Yaacov, we left Egypt and returned and with Yehoshua conquered Canaan after the 40 year sojourn in the desert.
•We were then exiled with the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash, but returned after 70 years with Ezra and Nechemia.
•We enjoyed the Maccabean/Hasmonean monarchy and Commonwealth, only to be exiled again in 70 CE after the Roman conquest and the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash.
•Now, miraculously, we’ve returned again (despite always maintaining some presence throughout the millennia) to the status of independent rule, with the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948.
Yaacov “left and entered” three times, and we “left and entered” three times, which explains the gemara in Taanit 5b. As Rashi notes in Bereishit 49:33, Rav Yochanan says Yaacov never died, for that verse in parshat Vayechi describing his demise, never uses the word vayamot, and “he died. Rav Yochanan goes on to quote the prophetic verse in Yirmiyahu:
Do not fear, O’ Jacob My servant, said Hashem, and do not be dismayed O’ Israel; for I will save you from afar and your descendants from captivity. (Jeremiah 30:10)
Yirmiyahu Hanavi is implying that just as Yaacov lives on, so do his descendants. While this is most often understood correctly, in a spiritual sense, given the equation of the three “returns” to Israel by both Yaacov and us, his descendants, we can understand it in a physical sense, as well.
In fact, reading the verses in Jeremiah, it is hard to understand why this chapter 30 was not chosen as the haftarah for Yom Haatzmaut. Besides verse 10 above there is this:
For I am with you, says Hashem, to save you and make a full end of all the nations where I scatter you, but I will not make an end of you. (30:11). … All your adversaries, every one, will go into captivity (30:16). … I will restore health to you, and I will heal all your wounds, says Hashem, because they called you an ‘outcast,’ Zion, who no one seeks (30:17).
Sound familiar?
Their children also shall be of (days of) old and their congregation shall be established before me. In the end of days, you shall consider it (30:24).
We live on as Yaacov lived on, for we are the people that always “choose life” (Devarim 30:19,20).
And that life is inextricably bound with the land of Israel.
Shabbat Shalom.
Dr. Alan Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA. To reach him, write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
