33:16 – 17 The
Posuk says after the confrontation with Eisav (טז וַיָּשָׁב בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עֵשָׂו לְדַרְכּוֹ, שֵׂעִירָה יז וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה, וַיִּבֶן לוֹ בָּיִת; וּלְמִקְנֵהוּ עָשָׂה סֻכֹּת, עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שֵׁם-הַמָּקוֹם סֻכּוֹת) that afterwards
Eisav went to Sai’ir and Yaakov went to a place called Sukkos. This seems to be
an incidental part of Yaakov’s life that he went to a place called Sukkos. Yet
we find that Yaakov is somehow identified with this place called Sukkos.
We know that the
Sholosh Regalim are K’negged the 3 Avos. Pesach is K’negged Avraham as we find
at the beginning of Parshas Vayeira. Yitchok who is Gevura is related to Shavuos.
Yaakov is identified by Sukkos. The fact that this incident took place in
Sukkos seems to be incidental and certainly needs explanation.
In the Sefer
Yismach Yisrael there is a beautiful explanation of the confrontation between
Eisav and Yaakov and the fact that it ends (יז וְיַעֲקֹב
נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה). The Yismach
Yisrael brings a Tanna D’vei Eliyahu Zuta, a B’raissa in Perek 19. Essentially,
it says that Eisav and Yaakov divided the existence of Olam Hazeh and Olam
Habah. Eisav chose the benefits and
pleasures of Olam Hazeh and Yaakov the Schar of Olam Habah. Yaakov was willing
to forgo the pleasures of Olam Hazeh for the benefit of Olam Habah. That is
what he has given to us, Klal Yisrael his descendents.
For that reason
says the Tanna D’vei Eliyahu, every time Yaakov or his descendents begin to have
success in the pursuit of Olam Hazeh or begin to seek pleasures of Olam Hazeh,
there is a confrontation with Eisav or his descendents.
Here too, Yaakov
comes as a wealthy man and Eisav confronts Yaakov and says 33:8 (וַיֹּאמֶר, מִי
לְךָ כָּל-הַמַּחֲנֶה הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר פָּגָשְׁתִּי) where do you get all of this, I thought Olam Hazeh is mine?
The response of
Yaakov and it also has to be the response of the generations is a response that
Olam Hazeh is a Tafeil, a means of serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu and getting to
Olam Habah. The pursuit of Olam Hazeh as long as it is a pursuit of a nice car
for the good feeling that it is a nice car, as long as the pursuit of money for
the sake of being wealthy, as long as it is a pursuit of building a home of
nice fancy windows and fancy homes, that is Eisav’s Cheilek in this world. We
are intruding on Eisav and living the life of Eisav. To the extent that we are
pursuing the benefits of Olam Hazeh as a means of serving Hashem, to the extent
that we use the pleasures to bring us to a Matziv Haruach to serve Hakadosh
Baruch Hu better, that is fine. The condition is that the pleasures of this
world have to be a Tafeil. They have to be secondary.
At the end of
the confrontation (יז וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה) there is a Remez in the fact that he goes
to Sukkos. The idea that the Sukka is a temporary hut. All of Olam Hazeh to
Yaakov, all the material pursuits whatever he had, his wealth, was only a
temporary thing. It is a means of going to Olam Habah. Indeed the Posuk says (וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה, וַיִּבֶן לוֹ
בָּיִת), for the human beings
he built homes. For his flock and cattle he built Sukkos (וּלְמִקְנֵהוּ עָשָׂה סֻכֹּת, עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שֵׁם-הַמָּקוֹם סֻכּוֹת). Why is he naming the place based on a building that was built
for the animals? The Sukkos is the source of the naming of the city, however,
since the human beings lived in a Bayis the city should have been called Batim?
Why is the city named Sukkos after what he put the animals (i.e. money) into?
The Teretz is
that is the whole point. All of Yaakov’s material pursuits were Sukkos. In
fact, throughout Tanach and even in the Siddur we find the word Sukkos meaning
Olam Hazeh for Klal Yisrael. The Posuk in Amos 9:11 ( בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, אָקִים אֶת-סֻכַּת דָּוִיד הַנֹּפֶלֶת; וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת-פִּרְצֵיהֶן, וַהֲרִסֹתָיו אָקִים, וּבְנִיתִיהָ, כִּימֵי עוֹלָם). Even the Malchus Bais Dovid is a Sukka, a temporary thing, a
means to an end.
Or in Tehillim 76:3 ( וַיְהִי בְשָׁלֵם סוּכּוֹ; וּמְעוֹנָתוֹ בְצִיּוֹן). (SEE MY NOTES ON THIS PASSUK - ER) We talk about the
Sukka of Klal Yisrael in the Siddur by Maariv (וּפְרוש עָלֵינוּ
סֻכַּת שְׁלומֶךָ). All of our pursuits of Olam Hazeh are seen as temporary and
this is the legacy of Yaakov. This is why Yaakov’s name is known by the Yom Tov
of Sukkos where this lesson is found. If so (וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה) is a major event with which the entire confrontation with
Eisav comes to an end.
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה