Yackov (יעקב) — the third Patriarch

Core definition

Yackov, son of Yitzchak and grandson of Yackov, is the third of the three Patriarchs (Avos) — and in the maamarim, their perfection: "Yackov is the choicest of the Avos (bechir sheba'avos), their perfection (shleimus): from Yackov came Yishmael; from Yitzchak, Esav; but Yackov — mitaso sheleimah (his bed complete) — the twelve tribes, all in holiness, no letters of cheit (sin) in them, no separation at all" [31633/maamar_006 :: עב׳ 182]. The three Avos are the three kavim (lines): "Yackov the right kav (Chochmah-Chesed-Netzach), Yitzchak the left (Binah-Gevurah-Hod), Yackov the middle kav (Da'as-Tiferes-Yesod)" [31633/maamar_006 :: עב׳ 183].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Yackov's election is explained through Tiferes: "therefore Yackov is called the choicest of the Avos: this is the difference between the inclusion of Chesed and Gevurah in themselves and the inclusion made in Chesed and Gevurah through Tiferes: Tiferes ascends to Keter and the inwardness of Keter specifically, and it is a vessel for the Essence of the Ohr Ein Sof" — "this is why at the time of Yackov's birth it is said, 'and the threefold cord'" (Koheles 4:12) [15962/maamar_006 :: עב׳ 587–592]. Chesed and gevurah can each include the other, but only Tiferes — the middle line, reaching the Keter's inwardness — effects their literal inclusion and nullification, becoming a vessel for the Essence itself. "The middle kav differs from the two: from its beginning to its end one kav, no distinct levels" [31633/maamar_006 :: עב׳ 184] — the middle line is unbroken and undifferentiated from top to bottom.

Yackov is "in the aspect of the middle bar (briach hatichon), bolting from end to end" (Shemos 26:28): "That is: from the aspect of sovev kol almin in memale kol almin — it is Yackov specifically. And this is in the aspect of a path: for the path joins city to city — which is in the aspect of the middle bar" [31674/maamar_006 :: עב׳ 190–192]. The middle bar is the line that runs through all the boards — the connector of extremes: sovev drawn into memale, city joined to city. Hence "כל ארחות ה׳ חסד ואמת" — Yackov is "the way" itself [31674/maamar_006 :: עב׳ 193].

In gematria: "For behold, Yackov is in gematria seven times Havayah — which is Havayah of the order of the hishtalshelus" — as against Yitzchak, eight times Havayah, the revelation above hishtalshelus, of the future [58837/maamar_017 :: עב׳ 470; Overview]. Yackov is the Divine name as it runs through the seven middos, the ordered chain.

In the Biblical narrative, "Yackov journeyed to Sukkos" (Bereishis 33:17) is read through "the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children": "Yackov's gift [to Esav] is the Yom Kippur goat to Azazel, after which comes Sukkos" — Yackov's appeasement of Esav prefigures the goat that quiets the Accuser, opening the way to Sukkos's encompassing lights [31678/maamar_003 :: Overview]. And the Vayechi maamar reads "the days of Yackov, the years of his life, were seven years and forty and a hundred years" (Bereishis 47:28): "the 'seven years' are the essence of his life — the seven tikunim of the Gulgalta, reached after the refinement, in the unification of or yashar and or chozer — while the 140 are the expansion for the purpose of refinement" [15777/maamar_003 :: Overview]. "And Yackov lived in the land of Mitzrayim" — refinement "even in the ervas ha'aretz of kelipah" — the service of ikvos deMoshicha, the heel-generations [15777/maamar_003 :: Overview].

Yackov is also the head-tefillin in the Shlah's mapping ("Yackov is תפילין של ראש and Yosef is תפילין של יד") — "Yackov = yibaka: the line's bursting through the contraction-darkness by its light's force" — drawing the Essence to Atzilus [58845/maamar_021 :: עב׳ 1156; Summary (p. רנח–רס)].

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Sources