English translation — מקץ א

Sicha 1<pg>190</pg>

A.

In the verse¹

"And Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you make yourselves seen?" Rashi²

: Why³

do you show yourselves before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau as if you are sated,

for at that time they still had grain.

And it is known the question: Why did Rashi say "Why do you show yourselves before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau",

who did not dwell in the land of Canaan

(as is explicit in the verse,

that the children of Ishmael dwelt "from Havilah to Shur which is before Egypt"<sup>4</sup>,

and Esau and his sons dwelt in the land of Seir<sup>5</sup>)

— and did not say that they should not show themselves before their neighbors in the land of Canaan itself<sup>6</sup>?

In the commentaries we find several answers on this — but all of them are forced apparently,

and for example:

א)

The Ramban in his commentary answered "And perhaps the children of Yishmael and the children of Eisav were coming from their own land to Yosef to buy grain, and they were coming through the land of Canaan passing by him, and he told them that they should not show themselves satiated in their presence, because they would suspect him that Yaakov has grain, and they would come to him to eat bread with him in his house."

But the Ra'ah already wondered about him, that "the land of Edom and the land of Egypt are both in the south of the land of Canaan..

And one who comes from the land of Edom to the land of Egypt does not have to pass through the land of Canaan"⁷.

And furthermore, the main point⁸

: This explanation of the Ramban only resolves why there is also concern from the distant children of Yishmael and children of Esav — but the main question remains in its place: Why did Rashi specify "before the children of Yishmael and the children of Esav"

(which thereby excludes other nations),

and did not write in a general and inclusive language "before the nations"

(or in the language of the Rashbam⁹

"before the people")

— and all are included?

2)

The Ra"am answered that he did not specify the children of the land of Canaan because "all the people of the land of Canaan had grain like them",

but not so "the children of Esav and Yishmael who dwell around the land of Canaan

(who)

did not have grain like the people of Canaan".

But this is also difficult

(as the commentators asked¹⁰)

: from the simple meaning of the wording of the verse above¹¹

"And there was a famine in all the lands",

and also from what is written afterwards at the time of the going of the sons of Jacob to Egypt "And they came etc. among those who came, for the famine was<pg>191</pg>

in the land of Canaan"¹²,

it implies,

that at the time of Jacob's saying "Why do you show yourselves" the famine was in the land of Canaan,

and the men of Canaan came to the land of Egypt to buy grain¹³.

And furthermore: it is still not resolved

(as the Maharsha¹⁴ asked)

— why did Rashi specifically mention the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau,

and not "Ammon and Moab who were also neighbors of the land of Canaan"?

And the main point

(as above)

: why did Rashi need to specify the names of nations at all,

and not write simply "before the nations" and the like¹⁵?

3)

In Gur Aryeh, he wrote that "since Esau and Ishmael are brothers to you, they will say to you 'and your brother shall live with you'¹⁶

and therefore they were afraid of Esau and Ishmael and not of the people of Canaan."

But this reasoning also requires examination according to the plain meaning of the verse

(In addition to the difficulty of saying that the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau will come to demand food from Jacob and his sons)

— because we see tangibly,

that a person worries more about his neighbors who are not his relatives than about his relatives&lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;

who are in another country&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;.

d)

In the Kli Yakar&lt;sup&gt;19&lt;/sup&gt;

he explains that he mentions the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau "because both of them think that Isaac stole the success of Ishmael&lt;sup&gt;20&lt;/sup&gt;

and Jacob stole the success of Esau through effort"

(because Jacob took Esau's blessings through deceit&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;),

and therefore they are jealous of Israel more than all the nations,

and because of this Jacob feared specifically the jealousy of the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau.

But this too is not understood: even if you say that the Ishmaelites and the Edomites had an extra measure of jealousy beyond the other nations,

still it is simple,

that also the Canaanites were jealous of Yaakov and his sons when they saw that these were seventy at a time when they were hungry

[and in the manner that we found above regarding Yitzchak,

that when Hashem blessed him and made him successful in the land of the Philistines in a year of famine²²

in a way that he had "flocks and cattle and much work"²³,

behold from this — "and the Philistines envied him"²³].

And since that is so,

the main question remains in its place: why did Rashi say "in the presence of the children of Yi-<pg>192</pg>

Meal and the children of Esau",

namely that the concern is only from these nations²⁴,

and not from his neighbors in the land of Canaan?

B.

And this will be understood by prefacing several precise points in the language of Rashi:

a)

At first glance Rashi contradicts himself,

for at first he wrote "Why do you show yourselves..

as if you are sated"&lt;sup&gt;25&lt;/sup&gt;,

which implies that in truth they were not sated and only showed themselves as if they are sated — and he continues "because at that time they still had grain"&lt;sup&gt;26&lt;/sup&gt;?

Therefore it must be said,

that Rashi's intention in "as if you are sated" is&lt;sup&gt;27&lt;/sup&gt;,

that the sons of Jacob showed themselves as if they had much grain&lt;sup&gt;28&lt;/sup&gt;

that would suffice to sustain themselves for a long time — and in truth they had grain only "at that time"

[i.e. only for that moment alone,

and as is understood from the continuation of the portion,

that "they finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt"&lt;sup&gt;29&lt;/sup&gt;

and they were forced to go down again to Egypt for food]

— and about this Jacob warned them "Why show yourselves".

But still it is puzzling,

why would the sons of Yaakov behave in such a manner,

that they would show themselves as if they are more satiated than the amount of grain that is in their hand?

And even if there is some reason for such conduct — from where does Rashi have this?

And could they not learn simply,

that Yaakov warned them "why will you show yourselves" regarding the satiety of that time?

b)

Rashi's source is in the Gemara Taanit³⁰

— and there the language: Yaakov said to his sons do not show yourselves when you are satiated neither before Esav nor before Yishmael so that they will not be jealous of you.

And one must understand the reason for the changes in the language of Rashi&lt;sup&gt;31&lt;/sup&gt;

:

(a)

In the Gemara it precedes Esav to Yishmael and Rashi reverses the order — "the children of Yishmael and the children of Esav"&lt;sup&gt;32&lt;/sup&gt;.

(b)

Rashi omits³³

Conclusion of the language of Chazal "so that they will not be jealous of you"³⁴.

<pg>193</pg>

3.

And one can say,

that these questions are resolved one by the other:

Regarding the simple meaning, the concern of "why should you appear" is not because of the matter of jealousy,

because since Jacob and his sons did not have much grain,

but only "at that time"

(as above),

behold, from the outset there is no place for jealousy on the part of the nations³⁵

(and this is not comparable to the great success of Isaac in the manner of "and he grew, etc., going and growing, etc., grew very much,

and he had, etc., and much work"³⁶)

;

And the concern of "why should you appear" is

(not about the actual success of Jacob's sons,

that they had grain during the famine,

but rather)

only about this, that they showed themselves as if they were sated,

and this concern of "why should you appear" is a special matter that pertains only to the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau

(as will be explained below).

And this is also the reason for the change,

that in the Gemara it places Esau before Ishmael and Rashi reverses their order: according to what is explained in the Gemara,

that the reason for the concern is "lest they become jealous of you",

it is understood,

that the main concern of Jacob was because of the jealousy of the sons of Esau his brother,

from whom he took the blessings "with guile"&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;

— as is explained in the verse&lt;sup&gt;37&lt;/sup&gt;

"And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing etc." — and it is simple that the jealousy of the sons of Esau was many times greater than the jealousy of the sons of Ishmael&lt;sup&gt;38&lt;/sup&gt;

about which "Isaac&lt;sup&gt;39&lt;/sup&gt;

robbed the success of Ishmael"; but according to Rashi's explanation, the concern of "why should you be seen" is not related to the matter of jealousy

(or revenge),

and therefore he enumerates them according to the order of the generations — the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Esau.

D.

Explanation of the matter:

We have already found in the Scriptures previously that there was a situation of famine in the land of Canaan, both in the days of Abraham and in the days of Isaac,

and both of them left their place because of this — Abraham went down to Egypt to sojourn there⁴⁰,

and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar⁴¹

(and "his intention was to go down to Egypt as his father went down in the days of the famine" but the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded him "Do not go down to Egypt"⁴²).

And the reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused it so that they had to go into exile from their place,

is not because they were not worthy, heaven forbid, that the Holy One, blessed be He, could sustain them also<pg>194</pg>

In the days of famine — and the proof,

that when Isaac was in Gerar,

despite "it was a year of famine..

the land hard and the year hard"⁴³,

nevertheless God blessed him with miraculous success that "he found etc. a hundred measures etc. and the man grew etc. until he became very great"⁴⁴

— rather it must be said that their leaving their place was due to incidental reasons.

And as is explicit regarding Abraham that this was "to test him whether he would question the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, who told him to go to the land of Canaan and now leads him to leave it"⁴⁵.

And likewise with Isaac,

that this that God did not sustain him in his place

(rather he needed to go to Gerar)

was for an incidental matter.

And perhaps in the manner of Abraham.

And it does not need explanation — for it is understood by itself.

And now will be understood the content of the conduct of the sons of Yaakov,

that they showed themselves as if they are satisfied:

The sons of Yaakov were strong in their trust&lt;sup&gt;46&lt;/sup&gt;

that the Holy One, blessed be He, will not abandon Yaakov and his children in the days of the famine.

And when they saw that they had grain at a time when all the men of the land of Canaan were hungry because of lack of grain,

it was clear to them that they had merited a blessing

(and success)

Divine, above nature

(and in a manner that the Holy One, blessed be He, would sustain them in their place)

;

And therefore,

even though in practice they had grain only "at that time"

(and not much grain,

as above)

— nevertheless there was no doubt in their hearts that also in the future the Holy One, blessed be He, would continue to sustain them in a miraculous manner

(as the conduct of the Holy One, blessed be He, with the Patriarchs in general),

and therefore they showed themselves as if they were satiated

(with abundance of produce),

for thus they felt in their strong trust in God,

to the extent that the abundant grain that was not yet in their possession was considered in their eyes as if it were already in their possession.

And regarding this conduct Jacob argued: "Why do you show yourselves?" — "Why do you show yourselves before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau as if you are satiated":

Such conduct,

to show "yourselves..

as if you are sated"

(and there is no need to go to the land of Egypt to break bread),

can arouse the accusation of the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau — descendants of Abraham and Isaac: how is it possible that Jacob and his sons sit securely in the land of Canaan during these years of famine?

— Are they better than their ancestors Abraham and Isaac who were compelled to go from the land of Canaan in the days of the famine?

For the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau did not know the true reason for the departure of Abraham and Isaac from their place.

And such an argument has the power to arouse accusation etc.⁴⁷

Until they will be forced to wander from their place.

5.

Explanation of the matter in a manner of a hint:

This thing,

that essentially Israel do not need to receive their produce from Egypt

(therefore the sons of Jacob were certain that there is no need to break [i.e., buy grain] from Egypt)

descends

(as everything)

from the matter as it is in its root in spirituality.

And the explanation:

The reason for this that the land of Egypt was the source of the abundance of grain and bread for all the lands⁴⁸,

is because so it is in the spirituality of the matters,

that she was the source of the spiritual "grain".

<pg>195</pg>

That is: "grain" spiritually its matter is wisdom.

And as we find that the Torah is called by the name "bread",

"for⁴⁹

just as physical bread nourishes the body when one brings it inside himself and digests it literally and it becomes there blood and flesh like his flesh and then he will live and endure, so too in the knowledge of the Torah and its comprehension in the soul of the person who studies it well with the depth of his intellect until it is grasped in his intellect and unites with him and they become one, it becomes food for the soul and life within it etc.".

That is,

the intellect of Torah is called bread,

for the nature of intellect is,

that the concept unites with the power of intellect and they become one⁵⁰,

just as physical bread enters into the body and becomes blood and flesh like its flesh.

And from this it is understood that something similar to this is, be it differentiated, in every wisdom and intellect⁵¹.

And this is the reason

(the inner)

that from all the lands they came to break grain

("wisdom")

specifically from the land of Egypt — because Egypt was the source of "wisdom",

as it is stated in the Zohar⁵²

that "the wisdom of Egypt was greater than that of the entire world".

However,

in a different matter — among the nations of the world,

but the Children of Israel are not at all in need of the wisdom of Egypt for the study of wisdom,

for although several matters of Torah are connected to knowledge of the wisdoms of the world — and for example: the commandment to calculate the cycles and constellations for the sanctification of the month and the intercalation of the year⁵³,

and more⁵⁴

— nevertheless,

in years as their proper order,

the knowledge in these wisdoms comes from the Torah itself⁵⁵

(in the manner related in the Sages, of blessed memory,⁵⁶

that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya learned the time of the intercalation of the month from the verse),

and at certain times when knowledge in these wisdoms is required,

they are found in their completeness with the sages of Israel⁵⁷

and in their books, and there is no need to learn them from the sages of the nations.

And as the Rambam wrote⁵⁸

regarding the calculations of the cycles and the constellations,

that in the days of the prophets, the sages of Israel from the tribe of Issachar composed books on these matters, except that they did not reach our hands⁵⁹.

And this is the inner reason for this, that essentially the sons of Jacob did not need to break grain in Egypt.

6.

Based on this, the inner content of Yaakov's claim "Why should you show yourselves" will also be understood — because this matter,

that Yisrael have no need at all for the "wisdom of Egypt",

can cause a claim on the part of the nations.

For even though the nations also know that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose us from all the nations and gave us His Torah,

and there is a difference between Yisrael and the nations,

nevertheless, in knowledge of worldly matters — ostensibly they are similar to the children of Yisrael,

and also among them these wisdoms exist.

And beyond this: it is possible that in truth this "wisdom" that is in the hands of the nations is the same wisdom that is with Yisrael,

to the extent that it is possible to rely on the conclusion of the sages of the nations for practical halachah,

and as the Rambam wrote⁶⁰

regarding the wisdom of<pg>196</pg>

The epochs etc.,

that the things about which there are "clear proofs..

that have no flaw and it is impossible for a person to doubt them, we are not concerned about the author, whether prophets authored them or the nations authored them",

and so the Torah commanded&lt;sup&gt;61&lt;/sup&gt;

"and he shall surely heal" and we rely on a physician expert for the public, even a non-Jew, in matters of danger to life to set aside the entire Torah&lt;sup&gt;62&lt;/sup&gt;,

And further —

Nevertheless, the Children of Israel have no need at all

(in years that are as they should be)

for the wisdom of the nations, but rather everything comes from the Torah itself

(and in any case from the sages of Israel)&lt;sup&gt;63&lt;/sup&gt;,

for even in these knowledges there is a "separation" between Israel and the nations.

That is: the difference between these wisdoms as they are in the Torah relative to the wisdoms as they are among the nations is not only in their source

(whether their source is the Torah,

or human intellect)

but also in the very approach to the matter of wisdom and knowledge and their purpose&lt;sup&gt;64&lt;/sup&gt;,

and in the language of our Sages of blessed memory&lt;sup&gt;65&lt;/sup&gt;

"There is wisdom among the nations, believe..

There is Torah among the nations, do not believe".

And the explanation:

"Torah" is a term of instruction⁶⁶,

that is, the essence of Torah is not only to explain the truth in each and every thing

(Torah of truth),

but to bring out the conclusion and instruction for action,

to instruct a person the deed which they shall do, etc.,

and as our sages, may their memory be blessed, said⁶⁷

Great is study that brings to action,

that the "greatness" of Torah study is in this⁶⁸

that it brings to action.

But not so "wisdom"

(simple)

— which is also found among the nations — its purpose is not to instruct a person as to the deed which they should do etc.⁶⁹,

but only to explain and elucidate the matter as it is in itself⁷⁰,

and its purpose is not clarification in the categories of good or evil.

And for this reason,

the attribute of "bread" and food is possible only regarding the wisdom of the Torah.

For just as physical bread that enters a person's intestines,

behold, by being transformed there into blood and flesh like his flesh,

it gives life to the body — so it is in the matter of wisdom,

that the attribute "bread" applies only to that wisdom which is not limited only to a person's intellect,

but its purpose is to "nourish" the person.

And this is the matter of the Torah,

that it is not only wisdom<pg>197</pg>

Specifically,

but it is a directive that influences and acts in all parts of the soul that their conduct will be in accordance with the directive of the Torah.

And so it is regarding the various wisdoms that are necessary for understanding

(certain parts of)

the Torah — that for a Jewish person,

the purpose of these wisdoms is that they should lead to a directive for action — to know how to sanctify the month and intercalate the year and the like.

And therefore in years that are proper there is no place to receive these wisdoms from the wise ones of the nations — since in the very definition of the approach to these wisdoms there is a distinction between Israel and the nations.

And only from the darkness of the exile is created the situation that there is a need "to break bread" from the wise ones of the nations⁷¹,

But "at that time",

when our righteous Moshiach comes,

again will return all these wisdoms to the wise men of Israel

(and they will not need the wise men of the nations),

and the knowledge in them will come from the Torah itself — because "knowledge and wisdom will increase"⁷²,

and "Israel will be great sages..

because⁷³

the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"⁷⁴,

speedily in our days, literally.

(From talks of Shabbos Parshas Miketz and Motzaei Zos Chanukah 5741)