English translation — ויחי ג

Talk 3<pg>249</pg>

A.

At the conclusion of our portion — which is also the conclusion of the book of Genesis — it is told about the passing of Yosef: "And Yosef said to his brothers, I am dying, and G-d will surely remember you and bring you up from this land etc. And Yosef made them swear etc. Surely remember etc. And you shall bring up my bones from here,

And Yosef died etc. And he was placed in a coffin in Egypt"<sup>1</sup>.

And one must understand: how does the conclusion of the book of Genesis fit with the matter of the passing of Yosef

(so that the last words are "and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt")

with the well-known principle²

— also in connection with the conclusions of the twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures — that they conclude with good?

And moreover, since it is mentioned later,

at the beginning of Parshat Shemot³,

regarding the passing of Yosef — "And these are the names of the children of Israel coming to Egypt etc. and Yosef died and all his brothers and all that generation"

(and this caused the enslavement in Egypt,

as the continuation of the narrative)

— then it would have been fitting to include there the aforementioned details regarding his passing and to conclude Parshat Vayechi with a "good" matter — "And Yosef lived⁴

one hundred and ten years,

and Yosef saw Ephraim etc. also the sons of Machir etc. were born upon Yosef's knees",

or the like⁵.

2.

Another general principle they said regarding the conclusion of a book

(in the Torah)

— "they hasten the beginning to the completion"⁶,

And the custom of Israel is to connect the conclusion of a tractate with its beginning.

And as has been explained many times,

that this is not merely for sharpening, heaven forbid,

but it is a true matter,

for indeed there exists a common point between the beginning of every book

(and tractate)

and its conclusion,

as it is stated in Sefer Yetzirah⁷

"their end is embedded in their beginning".

Beyond this: the common denominator between the beginning of every book and its conclusion is in the essential point of the book,

for,

as is known,

the essential point of every matter is hinted at in its beginning,

like the head which includes all the limbs,

and in its conclusion,

as the saying⁸

"everything follows the conclusion".

And according to this, one must examine: what is the connection between the end of the book of Genesis and its beginning,

and how is the content of the entirety of the book of Genesis hinted

[which is called "the book of the upright..

this is the book of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who are called upright"⁹]

in its beginning — "In the beginning, G-d created" etc.¹⁰,

and in its end — the narrative about the death of Joseph,

until "and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt"?

3.

And it can be said that this will be understood by prefacing the explanation of Rashi's commentary on the verse "In the beginning, G-d created" etc. — "The Torah should not have begun except from 'This month is for you'¹¹..

And what reason did it open with 'In the beginning'? Because of 'the strength of His works He declared to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations'¹²

that if the nations of the world say to Israel, 'You are robbers,'<pg>250</pg>

That they conquered the lands of the seven nations, they say to them: The entire land belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whomever is upright in His eyes; by His will He gave it to them, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us.

And at first glance,

according to the superficial understanding

(that the claim of the nations of the world is what causes the Torah to begin with "Bereishis")

it is perplexing¹³

: How is it possible that because of the claim of the nations of the world there should be a change in the Torah that was given to Israel — that instead of beginning with "Hachodesh hazeh lachem,"

the Torah begins with "Bereishis etc."?

And furthermore: even if you say that there is a need to include in the Torah the answer to the nations of the world — ostensibly this is not a reason to begin&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;

the Torah with this,

and especially since the order of the Torah is also Torah

(and consequently with utmost precision).

And it must be said that the claim and the answer are not only to remove the doubt of the nations of the world,

but this also pertains to the Jewish people themselves,

and therefore the entire matter was included in the Torah

(and as the verse states "He declared the power of His works to His people")&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;.

And not only that, but since the beginning of the Torah is with "In the beginning, etc." so that Bnei Yisrael can answer the claim of the nations — it must be said,

that the meaning of the words is not that the Torah also deals with this,

but rather this is from the beginnings,

from the foundations of the Torah.

D.

And the concept in this:

Even the nations of the world know that the Holy One, blessed be He, "chose us from all the nations and gave us His Torah"¹⁵,

And specifically because of this they claim¹⁶

— "You are robbers who conquered the lands of seven nations":

According to the perception of the nations of the world

(And also from the side of the evil inclination — "a strange god within you"¹⁷,

which is called "the gentile" within Israel¹⁸)

The people of Israel are not supposed to be connected with a land

(Physical)

And in particular — a specific land,

For all their matter of the children of Israel is the service of G-d incumbent upon them always, at all times and in every place where they are,

And their being a nation is because of and through the choice of the Holy One, blessed be He, in them,

The receiving of the Torah etc.¹⁹

;

And therefore,

The conquest of Eretz Yisrael and its acquisition by Israel in order to settle there as a unique nation in a unique land is, in their opinion, a matter of "robbery,"

Because this conduct is appropriate for all the other nations — that among them,

The gathering of many people together in a specific land is what makes them a nation — but not for the nation of Israel,

The chosen nation that the Holy One, blessed be He, elevated above every nation, tongue, and land.

And the response to this — "The strength of His works He declared to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations": The giving of Eretz Yisrael to the nation of Israel is not like among the other nations, be it different — but rather it is part of their service,

To reveal "the strength of His works" of the Holy One, blessed be He:

The purpose of the service of Bnei Yisrael is to make for Him, blessed be He, a dwelling place specifically in the lower realms²⁰,

that His holiness, blessed be He, should dwell specifically in the "earthliness" of this physical world

(therefore most mitzvos of the Torah are practical mitzvos,

so that through the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos<pg>251</pg>

holiness will be drawn

(also)

into physical matters²¹)

;

And so it is regarding the entirety of the Jewish people,

that since it is in elevation and above every nation and language,

therefore specifically because of this the Land of Israel was given to it,

a physical land,

in which are dependent so many mitzvos of the Torah

(to the point that the main matter of the fulfillment of the mitzvos of the Torah is specifically in the Land of Israel,

as explained at length in the Ramban²²),

since this is the matter of the Children of Israel and the Torah — "to conquer" the "earthliness" of this world and to make it a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He.

And therefore the opening and beginning of the Torah is with "In the beginning He created, etc.",

in the creation of the world,

for the foundation and primary intention of the Torah is — to conquer through it the world and to make it a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He.

5.

Based on this, we can further resolve a precision in the language of Rashi above — "that if the nations of the world would say to Israel, 'You are robbers',"

that is, this is the claim of the nations of the world in general,

for seemingly: the claim against Israel is "that you conquered the lands of the seven nations" — and if so, what do they have to

(further)

sixty-three nations to come with a claim regarding the matter of seven nations,

(seven lands)

that are not theirs&lt;sup&gt;23&lt;/sup&gt;?

And based on the above, we can say the explanation of this: even though the claim of "you are robbers" according to its simple meaning

(in the physical)

is in relation to the lands of the seven nations,

the land of Israel — nevertheless,

the content of the claim

(its reason and its argument)

pertains to all lands,

since this point — that the Torah's purpose is to affect the worldliness and physicality of the world

(which is expressed in the giving of the land of Israel to the people of Israel)

— influences and extends in practice to the relationship of the children of Israel to all lands.

And the explanation:

It is known,

that the purpose of the matter of the descent of the soul into the body and the life of Bnei Yisrael in this world is — in the language of the Baal Shem Tov²⁴

— "to cause His name to dwell there²⁵,

to publicize G‑dliness in this place",

by which they "conquer" the "place" to make "there" a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He.

That is to say: the mission of the people of Israel in the lands,

in this world is not only to stand firmly on their guard in His service, may He be blessed, in the observance of Torah and mitzvot and not to be affected by all the obstacles and delays etc. — but also to transform the lands into places where the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, dwells — "to cause His name to dwell there."

And this is the content of the verse "The power of His works He declared to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations" — that this is the work of Israel,

in the observance of Torah and mitzvot in every place and place,

"to conquer" the lands of the nations under the "ownership" of holiness — "to give them the inheritance of the nations."

6.

For further explanation:

It is known what is said in the books²⁶,

that the intention of the descent of the soul²⁷

(and particularly of the exile)

is — so that Israel will refine the sparks of holiness that fell and scattered in all corners of the earth,

and therefore "He scattered them among the nations"²⁸,

so that each one will refine the sparks of holiness that are in <pg>252</pg>

His place

(Because by using the objects of the world for the service of G‑d,

he elevates the sparks of holiness found in these things to holiness²¹).

However,

if it were only for the sake of "clarification of the sparks" alone,

there would be no necessity that the person engaged in Torah and mitzvos come himself to the place where the sparks of holiness are located,

for even while he is "in his place",

in the Holy Land

(and in Jerusalem, the holy city)

— it is possible that this goal be achieved by means of his service being in a manner of a vast increase in the light of holiness,

like a large torch to which all the sparks of light gather,

even those that are distant²⁹.

And along these lines that we find by King Solomon&lt;sup&gt;29&lt;/sup&gt;

— that when "Solomon sat on the throne of G‑d"&lt;sup&gt;30&lt;/sup&gt;,

he sat in his place and from there he effected the clarification of the entire world,

that is that the Queen of Sheba came from her place to Solomon and brought to him gifts etc.&lt;sup&gt;31&lt;/sup&gt;

(sparks of holiness).

And since the descent downward is a need for ascent

(namely an ascent also relative to the state that was before the descent downward)

— it necessarily follows that through this descent in the work of clarifications there is in it attainment and completeness even more relative to the clarification of the sparks in the time of Solomon.

And one can say the explanation in this: through the descent downward and in exile in particular,

"One³²

of you is exiled to Barbary and one of you is exiled to Sarmatia"³³

and does his work there — behold, in addition to³⁴

that they extract the sparks of holiness that were scattered in the world,

behold yet this,

that also the place where the sparks of holiness are found

(the entire world as a whole)

will be transformed into holiness,

namely,

that the entire world becomes "the Land of Israel",

"to give them the inheritance of nations"³⁵.

And this is also the promise³⁶

"In the future the Land of Israel will spread to all the lands" — because after the completion of "our deeds and our service during the entire duration of the exile"³⁷,

when the entire world is conquered and transformed into holiness,

behold the holiness of the Land of Israel will spread to all the lands — "to give them the inheritance of nations" in its simple sense,

that the entire world as a whole will enter the boundary of Israel.

7.

And with this one can explain the hint in the content of the division of the books Bereshit and Shemot:

The difference in plain sense between the book of Bereshit and the book of Shemot is³⁸

— in the book of Bereshit it tells about the generations of the Patriarchs

(and the tribes<pg>253</pg>

26:),

namely the preparation for the formation of the people of Israel etc.; whereas the book of Exodus is the story of the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah etc.

And seemingly,

according to this, the beginning of the book of Exodus should have been with the story of the exodus from Egypt³⁹,

for then the people of Israel was "born"⁴⁰

(and in the manner of the aforementioned words of Rashi "the Torah should not have begun except from 'this month is for you'"),

and why did the book of Exodus open with the story of the exile in Egypt⁴¹?

[And also according to its simple meaning,

the break between the books is seemingly in the middle of a matter,

since it is already told in the book of Genesis

(in Parshat Vayigash⁴²)

about the descent of Yaakov and his sons to Egypt,

and if so, it would seemingly be more fitting that also the continuation of the narrative about the exile of Egypt

(the difficulty of the enslavement etc.)

should come in that same book

(Genesis),

and in the book after it should begin a new matter — the redemption of Israel from Egypt].

And according to the above, it can be said:

Just as the opening

(the entire)

Torah with "In the beginning G-d created etc." is because this is the ultimate purpose of the Torah — "to give them the inheritance of nations",

as above; so too is it in our matter: The book of Exodus is indeed the story of the birth of the people of Israel and the giving of the Torah to them,

but the "opening" of this story is not at the Giving of the Torah,

and also not in the story of the exodus and redemption from Egypt,

but specifically in the story of "inheritance of nations" that is in this,

in the exile of Egypt,

and in the manner of descent into "boundaries" and limitations of the world in general.

For since the purpose of the Torah is the work of "to give them the inheritance of nations"

(clarification of the world)

— therefore,

also the preparation for the Giving of the Torah was through work within the exile of Egypt,

in a manner that the matters of Egypt entered into the domain of Israel

(holiness)

while they were in Egypt,

there — "and they emptied out Egypt"⁴³,

"they made it like a net without grain..

like a deep place without fish"⁴⁴.

And therefore the beginning of the book is about the matter of the exile of Egypt after the time of "and Yosef died and all his brothers and all that generation"⁴⁵,

and not at the time of Yaakov's descent to Egypt — because Yaakov's descent to Egypt was not a matter of actual exile,

for he dwelt in the land of Goshen in the best of the land in a state of rest and tranquility etc.⁴⁶,

and so it was "as long as one of the tribes was alive"⁴⁷

; and only after "and Yosef died and all his brothers and all that generation" began the enslavement and its harshness,

the main descent of the exile of Egypt⁴⁸.

8.

And based on this is understood the connection of the beginning of the book of Bereishis and its conclusion — to the content of the book,

"the book of the upright"⁹

:

The essence of the book of Genesis

(and in particular — until "this month is for you")

Simply is — as Rashi — that "the strength of His works He declared to His people,"

That is, not regarding the existence of the world in itself,

But on the contrary,

Regarding the power and control of the Holy One, blessed be He, over the world,

Which was given over to Israel

("He declared to His people")

— For at the beginning of the book of Genesis it is told that "He created it,"

And afterwards how&lt;pg&gt;254&lt;/pg&gt;

"He gave it to whomever is upright in His eyes,

By His will He gave it to them

(and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us)

";

And the transmission of this power to Israel was through the Patriarchs,

as recounted in the book of Genesis many times regarding the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He, to each of the three Patriarchs about the giving of the land,

and even that Israel conquered the land in the days of Joshua was on the basis of the inheritance of the land from the Patriarchs,

as the ruling of the law⁴⁹

that the Land of Israel is an inheritance from our Patriarchs.

And so it is in the spiritual content — that this power given to Israel,

to rule over the materiality of this world and to conquer it into the domain of holiness,

is drawn down to Israel through the Patriarchs⁵⁰

who are called "upright ones".

That the Patriarchs were above and beyond the world,

that "the Patriarchs themselves are the chariot"⁵¹,

that "all their limbs were entirely holy and separated from the matters of this world and they became a chariot only for the supernal will alone all their days"⁵²,

and therefore the materiality of the world could not rule over them, heaven forbid.

And this "dominion" over the world passes by inheritance to each one of Bnei Yisrael,

as "sons."

And as is known regarding the matter of "the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children"&lt;sup&gt;53&lt;/sup&gt;,

that the deeds of the fathers are a giving of power for the service of the children.

For even though the level of the service of the fathers is far higher than the level of the service of the children,

nevertheless,

since they are fathers,

behold all their matters pass by inheritance to their children after them forever.

9.

However,

in order that there be a connection between the deeds of the fathers and the service of the children — there must be in the deeds of the fathers themselves a semblance and likeness of the level of the children.

And this is the reason that the conclusion of the book of Genesis is about the matter of the descent of Yaakov and his sons to Egypt,

because with them this was not actually exile as mentioned above,

for their settlement in Egypt was in a manner of rest and tranquility etc. — nevertheless,

and especially relative to the level of Yaakov in the land of his father's sojournings,

this is a state of descent.

And with Yaakov the dominion over Egypt was revealed,

as it is written⁵⁴

And Yaakov blessed Pharaoh,

and according to Rashi's commentary⁵⁴

that he blessed him "that the Nile would rise to his feet..

And from Yaakov's blessing onward, Pharaoh would come to the Nile and it would rise toward him and water the land",

revealed before Pharaoh that the sustenance of Egypt depends on Yaakov's blessing⁵⁵

!

And likewise from the side of Yosef⁵⁶

— that he was the ruler over Egypt,

And without you no man shall lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt⁵⁷.

And their spiritual state of Yaakov and Yosef etc. in Egypt is the empowering⁵⁸

that was handed down to their children after them as an inheritance,

that even when they are in exile they will be able to rule over the exile.

10.

And this matter is the "conclusion" of the book of Genesis — how Yosef HaTzadik told and hinted to his brothers,

despite the fact that here ends "the deeds of the fathers" and begins the service of the children,

connected with a descent into actual exile — nevertheless "and G-d will surely remember you and bring you up from this land"; because the exile has no control&lt;pg&gt;255&lt;/pg&gt;

G-d forbid over Israel but rather the opposite — the entire matter of exile is so that Bnei Yisrael will rule over it,

and even to the point that through the descent into exile Bnei Yisrael are elevated to a higher elevation,

"and He will bring you up."

And it can be said that this is also the reason⁵⁹

that Yosef was buried in Egypt,

"And he was placed in a coffin in Egypt" — unlike Yaakov who was buried specifically in the Land of Israel

("And you shall carry me up from Egypt etc."⁶⁰)

— because through this was given the power to Bnei Yisrael during their stay in Egypt⁶¹

that they should elevate themselves above the exile and rule over it⁶²,

until through this they went up from Egypt.

And so may it be for us,

in this our final exile,

that "as in the days of your going out from the land of Egypt I will show him wonders"⁶³,

In the true and complete redemption through our righteous Mashiach,

Speedily in our days, literally.

(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Vayechi 5746)