Parshas Vayeitzei
Designated Eater
Volume 6 Issue 7
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Yaakov was on the run, but he had nowhere to turn. Eisav, his brother, was
out to kill him for stealing the blessings. His parents were old and could
not harbor him. So for fourteen years he hid in the house of Study --
Yeshivas Shem V'Ever.
But those years, too, passed, and now Yaakov was on his own, and about to
stay in the home of his crafty uncle, Lavan, whose reputation for
deceitfulness earned him the name Lavan HaArami (Lavan the charlatan).
Between a brother like Eisav and an uncle like Lavan the only one Yaakov
could turn to was Hashem.
And so Yaakov spends a night under the stars and dreams of a ladder
ascending to heaven. There are angels going up the ladder and others going
down. In the dream Hashem appears to Yaakov and assures him that, "Behold,
I am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go" (Genesis
28:15).
When Yaakov awakes and realizes the sanctity of his habitation, he, too,
makes a commitment.
"If Hashem will be with me and guard me on this way that I am going, and
provide me with bread to eat and clothes to wear and return me to my
father's house in peace…the stone I have set will become a house of Hashem
and all that he gives me I will forever tithe" (Genesis 20-22).
Yaakov pleads with Hashem for food, shelter, and warmth. He wants no more
than the basic necessities of life. In return, he pledges to build a house
of the L-rd and give charitably. It is a wonderful commitment, one that
Jews take seriously until this very day.
But Yaakov's request for "bread to eat and clothes to wear" seems more
poetic than practical. Of course, bread is made to eat and clothes are made
to wear! Is there anybody who eats clothing and wears bread? Why did Yaakov
not just ask for bread and clothing?
Sender Laib Aronin of Skokie, Illinois, gave me a beautiful sefer, A
Student Looks At The Siddur. In it he quotes Shmuel Weintraub, a survivor
of Bergen-Belsen and other death camps, who tells a story that I'd like to
re-tell with fictitious characters.
In Auschwitz, there were two inmates on different ends of the camp. Chaim
was healthy enough to eat only half of his bread ration for a few days and
so he stored the stale pieces for a time in the imminent future when he
knew his strength would wane.
Dovid, at the other end of the camp, had no strength to save bread. He ate
all that he had every day and hoped it would be enough to survive. What he
did manage to scrounge was scraps of cloth, which he sewed
ever-so-stealthily to make an extra blanket in dire foreboding of the
coming winter.
Months later, things got worse in Auschwitz. The nights were freezing and
the rations dwindled. Dovid's blanket was of little use, for he was
starving. Chaim's bread was worthless, for he was freezing.
Each of the two heard about the other's needs. They also knew of their
extra stashes.
Dovid and Chaim had to trade their precious commodities to keep alive. The
bread was bartered to keep Dovid warm, and the blanket was bartered to keep
Chaim from freezing. But it did not help. Unfortunately, Dovid starved, and
Chaim froze.
Yaakov Avinu knew that the world is filled with commodities. But the
greatest blessing is to use the gifts for the purpose that they are
intended. Bread was given to eat. Clothes to wear. All too often, we find
that food and clothes are going for purposes not intended. Sometimes they
are just wasted, and sometimes they are used to make extravagant statements.
Yaakov had a proper perspective on life and asked for everything to fit
into that perspective. And when the commodities of life are put in focus,
man's needs follow easily as well.
Good Shabbos
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Dedicated in memory of Joseph Jungreis -- Reb Yoel Zvi ben Reb Tuvia
HaLevi By Joel & Marylin Mandel
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PARABOLIC REFLECTIONS
In Parshas Noach's Drasha I wrote, "Recently, a billion dollar project to
Mars was destroyed because the language of the metric system was spoken in
one factory and feet and inches were spoken in the other."
I received this brief letter from Harvey Schabes, a NASA engineer.
"Just a brief note from your friendly NASA Engineer: I am almost positive
that the Mars project was in the low hundreds of millions and not billions.
But what's a few million between friends."
If you would like to be on a shiur update list which sends messages
regarding Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky's various lectures in NY City and Long
Island and other locations, please send a blank email to
rmkshiur-subscribe@jif.org.il You will receive bulletins about those classes.
If you want to be on a shiur announcement faxlist, fax request along with
your fax number (dedicated line, please) to 516-569-7954
Copyright © 1998 by Rabbi M. Kamenetzky and Project Genesis, Inc.
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The author is the Associate Dean of the
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