Freezing with the Sheep in Syria

Dear Friends,

Who had the most difficult life? Was it Avraham, Yitschak, or Yaakov? Everyone goes through difficult times, but some more than others. Some have greater physical or financial difficulties, and others are more beset upon by strife of the spirit. Avraham was tested with ten tests, from the first test of being tossed into the fire by cousin Nimrod to the last test of the Akeida, the binding of Yistchak. However, the legends also teach us that Avraham was the wealthiest man of his generation, based on the verse in Genesis describing him "laden down" with heards and gold, "and God blessed Avraham with everything." If it were not for the blessing of God, you might say that Avraham's great wealth caused him great suffering, because after all, "the more properties, the more worries." (Avos)

Yitschak, inherited his father both spiritually and financially, including the mastery over the illustrious progeny of Hagar. The Ohr HaChaiim's legal argument for such a proprietership, or ownership, if you will, if interesting, is problematic. I must remind the Talmudic scholars who subscribe to the Ohr HaChaiim's arugment that slavery has been abolished in most countries across the globe, "dinna d'malchusa dinna," and one would be hard pressed to find a Rabbi who doesn't oppose the the sale and purchase of human beings, though a few nostalgic chauvanists might relish the thought of its renewal. Furthermore, Avraham then married Hagar as a full-fledged wife after the passing of Sarah. I don't have the Ohr HaChaiim in front of me, so either supporting or disagreeing with his argument would be foolish. And yet, would that all Jews today were aware and comfortable with being the direct recipients of the spiritual and physical inheritence, the Torah and the Land, that was passed on from Avraham to Yitschak and from Yitschak to Yisrael. If this were only so, I personally would forefeit most of my share of the slaves. 55 percent, at least. But seriously, our basis for this claim is the Torah, which tells us, "Avraham gave everything he had to Yitschak," and, "Your seed will be called in the name of (the descendents of) Yitschak." "And Yaakov said (to Eisav), swear to me as the day, and he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Yaakov." Interestingly enough, the Ohr HaChaiim HaKodesh also makes great and brilliant efforts to show how this sale, just as Yitschak's inheritence, was also legally binding. But let us save the issue of inheritence for another time, and return to the question of suffering, a problem than needs to be tackled in order to enjoy the promise and the inheritence.


Yitschak suffered a near death experience and saw his brother (there are no half brothers in Jewish law) banished to the desert of Be'r L'chai Roi, otherwise known as Beer Sheva. This was one of Yitschak's favorite places for prayer, medetation, and communing with God (See Ramban, Genesis, 24:62), perhaps because the angel appeared there to Hagar. A more psychological interpretation might say that he was trying to work out his feelings about how he was first nearly sacrificed by his father, and then how his father nearly brought about the death of his brother. Remember that we are speaking about a great prophet who lived around 4000 years ago, a personality and a time the modern man is hard pressed to understand even minimally. But still, I may offer that sometimes intense souls such as he was go back to the, "scene of the crime," to try to figure out why it had to be, and what was really happening on the inside.


Our forefather Yitschak suffered at the hands of the jealous Philistines, vandalously filling up the wells that he had dug, trying to remind him that he is an outsider. He and his father paid for these wells with gold, silver, or camels, just as they paid for the land they lived on. They aquired their lands in the way of the world even though it was promised to them by God, because such promises don't hold up in the courtroom so well. But it seems that in ancient times, as it is with their modern namesakes, the Philistines were not so careful about honoring agreements.
But in the evaluation of suffering, I cast my vote with Yaakov Avinu. His twin brother, a hardened criminal, plans to murder him. Even though they grew up in a rich family, Yaakov lives a rather ascetic existnce with his scrolls in the tent, concerned more with matters spiritual than rape and murder. He probably was disturbed by how his brother' Eisav went off the track, after all, he loved his brother dearly. In the little I have seen in the classical comentaries, I did not see anything to suggest that Yaakov ever did anything to try to reform his "big" brother, (born minutes before Yaakov), he could have given him a hug and told him, "your not really a killer, you could be a holy man, a great force of the spirit, an example to the world. You have what it takes and you know right from wrong." (R.S.) But that might be too much to expect from a child.



Yaakov Avinu had to run for his life with nothing but the clothes on his back and his walking stick. He then had to work for seven years as a shepherd in order to marry Rachel, only to have her switched under the chuppa with her sister Leah. Yes, their father Lavan was a cheat, but in his deception he saved Leah from falling into the hands of Eisav, her designated husband. Regardless, in the shocked eyes of Yaakov, the simple, whole hearted man, who might once have naievely assumed that just as he is honest so will others be, such a ruse from Lavan is another rude awakening. Now he has to look forward to another seven years of freezing in the dark of winter on the Syrian plains, burning under the hot middle-eastern sun, and having his wages changed ten times to suit the will of his father-in-law whose main concern is number one.
Later his favorite son will be sold into slavery by his less favorite sons (which teaches us, at least, not to play favorites), his daughter raped, and his prophetic powers removed from him as he sinks into despair. Yes, it must be Yaakov who suffered more that his father and grandfather.


Running away from Eisav, forced out of his fathers house, Yaakov Avinu prayed to God, "I raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?" (Psalms) The midrash tells us, "Instead of reading mountains (harim), vocalize the word as horim (parents, progenitors)." Look at Avraham, called "the mountain," and Yitschak, your father. The Mei HaShiloach, Rav Mordechai Yosef of Isbitz (1800-c. 1850) reminds us that Avraham and Yitschak were wealthy and had many servants to take care of their fields and buisness. They had more time for study and the service of God. Yaakov Avinu didn't have that luxury. He felt that his power or prayer and level of scholarship, truly his whole level of Avodah (spirit-work) was far less than his father and grandfather. After all, they were free to pursue spiritual matters and he was off to chase sheep for twenty years. The Midrash says, "should I give up hope in my Creator?" Yaakov's despair must have been overwhelming, thinking to himself, "I dont even have a choice! I will have to work, chasing the sheep through hill and vale, so I had better forget forget about being a Tsaddik, forget about being a scholar. What happened to my dreams, God? I spent fourteen years studying Torah with Shem and Eiver, reaching the pinnacle of scholarship, learning the mysteries of creation and the Charriot, and now I have to spent twenty years doing menial labor! (and the Midrash on the Psalm continues), "God forbid that I give up hope in my Creator! My help comed from God, maker of Heaven and Earth!"

Rav Mordechai Yosef Zts"l says that God was telling Yaakov, "don't worry. Just because Avraham and Yitschak had it easy, so to speak, and logged in countless hours of study and davening, it does not mean that their service is more precious than yours, Yaakov. The twenty minutes you have for Shacharis, the fifteen minutes you spend on your mishna in the morning, break the heart and illuminates the mind of Heaven! You can learn all the mystries of creation in the by the troughs and the staves (Gen. 30:38), and I will speak to you from the sheepfolds. You are the living Torah! Your life creates the Torah! (See Meor Eynayim). You sat in the Yeshiva of Shem and Eiver, and there you may have learned the Torah. But now, my servant Yaakov, in the long, cold, syrian nights, you will live the Torah. Now you will truly learn how to serve Me!"

"Maker of Heaven and Earth," you will now learn how to bring the spiritual world into the physical world. (Y.L.)

Sometime before his days drew to a close, Rav Eliezar ben Hyrcanus, known as Rabbi Eliezar HaGadol (the great), left a list of spiritual practices for his son. This is the Tsava'at Rabbi Eliezar HaGadol, his last will and testiment. In it he says, "be particularly careful about Ma'ariv, the evening prayer (even thought it is reshus), because it was established by Yaakov Avinu, the greatest (nivchar, or selected, or chosen) of the Patriarchs." Praying into the black of the night, serving the One and Only amidst the darkness, holding on the the faith and knowledge that dawn will come, and you will win your battle with the angel, standing before God even when no man, no angel, not even the Master Himself, requires it of you, a man of awe and a man of truth, - this is Yaakov Avinu, the recipient of the inheritence and the master of the service of God. And this is why we say at the end of the evening prayer, "I raise my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? May help comes from God, maker of heaven and earth."