Living Truth Within Exile

אא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה הגיד ויחי יעקב בא"מ כי ע"י בחי' אמת יכולין לחיות גם בא"מ וכ' תתן אמת ליעקב עכ"ד.

My grandfather, my master and teacher, of blessed memory, said on “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt”: through the quality of truth one can live even in the land of Egypt, as it is written, “Give truth to Jacob.” These were his words.

The Sefat Emet opens with a teaching of his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim: Jacob’s truth let him truly live even in Egypt.

דהנה לא הל"ל רק ויהי יעקב בא"מ.

For the verse needed only to say, “And Jacob was in the land of Egypt.”

Why “lived” and not simply “was”?

ומשמע דעיקר הרבותא מה שהי' בבחי' חיים גם בא"מ ופי' חיים הוא דביקות בשורש ומקור שמשם נמשך תמיד חיות.

This implies that the main novelty is that he was in a state of life even in Egypt. And “life” means attachment to the root and source from which life always flows.

To live, in this sense, is to stay connected to God, the source of all vitality.

וכ"כ בזוה"ק ויגש ע"פ ותחי רוח יעקב.

So too it is written in the holy Zohar on Vayigash, on the verse “And the spirit of Jacob revived.”

The Zohar also speaks of Jacob’s spirit coming back to life.

ונ"ל שהוא מלשון מים חיים שע"י שמחת הנפש מעורר מקור החיים וניתוסף חיות.

It seems to me that this is the language of “living waters”: through the joy of the soul one awakens the source of life and life is increased.

Joy opens the spring within, and fresh vitality flows.

[ונ"ל שז"ש ויהי האדם לנפש חי'.

[It seems to me that this is the meaning of “and man became a living soul.”

A bracketed note on the creation of Adam.

פי' נפש. הרצון. ע"י פנימיות הנפש נמשך חיות תמיד].

Meaning, “soul” is the will. Through the inner soul, life is always drawn down.]

The innermost will of a person is the channel through which life keeps coming.

והגם שהי' בא"מ ידע שכל המצרים הם רק קליפה והסתר.

Although he was in Egypt, he knew that all of Egypt was only a husk and a concealment.

Jacob saw through the surface of Egypt.

אבל הפנימיות הוא חיות הש"י.

But the inner reality is the life of God.

Beneath every covering, God’s life is what sustains things.

ולכך אחז"ל כי הרשעים בחייהם נק' מתים שנפרשים ממקור החיות כנ"ל.

Therefore our Sages said that the wicked, even in their lifetime, are called dead, because they are cut off from the source of life, as said above.

Life depends on connection, not on breathing.

וכ' במדרש גרים אנחנו כו' כי כל בריאת אדם בעוה"ז לא הי' כדי להידבק ח"ו בעוה"ז.

It is written in the Midrash, “We are strangers,” and so on. For man was not created in this world to cling, God forbid, to this world.

We are guests here, not settlers.

רק להיפוך שע"י דביקות האדם בעיקר החיות מתמשך גם עניני עוה"ז להש"י.

Rather the opposite: through a person’s attachment to the essence of life, the matters of this world are also drawn toward God.

When we hold on to God, we pull the world along with us.

וגר לשון המשכה כמו מעלה גרה.

The word ger, stranger, means drawing, as in “bringing up the cud” (gerah).

He links ger to a root meaning to draw or bring up.

שגם מה שנק' גר מי שמגייר עצמו.

So too the one called a ger, one who converts,

The convert is also called by this word,

ג"כ ע"ש זה. שמוציא נקודה קדושה שהי' נטבע באומות.

is named for this as well: he brings out a holy point that had been sunk among the nations.

A convert draws out a spark of holiness from among the nations.

וכן ענין גלות מצרים שכ' גר יהי' זרעך כו' ג"כ הפי' להוציא נ"ק שנטבעו במצרים.

Likewise the exile in Egypt, of which it is written, “Your seed shall be strangers,” also means bringing out the holy sparks that were sunk in Egypt.

The exile had a purpose: to draw out the holiness trapped there.

וז"ש ואח"כ יצאו ברכוש גדול [רכוש גדול ר"ת גר רק מהופך שזה הענין הוא מלמטה למעלה כמובן].

This is “and afterwards they will go out with great wealth” [the initials of rechush gadol, great wealth, spell ger in reverse, for this movement is from below to above, as is understood].

The “great wealth” taken from Egypt is the holiness gathered in exile.

וז"ש רש"י ז"ל ביקש לגלות הקץ.

This is what Rashi says: he wished to reveal the end.

Rashi notes that Jacob wanted to tell his sons when the exile would end.

פי' שרצה לברר זה שהגלות רק הסתר והכח פנימי הוא רק מהש"י.

Meaning, he wished to make clear that exile is only concealment, and the inner power is only from God.

Revealing the end would mean showing that exile has no real power of its own.

רק אם הי' נגלה זה לא הי' גלות כלל.

But if this had been revealed, there would have been no exile at all.

If everyone could see it clearly, the concealment would be gone, and so would the exile.

ונסתם. ומ"מ כ' בזוה"ק שגילה מה שרצה לגלות רק בדרך הסתר.

And it was closed. Yet the holy Zohar writes that he revealed what he wished to reveal, only in a hidden way.

The vision was taken from him, yet he still passed it on in hints.

והפי' ע"י אמונה יכולין למצוא האמת להתברר שהוא רק הסתר כנ"ל.

The meaning is that through faith one can find the truth and see clearly that it is only concealment, as said above.

Faith reaches what open sight could not.

ולכך ויחי יעקב סתום.

Therefore the portion “And Jacob lived” is closed.

In the Torah scroll this portion starts without the usual space, a “closed” portion.

שזה מקור החיות להיות נמצא גם בא"מ.

This is the source of life, being able to be present even in the land of Egypt.

The source of Jacob’s life in Egypt was hidden.

זה נסתם [ולכך נק' שהתחיל השעבוד] וכמדומה לי שאא"ז ז"ל הגיד בשם הרב מפרשיסחא ז"ל שהקשה למה רצה לגלות הקץ.

It was closed [and therefore it is said that the bondage began]. And I seem to recall that my grandfather said in the name of the Rabbi of Peshischa that he asked why Jacob wished to reveal the end.

He recalls a question from Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa.

ותי' שכשנודע הקץ. הגלות בנקל.

He answered that when the end is known, the exile is easy.

Knowing there is an end makes the hardship bearable.

ע"כ אני זוכר. ונראה כנ"ל שפי' גילוי הקץ לידע שיש קץ להגלות.

That is what I remember. It seems, as said above, that revealing the end means knowing that the exile has an end.

The Sefat Emet reads “the end” as the fact that exile is finite.

והוא ע"י שהוא רק הסתר ואינו כח בפ"ע ח"ו.

And that is because it is only concealment and not a power of its own, God forbid.

Exile ends because it has no independent existence.

כי הפנימיות שהוא אמת אין לו קץ וההסתר יש לו קץ.

For the inner reality, which is truth, has no end, while the concealment does have an end.

Truth lasts forever; the covering over it does not.

ורצה שיהי' זה נגלה.

He wished this to be revealed,

Jacob wanted this to be openly seen,

ולא הי' גלות כלל.

and then there would have been no exile at all.

which would have cancelled the exile entirely.

ונשאר סתום. ומ"מ ע"י אמונה שמאמינים זה בנ"י.

And it remained closed. Yet through faith, Israel believes this:

Though hidden, the truth is held by faith.

שאין שום כח בלתי הש"י רק כ"ז רק הסתר.

that there is no power besides God, and all this is only concealment.

The core belief: nothing stands apart from God.

אף שאין רואין זה בעין.

Even though we do not see it with the eye,

It is not visible,

מ"מ ע"י אמונה ג"כ יכולין לראות האמת.

still through faith one can also see the truth.

but faith is its own kind of sight.

רק יעקב אע"ה רצה שלא נוכל לטעות כלל.

Only, Jacob our father wished that we not be able to err at all,

Jacob wanted a certainty that could not be mistaken.

שיהי' זה נגלה. ונשאר סתום שצריכין יגיעה למצוא זה.

that it would be revealed. But it remained closed, so that we need effort to find it.

Instead the truth stays hidden, and we must work to uncover it.

וזה בחי' דהמע"ה דלית לי' מגרמי' כו'.

This is the quality of King David, of blessed memory, who had nothing of his own, and so on.

King David is the model of one who owns nothing and relies wholly on God.

ומשיג האמת רק ע"י הביטול.

He reaches the truth only through self-nullification.

Humility is the path to truth when it is hidden.

וזה ההפרש שבין אמת לאמונה.

This is the difference between truth and faith.

Truth sees directly; faith holds on when sight is blocked.

וכ"כ אא"ז מו"ר זצלה"ה על יעקב אבינו לא מת.

So too my grandfather, my master and teacher, said on “Jacob our father did not die.”

He returns to his grandfather on the Talmud’s statement that Jacob never died.

מקרא אני דורש כו'.

“I am expounding a verse,” and so on.

Rabbi Yitzchak in the Talmud says he derives it from a verse.

שכשאדם דורש ומייגע עצמו שזה בחי' תושבע"פ.

When a person expounds and toils, which is the aspect of the Oral Torah,

Effort in learning, the work of the Oral Torah,

יכול למצוא הארה מחיות יעקב אבינו גם בתוך ההסתר.

he can find a light from the life of Jacob our father even within the concealment.

lets one reach Jacob’s living truth even in a hidden world.

וגם בשבת מתעורר בחי' יעקב כמ"ש והאכלתיך נחלת יעקב ע"י הביטול כו' מתעברין מינה כו':

On Shabbat too the aspect of Jacob is awakened, as it is written, “I will feed you the heritage of Jacob,” through self-nullification, and so on, and they become filled from it, and so on.

Shabbat is Jacob’s heritage, open to whoever makes room for it.

Summary: “And Jacob lived in Egypt” teaches that through truth one can truly live even in a place of concealment. Life means attachment to its source, and Jacob knew that Egypt was only a covering over God’s life. Exile exists to draw out hidden holiness, and it has an end because concealment is not a real power. Jacob wished to reveal this openly, but it stayed hidden, so we reach it through faith, effort in Torah, humility, and the light of Shabbat, the heritage of Jacob.