In this week?s Torah portion, Vayigash, we find three people in tears.
When Yosef reveals himself to his brothers (who had sold him 22 years earlier) he "falls on his brother Benyamin?s necks [plural]..." and cries. Benyamin also falls on his brother?s neck and cries. When Yakov goes down to Egypt and sees his son after many years of thinking he was dead, he gets a big hug from Yosef, who cries on his father?s neck. Yakov though, does not cry - he was in the middle of saying Shema and couldn?t stop.
Rashi explains that Yosef cried about the destruction of the first and second Temple that would be in Benyamin?s portion of the Land of Israel. Benyamin cried for the destruction of the Mishkan in Shilo that would be destroyed in Yosef?s portion of the land. When Yosef met his father Yakov, he cried about the exile his children would live through until the coming of Moshiach.
The midrash explains that the Beit Hamikdash is compared to the human neck, in that it stands higher than the rest of the body, just as the holy Temple stand higher than the world. The obvious question is: why isn?t the Beit Hamkidash compared to the head? After all, the head is above the neck.
The head is the most important body part and is therefore also located on the highest position in the body. The head takes in the oxygen that goes to our lungs and from there to the rest of the body. It also controls all the other limbs through a system of nerves rooted in the brain. Now, in order for the head to accomplish all this, it must have a connection with the lower part of the body. That connection is the neck. Without the neck the head is worthless. The Beit Hamikdash was our connection with G-dliness. In order for the divine energy to enter the lowest physical levels of this world, there had to be a ?neck?, a channel, for the spiritual flow.
When Hashem commanded us to build the Mishkan for the first time he said, "Make me a Mikdash and I will dwell in them [plural]..." Since it doesn?t say in ?it,? but in ?them,? our sages explain this to mean that Hashem will dwell amongst ?them,? among the Jewish people. Every person has to make his own private Beit Hamikdash. If we want to make our entire being holy, we can?t just work with our neshama (soul), our ?head?, our spiritual dimension. We must use the ?neck? to bring G-dliness into everything, including our negative dimension.
This explains why Yosef and Benyamin cried on each other?s necks, and not heads. A Jew?s main purpose is to make a dwelling place for Hashem in this world by doing mitzvot. The ?head?, the neshama, can never be damaged. Even when a person sins (G-d forbid), though it can become soiled, his neshama remains unhurt. Therefore, there is no reason to be worried and cry about the ?head?. The neck is what connects the spiritual with the physical. The two brothers were crying about their future descendants, who would have a hard time utilizing their ?necks?, fulfilling their purpose of creation; i.e., making a dwelling place for Hashem.
It is interesting to note that Yosef was more worried about his brother than himself, and vice versa. Considering that both of them were going to suffer a loss, it seems they should have cried about themselves. Instead we see that Yosef cries for Benyamin and Benyamin cries for Yosef. The lesson we learn here is that, when it comes to working on our own Beit Hamikdash, our own service of G-d, crying is not enough. Only when one sees another Jew not acting the way he should, then there is good reason to cry. For oneself, that would be the easy way out (tears of remorse do not fall into this category obviously; Teshuva is one of the 613 Mitzvot). When our personal sanctuary is destroyed, we are the ones that have to rebuild it. Crying won?t get us anywhere. On the contrary, when a person cries, he feels relieved. When our own personal Temple is in ruins, and we realize how much we lack in our divine service, we shouldn?t be capable of feeling relieved. Instead of crying, we should take action and add to our observance of the mitzvot, in order to rebuild it as soon as possible.
When Yosef met Yakov, he cried again. The same explanation applies here as well. Yosef felt bad for us, the children of Yakov, in exile. Yakov didn?t cry because he was saying Shema (?Hear, O Israel? Hashem is One?). What was the implication of him saying Shema?
The animal sacrifices brought in the holy Temple were more than just mere animals; the animal actually represented the person offering it. The word korban (sacrifice) also means ?getting closer? to Hashem. Our sages say that when we say Shema and we come to the word echad (one) we should have in mind that, if we would have to, we would give our lives away for Hashem?s name This is like sacrificing ourselves for Hashem.
Yakov didn?t cry over his loss. He was already building. By saying Shema, he was trying to do the most he could at that second to build the Beit Hamikdash.
Let us all work on our own personal Beit Hamikdash and cry over those whose Temples are in ruins (and of course help them rebuild it by teaching them Torah and how to do mitzvot), so that very soon we will merit to see the third Temple, with the coming of Moshiach - Now!
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Asher ben Shimon writes commentary for www.TorahThoughts.tk.
When Yosef reveals himself to his brothers (who had sold him 22 years earlier) he "falls on his brother Benyamin?s necks [plural]..." and cries. Benyamin also falls on his brother?s neck and cries. When Yakov goes down to Egypt and sees his son after many years of thinking he was dead, he gets a big hug from Yosef, who cries on his father?s neck. Yakov though, does not cry - he was in the middle of saying Shema and couldn?t stop.
Rashi explains that Yosef cried about the destruction of the first and second Temple that would be in Benyamin?s portion of the Land of Israel. Benyamin cried for the destruction of the Mishkan in Shilo that would be destroyed in Yosef?s portion of the land. When Yosef met his father Yakov, he cried about the exile his children would live through until the coming of Moshiach.
The midrash explains that the Beit Hamikdash is compared to the human neck, in that it stands higher than the rest of the body, just as the holy Temple stand higher than the world. The obvious question is: why isn?t the Beit Hamkidash compared to the head? After all, the head is above the neck.
The head is the most important body part and is therefore also located on the highest position in the body. The head takes in the oxygen that goes to our lungs and from there to the rest of the body. It also controls all the other limbs through a system of nerves rooted in the brain. Now, in order for the head to accomplish all this, it must have a connection with the lower part of the body. That connection is the neck. Without the neck the head is worthless. The Beit Hamikdash was our connection with G-dliness. In order for the divine energy to enter the lowest physical levels of this world, there had to be a ?neck?, a channel, for the spiritual flow.
When Hashem commanded us to build the Mishkan for the first time he said, "Make me a Mikdash and I will dwell in them [plural]..." Since it doesn?t say in ?it,? but in ?them,? our sages explain this to mean that Hashem will dwell amongst ?them,? among the Jewish people. Every person has to make his own private Beit Hamikdash. If we want to make our entire being holy, we can?t just work with our neshama (soul), our ?head?, our spiritual dimension. We must use the ?neck? to bring G-dliness into everything, including our negative dimension.
This explains why Yosef and Benyamin cried on each other?s necks, and not heads. A Jew?s main purpose is to make a dwelling place for Hashem in this world by doing mitzvot. The ?head?, the neshama, can never be damaged. Even when a person sins (G-d forbid), though it can become soiled, his neshama remains unhurt. Therefore, there is no reason to be worried and cry about the ?head?. The neck is what connects the spiritual with the physical. The two brothers were crying about their future descendants, who would have a hard time utilizing their ?necks?, fulfilling their purpose of creation; i.e., making a dwelling place for Hashem.
It is interesting to note that Yosef was more worried about his brother than himself, and vice versa. Considering that both of them were going to suffer a loss, it seems they should have cried about themselves. Instead we see that Yosef cries for Benyamin and Benyamin cries for Yosef. The lesson we learn here is that, when it comes to working on our own Beit Hamikdash, our own service of G-d, crying is not enough. Only when one sees another Jew not acting the way he should, then there is good reason to cry. For oneself, that would be the easy way out (tears of remorse do not fall into this category obviously; Teshuva is one of the 613 Mitzvot). When our personal sanctuary is destroyed, we are the ones that have to rebuild it. Crying won?t get us anywhere. On the contrary, when a person cries, he feels relieved. When our own personal Temple is in ruins, and we realize how much we lack in our divine service, we shouldn?t be capable of feeling relieved. Instead of crying, we should take action and add to our observance of the mitzvot, in order to rebuild it as soon as possible.
When Yosef met Yakov, he cried again. The same explanation applies here as well. Yosef felt bad for us, the children of Yakov, in exile. Yakov didn?t cry because he was saying Shema (?Hear, O Israel? Hashem is One?). What was the implication of him saying Shema?
The animal sacrifices brought in the holy Temple were more than just mere animals; the animal actually represented the person offering it. The word korban (sacrifice) also means ?getting closer? to Hashem. Our sages say that when we say Shema and we come to the word echad (one) we should have in mind that, if we would have to, we would give our lives away for Hashem?s name This is like sacrificing ourselves for Hashem.
Yakov didn?t cry over his loss. He was already building. By saying Shema, he was trying to do the most he could at that second to build the Beit Hamikdash.
Let us all work on our own personal Beit Hamikdash and cry over those whose Temples are in ruins (and of course help them rebuild it by teaching them Torah and how to do mitzvot), so that very soon we will merit to see the third Temple, with the coming of Moshiach - Now!
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Asher ben Shimon writes commentary for www.TorahThoughts.tk.