After everything he had been through, he wanted some peace and quiet. All his struggles, battles, and tzarot. Finally, a time to settle. “Vayeshev Yaakov” - “Yaakov dwelt” (Bereishit 37:1). Chazal teach us: “Bikesh Yaakov leishev b’shalva,” he sought to dwell in tranquility (Rashi 37:2).
And truthfully, he had a good reason to feel ready for calm. He arrived “shalem” - whole: healed from his limp, whole in his Torah, and whole in his finances (Rashi 33:18). He received a new name, Yisrael, and his twelfth son, Binyamin, was born.
The Midrash (Yelamdenu, Bereishit 153) tells us that Yaakov even thought there was no need for a future exile:
אמר רבי אלעזר מהו וישב יעקב, מלמד שחשב יעקב בדעתו ואמר: כבר אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לאברהם להיות בניו גרים, הרי אני הייתי גר עשרים שנה בבית לבן משועבד בצאנו, וכיון שראה שעשו הלך לעיר אחרת אמר: בזה יתקיים שעבוד ארבע מאות שנה, ונתישבה דעתו. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: מחשבתי עמוקה ממחשבתך, שנאמר כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם (ישעיהו נה, ח), מיד הביא עליו עלילה על ידי יוסף.
Translation:
Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of “And Yaakov settled”? It teaches that Yaakov reflected and said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, already told Avraham that his children would be strangers in a land not their own. I myself was a stranger for twenty years in Lavan’s house, serving under difficult conditions with his flocks. And now that I see Esav has gone off to another city, perhaps the decree of the four hundred years of servitude has already been fulfilled.” With that, his mind felt at ease.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: “My thoughts are deeper than your thoughts, as it is written: ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts’ (Isaiah 55:8).” Immediately, a new chain of events began through Yosef.
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Even the decree of going down to Mitzrayim in Brit Bein HaBetarim seemed, in Yaakov’s eyes, to have been fulfilled. In that sense, he felt he had already reached the Acharit HaYamim - the “End of Days.”
But then:
‘Vayeshev’ - Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility, yet the troubles of Yosef sprang upon him. The righteous seek to dwell in tranquility, says the Holy One, blessed be He: What is prepared for the righteous in the World to Come is not sufficient for them, but they seek to dwell in tranquility in this world. (Rashi, Bereishit 37:2)
Apparently, there are still processes that must unfold before Olam HaBa.
And today?
After October 7th and two years of war, many of us yearn for peace and quiet. If only we could return to October 6th - just without the tzarot. But this week’s parsha teaches us that we must yearn not for the past, but for the next stage of Geulah. Peace and quiet are certainly part of it, but they are not the ultimate purpose.
Yes, we all want to live in “A Place Among the Nations” (the title of Binyamin Netanyahu’s book), but it isn’t enough. We should not seek merely to return to who we were before October 7th.
What is the next stage of Geulah? How will Am Yisrael be different?
We conclude with an extraordinary Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 85:1):
שבטים היו עסוקין במכירתו של יוסף, ויוסף היה עסוק בשקו ובתעניתו, ראובן היה עסוק בשקו ובתעניתו, ויעקב היה עסוק בשקו ובתעניתו, ויהודה היה עסוק ליקח לו אשה, והקדוש ברוך הוא היה עוסק בורא אורו של מלך המשיח.
Translation:
The tribes were occupied with selling Yosef.
Yosef was occupied with sackcloth and fasting.
Reuven was occupied with his own sackcloth and fasting.
Yaakov was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting.
Yehudah was occupied with arranging his household.
And the Holy One, blessed be He, was occupied with bringing forth the light of the King-Mashiach.
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Everyone is occupied.
Selling, mourning, healing, arranging.
So many things happening all at once - then and now.
And what is the Holy One, blessed be He, doing?
He is creating the light of Mashiach.
Geulah is unfolding.
The next stage is approaching.
Rabbi Yonatan Kirsch is is author of the book Ma'alot ha-Mikvah.