Parshas Vayeitzei
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
In discussing our forefather Jacob’s journey to Haran to find for himself a wife, the Torah tells us that the sun had set, and that Jacob took from the stones of the place and put them around his head and lay down in that place (see Genesis 28:10).
Rashâ€i, in his commentary (ibid.), cites the Talmud in Chullin 91b which states that when the stones were placed around Jacob’s head, they began to quarrel with one another. This one would say, “Upon me shall the tzaddik (righteous one) lay his head,†and this one would say, “Upon me shall he lay his head.†The Holy One, Blessed is He, immediately made them into one stone. This is why it says, “And he took the stone that he placed around his head,†(Genesis 28:18) – using the singular “the stone.†[This is in contrast to our verse which uses the plural avnei].
[Ed. Note: This reminds me of a funny story that (allegedly) took place many years ago involving a well-known rabbinical personality (who, let’s just say, was on the “heavier†side) who was sitting outdoors in an old wicker chair teaching Torah to his students, when, to everyone’s absolute shock and horror, he fell through the bottom of the chair and was now stuck and couldn’t get out of the chair. Nobody present knew if they should laugh or cry, such an awkward scene it was. Nobody, that is, until the rabbi himself – who possessed a very sharp wit and who also didn’t take himself too seriously – explained to all present what really happened. “You see,†said the rabbi, now with a big smile across his face, “when I first sat down on this chair, all the holes began to quarrel with one another. This one would say, “Upon me shall the tzaddik lay his you-know-what,†and this one would say, “Upon me shall he lay his you-know-what.†The Holy One, Blessed is He, immediately made all the little holes into one big hole and I fell right through! -dz]
The Gerrer Rebbe, HaRav Avraham Mordechai Alter ZTâ€L (1866-1948), found the Talmudic passage in Chullin 91b mentioned above difficult to understand. In the end, it doesn’t seem like G-d accomplished much by turning all the stones into one single stone. After all, Jacob’s head was only lying on one part of the stone, so there was still room for jealousy and argument among the other parts of the stone!
The Gerrer Rebbe answered that so long as there was true achdus (unity) and a clear understanding that all the stones were parts of the same stone, then there was no place for fighting anymore.
Indeed, the Jewish people are supposed to be unified and see ourselves as parts of one whole, with no room for argument or envy, just like those stones that surrounded Jacob’s head.
Now I know that it sounds so cliché to say that the Jewish people are “one entity†and “many parts of one wholeâ€. But it is true on a few different levels.
On the simplest level, all Jews born today descend from the same father and mother(s) - with the exception of converts, of course - as we read in this week’s Torah portion, Parshas Vayeitzei (see Genesis 29:32-30:24 and 35:18). This means that we are literally from the same family.
On a Kabbalistic level, the Arizaâ€l writes that all the souls of Israel may be viewed as one large body. There are souls that are the “head†of the body and souls that are the “feet†of the body. Although each soul performs its individual purpose, just as each limb of the body has a specific task, in the final analysis, they are all part of the same body. It also follows that since all souls constitute one body, the performance of a Mitzvah by any one limb will be healthy for the entire body.
This lofty idea that the Jewish people are one entity with many parts helps us understand a very difficult mitzvah:
The Torah commands us in Leviticus 19:18: "You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members of your peopleâ€.
The Talmud Yerushalmi in Nedarim (9:4) asks how is it possible to expect a person not to take revenge when he is humiliated by another person?
The Yerushalmi offers the following amazing answer: If one was cutting meat, and the knife in one hand cut the other hand, would the person then “take revenge†and go and cut the hand that held the knife? Of course not! So, too, are we commanded by G-d to treat every Jew like another part of the same body. And one doesn’t take revenge against himself!!
I believe the takeaway for all of us here is that the next time we bump into a “member of the tribe†and he looks, talks, or acts different than we do or think he should, we should always bear in mind the lesson of the Tzaddik and the stones - that the Jewish people are one single stone with many different parts – and treat this Jew as we would treat ourselves.
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