Daf Yomi: Menachos 96
Guest Author:
Rabbi Effy Goldman
Assistant Rabbi, Young
Israel of Coram
Parshat Vayechi
speaks about Yaakov and describes that he was mourned, embalmed and
buried. But yet, the gemara says "Yaakov lo met" - "Yaakov did not die".
Rav Yochanan expounds on the verse by explaining that just like Yaakov's
seed is alive, so too is he alive as well. This could be understood in two
ways. Either that Yaakov really died but since we continue in his
footsteps, in essence, he never actually died. The other option is that he
is really still alive which seems to contradict that fact that they buried
him. Rav Tzaddok of Lublin explains that Yaakov did not experience the
pain of death. Death is painful because it involves the soul's removal
from the material existence, which it had come to crave. The more
materially lustful a person is, the less he can bear to part from this
life to the holier one awaiting him. Conversely, the more spiritual a
person is, the easier it will be for the soul to leave the body and return
to G-d. This is how it was with Yaakov who was so spiritual that he didn't
taste the pain of death. Rabeinu Bachaya explains the idea of "Yaakov lo
met" is similar that of Rebbe, who, the Gemara says that even after his
death, he would come home and make Kiddush for his wife every Friday
night. Yaakovs was a similar story. He exists, on some level, in a quasi
state between life and death. Not only is there now no contradiction
between the Written Torah which mentions an actual burial, and the Torah
SheB'al Peh, which states "Yaakov did not die".
But this also can be used to illustrate the differences and the
relationship between the Written and Oral Torah. The Written Torah, which
is read and taken on a straightforward level, is analogous to a silent
movie. All you see is the action without explanations. The Oral Torah is a
Torah of the mouth, where the action is verbally elaborated on and
explained. Interestingly, the word "peh" - "mouth" is comprised of the
same letters as the word "poh" - "here". Verbalizing brings the underlying
reality of an idea "here". The Written Torah mentions the burial, which
one can see. The Oral Torah explores the deeper aspect to this and reveals
that there is an element of life to what is ostensibly, death.
The Maharal offers many examples that illuminate this concept. The Gemara,
in Megillah quoting a posuk in Parshas Behar, tells us not to read the
text of "lo (tk) chumah" - "there was no wall" but read it "lo (uk) chumah"
- "there IS a wall". The Maharal on Gemara explains that there is
currently no wall but if you look back in time, there once was a wall. The
Written Torah limits itself to what you see now while the Oral Torah tells
you that while you do not see a wall right now, there once was a wall.
The pasuk in Tehillim says "there is not one day for G-d". The Gemara
expounds on this and tells us not read the word "lo" with an alef but with
a vav - that there "IS one day for G-d". This day is Yom Kippur. How is
this? On the surface, Yom Kippur seems like an ordinary day with cars on
the street and the world's business proceeding as usual. How is this G-d's
day? If one is fasting and praying on Yom Kippur, you are immersed in the
holiness of the day and it is clear to you that this IS a day for G-d.
Another example is when the maidservants of the daughter of Paroh were
walking with her, the Pasuk says "holechet" - "they are walking". Rashi
says "holechit l'met" - "going to their death". Again, looking at the
story on the obvious level, one sees only that they are just "going". But
peering deeper, the Oral Torah explains that the maidservants were going
to prevent Paroh from saving Moshe and that they were going to be killed.
Based on the above examples, we can see that Yaakov merited the World to
Come - the spiritual reward. But where the Torah speaks about reward it
only mentions the physical ones as in when G-d promises us rain, wine and
oil. The Maharal explains that rewards can be understood on two separate
levels - we will receive a physical reward but we will also receive Gan
Eden, which can be considered "spiritual rain" on a deeper level. The
Baalei Kabbalah tell us it is just the opposite. The verses are speaking
about spiritual rain in Gan Eden as a reward for following the Torah. But
what occurs above is mirrored below and so the spiritual rain earned
above, manifests itself below, on earth, as physical rain. Rain happens to
be an excellent metaphor for the connection between the spiritual and
physical planes. Rain comes about when water vapor, which cannot be seen,
rises from the earth and forms the clouds from which the rain comes. This
is like when we do a mitzvah, we create spiritual "vapor" which, though we
cannot see it, goes heavenward and produces spiritual "rain" in Gan Eden.
This spiritual "rain", in turn, manifests itself down here in the form of
physical rain.
From all of this, we can see that everything can be viewed at different
levels but both of these perspectives are true. Written Torah shows us the
level of what is obvious about the truth. The Oral Torah is the essential,
deeper truth that explains the obvious. Yaakov was actually buried and
mourned as the Written Torah states. But it is also true that "Yaakov lo
met" - "Yaakov did not die" - on the spiritual level he is not dead.
This is a lesson for us not to judge based on the surface appearance of
situations and of people. We must assume that there is a deeper reality to
things and more deeply investigate to really comprehend the full picture.
