Vayechi: Land Of The Living
Late in the Summer of 1939, a Jew from Vienna entered the office of a local travel agency. Taking out a wad of cash, he whispered, “I would like to buy a one-way ticket to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Where to?” asks the clerk.
“Let me take a look at your globe, please.”
The Yid starts examining the globe, identifying possible destinations around the world. Each time the Jew suggests a location, the agent raises an objection: this country has closed its borders, this one requires an entry visa, that one won’t admit Jews, the next one has a waiting list a decade long, etc.
Faced with the reality that there is nowhere left to go, the Jew looks up with despair and says, “Maybe you have a different globe for me to choose from?”
“Vayechi Yaakov…And Yaakov lived seventeen years in Egypt.” (47:28)
Reunited with his family, Yaakov Avinu lives out the last chapter of his life in Chutz La’Aretz. In advance of their descent to Egypt, a land of idolatry and impurity, Hashem appears to Yaakov Avinu b’maros laila, “in a night vision.” Our Sages explain this means that he was gripped with fear by the impending darkness of Exile. The Netziv explains that Yaakov was concerned that his children and descendants would lose their moral bearing on foreign soil and, disconnected from the holiness of the Land of Israel, would not be able to perpetuate authentic Yiddishkeit. The Ribbono Shel Olam assures Yaakov Avinu that our descent to Mitzrayim would be the next step in the fulfillment of the Bris bein habetarim, “the Covenant of the Parts” witnessed by Avraham Avinu. The Bris bein habetarim foretold not only exile, slavery, and suffering, but a subsequent return to Eretz Canaanto inherit the Promised Land.
“I will walk before Hashem in the lands of the living.” (Tehillim, 116)
Rashi: “This refers to Eretz Yisrael.”
The Land of Israel is called Eretz Hachayim, “The Land of the Living” (Iyov, 28). While Hashem had promised that his offspring would continue to exist, Yaakov was concerned that outside of Eretz Yisrael they would not be able to really live (chayim) lives of spiritual depth and meaning. In Chutz La’Aretz, the world outside Israel, there can be physical survival and there is even a level of existence called “living.” Yet, whatever semblance of real life and living that Yaakov was able to experience in Mitzrayim was drawn from Eretz Yisrael. Wherever a Jew expresses their Yiddishkeit, learns Torah, fulfills a mitzvah, they are drawing from kedushat Eretz Yisrael, the eternal holiness rooted in Eretz Yisrael. This animates our temporary Jewish “life” in Chutz La’Aretz. Nevertheless, no matter how strong the yeshivas, kosher restaurants, and communities of the modern equivalents of Goshen, we must always remember that “life” in Exile is a chiddush, a novelty. Our descent and dwelling outside the Land is unnatural, and not fully alive.
Reb Nachman of Tcherin (1825-1894) a close disciple of Reb Noson Breslover explains: “An environment more ideal than the Chosen Land does not exist for the eternal development and growth of the Chosen People.” Eretz Yisrael is the source of chiyus, vitality and “aliveness” for the whole world.
The recent resurgence of open, unabashed antisemitism across the globe is far from shocking. Reminiscent of scenes that have been seared into our collective memory for generations, we have seen this before! Exile from the Holy Land and the pain of galus is an essential part of our story; throughout the Torah and the books of the Nevi’im, we are repeatedly assured that Hashem would always be with us, even in a place of great darkness and suffering.
Our collective purpose is to reveal Godliness in the four corners of the world, to fill the world with light. We sacrifice for the sake of being marbeh kavod Shamayim, increasing the honor of Heaven. We are living in extraordinary times. As the final stages of Galus and the next stages of Redemption unfold before our eyes, and Kibbutz Galuyos, the ingathering of the exiles is in full swing, we are reminded once again that the Chosen People are meant to be in the Promised Land. There is no “other globe.”
May Am Yisrael be blessed wherever we are, and wherever we are, may we be safe, and we all be connected to the Kedusha of Eretz Yisrael. And may we all be baderech, on our way back Home, to the Land of the Living.
“Wherever I am going, I am going to Eretz Yisrael.”
—Rebbe Nachman of Breslov n
Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children and the author of the “Baderech” series. Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Ora, and their family.
