Dvar Torah- Vayetzei
Three interesting points:
1. This week's parsha is about Jacob's exile from Canaan. The Gutnik notes that just as Jacob's exile was not entirely negative, the current exile is not either, becuase Jews can "convert the spiritual vaccuum of exile so that it becames an environment which is conducive to holiness."
This is common Chabad doctrine- the idea that by performing mitzvos on a space we make it holier.
There was a time a few months ago when this concept really came alive for me. Last July 4 weekend I visited Dallas, and was on Dealey Plaza (I think on Sunday the 5th). I went to the infamous "grassy knoll" *- certainly not a place most people associate with holiness. I happened to have some peanut butter on hand, so I said the appropriate (?) blessing and ate it there.
I guess Gutnik would say that by performing a mitzvah on the grassy knoll, this place of infamy*, I sanctified that spot. I cannot say whether my activity had any supernatural effect. But surely it had an effect on me (at least enough that I remember it!)
2. Also...the Gutnik asks how Jacob could marry 2 sisters, given the common Midrashic idea that the Patriarchs kept the mitzvot before Sinai. Gutnik explains: if the Patriarchs did keep the mitzvos it was just a personal stringency, and the basic ethical notion against fraud took priority. And since Jacob had already promised to marry Rachel, his invocation of halachic stringencies would have been fraud. A nice example of how ethics take priority over ritual.
3. Also....the Gutnik has a nice way of comparing Leah and Rachel. Because of Rachel's flawless beauty, she is compared to the "perfect tzadik." Because of Leah's "weak eyes" and some other midrashic stuff, she is compared to the baal teshuvah and referred to (by Gutnik) as "outgoing" enough to bring the outside world to holiness.
The broader concept here is: it takes all kinds to bring goodness into the world: the introvert and the extrovert, the perfect and the evolving.
There's a personal story I have that supports the point. A few months ago, I stayed with a frum family for shabbos. (Why? Long story... not relevant to this post). Daddy asks me who was my mentor. I dodge the issue because really there's no one person who fits the description for me. In the past ten years, I've lived in five cities and belonged to about ten shuls (including four C, one Sephardic O, one yeshivish-leaning O, one Chabad, one modern O, and two nondenominational). So I've learned from breadth rather than depth.
By contrast, many people fall in love with one shul or rabbi and are guided over time by same. Both breadth and depth have value; depth would have given me the advantage of a close personal relationship with a spiritual mentor.
But breadth has allowed me to learn from a variety of approaches and avoid stagnating by being stuck in one spiritual "place." (And yes, I have become more observant as a result, since my evolution has been mostly towards more traditional shuls).
As I said, it takes all kinds.
*which some people think was the site of the shots that killed John F. Kennedy 46 years ago yesterday- google "grassy knoll" and you'll find out more than I know. At any rate, even if no shots were fired from there, it was still only a few feet from where Kennedy actually was when he was shot. (The actual site being on an expressway so I could not stand there without being run over by a speeding vehicle!)
Posted by conservadox
at 2:33 PM EST
Updated: Monday, 23 November 2009 2:48 PM EST