Redeeming the Avos
So we come back now to our possuk and the Gemara in Sanhedrin. “Who is Yaakov?” the navi said. “He’s the one who redeemed Avraham.” He redeemed him from the distress of raising up children. He was the one given the role of building the family that became the Am Yisroel, and he freed Avraham to have the leisure to build the foundation for the family.
Of course, when we say Yaakov here, it means Yaakov and his wives. Absolutely. They were one unit that together built the Jewish nation. Together they took over the function of raising a family, of raising the Jewish nation. Besides for being a greatness in its own right, it also redeemed Avraham and Yitzchak and allowed them be free to meditate and to discover all the great truths of the world, the secrets of the universe, the darkei Hashem ba’olam.
No Shame
And that’s what it’s written, ‘And now Yaakov will not be put to shame, and now his face won’t turn pale’ (Yeshaya 29:22).
And the Gemara explains. What does it mean he won't be put to shame? Yaakov won't be ashamed because of his father. Why would he be ashamed of his father? It means that when Yaakov will be confronted by the achievements of his father, the philosophy of his father, the meditations of his father, the chiddushim of his father, so you might think Yaakov will be put to shame. He didn't find so many original ideas as his father did. How could he accomplish in thinking as much as Avraham and Yitzchok? He couldn’t. Impossible. He didn't have the time to do it. So maybe Yaakov in the Next World, when he comes to face his father, he’ll be embarrassed? No! “And now Yaakov will not be put to shame before Yitzchok.”
“And his face won't turn pale when he has to confront his father's father.” Maybe when Yaakov has to confront Avraham, he'll be embarrassed. Avraham was a man who discovered everything. Like the Rambam says, his two kidneys became like two teachers, and he was inspired with instruction and chiddushim and discoveries and knowledge. Avraham was a man who was like we say in Yiddish, ‘iz gelegen in lernen’—he was busy thinking day and night and studying the Toras Hashem that you could see in the universe. And now Yaakov has to face his grandfather without a lot of that greatness.
A Job Well Done
He's ashamed? No. And now, in the Next World, Yaakov’s face won’t turn pale. He won't be ashamed when we’ll see his children that I created in his midst. Oh! The children! When we'll see the children of Yaakov and his wives then they won’t have anything to be ashamed about, because they were doing their end
