“Jacob arrived safely in the city of Shechem.... He [Jacob] purchased the parcel of land upon which he had pitched his tent...”
In the 1980s, HaRav Ginsburgh was a Rosh Yeshivah in Me’ah She’arim. In the early 1990s he was invited by a group of students who had set up a yeshivah in Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem to be their Rosh Yeshivah—Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai. At the start of the second Arab uprising in 2000, on October 7, the IDF abandoned Joseph’s Tomb and the Yeshivah was destroyed by the Arabs. Since then, Od Yosef Chai has been in the nearby village of Yitzhar.
Everyone is aware of Shabbat Hebron, which is marked annually on the Shabbat of parashat Chayei Sarah. On that Shabbat, many thousands of Jews come to spend the holy day in Hebron and this truly increases awareness of our connection to the sanctity of Hebron and to the Cave of the Machpelah, where the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried. The Shabbat of parashat Chayei Sarah was chosen because that is the Torah reading in which we read how Abraham purchased the Cave of the Machpelah. Some years back, those who live near Shechem (another of our holy cities) tried to mimic this and thought that on the Shabbat of parashat Vayishlach there should be a Shabbat Shechem. The choice of parashat Vayishlach was obviously because in it the Torah describes how Jacob purchased a plot of land in Shechem. But, as we all know, Shabbat Shechem never really caught on. Now, we would like to explain that the reason for this lack of success is because Shabbat Shechem should actually be celebrated on the Shabbat of parashat Lech Lecha!
From Yitzhar to Shechem
The first mention of Shechem in the Torah is in parashat Lech Lecha. The sixth verse of the parshah is: “And Abram passed through the land until the place of Shechem, until the plain of Moreh, and the Canaanites were then in the land”
The numerical value of the entire verse is 2368, or the product of 32 and 74. This is an example of self-reference, because 74 is the numerical value of the word “until” (דַע), a word that appears twice in the verse. Moreover, the two letters of the word “until” can also be read as “witness” (דֵע), and as the Torah tells us, “A testimony must be based on two witnesses.” A repetition of the word “until” also alludes to the idiom “until and including” (לָלְכִּד בַעְדוַע), which in this context suggests that we cannot be satisfied with only being “until,” i.e., near the city of Shechem (as we are here in Yitzhar), but we must continue to strive to return to the city itself.
Connecting Through Prayer
As Rashi explains, when Abraham reached Shechem, he connected fully with the land. He did this by praying for the success of his grandchildren, Shimon and Levi, who fought against the entire city of Shechem. Abraham’s prayer in Shechem is considered a more important act than Jacob purchasing the land in Shechem. First, because Abraham was the first Jew, and every action that he carried out in the Land of Israel (and in general) carries tremendous weight. But more importantly, this was the first place that he came to in the Land of Israel.
From the way in which Abraham acted we learn that the way for us to connect and to become one with the Land of Israel involves praying in its various locations. This is universally true. Wherever a Jew is, if he wants to connect with the place, he has to pray in it.
Since Shechem is the first place where Abraham prayed in the Land of Israel, the first place that he existentially connected with, then Shechem symbolizes not only the entire Land of Israel but also the situation in the entire Land. The Torah ends the verse with the words “And the Canaanites were then in the Land.” Throughout the Land of Israel there is tremendous opposition to us as Jews. The “Canaanites,” as it were, are in the Land. But the value of these words, “And the Canaanites were then in the Land” (ץֶרָאּז בָי אִנֲעַנְּכַהְו), is the same as “Shimon Levi” (יִוֵן לֹעוְמִׁש), indicating that through the courage of our people, through our true yearning for the coming of Mashiach, we will indeed in the end inherit the entire Land of Israel, just as Shimon and Levi inherited Shechem through their courage.
Action vs. Inaction
We truly want the Mashiach to come today, to come right now. For this to happen we must act, and as the sages say: “Action is better than failure to act.” Indeed, when there is uncertainty about what to do in each situation the sages tell us that “sitting passively and refraining from action is better than acting [without knowing exactly what to do].” But even in such circumstances, where the right thing to do is not clear, it is important that every individual strives to do something.
Sometimes the problem is that we have been doing all the right things, but we have been doing them without the proper intent. The Ba’al Shem Tov taught us that every commandment should be performed on two levels, the practice of the commandments itself and its inner intent. Perhaps that is what is missing—adding a deeper inner motivation and meaning to our actions.
Additionally, it may be that some actions simply need to be repeated. The value of “the Holy Temple” (ׁשָּדְקִּמַית הֵּב) is 248 more than 613, indicating that we may have to perform the 248 commandments again and a second time to make them stick. Putting the two ideas together we may say that we need to repeat commandments again and again because the first time we simply did not have the proper intent, intent that ran deep enough to change reality permanently. Therefore, we must go about repeating the action again and again, until we get it right, until we are able to come to Shechem itself, to use the image from the verse, and not end up only near it.
Still, as of this moment, by Divine Providence, we are not in Shechem but nearby in the settlement of Yitzhar. The name Yitzhar (רָהְצִי) means “oil” (ןֶמֶׁש). In the Zohar, oil is likened to the secrets of the secrets of the Torah.
Counting Verses
Let us go back to our verse and find out what number verse it is in the Pentateuch. In parashat Bereishit there are 146 (the value of “world,” or םָלֹעו, a clear reference to Creation) verses. In Noach there are 133 verses. 133 is the value of Betzalel (לֵאְלַצְּב), the great sage and artisan who designed and constructed the desert Tabernacle. From this we learn that Bezalel inherited Noach’s technological skill to create new creations, just as God did in creating the world.
Our verse is the 6th verse in parshat Lech Lecha. So, altogether it is the 305th verse of the Torah. 305 is the exact value of Yitzhar (רָהְצִי). So, it is not by chance that the exiles from Shechem are now in Yitzhar. This means that in order to return to Shechem, we have to have Yitzhar, i.e., oil, the secrets of the secrets of the Torah. We suggest that from now on, every Shabbat Lech Lecha should be called not only Shabbat Shechem, but the Shabbat of the Land of Israel.
(From a class given on the 27th of Tevet, 5768)
