The mandrakes give a fragrance, and at our gates are all manner of choice fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.
Many have interpreted this pasuk, including several in the new volume of Ne’imot Yomeiru on Chanukah. One day, someone will author a sefer on this one pasuk and 700 pages will not suffice to capture all the ideas stemming from its words. הַ דּ וּ דָ אִ ים נָתְ נוּ ־רֵ יחַ refers to Reuven and וְעַל־פְּתָחֵינוּ כָּל־מְגָדִ ים refers to Chanukah. What is their connection? The Bnei Yissaschar explains (5:1), Reuven returned from the field with dudaim on Erev Shavuot. Rachel Imeinu asked for some of the dudaim, and the end result was Yaacov sleeping in Leah’s tent that night, on Erev Shavuot, and Yissachar was then born. The Alsheich HaKadosh says, until Yissachar’s birth, the tribes and births are not numbered. Only upon Yissachar’s birth does it say וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד לְיַעֲקֹב בֵּן חֲמִישִׁי – Leah conceived and gave birth to a fifth son. This is the first time a number is used, and it continues with the sixth son too. The reason is, it occurred on Erev Shavuot and there is a connection between the five books of Torah and Yissachar who would lead the carrying and learning of them. The Bnei Yissaschar then adds, all of the Imahot gave birth following seven-month pregnancies, and seven months after Erev Shavuot is the first day of Chanukah! That is the connection between the two elements of the pasuk in Shir HaShirim.
There is another place where we find the connection between Yosef and Yissachar – the שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר of kedusha. Rav Shlomo Fisher, in Drashot Beit Yishai, points to the same story of Leah and Rachel. Had Rachel not chosen the path of giving Yaacov to Leah that night, it would have been Yosef who was conceived. Instead, Chazal say Leah received two tribes. Which two? Conventional wisdom would say it was Yissachar and Zevulun, the next two tribes to be born. But Rav Fisher says otherwise. It was Yissachar and Yosef! The benevolent and selfless act of not responding to her sister’s anger despite being justified (see Rav Rosenblum English Shiur – Vayeitzei 5784), and giving Yaacov to Leah that night, led to both the birth of Yissachar from Leah and Yosef from Rachel. Her act is what led to her being remembered by Hakadosh Baruch Hu and her womb being opened. The result was a שׁ ו ֹ ר ל ִ קְ דֻ שׁ ּ ָ ה and a חֲמוֹר ל ִ קְ דֻ שׁ ּ ָ ה.
Now we return to the שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר לְ טֻ מְ אָ ה. The Vilna Gaon writes (Safra diTzniuta), after being outmaneuvered by his brother and not receiving the birthright bracha from his father, Eisav wanted to join forces with Yishmael in order to destroy the world. He knew his father did not approve of taking a woman from Cna’an for a wife, so he intentionally went there to seek out and marry the daughter of Yishmael. He wanted to join together the שׁ ו ֹ ר ל ְ ט ֻ מְ א ָ ה with the חֲמוֹר לְ טֻ מְ אָ ה. They joined together, and to this prohibition of וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְ דָּ ות ַ ח ֲ ר ֹ שׁ ב ּ ְ שׁ ו ֹ ר לֹא, the Ba’al HaTurim said וַי לִי!
Nachalat David adds, when Yaacov saw what transpired, he fully understood the ramifications and responded by sending a message, and sign of strength, to Eisav. Despite the unholy alliance between Eisav and Yishmael, Yaacov let his brother know that he was not scared, because וַיְהִ י־לִי שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר – he had his own alliance of שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר ל ִ קְ דֻ שׁ ּ ָ ה. Namely, he had Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David.
Bli neder, we’ll continue this idea next week, but in the meantime, I would like to close with a final thought. Following their encounter, Yaacov journeyed to Succot, and we know the holiday of Succot corresponds to him. What happens on Succot? וַיְהִ י־לִי שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר – there are seventy bulls sacrificed. Thirty-five correspond to Eisav, and thirty-five correspond to Yishmael. The order of these korbanot sees the number of bulls sacrificed decrease each day, and Rashi says this reverse order represents the power of the nations that diminishes over time. The seventy korbanot are brought to decrease the power of the nations of the world. When Yisrael has the שׁ וֹר וַחֲמוֹר ל ִ קְ דֻ שׁ ּ ָ ה, namely, Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David, our power cannot be matched.
This morning, we learned of the murder of three more kedoshim in Yerushalayim, Hashem yikom damam. Rav Elimelech Wasserman was one of them, a true genius of Torah and dayan in the Beit Din of Ashdod. Another, Chana Ifergan, was principal of the Banot Hadassah school in Beit Shemesh. The last, Libi Dickman, a schoolteacher, was pregnant with her first child. All died al kiddush Hashem, and we look up to the Heavens and wonder ָדוֹל הַ זֶּה ּ מֶ ה חֳ רִ י הָ אַ ף הַ ג? עַל מָה עָשָׂה ה' כָּכָה לִקְ דוֹשִׁים אֲשׁ ֶר בָּאָרֶ ץ? Why has Hakadosh Baruch Hu done this to the land? What is the reason for this great anger? What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu want from us?
We haven’t yet lifted our heads up from the massacre and ongoing war, and from seeing hostages and their families suffer, and from being toyed with by despicable terrorists, and form having the eyes of the world fixated on us with disdain – the same world who lecture us despite being the ones who’ll soon see the same phenomenon in their own backyards! And despite all this, we’re given even more to grapple with!
I don’t know the answer. Prophecy was given to prophets, and we have none in our midst. But there is one thing we must be aware of. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is with us in our pain and feels great anguish from what He is compelled to do. The Gemara says (Berachot 63a): Anyone who includes the name of Heaven in his distress, his livelihood will ultimately be doubled. Rashi says, this is one who proclaims Dayan HaEmet and asks for rachamim. It is one who recognizes Hakadosh Baruch Hu is also suffering but must carry this out regardless. We need to include that in our tefillot! We need to scream out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that it pains us that He too is suffering!
Chanukah teaches us a profound lesson. Amidst the depths of darkness, the ensuing emergence of light not only equals the preceding darkness but exceeds it, casting an even brighter illumination upon our path. We find ourselves in exceptionally dark times, yet there is even more exceptionally radiant light awaiting us.
.כֵּן יְהִי רָצוֹןוֹ ן תּ ָ אִ יר ... ּ אוֹ ר חָ דָ שׁ עַ ל־צִ י
