Of Faith (and Animals)

Parshat Vayishlach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Yaakov is on his return journey, homeward bound for the first time in either 22 or 36 years. His mother is dead (though he does not yet know that), and he is unsure of his status with his brother. Has he been forgiven?

            

He sends one group of messengers to Eisav with a warm greeting, "I've been away for awhile. I have made a decent living. I'm coming home – I hope I've found favor in your eyes."

            

The response is that Eisav is approaching with 400 men. (See also here on the number 400)

            

Not knowing his intent, Yaakov sends an appeasement gift to Eisav, which includes "200 she-goats, 20 he-goats, 200 female sheep and 20 rams." (32:15)

            

There were other animals as well, such as the 30 nursing camels who were either accompanied by their children (1 each) or by their male counterparts (many commentaries address the strange terminology in the verse), as well as 40 cows to 10 bulls, 20 she-donkeys and 10 he-donkeys.

            

The verse about the she-goats etc is unique, according to Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (Maharam), because it is one of only two verses in the entire Torah in which all of the words end with a Final Mem.

            

The other verse is in Parshat Pinchas, Bamidbar 29:33, which describes a portion of the sacrifices of the 7^th day of Sukkot.

            

Maharam explains the parallel between these two unique verses.

            

God had promised Yaakov not to fear Eisav nor any other human being. By sending this gift to Eisav, he is demonstrating a lack of faith in God to the tune of 550 animals. This waste of animals is going to be the source for a payment Yaakov's descendants will have to make yearly to demonstrate their own faith in God.

The verse in Bamidbar is right before the obligations of Shmini Atzeret, so the korbanot of Shmini Atzeret do not count in the "payment."

How are there 550 korbanot? 2 for every Shabbos (52) is 104 animals. 11 for every Rosh Chodesh (12) is 132 animals. The animals for all of the holidays not including Shmini Atzeret account for the remaining 314 of the 550.

There is another approach to counting the animals. There are 2 animal sacrifices every day of the year (which they count as 360 days based on 12 months of 30 days each) equaling 720 animals. The korbanot of Rosh Chodesh and the holidays add up to 440. All together there are 1160 communal sacrifices.

Add up all the animals Yaakov sent – including the interpretation that there were in fact 60 camels – the nursing mothers and either their sons or their mates – and you have 580 animals. Double that number and you have 1160.

And so, according to the Maharam, Yaakov's punishment for his lack of faith gesture of offering Eisav 580 animals was that his descendants had to pay double that as offerings to God on a yearly basis.

As Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald of the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) famously explained in his Crash Course in Basic Judaism, the tenet of Belief is a little different than Knowledge. When a person knows something, there is no doubt in one's mind. There is a fact, it can be proven, demonstrated, etc.

But "Belief" in its very nature carries with it a snippet of doubt. I believe this very much. But… I might be wrong. I can't prove it.

One can argue Yaakov had no excuse. He was a prophet. God communicated directly to him. God told him everything would be alright. While we certainly teach that one should not rely on a miracle, and one should make one's efforts, but Yaakov's approach seemed to disregard a direct promise. Some even interpret his fight with the angel as meaning to remind him that he is not supposed to even prepare to run from Eisav because everything will be alright. Either his wound prevents him from fleeing, or his victory over an angel demonstrates that he can certainly defeat Eisav.

We, on the other hand, don't have the luxury of God speaking to us in dreams and making promises. The promises were made a long time ago, and we are certainly left with a choice. We can abandon everything and say it's all nonsense.

Or we can claim our faith, declare our beliefs, and recognize that while we all have difficult moments and may even question why we do what we do, we can always fall back on the notion that we are the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, who knew what they knew and lived the way they lived, so their descendants could one day experience Revelation and receive the Torah at Sinai.

And, of course, we believe the promises for the future have yet to be fulfilled – but will be fulfilled!

In the scheme of things, maybe our People got off easy with the punishment for Yaakov's lapse of faith. Double the amount of animals he wasted on Eisav as payment to God in the Temple.

Can we afford the punishment for the lack of faith and belief that is so prevalent today? Can the blogging Apikores, and the self-hating Jews, and the online slanderers continue to only bring our People down?

Of course they can. That is what they are best at doing.

But the two Final-Mem verses remind us that events from long ago can have an impact on future generations, if all we do is exhibit a lack of faith in God.

May we be blessed to seek God in our lives, and to find and see God in as many life experiences as He makes Himself apparent. 

The Wealth of Korach

After writing the dvar Torah, this article came to my attention - about the percentage of Israel's millionaires

Parshat Korach

In addition to being one of the more colorful characters in the Torah, Korach is even more colorful as he is portrayed in the Talmud and Midrash.

            
A simple look at the commentaries brings one to understand his brilliant mind, his ability to twist Torah, mitzvot, and halakha to conform to his agenda of criticizing Moshe's leadership (which is less apparent in the Torah) and Aharon's role as Kohen Gadol – his primary objection.

            
One of the more seemingly inconsequential details raised is that Korach was exceedingly wealthy. (Pesachim 119a)

            
We know that when the ground swallowed up those who had burned the K'toret on the copper firepans the Torah states, "The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, and their homes, and all the people that were with/belonged to Korach, and all of the property." (16:32)

            
With the exception of when a person takes property that is unavailable – such as Achan taking from the "cherem" (Yehoshua 7) – property is not generally subject to the punishment that befalls a sinner. "You can't take it with you" because it goes to your family.

            
If Korach's property was not ill-gotten, as the Talmud assumes, and if Korach's children did not participate in their father's rebellion (Bamidbar 26:11) – Radak on the first verse in Shmuel explains (based on Divrei Hayamim I:6) that Korach's children were prophets – they should have by all right inherited their father's possessions. Why was the property swallowed with the evil doers?

            
One line of thinking follows the passage in the mishnah towards the bottom of Sanhedrin 54a which punishes a seemingly blameless animal for a sin committed by a human (based on Vayikra 20:15-16). The reasoning? Because a human was brought to the lowest level of sin on account of the animal.

            
On a parallel plane, Nachshoni suggests Korach's wealth did the same thing to him. The Talmud describes the number of keys to Korach's treasures as being equivalent to the loads carried by three hundred mules (might not be a number meant to be taken literally). This tremendous wealth brought him to a level of unsurpassed arrogance, in which he felt he should have whatever he wanted, and was willing to go to whatever extreme necessary in order to get it.

            
Since his wealth caused him to sin, commentators argue, his wealth was punished as well. It wasn't taken from his inheritors – it was destroyed for bringing about his downfall.

            
The history of mankind in general, and of Jewish communities specifically, has always included individuals on all ends of the financial spectrum. That more people have less and fewer people have more is a reality just about everywhere.

            
What do the minority who are blessed with more do with their wealth? Do they go the Korach route? Do they confront leadership, dictate policy, expect the world to bow to them? Do they try to run the schools they support, the shuls they support, the organizations they support, etc. in their image? Are they seeking the "kavod" that comes from being the giver?

            
Or do they give to reflect their appreciation to their God? Do they give back to the community? Do they give magnanimously, with grace and charm? Do they sometimes give anonymously? Do they let those in the trenches use their skills to do their jobs best, while the donors stand on the sideline shouting words of encouragement and support, ever ready with the blank check to help out in whatever way possible?

            
Korach failed and perished because he let his wealth get to his head. He felt he was more suited to be the Kohen Gadol, and he was so arrogant that he could not accept that God might have chosen someone else over himself.

            
We tremendously appreciate the philanthropists and the givers who enhance our lives. We recognize that God has blessed them, and we wish them to find continued success so they may continue to do so much good with their wealth.

            
And those of us who are "not yet" philanthropists continue to pray that were the tables ever to turn, we be blessed not only with the ability to do good for others, but with the level-headed thinking that will keep us out of the Korach camp and in the camp of those who are magnanimous, gracious, and giving simply because we can.

            
May God bless us with opportunities to do amazing things with His gifts. May we merit to keep our priorities in order, to make the gift about how we can help and about how those on the other end of the spectrum can benefit from our generosity.