Musar zu Jeschijahu 29:22

A pious man is so called because he has a sense of shame, for the word 'hassid' or 'pious' means 'white', for the translation of 'stork' (Hassidah) in Aramaic is "hawaeita" meaning "the white one", as you note in Leviticus 11:19, and similarly in Isaiah 29:22: "Neither shall his face now become white" (with shame), and the Aramaic translation of "herpah" (shame) is hisda (same as Hassid), as you will note in Genesis 34:14. And all of this for what reason? That the Hassid or pious person must bear shame in order to fulfill the Torah, and he must remove shame from his face at performing any precept. Then he is called a Hassid or "pious one", and thus he attains to prophecy as it is written: "Then didst Thou speak in vision to Thy pious ones" (Ps. 89:20). And through his sense of shame he will attain to true reverence of God, as it is written: "In order that His awe be upon your faces and you do not sin" (Exod. 20:20). What kind of awe or fear of God can be seen in a person's face? You must surely say, "A sense of shame" (which causes the face to change color) (Nedarim 20a).

All this is contained in the report of the Creation. The קליפה preceded light since the Torah speaks of Tohu vavohu and darkness as extant before G–d commanded "let there be light." Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 2,4 understand the four words והארץ תהו ובהו חשך in that verse as alluding to the four periods of exile Israel would have to endure before the coming of the Messiah. The words יהי אור are the reference to that period in our history which will unfold at the end of the periods of exile. The true "good," unmixed with evil, is represented by Jacob; he represents the very essence, "kernel" of the tree of life that is described as being in the "center" of the garden. When the Torah says וכל טוב אדוניו בידו, "and all the goodness of his Master in his hand" (Genesis 24,10), this Tuv instead of Tov, refers to absolute good, not something merely relatively good i.e. Tov. The word Tuv means "goodness par excellence." Abraham explained this to Eliezer when he sent him on the mission to get a wife for Isaac and said "the Lord, the G–d of Heaven who has taken me from my father's house and from my birthplace." Rashi says that the words מבית אבי, refer to Charan, whereas the words מארץ מולדתי, refer to Ur Kasdim. Our sages in Sanhedrin 19, commenting on Isaiah 29,22:"Jacob who redeemed Abraham," say that G–d only saved Abraham from Nimrod's furnace on account of Jacob's merit. This whole statement will be explained in detail in פרשת תולדות. Thus it becomes clear that the whole purpose of Isaac's marriage was to enable Jacob to be born from that union. This is why Abraham hinted to Eliezer "you must on no account bring my son there" (24,6). The implication is that "my grandson" may return there. He will have to go back there to retrieve his "lost" part, i.e. Rachel, Leah, Zilpah and Bilhah. This is why Jacob שמר את הצאן, "tended the flock," and our sages understand this term as similar to the Talmudic צאן ברזל, inalienable property. The letters in the word ברזל, correspond to the respective first letters in the names of Jacob's wives רחל-לאה-בלהה-זלפה.

The answer is found in the fact that it was Jacob who redeemed Abraham as we have learned from Jeremiah 31,11. Abraham was saved from Nimrod's furnace only in order for Jacob to be born in the future. This does not mean that Jacob's merits were greater than those of Abraham. On the contrary; Abraham, the founder of Judaism, possessed comprehensive merits. He had such great merit that he should not have been denied the ultimate merit of being a martyr for his faith. Had G–d allowed such martyrdom, however, Jacob would never have seen the light of this world. The fact that Jacob's מטתו שלימה, that he raised all his children to remain loyal to his teachings, represented the mystical dimension of completing the בנין in the Celestial Regions, as we have described this elsewhere.

When we are told in Bereshit Rabbah 63,2 that it was Jacob who saved Abraham from the furnace of Nimrod, based on the verse in Isaiah 29,22: יעקב אשר פדה את אברהם, "Jacob who liberated Abraham," this does not mean that Jacob's merits were greater that those of Abraham. This could not be, since Abraham's spiritual power was certainly greater than that of any other patriarch and we commence our daily עמידה prayers invoking first and foremost the merits of Abraham, and we sign the benediction with the words "G–d the shield of Abraham."