Musar su Genesi 28:20

First of all, the episode of the serpent, who spoke lashon hara of the Holy One Blessed be He and thereby brought death to the world. And (Bereshith 29:20): "If G-d will be with me and guard me," concerning which Chazal have said: "if He will guard me against lashon hara." And the episode of Joseph (Ibid. 37:2): "And Joseph brought their evil talk to their father," this being the catalyst of the descent of the Jews to Egypt. And (Shemoth 2:14): "In truth, the thing has become known" (see Rashi there and what we shall write below). There, too, (4:1) Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, says: "But they will not believe me," and the Blessed L-rd counters (Ibid. 2): "What is this in your hand?" … (3) …and it became a serpent." Also there (6): "And, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." And (Ibid. 17:2): "And the people quarreled with Moses… (7) …over the quarrel of the children of Israel, etc." followed by (8): "And Amalek came and warred with Israel, etc." And (Ibid. 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report, which applies to both the speaker and the receiver [of lashon hara] (as we find in Makkoth 23a), followed by (2): "Do not be after many to do evil." And, in reference to the me'il [the outer robe of the ephod] (Ibid. 28:32): "A border shall there be to its mouth roundabout," and the entire section. And (35): "And its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary, etc." And the entire section of Tazria and Metzora: the plague-spots of houses, the plague-spots of clothing, the plague-spots of men, (Vayikra 13:46): "Solitary shall he sit"— even outside of the camp of Israel. And his atonement— "chirping" birds. And (Ibid. 19:16): "Do not go talebearing among your people," (Ibid. 17): "Reprove, shall you reprove your neighbor, but you shall not bear sin because of him." And (Ibid. 25:17): "You shall not wrong, one man, his fellow," which relates to verbal wronging, which is also in the category of evil speech. And (Bamidbar 5:1): "And they shall send out of the camp every leper"— even if he were as great in Torah as Doeg. And (Ibid. 12:1): "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, etc." And the entire section of Shelach Lecha, which speaks about the spies. And (Ibid. 21:5): "And the people spoke against G-d and against Moses." And (Devarim 23:10): "When you go out as a camp against your foes, guard yourself against every evil thing [davar ra]," concerning which Chazal have said: "davar ra" may be read as "dibbur ra" [evil speech]. And in Tetze, the "giving out of an evil name [motzi shem ra]," and (Ibid. 24:9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam, etc." And (Ibid. 27:24): "Cursed be he who smites his friend in secret," which refers to lashon hara. And it is known that all of the "cursings" were preceded by blessings; and they opened with blessing, saying: "Blessed is he who does not smite"— whence we derive that one who is heedful in this is blessed.

“When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, do not delay fulfilling it” (Deuteronomy 23:22). Behold there is a punishment for the delay of vows and charity, even though one pays them later. And if someone vows to give charity to the poor, he is obligated to pay it immediately. And if by way of forgetfulness, a delay of the vow happens to him, this too will surely be punished. For since he knows that forgetfulness is found with people, he should have remembered his vows and constantly put them into his heart, so that he would not forget them - like the matter that is stated (Proverbs 20:25), “It is a snare for a man to pledge a sacred gift rashly, and to give thought to his vows only after they have been made.” Therefore, his punishment for his negligence is severe, as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 5:5), “Don’t let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, and don’t plead before the messenger that it was an error, but fear God; else God may be angered by your talk and destroy the work of your hands.” Its explanation is “Don’t let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, etc.” - why do you vow, if you are not careful with your vows and bring guilt upon yourself? And we have already explained this verse in the Gates of Precautions of Caution (no longer extant). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, have said about the iniquity of [unfulfilled] vows (Shabbat 32b) that children die [as a result], as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 5:5), “and destroy the work of your hands.” The verse is also explained to be about the matter of evil speech, that one is punished for negligence with it - even if he does not intend to disgrace his fellow. (And likewise did our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, say in the Sifrei - and Rashi cites it in his commentary on the Torah concerning Miriam - and this is its language, “And with Miriam, she did not have in mind to to disgrace him [...]” And it concludes in the Sifrei, “But rather for praise, on account of the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying, etc.”) And behold we were commanded not to make vows, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 23:23) “Whereas you incur no guilt if you refrain from vowing.” And our Rabbis expounded from this (Nedarim 77b) that if one does vow, he incurs guilt. For a vow is a stumbling block for the one who vows, lest he profane his word or delay fulfilling it. Rather a righteous man is gracious and gives without his vowing. [It is hence forbidden to vow] except for when he calls out from distress. For then he should make a vow, like the matter that is written (Genesis 28:20), “And Jacob made a vow, saying, etc.” And likewise in the gathering together of the heads of the people - the Tribes of Israel: They should make vows to strengthen weakened hands. (It appears to me that his intention in that which he wrote, “to strengthen weakened hands,” is meaning to say that it energizes the rest of the people whose hands are weakened in the trait of volunteering, since they are not used to it. And through his vowing publicly in front of many people, their hearts are elevated to volunteer as well. And so is it written in I Chronicles 29:1-9, “King David said to the entire assemblage, etc. ‘I have prepared with all of my strength, etc. and who is going to make a freewill offering and devote himself today to the Lord?’ And the officers of the clans made freewill offerings, etc. The people rejoiced over the freewill offerings they made, for with a whole heart they made freewill offerings to the Lord; King David also rejoiced very much.”

עד אשר יצא מאפכם והיה לכם לזרא . When we observe how severely those people who knew no bounds to their greed were punished we learn the lesson that we should restrain our appetites even when it pertains to matters that are permissible. We should learn from our patriarch Jacob who had asked only for "bread to eat and clothes to wear" (Genesis 28,20).

5) A fifth level of performance is one which shows disdain for the comforts of life, as demonstrated by Jacob, who asked G–d only for minimal necessities such as food, clothing and shelter (Genesis 28,20).

(Ibid. 28:20): "And He guards me on the way that I will go": We find in the Midrash: "And He guards me from lashon hara." And thus have Chazal said in Sifrei on Devarim 23:10: "When you go out as an encampment against your enemies, then you shall guard yourself against every evil thing" that this alludes to lashon hara. And it is obvious that when a person goes to a place of danger he needs special guarding, as it is written there (Ibid. 15): "For the L-rd your G-d walks in the midst of your camp to save you, etc." And it is known that because of the sin of lashon hara the Shechinah departs from Israel, and there is no one to protect it. And so with Jacob when he went to Lavan, which was a place of danger, as we know from the end of the episode when he pursued him to kill him had the Holy One Blessed be He not saved him, as it is written (Devarim 26:5): "An Aramean (Lavan) would destroy my father [Jacob]" — wherefore Jacob our father prayed that he not stumble in this (lashon hara).

In Parshat Vayetzei I have demonstrated how such mundane matters as לחם לאכול ובגד ללבוש which Jacob requested must be understood (page 234). What this means is that parallel to the repair of man's "clothing" i.e. the garments of leather being exchanged for garments of light, man's food supply too will undergo a dramatic change in the World to Come. Our Rabbis describe how ארץ ישראל will produce ready-to-eat cakes and the like in Shabbat 30.

We should remember that just as the "garment" of the body will be woven of light and will be prestigious, so the body itself will be the distinguished clothing of the soul. Israel experienced a glimpse of such a future while in the desert. This is why the Torah tells us in Deut. 8,4: שמלתך לא בלתה מעליך, “your clothing did not wear out, etc. during all these forty years. The first step in restoring man to the garments that he ought to be wearing were taken by two of Noach's sons when they covered their father by taking hold of the שמלה and covering him with it (Genesis 9,23).

By feeding all the animals in the ark for a full year, Noach himself had begun the process of repairing the damage done by Adam in the area of food. When Jacob prayed (Genesis 28,20) that G–d should give him "bread to eat and clothes to wear," he may well have referred to a world in which man would wear clothing made of light, and in which all the trees would bear fruit and their trunks would taste just as their fruit. Because Noach had commenced the process of repairing the damage to the production of food caused by Adam, he was given the right to improve his diet and that of mankind after him. He was allowed to include meat in his diet (Genesis 9,3). His son Shem, who had begun to repair the damage to the kind of clothing man was allowed to wear, merited that his descendants, Israel, when wearing ציציות on a four-cornered garment, could ignore the prohibition of mixing wool and linen. In other words, a linen garment may have ציציות made of wool. Ever since the dispute between Cain and Abel linen and wool symbolized their strife, hence the prohibition of mixing them. The people of Israel kept rising to higher spiritual levels until they qualified for food made in the heavens, i.e. the מן, Manna. The jewelry that the Jewish people wore from the time G–d revealed Himself until they forfeited it through participating in the sin of the golden calf, was symbolic of the כתנות אור Adam had worn before the sin (compare Exodus 33,5).

This prompted him to make a vow. The Kabbalists explain that נדרים, vows, are of the mystical dimension found in the emanation בינה, something alluded to in the spelling of the word נ"דר, "dwelling in the domain of 50." The letter נ, alludes to the 50 gates of בינה, whereas דר means to dwell. The Kabbalists go on to explain that the Ultimate Redemption will be rooted in the emanation בינה. בינה is viewed as the יובל הגדול, the great Jubilee year, i.e. absolute Redemption.

There are numerous hints in Jacob's vow, and his use of the word אם was most appropriate. He used the word in the same sense as in Numbers 36,4: ואם יהיה היובל, "and even when the Israelites observe the Jubilee." I have already mentioned that the Jubilee year legislation contains allusions to the Great Redemption in the future which may occur sooner than its ultimate date, (אחישנה, G–d says: "I will hasten it,") in the event Israel is worthy, or it may arrive according to a pre-determined timetable set by G–d which is known as בעתה (cf. Isaiah 60,22). The word אם also consists of the respective first letters of אליהו and משיח, both of which symbolize the redemption of the future. When Jacob asks for G–d's protection ושמרני בדרך הזה, he refers to the journey through exile during which protection from Esau/Edom is needed. When he says: אם יהיה אלוקים עמדי, this is a reference to the day when the name of G–d will be One.

Why did Jacob have to mention that the bread that G–d would give him would be לאכול, "to eat," and that the clothing would be "to wear?" What else is one supposed to do with bread and clothing?" If we needed proof that the Torah is not merely turning a phrase, look at Deut. 10,18: "G–d loves the stranger to give him bread and clothes." The Torah does not bother to mention the function of bread and clothing.