The Maggid of Mezritch taught: Yakov had left behind letters from the Torah which he had not yet exracted from Lavan. This is why Lavan later pursued him - to give him the letters which remained with him. An entire chapter was added to the Torah by these letters.
The "letters of the Torah" which Yakvov left behind were "sparks" of holiness. In fact, Yakov spent twenty years in Lavan's house extracting whatever sparks of holiness he could find there, and when the process was complete, he left. At least he thought it was complete...
In truth, however, Yakov left some sparks behind, so Lavan chased after Yakov to give them to him.
Why did Yakov leave the sparks behind?
Chassidic teachings explain that while most of a person's achievements in life come through his own conscious efforts, there are some "super-conscious" achievements that are so lofty they cannot occurr intentionally. So while we are usually the ones that choose our own paths in, life - to find the sparks which we are destined to elevate - sometimes our sparks pursue us, because they are too sublime to be "extracted" solely by our own endeavors.
Gutnick Chumash, based on LIkkutei Sihcos 15:260)
Comment:
This teaching is too sublime to have my own thoughts appended to it, but I will try nevertheless.
Perhaps this is what Chazal mean when they say that Moschiach will only come "bhesech haddas", when one's attention is diverted ( Sanhedrin 97). For a deeper understanding of this statement, that Redemption arrives from a level which is above knowledge (Daas), see Tanya here).
On a more practical level, this teaches us never to be discouraged. Yes, there are times when we appear not to be accomplishing, when our lives seem to be in vain, just another small life among so many others of little value, of minor significance. We look at out achievements and see... nothing worthy.
Do not despair? Your greatest achievement may be one of which you are completely unaware, one which cannot be seen now, but will only become apparent in due time.
I think of R. Isroel Salanter. By all measures, his life would be considered a failure. A young man of great promise, he spent most of his life in pursuing manifold projects, few of which bore fruit - from translating the Talmud into German to changing the hearts of the common folk. Despairing of changing the climate in Eastern Europe, he spent his later years attemtping to effect a return to Torah among the enlightened elite in Germany and France, as we know, to little avail. He died in Paris alone and with little to show for his years of struggle.
Yet, the little seed that he planed so many years before, the few students that he imbued with the Mussar ideal effected a revolution in the Torah world, a revolution that was not visible or expected in his own lifetime. Besides exchanging an occasional letter with his former students and supporters, R. Isroel did not have substantive involvement with the incipient Mussar movement. Yet, it was precisely this child of his early years that is now remembered as his greatest achievement.
R. Yosef Yozel of Noavarodok said: "You must saw everywhere but pay particular attention to where it sprouts". Similarly, we do not always know where our greatest contributions are made. In this lies great consolation and great hope.
Nice post and very nice words about R Salanter.
Posted by: neilsharris | December 16, 2008 at 10:17 AM