Shabbos Parshas Vayechi 5786 "Which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow" - The battle in the service of prayer

00:00 Speaker 1 At a Purim 5708 farbrengen, the Rebbe told a story he had heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe. There was once a chossid of the Alter Rebbe who would daven at great length. Every day, he davened for several hours. Someone once asked him: What does he daven with? He was, you know, seemingly a simple man. They asked him: What does he daven with? He said that forty years earlier, he had heard a remark from the Alter Rebbe about the verse “Remember and keep in one utterance.” The Alter Rebbe said: “Remember and keep”—one must remember and pay attention, in every utterance, in every word that leaves our mouths, in every word of davening, to the “One”; remember the One, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in every utterance. And with that one teaching, he davened for forty years. The Rebbe told this story once and said that the chossid davened at length every day. He davened on Sunday, and he davened on Monday, and he davened on Tuesday, and so he davened every day of the week. He davened at length and with heartfelt concentration. And what was his davening based on? That one teaching, the single teaching he had heard from the Alter Rebbe: “Remember and keep in one utterance”—that in every utterance one must remember and pay attention to the “One.” And when the Frierdiker Rebbe told this story, he said that once, chassidim could live for forty years with one teaching, one teaching in Chassidus, and from that

01:39 Speaker 1 daven in such a way. In this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayechi, among the verses in which Yaakov Avinu speaks with Yosef Hatzaddik, we find the verse: “And I have given you one portion over your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Emorite with my sword and my bow.” In simple terms, as Rashi and the commentators explain, Yaakov Avinu tells Yosef that he is giving him a special inheritance because Yosef devoted himself so completely to his father—especially here, when he undertook to see to his burial, and [unclear], and gave himself over to the matter of his burial and to everything Yaakov asked of him at such personal sacrifice. Yaakov Avinu promises him that in merit of this: “And I have given you one portion over your brothers.” Rashi offers two interpretations. “Shechem” means the city of Shechem itself; he gave him Shechem, the city where he is buried. It belongs to the tribe of Yosef. This is the same Shechem where the whole episode with Dinah took place, with Yaakov’s battle and so on. And that is the continuation of the verse, “which I took from the hand of the Emorite with my sword and my bow”—it was acquired through the battle needed to take Shechem, the battle the brothers waged. But Rashi says that this is not speaking of a battle; Yaakov did not wage a battle. Rather, the meaning is “with my prayer and my supplication,” as the Targum says. Rashi says: “With my wisdom and my prayer.” In other words, Yaakov Avinu acquired the city of Shechem

03:21 Speaker 1 through his prayers and requests, so that it would belong to him, and he gave it to Yosef. Rashi’s second interpretation is that “shechem” means a portion, an inheritance, which is called a “shechem.” That is, he gave him an inheritance, adding to his share; when the inheritances were divided among the tribes, Yosef was counted as two tribes, Ephraim and Menashe, and they were recognized as such for the inheritance: “one portion over your brothers”—more than his brothers. In any case, what does this verse say? It says that Yaakov gives Yosef a special portion, a special inheritance, “one portion over your brothers,” more than all his other brothers. And he tells him that this portion, this inheritance, is “what I took from the hand of the Emorite with my sword and my bow.” I took it from the Emorite “with my sword and my bow.” As the Targum says: “With my prayer and my supplication”—through prayer and supplication. Through his prayers and requests, Yaakov Avinu brought about that the inheritance would come to him. The commentators—Rashi, Ramban, and others—raise questions about this and offer several explanations. [unclear] throughout the commentators, on the straightforward level. [unclear] But there are also explanations according to the inner dimension of the matter. [unclear] And here is the point: Yaakov Avinu says to Yosef, [unclear], and he emphasizes: “And I have given you one shechem over your brothers.” Why does he call it specifically “shechem”? [unclear]

05:03 Speaker 1 This is a matter in its own right in the inner dimension of the verse. And this is the matter of shechem. The verse calls it “one shechem.” The expression “one shechem” is unusual. And it says “over your brothers”—more than his brothers. Moreover, the verse says “which I took from the hand of the Emorite.” Why the emphasis specifically on “from the hand of the Emorite”? And then he says “with my sword and my bow.” The Targum renders “with my sword and my bow” as “with my prayer and my supplication.” The question is: Why does the Torah call prayer “my sword” and “my bow”? After all, a request is part of prayer. Yet here it is expressed in two ways: sword and bow. What are these two aspects of prayer, “my prayer and my supplication”? What is the difference between prayer and supplication? Why these two particular words? Why is the sword prayer and the bow supplication? Seemingly, they are the same thing, but here there are two distinct aspects. How does this relate to Yaakov and Yosef and to what happens here? [unclear] The Rebbe, the leader of our generation, strongly emphasized the avodah of davening, the service of Hashem, in our generation. [unclear] Chassidim devoted themselves to it, and the Rebbe, the leader of our generation, spoke about it. [unclear] That was their concern: to farbreng and talk about serving Hashem.

06:58 Speaker 1 That is the whole subject we are discussing. The verse expresses the depth of the avodah of davening and shows how it is done. This is inner work. [unclear] Specifically, the avodah of davening. In general, the Zohar says: “The time of prayer is a time of battle.” Davening is a time of battle—the battle of the G-dly soul with the animal soul. We take in the greatness of Hashem and sense His goodness and awe of Him. And where should davening lead? To the G-dly soul bringing the animal soul along with it. That is the battle: going so far as to effect a change in the animal soul. “With all your heart”—with both your inclinations: so that the animal soul, too, will have love of Hashem. We refine the character traits of the animal soul and turn the body and the animal soul into vessels for G-dliness. And there is another aspect of davening [unclear]. The avodah is not to flee the world, but to make a dwelling for Him in the affairs of the world. [unclear] This is Yaakov Avinu, the choicest of the Avos. What is davening? It brings together all three Avos. As is well known, the Avos instituted [unclear]. In davening, the forms of avodah of the Avos come together: love of Hashem comes from Avraham Avinu, awe of Hashem comes from Yitzchak Avinu, and compassion comes from Yaakov Avinu. These are the three attributes.

08:52 Speaker 1 And through this, the entire avodah comes to Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov Avinu says to his son Yosef: “And I have given you one shechem over your brothers.” What does “one shechem” mean? Shechem is related to the word for “shoulder”; it is the back, not the face. In serving Hashem, there are matters that belong to the level of the “back”—physical and material concerns. The kelipah and the sitra achra draw their sustenance from the level of the “back.” As it says in Tanya, the flow of vitality to kelipah comes from the level of the “back”—“other gods.” That is, they are given vitality, as it were, over the shoulder, not face to face. They receive vitality, but from the “back,” not from the inner dimension. Why is this called shechem? Because we are speaking of things that can be connected to kelipah and the sitra achra, to physical and material concerns. Yaakov says: We must make this shechem into “one”—bring oneness into the shechem. That is the overarching avodah. It does not mean we must break the world, ignore it, and flee from it. Quite the opposite: we must transform the world and reveal Hakadosh Boruch Hu within it. And this is connected specifically to Yosef. Why does Yosef have this power? Because, as is well known, Yosef’s avodah took place specifically in Egypt. [unclear] He has the power to take the affairs of the world.

10:54 Speaker 1 Yosef Hatzaddik was in Egypt, in the depravity of Egypt, and still he served Hashem there. He transformed even Egypt into a place of G-dliness. That is why Yaakov Avinu gives Yosef specifically the privilege and the power: “And I have given you.” Yaakov gives Yosef the power to take the shechem, the aspect of the “back,” and make it “one”—to bring the oneness of Hashem into it and connect it with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So too, the verse says of the future Geulah: “For then I will transform the nations to speak a clear language, so that they all call upon the name of Hashem and serve Him with one shechem.” The nations will be transformed so that all of them call upon the name of Hashem and serve Him “with one shechem.” That is the purpose of “one shechem”: to bring the oneness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu there too, until “Hashem will be one and His name one.”

16:15 Speaker 2 The matter of Shema and Shemoneh Esrei. He calls Shema “with my sword,” and Shemoneh Esrei “and with my bow.” We need to understand this. On a simple level, “my sword” is connected to Shema. The Gemara says, and this is brought in the Shulchan Aruch, that Shema has 248 letters. This is the idea of the spear: the Hebrew word for spear, romach, has the numerical value of 248—the 248 letters of Shema. And this is the idea of Shema, that it is the sword. The Gemara says: “Whoever recites Shema upon his bed is as though he holds a double-edged sword in his hand.” That refers to the bedtime Shema. And the same is true of Shema in general, the morning Shema: this is the idea of the spear. The spear’s primary aspect is the 248 letters of Shema, as the Zohar says. Through this, one overcomes and severs the vitality. This is a sword in the literal sense: it severs the enemy’s vitality, and it takes the vitality from the animal soul and brings it over to the side of holiness. This is the meaning of “with my sword.” “And with my bow” refers to the requests of Shemoneh Esrei. That is the time for requests, particularly requests for a person’s needs. The Hebrew word for “and with my bow” also suggests “my requests”; this is the idea of Shemoneh Esrei. Through these two things, “with my sword and with my bow”—Shema and Shemoneh Esrei—we take from the Amorite the vitality, the sparks of holiness that fell into this world. The question is: Why must Shema specifically be a sword and Shemoneh Esrei a bow? What is the reason? The difference between a sword and a bow is, for example, in physical terms: a sword is meant for fighting a visible enemy, an enemy standing face-to-face with you. You go out with a sword. You stand with a sword in your hand, and when the enemy stands face-to-face with you, the way to overcome him is with the sword.

18:20 Speaker 2 With the sword. But if the enemy is in a high place, visible from afar, standing on a roof, a tower or a wall, or if the enemy is several steps away, then it is difficult to use a sword. The way to reach the enemy is with a bow. With a bow, you can shoot from afar, and the arrow flies the distance to him. The difference between a sword and a bow is that with a sword, you reach the enemy—the adversary who is out in the open and close by. But with a bow, you fight an adversary who is far away. The Rebbe says: This is the difference between Shema and Shemoneh Esrei. In Shema, by contemplating “Hear, O Israel” and “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever,” one comes to love Hashem through contemplation: “You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” This is the avodah of Shema; this is the sword. It severs the vitality of the adversary, of the animal soul as it openly manifests itself. A person sees things, has distracting thoughts—all the things that are out in the open. We confront them with the avodah of Shema. But after a person has fought the overt evil, the enemy, the adversary out in the open, there are still subtler forms of evil. These are not forms of evil that a person plainly recognizes, that stand close to him and confront him directly. They are subtle forms of evil. They include various things that Chassidus calls “makif of kelipah.” There are various forms of evil that come in subtle ways, and at first glance you do not see that they are evil. Sometimes outside forms of wisdom seek to intrude; sometimes it is mundane matters; sometimes it is other things that evil introduces subtly. Matters of opinion, outlook, thought, intellect—subtle forms of evil. Subtle evil is much harder to recognize than blatant evil. When a person commits a transgression, he can recognize it,

20:18 Speaker 2 he has stumbled, and he admits it, leaves it behind and regrets it. Usually, he can do teshuvah. But he himself does not notice subtle evil, and even if he does, he thinks to himself: Well, it’s all right; it isn’t evil. Therefore, confronting subtle evil requires far greater avodah. And that is the bow of Shemoneh Esrei. Shemoneh Esrei is complete bittul, an even higher level than Shema. Through the complete bittul of standing “like a servant before his master” in Shemoneh Esrei, one can reach the adversary from afar, with a bow. The bittul of Shemoneh Esrei gives one the strength to reach even subtle forms of evil. That is why we say Selichos during Shemoneh Esrei and Tachanun after Shemoneh Esrei. For through Shemoneh Esrei, we reach a point where we recognize: Here, too, there is a flaw; here, too, there is something to be concerned about in serving Hashem with bittul. Then we can discern where the evil lies and how it enters a person’s world and every part of his life. We can correct it, remove it from him, refine it and do teshuvah. That is what the verse says. “And I have given you”—Yosef Hatzaddik, the avodah of the Exodus from Egypt, received this strength and gave it to all the tribes: “more than your brothers,” “one shechem.” To take the shechem from the aspect of the hindmost, to take from the animal soul, from the body, from the matters of this world—the hindmost aspect—and make it “one,” to reveal the One within the world. This comes through the avodah of prayer: through the words of prayer and through contemplation during prayer, “which I took from the hand of the Amorite” is fulfilled. We wrest from the Amorite both the overt evil and the hidden evil, “with my sword and with my bow,” through the avodah of Shema and Shemoneh Esrei. And about this

22:04 Speaker 2 the verse speaks, giving us the path in serving Hashem: through the avodah of prayer, through learning and knowing how to wage the battle with the animal soul and the body, to transform the “one shechem,” to reveal Hashem’s oneness in my soul, in my body and in all the vessels of the world, and to prepare the world for the revelation of Moshiach, when there will be the true revelation of the One. “And I have given you,” the verse says. When Moshiach comes, as the Rambam brings in Hilchos Melachim, then it will be, “For then I will transform the peoples to a pure language, so that they may all call upon the name of Hashem.” Everyone will connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “one shechem”; the shechem will become one. And then it will be, “Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be One and His name One,” in the true and complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach, amen.