This week we’ve been picking up on some lost opportunities from Parashat Vayehi.
When Yaakov Avinu blesses the tribe of Dan, he says,
לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה' /For Your salvation do I long, Hashem (Bereshit 49:18).
This is one of the important principles of our religion, the concept Tikva/hope, even in the most dire situations. And this goes back, as we said, to Yaakov Avinu and the tribe of Dan. Dan had one son whose name was Chushim, who was deaf, and we'll say handicapped. This was the beracha for him.
Looking at him, he seems like a pretty sad situation, he has one son, and this one son is handicapped. But let's fast forward through history, suggests the Chafetz Chaim, to take a look at the tribe of Dan, who had one child, compared to Binyamin, who had 10, in the desert, 200 years later, and see the number of descendants.
The total for the tribe of Binyamin was 45,600 (Bamidbar 26:41). His tribe increased from 10 children to 45,600. That's a ratio of 1: 4,560. But Dan, who had one son, had 64,400 descendants. That’s a ratio of 1: 64,400! That’s the power of hope. As the Midrash describes,Dan walked in with a shadow of a child, and came out with a tremendous number of descendants.
Dan’s descendant, Shimshon HaGibbor, also employed this power of hope. After being blinded by the Pelishtim (and thus also handicapped), he was positioned between two pillars of a huge building filled with revelers. With his last bit of hope, he called out to G-d and entreated, “Remember me and strengthen me just this one time!” (Shoftim 16:28). He leaned on the two central pillars of the building, brought it down and destroyed all the Pelishtim in the building, killing more people at that time than he had killed in his lifetime.
Shimshon, at the end of his life, was similar to Chushim. The word Chushim means senses, which is a euphemism to indicate that he was missing one of his senses. And at the end of his life, Shimshon was also missing one of his senses- he was blind. Yet in his state of lacking, he was able to accomplish more than when he was healthy.
If we take the name Chushim חשים and scramble it, it spellsמשיח Mashiach, because Mashiach is going to come from that hope, from that handicapped situation, which is really our generation. We are a generation of the handicapped Olympics. We don’t have the same strength as the past generations.
Hope is a crucial component of our Avodat Hashem. After 120 years (Shabbat 31a), every Jew will be asked, צפיתָ לִישׁוּעָה — Did you look forward to G-d's salvation?
This begs a question. The Gemara above lists other questions that we will be asked, questions based on Mitzvot in the Torah.
Did you deal honestly in business? We have many laws regarding honesty and integrity.
Did you engage in bringing forth offspring? The first mitzvah in the Torah is to be fruitful and multiply. Did you set times for learning? We have a mitzvah to involve ourselves in Torah study day and night (Yehoshua 1:8)
But where did G-d command us to look forward to salvation?
The Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Smak, Mitzvah 1), written by a Rishon, explains that this commandment was given in the first of the Aseret HaDibrot (Shemot 20:2), אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹקיךָ — I am Hashem your G-d…”
Following that, He didn’t say, “… Who created you,” but rather: “…Who took you out of Egypt.” This means, says the Smak, that Hashem is telling us, “Just like you believed in Me when I took you out of Mitzrayim, so too I want you to believe in Me that can do the same in the future.”
The ultimate Geulah of Klal Yisrael is going to come about through that. But the Arizal says, and it’s quoted in the Pele Yoetz (on the topic of Tsipui), and the Bet Halevi (on Bitachon), that looking forward to Hashem’s salvation doesn’t just mean in a general sense of waiting for Mashiach, but also on a personal level. “Did you wait for salvation and not despair that it will come to pass? Did you strengthen yourself in your reliance, in every detail in your life?”
This is the important concept of kivoi/hope, and the place to think about it is in Et Semach David, where it says, /לישועתך קוינו וצפינו כל היום
I look forward and I hope to Your salvation all day, every day.” And when you say that, you're supposed to think of something that you are waiting for, and imagine that it happened. Close your eyes and think there you are dancing at your daughter's wedding. There you are moving into your new house. There you are holding a new baby.
All those things that we're looking forward to, look forward with a tremendous yearning, that Hashem can and will come through for you. And that, says the Pele Yoetz, from the Arizal, is a big segula for having what you want come about. That's the power of hope of kivui. That's what Dan infused into Chushim.
And as we know, Chushim was the hero that killed Esav. He's the one that saved Yaakov Avinu’s body from disgrace when Esav was interfering.
Chushim, who wasn't able to hear, came on the scene and did what he had to do. That is the power of the handicapped Jew, the power of the person that has nothing else but hope.
Have a wonderful day.
לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּיתִי ה'
