We are now in our last pasuk of bitachon that starts with a Vav-
Devarim 33,8
וַיִּשְׁכֹּן֩ יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל בֶּ֤טַח בָּדָד֙ עֵ֣ין יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב
The Jewish people will dwell alone just like Yaakov
When person is safe and secure, he doesn't need to have other people around
אֶל־אֶ֖רֶץ דָּגָ֣ן וְתִיר֑וֹשׁ אַף־שָׁמָ֖יו יַ֥עַרְפוּ טָֽל׃
to a land of grain and wine, and the dew will come from heaven.
This pasuk is describing beautiful tranquil life. How do you get there and what is the secret called BeTach Badad En Yaakov/The bitachon solitude of Yaakov Avinu?
I'd like to share a very nice thought from the Bet Aharon, the original Stoliner Rebbe of Karlin, on Parashat Re’eh from his sefer Bet Aharon.
He says that on one hand it says, ‘Eineh Hashem el Sadikim/The eyes of Hashem are to the righteous.’ But then it says, ‘En Hashem al Yereav/The Eye of Hashem is on those that fear Him.’ Regarding Yaakov it says One eye, and also, Bet Porat Yosef, Ben Porat Aleh Eyin
Why one eye here, two eyes there? He answers that this world has good and bad, represented by the two eyes. You can look at it two ways. But really, everything comes from Above- from the good, from the right side, which represents the good.
Each of the Avot had a Middah. Avraham Avinu’s is Hessed/kindness, where everything looks good. Then we have the Middat HaDin of justice, strict justice, which is Yitzhak Avinu’s Middah, and seems to look only bad.
And then we have Yaakov Avinu who's in the middle. He puts it all together and sees everything in the proper, harmonious way. We can't only have good because only good really isn't good. We need the bad, or we can say, the justice to temper the good.
Yaakov Avinu works everything out. That's what the eye of Yaakov means. It’s really like the Eyin Tova, the good way of looking at things. That's what Eineh Hashem Al Sadikim means. God gave us two eyes. He gave us the ability to look at things in two ways. But our goal is to turn everything around and see that everything is really coming from the right side. That's the bitachon outlook- to able to see and understand everything is ultimately for the good. That's what Yaakov Avinu did. That was his greatness.
We say, “The God of Yaakov should save us.” Because Yaakov Avinu was the one that went through the most trouble, and he was the one that saw everything for the good. He was the one that confessed at the end of his life, “I made one mistake when I said, ‘Why did you do bad to me? Why did you tell Yosef about another brother to bring down to Mitzrayim? Why'd you do bad for me?’”
The Midrash says that was the only thing Yaakov Avinu ever said that was out of place, in his life.
God says, “I'm preparing your son to be the leader in Mitzrayim, and you're saying, ‘Why did I do bad to you? Yaakov Avinu was held accountable on that level because he was able to see everything for the good.
He understood that everything is good. He understood that when he wants one wife and it turns to four wives, it’s good. It brings him his 12 tribes. Yaakov Avinu is the power to be able to see everything the right way.
It's interesting that what is said when you bring the Bikurim is the reading that we say on Pesach. We go back to Yaakov Avinu and say “Arami Oved Ami,” Lavan tried to destroy Yaakov, but Yaakov Avinu came out stronger- Four wives…12 children... wealth. We say that at the Bikurim reading because as the man is standing there with his basket, not everyone's so successful. Not everyone had a good year. And yet the Torah commands us, You have to be happy with all the good. That's why we bring in Yaakov Avinu- because he's the one that gave us the ability to look back and see everything was good.
Rav Matityahu Salomon says that at the end of Yaakov Avinu’s life, he says, “Elohim HaRoeh Oti/ God (of judgement) was my Shepherd. And the word רעהRo’eh is written without a Vav, like רעה/evil, to indicate, “God, that I thought was being just and evil with me, I see was only being my Shepherd at all times.” We say Shema Yisrael, not Shema Avraham or Shema Yitzhak, because that ability to see there's only one eye, there's one good, that’s the Ein Yaakov, the one eye of Yaakov, that sees everything for the good, that flips everything around.
The Zohar says something very powerful. There are two words that are ultimate opposites but have the same letters. Nega/נגע which is leprosy, the worst possible disease, and Oneg ענג which is the greatest possible delight. They have the same letters. The difference is that נגע Nega has the עEyin at the end and ענג has theע Eyin at the beginning.
And when the Torah is describing the, Tzara’at/leporosy, it says (Vayikra 13, 55)
וְ֠הִנֵּ֠ה לֹֽא־הָפַ֨ךְ הַנֶּ֤גַע אֶת־עֵינוֹ֙ /The disease did not change the way it looks,” but the Chiddushei Harim, quoted in his sefer Imre Shamai, reads it as The נגע nega didn't move its עEyin. If it would've taken the ע Eyin from the end of נגע Nega and put it the beginning, it would've spelled ענג Oneg . So you have to flip it and put the Eyin in the right place.
That's what we're saying here. You could have Oneg and Nega total opposites, but if you have the right Eyin/eye, the right way to look at it, you could took take Nega/ Leprosy, the worst disease and turn it into the greatest of pleasures. If you just look at it right.
Nachum Ish Gamzu used to say Gam Zu LeTovah/This too is for the best, because he looked at it right. He turned it around. That's the En Yaakov/ the Eye of Yaakov. It’s the Eye of Bitachon. Yaakov symbolizes bitachon.
Have a wonderful.