I'm always upset during Sefer Bereshit that it's not longer. It's only a few parashiyot from Bereshit to Parashat Vayechi, and they're so beautiful and so rich. We learn so much from our patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and you almost want to take that and be able to study it longer. I wish we divided the parashah into two or three so we'd be able to spend more time studying the materials. They're really beautiful parashiyot. I'm not saying Shemot and the rest aren't beautiful, but it's different. I think Bereshit is the base, the patriarchy that is being established for Klal Yisrael. These are really beautiful parashiyot, and we learn so many messages from the conduct of our holy forefathers and the Shevatim (tribes). They're really, really interesting parashiyot.
So actually, this week, instead of talking about the parashah, I want to talk about all of this, and I'm going to share with you a Chassidic maaseh (story) that is very different. It's very powerful. Like many Chassidic stories, I don't know exactly if they happened or how they happened, but the bottom line, the punchline, is very important. This is a story of somebody who went to the Baal Shem Tov. The man says, “I would do anything to see Eliyahu HaNavi.” The Baal Shem Tov asks him, “You would do anything?” The man says, “Yes.” So the Baal Shem Tov tells him, “Take your car, say whatever, fill it up with good food, good food, good food. And go to this address. Go to this person, and you're going to see Eliyahu HaNavi over there.”
He takes his car. He goes for Rosh Hashanah. He doesn't need to go for Rosh Hashanah. He goes for Rosh Hashanah. He brings the food and knocks on the person's door. The person is a poor, poor individual, and he says, “The Rebbe (Hasidic rabbi) sent me here.” The person says, “For what? To spend Rosh Hashanah?” The person says, “Oh, sir, I would love to receive you, but I'm very poor. I don't have anything. I'm a destitute individual. I don't even have food for myself.” The man says, “Forget about it.” The person says, “Oh, you don't have food?” The man says, “No problem. I have a car full of food.” He takes out his food and puts it down, and they spend a beautiful Rosh Hashanah together.
At the conclusion of Rosh Hashanah, the man who made the journey says, “I don't know what Eliyahu HaNavi was talking about. I did not meet Eliyahu HaNavi.” He goes back to his Rebbe, to the Baal Shem Tov. He's very frustrated. He says, “Rabbi, you sent me all the way there. I abandoned my family for a couple days to be able to spend Rosh Hashanah with this family. They had no food, nothing. But that's fine. I knew. So you sent me with food. I didn't see Eliyahu HaNavi. All this was to see Eliyahu HaNavi, not just to spend time with somebody I don't know.” The Baal Shem Tov says, “You didn't see Eliyahu HaNavi? I apologize. Go back for Yom Kippur.”
So he says, “OK.” He takes food. He fills up his car with food, and again, the Rebbe says, we go. He goes over there for Yom Kippur. He's about to knock on the door, and he hears a kid crying. It's the kid of that family. He's crying, saying, “Ma. Ma. Ma. I'm so hungry. There's nothing to eat in this house. I don't know what.” And the mother says, “I'm sorry, but I don't have. I'm poor. I don't have.” Then the mother says, “But don't worry. Don't worry. Hashem sent us Eliyahu HaNavi for Rosh Hashanah. Hashem will send us Eliyahu HaNavi for Yom Kippur.” And of course, the man gives them everything, comes back to the Rebbe, and understands. The Rebbe tells him, “You know, I'm going to tell you something. If you can't see Eliyahu HaNavi, be Eliyahu HaNavi. Be Eliyahu HaNavi. And if you are Eliyahu HaNavi, that's Eliyahu HaNavi.”
I found this story fascinating. If you can't see it, be it. You want to live Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov all year long? Those stories that you hear, those Divrei Torah (words of Torah) that you read, those things that you hear in shul (synagogue) from the rabbis, take them to heart and do them. Maybe not everything. But if there's one time something you really like, take it, internalize it, and do something about it. And when you do this, not only do you give life to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, but you become a little bit Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.
You want to meet them? There's a question they ask: Who would you want to spend a dinner with? If you could pick one person in the entire universe who existed in history or is still alive, who would that be? Of course, it's a very interesting question, and each one should have their own answers. But I'm sure many would say, “I would love to meet Moshe Rabbeinu, or to meet Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.” It's incredible what we do. We do meet them, and we could even be them. And that's how you connect. If you cannot meet him, then be him. Such a powerful message for this whole sefer, which is so, so rich, to make it eternal and to make it alive.