Vayeshev- Inner world
For this year of Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one area of character growth, to think about in the week ahead and the benefits that a person would have from becoming better in that area.
Background
At the beginning of this week's Parsha, the Torah tells us that Yakov settled in the land of his fathers, Eretz Canaan (Israel). Immediately after that, the Torah tells us of the tragic story of Yosef being sold into slavery by his brothers.
Rashi quotes a Midrash which says- Yakov wanted to live in tranquility, therefore the tragedy of Yosef came about. Hashem said 'is it not enough to tzaddikim (righteous people) the lot they will have in the world to come; they want tranquility in this world as well!?'
Question
Many people grapple with the obvious question- what was so bad about what Yakov wanted? Obviously, Yakov wanted to live in tranquility in order to learn Torah properly and in order to be able to serve Hashem even better, with a more settled spirit. What was the 'claim' against Yakov?
Answer
Of course Yakov wanted to have tranquility in order to be able to serve Hashem properly, but apparently, on some very very subtle and almost indiscernible level, Yakov wanted to have tranquility itself. Yakov had had a very difficult and tumultuous 36 years (!) of being on the run from Eisav, having to grapple with the wicked Lavan and then having to again encounter Eisav, his daughter getting kidnapped, his beloved wife Rachel dying, etc. it had been a very long and tiring journey for Yakov.
For a man of Yakov's stature, for the person whose likeness is engraved on Hashem's heavenly throne, even a slight, subtle and infinitesimal amount of want for rest and tranquility- for rest and tranquility itself- this was a stain which needed to be cured and fixed.
Lesson
It does however, still need to be explained- what is wrong with wanting tranquility for tranquility itself? It's not like Yakov was doing anything wrong or different because of it. So what is wrong?
The Ramchal writes in the Mesillas Yesharim that the most profound obstacle that one has to accomplishing things, to being a person of alacrity, a person of zrezus- is a person's want for bodily rest. When a person has a profound and deep-seated want and longing for rest, relaxation, just kicking it back and doing nothing- the person will find it more difficult to accomplish.
Just wanting rest and tranquility! That will, by itself pose a challenge to a person acting with the proper alacrity and passion in doing what one should be doing. At an extreme, this want for bodily rest can make a person entirely unproductive and quite lazy.
The slight, subtle and indiscernible want for tranquility that Yakov felt was of course not going to actually make any change in his behavior, but it was a subtle movement in the wrong direction. And a person is not only supposed to be doing what needs to be done, but rather a person must be engaged in bringing themselves constantly closer and closer to that which is good and proper and move further and further away from that which is bad and wrong.
As the Ramchal says in the 1st chapter of Mesillas Yesharim 'and according to the degree that one conquers their evil inclination and desires, and distances one's self from the things which will cause one to be distanced from Hashem, and work to cling to Hashem- it is to that degree that a person will attain perfection.'
Benefits of this...
How important it is for us to think long and hard about what do we want, deep deep down. Do we want to 'have it easy' and 'chill'? If so, doing and accomplishing will be all the more difficult. If on the other hand, one were to have a deep seated and profound want to accomplish and do, this will make action and doing all the more easy.
On a more global level, when a person is aware of their inner drives and wants, the person will then be able to steer themselves in the right direction. When a person realizes that their inner drives and wants have a much more powerful impact on their behavior and choices, and the ease or difficulty with how they go through life, they will be motivated to take hold of those inner drives and shape them in a way where the inner workings of the person is helping them to succeed and not being an impediment to success.
In this example we see how a deep seated want, merely a want, for rest and relaxation- for its own sake- can be a great obstacle to doing and accomplishing. How many other fundamental ideas do we have that could be getting in the way of our being as successful as possible? How can we instill in ourselves good fundamental ideas which can aid us in being as successful as possible? Being that these internal ideas and drives have such a powerful sway over our behavior, it is very worth our while to give them some thought.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Shabbos!
