Priority

We see that the name of Yaakov Avinu, even though the angel told him, “Your name will not Ya’aqob anymore, but Yisrael,” in fact, is interchangeable. The Torah continues to refer to Yaakov as both Yaakov and Yisrael.

The Parashah begins with the words, “and Yaakov (Jacob) lived in the land of Egypt (Bereshith 47:28),” but the very next verse says, “And the time drew near for Yisrael (Israel) to die (ibid 47:29).” And there are many other examples.

Rabbenu Bahya writes that the fact that the angel said לֹ֤א יַֽעֲקֹב֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל, does not prevent us from using the name Yaakov, but it means that the primary name is Yisrael and the name Yaakov is secondary.

In fact, the name Yaakov is associated with the physical aspects of this world, while Yisrael is connected to the spiritual attributes of the soul. Even though it is not possible to have no connection whatsoever with the physical aspects of the body, because one cannot live without them, nevertheless, the spiritual aspect should be of primary importance, with the physical being only secondary.

That is why our Rabbis of blessed memory said that the name Yaakov would not be removed entirely, but that the name Yisrael would be of primary importance as we have just mentioned.

Yaakov practiced the values that we have just spoken about: The main primary aspect was the spiritual and the physical was inferior to the spiritual.

We tend to do the opposite when it comes to our priorities. Instead of making the spiritual aspect of our lives our primary priority, we relegate it to second place, promoting the physical side of our lives and its pleasures, to first place.

It is like a parable in Birkath Hayyim (Mas’ei) about a man who awoke in the middle of the night to find that his room was on fire. This would be a frightening experience for anybody. The fire was spreading very fast and, in no time, would reach the bed where he was sleeping and that of his wife’s, who was ill and unable to walk.

In addition, he had a chest next to his bed that contained all the precious belongings of his and his wife’s. His goal was to save himself and his wife, as well as the precious belongings. So he took a sheet from his bed and put all the precious items out of the box in it and quickly tied up the sheet, in order to throw them out of the window into his neighbor’s yard where they would be safe from the flames. He then took his wife and wrapped her in her sheet, in order to carry her and take her outside.

In his panic and haste he got confused and took the sheet containing his wife and quickly threw it out of the window into his neighbor’s yard, believing it to be the sheet that contained his personal belongings. He then took the actual sheet with his belongings, believing it to be his wife, and prepared to run out of the house with it.

The neighbor, who witnessed the events shouted at him, what are you carrying? He replied, “My wife!” The neighbor responded, “You fool! You threw your wife into the yard and you are carrying all your belongings.”

The man got such a fright that he immediately dropped his belongings and jumped out of the window to see if his wife was alright. Unfortunately, she did not survive the fall and the belongings that he left in the room burned to a cinder.

By confusing ourselves in this world and not giving ourselves the time to think, we make the same mistake as the man in this story. Instead of giving priority to that which is important - which is the spiritual side of our existence - we get confused and throw it out of the window. That which is of lesser importance - the physical aspect of our lives - we try to take greater care of, but like the parable, in the end we have nothing to show when we go to the world to come.

In Od Yoseph Hai, the holy Ben Ish Hai speaks about the blessing that Yaakov gave to Efraim and Menashe. It was, “הַמַּלְאָךְ֩ הַגֹּאֵ֨ל אֹתִ֜י מִכָּל־רָ֗ע יְבָרֵךְ֘ אֶת־הַנְּעָרִים֒ וְיִקָּרֵ֤א בָהֶם֙ שְׁמִ֔י וְשֵׁ֥ם אֲבֹתַ֖י אַבְרָהָ֣ם וְיִצְחָ֑ק וְיִדְגּ֥וּ לָרֹ֖ב בְּקֶ֥רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ:”, “May the angel that redeems me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be called in them, and the name of my forefathers, Abraham and Isaac, and may they multiply as do the fish, in the land” (Bereshith 48:16). It is surprising that he places his name first, before that of his grandfather and father.

In the Gemara of Nedarim it mentions that if the sons of talmidei hakhamim do not become talmidei hakhamim themselves, it is because the father did not bless his son, first and foremost, that he should become a talmid hakham. An explanation to this is that when a person comes to bless his son, he should first bless him that he will be a hakham in the Torah, righteous and G-d fearing, and only after that bless him that he should have wealth and physical success and so on. By doing so he shows that the Torah is of primary importance.

In the ’Amidah, the first blessings in the section of the requests are the blessings of Atta Honen, Hashibenu and Selah Lanu - all blessings connected to the service of G-d. Only after that do we speak about the physical, such as Refaenu (heal us) and so on.

In this blessing that Yaakov gives them, he first wanted to bless them to be great in Torah, then to bless them in Mitzvoth and finally, to bless them that would always serve G-d with joy and happiness. However, he only wished to hint at it and not spell it out, because of the Meqatreghim (forces that would try to prevent it from occurring).

These three categories of Torah, Mitzvoth and simha (happiness) are hinted at through the mentioning of the three names of Yaakov, Abraham and Yitzchak. So how do the names hint at the three categories? The Torah is hinted at by his name Yisrael, which can be broken into two words: Li Rosh. Rosh is one of the names used when referring to the Torah, as is hinted at when it says, ה’ קָ֭נָנִי רֵאשִׁ֣ית דַּרְכּ֑וֹ G-d created me at the beginning of His way (Mishlei 8:22).

That is the explanation for Rosh. The word Li has a numerical value of 40. The Torah, as we know, was given in 40 days and the Gematria for 40 days and Li is the same (40).

The name of Abraham Avinu hints at the Mitzvoth. Abraham in Gematria is 248, which corresponds the 248 Mitzvoth asei (positive commandments). The translation of the name Yitzchak (Isaac) is happiness, which hints at the third blessing that they will always serve G-d in happiness.

The end of his blessing is וְיִדְגּ֥וּ לָרֹ֖ב בְּקֶ֥רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ, that they will multiply like fish and that the Ayin Harah (evil eye), will not harm them.

From this we can understand why Yaakov placed his name first.

Rabbi Ya’aqob Menashe is a renowned author and lecturer, whose Shiurim continue to inspire thousands around the world. Many can be seen at www.NonstopTorah.com. His daily Torah Minutes are eagerly anticipated by thousands every morning. They can be seen at www.ATorahMinute.com. Rabbi Menashe is the spiritual leader of Midrash BEN ISH HAI. More information is available at the Midrash website,
www. Midrash.org.