Monday, July 29, 2024

look twice

  וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה׳ אֶל⁠־מֹשֶׁ֔ה עֲלֵ֛ה אֶל⁠־הַ֥ר הָעֲבָרִ֖ים הַזֶּ֑ה וּרְאֵה֙ אֶת⁠־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תִּי לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל

 וְרָאִ֣יתָה אֹתָ֔הּ וְנֶאֱסַפְתָּ֥ אֶל⁠־עַמֶּ֖יךָ גַּם⁠־אָ֑תָּה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר נֶאֱסַ֖ף אַהֲרֹ֥ן אָחִֽיךָ

Some of the meforshim (Ohr haChaim, Netziv, Malbim, to name a few) ask why the Torah repeats וְרָאִ֣יתָה אֹתָ֔הּ (27:13) when in the previous pasuk it already said וּרְאֵה֙ אֶת־הָאָ֔רֶץ.  R' Chaim Elazari answers with a Rashi from earlier in the parsha.  In the count of families (ch 26) every family has a letter ה before its name and a letter י afterwards, e.g.  מִשְׁפַּ֣חַת הַחֲנֹכִ֔י,  מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת הַפַּלֻּאִֽי.  Rashi explains: 

לפי שהיו האומות מונין אותן:⁠ מה אילו מתייחסין על שבטיהם, סבורים הם שלא שלטו המצריים באמותיהם, אם בגופן היו מושלין קל וחומר בנשותיהם, לפיכך הטיל הקב״ה שמו עליהם, ה״י מצד זה ויו״ד מצד זה, לומר: מעיד אני עליהם שהם בני אבותיהם.

The Torah adds the extra letters to connect the shem Hashem to the families. Here too, says R' Chaim Elazari,  the word could just as well be written וְרָאִ֣יתָ, but the Torah adds a ה at the end and repeats the command in this way after already saying  וּרְאֵה֙ in order to connect the shem Hashem to seeing Eretz Yisrael.  When we look at Eretz Yisrael we have to not just see mountains and valleys and cities, but we have to see the shem Hashem manifest there, we have to see the special hashgacha pratis that is there.   The way to look at Eretz Yisrael is different than the way we look at the rest of the world. 

To add one morsel to his idea, I think it is not  by chance that when it comes to the shevatim, the shem Hashem is represented by the letter ה before its name and a letter י afterwards, but when it comes to Eretz Yisrael, there is the ה afterwards, but there is a ו beforehand (which R' Chaim Elazari does not even mention) instead of the י.  

The Shem Havaya is yud-key-vuv-key.  The first two letters represent the higher sefirot, the bottom two letters the lower sefirot.  The Torah adds the first two letters of the shem Havaya to the names of the families in order to emphasize that even though we lived under the thumb of Egyptian subjugation, we did not intermingle with them. We remained on a higher, transcendent plane, elevated from their society.  When it comes to Eretz Yisrael, the Torah adds the last two letters of the shem Havaya to emphasize that the Shechina is not transcendent and outside this world, but is imminent, and rests in Eretz Yisrael. 

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