Jacob called for his sons
and said, "Gather (hei’asfu) and I will tell (va’agida) you
what will happen to you at the end of days.”
Genesis 49:1
Rashi
quotes Midrash Aggada which states that Jacob wanted to reveal the end
of days, that is, the era of Messiah [Naḥmanides], to his sons, but the Shechina
departed from him.
Tzror
haMor understands the words “hei’asfu” and “va’agida” (which
are consecutive in the Hebrew) as referring to imparting wisdom. In preparation
for presenting Torah at Sinai, God commanded Moses to “say to the house of
Jacob and tell (va’agida, the same root word as “va’agida”) the
sons of Israel,” [Exodus 19:3] and in the review of Torah, the Master of Prophets
relates that God “ told you (vayaged) His covenant which He commanded
you.” [Deuteronomy 4:13] The root word “asaf” as well is connected to
wisdom, as we read “The sayings of the wise are like goads, and those from
masters of collections (asufot) are like firmly embedded nails,”
[Ecclesiastes 12:11] and “Assemble (isfa) for Me seventy men of the
elders of Israel.” [Numbers 12:11]
Indeed,
gathering Israel together “as a single person” is the factor which prepared the
Children of Israel to hear God’s words at Mount Sinai, as the Sages elucidate
the verse “And Israel camped (singular) there opposite the mountain” [Exodus
19:2] – “as one person, with one heart.”[Rashi, quoting Midrash Lekaḥ Tov]
Based
upon these introductory comments, Tzror haMor explains the meaning of
Jacob’s call to his sons to “gather” to be: “unite as a single band, without
hatred or envy,” which is the sole means for the sons of Jacob and for us, the
Children of Israel their descendants, to merit experiencing the era of Messiah.
Tzror
haMor’s words are a precursor to Rabbi Kook’s famous phrase “Given that we
were destroyed and the entire world with us, as the result of unfounded hatred,
we shall be rebuilt and the entire world rebuilt with us by virtue of unbounded
love.”
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