What Brings the Divine Presence Close?

Our parsha relates how, upon being informed that his son Yosef was still alive, Yaakov’s spirit was revived.[1] Rashi explains this to mean that Ruach Hakodesh, the Divine spirit, which had been absent from him all these years, was now returned to him. On a straightforward, the understanding of this development is that Ruach Hakodesh does not rest with someone unless they are in a state of joy. This was a state that had been denied Yaakov as long as he thought that Yosef was dead, but which he reclaimed upon hearing that he was in fact alive.

However, there is another way to understand this matter.

A fundamental idea in Judaism is that the Jewish People are vulnerable when they are fragmented and separate from each other, but when we join together, we are strong and protected. What is behind this idea? Why should the question of whether or not we are unified make such a difference to our strength or vulnerability as a nation?

The Body Israel

The source of the success and well-being of the Jewish People is their special connection with Hashem. This basic idea is so fundamental it literally runs through the entire Torah, Nevi’im, and Kesuvim. When Hashem is with us, we are unstoppable; when He is distant from us, we are vulnerable. Everything depends on our connection with Him. This connection is only meaningfully attained when the Jewish People are united as one, and this is why unity is such a crucial prerequisite for our national success.

Why is Jewish unity a prerequisite for the proximity of the Divine Presence? While it is obviously “better” for Jews to be united, why should our connection with Hashem be so dependent upon this?

Rav Yitzchak Chaver explains: The relationship between the Jewish People and Hashem is analogous to the relationship between the body and the soul. In the same way that the soul is the life-force of the body, so too, Hashem is the Life-Force of the Jewish People. However, there is another aspect to this analogy. In the same way that a soul only resides in a body that is intact, not one that is divided into pieces, so too, Hashem does not reside within His people when they are fragmented, only when they are one![2]

This gives us an entirely new level of understanding as to why unity is so vital for our national well-being, for if we are fragmented, we do not allow our “Soul,” i.e., Hashem, to reside within us, and a body without a soul cannot be assured of much success.

Rabbi Chaver proceeds to explain that this idea expresses itself very early on in our history, and in fact, is what lay behind the question whether Ruach Hakodesh was denied to Yaakov, or granted to him. At that point in our history, Yaakov and his family essentially comprised the people of Israel. It was the tensions that existed between the brothers and that led to the sale of Yosef that did not allow Yaakov to experience Ruach HaKodesh, for the people of Israel were fragmented! In this state, the “Soul” of Israel, i.e., Hashem, was distant, and Ruach HaKodesh was impossible. This situation persisted up until the time that Yaakov heard not only that Yosef was alive but that he and the brothers were reconciled. Only once the House of Israel was restored to a state of unity could Yaakov’s Ruach HaKodesh return to him!

One for One

The implications of Rav Chaver’s idea of our relationship with Hashem as paralleling that of a body and a soul will lead us to a new and deeper appreciation of the idea of Jewish unity. At the purest level, the Jewish People are more than community and more even than family — they are one unified entity. For if Hashem is the Soul and we are the body, then just as He is One, so are we.

This idea is expressed in the words that we say in the Amidah for Minchah on Shabbos:

אתה אחד ושמך אחד ומי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ

You are One and Your Name is One, and who is like Your people, Israel, one nation in the world.

With these words, we are stating that not only are we “one” in the sense that there is only one Jewish People, which there is, or that we are a unique nation, which we are. Rather, we are saying that, to the extent that is possible, we are one in the way that is similar to the Oneness of Hashem. At this lofty level, there is no longer room to look at other Jews as “getting in the way of who I am,” for ultimately they are part of who I am! All Jews together are part of a greater “I.”

We are always in need of the Divine presence, but never more so than when we are threatened by our enemies. At the same time, it tends to be true that we band together at such times, putting aside any differences that might otherwise divide us, and strengthening the bonds that unite us. Truly, a worthy goal would be to try and furnish that unity by ourselves, without need for a unifying agent from the outside; to aspire to be as one based on our love for each other, not on our fear of our enemies. The realization of this lofty aspiration would serve to render our foes redundant in any role, with our unity existing independent of them – and long outlasting them.

[1] Bereishis 45:27.

[2] Rabbi Yitzchak Chaver, Derashah for Parashas Shekalim.