A thought on Parshas Devarim
"...pnu lachem tzafona...b'gvul acheichem...""...turn to the north...past the boundary of your brother..." (2:3-4)
In our march through the desert we were forewarned of our impending encounter with our "brother" Esav. We needed to turn north, mindful of his territorial border.
Rabbeinu Bachya expounds upon the words of a midrash which notes the word "tzafon" (north) and the word "gvul" (boundary). Tzafon also means "something hidden" as we know from the Pesach seder where the hidden matza is referred to as Tzafun. What is the hidden meaning of this allusion to "the hidden"? The midrash offers that the Torah hints here to our hidden treasure, the Beis HaMikdash where HaShem's Sacred Presence was sensed, although hidden from three dimensional reality. HaShem says to us here "prepare for My Hidden Presence to be removed when your brother Esav destroys My hidden treasure" as it says in Yechezkel 7:22 "...v'chillilu es tzefuni..."- they will defile the place were I am hidden. This is the message which Rabbeinu Bachya sees in our verse's words "pnu tzafona" - they will cast out the Hidden.
As for Esav's boundary, noted in our second verse, this hints at the words of Ovadia 1:7 "...ad ha'gvul shilchucha..." where the navi foretells the days to come when the nations of the world will first seem to support the Kingdom of Esav, accompanying it to "the boundary", only to desert him as the verse continues "...hishiucha yachlu lecha..." - then they will forsake you.
Rabbeinu Bachya explains that Esav will vanquish our Temple and the Divine Presence will be hidden further. However, there will come a time when the world will no longer support Esav. Even his might has a limit, a boundary. When that boundary has been reached, the world will no longer honor Esav. Yesh gvul.
I want to add that, in my mind, there is another hidden reference here. One verse earlier, Ovadia says, "...eich nechpsu Esav, nivu matzfunav..." - how has Esav been plundered, his hidden places revealed. Note that the word tzafon appears here also. What is the connection?The Roman conquest and all that we regard as Malchus Edom today not only vanquished our hidden place, but they "replaced it" with a shrine of their own, the center of their religion which has vied for the title "Chosen", claims a "new covenant" and in whose vaults are rumored to lie many of our own hidden treasures looted from the Mikdash.
Until quite recently in world history, this religion has been ascendant in the "civilized" world and did outreach throughout the globe. In our own day, its purported splendor has begun to wither, its treasured representatives to tarnish, its professed standards to decay and now its numbers pale as the shadow of Yishmael looms larger. Esav may have reached its limits. Much of the world has seen it nears its boundaries, and as Ovadia foretells, many are deserting Esav at its borders. Yesh gvul.
And having defiled our hidden places and upstaged them with its own, all that was hidden by Esav, as Ovadia promises, is now being revealed.
We approach Tisha B'Av with heavy heart yet we await the time which Ovadia heralds in his final words, as we declare each day in Aleinu: "v'alu moshi'im b'har Tzion lishpot es har Esav v'haisa l'HaShem ha'mlucha."
I travel shortly to Jerusalem iy"H for the bris mila of my son Akiva's son...on Tisha B'Av.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
In our march through the desert we were forewarned of our impending encounter with our "brother" Esav. We needed to turn north, mindful of his territorial border.
Rabbeinu Bachya expounds upon the words of a midrash which notes the word "tzafon" (north) and the word "gvul" (boundary). Tzafon also means "something hidden" as we know from the Pesach seder where the hidden matza is referred to as Tzafun. What is the hidden meaning of this allusion to "the hidden"? The midrash offers that the Torah hints here to our hidden treasure, the Beis HaMikdash where HaShem's Sacred Presence was sensed, although hidden from three dimensional reality. HaShem says to us here "prepare for My Hidden Presence to be removed when your brother Esav destroys My hidden treasure" as it says in Yechezkel 7:22 "...v'chillilu es tzefuni..."- they will defile the place were I am hidden. This is the message which Rabbeinu Bachya sees in our verse's words "pnu tzafona" - they will cast out the Hidden.
As for Esav's boundary, noted in our second verse, this hints at the words of Ovadia 1:7 "...ad ha'gvul shilchucha..." where the navi foretells the days to come when the nations of the world will first seem to support the Kingdom of Esav, accompanying it to "the boundary", only to desert him as the verse continues "...hishiucha yachlu lecha..." - then they will forsake you.
Rabbeinu Bachya explains that Esav will vanquish our Temple and the Divine Presence will be hidden further. However, there will come a time when the world will no longer support Esav. Even his might has a limit, a boundary. When that boundary has been reached, the world will no longer honor Esav. Yesh gvul.
I want to add that, in my mind, there is another hidden reference here. One verse earlier, Ovadia says, "...eich nechpsu Esav, nivu matzfunav..." - how has Esav been plundered, his hidden places revealed. Note that the word tzafon appears here also. What is the connection?The Roman conquest and all that we regard as Malchus Edom today not only vanquished our hidden place, but they "replaced it" with a shrine of their own, the center of their religion which has vied for the title "Chosen", claims a "new covenant" and in whose vaults are rumored to lie many of our own hidden treasures looted from the Mikdash.
Until quite recently in world history, this religion has been ascendant in the "civilized" world and did outreach throughout the globe. In our own day, its purported splendor has begun to wither, its treasured representatives to tarnish, its professed standards to decay and now its numbers pale as the shadow of Yishmael looms larger. Esav may have reached its limits. Much of the world has seen it nears its boundaries, and as Ovadia foretells, many are deserting Esav at its borders. Yesh gvul.
And having defiled our hidden places and upstaged them with its own, all that was hidden by Esav, as Ovadia promises, is now being revealed.
We approach Tisha B'Av with heavy heart yet we await the time which Ovadia heralds in his final words, as we declare each day in Aleinu: "v'alu moshi'im b'har Tzion lishpot es har Esav v'haisa l'HaShem ha'mlucha."
I travel shortly to Jerusalem iy"H for the bris mila of my son Akiva's son...on Tisha B'Av.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 12:48 AM
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