Shabbat Parashat Vayechi 5779

Ein Ayah: Looking for a Way Out

[The gemara now looks at various Aramaic words, seeing them as (informal) contractions of two words.]

 Gemara: Dasha (gate) is made up of derech sham (the path that goes there).

Ein Ayah: When a person is in the home that is special for him, he is unified with those around him, and he forgets that he is connected to the whole big world outside the door. Indeed, he is but one link in the great chain of mankind, which fills the entire world. By means of pathways, highways, marketplaces and streets, one can be connected to other people. Then, the spirit of the individual can reach a love of the community. The gate before a person’s home reminds him of this idea, as it is used for leaving the home as much as it is for entering it. It takes him out of the limited group of people close to him and connects him to the fortune of the community, even when he is still in his house and involved in his personal matters.

Climb to the Point that Is above the House

(condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 8:16)

Gemara: Darga (step) is made up of derech gag (the way to the roof).

Ein Ayah: The partnership within society brings a person, with all his goodness, to being built and improved. It also lowers him when the community is lowered by its necessary involvement in mundane matters, which abound in people’s lives. Even when a great person is with the people of his home, he is negatively impacted by the lowly matters that those people are involved in, when those people lack the complete outlook of a great person. A lofty human spirit will strive to elevate itself even further. When he has a great need to connect himself to the lives of the masses, he can sometimes elevate himself beyond them. There are paths within the home to go higher and higher. We call steps that go up darga because they can lead a person all the way to the roof (i.e., the highest levels) that are beyond the thoughts of the average person. 

Becoming Over-Reliant on Taste Enhancers

(condensed from Ein Ayah, Shabbat 8:17)

Gemara: Mitkulata (sauce) is made up of matay tichleh da (when will this be finished?).

Ein Ayah: Mankind lowers itself when it seeks luxuries, which start with the way a person desires his food to be. Man leaves the standard nature of animals, whose nature is to sustain themselves with the food that Hashem gives them, without looking to alter its taste with the help of spices. Man has his sense of physical enjoyment awaken him and bother him so that he wants spices and extras, which over time turn into necessities for him. This will continue until man returns to his natural, healthy state, whereby he stands on the ground like Adam did in Eden, where he enjoyed the trees of the Garden as they were, without all sorts of spices and additives. 

For this reason, the term for [the utensil used for] spices spells out, “when will this be finished?” The curse and deterioration should end. Man should be happy with the bread he eats with Hashem’s blessing, as is, without being disappointed. Rather, he should experience freshness and the exuberance of a life of purity and strength.

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