Directed Dispersion
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
As Yaakov senses his life coming to a close, he gathers his sons around him to give them each one final, personalized blessing. Indeed each son gets his individual blessing except for Shimon and Levi who are addressed jointly. Further, the text of their blessing sounds more like a curse than like a blessing: “Shimon and Levi are comrades (brothers), their weaponry is a stolen craft. In their conspiracy may my soul not enter … For in their rage they murdered people and at their whim they maimed an ox. Accursed is their rage for it is intense, and their wrath for it is harsh; I will divide them within Jacob and I will disperse them among Israel.”
In order to mitigate the effects of unbridled anger, Yaakov sentences these two tribes to dispersion. How? Rabbi Belsky relates Rashi’s explanation and expands upon it. Levi will need to travel around the country to collect terumot and maasrot, priestly donations and tithes, and will also be teachers of adults, while Shimon will be the itinerant teachers of young children. Rabbi Belsky asks an amazing question. Do we want people with management anger issues to teach our children and become their role models? How can we attribute purity to Shimon and Levi so that they will be proper role models, asks Rabbi Grosbard. Further, what does Yaakov add by seemingly repeating “separating them within Jacob” and “dispersing them among Israel.” While Levi, rather than having contiguous tribal property will have cities scattered throughout the land, Shimon actually had a tribal territory, albeit his cities were completely surrounded by Judah.
When Yaakov began addressing his sons, he originally wanted to impart to them the timing of the end of days. This did not happen. According to Rabbi Leff, Yaakov opted to give them insight into their strengths and weaknesses so that they could use them to help bring the redemption earlier.
Rabbi Wolbe elaborates on this idea. Yaakov’s blessing to each of his sons, and in particular to Shimon and Levi, was the blessing of self knowledge. Understanding one’s character traits, one’s strengths and weaknesses, is the most significant gift one can get. To illustrate, Rabbi Wolbe writes that when a person dies, three angels come to him and ask him his name. What they are really asking is what is his essence, what trait lies at the core of his character. If he doesn’t know that, he will put forth all sorts of characteristics which the angels will immediately dispel as being self serving rather than altruistic, not really reflecting the true image of God within him. If you know what your core trait is, you can measure all your actions and all other traits against that yardstick and thereby continuously improve yourself. Additionally, everyone has a core negative trait that balances out the positive, sort of like the yin and yang of a person (lehavdil). When one knows what his triggers are, one can work to improve them or to use them for positive results. As the Netivot Shalom points out, only once you know your essence can you effectively develop the positive and control the negative.
Rebbetzin Felbrand in her powerful book Grow! Presents excellent guidelines to help us identify our core traits, and since all character traits are interconnecting, working on one will also affect all the other traits. Besides identifying what you admire most in other people, ask yourself what activities give you the greatest sense of satisfaction and accomplishment and what your greatest aspiration is.(Along these lines, I have heard that imagining writing your own epitaph or obituary will help you focus on what trait you want to be remembered for.)
Every negative character trait can be re-purposed in the service of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, writes the Modzitzer Rebbe in Divrei Yisroel. It this context, Dispersing Shimon and Levi among all of Bnei Yisroel can have a positive effect of helping the people control their inclinations toward sin. Rabbi Dinner in Mikdash Halevi explains that this purpose can be accomplished only when they are achim, comrades with a sense of brotherhood and responsibility for each other. It was precisely this sense of responsibility for others that was the catalyst for Shimon and Levi to kill the people of Shechem, “Shall our sister be treated as a harlot?” Of all the brothers, only Shimon and Levi took upon themselves the responsibility of rescuing Dinah and restoring honor to her name.
This sense of responsibility is the trait Rav Belsky focuses on as the most important for a teacher of Torah. A teacher’s focus on content is less important than his focus the student before him and taking responsibility for his development. Hashem Himself is the One Who teaches Torah to His nation Israel, and those who would be His emissaries in this great task Must emulate that same love and sense of responsibility toward others as Hashem Himself displays. As such, anger must be external and channeled, and not be allowed to infect and destroy the relationship. It is precisely those who have this sense of responsibility toward the development of their charges who should be dispersed among the people and be their teachers.
Zealousness and passion are related to anger notes Rabbi Scheinerman in Ohel Moshe. An effective parent or teacher is one who teaches values as well as skills with passion and love of both his students and his subject matter. Student relate to the emotional content more than to the subject content.
It is apparent that anger and passion can be both a blessing and a curse. Rabbi Zaichik explains that by Yaakov pointing out this trait in their character, he was telling Shimon and Levi to use this trait positively so that it would indeed be a blessing. In this context it makes sense for Shimon to be surrounded by Yehudah so they could learn from Yehudah the sense of control over oneself which Yehudah, as the future Monarch of all Israel, needed and exhibited for proper sovereignty writes Limudei Nison.
Understanding more clearly the spiritual and mystical elements of the relationship of Shimon to both Yehudah and to Levi will give us a better insight into Yaakov’s blessing. While all three were the sons of Leah, each was blessed with a different character from birth, as derived by their names. It is also important to note at this juncture, as Rabbi Wolfson relates, that Knesset Yisroel is comprised of both a hidden and a revealed aspect. The hidden aspect is the birthright of every Jew, the “pintele Yid” within each soul irrespective of personal merit. On the other hand, there is also the revealed aspect of the Jew, an aspect that must be earned, but is available to every Jew. Although the concealed aspect is associated with Leah and the revealed aspect with Rachel, both aspects are available within every Jew.
Rabbi Hillel Adler takes this concept and uses it to illuminate the complex relationships between the different brothers and tribes. He notes in Parsha Illuminations that Shimon and Levi possessed potential holiness from the womb. That Hashem saw Leah and opened her womb, writes Rabbi Adler, does not refer to the relationship between Yaakov and Leah, but rather to Leah’s relationship with evil, that she hated evil and literally cried her yes out at the prospect of being married to the evil Esau. Hashem heard her cries. This hatred of evil was transmitted to her son Shimon from the womb itself, and so she named him Shimon, for Hashem had heard her cries. Her cries were silent, and reflected her love of holiness and purity. Therefore Shimon could become the guardian of holiness and purity and come to champion the honor and purity of Dinah. He could also see within Yosef some of the traits of Esau and perhaps a preoccupation with physical appearance that would also prompt him to act against Yosef. This form of silent prayer, prayer is heard and comprehended only by God, can be understood by man only in the Next World.
In contrast, Yehudah is the open articulation of prayer, as Leah expresses her gratitude to Hashem in his name. Shimon’s silent prayers, inaudible in this world, can be subsumed within Yehudah’s open prayers in this world, especially since as king, Yehudah will articulate the prayers for both this world and the next. Therefore, it is appropriate that Shimon’s territory should be surrounded by Yehudah’s and that Moshe’s blessing for him should not be articulated but alluded to in the blessing Moshe gives Yehudah.
Levi was also possessed of holiness from the womb. He too could articulate that holiness and was therefore separated to serve Hashem. Therefore he was scattered throughout Bnei Yisroel to act as guardians of the holiness, a task Shimon, the concealed, inarticulate brother could not do. At the time of Moshiach, when the land is again divided, Shimon will indeed get a defined portion.
Maor Vashemesh, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Halevi Epstein, brings a completely different, psychological perspective to the anger of Shimon and Levi. He writes that the anger of Shimon and Levi was directed at themselves rather than at others. They were such perfectionists in their own observance that every slight fault in their observance appeared magnified so that they always appeared angry. Further, with this sense of perfection, they could not interact with others and would live a sad, angry life of isolation, what Maor Vashemesh calls frum, and what we would refer to as farfrumt or perhaps “holier than thou”. What Yaakov was telling them was that they should be involved with others, both the elite Yisroel of the nation as well as with the everyday people, the Yaakov element. When they can interact with them all, even in discussing day to day matters, when they become social human beings, they will lose their anger and be happy.
Yaakov’s blessings to the individual tribes are meant to offer insights and be blessings to all of Bnei Yisroel and for all times in our history. Toward this end, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch presents us with some beautiful messages and prescience on the part of our Patriarch. While the anger or passion of Shimon and Levi could indeed pose a great danger to others, it could also serve as a source of strength and pride. When the nation is flourishing, notes Rabbi Hirsch, a united and powerful Shimon and Levi can indeed pose a threat to the nation. Therefore, says Yaakov, when the nation is flourishing in their Yisroel capacity, let me disperse them throughout the land and let them be dependent on others for their sustenance. On the other hand, when they are downtrodden and in exile, in the Yaakov condition, let me apportion them and divide them throughout the people to give them strength in their convictions and pride in their Jewishness so that their spirit would remain alive and strong throughout the difficult Diaspora.
Let us continue to be proud of our Yiddishkeit, strong and passionate in our observance, seeking constant self improvement. May the blessings of Yaakov Avinu and of Moshe Rabbenu, the consummate teacher of Torah, be fully realized in all their positive aspects in the near future.