Parshas Toldos - This World is a Mashal

The parashah tells us that Yaakov put on a show, so to speak, and disguised himself as Eisav in order to receive the berachos. Why did the berachos have to come to him in this way? Furthermore, Yaakov’s middah is אמת, as in the pasuk תתן אמת ליעקב. Why would someone who is the embodiment of אמת receive his father’s blessings through deception and then live so long with Lavan, the ultimate deceiver?

Chazal say that Yaakov Avinu rectified the sin of the nachash, regarding whom the pasuk says: והנחש היה ערום. Why was the nachash ערום – sly, cunning and deceiving? The answer is as follows.

This world is really only a mashal, a דמיון, for the עולם האמת. This is especially apparent when discussing the concept of מלכות down here in this world. Chazal say: מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא. Malchus down here is only a דמיון, a משל, for the real מלכות, namely, מלכות שמים. For this reason, a king must be aware at all times that he is a mere representation of מלכות שמים.

This is why a king, in contrast to a Rav or father, cannot forgive a slight to his kavod, for his honor is truly not his own but, rather, that of מלכות שמים. For this reason, Shlomo HaMelech compiled ספר משלי, because no one understands better than a king the degree to which everything down here is only a משל.

Gentile kings attempt to erase this idea that their malchus is only a mashal, a דמיון, for מלכות שמים. They seek to establish their malchus as an absolute reality, which in many ways clarifies the story behind Purim. The Megillah begins with Achashverosh firmly establishing his malchus. He wanted the entire world to recognize that he was the ultimate king and that his malchus was in no way merely an image of a higher malchus. Therefore, the pasuk says: כשבת המלך, or כטוב לב המלך ביין, expressing that he lived in a world of דמיון, one that was only כ..., “like” or “similar to” the true מלכותא דרקיעא.

Desperate to prove this sheker, he hosted an enormous and prolonged feast in an effort to show everyone that so splendid and lavish a malchus could not possibly be a mere reflection, a simple likeness of Hashem’s malchus. Additionally, he wished to exhibit the permanence and inherent “emes” of olam hazeh and its תאוות.

Achashverosh’s falsehoods were exposed when he ordered Haman to adorn Mordechai with royal garments and the crown, mount him upon a royal horse, and parade him through the capital’s streets. Mordechai HaTzaddik represents the malchus of kedushah, and Achashverosh’s orders were an unwitting admittance of that absolute, eternal fact. The king’s unintended revelation of Mordechai’s malchus, namely, מלכות שמים, is the entire concept of ונהפוך הוא, of an immensely invested sheker completely upended to reveal the truth.

In fact, this concept is true for everything in olam hazeh. Everything down here is only a משל for its parallel in the spiritual world. Therefore, one must understand the art of ערמה and be sly and deceiving while functioning in this word, grasping its many facets and utilizing its many elements as though they were real and true, all the while knowing full well that none of olam hazeh is אמת, but only a דמיון for the spiritual world, the עולם האמת.

This is why Shlomo Hamelech teaches us: לתת לפתאים ערמה (Mishlei 1:4, see Biur HaGra). A person mustn’t be naïve when interacting with this world and be misled into thinking that what he sees is real and true. A person must not say that as an איש אמת he must view everything in this world as being אמת. Rather, he must be constantly aware that everything is merely a דמיון of the עולם האמת.

This confusion originated from the first sin in creation, concerning which the pasuk says: והייתם כאלוקים יודעי טוב ורע. The purpose of creation is to attribute everything down here to its real source up in Shamayim, to appreciate that everything down here is a דמיון of its parallel in the עולם האמת. The nachash took this a step further and said that, if so, והייתם כאלוקים – you can actually be like Hashem, חס ושלום, namely, an independent godly source.

The original purpose of the nachash being ערום was to guide אדם in viewing the mundane merely as a דמיון of the real world. The nachash possessed the quality of being ערום and was thus capable of recognizing that this shallow world, though seemingly real, is just a דמיון behind which the deeper כוונה lies hidden. However, he used his ko’ach of דמיון to entice אדם to feel כאלוקים.

This is why Yaakov Avinu had to learn this trait, because he represents the middah of אמת, as in the pasuk תתן אמת ליעקב, and was therefore naturally inclined to perceive the world as being one of אמת. Yet only someone who is ערום can see through this world’s superficial shell and recognize that there is something far higher. For this reason, Yaakov had to receive the berachos of olam hazeh through ערמה, through a deception that would enable him to be deceiving and perceive the deception of this world even as he, an איש אמת, thrives in it.

The physical world looks one way but is actually merely an image of a loftier reality, just as Yaakov’s arms felt like Eisav’s, while his קול, his pnimiyus, was entirely different. And living in Lavan’s house would teach him the art of ערמה to be used in avodas Hashem, in recognizing that this world is in fact the עלמא דשיקרא, a דמיון of the עולם האמת.

The kelipah of Yavan was to beautify this world, to make it seem crucial and “real” in people’s eyes. As such, the Greeks enticed people to look no further than what they see. This is the סוד of חכמה חיצוניות – making the chitzoniyus seem so very real.

The tiny flame lit on Chanukah represents the פנימיות, the neshamah, as in the pasuk נר ה׳ נשמת אדם. When we take the menorah outside into the street, into the world that seems so real and grand, we remind ourselves that the world is actually false and shrouded in darkness. The only real thing in this world is the neshamah, the spiritual content of everything, represented by the נר.

This is why the parashiyos of Chanukah revolve around Yosef HaTzaddik, who became a king in Mitzrayim. Yosef understood that מלכות most precisely illustrates how everything down here is כעין מלכותא דרקיעא. Yosef would persistently talk about Hashem, attributing all his capabilities to Him. Yosef represented true malchus, namely, the recognition that every מלכות down here is a revelation of מלכות שמים.

At the same time, Pharaoh lived a life of incomparable דמיון. He would leave the palace to privately relieve himself in the Nile, fooling himself and his entire kingdom that he was superhuman and had no need for natural bodily functions. Malchus is the very thing that reminds us how this world and mankind’s aspirations are merely a מעין, a דמיון of the true מלכות, the מלכותא דרקיעא. Pharoah exchanged this דמיון of מלכותא דארעא for the דמיון of making himself godly.

Yosef restored the reality of מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיע, the truth that a Jewish king is here to show that everything down here is only a מעין of its source in Shamayim.

This is why Pharaoh was the dreamer and Yosef the interpreter. A dream is דמיון, and Pharoah lived his life in total דמיון. Yosef, who understood that everything down here is a דמיון of reality, clearly and accurately interpreted the dreams, exercising the ko’ach to see what lies behind the דמיון.

These days, we must focus on perceiving olam hazeh that seems so real, with all its attractions, as just a דמיון, recognizing the reality that the roots of everything down here lie in שמים. In that zechus, we should be zocheh to the revelation of מלכות שמים, of דוד מלכא משיחא. Amen!