SHEMA; IT’S ALL HIS WILL
Gleaned from the thoughts of Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky
Our Sages tell us that when Yaakov met his beloved son Yosef, the one on whom rested the destiny of his people, the one whom he thought had perished years earlier, he recited the Shema. Yosef, on the other hand, did not recite the Shema. If their first encounter generates inspiration for Shema, why does Yosef not recite the Shema?
The world is filled with the splendor of HaShem. Whether we look to the heavens with the naked eye or with the Webb Telescope, whether we study the human body or peer into the nucleus of a cell. Not only will we see the genius and wisdom of Ha-Shem, we will also discover His absolute Unity. We will find that every member of His creation has its unique role in the totality of everything. There is nothing that is extra and every one is needed.
There is however one area which appears to proclaim HaShem ‘s limitation c’v. That is the existence of evil. We know that HaShem is pure Good, there is no evil. Yet, we see a world that is filled with evil. The consistent reaction to evil is always “where was GD?” We know that evil does not come from Him.
Our father Yaakov, whose role in world history is to be the one who carries HaShem’s Presence, was thrown into 22 years of total darkness. His ruach haKodesh was withdrawn. From the time Yosef was taken from him, Yaakov could find no rhyme or reason as to what was happening. He was convinced that his mission to bring the world to its destiny, was doomed. He knew that without Yosef his descend-ants could stand up to Eisov. Evil was abounding. Where was HaShem? The evil that was happening was not an act of GD, they were malicious acts of individuals acting on their own volition. Where was HaShem, how did He allow this?
This was the darkness in which Yaakov Avinu lived all these years. Even when he was told that Yosef is still alive and is ruling over Egypt, he did not completely believe that it was the same Yosef, the same tzadik as his son who was taken from him years earlier.
Now, as Yaakov enters Egypt and encounters Yosef in person, seeing that it is, in fact, the very same Yosef hatzadik, he is over-whelmed with an epiphany. The darkness in which he was wrapped for the past 22 years was all by design. It was in that darkness where HaShem was preparing the destiny of His people. It was not an absence of HaShem, rather it was created by HaShem as a veil under which He would reveal His greatest rev-elation. That revelation was that there is nothing other than Ha-Shem. It was a demonstration that even when man wishes to darken the world and succeeds, that itself is HaShem’s expression. The apparent success of evil becomes the very path to revealing HaShem’s sovereignty! Yosef’s rise to power came about from the brothers’ attempt to destroy him.
Only through darkness can the Oneness of HaShem be revealed. Only when one experiences the absence of Him and is over-whelmed with apparent darkness can they appreciate the strength of Hashem’s revelation.
The mitzvah of reciting the Shema is to proclaim our acknowledgement of the Oneness of HaShem. With its recitation we ex-press our understanding and the implications that follow, that there is no existence outside of HaShem. From the furthest Heavens to the tiny nucleus, nothing exists but Him. From the birth of a baby to the most horrid crimes against Humanity every occurrence is from HaShem.
Although Yosef suffered miserably in Egypt, he was never in the dark. All that occurred to him was for a purpose. He under-stood the purpose. Only for Yaakov was there darkness and therefore only Yaakov recited the Shema. For the first in his life Yaakov now recognized the absolute Oneness of HaShem.
Have a very wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind