Danny Ginsbourg – The simcha of Zebulun and of Issachar

( submitted a bit late for the Shabbat, or published late )

The wonderful Torah supporting partnership of Zebulun and Asher is explored by various Torah Sages as we prepare for Simchat Torah.

On the coming Shabbat - as on every Simchat Torah - we will read the concluding Parasha of the Torah, Parashat VeZot Habracha.

The Piascezna Rebbe, Rav Kalonymus Kalman Shapira hy’d, offers a beautiful original insight, into the ‘simcha’ of this festival: We are b’simcha, because we have just come through the Yamim Noraim, culminating in the simcha of Sukkot, the festival of unity and simcha; but on this day, ‘the Torah itself is so to speak b’simcha, the Torah is the proverbial baal simcha that is rejoicing with the Jewish people, and we are basking in the Torah’s joy.’

How appropriate then, that in the Parasha we will read on that day, we read of another ‘simcha of unity’, also a simcha based on the Torah: the simcha of Zebulun and of Issachar.

We read: (33:1): ‘And this is the blessing that Moshe, the man of G-d, bestowed upon the Children of Israel before his death.. (33:18) Of Zebulun he said: שמח זבולון: Rejoice O Zevulun בצאתך: on your departures, and Issaschar, in your tents’.

Rashi elucidates:’Zebulon and Issachar entered into a partnership: Zebulun would dwell at the seashore and go out in ships, to trade and make profit. He would thereby provide food for Issachar, who could then sit and occupy themselves with the study of Torah, free of material worries.

‘Consequently, Moshe mentioned Zebulun before Issachar - who was the elder of the two - because Issachar’s Torah came through Zebulun.’

The Siftei Kohen explains the reason for the simcha of Zebulun: The simcha of Issachar, who sits and learns Torah in peace, is readily understood - but why is Zebulun thereby also b’simcha, when he has to venture out each day, to support both himself, and Issachar?

Answers the Rav:’It is in the nature of those who venture into the deserts, to be fearful and concerned as to their safe return, and, when they return safely to their homes, from their journeys, they are b’simcha.

‘Not so Zebulun, he is b’simcha even when he sets out, because ‘Issachar (is) in your tents’; in the batei midrash, and you are supporting him, with his needs - therefore you are also ‘dwelling in his tent’, in its shade.

‘Therefore, you, Zebulun, are more b’simcha when you depart, than on your return, because your departure is to support Issachar, in his Torah studies, and as a שליח מצוה: engaged in a Mitzvah, our Sages promise, ‘will not be harmed’, whilst on his mission.’

The Alshich Hakadosh adds:’Zebulun is not like the ‘usual’ traders, who are worried when they set out on their journeys, uncertain as to whether they will be successful, or not - whether it will be profitable or be at a loss; and, no less, as to the physical dangers of their sea journey, that they should safely return unharmed, to their homes.

‘Therefore, only on their return, are seafarers b’simcha; not so the sea-faring Zebulun - they are, as the Torah here relates, b’simcha already when they set out - because ‘Issachar is in YOUR tent’, because the tents of torah study in which Issachar sit and toil in Torah, are also the tents of Zebulun.

‘This is why Zebulun is b’simcha already בצאתך: as he sets out, having the merit of the Torah that Issachar is learning Torah, in THEIR tent - the tent of Issachar AND OF ZEBULUN.

The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh proffers a different reason as to why Zebulun - unlike the ‘usual’ venturer - is already b’simcha as he departs:’When one sets out to trade, he does not know whether he will succeed, or not, until he returns, having succeeded.

‘As to this, the Torah states that Zebulun is b’simcha already when he sets out, because he is assured that he WILL be successful, and this is because Issachar is in their tent, and Zebulun is a שליח מצוה: engaged in the Mitzvah of sustaining the Torah toilers, and the tent of Issachar is also called the tent of Zebulun, because he is the one who is ‘building’ it.’

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, noting that Zebulun and Issachar are included in the one blessing, alluding to they operating as brothers and neighbors, and from the two of them, emerges a spiritual influence, on all the nations who come into contact with them, in the framework of the world of commerce.

‘Zebulun is a sea-farer, engaged in trading, and he supports Issachar from his material wealth, enabling him to engage in peace, in the spiritual matters; and Issachar repays him, by sharing with him, his spiritual wealth - and, in the merit of the honesty and integrity of Zebulun, in his business dealings - just as Zebulun shares in the merit of Issachar’s toil in Torah.

‘The two of them together, bring the first revelation of the teachings and of the values of our Torah, to the outside world.’

Rav Ahron Kotler suggests a different reason, for the Torah, in this blessing, putting the younger Zebulun, before Issachar:’whilst Zebulun has the zechut of upholding those engaged in the toil of Torah, he himself does not feel the sweetness and simcha of studying Torah, as Issachar enjoys, in his Torah study.

‘Nevertheless, Zebulun faithfully supports Torah with love and dedication; therefore, he is given precedence in the blessing, and, when he departs this world בצאתך, he is rewarded by the secrets and the light of the Torah, being revealed to him.’

Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky sweetens our understanding, of the wondrous teaching that Rav Kotler brings at the end of his commentary, saying:’We are compelled to say that, in the world to come, the Torah knowledge of Zebulun will be the sama as the Torah knowledge of Issachar, that being his reward for their partnership, as both will be sharing the same compartment in olam ha’ba.

‘This means that Zebulun will engage in the discourse of the Torah with the Sages of all the generations, even though he has no idea of Torah at all, as, in this world, he toiled solely in his trade activities - and this is called ‘his reward’?!

‘We are therefore compelled to say, that he, too, will receive knowledge of all the secrets of the Torah.

‘But how can that be, when, in fact, he has not, in his whole life, learned Torah; and even if we should say that he is ‘given’ this knowledge in the world-to-come, have we not learned that the Torah is only acquired by a life-time of toil ln it -only by the forty-eight ways in which our Sages teach, Torah is acquired? Issachar himself has gone over his Torah learning one hundred and one times, before he acquired it - how, then, can Zebulun acquire the same level of Torah knowledge, in just one time?

‘The answer may be learned from the Gemara (Nida 30:): the whole of the Torah is taught to each person, in his mother’s womb, before he descends to this world, but he is then made to forget it, before he actually descends, by an angel Above.

‘This means, that in truth, it is possible for a person to learn the whole of the Torah without toil, but, because (Iyov 5:7)’man is born to toil’, the Torah will not be established in a man, unless he toiled in it; and he is therefore made to forget the Torah he was taught Above, so that he can now engage in the study of Torah all his life in this world, to once again acquire the Torah that he was made to forget.

‘This gives us an opening, to answer our question, as to Zebulun, that since he toils all his life to support Issachar, so that he can toil in his Torah study, without material worries, Zebulun has, by this toil of his, fulfilled his obligation, of ‘man is born to toil’, and, therefore, when he ascends to the Yeshiva Above, the Torah which he had, before his descent to this world, and which he was made to forget, is now returned to him.

‘Therefore, it is not that he is given the Torah without toil, but that his toil is in his support of Issachar, as the Torah was already his, in his mother’s womb.’

A parting thought:

Rav Moshe Feinstein, in his seminal work, ‘Igrot Moshe’, relates a question: is one who has entered this august partnership, as a Zebulun, to support a Torah scholar, absolved thereby from himself learning Torah, , since he ‘shares’ the Torah of his partner, Issachar?

The answer is, of course: ‘No’, as every one of us has a primary, personal obligation, to toil in Torah, to the best of our ability.

Might we not add - as I think I saw brought in the name of Rav Kotler - apart from the halakhic imperative to learn Torah - that, true, that person, in the merit of supporting Issachar may have earned an elevated place in olam haba - BUT if he has not toiled in Torah in this world himself, he has not had an olam ha’ze - without the sweetness of Torah, what point is there in THIS world?