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Orchard of Delights Vayishlach
Rabbah 85:1). In other words, the brothers’ heinous actions and £Esau’s Four Hundred Men£Esau’s Four Hundred MenEsau’s Four Hundred Men
Joseph, Jacob, Reuben, and Judah’s reactions were all enigmatically £
“orchestrated” by God who was setting the wheels in motion for the
coming of the Mashiach.
In the portion of Chayei Sarah we briefly discussed the number 400’s
Returning to the issue of confession, the root of the word to confess significance. In that portion, Abraham symbolically took possession
(lehodot) means both to praise and to thank. All three meanings were of the Land of Israel – which the Sages declare is 400 parsah by 400
united in David, “the sweet singer of Israel” and the composer of parsah – by buying Sarah’s burial plot and the surrounding land for
the Psalms. In these eternal expressions of the full gamut of human 400 silver pieces.
emotions, David continually weaves together his gratitude and
praise for the Creator and his deep faith in His nearness. Both Judah The number 400 reappears in Vayishlach in a similar context.
and David clung to God even when everything seemed to be going Esau came to meet Jacob with 400 men so that he could prevent him
wrong, even when they felt all alone. This too was a path they paved from entering the Land of Israel, which measures 400 parsah by 400
for their descendants. parsah. Just as in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction for
every action, so too in the realm of the spirit. The laws of physics
The name Judah in Hebrew consists of the four letters of God’s invariably parallel the spiritual laws of the universe.
name and the additional letter dalet. It is as if David’s soul, whose
name begins and ends with the letter dalet, is enwedged into the soul After the encounter between Esau and Jacob ends peacefully, the
of Judah, who paves the path to teshuvah for him and all future Torah reports that Esau left for Mount Seir. Curiously, the 400 men
generations. The middle letter of David’s name is a vav – a vertical who came with him go unmentioned. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh
line meaning “and” – which both graphically and semantically explains that once Jacob prevailed over Esau’s angel and then
represents the notion of connection and the soul’s eternal bond to its emerged the next day unscathed from his confrontation with Esau,
Creator. the spiritual strength of the 400 men was dissipated to the point that
they actually disappeared from the scene altogether.
In addition to containing the four letters of God’s essential name,
the name Judah significantly comes from the root hod, which means Paralleling the law of conservation of energy, the 400 men and the
confession, praise, thanksgiving, and glory. More than anyone else in energy they embody were actually transformed by what transpired.
Jewish history King David embodied all these meanings of hod. The They reappeared at a later time in Jewish history as the 400 men who
letter dalet, as a rule, represents great humility and self-nullification. recognized David’s greatness and joined his ranks before he became
Paradoxically, David’s deep inner sense of lowliness enabled him to king (1 Samuel 22:2). David went on to become king of all of Israel
express God’s glory through his own kingship. and was more successful than any other figure in Jewish history in
establishing a kingdom incorporating nearly the entire 400 parsah
The Mashiach will descend from Judah and David’s royal house. by 400 parsah recognized by the Sages. (For a more comprehensive
He will teach the whole world the true meaning of teshuvah, showing explanation of how all the concepts represented by the number 400
the world’s entire population how to completely return to God. This intricately connect, see Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh’s The Hebrew
sincere teshuvah will be accompanied by genuine songs of praise, Letters, pp. 324-337.)
exalting God and filling the human heart with love for the Creator.
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