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prophetic state can only be achieved through joy and this is the £The Shema£The ShemaThe Shema
essential connection between prophecy and music, for nothing £
awakens and fuels the human spirit more than the joy inherent in
music. It was the gentle music of Serach that enabled Jacob to absorb
the awesome news that Joseph was still alive. It was her music that “And then Jacob called to his sons and said: Gather together and I will
unlocked his grieving heart, allowing it to feel joy once more. (This tell you what will happen to you in the End of Days” (Genesis 49:1).
insight was discussed in the first chapter of The Mystical Power of Rashi, as mentioned in the previous section, quotes the Talmud and
Music.) the Midrash to explain why this portion is a closed portion: Jacob
wanted to reveal his prophetic vision of the End of Days to his sons,
but just as he was about to speak the Shechinah left him.
When Jacob realized that the Shechinah had left him he was struck
£Longing, Spiritual Pleasure, Longing, Spiritual Pleasure, Longing, Spiritual Pleasure, with profound worry that the Shechinah had left because his sons
were not righteous or worthy enough to receive such a prophecy.
££
and Passionand Passion The sons intuitively understood Jacob’s concern and spontaneously
and Passion
responded by reciting the Shema in unison: “Hear O Israel, God our
God [Hashem Elokeinu], God is one.” Jacob was deeply relieved and
convinced that his sons were in fact unified and worthy and there
When Joseph’s family came to Egypt, he settled them in Goshen, a
region acclaimed to be the choicest in the land. It was there that the must have been another reason for the Shechinah leaving him.
Jews prospered and multiplied greatly, so much so that eventually Therefore, he answered in turn: “Blessed is the name of His glorious
the Egyptians came to fear their growing power. kingdom for all eternity.”
I heard from Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh the Chassidic teaching Rashi explains that Jacob had also recited the Shema at another
that the three letters of the word Goshen are an acronym for three crucial point in his life, when he first saw Joseph again after a twenty-
different Hebrew words: ga’aguim, sha’ashuim, and na’anuim. These two year separation. Joseph cried on Jacob’s shoulder, while Jacob
mean “longing,” “spiritual pleasure,” and “passion.” When a Jew recited the Shema (Rashi on Genesis 46:30). In that case Jacob’s
is separated from his true homeland, a deep yearning is implanted recitation of the Shema was a declaration of his faith that all he had
in his or her very being. The longing, pleasure, and passion the worked for would come to fruition. The nation of Israel would arise
children of Israel experienced in yearning for the Land of Israel had and proclaim for all time the oneness of God, for his family was intact
nothing intrinsically to do with Egypt; these emotions were born again. When the sons recite the Shema at Jacob’s deathbed they too
in Israel, the Holy Land, and accompanied them into exile. After are declaring their belief in their father’s lifework and committing
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, who spent a mere nine months in Israel, themselves to the family mission. While they appear to have been
returned to Europe, he would answer anyone who asked him where familiar with the Shema, Jacob’s spontaneous declaration of “Blessed
he was going with the now famous phrase, “Everywhere I go I am is the name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity” was, according
always going to the Land of Israel.” to tradition, newly coined by Jacob to express his overwhelming
gratitude to God.
Sometimes we are extremely conscious of the yearning for the Land
of Israel, while at other times we are totally unconscious of it. When Rebbe Natan, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s main disciple, notes
the yearning is unconscious, it may manifest itself in many other that both the Shema and the expression, “Blessed is the name of
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