The song of the land (Miketz)

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

When Yehuda sought permission from Yaakov Avinu to return to Egypt with Binyamin, he knew that his father would be reluctant to agree:

‘And Yehuda said to Yisrael his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will get up and go, and we will live and not die…I will guarantee him…”’(Bereishit 43:8-9).

Yaakov subsequently agreed but then stipulated, “If so, then do this - take Mizimrat Ha’aretz in your vessels: a little balm and a little honey, wax and lotus, pistachios and almonds” (ibid. 43:11).

According to the simple meaning, Mizimrat Ha’aretz refers to the choice products of the land as delineated in the verse (balm, honey etc.).

However, Rabbi Nachman of Breslow (Likkutei Moharan, Mahadura Batra 63) interpreted the word ‘Mizimrat’ in a very different manner, explaining: “Know that Yaakov Avinu, when he sent his sons - the ten tribes - to Egypt, he sent with them the melody of Eretz Yisrael.” The question is: what is ‘the melody of Eretz Yisrael’?

According to Rav Moshe Tzvi Neria, “when the Jewish people were exiled from their land, they went with their lyres and the melody of the land was exiled with them. Eventually, when the Jewish people began its journey home, we brought our lyres with us, and we brought the melody of Eretz Yisrael back home with us.”

What this means is that the melody of Eretz Yisrael is a chain, but rather than being a simple physical chain, it is a musical chain that is attached to the heart of every Jew in the diaspora to help them find their way back to the land of Israel.

Parshat Miketz describes the exile of the sons to Egypt, and from then on, the melody of Eretz Yisrael did not cease, and the dreams of the Jewish people did not dissipate.

Just before the time of the First Temple, David HaMelech wrote his ‘Mizmorim’ which drew their energy and spirit from that same melody of the land of Israel.

And what of the songs that would accompany the sacrifices in the Beit HaMikdash? I believe that they too were based on the melody of Eretz Yisrael, and when we were exiled to Babylon, once again we took this melody with us.

Thank God we returned back to the land, we build the second Beit HaMikdash, and as we know from the festival of Chanukah, we overcame the Greeks attempt to disrupt our way of life. Then, when the second Beit HaMikdash was destroyed by the Romans, the majority of Jews were once again exiled, and for a period of 2,000 years we wandered from country to country while dreaming that we’d return to Eretz Yisrael. And how did we know that we would return? What was the basis of this hope? The answer is: the melody of Eretz Yisrael that Yaakov had transmitted to his sons which continues to be heard in our eyes till today.

We are blessed to live in a time when so many Jews have since returned back to Israel, while many more hope to do so in the not-too-distant future. As Rav Neria explained, “we brought the melody of Eretz Yisrael back home with us.”

Shabbat Shalom & Chanukah Sameach!

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