By Rabbi Joshua (nurturingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman z"l
In this week's parsha we read of Ya'akov's meeting with Eisav after a separation of twenty years. Fearing that Eisav still wishes to kill him, Yaakov makes a series of preparations, sending a generous gift to appease Eisav, praying to God, and preparing for battle if all else fails. At night, he arises from his sleep and moves his family and all of his remaining possessions across the river Yabok. The Torah then tells us that Yaakov remained alone, and that a 'man' wrestled with him until the break of dawn. Rashi, citing the Talmud, says that Ya'akov was alone because he went back for some small jars he had left behind. As the citation continues, from here we learn that the righteous treat their property with care, because (or 'so that') they do not steal.
The Yalkut Reuveni, a compendium of midrashic and kabbalistic sources, writes that the jar that Ya’akov went back for was the one which he used to pour oil from when he dedicated the stone he slept on as a pillar for divine service. After Yaakov poured the oil, it miraculously replenished itself, and was later used to consecrate the mishkan. Later still, the oil in that jar was the oil that the Tsarfatite woman poured out to make a cake for Eliyohu, and which then, miraculously continually replenished itself and lasted for a year, as recorded in the first book of Melochim, chapter seventeen. Finally, that same jar, according to the Ari, was the one that was found in the Temple the time of the Chashmonaim (Hasmoneans), and provided the oil for the miracle of Chanukah. Interestingly, Rabbeinu Bachya suggests that the jars Yaakov went back for were the baby bottles used to feed the infants as they traveled. He needed to go back for these jars because not having them could lead to a life-endangering situation. This suggestion, on the one hand, is a bit difficult to understand, since the infants could have been nursed. Although one could argue that, on the road, it was easier to feed them from the jars than to nurse them, if it came to a life threatening situation, it is hard to believe that they would not have been nursed. However, I believe that Rabbeinu Bachya's suggestion is very meaningful, but in a different way.
We mentioned the Talmudic comment that Ya'akov's concern over his jars teaches us that the righteous people treat their property with care, because they do not engage in theft. In Yaakov's case, this statement means that he attained all of his possessions through twenty years of hard work that he did for Lavan. Yaakov, in fact, is projected in the Talmud as the ideal example of a conscientious worker, and the Rambam, in describing the faithful way in which Yaakov worked for Lavan, describes him as 'Yaakov the tzaddik. ' Rav Zechariah Gelley recently mentioned, in the name of his uncle, Rav Berish, that this is why, according to the midrash, Ya'akov sent a message to Eisav that, while he lived with Lavan, he observed the six hundred thirteen commandments. What he meant to say was that all of the possessions that he now had were obtained through faithful work done in accordance with all the regulations of the Torah. It was with jars obtained through this kind of effort that Yaakov provided food for his children, in order to raise them, from infancy, in strict accordance with the Torah. The Talmud in Bava Metzia tells us that Rav Chiya taught children in a way that would assure its perpetuation. He first slaughtered deer, then made parchment from their hides, then wrote Torah scrolls from which he taught the children. The idea behind this involvement in the preparatory stages of teaching Torah is that it is important to assure that the study is done in purity, from the earliest, preliminary stages. The Vilna Gaon,in fact, is reported to have said that if someone would build a synagogue in a manner that every last nail was procured through pure means, according to halacha, that synagogue would never be destroyed. According to Rav Ovadiah Seforno, that is why the mishkan, built in purity by Moshe and then Bezalel, was never destroyed, but only buried. Yaakov, too, raised his children in this way, and that is why the baby bottles he used were so dear to him.
Rabbi Yissochor Frand, in a taped shiur on parshas Vayeitzei, mentions that Rabbi Leib Gurwicz, who was Rosh Yeshivah in Gateshead Yeshiva once visited the British Museum, and saw cow horns that were used in ancient times as baby bottles. Rabbi Gurwicz explained, based on this fact, the command issued by the Syrian Greeks to the Jews in the time of the Chashmonaim, that they should write on the horn of an ox that they have no portion with the God of Israel. The horn of an ox, said Rabbi Gurwicz, was a reference to the baby bottles, and, in a broader sense, the decree meant that the Jews were ordered to change the way they raised their children from infancy. Perhaps, then, following Rabbeinu Bachya, and combining his remarks with those of the Yalkut Reuveni and the Ari in regard to the contents of the jars Yaakov went back to salvage, we can suggest that the jars were baby bottles consisting of cows' horns, and it was the same form of purity and dedication exhibited in Yaakov's use of those jugs for his children, in complete conformity with halacha, that was followed in the future dedication of the mishkan, the work of Eliyohu on behalf of the Tsarfatite woman, and the rededication of the Beis HaMikdash in the time of the Chashmonaim. In all of these instances, care was taken to assure, that, from the very beginning, the acts of building sanctuaries and homes were done in complete purity, in order to assure their perpetuation.
