When Yaakov Avinu blessed his son Yissocher he said, “He saw tranquility that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant, yet he bent his shoulder to bear, and became an indentured laborer” [49:15]. On a simple level, this pasuk [verse] makes no sense at all. Why would the fact that Yissocher “saw that Menucha [tranquility] was good” cause him to “bend his shoulder to bear”? On the contrary, if tranquility was so good, he should not want to bend his shoulder and become a laborer! This is equivalent to saying, “Joe saw that vacations were good, therefore he started working 365 days a year”.
What is the meaning of this verse? Rav Nissan Alpert suggested that the problem is that we do not understand the meaning of the word ‘Menucha’.
There are two types of ‘Menucha’ in this world. One type of ‘Menucha’ is as follows: A person is on vacation, sitting under a palm tree, with a breeze wafting over him. He is sipping a drink and everything is beautiful. This is one type of ‘Menucha’. This ‘Menucha’ may be good for a week, two weeks, or a month. However, after a while, a person will realize that this type of ‘Menucha’ does not provide peace of mind.
That is a myth of our society – work until age 65. Then, no more! So what does a person do when he is 65? He reads the paper once. He reads the paper twice. He needs to find things to do. This type of ‘Menucha’ does not satisfy a soul.
However, Yissocher saw the other type of ‘Menucha’. Yissocher saw the serenity and the peace of mind that comes with accomplishment, with realizing one’s potential and trying to reach that potential. That is serenity. Think about it. When do we really feel good? Clearly we feel good when we feel that we have done something that has ‘made a dent’ and made a difference. ‘Menucha’ in this pasuk refers to that kind of inner serenity. People are not designed to feel content from sitting under palm trees.
Dr. Abraham Twerski from Pittsburgh once commented about a ludicrous commercial that revealed the thinking on Madison Avenue. The commercial promoted “milk from contented cows”. What is a “contented cow”? A “contented cow” is a cow that goes out in the morning into the pasture and finds plenty of grass and eats and then eats more. Then the cow comes home at night. This is a “contented cow”. Cows are supposed to be content.
People are not supposed to be content. Human beings are supposed to have battles. There is supposed to be turmoil within a human being — the constant tension of “am I doing what I am supposed to be doing — am I accomplishing or am I not accomplishing?” That is what a human being is supposed to be all about. The idea that a human being is supposed to be ‘content’ is a myth.
The ‘Menucha’ that Yissocher saw as wonderful was the ‘Menucha’ that can come from the sense that “I am using my strengths to accomplish that which I am supposed to be accomplishing.” Yissocher’s reaction to that ‘Menucha’ was “Let me bend down my shoulders and accept the yoke” – to achieve even more. In that way, a person achieves the true tranquility that can only be achieved by realizing the vast potential that G-d has given to all of us.
[R' Frand]
