Musar for Shabbat 60:11

In Parshat Vayetzei I have demonstrated how such mundane matters as לחם לאכול ובגד ללבוש which Jacob requested must be understood (page 234). What this means is that parallel to the repair of man's "clothing" i.e. the garments of leather being exchanged for garments of light, man's food supply too will undergo a dramatic change in the World to Come. Our Rabbis describe how ארץ ישראל will produce ready-to-eat cakes and the like in Shabbat 30.

We should remember that just as the "garment" of the body will be woven of light and will be prestigious, so the body itself will be the distinguished clothing of the soul. Israel experienced a glimpse of such a future while in the desert. This is why the Torah tells us in Deut. 8,4: שמלתך לא בלתה מעליך, “your clothing did not wear out, etc. during all these forty years. The first step in restoring man to the garments that he ought to be wearing were taken by two of Noach's sons when they covered their father by taking hold of the שמלה and covering him with it (Genesis 9,23).

This enables us to see important allusions to future events in these words. At this time, when Jacob went out to get married, he alluded to the deeper meaning of the union of man and woman, which is extolled as something that, in the future, will even provide joy for G–d Himself. We know this from Isaiah 62,5. In Yevamot 61, Rabbi Yossi is reported to have met Elijah and to have asked him about the meaning of the word כנגדו in Genesis 2,18 which reports G–d as saying: אעשה לו עזר כנגדו, "I shall make for him (Adam) as helpmate kenegdo." Rabbi Yossi wanted to know in what way a woman can help man do something he is not able to do himself. Elijah asked: "When a man brings home wheat, does the wheat grind itself? When a man brings home flax, does the flax convert itself into a garment? Do you not realize that a woman makes a man's eyes light up? Does she not put him on his feet?" Elijah's answer was an appropriate one to point out woman's role in our world. In the future, however, everything will be ready-made for man, as we have learned in Shabbat 30. What is woman's role then? [The Talmud describes hot rolls and other delicacies as being served up for man without any human input being required. The finest garments would also be available without the need for tailors, seamstresses, spinners, etc.] Jacob's references to לחם לאכול, ובגד ללבוש, referred to the time when man would not have to work for a living, when all the tedium associated with our present lives would be removed. He meant that bread would be "ready to eat, clothes ready to wear." I have already outlined that Jacob's marriages, which produced the twelve tribes, are an allusion to the eventual union between G–d and Israel. These considerations explain Jacob's choice of words.