Musar על יומא 42:15

I have already mentioned that possession of the land of Israel commenced with the acquisition of the cave of Machpelah from the sons of Chet. So when Rebeccah said: קצתי בחיי מפני בנות חת, we have an allusion to the letter ח also in Rebeccah's words. When you combine the numerical value in the name יעקב with the number 8, you get 190 or the word קץ, end. That word represents Samael – the spiritual representative of Esau – as we have already pointed out. The reason the letter ק is written small is that Esau represents a diminution of the Divine image of G–d, something more קוף – like, ape-like. That part of the human being, – his resemblance to the ape,– is the קליפה, the inferior outer shell. Israel never recaptured its former glory after the destruction of the first Temple; we have mentioned repeatedly that during the time of the second Temple five major manifestations of G–d's Presence remained absent. The first Temple stood for a period of 410 years, the numerical value of the word קצתי. You can also read this as קץ ת"י, that after 410 (years) the spiritual life Rebeccah envisaged would come to an end. The Baal Haturim has a wonderful explanation when he writes that the small letter ק refers to the destruction of the second Temple which stood one hundred cubits tall (a building erected by King Herod). Although Herod built a physically great structure, it was only a "small" ק. I believe that Rebeccah was concerned that Jacob (value 182), who already had received the blessing of his father, should become the recipient of the one hundred blessings we have discussed. If he were to marry a daughter of the sons of Chet (value 8), he would add that number to his own and the result would be 190=קץ. If that were to happen, she said, then קצתי בחיי, "my spiritual life would be at an end." If however, he were to take the (4) daughters of Laban, his marriage bed would be pure, and the numerical value of that union would symbolize 186= קוף = מקום, i.e. the name of G–d.

Since the Temple was going to be built on territory belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, Joseph alluded to the five important manifestations of the שכינה, the Divine Presence, that were missing during the period of the second Temple, and which will be restored when the third Temple will be built. All the details that the Torah reports here about Joseph and his brothers allude to matters of the future, to Messianic times. Joseph's fate, i.e. the גלגולים, wanderings, upheavals he experienced during his lifetime, foreshadowed the גלגולים of the Jewish nation in the future. He set in motion the descent of his family into the first exile, and thus became instrumental in the refining process which this experience proved to be for the Jewish people. Every subsequent exile had as its purpose the further refinement of the character of the Jewish people. Prior to the eventual redemption, Joseph will once again appear in the flesh as the משיח בן יוסף. Permanent rule will be reserved for Yehudah, however. The missing letter א from אדם that we have discussed, and which left only the word דם with its negative connotation, was restored when the Jewish people underwent mass circumcision at the hands of Joshua before conquering the land of Canaan. At that time the prediction of Pharaoh's horoscope which indicated a bloody end to the Jewish people was reversed (cf. Rashi on Exodus 10, 10). The דם, blood, which had had negative connotations up to that time, was converted into a positive, lifegiving experience through the act of circumcision. The mystical dimension of the letters ד"ם in the name אדם, is also an allusion to דוד in his capacity as the משיח. We have explained more than once that the mystical dimension of אדם is “אדם-דוד-משיח.” The seventy years that David lived were a gift of אדם who wanted to be rehabilitated through David, and thereby ultimately complete his life in the glory in which it had begun.

There are five בתי אבות, family-sources, which have to be viewed as "above" the concept of land distribution. They are the three patriarchs, to whom the land was promised, but who never took possession of it even though they pined for it and were buried in it. Then there is Joseph, who is described as the direct continuation of Jacob in Genesis 37,2: אלה תולדות יעקב, יוסף. [there was no other reason for the Torah to tell us this fact which we all knew. Ed.] Joseph expressed an ardent desire to be buried in the land of Israel, and made his brothers swear an oath that they would take his bones with them at the time of the redemption from Egypt (Genesis 50,24). There is also Levi, whose descendants did not share in the land, for the Torah describes G–d Himself as their inheritance (Deut. 18,1). We must realize that these five people (or groups of people) were on a spiritual level where they did not need their share of land on earth in order to have their share of the land of Israel in the Celestial Domain. That region is the root of the terrestrial ארץ ישראל. The letter ה in the words במקום ה-זה, alludes to these five categories of people who spiritually outranked the other twelve, i.e. 12 =זה. There is also a special significance in the number five when we consider the five manifestations of G–d's Presence that were missing during the time of the second Temple. This means that there was a residual presence of חרב, i.e. חורבן, destruction, during the entire period of the second Temple. Our sages expressed this in terms of the missing letter ה, in the word ואכבד in Chagai 1,8, where the word should have been the same as in Exodus 14,4, ואכבדה בפרעה (cf. Rashi on that verse in חגי). In the future (third Temple) these five manifestations of G–d's שכינה will be restored. Not only will they be restored, but such a future will herald new spiritual heights when the original light that permeated the universe immediately after the Creation will also be restored. It is the time described in Isaiah 25,9 as: זה ה' קוינו לו, "This is the Lord whom we have hoped for." At that time the promise in Leviticus 26,12: והתהלכתי בתוככם, "I will be walking among you," will also be fulfilled.

When these Romans referred to the "Master," and it seemed to mean Jacob, they referred to him sarcastically, seeing that Isaac had designated him as such in the blessings, i.e. הוה גביר לאחיך. They did not mean to challenge the validity of Isaac's blessing; they felt that Jacob/Israel had already outlived the period during which it was valid. Now that Israel's fortunes had declined, they felt sure that their turn had come. The kingdom of Edom had, after all, undergone a period during which eight Jewish kings reigned and the Edomites themselves did not even have a king. [Edom had lost its independence, as Rashi elaborates on 36,31 at the end of Parshat Vayishlach.] The Romans believed that Isaac's warning had been fulfilled when the first Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people endured 70 years of exile. Even after the rebuilding of the Temple five major manifestations of G–d's Presence in their land were never regained. Because of this the Romans were sure that the star of Israel was in permanent decline. They viewed the 70 years of exile as the reversal of the seventy years that David and Solomon ruled over greater Israel in all its glory.[I do not quite understand that figure. According to our best known sources that period was at least 73 years. Maybe David's reign is counted only after the capture of Jerusalem. Ed.]