אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף בן שבע עשרה שנה היה רועה את אחיו בצאן וגו'. רועה היינו מייחד ומחבר ומקשר מלשון אחוה ורעות, ולכך נקרא רועה צאן בלשון רועה על שם שהוא מייחד ומחבר הצאן אל מקום אחד שלא יתפזרו אנה ואנה, וזהו שאמר שהיה מייחד את אחיו היינו כל ישראל וניצוצי השכינה כביכול, הכל היה מעלה ומתקן אותם על ידי יחודים קדושים שעשה בצאן, קבלתי מזה מאדוני אבי זקיני זלה"ה כי צאן הוא יחוד: (דגל מחנה אפרים פ' וישב).
These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph was seventeen years old, and shepherded the flock with his brothers. (Genesis 37:2) The word “shepherd” (ro’eh) implies “to unite, join or link together,” as in the words “brotherliness” and “friendship.”1The Hebrew word ro’eh is grammatically connected to the word for “friendship” – re’ut. A shepherd is called a ro’eh because he brings the flock together in one place, lest they become scattered. Thus, Joseph united his brothers – that is, all of Israel and the sparks of the Divine Presence.2The concept of mystical unifications – yichudim – is one of the central teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, and operates on many levels. The basic level is the recognition of the presence of the Creator in all aspects of creation, be they physical, emotional, conceptual, and even spiritual. Thus, the Baal Shem Tov said: “Whatever you see – remember G-d. If you feel love, remember the love of G-d. If you experience fear, recall the fear of G-d. Even when you go to the bathroom, think to yourself, I am removing the bad from the good, so that the good will remain in the service of G-d. This is the meaning of unification” (Tzivos HaRivash, p.3b). On a deeper level, it means the mystical recombination of the letters of creation, especially in prayer and Torah study, that can produce a revelation of the Divine Oneness in the world. In the verse above, the Baal Shem Tov is saying that Joseph, who represents the Tzaddik, is able to see the divinity in each Jew, and through this, uplift all of Israel to the Father in Heaven. Alternatively, Joseph could see the Hebrew letters that constitute all of reality, and combine them in patterns that would reveal the Divine Presence in creation. He uplifted and repaired all of them by means of the holy mystical unifications that he performed. He did this with the “flock,” which implies Unifications.3The three letters of the Hebrew word for flock, tzon, can be divided into tz-o (tzade aleph), whose numerical value is 91, and nun. The number 91 is also the numerical value (gematria) of two of G-d’s holy names together – the Tetragrammaton, Y-H-V-H (26), and the name Ado-nai (65). The union of these names represents the complete integration of the spiritual and the physical, from the first emanations from G-d, until malchus, the world in which we live. (See Likutey Moharan I:66.) The letter nun usually represents the world of Binah, which corresponds to the revelation of the world-to-come, and is the sefirah through which Divine blessing flows into the world. All this is alluded to in the word tzon – the union of G-d’s two names, which leads to a subsequent outflow of blessing in the world. Thus, R. Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye writes, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: “A human being in this world is composed of matter and form (i.e., the material and the spiritual), and through him, the lower world and the upper world are joined, and a union is created between the two names Y-H-V-H and Ado-nai, which have the numerical value of 91, from the world tzon. Whereas the effluence that pours forth from there is the expansion of the nun” (Tzafna Paneach, Teruma). It is also possible that the Baal Shem Tov uses the term tzon to represent this idea, because a flock is a group of animals that are joined together, and convey the idea of union. Furthermore, the word tzon is from the Hebrew word tze, which means “to go out,” and represents the idea of that which emanates from a source. (See Torah Ohr, by the Ba’al HaTanya, VaYetze, p. 23c, who discusses this idea). Degel Machane Ephraim, Vayeshev
אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף בן שבע עשרה שנה היה רועה את אחיו בצאן וגו'. רועה היינו מייחד ומחבר ומקשר מלשון אחוה ורעות, ולכך נקרא רועה צאן בלשון רועה על שם שהוא מייחד ומחבר הצאן אל מקום אחד שלא יתפזרו אנה ואנה, וזהו שאמר שהיה מייחד את אחיו היינו כל ישראל וניצוצי השכינה כביכול, הכל היה מעלה ומתקן אותם על ידי יחודים קדושים שעשה בצאן, קבלתי מזה מאדוני אבי זקיני זלה"ה כי צאן הוא יחוד:
(דגל מחנה אפרים פ' וישב).
These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph was seventeen years old, and shepherded the flock with his brothers. (Genesis 37:2)
The word “shepherd” (ro’eh) implies “to unite, join or link together,” as in the words “brotherliness” and “friendship.”1The Hebrew word ro’eh is grammatically connected to the word for “friendship” – re’ut. A shepherd is called a ro’eh because he brings the flock together in one place, lest they become scattered. Thus, Joseph united his brothers – that is, all of Israel and the sparks of the Divine Presence.2The concept of mystical unifications – yichudim – is one of the central teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, and operates on many levels. The basic level is the recognition of the presence of the Creator in all aspects of creation, be they physical, emotional, conceptual, and even spiritual. Thus, the Baal Shem Tov said: “Whatever you see – remember G-d. If you feel love, remember the love of G-d. If you experience fear, recall the fear of G-d. Even when you go to the bathroom, think to yourself, I am removing the bad from the good, so that the good will remain in the service of G-d. This is the meaning of unification” (Tzivos HaRivash, p.3b). On a deeper level, it means the mystical recombination of the letters of creation, especially in prayer and Torah study, that can produce a revelation of the Divine Oneness in the world. In the verse above, the Baal Shem Tov is saying that Joseph, who represents the Tzaddik, is able to see the divinity in each Jew, and through this, uplift all of Israel to the Father in Heaven. Alternatively, Joseph could see the Hebrew letters that constitute all of reality, and combine them in patterns that would reveal the Divine Presence in creation. He uplifted and repaired all of them by means of the holy mystical unifications that he performed. He did this with the “flock,” which implies Unifications.3The three letters of the Hebrew word for flock, tzon, can be divided into tz-o (tzade aleph), whose numerical value is 91, and nun. The number 91 is also the numerical value (gematria) of two of G-d’s holy names together – the Tetragrammaton, Y-H-V-H (26), and the name Ado-nai (65). The union of these names represents the complete integration of the spiritual and the physical, from the first emanations from G-d, until malchus, the world in which we live. (See Likutey Moharan I:66.) The letter nun usually represents the world of Binah, which corresponds to the revelation of the world-to-come, and is the sefirah through which Divine blessing flows into the world. All this is alluded to in the word tzon – the union of G-d’s two names, which leads to a subsequent outflow of blessing in the world. Thus, R. Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye writes, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: “A human being in this world is composed of matter and form (i.e., the material and the spiritual), and through him, the lower world and the upper world are joined, and a union is created between the two names Y-H-V-H and Ado-nai, which have the numerical value of 91, from the world tzon. Whereas the effluence that pours forth from there is the expansion of the nun” (Tzafna Paneach, Teruma). It is also possible that the Baal Shem Tov uses the term tzon to represent this idea, because a flock is a group of animals that are joined together, and convey the idea of union. Furthermore, the word tzon is from the Hebrew word tze, which means “to go out,” and represents the idea of that which emanates from a source. (See Torah Ohr, by the Ba’al HaTanya, VaYetze, p. 23c, who discusses this idea).
Degel Machane Ephraim, Vayeshev