Dear Friends,
In his famous speech in Stamford University, Steve Jobs said, “Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there.” In this week’s Parasha we find a person who got to heaven without dying. When Yaakov came in to serve his father delicacies in order to receive the blessings that were intended for Esav, Yitzchak said, “See, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that Hashem has blessed.” What is the “fragrance of the field”? Says Rashi: “That teaches us that the fragrance of Gan Eden (heaven) came in with him.” How did this work? How did Yaakov have the fragrance of Gan Eden while still in this world? Or, in other words, what was this Gan Eden that Yaakov carried around with him?
It seems that not only Yaakov, but every one of us can walk around with Gan Eden attached. After the Ba’al HaTanya, in Letter no. 27, determines that Gan Eden is not somewhere up above or in outer space, but rather in this world, the one we’re living in. He says, “It is known what our Sages said about Yaakov Avinu a”h, that Gan Eden came in with him… that the air of Gan Eden spreads out around every person, and in this air are all his good thoughts and words of Torah and service of Hashem (and the opposite as well etc.).” In simple words, the atmosphere and aura around a person could be heavenly, or the opposite; it depends on what the person has injected into the space around him. Yaakov created a Gan Eden around himself, and that was the fragrance. Yitzchak, who was of similar makeup, knew how to identify this pure, wonderful fragrance.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski