When Yaakov meets Aisav he says (Bereishis 33,9) “Yesh Li Kol” I have everything and Aisav responds “Yesh Li Rov” I have much. What does it mean that Yaakov has everything? Yaakov in his declaration was not referring to possessions of the physical. Chazal themselves state that if a person has one hundred he desires two hundred, if he possesses two hundred he wants four hundred. In physical matters, one can never have everything for he always will feel a lack and thirst for more. Yaakov was referring to spiritual items each of which is eternal and never-ending. Half of infinite is infinite. In spiritual matters, Yaakov correctly says I have it all.
In the physical world, there is one item that is measured in quality alone and not quantity, weight or function ability. If one possesses even the smallest amount, it is considered as if he has everything. The “everything factor” under discussion is the element of fire. If one possesses even the smallest fire with it he can destroy the world. The size of the fire that he possesses is irrelevant, for the tinniest fire can achieve total destruction equal to the most quantitative fire that one possesses.
Torah is compared to fire for if one has דעת he lacks nothing and if he doesn’t possess דעת he is lacking everything. דעת קנית מה חסרת דעת חסרת מה קנית(Nedarim 51, Vayikra Rabba 1,6). The greater degree of דעת that one possesses the more intimate relationship one bonds with Hashem and the unlimited infinite. He has contact with כל. The colossal physical cannot compare itself to the smallest mitzvah. The material object has its limitation in time and space not so with the spiritual acquisitions.
Before the coming of Moshiach, Chazal describe the state of being with an analogy. It is compared to a camel laden with an oversized load of flax protruding on both sides that it cannot enter the stable. The blacksmith wonders, how does one bring the camel into the stable. There was a wise man nearby and he suggests that one spark that comes from the coals of the blacksmith can rid the camels of their flax. Aisav’s technological culture and secular wisdom fills the world and hijacks man’s interest and ambition, leaving hardly any room for the wisdom of Moshiach to enter or penetrate. Yet one spark of Yaakov’s Torah can remove all the flax that exists. The Torah of Moshiach is so lofty and of such pure quality that it can make decades of all the physical quantities of accumulated falsehood vanish in a moment. והיה בית יעקב אש ובית יוסף להבה ובית עשו לקש (Rashi Bereishis 37).
Aisav claims he has רב, the relationship to the external world of quantity, the פשתן וקש, the flax and straw. Yaakov relates to the כל, the ruchniyus of the world and the next. The body is nothing without the soul. Wisdom about an external world alone is no match against the strength of emunah and wisdom that is gleaned from Torah and from two worlds.
The Chazal tell us (Baba Basra 16b) that כל describes עולם הבא the infinite world to come שלשה הטעימן הקב”ה בעולם הזה מעין העולם הבא אלו הן אברהם יצחק ויעקב אברהם דכתיב ביה בכל יצחק דכתיב ביה מכל יעקב דכתיב ביה כל. Even in this world one is enabled to taste Olam Haba like the Avos, to experience the infinite in the finite. The name ישראל contains the word אש. Part and parcel of our name is the quality of the element of אש that possesses the characteristic of כל as we explained above. The Mekubalim write that the acronym of the Ten Sefiros add up to ישראל: כתר חכמה בינה חסד גבורה תפארת נצח הוד יסוד מלכות. Yisrael is only five letters yet it contains the entire spectrum of the conduits through which Hashem sustains the Four Worlds Asiya, Yetzirah, Beriah, and Atzilus. The name ישראל also possesses the acronym of all the Avos and the Imahos: The letter yud of Yisrael is the acronym of יצחק and יעקב, the letter sin of Yisrael is the first letter of שרה, the letter raish is the first letter of רבקה and רחל, the letter aleph is אברהם, and the letter lamid is לאה. This conveys that every Yid has the ability of the Avos to experience the כל of Olam Habah in Olam Hazeh.
The name ישראל is only a five-letter word yet it has the quality of אש that even this small amount possesses כל. This is what we attest to in the הרחמן at the conclusion of the Birkas Hamazon הרחמן הוא יברך אותנו כמו שנתברכו אבותינו אברהם יצחק ויעקב בכל מכל כל כן יברך אותנו כולנו כאחד בברכה שלימה. We don’t have to wait for Moshiach to dispel the darkness of falsehood in the world. We can infuse the light of Olam Haba into this world through the virtuousness and righteousness in our daily lives.
All Detergent says it All. The more one cleanses away the dirt, earthliness, and body experiences the closer one comes to הכל.
Soon the days of Chanukah will be upon us. These days are called in piyut Moaz Tzur ימי שמונה בני בינה “days of eight” and not שמונה ימים eight days. “Days of eight” doesn’t describe the quantity of the duration of Chanukah but rather that each day of Chanukah relates to the quality of number eight which the Maharal explains symbolizes the supernatural. The fire of the miracle of Chanukah was the supernatural fire like the miracle of the burning bush that Moshe Rabbeinu witnessed seeing that this heavenly fire does not consume but just lights. הסנה איננו אכל the bush was not consumed. Heavenly fire does not consume but rather enlightens. The term אכל has the letter א and the word כל. It was a fire sent from the אלופו של עולם Hashem, with the quality of כל Olam Habah. It represents the light of the Torah which was victorious over the light of secular wisdom of the Greeks. This light of the Menorah was a כל light, an Olam Habah light without the normal boundaries that limit a natural fire. It was a fire that stemmed from our Holy Torah that one day will enlighten Olam Hazeh with the recognition of אין עוד מלבדו
