A guest post by Rabbi Aaron Fink (my father), Dean of Ateres Bais Yaakov on Monsey NY. Part of a weekly Dvar Torah (Torah “Thought”) series.

Yetzias Tzaddik Oseh Roshum

Vayeitzei Yaakov. We are familiar with the famous Rashi, which explains that the word vayeitze teaches us a very special lesson. Really, the parsha could have started with vayeilech Charana. However, by commencing with the word vayeitzei, we learn that yetzias tzaddik oseh roshum. When a tzaddik leaves town it makes an impression – while the tzaddik is in town, he is its pride and splendor. When he leaves the city, its pride and splendor are diminished.

On a practical level it is important to remember that one can never overestimate the impact of the tzaddik on his community. The kedusha of his Torah, mitzvos and maasim tovim permeate the very atmosphere we breathe. The town is different. The hashgocha pratis is more personal. And the hashpa’ah of the tzaddik on our own maasim is immeasurable. Still one cannot help but wonder, why is this lesson being taught here and now? The Torah records that both Avraham and Yitzchok Avinu left their respective communities on more than one occasion. Why is Yaakov Avinu’s departure more significant?

One beautiful pshat was conveyed to this writer by his son learning in kollel in Eretz Yisrael. He remarked that the Yaakov Avinu’s departure was different. Of course the exit of Avraham and Yitzchok from their places of residence had a significant impact in the community. Avraham and Yitzchok were both icons of Torah ugedulah who were renowned for their immense personal wealth and civic impact in their respective dwelling places. Who wouldn’t notice the exodus of such great and famous people and the disappearance of their homes of Torah and chessed from the neighborhood?

But Yaakov Avinu was different. Yaakov was the ish tam yosheiv ohalim. He was still a bochur. He wasn’t out there in the world of outreach and chessed. Nor was he involved in askanus and shtadlanus for the klal. At this point in his life he was living in relative obscurity, he was just sitting, learning and shteiging! He was preparing for our future!

The Torah is being michadesh that yitzeas Tzaddik oseh roshum is not just for the headliners, those gedolim whom we know and venerate. When the unheralded tzaddik, the one who is totally committed to his learning and growth in yiras shamayim leaves town, it also makes a difference.

We may not know why things have suddenly changed but yitzeas Tzaddik oseh roshum, his departure leaves a profound impression. Moreover, we are being taught that this unknown tzaddik, this masmid and oveid Hashem who is serving the Ribbon Shel Oam bkol kochosav is the one who is really the hod, hadar v’zivah of his community. Unfortunately, he may not be appreciated or even recognized until he has departed.

This should provide us with a mussar haskeil. There are so many young couples, Avreichim and their wives, who follow the path of Yaakov Avinu, as ish tam yosheiv ohalim. They are mosser nefesh for learning. They are totally devoted to their own growth and the vitality of Klal Yisrael’s future through talmud Torah – sometimes in places very far from home. They are unheralded tzaddikim and we should never forget that through their learning, they are oseh roshum, they are making a difference for us all.

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4. A Good Man Never Rests – Drasha Vayeshev
5. The Jewish Home – In Memory of The Holzbergs Formerly of Mumbai | Drasha Vayetze 2009