Psachya Yitzchok

While the decision to write up our thinking about the name Yochanan Meir was inspired by the extraordinary circumstances surrounding our choice of that name, it does not seem just to have a post for one son without making a similar attempt for our equally beloved bechor. As such, on the occasion of his second birthday (a tashlumin, properly Adar I), an attempt to recall and recapitulate:

As noted, Psachya Yitzchok's birth was, for us, a time of gilui panim, revelation and miracles. True, there were attendant tzaros, but all precisely calibrated to highlight the tremendous chasadim. The labor was long, painful, and dangerous; could we fail to see the hand of Hashem when it ended suddenly, at the break of dawn, narrowly avoiding serious complications? We were discharged Friday afternoon, and sent back to the hospital Sunday morning; could there be a clearer reminder that our ability to have our first Shabbos as a family together in our own home was a pure gift from shomayim? Days before the bris our mohel was convinced we would need to postpone; when we welcomed Psachya into the covenant of Avraham Avinu on the eighth day, could we take it for granted as the natural course? Psachya means "God opened," and that is certainly how we felt.

Of course, our intention is that the name Psachya should refer not just to that opening, but to the complete relationship with Hashem characterized thereby, including our reception and acceptance thereof. Megillas Esther 9:27 begins with the words, "kiyemu vekiblu", they upheld and they received; Chazal teach that Purim was the time that the revelation and covenant of Sinai -- initially accepted through force majeure in the wake of awesome and irresistible miracles -- was finally ratified through love. Psachya was born in the period extending from Purim Koton to Purim, and so we sought to connect to the koach of that time by naming him after Mordechai HaTzadik, who is identified in the Gemara (Menachos 65a) with Psachya al hakinnim. Why, asks the Gemara, was he called Psachya? Because he was "poseach dvorim vedorshan," he would open matters and investigate them. In plain context, this relates to his role "al hakinnim," handling the transactions when those in need came to have a bird brought as a sacrifice on their behalf: that he was exceptional in having the care, patience, and discernment to fully understand each person's need and intent, ensuring that their sacrifice was brought correctly. This particular context brings together two general qualities central to Mordechai that are hinted at in those three words: 'avodah on behalf of klal Yisroel, and Talmud Torah. Mordechai is constantly described as sitting at the gate of the king, and stam "king" can be read as Hashem throughout the megillah, and the pesicha, opening, of the gates (of heaven, of prayer, of repentance, of mercy, etc. etc.) is one of the central images of 'avodah throughout our liturgy; the final verse of the megillah describes him as doresh tov le'amo, seeking good for his people. Talmud Torah is even more explicitly referenced, as pesicha, opening with a verse, and drasha, the following investigation and interpretation, characterize the classical form of commentary. We wish for Psachya Yitzchok that he, like this namesake, should always find and bring out the good, from the heights of heaven to the simple words of a humble soul to the depths of the most profund and difficult sugyos.

Yitzchok, too, continues these themes in reference to Yitzchok Avinu. Yitzchok actively accepted all the Torah of Avraham Avinu, rebuilding it according to his own middah without distorting it in any way. Like the kiyemu vekiblu of Purim, this gave a permanence and power of renewal that had been lacking until then. As the Torah puts it, Yitzchok re-dug the wells of Avraham and gave them the same names; Avraham's wells were stopped up, Yitzchok's endured. Yitzchok also symbolizes both Torah and 'avodah on behalf of Klal Yisroel. The Tur connects Yitzchok to chag haShavuos, zman Matan Toraseinu. The Maharal on Avos connects Yitzchok to 'amud ha'avodah, as the 'olah temimah who was makriv himself at the 'akeidah, and the Gemara in Shabbos 89b teaches that this allowed him to seek clemency for Klal Yisroel where the other Avos could not or would not. The particular symbolism of Torah and 'avodah associated with Yitzchok Avinu also furthers the theme of pesicha and derisha: his Torah, as noted, is strongly associated with the image of the well; and his makom 'avodah is the sadeh, the field. Both wells and fields share the quality that their true value is hidden beneath the surface, requiring labor in pesicha and derisha in bringing it forth. We wish for Psachya Yitzchok that he, like this namesake, should put his whole soul into his Torah and 'avodah, so that he can accept all that the tradition has to offer him and make it entirely his own.

Psachya Yitzchok is also named for two later Yitzchoks whose writings have deeply influenced me: Don Yitzchok Abarbanel, whose commentary on the Chumash is a masterful guide in how to read, clearly highlighting a sample of the sort of questions that ought to stand out to a careful reader at any level, and walking through addressing them while integrating a reverence for tradition with confident application of reason and personal judgement. And Rav Yitzchok Hutner, whose Pachad Yitzchok gives me a taste of another layer of the depths of Torah, bringing profound concepts from a diyuk on a few words in the rabbinic corpus, the sort of questions I might not be able to ask (let alone attempt to answer) without a great deal more erudition. We hope for Psachya Yitzchok that he, like these namesakes, should share his wisdom and understanding with all those whose hearts are open to learn.

Psachya Yitzchok was born on the 22nd day of the twelfth month, in the week of parshas Vayakhel with the oft-paired parshas Pekudei in the week of his bris. Vayakhel-Pekudei, concluding Sefer Shemos with the account of the completion of the mishkan following Matan Torah, is the ultimate paradigm of the relationship that is active reception of Hashem's revelation. It also contains several noteworthy uses of the root of pesicha; the gate from the courtyard into the heikhal is also called pesach ha-ohel, the opening of the tent, from which we learn that the korban tamid and shelamim can only be brought when the entrance is open, extending the paradigm from the time of construction forward to all generations. There are three inscriptions on the garments of the kohein gadol: the names of the tribes on the shoham stones of the ephod on his shoulders, the names again on the avnei miluim of the choshen mishpat over his heart, and "Kodesh LaShem", sanctified to Hashem, on the tzitz on his forehead. In each case, the inscribing is described as "pituchei chosam", the openings of a seal. The Vilna Gaon teaches that chosam here is an abbreviation of chiya, techiyas ha-meisim, and matar -- birth, resurrection of the dead, and rain, the three keys that Hashem keeps. The month of Adar is associated in Sefer Yetzirah with tzchok, laughter, the root of Yitzchok. 22 naturally represents the 22 letters of the aleph-beis through which the Torah was given and the world created, corresponding to the revelation of Torah and our response echoing maaseh bereishis in the construction of the mishkan. Twelve naturally corresponds to the twelve tribes, and so to the extension of that response to echo maaseh merkava in the order of the camp around the mishkan. We hope for Psachya Yitzchok that he should build himself into a fit dwelling for the Shechina.