בראשית

זבולון לחוף ימים ישכון. סדר השבטים בכאן על סדר הנכון כפי תולדותם והששה הראשונים בני לאה, וסדר כאחד דן וגד ואשר ונפתלי שהם בני השפחות ואחר סדר יוסף ובנימין שהם בני רחל, והיה ראוי להקדים יששכר לזבולן לפי שיששכר נולד תחלה אבל הקדים זבולון מפני שתורתו של יששכר על ידו, וכן הקדימו משה רע"ה (דברים ל״ג:י״ח) שמח זבולון בצאתך ויששכר באהליך.

זבולון לחוף ימים ישכון, “Zevulun will reside along the coast of the seas, etc.” The order in which the names of the tribes are listed here corresponds to the order of their births The first six sons being blessed are the sons of Leah; they are followed by the list of the four sons born to the servant-maids, i.e. Dan, Gad, Asher and Naftali. They are followed by the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Binyamin. Actually, according to this principle, Issachar should have received his blessing before Zevulun, seeing that he was senior to him. However, Yaakov blessed Zevulun first as he foresaw that Issachar’s Torah study was due to Zevulun who provided for him so that Issachar did not have to worry about making a living. When we look at the order in which Moses blessed the tribes prior to his own death, we find that he too blessed Zevulun ahead of Issachar (Deut. 33 18).

וטעם לחוף ימים ישכון, על חוף ימים תהא ארצו ושם יהיה מצוי תדיר שהרי הוא עוסק בפרקמטיא וממציא מזון לשבט יששכר העוסקין בתורה, ונמצא זכותו של זבלון גדול לפי שהוא הסבה לתורתו של יששכר, וזהו שכתוב (קהלת ז׳:י״ב) כי בצל החכמה בצל הכסף, מלת בצל מלשון אצילות ובאורו אצילות החכמה מתקיימת באצילות הכסף, ומן הטעם הזה הקדים הכתוב זבלון ליששכר.

The meaning of the words לחוף ימים ישכון is that seeing that his territory will be alongside the sea he will be near the sea constantly and will engage in maritime pursuits. His commercial activities will provide for his brother Issachar also, enabling him to pursue his Torah studies without financial worry. Zevulun’s share in the merit of Issachar’s Torah will be so great that we apply to it the verse in Kohelet 7,12: “to be in the צל of wisdom is to be also in the צל of money.” Normally, we would translate the word צל as “shadow.” In this instance we have to consider the word as derived from אצילות, “nobility,” something transcendent,” an emanation. The meaning would be that the emanation “wisdom” can be maintained by means of the nobility of the money. Using money to enable Torah to be studied ennobles the money itself, makes into something of transcendental significance, something of enduring value.

ויש לך להשכיל כי זבלון ירמוז לקו האמצעי המחבר מעלה ומטה וזהו לחוף ימים כלשון (בראשית א׳:י׳) ולמקוה המים קרא ימים והוא כלשון (תהילים י״ט:ו׳) והוא כחתן יוצא מחופתו וזה מבואר.

It is important to understand that the very name Zevulun alludes to what is called the קו האמצאי, the “middle line,” i.e. the line that forms the connection between the terrestrial and celestial world. This is why he is described as residing (being at home) לחוף הימים, at the beach of the seas. The wordימים appears in Genesis 1,10 ולמקוה המים קרא ימים, “and the accumulation of water he called seas, or oceans.” The word חוף is connected to חופה, the wedding canopy. Zevulun is viewed as the groom who emerges from his wedding canopy when he engages in commerce to supply his brother Issachar with the necessary funds to study Torah. No wonder then that he enjoys precedence over his older brother.