Yakov was preparing for the greatest challenge of his life. He was entering the land of Mitzrayim, a land known for its perversions and immorality. He was doing so with his entire family, some 70 people. And somehow, he strategized, he would manage to keep his family loyal to Hashem and to His code of morality.

The Torah tells us that the first thing Yakov did as he approached Mitzrayim was to send Yehuda ahead to found a yeshiva. Apparently Yakov understood that by establishing a place of Torah study, his family would be able to stay loyal to the legacy. Through their experiences in the yeshiva they would have the ability to stand up to the challenges of the life he anticipated for them in the midst of Egyptian culture.

But I believe that Yakov’s strategy was even greater.

Our father Yakov knew that some of his descendents would stray from tradition. He knew that some would become very distant in their lifestyles from the legacy that he taught.  And so Yakov created a safety-net, a place that would be untainted by deviancy. To this sacred place people would be able to return whenever they would be ready.

Recently I experienced some significant computer problems that seemed to be attributable to a computer virus. After running a number of “cure” programs, it became clear to me that I wouldn’t really have confidence in the computer unless I cleaned it in a more thorough way. It was then that I decided to do a system restore. You see, although the computer is very versatile and allows you to progress smoothly with downloads of programs and it readily integrates them into the system, there remains an option to restore the computer to the settings of an earlier date, pre-downloads, if that should be necessary. In fact, it is even possible to tap into a specific, “hidden”, section in the computer’s memory called, “Restore Factory Settings,” by which the computer can be restored to the way that it was when you first opened the packaging, well before the contamination occurred.

Perhaps this is one aspect of Yakov’s strategy as he and his family entered Mitzrayim. He knew that some of his descendents would stray during the decades- long exile, and he wanted to afford them a opportunity of “System Restore,” should it be necessary. Even before they set foot as a family into the country, he instructed Yehuda to create a yeshiva, a safe haven for the teachings and the legacy of his family. This way, if anyone should ever need to, they could enter the yeshiva and regain their moorings despite the challenges that they previously endured.

I recall one particular young man who came in one evening to study Torah. He described himself as coming from a totally assimilated family (his siblings had all intermarried), but he came with the one religious book that the family still owned, a Chumash/ Bible.

We studied regularly for awhile, until one day he expressed a sadness that his personal legacy was broken and that he was starting a Torah family without a personal legacy. I told him that there was a much more optimistic way to look at his renewed interest in Torah study and observance. “You see,” I told him, “Even though your family got caught up the momentum of assimilation, they still held onto the Chumash/ Bible that you brought with you when we first met. Although their lifestyle was very different than what is described in the Chumash, and they didn’t keep Shabbos or Kosher, for example, but they still held onto the awareness that what is contained in that Chumash is special, true, and holy. Essentially what you are doing is a “System Restore- Factory Settings,” using the very book that they bequeathed to you as your legacy.”

The role of the yeshiva that Yakov founded was not just a place to study during his family’s stay in Egypt. The yeshiva that Yakov founded was a place to preserve the original legacy of his people. Even if some people would stray, they would always tell their children, “Yes, that legacy is holy. Explore it, and trust what you discover in it.”

When a person returns to that legacy, they aren’t starting out on their own. They are actually taking advice from their parents, grand-parents, or great-grandparents who told them, “The Torah is true. If you need to, use it to do a ‘System Restore,’ and you will be able to continue the legacy that we bequeath to you.”