Transcript
Okay, Boker tov, good morning everyone. I want to thank the sponsors of our פרשה parsha class this morning, Hadas and רב Rav Summers in memory of her beloved niece, נופר בת אורית Nufar bat Orit, commemoration of her fifth יארצייט yahrtzeit. Her נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah through our learning. And of course, we dedicate our learning as well, אחינו כל בית ישראל achaynu kol beit Yisrael, our brothers and sisters in Israel, who are sitting under a barrage of rockets, something no country in the entire planet would ever tolerate. And we hope and pray, and we hope the merit of our Torah learning this morning protects them and brings a true and lasting peace to them and to the whole world.We have the privilege this morning of studying פרשת ויצא Parshas Vayeitzei. And literally this פרשה parsha, as I say every week, picks up where the last one left off. יעקב Yaakov was on the run. He was deceptive, he stole the ברכה bracha from his father. We discussed it at length last week. And יעקב Yaakov has to flee. His brother עשיו Esav is in pursuit of him. And יעקב Yaakov, the איש תם יושב אוהלים ish tam yoshev ohalim, יעקב Yaakov the pure, innocent man who sat dwelling in tents, now is forced to run out of the tent, to leave the tent, to flee, to run for his life. He's proven. יצחק Yitzchak loved עשיו Esav more than him. We spoke about this last week. Because יצחק Yitzchak predicted who would be the one who had the tenacity, who had the strength, the resolve to confront the forces of this world, to persevere and to continue the legacy. All the evidence pointed to the fact that it would be עשיו Esav. רבקה Rifka told him, no, you're wrong, you're underestimating your יעקב Yaakov. יצחק Yitzchak wouldn't hear it. So רבקה Rifka orchestrates things for יעקב Yaakov to in fact prove it to her father, to his father. יעקב Yaakov deceives his own father, proves he can even confront a manipulative world, and now he received the ברכה bracha. Again, we explained last week, that is why יצחק Yitzchak isn't angry at יעקב Yaakov. He gives him another ברכה bracha before he leaves. It explains why יצחק Yitzchak and רבקה Rifka, their marriage doesn't fall apart as a result of this deception. Because יצחק Yitzchak is grateful to have his eyes opened to the fact that יעקב Yaakov is in fact his rightful inheritor of his of his legacy. But the consequence is, in the whole story, רבקה Rifka's happy, she orchestrates things, she gets the way she wants. יעקב Yaakov is the one. יצחק Yitzchak's happy, he's learned, his eyes have been opened, figuratively because he's blind, but his eyes have become opened to the fact that יעקב Yaakov is the true inheritor of his legacy. Who's the one who's not happy? עשיו Esav is terribly unhappy, and expresses the unhappiness in the pursuit of trying to kill יעקב Yaakov. So this איש תם יושב אוהלים ish tam yoshev ohalim, this innocent young man, not so young, יעקב Yaakov, who's been characterized and defined by his living in tents. By the way, why was it יושב אוהלים yoshev ohalim? Not יושב אוהל yoshev ohel? He sat in a tent. Why more than one tent? רש\"י Rashi said last week, שם ועבר Shem v'Ever. He went to two בתי מדרש batei midrash. He learned a little bit by שם Shem, he learned a little bit by עבר Ever. He learned a little bit here, he learned a little bit there. Why? Why? One was greater than the other. What right did he have to go to the lesser ישיבה yeshiva? And why do you have to switch ישיבות yeshivas to begin with? רב ברוך דב פוברסקי Rav Boruch Dov Povarsky, the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of פוניבז' Ponovezh says, you see that you have to be a מבקש mevakeish, you have to want to learn. יעקב Yaakov, he wasn't satisfied by locking himself into one דרך derech, one השקפה hashkafa, one בית מדרש beit midrash. He was יושב אוהלים yoshev ohalim. He went to different בתי מדרש batei midrash, he attended different ישיבות yeshivas, he exposed himself to different רבנים rabbanim. He learned from different ספרים sfarim. If we want to see a סימן ברכה siman bracha in our learning, the גמרא Gemara says in עבודה זרה Avodah Zarah, if you want a סימן ברכה siman bracha in your learning, you can't lock yourself into one רבי rebbi, one ראש ישיבה rosh yeshiva, one דרך הלימוד derech halimud, one השקפה hashkafa. You have to be willing to see the width and breadth of what's out there. שבעים פנים לתורה Shvi'im panim laTorah. And that was יעקב Yaakov. יעקב Yaakov had תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan translates, יעקב Yaakov had איש תם יושב אוהלים ish tam yoshev ohalim, the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan says he had a כח המבקש koach hamevakeish. He was in insatiable thirst for learning. So he didn't sit in one tent. It was יושב אוהלים yoshev ohalim. He was able to sit in many tents. He was exposed to many ways. But now he left the tent. The tent of עבר Ever, the tent of שם Shem, the tent of his father, the tent of his grandfather, all the בתי מדרש batei midrash, and he had to, he had to go on the road, because עשיו Esav's in pursuit. And that's how our פרשה parsha begins. ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע וילך חרנה Vayeitzei Yaakov mi'Be'er Sheva vayelech Charana. יעקב Yaakov leaves באר שבע Be'er Sheva. רש\"י Rashi the famous comment, חז\"ל Chazal tells us that when a person leaves a place, so his קדושה kedusha makes a רושם roshem. The presence of a person, of a of a noble, righteous person, of a virtuous person, when they leave, when they leave, that absence can be felt. You know the old יידיש Yiddish joke. How do you know יעקב Yaakov wore a hat? Says ויצא יעקב vayeitzei Yaakov, would יעקב Yaakov go out without a hat? It's יידיש הומור Yiddish humor, it's not mine, it's terrible, absolutely terrible. Okay, and you guys, you're an unkind audience. Okay. So יעקב Yaakov goes out, he's on the road, he has to leave the cocoon, he leaves the protection, he leaves the safety and security of his natural habitat, the בית מדרש beit midrash of his parents' home, and he's on the road. And what does he encounter on the road? ויפגע במקום Vayifga bamakom. He comes to… What's the מקום makom? No, no, no, don't give me any fancy translations. What does the word מקום makom mean? The place. That is a horrible description. The תורה Torah which is so eloquent and articulate and telling us details, here omits the detail. ויפגע Vayifga, he encounters there, the place. What do you mean מקום makom? That's the best we can do? He encounters holiness. We know where he is. Where is he? We did a פרשה parsha class on this a few years ago. Is he in בית אל Beit El? Is he in ירושלים Yerushalayim? Is the ladder taken him from one to the other? Where exactly is he is a discussion. If you go to the modern בית אל Beit El, which I encourage you to do, a beautiful יישוב yishuv, you'll see an enormous sign at the entrance of the יישוב yishuv that says this פסוק pasuk, ויפגע במקום vayifga bamakom, and it says, it says on this big sign at the entrance of בית אל Beit El, I was there. Don't think בית אל Beit El is a modern settlement, a settlement is an obstacle to peace, a settlement, settlement. says thousands of years ago, this is where יעקב Yaakov laid his weary head to rest, and this is where he had the dream of the ladder up and down. That's what it says on this sign. says, welcome to Boca Raton. Right? Welcome to Boca Raton. In בית אל Beit El, you could have a sign that references a פסוק pasuk and says, thousands of years ago, our great זיידע Zayda כאפט א גוטע שלאָף chapt a good shluf and had a געוואלדיגע חלום gevvaldige dream right here in this spot that you're visiting. Okay, now you can come into our יישוב yishuv. It's an unbelievable thing, an incredible thing. So where is this מקום makom? Not for now, but not entirely clear. There's debate. ירושלים Yerushalayim, בית אל Beit El, הר המוריה Har Hamoriah, where is it exactly? But my question is, why doesn't the תורה Torah tell us? Whatever it is, why not tell us? Why leave it so ambiguous, why leave it so so mysterious? ויפגע במקום Vayifga bamakom. He encountered the place. So I want to read to you the insight of Rabbi Soloveitchik. Rabbi Soloveitchik says, and this is important, that whenever you see the word מקום makom in the תורה Torah, what is it a reference to? What is it a name of? השם Hashem. It's a name of השם Hashem. But each name of השם Hashem is not synonymous. We have multiple names of השם Hashem that depict different relationships, connections, feelings we have with השם Hashem, towards השם Hashem, from השם Hashem. So the word מקום makom, what does it connote? I'll give you a hint. What do you say when you leave a שבעה shiva home after you've tried to comfort the mourner who's grieving, who's in pain? המקום ינחם אתכם Hamakom yenachem eschem. May the מקום makom, may השם Hashem provide you comfort. We have a similar, the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes when you visit a sick person. המקום Hamakom, השם Hashem should give you a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah. If you see somebody who's lost a precious object, they have something of great value that they can't find, המקום Hamakom. May השם Hashem comfort you, may השם Hashem help you find it. Why do we use the name מקום makom in those circumstances at those times? I'll throw in another one. Anyone remember when we use the word מקום makom at the סדר Seder? ברוך המקום ברוך הוא Baruch Hamakom Baruch Hu. What's ברוך המקום Baruch Hamakom? ברוך הוא Baruch Hu. Who's the הוא hu? השם Hashem. Who's the מקום makom? השם Hashem. So why are we invoking מקום makom at the סדר Seder? We see מקום makom in all these different scenarios. We see it here, ויפגע במקום vayifga bamakom. Says Rabbi Soloveitchik, the paradigmatic figure who found God despite his transcendence is the prophet יחזקאל Yechezkel. יחזקאל's Yechezkel's prophetic revelation took place not in the temple, nor even in the land of Israel, but rather in a concentration camp in the midst of the bitter Babylonian exile among the captives on the river. Yet despite the fact that it was a time of acute הסתר פנים Hester Panim, the heavens opened and יחזקאל Yechezkel saw visions of השם Hashem. When יחזקאל Yechezkel declared, what did he say? ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו Baruch kvod Hashem mimkomo. Blessed is the glory of השם Hashem from his place. He was referring to the huge distance between God and his people. יעקב Yaakov similarly encountered השם Hashem at a time of travail. Penniless, fleeing his brother on the road towards exile, יעקב Yaakov perceives השם Hashem as מקום makom. מקום Makom is the name of השם Hashem, says the רב Rav, when you feel distance, when you feel alienated, when you're struggling to feel close with השם Hashem, when you're suffering, when you're struggling, when you're wondering, does השם Hashem even notice me, does he care about me, is he involved in my life, does he hear my cries? Is he there? When you feel השם Hashem is at a distance, that's when we invoke the name for him, מקום makom. יחזקאל Yechezkel, ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו Baruch kvod Hashem mimkomo. ממקומו Mimkomo, even when there is a huge gap, an enormous divide, even when we're searching and we can't find השם Hashem, ברוך כבוד השם Baruch kvod Hashem, his glory is even from that place of hiddenness, even from that place of inaccessibility. Nevertheless, כבוד השם kvod Hashem, one finds the glory of השם Hashem. חז\"ל Chazal interpret the word מקום makom in the context of prayer, both in regard to יעקב Yaakov and אברהם Avraham. חז\"ל Chazal indicated that אברהם Avraham instituted שחרית shacharit, based on the verse, וישכם אברהם בבוקר אל המקום אשר עמד שם vayashkem Avraham baboker el hamakom asher amad sham. אברהם Avraham arose early in the morning where? To the מקום makom he had stood before. Based on the פסוק pasuk and the word מקום makom also appears, they suggest יעקב Yaakov instituted מעריב maariv. If if אברהם Avraham instituted שחרית shacharit because the פסוק pasuk says וישכם vayashkem he went to the מקום makom, that was שחרית shacharit, so he ויפגע במקום vayifga bamakom, he instituted מעריב maariv. My wife's ווארט vort, you know why יעקב Yaakov instituted מעריב maariv? Because there were twelve children to give baths and put to bed, so he instituted מנחה מעריב mincha maariv. I got to go to מנחה מעריב mincha maariv. I got to go to מעריב maariv. יעקב Yaakov instituted מעריב maariv. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. The word מקום makom has the connotation of an appointment, a date, a rendezvous at a certain place at a certain time. Prayer is a rendezvous with השם Hashem which ideally takes place at a specific time and specific place every day. So אברהם Avraham דאווענט davened מקום makom. Now, how did אברהם Avraham feel when he דאווענט davened, וישכם אברהם vayashkem Avraham and he דאווענט davened? What is it describe about the עקידה Akeida? וירא את המקום מרחוק Vayar es hamakom mei rachok. אברהם Avraham saw where he was meant to be, he saw where he was going with יצחק Yitzchak, but what did he feel about השם Hashem at that moment? וירא את המקום Vayar es hamakom. השם Hashem asked me to take my son and sacrifice him? I'll do it. I love השם Hashem, I'll do anything. But he felt השם Hashem at that moment was a מקום makom. וירא את המקום מרחוק Vayar es hamakom mei rachok. ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו Baruch kvod Hashem mimkomo. We say in קדושה Kedusha also, we say, איה מקום כבודו Ayay m'kom kvodo. My favorite קאצקער Kutzker. Every קאצקער Kutzker is my favorite קאצקער Kutzker. But this קאצקער Kutzker is among my favorite קאצקער Kutzker. קאצקער Kutzker says, איה מקום כבודו ayay m'kom kvodo. I love this, I think about it every קדושה Kedusha. Says the קאצקער Kutzker, you know where השם Hashem is found? איה Ayay. When you look for him. איה Ayay, when you ask, where is he? מקום כבודו M'kom kvodo, you found him. You've discovered him. Where is the place that השם Hashem's glory? איה Ayay. When you look for him, when you ask where is he, you've discovered him, מקום כבודו m'kom kvodo. So יעקב Yaakov, ויפגע במקום vayifga bamakom, you know why the תורה Torah doesn't tell us where it is? Because the geographic location is not important, the coordinates of where it is, they don't matter right now. What matters is יעקב Yaakov thinks, I don't know where השם Hashem is. Yeah, I just sat in tents my whole life, I've been in the בית מדרש beit midrash my entire life learning about him, but now I need him, and where is he? My brother's trying to kill me. I'm on the road. I'm heading towards exile, I've left my whole family and everyone I know in their safety and their security and their protection. I'm going to go live with this deceitful uncle. And he doesn't even know what's in store for him. For יעקב Yaakov, it's a period of הסתר פנים Hester Panim. He has no money, he doesn't have anything. And therefore, ויפגע במקום vayifga bamakom. He encounters השם Hashem who's at a distance from him. And yet what does he do? He introduces מעריב maariv. When do we recite מעריב maariv? At night. It's not a trick question. That's when you're quiet, that question you're all quiet? It's not a trick question. We דאווענען daven מעריב maariv at night. See, אברהם Avraham introduces שחרית shacharit. The sun is rising high in the sky, illuminating the world, it's a bright new day, it's filled and pregnant with possibility. And this brightness and warmth and perspectively, אברהם Avraham's looking forward to so much. Nighttime, night is how we describe a period of darkness, a period of night, a period of hiddenness. It requires us to have faith. You can't see what will be, you can't see what is. You may have suffered a difficult exile and a hard day. להגיד בבוקר חסדך ואמונתך בלילות L'hagid baboker chasdecha v'emunatcha baleilos. In the morning, בבוקר חסדך baboker chasdecha. להגיד בבוקר חסדך L'hagid baboker chasdecha. In the morning you talk about השם's Hashem's חסד chesed. Oh, what a חסד chesed, the day ahead of me, what's going to be, I have such opportunity, what a bright, beautiful, magnificent day. להגיד בבוקר חסדך L'hagid baboker chasdecha. ואמונתך בלילות V'emunatcha baleilos, but at night, it requires אמונה emunah. יעקב Yaakov institutes מעריב maariv when? When ויפגע במקום vayifga bamakom. It's the capacity to דאווענען daven even when השם Hashem feels like he's at a distance. For a Jew, השם Hashem is never too far away to reach out and grab onto him. Even when we struggle to feel his presence, even when it's in the בחינת מקום bachinus makom, even when it feels like השם Hashem is far, איה מקום כבודו Ayay m'kom kvodo. When we ask איה ayay, when we go on that search, when we look for him, when we say איה ayay, we've discovered him. That is how we turn him from מקום makom, from being at a distance to being where we are. And now you understand why יעקב Yaakov wakes up from this dream. He goes to sleep, he has a dream, we'll talk about it in a moment. סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה Sulam mutzav artza v'rosho magia hashamaima. He's got his ladder going up and going down. I was I I there was a hiatus, my שוואָגער shver's not here so I can't get in trouble. There was a hiatus when I was dating my wife, a little break. I didn't cause it. And I dated some I I went out with one other person in between. And the person who set me up with that girl said, she was just back from Israel, and she was this is how the שדכן shatchen described her to me. She was סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה sulam mutzav artza v'rosho magia hashamaima. She her head is in the clouds, but her feet are firmly planted on earth. You'll you'll be okay. Anyway, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, it all worked out. Anyway, so the the ladder is going up to heaven, it starts on earth. This is a lesson by the way for מחנכים mechanchim, for parents, that we have a responsibility as a מחנך mechanich, a רב rav, a parent, you can't be ראשו מגיע השמימה rosho magia hashamaima. Your head can't be in the clouds. You can't be so righteous, so holy, so knowledgeable, so in the clouds, so distant, so inaccessible, so so non-relatable. You have to find that balance. Parents, מחנכים mechanchim, רביים rebbeim, סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה sulam mutzav artza v'rosho magia hashamaima. To have your feet firmly planted on earth, even while you're touching the heavens, even while your head is going up to the heavens. יעקב Yaakov has his dream, we'll talk about it. I have a cousin who was here for the שמחה simcha last night was telling me in the middle of the night, his ווארט vort. So I was talking דברי תורה divrei Torah, my cousin Drew, that the ladder, if you think about it, the ladder exactly, it looks exactly like a strand of DNA. DNA is a ladder, it's the strand of DNA. And יעקב's Yaakov's dreaming the ladder is, he sees the God of his father. And how do we tap into the strength of what comes before us? The DNA literally represents who comes before us. DNA is our ancestry. It's pre-programmed within us based on the attributes of those who came before us. And that's what יעקב's Yaakov's dream was. There's a ladder. Yeah, you think you're going on your own? My head of a good cousin Drew was telling me. You think you're going on your own, יעקב Yaakov? You've left the house, you're exiled. You have a dream of a ladder. Know that you have DNA. You carry your father יצחק Yitzchak, your grandfather אברהם Avraham, their DNA is in you. And then he brought proof, my cousin. How do you know יעקב Yaakov is a geneticist? How do you know he's such an expert in DNA? Because what happens later in the פרשה parsha? When he's ready to say זיי געזונט zai gezunt to his שוואָגער shver, to his father. Now I'm on the father-in-law team, by the way. So I have to it's a whole other perspective. Gone are all those jokes. So, yesterday I came to the afternoon כולל kollel, someone said, ah, you don't look any more שוואָגער shver than yesterday. Anyway, so, so now I'm on a different team. So, but anyway, he's ready to say goodbye to his father-in-law. And he ends up staying and they come up with this business arrangement. And what does יעקב Yaakov do? Spotted and speckled and striped and all the different colored sheep. What does יעקב Yaakov manipulate? The genetics. He's a geneticist. יעקב Yaakov understands genetics. Where did he learn about genetics? Was תורה ומדע Torah Mada, ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever a תורה ומדע Torah Mada? I'm not taking a position on that. But how does יעקב Yaakov know genetics? Because he had a dream about a strand of DNA and the notion of how genetics work and what's what's inherited and so on and so forth. So he has this whole dream, the ladder up and down. ויפגע במקום Vayifga bamakom. He's running from his brother. He has no money. He fears he has no future. He wonders, where is השם Hashem? ויפגע במקום Vayifga bamakom, he doesn't encounter י-ה-ו-ה Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. He doesn't encounter אלהים Elokim. He doesn't encounter מדת הרחמים midas harachamim. He encounters מקום makom, the distant השם Hashem. And what does he wake up and say after this magnificent dream which we'll look at in a moment? What does he say? Amazing. He says, יש השם yesh Hashem where? במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי Bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati. במקום הזה Bamakom hazeh, even when I'm struggling, I'm suffering, even when I have uncertainty and anxiety and doubt, even when I don't see השם Hashem, where is the master plan? How is this going to work out? What's going to be? The בחינת מקום bachinus makom, I feel like השם Hashem is at a distance. He's inaccessible. Where is he? But יש השם במקום הזה yesh Hashem bamakom hazeh. Even in that place of מקום makom of distance, there's השם Hashem there as well. You could find השם Hashem even in that place. יש השם במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי Yesh Hashem bamakom hazeh v'anochi lo yadati. And that's what the רב Rav writes. השם's Hashem's revelation in the times of crisis from the depths of despair and distress is a basic principle of יהדות Yahadus. Sometimes God does not reveal himself to the contented soul. He reveals himself to the mute soul, battered by weariness and exertion. Sometimes השם Hashem reveals himself to one who grieves for the ruin of his temple and the destruction of his altars, while avoiding one who dedicates his temple and stands at the side of his offering. Sometimes he does not reveal himself to the rational individual, but to one who's confused about life, who's bankrupt and who's lost track of his world. From time to time, man's salvation comes out of distress. Even the most spiritually elevated members of the Jewish people first encountered their Lord at a time of raging fear, helplessness, or distraction when they were not anticipating such an encounter, were thoroughly surprised by it. יעקב Yaakov comes close to his God in a nocturnal dream while sleeping on the cold stones of the place. משה Moshe encounters the burning bush at a time when he's pasturing יתרו's Yisro's flock, entirely devoted to the simple everyday occupation. יחזקאל Yechezkel sees visions of השם Hashem in exile on the river at a time when the appearance of the presence full of quaking and horror, contradictions, the vision of the glorious future. Judaism is firmly established on the הלכתי halachic principle that even when man confronts an unchangeable evil decree from השם Hashem, even when his rejected prayers are thrown back in his face, he must see השם Hashem and conjoin with him in spite of the tragic reality that weighs him down. השם Hashem reveals himself through suffering and tragedy when the individual or the community is in trouble and distress. יש השם במקום הזה Yesh Hashem bamakom hazeh. ויפגע במקום Vayifga bamakom, he encountered השם Hashem who felt that a distance, and he found השם Hashem even in that place, even in that place. And then he wakes up and he says, מה נורא המקום הזה ma nora hamakom hazeh. And you know what? It's wondrous sometimes even to be in a state of מקום makom. To be in a state of discovery when השם Hashem is revealed and accessible, to be in a state of השם's Hashem's providence is felt intensely, that's great. But you know what? מה נורא המקום הזה Ma nora hamakom hazeh. It's also wondrous sometimes, sometimes you could find השם Hashem בחינת b'chinas in the period of מקום makom, in the period of of exile and helplessness and hopelessness. Sometimes that's exactly where you find השם Hashem. When you've reached your lowest point, that's exactly where you find him. That's the three weeks. כל רודפיה השיגוה בין המצרים Kol rofei yisigu bain hametzarim. All those who are chasing השם Hashem find him where? בין המצרים Bain hametzarim. Sometimes on a תשעה באב Tisha B'Av, you discover השם Hashem sitting on the floor more than you can even on the highest on the highest highs. So מקום הזה makom hazeh. To lean in, when השם Hashem feels far away and distant, sometimes you lean in. It's like every relationship. We always come back to this. The relationship with השם Hashem, our other relationships in life, are all a metaphor for that special relationship. And in relationships, sometimes it's in a moment of crisis that there can be a breakthrough that yields a closeness that was greater than even before the crisis. ויפגע במקום Vayifga bamakom. When the person feels far away, you know, the pain of the other feeling far away, the pain and the stress and the hurt of the absence of the other is exactly the means through which the healing can happen and the drawing close can can be restored and can actually even be better than it ever was before. So the whole opening of the פרשה parsha is this notion of מקום makom, of finding השם Hashem even when he feels like he is like he is far away. By the way, we're doing our overview of the פרשה parsha, and then we'll go into our specific פסוקים psukim. Hopefully, we'll get to them. But more about the overview of the פרשה parsha, because I think it's relevant. רב שכטר Rav Shechter, שליט\"א shlita, my רבי rebbi, in his ספר sefer on the פרשה parsha says the following. חז\"ל Chazal, בראשית רבה Breishis Rabba, פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei d'Rebbe Eliezer, רמב\"ן Ramban quotes it, find the description of יעקב's Yaakov's dream difficult. Why? מלאכים עולים ויורדים בו Malachim olim v'yordim bo. Where do the angels reside? Where do they live? In שמים Shamaim. So what should it be? יורדים ועולים Yordim v'olim. First they have to come down, and then they go back up. What do you mean they're going up and coming down? And the מדרש midrash suggests that they come to attend to different things, ascending in the right, so so they had already been down on earth because they were fulfilling certain missions. They went up, they changed places with other מלאכים malachim who came down. Last year I gave a דרשה drasha on פרשת ויצא Parshas Vayeitzei, and I suggested based on an אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra that these מלאכים malachim that he's dreaming about are not in fact angels from heaven, but rather human beings. And יעקב Yaakov is having a dream that our mission on earth is to be angels for other people. And that's why עולים ויורדים olim v'yordim. These aren't angels from above. We are here to be angels for other people. I don't have time now, but last year, maybe we'll do it next year, we developed this idea that that's our mission, and that later in the פרשה parsha, יעקב Yaakov wakes up, he and עשיו Esav go separate directions. And who does יעקב Yaakov encounter? Angels. And we see references that whenever our אבות avos were stuck, they ran into an angel who bailed them out. The notion of a guardian angel. A guardian angel means our mission here on earth is to be someone else's angel. What is an angel? An angel is an emissary, an ambassador of השם Hashem. The notion that every angel is here because they have a mission is the idea that we are all here with a mission. We are ambassadors, we are extensions of השם Hashem, and what is our mission? To make life better for the people around us, to be their guardian angels, to show up when they think that no one else has or no one else will. And maybe that's יעקב's Yaakov's dream. Here יעקב Yaakov thought, how do you how do you feel connected to השם Hashem? How do you realize your greatest potential as a Jew? איש תם יושב אוהלים Ish tam yoshev ohalim. Stay in the בית מדרש beit midrash all day. That's your mission. Pour over the ספרים sfarim, sit in the בית מדרש beit midrash, that's how you come closest to השם Hashem. Now he's headed out. And השם Hashem gives him this dream of angels. And perhaps what השם Hashem was telling him was, it's time to leave the בית מדרש beit midrash, continue to learn. We always have an obligation, a חיוב chiyuv, תלמוד תורה Talmud Torah, תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם Talmud Torah k'neged kulam. We have to lifelong learning. However, the purpose of the learning, ללמוד על מנת לעשות lilmod al menas la'asos. The whole reason that we learn is to do. To lock yourself in the בית מדרש beit midrash, where all the learning is never actualized, it's never expressed, it's never lived, is not a fulfillment of the learning. The גמרא Gemara says, which is greater? Learning or doing? The גמרא Gemara says learning because it leads to doing. But doing is the greater. It's ללמוד על מנת לעשות lilmod al menas la'asos. The whole reason we're learning is to refine, to cultivate, to mold and shape ourselves into angelic personalities, to be angels, to be guardian angels for others. So יעקב's Yaakov's dream is, leave the בית מדרש beit midrash, take all that learning with you, and be an angel for other people. It's exactly what he does, by the way. Where does he go from here? To a well. What does he do at the well? He's an angel. All the rock, bullying, first story of bullying in the תורה Torah, bullying going on with these shepherds, and he's the hero. He's the angel. That's our mission. תורה Torah is to cultivate, to refine us into angelic personalities, to be the guardian angels, to show up, to help, to be other people's angels. יעקב Yaakov benefits from his angels. And יוסף Yosef goes out to the field, he asks where are my brothers, he finds a angel. At all these moments, it's angels who the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra in every one of those moments says, ah, it's a person, but they're fulfilling a purpose for our protagonist so they're described as an angel. Someone's angel, my guardian angel came. I thought I had a flat tire on the side of the road, nobody cared. There was an angel who helped me change the tire. What do you mean an angel came from heaven, literally an angel with wings? No, it's not an angel, someone helps you, they're an angel. That's יעקב's Yaakov's dream. We are to be the angel, we are to be the angel of others. Okay, so back to רב שכטר Rav Shechter. The מדרש medrash suggests that these מלאכים malachim represent the guiding ministers appointed to attend to the affairs of their respective nations. And the description of their עולים ויורדים olim v'yordim, they're going up and down, refers to the rise and fall of the four kingdoms. השם Hashem shows this to יעקב Yaakov as one of the founding fathers of the Jewish nation, promising him that his nation's fate would not rest in the hands of the מלאכים malachim. כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael would be portion of השם Hashem. השם Hashem would always be with יעקב Yaakov and with the Jewish people. והנה אנכי עמך ושמרתיך בכל אשר תלך V'hinei anochi imcha u'shmarticha b'chol asher teileich. Right, that's the פסוק pasuk here. יעקב Yaakov wakes up and השם Hashem says, עולים ויורדים olim v'yordim, what is this a reference to? The waxing and waning of the four kingdoms, the cycle and the rhythm of the world. The Persians rose and fell, the Egyptians rose and fell, the Babylonians rose and fell. Each of these kingdoms rise and fall, עולים ויורדים olim v'yordim, they go up and they go down. And השם Hashem was telling יעקב Yaakov as the forefather of our nation, as the patriarch of our nation, don't worry. You are not going to be subject to the rise and fall of these nations of the world. You are mine. And that's exactly the פסוק pasuk. והנה אנכי עמך V'hinei anochi imcha. יעקב Yaakov wakes up and השם Hashem says, don't worry. You're not part of the rules of the world, of the rules of history. You're mine. ושמרתיך בכל אשר תלך U'shmarticha b'chol asher teileich. והשיבותיך אל האדמה הזאת V'hashivosicha el ha'adama hazos. I am guiding history. You don't fall under the rules of history. You're under my direct supervision. I got you covered, says השם Hashem. דביקות Dvaykus, stick with me, I've got your back. The רמב\"ן Ramban explains if you analyze history of any civilization, you'll find a predictable rise and fall, the domination followed by utter demise. Persians, Babylonians, the Egyptians, a few examples. But the Jewish nation, says the רמב\"ן Ramban here, are למעלה מן הטבע l'ma'ala min hateva. We're above nature in its history. Solely dependent on מצוה mitzvah observance. The רמב\"ן Ramban considers this rule אין מזל לישראל ein mazal l'Yisrael. The notion that אין מזל לישראל ein mazal l'Yisrael. The גמרא Gemara says the Jewish people don't have a מזל mazal. It means that the nations of the world are under astrological constellations. The nations of the world have rules of history. If a bigger nation swallows up a smaller nation, the smaller nation adopts the language, the culture, the dress of the larger nation. The Jewish people have been swallowed up across the globe. We've maintained our language, we've maintained our religion, we've maintained our culture. It violates all the rules of history. We are alone. Why? אין מזל לישראל Ein mazal l'Yisrael. There's no constellation associated with ישראל Yisrael. We are not subservient to the dominion of the stars or the constellations. One of the עיקרי אמונה ikarei emunah, the principles of our faith is, we are an exception to the rule. And when השם Hashem brought אברהם Avraham outside, ויוצא אותו החוצה v'yotzei oso hachutzah, חז\"ל Chazal say השם Hashem was telling him, go out from your astrology. ויוצא אותו החוצה V'yotzei oso hachutzah. What were what was השם Hashem telling him? Stop looking at the horoscopes. Put the astrological signs aside. No more calling the psychic friends network. work. Leave that to other nations of the world. They can believe in that nonsense. They can believe in that נאַרישקייט narrishkeit. But rather Avram, וַיּוֹצֵא אֹתוֹ הַחוּצָה vayotze oso hachutza, go out of that נאַרישקייט narrishkeit. Leave that following all of that silliness because you're not subject to a sign of the zodiac or to astrology. You're destined to bear a son.The rav noted that if one were to draw a chart outlining Jewish history, it would be represented by multiple cycles of peaks and valleys, not by one predictable rise and fall like other nations. Other nations rise, they're in a big empire, and they go down. Many are predicting that's where we're at our peak right now. Hopefully we're just going higher and higher. But who knows? Never, if you study history, you can never be so arrogant to think we're the exception of the rule. Only one nation could have that pride. We won't call it arrogance, that pride. And who is it? The Jewish people. Our story is not one of a linear rise and then a fall, like the Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, and others, but rather we have peaks and valleys, because we're not subject to history. אֵין מַזָּל לְיִשְׂרָאֵל Ein mazal l'Yisrael, only השם Hashem. It's not natural. Spelled out in the תורה Torah.The נצי\"ב Netziv expands on this concept. He says, the משנה Mishna in ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah teaches that for the purpose of dating documents, Jewish kings count their year starting from the month of ניסן Nissan. Non-Jewish kings date their documents from the month of תשרי Tishrei. The נצי\"ב Netziv says, \"Why the difference?\" Exactly for this reason. Because regarding non-Jews who follow the natural rules of history, תשרי Tishrei is the appropriate month to use as a starting point. All of nature began in תשרי Tishrei, the act of creation, it's the beginning of the world. The Jewish nation, we follow a supernatural pattern, exemplified by the miraculous events surrounding יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם Yetzias Mitzrayim in ניסן Nissan. Therefore, this month is the appropriate first month of the year for the Jewish people and for the dating of our kings' contracts and documents. Because we are the בחינת ניסן b'chinas Nissan, while the rest of the world follows תשרי Tishrei. And this is the רד\"ק Radak, who רב שכטר Rav Schechter quotes, explains the איסור issur of גִיד הַנָשֶה gid hanasheh. We'll get to יעקב Yaakov wrestling with the angel of עשיו Eisav and being injured and limping away. יעקב Yaakov's struggle with the angel teaches us the principle, although the nations of the world have been interested in annihilating the descendants of יעקב Yaakov for centuries, the Jewish people will always prevail, albeit in a somewhat damaged state. The forces of nature represented by the angel will never succeed because the טבע teva comes into conflict with למעלה מן הטבע l'maalah min hateva. למעלה מן הטבע L'maalah min hateva will always persevere. רב שכטר Rav Schechter goes on, he has many many more examples, but I want to get back to our, back to our פרשה parsha. But he says one of the comment, this is why I mentioned this. This may well explain the mysterious phenomenon of antisemitism, which has existed through the ages, but the cause of which has never been satisfactorily explained by sociologists. As can be seen in the case of organ transplant, says רב שכטר Rav Schechter, a body naturally rejects foreign objects. כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael which is distinct, למעלה מן הטבע l'maalah min hateva, a creation of השם Hashem, is incongruous with the natural system by which the rest of the world operates. We can therefore understand why it would be natural for the nations of the world, which are part of טבע teva, to reject the foreign body called כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. We don't excuse it, we don't accept it, we will fight it, but maybe the root of antisemitism is that we are that exception to the rule. Why is everyone else subject to this rule of history? And we are אין מזל לישראל ein mazal l'Yisrael. They're bound by טבע teva, we're למעלה מן הטבע l'maalah min hateva. Just like the body rejects a foreign object placed in it, so too the world is rejecting this foreign, what they perceive as a foreign object, the Jewish people. It's not an excuse, it's not even an explanation, but perhaps it's a insight into this antisemitism that tragically we continue to see.Okay. Let's conclude our our overview of the פרשה parsha and get into our our some specific פסוקים pesukim. So, יעקב Yaakov's on the run, he wakes up from his dream, and now he heads off.And he looks and he sees the well, and he confronts the the shepherds. He says, \"What are you doing?\" They say it's the daughter of רחל Rachel coming. And the shepherds are trying to call it a day early. יעקב Yaakov gives them a little מוסר mussar. And he's speaking to רחל Rachel. And he is very attracted to רחל Rachel immediately. He embraces her, and of course he falls in love with her. רחל Rachel takes יעקב Yaakov home to her father. You can't get married without asking permission. And לבן Lavan hears the news that it's יעקב Yaakov's sister, his sister's son. And he runs towards him, embraces him, kisses him, and we know the the whole story that לבן Lavan really is deceitful, and he has all kinds of ulterior motives. But לבן Lavan is ready to give רחל Rachel over as a wife. And השם Hashem sees that לאה Leah is hated. Is לאה Leah really hated?Yeah. Is לאה Leah really hated?Um, looking, where's the פסוק pasuk? ושם הגדולה לאה ושם הקטנה רחל. ועיני לאה רכות ורחל היתה יפת תואר ויפת מראה. ויאהב יעקב את רחל ויאמר אעבדך שבע שנים. V'shem ha'gedola Leah v'shem ha'ktana Rachel v'einei Leah rakos v'Rachel haysa yefas to'ar v'yefas mareh. Vaye'ehav Yaakov es Rachel vayomer evadcha sheva shanim. He's willing to work seven years for רחל Rachel. He works seven years. They passed by very quickly. ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים באהבתו אותה Vayehi b'einav k'yamim achadim b'ahavaso oso. Great insight into love. It should be the exact opposite. When you're counting down to the big day, feels like it's taking forever. Not for the people planning, but for the people celebrating themselves. It feels like it's taking forever. So why, ויהיו כימים אחדים v'hayu k'yamim achadim? For יעקב Yaakov, seven years of back-breaking labor for his father-in-law in order to earn רחל Rachel's hands in marriage, and he describes it feels like it's nothing. And the answer is, the פסוק pasuk itself says, באהבתו אותה b'ahavaso oso. Because he loved her. And when you're in love and the work is the medium of love, then the work, then the time passes.Um, the days are up and he wants his wife. We all know the story. The switcheroo. לבן Lavan says, \"How can I let the younger one marry before the older one?\" and puts לאה Leah inside. רחל Rachel earns tremendous merit when she gives over the signs. When she gives over the signs to her sister לאה Leah, יעקב Yaakov wakes up. It's a big question. We, we have the veil over the bride's face at uh, at the באַדעקן badeken. This was a דבר תורה dvar Torah at the שבע ברכות Sheva Brachos last night my brother-in-law בנימין Binyamin gave from רבי י.י. יעקבסאן Rabbi YY Jacobson. I'm not going to tell you the answer, but I'll tell you the question, is why, we say we're emulating the whole story of רחל Rachel and לאה Leah and the major switch that took place, and we put the veil over the bride's face. Shouldn't we do the exact opposite? Before walking to the חופה chuppah, the groom should unveil, should remove a veil and confirm, in fact, yeah, this is the one. From the שידוך shidduch resume, looks exactly the same. Maybe not exactly the same, the שידוך shidduch resume pictures are all doctored and photoshopped, but close enough with all the makeup and the hair, close enough. So, yeah, this is the one. Close enough. I'm ready. So uh, shouldn't you take the veil off, not put it on? Why are we putting on the veil not taking it off? It's a גוואלדיגע קשיא gevaldige kasha. Find my brother-in-law, he'll tell you. He'll tell you the answer.So לאה Leah becomes pregnant. Right away לאה Leah starts having these children, many children. That was the other question I won't tell you the answer to. וירא ה' כי שנואה לאה Vayar Hashem ki s'nuah Leah. השם Hashem sees that לאה Leah is hated. Where does השם Hashem see that? Is לאה Leah hated? So the Rav says, יעקב Yaakov loved רחל Rachel, he didn't hate לאה Leah, despite the implication of the פסוק pasuk. His bond to לאה Leah merely suffered by comparison with רחל Rachel as characterized in the later פסוק pasuk. His relationship with רחל Rachel was singular, unique, qualitatively different from his love for לאה Leah. So the Rav also was bothered by that so much so that he says, the פסוק pasuk doesn't mean לאה Leah was hated. It's all relative. Relative to the love for רחל Rachel, which is incomparable, unparalleled, that love was so great, compared to that, it's כאילו לאה k'ilu Leah was hated. Nice, but that's not what the פסוק pasuk says. The פסוק pasuk says כי שנואה לאה ki s'nuah Leah. Did יעקב Yaakov hate לאה Leah? Was לאה Leah really hated? How could the פסוק pasuk testify she was hated? There's a great answer. Come back Shabbos morning, maybe we'll talk about it. לאה Leah starts having children. I got to keep you people on your toes. לאה Leah has children, and by the time she gets to her third children, she's feeling pretty good about things. Why? רחל Rachel has none, she's got three. What does three, what does three evoke right away? What is the number three? חזקה Chazaka. She's got a חזקה chazaka. She is established. All she wants more than anything in the world is to be the wife of יעקב Yaakov. She thinks, now I got three kids, score is three nothing, לאה Leah, and she says, \"I got three kids, there's a חזקה chazaka. I'm מוחזק muchzak as יעקב Yaakov's wife.\" He's now mine. This is it. יעקב Yaakov's going to stick with me, give up on that dream of רחל Rachel as much as he loves her, she can't produce a child. I have three. I have a חזקה chazaka. I'm now מוחזק muchzak in יעקב Yaakov. She has a fourth son which is beyond her wildest dream, and names him יהודה Yehuda. She has הפעם אודה את ה' ha'pa'am odeh es Hashem, the name of gratitude. חז\"ל Chazal tell us nobody in history was grateful to השם Hashem until לאה Leah came along and expressed that gratitude. One has to ask what that means exactly because we've seen a lot of gratitude.And then we get to the story. רחל Rachel says, הָבָה לִּי בָנִים וְאִם אַיִן מֵתָה אָנֹכִי Havali banim v'im ayin meisa anochi, give me kids, if not, I'm dead. חז\"ל Chazal learn from here that infertility, barrenness is so painful. The inability to create continuity is so painful it makes a person feel dead even while they're alive. It robs a person of life, of happiness. And רחל Rachel gets angry at יעקב Yaakov. I'm sorry, יעקב Yaakov gets angry at רחל Rachel. He says, הֲתַחַת אֱלֹהִים אָנֹכִי Ha'tachas Elokim anochi? What, what am I, God? Angry at me? This is my fault? Which doesn't sound like a very sympathetic or empathetic response. Right? His wife's lashing out. How many fertility shots could she take? How many, how much debt and credit cards could they put with their IVF treatments? She's in pain, she's hormonal, she's taking shots, she's angry. And then יעקב Yaakov's response is, leave me alone! You're yelling at me like this is my fault? I've got kids. Not very sympathetic. So, there's a much deeper explanation and understanding, because the wonderful יעקב Yaakov, חלילה khalila, would never be so cruel or unkind.לאה Leah keeps popping out kids. לאה Leah, the maidservants have kids. That was the loose translation. The maidservants keep having kids, and finally רחל Rachel has a kid, יוסף Yosef. We're going to read this section momentarily. We have the deceit. Once יוסף Yosef's born, יעקב Yaakov's ready to leave the house, and then we have this deceit. And then when he's ready to go, we have this amazing comment. In the הגדה Hagaddah, לבן Lavan says, יֶשׁ לְאֵל יָדִי לַעֲשׂוֹת עִמָּכֶם רָע yesh l'el yadi la'asos imachem ra, I have the power to inflict harm upon you. Now here the word you is in the plural. Right, יעקב Yaakov takes his family, they run. לבן Lavan chases and catches up. רחל Rachel doesn't get off the camel. We have the whole encounter and the covenant, the contract at the end of the פרשה parsha. Good. So לבן Lavan says I have the power to afflict harm upon you. In the הגדה Hagaddah, חז\"ל Chazal say לבן Lavan is the ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. That he wanted to destroy our people. If you look in פרשת ויצא Parshas Vayeitzei, לבן Lavan is not exactly, you know, shul dinner honoree material. He's a cheater, an exploiter, he's a miserable low life, he's manipulative, he's a liar. But he's not a killer. He doesn't sound like he wants to kill everyone. So how do חז\"ל Chazal know that לבן Lavan was a Jew hater? How do we know לבן Lavan hated the Jews so much he was willing to destroy them? So חז\"ל Chazal are sensitive to this פסוק pasuk. The פסוק pasuk says השם Hashem came to לבן Lavan in a dream and he said, \"Beware lest you speak with יעקב Yaakov either good or evil.\" If השם Hashem found it necessary to contact לבן Lavan and warn him against inflicting harm on יעקב Yaakov, we can assume that לבן Lavan intended to do harm. Apparently לבן Lavan did not intend to rebuke יעקב Yaakov, but he wanted to annihilate him. Because if his goal wasn't to annihilate him, השם Hashem wouldn't have intervened. השם Hashem wouldn't have come to him in a dream and said, \"Hands off.\" So in this פסוק pasuk, לבן Lavan offers a confession, he makes an admission. He says, \"It's true, I wanted to destroy you.\" He was going to avenge himself against יעקב Yaakov. But here's the amazing thing about the פסוק pasuk. It doesn't say לעשות עמך רע la'asos imcha ra. לבן Lavan doesn't admit, \"I really, you know, my son-in-law, I wanted to destroy you. I wanted to kill you.\" He was an old son-in-law by now. He had worked 14 years, he had, you know, the magic had worn off. It's a beautiful insight. We call, תנ\"ך Tanach uses the expression too. Anyone know the Hebrew word for son-in-law? חתן Chassan. Anyone know the Hebrew word for daughter-in-law? כלה Kallah. And that's how it's referred. You could be married for 50 years and if your in-laws are still alive, הלכה halacha would refer to you as their חתן chassan, as their כלה kallah. It's in תנ\"ך Tanach, it's in משנה Mishna, it's in גמרא Gemara. It's the word that's used, חתן chassan and כלה kallah. We can't come up with a better word? Okay, the wedding, the שבע ברכות Sheva Brachos. We'll give you שנה ראשונה shanah rishonah. Okay, enough. You're not the חתן chassan and the כלה kallah anymore. We don't have another word for son-in-law and daughter-in-law? רב חיים קניבסקי Rav Chaim Kanievsky has a great insight. Why are they called the חתן chassan and כלה kallah forever, in perpetuity? Because חז\"ל Chazal want us to remember, you remember during the שבע ברכות Sheva Brachos with the אויפרוף ufruf? You remember, they could do no wrong. They were perfect. It was an amazing relationship. All you saw was their virtue and their good. You overlooked, you explained the idiosyncrasies. You were just in love. Everything was amazing, infatuation, everything was perfect. So חז\"ל Chazal want you to remember that forever. Have the mentality of חתן chassan and כלה kallah. They can be married 20, 30, 50 years. See them as a חתן chassan and a כלה kallah. Bring that attitude of they could do no wrong, you're in love, you want to wait on them hand and foot, you want to give them everything, the way when they were first married. So, okay, it, the magic had worn off. יעקב Yaakov was married for a while. So לבן Lavan wants to kill his son-in-law by now. שבע ברכות Sheva Brachos he wanted to kill them, but already it's uh, 14 plus years later, לבן Lavan's ready to kill him. But he doesn't say לעשות עמך רע la'asos imcha ra, I came to do evil with you. What does he say? לעשות עמכם רע La'asos imachem ra. I came to do עם-מהם imachem in the plural. Who's the plural? Who's לבן Lavan coming to kill? Who's he coming to kill? He's coming to kill his own daughter. His grandchildren. If השם Hashem had not warned לבן Lavan the night before, he would not have only exterminated לבן Lavan, יעקב Yaakov, a foreigner, his son-in-law, an outsider, but even his own children and grandchildren. He would have done this for, if not for אלהי אביכם Elokei avichem, the God of your father. Now it doesn't say אלהי אביך Elokei avicha. It says the God of יעקב Yaakov's father, it says the God of your fathers, the equal parallel plural. He identifies the entire family, his own daughters, his own grandchildren with יעקב Yaakov. He admits if not for אלהי אביכם Elokei avichem, he would have destroyed everyone, including his daughters and grandchildren. Nothing short of divine intervention would have stopped לבן Lavan. In comparison to לבן Lavan, says the Rav, Pharaoh was stable. Pharaoh was amoral, an exploiter, a slave driver, but he was not criminally insane. He made money from his slave society. The temptation to exploit the Jews was too strong. He wanted to keep them downtrodden, but he did not try to wipe them out. But לבן Lavan proves that the hatred of the Jew can reach psychopathic proportions. Again, this is the theme of antisemitism. The one who hates the Jew like לבן Lavan, it reached psychopathic proportions. It's not only wrong from a moral point of view, it's abnormal. It's a sick emotion from a psychiatric standpoint. One, only mad men could have devised the final solution, the plan to exterminate every single Jew. The hatred of our enemies today is abnormal, and that's what's frightening. לבן Lavan was ready to kill his own daughters because they had adopted a God he did not understand. He felt so alienated from them that he kindled an insane hatred against his own children. So is the, such is the power of antisemitism, that it drives a person mad, compulsive, obsessed, psychopathic, to be willing to even kill and annihilate their own children. לבן Lavan, רב גולדויכט Rav Goldvicht says, לבן Lavan is a conjunction of לא בן lo ben. לבן Lavan doesn't care about the future. לבן Lavan doesn't care about continuity. לבן Lavan is not invested in his offspring. לבן Lavan is the here and now. לא בן Lo ben, לבן Lavan, right now. While יעקב Yaakov is about his 12 children, his אייניקלעך eineklach, his אור-אייניקלעך ura-eineklach. יעקב Yaakov is all about the future, invested in the future. לבן Lavan is לא בן lo ben, and יעקב Yaakov is all about the future. And לבן Lavan's here and now antisemitism is driven so great, he's willing to kill his own people. I thought about the news this morning. 400 plus rockets shot into Israel by our evil, wicked enemies. And who did a rocket kill? A Palestinian man in אשקלון Ashkelon, from חברון Chevron. Killing his own people, his own children. The antisemitism, the hatred driven so strong, the result, even willingness to endanger and to kill. We see it, בימים ההם ובזמן הזה bayomim hahem u'vazman hazeh, in our times, that the antisemitism is so great, people are willing to kill their own as an extension and as an expression of their hatred, of the desire to annihilate and to destroy the Jew. We are just going to leave it here. We're not even going to get into our פסוקים pesukim. We'll save it for next year. But uh, my voice is is wearing out. So we'll pick that up. Where we're going to continue from last year, we'll pick it up here. ויזכור אלהים את רחל Vayizkor Elokim es Rachel. God remembers רחל Rachel. פרק ל', פסוק כ\"ב Perek lamed, pasuk chaf-beis. That's what we were going to look at. I'll leave you with another question, since I've given you so much homework already. ויזכור אלהים את רחל. וישמע אליה אלהים ויפתח את רחמה Vayizkor Elokim es Rachel. Vayishma eileha Elokim vayiftach es rachma. When do, when do we read this? When did השם Hashem remember רחל Rachel? We don't read this. When did השם Hashem remember רחל Rachel? We read about שרה Sarah. What day of the year was it? ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. It was ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. That's when השם Hashem heard. ויזכור Vayizkor, God remembered. Does God forget that he needs to remember? It's a funny word, ויזכור vayizkor. We say יזכור Yizkor four times a year. We have to remind השם Hashem to remember? Who's יזכור Yizkor for, by the way, us or השם Hashem? So the opening words of יזכור Yizkor are יזכור אלהים Yizkor Elokim. So יזכור Yizkor is not for us. So here, we who could forget, we're confident we'll remember. השם Hashem who has a perfect memory, we're worried he's going to forget. יזכור אלהים Yizkor Elokim. השם Hashem, remember. And we have השם Hashem remembered נח Noach and השם Hashem remembered שרה Sarah and now ויזכור אלהים את רחל Vayizkor Elokim es Rachel. Why do we keep talking in זכרונות Zichronos, a whole third of the מוסף Musaf of ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, השם Hashem remembered. Is השם Hashem vulnerable to forgetting? השם Hashem had a senior moment? No offense to anybody. השם Hashem had a senior moment? השם Hashem could forget? You'll forget in a moment I said that. ויזכור אלהים את רחל Vayizkor Elokim es Rachel, that השם Hashem remembered, he could forget that he has to be reminded? Why is it when prayers are heard, it's described as ויזכור vayizkor, that השם Hashem hears? We'll pile that onto your homework. It's due next Tuesday morning at 9:30.
