Transcript
Okay, good morning everyone. בוקר טוב Boker tov. I want to thank our sponsors this morning, our sponsors for the series, for the whole year, Becky and Avi Katz, in memory of David Grossman, Becky's father, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש lilui nishmas David ben Menachem Monash. Also, today's sponsor, Mrs. Golda Sadowsky, in honor of her dear uncle and aunt, Rabbi Dr. and Ed and Doris Kurtzer. We continue to be very grateful to Mrs. Sadowsky for her generosity. Thank you. I hope everyone had a chance on the way in or on the way out to stop at the new BRS cafe, the coffee ark. You should know that a portion of anything you buy there, latte, cappuccino, coffee, Danish, fruit, goes to support תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos. So, caffeine for caring. Caffeine גוררת מצוה gorereres mitzvah. Mitzvah גוררת gorereres, coffee גוררת מצוה gorereres mitzvah.This week we have the privilege of studying פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach together. And now it's the fateful moment that Yaakov and Esav are going to have the reunion, the attempted reconciliation, to come back together and to figure out where their relationship stands. וישלח יעקב מלאכים לפניו אל עשו אחיו ארצה שעיר שדה אדום Vayishlach Yaakov malachim lefanav el Esav achiv artza Seir sdei Edom. So Yaakov, before he approaches his brother, before he attempts to reconcile, sends ahead of him מלאכים malachim the פסוק pasuk describes, angels, in order to be able to encounter him, in order to be able to find him, in order to be able to see him. What does it mean that he sent angels? The simple understanding is he sent ambassadors, he sent emissaries. If you're going to try diplomacy, you send an advanced team that go and to feel out the situation. Is it ripe for an opportunity for reconciliation? Is there still tension and hostility? That Yaakov sent מלאכים לפניו malachim lefanav, he sent מלאכים malachim in advance. We've shared in the past, we won't review it right now, but we find throughout ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis this notion of the מלאכים malachim. Prominently last week's פרשה parsha, which we've moved past, but the מלאכים malachim going up and coming down, when it really should have been the opposite order, coming down and going up. That's one. We see מלאכים malachim here, Yaakov sends מלאכים malachim, and we see that Yosef will encounter a מלאך malach when he's looking for his brothers, and he encounters a מלאך malach who tells him where they are. And in each of these locations and others, רש\"י Rashi, the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, have a consistent מחלוקת machlokes. Are we talking about מלאכים malachim, angels? מלאכים ממש Malachim mamash, angels? Or are we talking about people who were calling angels? A consistent מחלוקת machlokes throughout. And we've argued in the past that maybe the Ibn Ezra's standpoint and a critically important perspective on not only these parshios but on life is to realize that angels are not created in heaven. Angels are created where? Right here on earth. And how are angels created right here on earth? By who we are and how we conduct ourselves, by being of service to others. We are here to be angels for other people. We are your guardian angels. We are supposed to protect and take care and express concern and be devoted to one another and to be the angels for one another. And perhaps you can understand, that's why in last week's פרשה parsha, the מלאכים malachim go up and come down. They originate where? Here on earth. Even though Rashi's bothered, it's the wrong order. Because maybe if we understand that angels are not supposed to come from up in heaven. But angels, what is an angel? An angel is the ambassador and expression of Hashem in this world. The fulfillment of God's will in this world. That's what an angel is. It's a מדה middah of השם Hashem in this world. So if we understand angels are not created in heaven, but we have a mission here on earth to be the angels for one another. So you have that consistent מחלוקת machlokes here also. Yaakov sends angels in advance. Did he send, did he have access, angels as in angels, I don't know, with big wings and whatever? Those angels, they respond to Yaakov's command. He said, go ahead, go meet my brother, tell me what you find. So again רש\"י Rashi says מלאכים ממש malachim mamash. But I want to share with you a חסידישע chassidisha insight. The צדיק tzaddik Rebbe Meir of Peremishlan says רש\"י'ס פשט Rashi's pshat means the following. The משנה Mishna in the fourth chapter of פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos says, העושה מצוה אחת קונה לו פרקליט אחד ha'oseh mitzvah achas koneh lo praklit echad. A person does one mitzvah, there is an angel that is created that corresponds with the mitzvah that you did. Which is exactly the theme that we've been talking about. You do a kind deed, you care about someone else, you extend yourself, you came on time to shul, you didn't talk, you had concentration, you davened for people other than yourself. You thought of someone and checked in on them, you did a מצוה mitzvah of חסד chesed. You were honest and had integrity in business. You were kind and courteous at the supermarket. You were careful with כשרות kashrus and שבת Shabbos and making ברכות brachos. Every mitzvah we do, we form, we mold, we create a new angel here on earth, which means we introduce an energy that reflects the positive thing that we've done. There is physics and there's metaphysics in this world, and we operate in both of those planes simultaneously. The world of physics is studied and it's documented and it's researched and we have scientists. But the world of רוחניות ruchnius, of spirituality, is that world of metaphysics. And just like in the world of physics, every action has a reaction. Just like in the world of physics, we have laws of thermodynamics and we have entropy and we have all kinds, that's the extent of my knowledge. I just gave it all to you right there. Maybe I could throw, I could throw in E equals mc squared. Now you have it all. My whole knowledge of physics. But just like in the world of physics we we observe the universe and we observe physical realities in it and phenomenon in it, and we understand that reaction as a reaction in the physical world. So too in the metaphysical world, the world of רוחניות ruchnius, every action has a reaction. And so too there are rules and there are formulas. And those who are plugged in and tuned in are able to observe and see the phenomena of the metaphysical universe. The more we identify as physical beings, the less access and contact we have with the metaphysical universe. And the less we feel rooted and defined by the physical world, and the more that we live in and operate according to the rules of the metaphysical universe, then we are members of the metaphysical citizenship and community, and we live and feel and operate in that world. So the משנה Mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos says, every mitzvah that we do, every action has a reaction. Just like there are physical realities, there are metaphysical realities. We have created, we've promoted, we've introduced an energy into this world. A positive energy into this world. העושה מצוה אחת Ha'oseh mitzvah achas. You do one mitzvah and you introduce that energy into this world. So what does it mean maybe, says the צדיק tzaddik Rebbe Meir of Peremishlan, that Yaakov sent angels ahead to Esav? It means that Yaakov's mitzvos, his reputation preceded him. And maybe that's what he suggests the words מלאכים ממש malachim mamash. מלאכים ממש Malachim mamash, ממש mamash is ראשי תיבות roshei teivos, מלאכים ממצוות שעשה malachim mi'mitzvos she'asa. The angels of the mitzvos that he did. As Esav is approaching Yaakov, we can picture in your mind's eye this reconciliation. It make an incredible drama, the story of how it all unfolded. יצחק Yitzchak who was betting on עשו Esav, and רבקה Rivka who was betting on יעקב Yaakov. And Yaakov in the last minute proves worthy and that he's able to operate and that he's able to be worthy of his father's designation, to designate him to continue the legacy. But then Yaakov has to run for his life, and now it's years later and they've both built families and amassed fortunes, and they're about to reunite. And you can feel the suspense in the air. But before they do, Yaakov sends ahead what it means is what we are, we are only as good as our reputation. טוב שם משמן טוב Tov shem mishemen tov. A good name precedes us. So that's the פשט pshat he's offering, it's not the פשט pshat at all, but it's a דרוש drush that he's offering is that וישלח יעקב מלאכים לפניו vayishlach Yaakov malachim lefanav. We always send מלאכים malachim before us. Everywhere we go. We're moving to a new community, we're going on vacation, we have a new business meeting or opportunity, what, whatever the case is. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we send מלאכים malachim ahead of us. Those מלאכים malachim are our actions, our reputation, what we've chosen, who we are, and the behavior that we've shown. Our reputation precedes us. We use that expression in a flattering way. Your reputation precedes you. But sometimes it doesn't always have to be flattering. Your reputation precedes you that you are a low-life, miserable, negative, self-centered, narcissistic אויסוואָרף oisvorf. Your reputation precedes you. All of our reputations precede us, for good and for bad. And that's what he says is the פשט pshat in the word ממש mamash. רש\"י Rashi מלאכים ממש malachim mamash. ממש Mamash means מלאכים ממצוות שעשה malachim mi'mitzvos she'asa. The energy, the sparks that we bring into the world from the choices we've made. Some people are toxic. They bring a negative energy. You walk into a room and you can feel, you can become contaminated from their negative energy. Everything is a criticism and everything's wrong and everything's pessimistic and everything is hopeless and everything is negative. And I don't know about you, I'm allergic to such people. I'm allergic. I break out in hives to be in a room or to be around such people. I thrive, I need positive energy. I need the, I need the ממש mamash, the מלאכים ממצוות שעשה malachim mi'mitzvos she'asa. I need the positive energy of the hope and optimism and a positive spirit and faith in השם Hashem, and everything's going to be good, and a smile. We introduce energy into the universe and the energy that we spend our lives introducing, it precedes us where we go. And in Yaakov's case, that was an asset that worked to his advantage because the energies that he had introduced, these mitzvos preceded him before he came to his brother, before he came to his brother Esav.Okay, we've been, I've been noticing these last few weeks, we struggle because I have so much to say at the beginning of the פרשה parsha, we never get to the middle or the end of the פרשה parsha. So we're going to try to correct that today. Try being the most important, operable word. So, but there is still so much to say here at the beginning. עם לבן גרתי Im Lavan garti. We know that יעקב Yaakov tells them the message to עשו Esav is כה אמר עבדך יעקב ko amar avdecha Yaakov. Here's the message. Here's the energy עשו Esav I want you to know. Here's the reputation that I want to precede me. Namely, עם לבן גרתי ואחר עד עתה im Lavan garti va'echar ad ata. You know where I've been until now? I've been preoccupied. I've been living with, I've been living with Lavan. I've been living with Lavan. And that's what took me a long time. And that's what took me time to be able to get here. And רש\"י Rashi quotes the famous comment that we all know, עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti says רש\"י Rashi, לא נעשיתי שר וחשוב אלא גר lo na'aseisi sar v'chashuv ela ger. אינך כדאי לשנואי על ברכת אביך שברכני eincha k'dai lisnosi al birchas avicha she'beirchani, הוה גביר לאחיך שלא נתקיימה בי haveih g'vir l'achecha she'lo niskayama bi. You should know I was living with Lavan. Lest you think that those ברכות brachos that I stole, the ברכות brachos that bestowed upon me the prediction, the blessing that I was going to rise to a position of prominence and power and distinction, I've been basically a pathetic worker with Lavan, being fooled and tricked and having to navigate this scoundrel. So lest you think that I have experienced the fulfillment of that bracha I stole, says רש\"י Rashi, עם לבן גרתי ואחר עד עתה im Lavan garti, va'echar ad ata. You know where I've been? I've been working my tail off and I've been deceived and lied to and manipulated. That's where I've been. But then רש\"י Rashi quotes a second opinion, דבר אחר davar acher, גרתי בגימטריא תרי\"ג Garti b'gematria Taryag. כלומר, עם לבן הרשע גרתי, ותרי\"ג מצות שמרתי ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים Klomar, im Lavan harasha garti, v'Taryag mitzvos shamarti v'lo lamadeti mima'asav hara'im. One of the רש\"י Rashi גימטריאות gematrias. גרתי Garti is the same גימטריא gematria as 613. You know where I've been? I've been living in the house of a רשע rasha. And let me tell you Esav, you don't intimidate me, you don't intimidate me in the least. Because you should know where I was living, and you should know who I survived, and you need to know where I escaped, and if Lavan didn't scare me, and if Lavan didn't have an impact on me, and if Lavan didn't cause me to compromise, עשו Esav, bring it on. I only learned a couple years ago a story of my grandmother עליו השלום alav hashalom, whose יארצייט yahrzeit was just this past week, who was maybe four feet tall, a tiny little woman who ran from the Nazis after Kristallnacht, after they destroyed the store of her and my grandfather. And my cousin, who's older than I, was once with her where they lived in Bayonne at the time, or Jersey City, I don't remember which one, I think Bayonne. And they were walking in the street, and this goes back many, many decades, and they encountered a member of the Black Panthers who tried to intimidate my grandmother and stood in her path and in her way. And she looked up at him, all four feet tall, and she said, \"I survived the Germans and the Nazis. You don't scare me,\" and pushed him out of the way. And he didn't know what to do with this little Jewish woman. Because his whole world was operating from intimidation. So Yaakov says, listen Esav, עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, ותרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי v'Taryag mitzvos shamarti. You don't scare me. There's nothing about you that scares me. And we all know a beautiful, a beautiful gematria. I'm not going to answer it, but I'll give you a question. What did Yaakov mean תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti? Forget the fact that the Torah wasn't given, because we know we have a tradition that the אבות Avos and אמהות imahos volunteered to observe the totality of Torah even before it was given, but among the תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos are מצוות mitzvos that don't apply universally to everyone. There is no Jew who can keep all 613 mitzvos. Not because they're neglectful of Hashem's mitzvos, but because you can't be a כהן לוי וישראל kohein, Levi, v'Yisrael, a man and a woman, the כהן גדול kohein gadol, מצוות התלויות בארץ mitzvos hatluyos ba'aretz, there's a lot of mitzvos that rely on certain variables that you can't be all and you can't be all simultaneously. So, it's a cute gematria, עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, גרתי garti is תרי\"ג Taryag, but יעקב Yaakov could not have lived תרי\"ג Taryag. He was living outside of Israel. What happened to מצוות התלויות בארץ mitzvos hatluyos ba'aretz? The mitzvos that depend on the land? Why did he represent himself as having lived and observed even in Lavan's home, all תרי\"ג Taryag mitzvos? That is homework and food for you to think about. But I want to bring to your attention the comment of Rabbi Soloveitchik before we move on. Rabbi Soloveitchik points out, he's not the only one, there's many others, Chassidic master point this out, that note the פסוק pasuk says עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, it does not say עם לבן ישבתי im Lavan yashavti. What's the difference between גרתי garti and ישבתי yashavti? ישבתי Yashavti I would have thought would be much more appropriate. In fact, how long was Yaakov with Lavan? For no less than 20 years. 20 years. I'm now in Boca for 20 years. It's a lifetime. It's forever. What would what would I say? B'Boca גרתי garti? I passed through Boca. I passed through Boca. People become emeritus for less than 20 years. So you just גרתי garti, that's just passing through? That's ישבתי yashavti. I lived. ישבתי Yashavti. 20 years you dwelled, you were a citizen, you lived, you were a resident. So why doesn't it say עם לבן ישבתי im Lavan yashavti? Why does it say עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti? So Rabbi Soloveitchik, many others developed the notion that where we are a citizen of is as much our mentality and attitude as it is our geographic location. Whether you are a visitor or a resident, whether you're whether you're passing through or you see yourself as permanently there, is as much about our mentality and attitude as it is about what address is on our driver's license. And what's critically important to understand here is that Yaakov was sending this message to Esav, עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, not ישבתי yashavti. Yes, I was there 20 years, but you need to know that while I extracted and took the best of what that world had to offer, I never was permanently entrenched, I was never permanently integrated or assimilated into that world. גרתי Garti. It's reminiscent of the language that אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu uses when he purchases מערת המכפלה Ma'aras Hamachpela from עפרון החתי Efron Hachiti. He says, and when they say, \"Who are you? What do you want to buy? What are you doing here? How can we help you?\" And Avram says, \"How can I identify myself? Let me introduce myself. You know who I am? גר ותושב אנכי עמכם Ger v'toshav anochi imachem.\" I am that balance, that tension. I am simultaneously a גר ger and simultaneously a תושב toshav. I am a stranger and a resident among you. On the one hand, I'm a loyal citizen. I have no dual loyalty, and you won't challenge me with some anti-semitic accusation that I'm not loyal. On the one hand, תושב Toshav, I'm a תושב toshav. I pay my taxes, I'm a citizen, I'm legal, I vote. Many have fought on the front lines. Jews have given their lives for the countries they've lived in. I am a תושב toshav. But says Avram, at the same time, I know I'm a גר ger. I'm an outsider. I'm a stranger. Whatever is popular, whatever are the ethics or ethos, whatever the morals and mores of your time are not necessarily mine. I answer to a higher and a different calling, and therefore, גר ותושב אנכי עמכם ger v'toshav anochi imachem. The Jew, wherever we live, has to find the ability to simultaneously be that גר ותושב ger v'toshav, to be a loyal resident, to be a contributing resident, to be extracting the best of the host country, whatever it has to offer, but to never become assimilated or fully integrated, to understand we are a גר ger, that we are forever an outsider. And Yaakov is doing this where, this is what the Rav writes, he should have said עם לבן ישבתי im Lavan yashavti, but he said גרתי garti. He felt a stranger in Charan, the way his son Yosef later felt a stranger in Egypt. He had not assimilated. He had not integrated himself into Lavan's society and community. He had not accepted their morals, their code of ethics or lifestyle. He sojourned in Charan for a long time, yet he preserved his moral, religious identity. His commitment to the God of Avraham, his commitment to the way of life that of Avraham's sanction, his commitment to the promised land. All those commitments and many more were not affected at all. Yaakov was as dedicated at the end of his 20 years of servitude in Lavan's house as he was that first night he spent on the cold stones of בית אל Beis El when he pledged, \"The Lord will be my God.\" At the completion of his sojourn in Charan, the angel of Hashem reveals himself to Yaakov. In other words, you remained loyal to your spiritual heritage and your faith in me. And Yosef becomes burdened with the same task. He had to prove that Avraham's covenant could be practiced outside the promised land. The moral laws are not contingent upon geography and chronology. The difference between Yaakov and Yosef's assignments is a dual one. Yaakov had to prove that the Torah is realizable in poverty and oppression, that the immigrant, no matter how hard he has to work for a livelihood, no matter how poor and oppressed, is capable if he makes up his mind to give devotion and loyalty to his ancestral tradition. Yosef's mission was to demonstrate that enormous success and limited riches, admiration, prominence, and power are not in conflict with a saintly covenantal life. The immigrant, no matter what his destiny turns out to be, glorious success or miserable failure, can, if he possesses the heroic quality of either Yaakov or Yosef, attend to his commitment. I think we spoke about this last week, so I'll move on, last year, but I'll move on, is that Yaakov and Yosef are two paradigms of the Jew in exile needing to remain true to their past. Yaakov does it from the position of poverty and indigence and and needing, desperately the help of others, reliance. And Yosef does it from the position of power and wealth and both of them, whether from a position of power and wealth or from the position of poverty and need, neither forfeits or gives up their מסורה mesorah, their background, their tradition, what they stand for, what we stand for. This is a theme that is pervasive throughout ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis. Such a critically, critically important theme. We spoke about it about יצחק Yitzchak looked like אברהם Avraham and the Rav's interpretation it doesn't only mean in his appearance, but it meant that the scoffers and the cynics, the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador said, \"Your son will never embrace your archaic, crazy ways. They won't be relevant.\" And Avram said, \"You'll be proven wrong. You'll see. We'll study the same texts, and we'll speak about the same תנאים tannaim and אמוראים amoraim. We'll observe the same שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. And Judaism is timeless and Torah's messages and values are timeless.\" But my friends, why am I repeating this this year? Because this is under assault in our time. We are living in an age where we have religious freedom and opportunity and ישיבות yeshivas and כוללים kollelim and מדרשות midrashos and countless ways to be learning Torah and observing הלכה halacha and מצוות mitzvos with a greater ease than we ever have had. And yet, and yet, today is Tuesday, and I've had two meetings this week. Two meetings this week with literally the people leave and I close my door and I cry, because they're children who've gone through not 12 years of Jewish education to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not reaching almost seven figures. But I'm talking also about Jewish university afterwards. And yet, at the end of it all, coming from good from homes with wonderful parents, a vibrant Jewish life are walking away. Walking away and not looking back. Walking away and not becoming more lax or more lenient, walking away and saying, \"I don't need to be Jewish or want to be Jewish. I don't care if my children are not Jewish. I don't believe in Judaism. I don't believe in how incompatible it is with my worldview, with the current worldview.\" And so the pendulum has swung in a long for a long time towards being a תושב toshav, that we fit in and we belong and we can participate. And maybe we need this pendulum to swing back in the other direction to remind ourselves and our children of how we are גר ger. We're visitors. And how much we remain outsiders and how our values have to be different. It's very, very complicated and it's absolutely heartbreaking what's happening. It's heartbreaking what's happening. The gates are wide open and we're living in a world that's inviting anyone who wants to walk through and to forget where they come from and to assimilate and integrate and to drop the גר ger and just be a תושב toshav, and to not be עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, but עם לבן ישבתי im Lavan yashavti, and to forget where we come from and to not care about where we're going. And it is devastating, devastatingly sad. It is the crisis of our time. It is the crisis of our time. And I know it's not being entirely neglected, but it's not what we're hearing about. There's criticism of the right and criticism of the left and these policies and those policies. And these are important issues, and I'm not blaming anyone who's tackling them. But while we're looking in every direction around us, we need to be looking inside of us and asking ourselves what needs to change and change radically and quickly to respond to the new world in which we're living, the open, inviting world in which we're living, in which too many, too many from all the segments of the observant community are choosing to walk away to a world which is welcoming and celebrating their, their joining.Yaakov is very hesitant. He's worried about this reunion with with Esav. And we know that this section, the beginning of פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach is a very, very significant פרשה parsha. In fact, the משנה Mishna tells us that when רבי יהודה הנשיא Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi, oops, sorry, when רבי יהודה הנשיא Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi, the great editor, redactor of the Mishna, who had a very personal, close relationship with the oppressive Roman government of his time, when he would meet with them, when he would travel to Washington, and he'd have to, his Washington, and he'd have a meeting to lobby and to advocate, no matter what פרשה parsha they were up to that שבת Shabbos in שול shul, he would read פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach in order to prepare. Time to go to DC, time to go to Washington, anytime you head to Washington, you're landing in Reagan National Airport, you better on the plane be reading פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. Because our tradition is, the מדרש בראשית רבה Midrash Bereishis Rabbah tells us that the Torah's dramatic description of this highly anticipated confrontation, Yaakov and Esav, was not a one-time event. It's not a piece of history, but it contains the divine message for geopolitical encounters on behalf of the Jewish people for all time. So much so that years later, fast forward, רבי יהודה הנשיא Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi is engaging the Roman government. He's first reading פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. And I'll tell you another fascinating historical footnote. The when the Prime Minister Menachem Begin prepared for a critical meeting with Sadat and Carter, before he went to Washington, he stopped in New York. And why did he stop in New York? Because there we know before that fateful meeting with Carter and Sadat, he went to go meet with three of the greatest rabbis of the generation, רב משה פיינשטיין Reb Moshe Feinstein, the לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe, and הרב the Rav. And it's been reported that all three of them gave, gave Begin the same advice. Before you walk into that Oval Office for that meeting, you have to read פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. Which is not a surprise, all three of course knew the מדרש midrash, and they understood the significance of the opening of our פרשה parsha to shed light, to inspire, to empower these types of encounters in our time. So the פרשה parsha contains this threefold strategy that Yaakov engages when he's about to encounter Esav. Number one is diplomacy. Number two is prepare for war. And number three, importantly, is דאַוונען Daven, pray. And the שפת אמת Sfas Emes has a beautiful comment. He says this formula is true not only on the geopolitical plane when there are broad national issues and encounters that need to be navigated, but it's true when we too are meeting our alter ego in the effort and the war that we wage against our own יצר הרע yetzer hara, we need to employ these same three levels or forms of diplomacy. Torah tells us in the שפת אמת Sfas Emes says, where do you see this? You see this also in שמע Shema. ואהבת את ה' אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך V'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha b'chol levavcha u'v'chol nafshecha u'v'chol me'odecha. Love Hashem. To love Hashem, you have to defeat the impediments or the obstacles, the temptations that are going to draw us away and distract us from fully loving Hashem and realizing our best version of ourselves and fulfilling his expectations and mission for us. So says the שפת אמת Sfas Emes, בכל לבבך B'chol levavcha, with all your heart, is a reference to עבודה שבלב avodah shebalev. It means דאַוונען daven for help. בכל לבבך B'chol levavcha, with all your heart, is עבודה שבלב avodah shebalev, so it's תפילה tefillah. It means בכל לבבך b'chol levavcha, serve השם Hashem with all your heart means genuinely, authentically be present when you're דאַווענען davening. Be thinking. Daven for help and courage and resolve to do the right thing and be the right person. בכל נפשך B'chol nafshecha, with all your soul means, even in battle, even if it costs you your life. Daven to Hashem that you're giving your life, you're willing to sacrifice. מלחמה Milchama. And ובכל מאדך u'v'chol me'odecha, with all your resources means diplomacy, giving a gift, give what's necessary to refine your inclination in order to be able to do the good in our, in our lives. When Yaakov prepares to meet Esav, he's very worried about his brother's duplicity. הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשו Hatzileini na miyad achi miyad Esav. The pasuk says, Yaakov says, \"Hashem, save me from my brother, save me from Esav.\" Did Yaakov think that Hashem forgot who his brother was? \"Save me from my brother, you know, save me from Esav.\" It's repetitive, it's redundant. Why does he say it in that way? Commentators are bothered. So the בית הלוי Beis Halevi suggests that Yaakov knew that his brother could put on many faces, display multiple personalities. So he said to the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, he said, \"Almighty, help me, strengthen me, give me the resolve and enabled me to overcome whichever version of my brother I will meet. Esav could be אחי achi, and Esav could be Esav. Esav אחי achi means I'm presenting himself as my brother. He'll invite me to assimilate in with him, to join him, to be just like him. He'll love me with open arms, and that's an enormous threat to me and my family.\" So Esav may present as אחי achi, as my brother. He also may present as the hostile adversary, the enemy, Esav. But either way, says the בית הלוי Beis Halevi, הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשו Hatzileini na miyad achi miyad Esav. Whichever one I meet or encounter is a formidable threat and danger and therefore Hashem, I need your help. Which one is the greater threat, אחי achi or Esav? אחי Achi is even more of a threat. Why? When you fight your adversary, you know where you stand. You know who you're confronting. You know what needs to be done. But what is particularly pernicious is when your enemy presents himself or herself as your friend. Then your guard is let down, then you're vulnerable. Then they could do the most damage. And that too is a observation of the world in which we're living. מיד אחי Miyad achi. Many who are presenting as our brother, and maybe they even have the best of intention in presenting themselves in that way, but a 70% intermarriage rate and an enormous assimilation rate in this country is clearly proving, is proving the great, the great danger of this. So Yaakov's very afraid, ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו Vayira Yaakov me'od vayeitzer lo. Yaakov was afraid and he's distressed. And that's the בית הלוי Beis Halevi says, the two correspond with מיד אחי מיד עשו miyad achi miyad Esav. Just like I don't know which Esav I'm going to meet, therefore I don't know how I will react to him. But I'm afraid of both. I'm afraid of both. Each one presents a threat, and each one of them I am afraid of. So what does he do? He has to break his camp in two. And some say that's exactly what he's afraid of. Nothing pained Yaakov more than dividing his own family. A house divided, isn't there some famous quote? Cannot stand, will certainly fall. Some version of that. So Yaakov is very afraid. What was he afraid of? So some commentators say Yaakov's not afraid of Esav. You know what he's afraid of? The consequence of what he has to do in order to prepare to meet Esav. So the wise thing he has to do, how do you prepare for war, what did he do? He broke his camp in two. Which is very smart, he diversifies. If Esav is successful in attacking and obliterating one segment of my family, by dividing in two, he won't be able to touch the other side and we will have survivors. What pained Yaakov more than the fear of approaching Esav is the consequence of dividing his camp in two. To be put in that position where a person has to divide their family in two. It's like before the Holocaust when parents parted from their children, sent their children in order to help save them. Even though their hope is that they will survive that encounter and many did survive, but nevertheless, the trauma of separating in order to survive is itself an enormous trauma. That's what bothered Yaakov. Not Esav. Esav he had faith he could handle, but having to face Esav meant dividing his camp. Dividing his camp was an enormous source of pain, enormous source of stress for for him. The pasuk describes that Yaakov in fact was nervous. He lacked, I won't say lacked confidence, but he says, קטנתי מכל החסדים Katonti mikol hachasadim. He was nervous because all the חסדים that Hashem had done. What פסוק? פרק ל״ב פסוק י״א. Page 172. Says Yaakov, קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת אשר עשית את עבדך, כי במקלי עברתי את הירדן הזה ועתה הייתי לשני מחנות. It's a beautiful song by Yonatan Razel, recently wrote a beautiful song to these words. קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת. Again, I'll give you homework because we don't have time. What's the difference between חסדים and אמת? If what Hashem did for you is אמת, then it's not חסד. If what he did is חסד, then it wasn't אמת. So what does it mean מכל החסדים ומכל האמת? That's your homework. But what is Yaakov saying when he says קטנתי? I've become diminished. I'm somehow diminished by the kindness and the truth that you've shown me. Now, I understand when you're diminished by kindness, because maybe you're unworthy. But how are you diminished by truth? If it's truth, it's justified. If it's truth, it's what's right. So why should you be diminished by Hashem performing truth for you? It doesn't seem to make much sense. Again, that's your homework for you to to you think about it. But the אור החיים, the אור החיים of Avraham Chaim from Zlotchov says the following: קטנתי מכל החסדים means the following.It means that Hashem does incredible good for us. He gives us capability, and he gives us gifts, and he gives us talents, and he gives us skills, and he gives us opportunities. If as a result of all them we are humbled and we use them to fulfill and advance his mission, then we've used them correctly. But if we become arrogant, if our ego becomes inflated, if we think that we're great because of those talents or skills or gifts or opportunities that we have, then we have violated the very purpose for which we have. The Torah cautions us in ספר דברים, Moshe spends a lot of time, he dwells on this, ורם לבבך ושכחת את השם אלוקיך that your heart is going to swell, you're going to become arrogant, your ego will be inflated, and what happens? You'll forget Hashem. I'm successful. It's my brilliance, it's my skillset, the choices that I make. So that's what's going on over here. קטנתי מכל החסדים. He says, if a person, אם יתגאה חס ושלום בשביל להגיע למדריגתו בעבודת השם, גורם שאין אני והוא יכולין לדור. If I become arrogant because of all of the wonderful skills and talents and accomplishments and achievements I have, then God says there's not enough room in this world for both me and him. בנופל מאיגרא רמא לבירא עמיקתא. And we fall, we have a great fall. And that's what it means קטנתי מכל החסדים. רצונו לומר, אני הייתי מקטין עצמי מכל החסדים שנעשה לי, ומכל האמת שאני עשיתי הייתי מקטין עצמי, ולא להתגאות חס ושלום, ועל כן הצילני נא. Yaakov does not in fact feel diminished. And it's not that Yaakov feels he's unworthy. Rashi says that Yaakov is worried he's used up, he's depleted the whole bank account of Hashem taking care of him. He's in the red. Hashem's not going to take care of him. What's that going to mean for him? That's a very difficult Rashi, because Yaakov lives with faith. He lives with a אמונה וביטחון ודביקות. That means that there is no, there is no bankrupt, there is no empty bank account. You're never in the red with Hashem. You can always trust in Hashem. בטח בהשם. Always put your faith and trust in Hashem. So what does it mean Yaakov was unsure Hashem would be there for him? Because maybe he used up all of his favors with Hashem. Very, very difficult Rashi. So the אור החיים suggests very differently that no, Yaakov was advancing a prayer. This was his תפילה. קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת. Hashem, you've given me all kinds of חסד and אמת. You've been good to me. You've given me opportunities, you've given me talents and skills, you've given me blessings. Hashem, you've been so good to me. And you know how I reacted? Is קטונתי. Instead of my heart swelling, instead of becoming arrogant, I was humbled. And because of that, in that merit, הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשו. So קטנתי is not Yaakov's fear, it's not Yaakov's expression of anxiety or worry, he's suggesting it's Yaakov's תפילה that קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת because I reacted correctly, my response to the blessings you've given me is not to think I'm greater than I was, but to think less of myself. And because of that, הצילני in that merit, please, please save me. Please save me.פרק ל״ב פסוק י״ח. At the bottom of page 172. ויצו את הראשון לאמור כי יפגשך עשו אחי ושאלך לאמור למי אתה ואנה תלך ולמי אלה לפניך. When you encounter my brother Esav and he will ask you these three questions, what are the three questions he's going to ask? What are the three questions? למי אתה? To whom do you belong? ואנה תלך? And where are you going? And who are these people before you? What are these, what are these three questions? What are these three questions? So, I saw a beautiful insight. כי יפגשך עשו, these are the three ways that the יצר הרע attacks us. It says כי יפגשך עשו when the יצר הרע comes upon you, and you really want to share that juicy לשון הרע. You want to look at or watch a thing you shouldn't be looking at. You want to cut the corners in business you shouldn't be cutting. You want to bend the rules of שבת or כשרות more than you should. When that יצר הרע is aroused within you and it's trying to lead you in the wrong direction, so what should you do? And it says, אחי, כי יפגשך עשו and it says, אחי, hey my brother, hey brother let's watch this together. Hey brother let's go there together. Hey brother let's say this together. So what should you do? לאמור, you know what you say? למי אתה. Remember the משנה בפרקי אבות. The משנה בפרקי אבות tells us that there are three things to remember ולא תבוא לידי עבירה, the three things to remember that will prevent you from making the wrong choices. And what are they? מאין באת, where did you come from? ולאן אתה הולך, and where are you going? ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון, before whom are you have going to have to give an accounting. Every time you're tempted to do the wrong thing, just remember, you came from the ground and you're going back to become worm food in the ground. And when that happens and your soul is extracted from your body and your soul ascends on high, you will appear before the heavenly court and you will have to give an accounting, a reckoning, a דין וחשבון. So says, that's the פשט here. כי יפגשך עשו, when of your יצר הרע comes to attack you and what's its methodology, it says, אחי, hey my brother, לאמור, you know what you say back? מי אתה? מאין באת, where you're from? ואנה תלך, and where are you going? ולמי אלה לפניך, לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. That's how you attack the יצר הרע by challenging or posing these three things and that's how you're able to shut it down. A cute חסידישע פשט. Good.ל״ב, י״ח. כי ירא אנכי אותו. Where is כי ירא אנכי אותו? כי ירא אנכי אותו פן יבוא והכני. Because I'm worried, פן יבוא והכני. He was worried, what if he comes and strikes? פסוק י״ב. ל״ב י״ב, I'm sorry, go backwards for a moment. הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשו, כי ירא אנכי אותו, פן יבוא והכני אם על בנים. Maybe he's going to come and destroy me, a mother with her children, a mother with her children. So I want to tell you two פשטים. Why is he afraid of this? So, you knew it wouldn't be long before we took out the אמרי חיים, the ויז'ניצער. The ויז'ניצער רבי says the following. He says, כי ירא אנכי אותו, I am afraid of אותו. What does it mean I am afraid of אותו? So listen to the ויז'ניצער. מירא אנכי ממנו כי הייתי פעם אותו. You know why I'm afraid of him? Because I was once him. במלבושו, I wore his clothing and I faked being him and I walked in his shoes and I knew what it was like to be him. And that's what I'm afraid of. היתה לי נגיעה כל שהיא איתו. I had a נגיעה. I was once him and I'm worried that that experience, that taste that I had, that I was once him, that's what might come back. That's how I might feel again and that's therefore what I'm afraid of. כי ירא אנכי אותו. I'm worried I am him. I'm not worried about the עשו that's outside of me. What am I worried about? The עשו that's inside of me. The enemy in the outside, I can, no matter how formidable, I can stand up to. But the עשו in me, I wore his clothing, I walked in his way, I hunted and brought him food, brought my father the food. I was עשו, and that's the fear, is what if, what if I have that in me? The דגל מחנה אפרים has a different פשט. He says the following, כי ירא אנכי אותו פן יבוא והכני. He says, יש יראה ויש יראה, שני סוגי פחד או יראה, יראה חיצונית, דדחא בגין רצועה דעכא, ויראת הרוממות. We know that we have two types of fear. It's fear of heights and fear of public speaking and there's fear of the dark and there's fear of flying and there's fear all the fears and anxieties that exist in the world. And then there's יראת הרוממות. יראת הרוממות is an awe and a reverence. God is so great. God is so distant, so all capable, so omnipotent, so infinite. כשאדם זוכה למדרגת יראה פנימית, יראת הרוממות של אין סוף ברוך הוא ויתעלה. If a person merits to get to the level of living with an awe and a fear and a mindfulness that there is a God and He's all powerful and all controlling and holds us accountable, אז בטל ממנו כל יראה חיצונית. Then you're not going to be afraid of flying or darkness or public speaking or you have no need to have anxiety of anything. If you realize that we defer to Hashem, that he's in charge and he's in control and he runs our lives, we speak about this every morning Wednesday morning at the אמונה שיעור at 8:45, every Wednesday morning, אמונה, if we live with אמונה of a יראת הרוממות, there's a הקדוש ברוך הוא and he's in my life. And I was meant to be stuck at this red light, and I was meant for this flight to be delayed, and I was meant for that שידוך not to work out, and I I have nothing to fear in the world, because by definition everything that happens was meant to happen and everything is happening the way it was supposed to happen. So I have nothing to fear because if I get up to speak and I flop and I fail on my face, that was what was meant for me. And I will have the courage and the strength to be able to endure and persevere. And whatever will happen, I have nothing to be afraid of. ואם יש לו איזה יראה חיצונית, ומה שנופל מיראת הרוממות ומן הביטחון. If a person has anxiety or fear, then the חזון איש writes this explicitly. חזון איש in his אמונה וביטחון writes explicitly, he says, living with fear, being nervous and anxious, again, not diagnosed anxiety which needs legitimate treatment, I'm not talking about somebody who has a diagnosed disorder of anxiety or mental health challenge of anxiety. I'm talking about just everybody else who has anxiety. The חזון איש says living with anxiety is an act of כפירה. You are in denial of Hashem. Because if you're panicking and you're freaking out and you're sweating and your heart is racing, and you're nervous of what will be and what will happen, how's it going to work out, and I don't know and I'm just so nervous and I can't take it and I can't sleep and I can't do anything, Hashem says, \"Hello, over here.\" I mean imagine you tell your spouse or you tell your parent or you tell your friend or you tell your child, you've got nothing to worry about. Come with me, I got your back, I got it covered, it's all good. And then they say, I just can't sleep and I'm just so nervous and I just don't know what's going to be. Hello, hi, do you not trust me? I just told you this. So one of two things, either you don't believe I can do it and that's why you're, that's why you're nervous because you don't, you don't trust in me, you don't believe me. So God says do you not believe me, because if you believe me, then stop panicking. Because everything by definition, everything by definition is going to work out. So we can replace, this is the story Rabbi Soloveitchik who one year before the ימים נוראים, a prominent psychiatrist said to him, why are we davening for fear? Fear is debilitating. We should overcome all of our fears. So why are we saying ובכן תן פחדך on a יום נורא? Hashem, תן פחדך, give us greater fear. And the Rav said, no you don't understand. That's not the fear. There's one major fear that can eliminate all smaller fears. The more a person works on יראת שמים, the less they will have fear of all the little things in life. You can replace all the little fears by working on the one big fear. And he explained the תפילה ובכן תן פחדך. So the psychiatrist, the psychologist, you're getting paid to try to heal all the little fears, but really the bigger way to heal all the little fears is to work on the one big fear. And that's what the דגל מחנה אפרים is saying over here as well. That's what Yaakov Avinu says, כי ירא אנכי אותו, I'm afraid. And because I'm afraid and I have some anxiety, now פן יבוא והכני. Because I have fear, it can hit me. If I didn't have fear of him, nothing could hurt me because Hashem I have you. But if I have the little fear, then the little fear can make me crazy, can make me anxious, can make me neurotic. It can really rob me of my happiness. So because כי ירא אנכי, therefore פן יבוא והכני. But if it weren't a ירא אנכי, if we were able to overcome our smaller fears with the one bigger fear of the presence of Hashem, then it couldn't have an impact on us. What happens? Yaakov goes back the night before he left the פכים קטנים, he left his small jugs, and he went back to go retrieve them.He went back to go take them. Why did he go back to go take them? And then he finds himself alone, ויותר יעקב לבדו, and that whole night is wrestling with the angel. And it's a bizarre story, what happened, we're not going to talk about it, we've covered it in the past. At the end says Yaakov, what's your name? Yaakov says, what's your name? He says my name is למה זה תשאל לשמי. My name is why are you asking me my name? It's a very bizarre conversation. Yaakov seems satisfied with that answer. They go on their way. What were they wrestling about? The Torah never tells us what they were wrestling about. Why was Yaakov alone? The Torah never tells us why he was alone, but he's left alone by his children. Is being alone a good thing? Is being alone a bad thing? And how do we commemorate this experience of Yaakov being injured and limping away? We don't eat the גיד הנשה, which itself is another bizarre thing. These are all questions for you. A lot of homework. Since when do Jews commemorate, if you ask anybody, why do we not eat the גיד הנשה? You say, Yaakov wrestled with the angel of Esav and he won. Triumph. And how we commemorate it? Not with a brisket, and not with a round challah dipped in honey, and not with סופגניות, and not with לאטקעס, and not with מצה or מרור. We commemorate it by not... So it's the only Jewish holiday we commemorate a victory by not eating. It makes no sense. Since when do we commemorate something good by not eating? We commemorate good things with eating. From the looks of things, there are a lot of good things happening going on. ברוך השם. So we commemorate by eating, not by not eating. So how does it make sense that the way we commemorate this story of Yaakov triumphing is we don't eat? All good questions for you that we're not going to answer. But the חתם סופר is bothered. חתם סופר is bothered. רבי משה סופר. He says חז״ל say נשתייר על פכים קטנים that Yaakov had left, we always read this parsha right around usually the Shabbos before חנוכה, because the פכים קטנים are another biblical allusion or hint to the story of חנוכה, the פך שמן. So these small פכים he was back and the גמרא concludes, חז״ל conclude, מכאן לצדיקים שחביב עליהם ממונם יותר מגופם, that our most righteous value their property maybe even more than their body. שאין פושטין ידיהם בגזל. Because they never ever would be caught coming close to stealing. Coming close to stealing. So what in the world does that mean, says the חתם סופר. I would think that the more righteous you are, the less you care about material things. So he left some פכים קטנים. But you're going to leave your family to go retrieve them? You're so stingy? You're so cheap? You're so focused on your material things that you have to go back to retrieve them? Move on, let it go. Let it go. You know, you could have been up all night learning Torah, ביטול תורה to go back and get those things? You could have been all up all night playing scrabble with your family. You know, leave your family to go get those things? What's the פשט that the more righteous you are, the more you value these things? And why do you value these things? Because the more righteous would never ever steal. What does stealing have to do with forfeiting your own property that you leave behind? So this is what the חתם סופר says, I think brilliantly. The גמרא says in ברכות ל״ה, הנאהנה מן העולם הזה בלא ברכה, גוזל להקדוש ברוך הוא וכנסת ישראל. That a person who enjoys the pleasure of this world without making a ברכה has stolen from God and fellow man. The reason we make a ברכה before we eat food is I don't walk out of public without paying and I don't enjoy food without paying the Almighty for the food that he has granted me in this world. So says the חתם סופר, the more righteous you are, the more you realize that any property you have, it's for a holy reason and a holy purpose. Whatever you own is a vehicle and vessel for holiness. And therefore, to neglect it or to forfeit it or to unnecessarily forget it or to throw it out when it's fine and in good shape, to forget it and leave it behind is to steal from Hashem. It's to steal, notice the language is not only from Hashem, גוזל להקדוש ברוך הוא וכנסת ישראל. You're stealing from Hashem and from the world around you, through whom for whom you could be using that instrument to do good and to be good. And so that's why Yaakov Avinu went back for it. It's not that the more righteous you are, the more ascetic you are, the more transcendent you are over those material possessions, the less you care about things. The more righteous you are, the more you care about every penny and every dollar and every item because it can be embraced and used and transformed to achieve holy things and to pursue and advance the agenda of holiness, of holiness.So finally we have the encounter. I told you all those questions you're going to have to answer them. Finally we have the encounter after the wrestling match, Yaakov walks away. I'll tell you something else amazing about Yaakov walking away. A beautiful, beautiful פשט I saw from the אמרי נועם, הדז'יקובער. The Pasuk says in פרק ל״ג, פסוק ל״ב. ל״ג ל״ב. It's supposed to tell you on the article what page. ל״ג. ויזרח לו השמש. No, that's not a Pasuk. I'm sorry. ויזרח לו השמש. I have the wrong Pasuk. They finished wrestling and Yaakov limps away. It's פרק ל״ב ל״ב. ויזרח לו השמש כאשר עבר את פנואל והוא צולע על ירכו. So, Yaakov names the place where they wrestled, כי ראיתי אלוקים פנים אל פנים ותנצל נפשי. I saw God face to face and I was spared. ויזרח לו השמש. And the sun rises. What should it say? What word there is superfluous? What word there is extra? לו. And the sun rose for him. Um, did nobody else notice or benefit from the sun being in the sky? It should have said ויזרח השמש. What do you mean לו? What do you mean ויזרח לו השמש? The sun rose for him. So there's many interpretations of ויזרח לו, for him. One interpretation is בשבילי נברא העולם. A person should look around at the natural order and the magnificence of the world and say, it's for me. That sun is in the sky and there's billions on the globe who are benefiting from it, but you know what? It's there just for me. בשבילי נברא העולם. God would have gone to the effort of creating the sun just for my benefit, even if there were no one else in the world. אדם נברא יחידי, בשבילי נברא העולם. The world is created just for me. ויזרח לו השמש. That sun rose for Yaakov. It did its duty for Yaakov. We should feel Hashem's love and we should feel the awesome responsibility of בשבילי נברא העולם. The whole world is here just for me. And my next decision and my next behavior and my next act, the entire world is all for me. Now that's got to be offset and balanced by אנכי עפר ואפר. Right? The one pocket I carry around the little פתק, I carry around the little note that says בשבילי נברא העולם, the whole world's for me. And the other pocket you carry the note that says, אנכי עפר ואפר, I'm a גאָרנישט on the dust of the earth, I'm nothing. And you got to know when to pull which פתק out of which pocket. Sometimes you feel low to the ground and you got to remember בשבילי נברא העולם. And other times you're flying high and you think the whole world's here for me, I'm the center of the universe, אנכי עפר ואפר. You too will be worm food at the end of the day. So ויזרח לו השמש, some say לו means that we need to live our lives and say לו, Hashem created all this, it's for me. It's for me. Have you ever been outside when there's a dark sky and you really seen the stars and you look up and there are billions, not millions, billions of stars. You understand the number, the magnitude, it's mind boggling. In Seder Snippets we're going to get up to it tonight or tomorrow night, מונה מספר לכוכבים לכולם שמות יקרא. We're up to the second הללוקה in Seder Snippets. If you don't subscribe, this doesn't cost you anything. Everything else we sell, you cost you something. Broads, cards, תומכי שבת, it's free, Seder Snippets, absolutely free. So we're up to the second הללוקה and that pasuk, מונה מספר לכוכבים, God counts the stars. You can't count the stars. Several summers ago I was in Montana. I had the privilege of speaking on a great trip of rustic elegance. This summer will be in Yellowstone, Jackson Hole. So late at night 1:00 a.m. Yitzy Kessack, my dear friend, a member here at BRS who runs the trip, who knows nature like no one I know, says, \"Wait up till the middle of the night, I promise it'll be worth it.\" Takes a few of us in his car, we drive back up into Glacier National Park, windy roads, not lit up because it's at night. The park might have technically even been closed. I hope that they're not listening from Glacier National Park right now. And we drive to the top and we lie down on the ground next to the car and we look up and I've never seen anything like this in my life. I tried as hard as I could to get a picture of it, it's impossible to take a picture of it. And I want you to know there's a ברכה of that because some things are meant to just be experienced and not to be distracted by the effort to try to take a picture so other people can see. It was, I've never seen, billions of stars. I've never seen anything in my life. There's no artificial light where you are at the top of Glacier National Park in Montana. And when you see that sky, you've never seen anything like it. So I'm looking, I can't even begin to count one inch of the stars that I'm seeing, but מונה מספר לכוכבים, God knows exactly the count and each one has its own name. Hashem has a personal relationship with each and with every star. So ויזרח לו השמש, lying there you're supposed to look up and say, that star was created for me, that one's for me, that one's for me, that one's for me. All those billions of stars and the billions of galaxies and the whole universe which is beyond our comprehension and beyond our access and beyond our study, it's all there just for me. ויזרח לו השמש, it was all for Yaakov. Others interpret ויזרח לו השמש means that just like when the sun set, the introduction of the wrestling match is that the כי בא השמש, the sun had set. The sun set and now ויזרח לו השמש, the sun rises, the sun rises. The שֵם מִשְׁמוּאֵל has a very beautiful לשון. The סוכטשאבער רבי, the same שֵם מִשְׁמוּאֵל, Shmuel Bornstein, 1855 to 1926, we studied סוכטשאב and the people of the book. We went through this with the שֵם מִשְׁמוּאֵל, סוכטשאבער רבי. So he writes here, ותקע כף ירך יעקב, Yaakov walked away limping. נראה שזה רמז על עתיד, this is a hint to the future. אף שיהיה זמן שזרע של יעקב יהיה בשפל המצב מאוד. There'll be a time that the Jews are going through pogroms and expulsions, in inquisition and a crusades and a Holocaust. על זה בא רמז ותקע כף ירך יעקב. We're going to limp away, we're going to limp away injured, we're going to limp away with loss and casualty. מכל מקום אנחנו שואלים האלה עוד בכוחם להתגבר על עשו הרשע. We need to know that even if we walk away, we're walking away. Even if we're limping away, we're walking away. And no matter what history, no matter what our destiny throws our way, no matter what our enemies try, and they have been successful and they will be successful and that's a scary thought. But we need to have the confidence and the knowledge and the שֵם מִשְׁמוּאֵל says that is the essence of this story. Yaakov wrestling with the Esav, the שר של עשו is to tell us that sometimes we will walk away limping, but we will walk away. כמו שנתגבר יעקב אבינו עליו אף אחר נגיעת כף, וזה נותן חיזוק לימינו. This is what he writes in the beginning of the 19th century. This gives us חיזוק in our time. שמצב ישראל מוזר מאוד ברוחניות ובגשמיות, that the world is chaotic for the Jews, spiritually and physically, we're threatened spiritually, assimilation, intermarriage, and we're threatened physically, the rise of antisemitism and a possible wars and unsafe for Jews in the world. אל נתייאש חס ושלום. Don't give up hope, don't despair, says the סוכטשאבער. אלא נתחזק בכל עוז ועזרתו יתברך שמו תמיד נס וחייו ונתגבר עליו. The story of Yaakov should inspire and motivate us to remember that what? We will walk away, we will triumph, we will endure, we will persevere, even if it's with a limp, even if it's with a limp. What the last generation survived and what today we see, thank God, enormous families born from the few who survived who limped away, but who yet we are not only walking, in many ways we are running. But I'll tell you one last thing, even though I had 4,000 more things to tell you. Oy, there were so many more things to tell you. ויזרח לו השמש. The אמרי נועם, the דז'יקובער says a different פשט. He says ויזרח לו השמש. If you look at the pasuk, what was the pasuk? ויזרח לו השמש כאשר עבר את פנואל והוא צולע על ירכו. So the sun rises for him and he was limping on his hip. He says, you know, when the sun rose, he was able to see his injury. And you know, 95% of healing is seeing your injury. And that's why it's ויזרח לו השמש. How did the sun rise for him? When he knew what was wrong. When you don't know anything's wrong, that's when you're at your greatest risk. You know, when the kid complains they don't feel well and they're constantly don't feel well and you go to the doctor, the doctor says everything looks fine. And a week later still don't feel well. It's a virus, everything's fine. And by the third week they say, oh, turns out it's an ear infection. You say ברוך השם. Because now I can give an antibiotic, I know what was wrong, they can be treated and that's the best news I heard all day. It's when they say, I don't know what's wrong. That's the worst news. Virus. Virus is the worst news, worst news. Virus translates loosely to, we have no idea what this is and we have no idea to make it better and good luck to you. That's what virus loosely translates to. With all apologies to my doctor friends. So when they say ear infection, it's the best news. Strep, oh, ברוך השם, strep throat. When you know what's wrong, you can treat it and make it better, says the דז'יקובער. ויזרח לו השמש and now because he's shown the light, because he can see what's wrong, now it can be healed, now it can be treated. We're worse off and we're most in danger when we don't even know what is wrong. I didn't touch 80% of what I wanted to tell you. But ברוך השם we'll read פרשת וישלח next year, בעזרת השם, in good health together.
