Transcript
Okay, good morning to all. It's a big day. Today's election day. I hope everyone's voting.I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago invoking Rav Moshe's famous תשובה teshuva. Rav Moshe says that there is a מצוה mitzvah. Is this too loud? No.Rav Moshe says that there is a מצוה mitzvah to vote. He says we live in a country that is the most friendly, hospitable, welcoming, and warm to the Jews in history. And the way we show הכרת הטוב hakarat hatov, the way that we express our gratitude is by taking advantage of the gift and opportunity our ancestors could only dream of, and that is to vote. So I won't tell you who to vote for, at least not while we're being recorded. But, no, I won't tell you who to vote for. Everyone should vote their conscience, and everyone should vote on their values, and everyone should vote. It's not a question of who you vote for, but make sure you get out today, show הכרת הטוב hakarat hatov for the gift that this country has given us and make sure that you vote, and you get to wear a little sticker so the whole world knows you voted. That alone makes it worth it.פרשה Parsha's Toldos, page 124. And we live in Florida, Palm Beach County. Our vote actually matters. If you care about state income tax and school choice and Israel and gun control and whatever you care about, your vote actually matters. It makes a difference. Unlike our brothers and sisters who live in other states, some of which maybe we came from, whose vote carries less weight. Our vote actually matters. 100, page 124, פרשה תולדות Parshas Toldos. What do I say every week? Our פרשה parsha picks up where last פרשה parsha left off. חיי שרה Chayei Sarah left off. Our פרשה parsha begins ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, אברהם הוליד את יצחק V'eileh toldot Yitzchak ben Avraham, Avraham holid et Yitzchak. As always we give our overview and then we will come back and continue exactly where we left off in our analysis of the פסוקים psukim last year. So the פרשה parsha begins by providing this seeming redundancy. ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם V'eileh toldot Yitzchak ben Avraham, this is the legacy, these are the offspring of Yitzchak the son of Avraham. Avraham begat, which is a fancy word of saying Avraham was the father of Yitzchak. Well, if Yitzchak is the son of Avraham, isn't it obvious that Avraham is the father of Yitzchak? And Rashi's bothered by that question immediately. And Rashi tells us, why do we need to be told that? A miracle occurred. God intervened and made Yitzchak look exactly like his father, like Avraham. And why was that important? Because the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador, the scoffers and cynics of the generation, said, ah, Avraham's an old man. There's no way this is Yitzchak's son. How did Sarah become pregnant? They couldn't deny she was pregnant, even though she was an old lady, because she was the one who was pregnant. But she could, they could deny, they could accuse, fake news, Avraham's not the father. Avraham's not the father. Who's the father? אבימלך Avimelech.I don't know what just happened in the recording, but all these years and Yitzchak, Avraham couldn't produce a child. It must be that אבימלך Avimelech is the, אבימלך Avimelech is the father. So, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, God Himself intervened and God Himself made Yitzchak look exactly like Avraham. And we've discussed this in the past, why would God intervene? So the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador, a group of cynics and scoffers were making a false accusation. God suspends the rules of nature, intervenes, performs a miracle, all to respond to, all to combat the false accusation, the fake news of the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador? אלא מה Eila mai, what do you see from here? The incredible potency and power of cynicism, sarcasm, and fake news. The ליצני הדור leitzanei hador, the ability for anyone to manufacture their own version of truth, on the internet, online or offline, the ability, and I'm, I'm not on both sides, on all sides, on every side. The ability for people to manufacture their own version and, and, and present it to put forth an agenda is so odious, is so pernicious, has such a capacity to undermine that Hashem Himself has to intervene, and Hashem Himself has to make this, has to make this difference. Rav Soloveitchik saw in this pasuk something much more broad, which we'll come back to, which is the idea that Avraham is the old man. Avraham is this transformational leader, this revolutionary who introduces the world to ethical monotheism. But the world suspected, okay, you have this holier-than-thou Jew who stands on his soapbox and preaches to everyone how they should behave, who's really interfering with our convenient, corrupt life. But you know what? When he dies, so will his way of life die. With Avraham will go with this new movement. The movement so relies on its charismatic leader that when Avraham dies, so will this new movement, so will this radical new effort. And what the Torah is testifying is ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, אברהם הוליד את יצחק v'eileh toldot Yitzchak ben Avraham, Avraham holid et Yitzchak. No. Yitzchak was an ambassador. He takes the baton. He picks up from Avraham and he continues exactly along that line, exactly along that legacy. And that's a theme that we're going to see. We'll come back to it in a moment in the overview, but it's a theme that we're going to see in terms of the story of the wells and, and the like.So what happens? Yitzchak's 40 years old when he marries Rivka. We spoke last week. He was 37 at the עקדה Akeidah. According to one opinion, he stayed up on הר המוריה Har HaMoriah, he stayed up on הר הבית Har HaBayit for three years and only descended when Rivka was ready to marry him. And why? Because he didn't find out, according to רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, he didn't find out about his mother's death until he returned and Rivka was in place to, so to say, replace her. He's 40 years old when he marries Rivka, and the Torah testifies again to Rivka's genealogy. Rivka is the daughter of Lavan ha'Arami. She's the daughter of Betuel. Lavan and Betuel, the Aramite, Arameans. Why is the Torah testifying? We already know that from last week. So Rashi, you're also tells us, in order to remind us how extraordinary that Rivka grew up in such an environment so hostile to the values that Avraham, that Yitzchak would hold dear, and Rivka, despite growing up in such a corrupt, immoral, depraved environment, she nevertheless emerges a righteous woman. כשושנה בין החוחים K'shoshana bein hachochim, like a rose among the thorns, it says in שיר השירים Shir HaShirim. And Rav Soloveitchik says this is an allusion to Rivka, who is a rose among the thorns. Her father Betuel, her brother Lavan, their thorns. She emerges a rose among the thorns, even more magnificent, even more, even more beautiful because of it. She is barren. She struggles with infertility. She wants a child desperately. And finally, finally, Yitzchak davens לנוכח אשתו l'nochach ishto. We studied this, I think last year, two years ago, לנוכח אשתו l'nochach ishto. I think it's the Sforno who says Yitzchak wasn't davening for himself. God had promised him, don't worry. You're going to have children, you're going to have continuity, you're going to have a legacy. You're going to continue Avraham. Yitzchak knows he's good to go. Maybe he'll have a co-wife, maybe he'll take on, just like his father had Hagar. Yitzchak's confident he'll have continuity. So he's davening לנוכח אשתו l'nochach ishto. He's davening for Rivka because he's concerned, will she be the mother of his children? Will she be the matriarch of that legacy or not? It's לנוכח l'nochach, it's on behalf of אשתו ishto because עקרה היא akarah hi. So Yitzchak davens. יתר Yeitar, the גמרא סוכה Gemara Sukkah says like a pitchfork turns over the hay, so too Yitzchak turned over the will of the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. And Rashi comments that you can't compare the prayer of a צדיק בן צדיק tzaddik ben tzaddik. Yitzchak is righteous, the son of the righteous, compared to a woman who is a righteous woman but the daughter of a, of a רשע rasha, of a wicked man. It's a very kind of paradoxical Rashi. I would have thought the opposite. If you're the child of a רשע rasha, all the more so that your prayer should be valuable. You emerged, we just said, שושנה בין החוחים Shoshana bein hachochim, she's a rose among the thorns. All the more so, her prayer should be special and effective. Why is it that a צדיק בן צדיק tzaddik ben tzaddik is greater than a צדיק בן רשע tzaddik ben rasha? I once saw the answer, I don't remember from whom, I apologize, because to be a צדיק בן רשע tzaddik ben rasha means, if you have any moral compass, even if you grow up in the home of a רשע rasha, but your moral compass propels you to do the right thing and to be the right way, and you're proud to distinguish yourself from where you come from. You're proud to have the contrast of your ancestors who did the wrong thing and you do the right thing. But to be a צדיק בן צדיק tzaddik ben tzaddik, I mean, can you imagine the pressure of growing up in the home of a גדול הדור gadol hador? How are you going to compete? How are you going to compare? You're going to come home and say, I finished the מסיכתא masechta, I'm making a סיום siyum. Big deal, I finish ש\"ס Shas every year. I had a good שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei. Big deal, I'm the top davener on the planet. I control my thought. Big deal. To grow up in the home of a צדיק tzaddik, on the one hand, it's empowering. On the one hand, it's a privilege. On the one hand, you have the ultimate role model. But on the other hand, how do you compare? How do you compete? There's all these studies, not to compare, but second generation Holocaust survivors. Our own חסי יהודה Chasi Yehuda's daughter is one of the who's done scientific studies actually in terms of the genetics of second generation, what got embedded genetically from survivors into second generation. But you talk to second generation, I'm sure many in this room, and they talk about the challenge of a childhood. You know, you fell off your bike and scraped your knee, you're going to come home and complain to your parent who survived the concentration camp, I scratched my knee. I had a bad day in school, my teacher was mean to me. Like, what could you possibly do in your life? What could you possibly suffer in your life that could compare the suffering of, of your parents growing up in that home? That has to have an enormous, enormous impact. So להבדיל l'havdil, very different, but similar, to grow up in the home of a צדיק tzaddik, how do you come home? What could you accomplish? What could you achieve? What could be the struggle? So therefore the prayer of a צדיק בן צדיק tzaddik ben tzaddik in some ways is greater than a צדיק בן רשע tzaddik ben rasha. Because to emerge a צדיק tzaddik from the home of a צדיק tzaddik, to strive, to aspire, nonetheless, to be righteous when you can't ever rise to the level of righteousness of your parent, that is really impressive. It's even more impressive than the person who chooses righteousness over the wickedness that they saw in their home. That too is remarkable. But they chose righteousness over the wickedness. To choose righteousness when you know you can't compete with the righteousness, maybe that's why the prayer of the צדיק בן צדיק tzaddik ben tzaddik is even, is even greater. So, Rivka becomes pregnant, the prayer is effective. This is the part we're going to pick up from last year. We'll study the in depth, but she's agitated, she feels the kicking. She goes and consults, she's told she'll have two nations. The first one is born is Eisav, the second one born Yaakov. We'll look at this more closely. Rivka gravitates, or I should say first, Yitzchak gravitates towards Eisav, and Rivka gravitates towards Yaakov. We've discussed this in the past as well. Why do they gravitate in the wrong direction? Why do they gravitate to the wrong ones? So the commentary I've always found most compelling is that they both understood Yaakov for who Yaakov was and Eisav for who Eisav was. The question wasn't which one is a greater child. The question was which one had a better chance of carrying forth this legacy. Avraham began this journey, Avraham began this this movement and Yitzchak inherits this movement and tries to preserve this movement in a hostile environment. And which child will have the best chance of continuing the growth of this movement? Will it be the meek, studious, academic, bookworm, nerd, geek, pale, sits in the in the library all day? חלילה chalila, I'm not talking about Yaakov that way, but I'm saying the image of such a person, will it be the strong warrior, hunter in the field who could confront any obstacle, who will can't be manipulated by, by a Lavan, which one? Yitzchak thought the best shot was through Eisav. And Rivka said, no, no, no, you're underestimating my Yaakov. And if you fast forward to the end of the parsha, you can now better appreciate why Rivka designed this, I mean, if you study פרשה בראשית Parshas Bereishis or if you study ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishit, rather, the worst marriages, it's the worst parenting, it's the worst sibling rivalry, it's the worst of humanity. What kind of marriage Yitzchak and Rivka have? That Rivka takes a child, I don't know, I'd have a hard time reconciling with my wife, if my wife conspired with my child to to deprive me of the truth, to trick me, to manipulate me, I'm sure we could work it out, but it'd be take a long time. It'd be, actually, if she listens later, it can't, we can't work it out. Don't do that to me. Don't ever do that. But it'd be very hard. Rivka is manipulating Yaakov against his own father, Yitzchak. Rivka goes to sleep at night on the pillow next to Yitzchak and doesn't tell him, I have these concerns about Eisav, I think it's Yaakov, you need to give him the bracha and not. What kind of communication, what kind of marriage? That's a separate time. That's a separate topic. Minimally, what you see from this is that the Torah is describing real people with real flaws. It's not me saying it, it's the Ramban, it's the Hirsch, it's a whole legacy of commentaries, גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael who had no hesitation to read ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishit and say, these were extraordinary human beings, the loftiest, the matriarchs and patriarchs of our people. We should always question when can we rise to their level? We never will. We can't minimalize whatsoever their greatness, but part of their greatness is their humanity. And therefore, we can aspire. Therefore, they can be our role models because of their humanity. But now we go to the end of the parsha, we can understand that Rivka is specifically manipulating the situation because she, maybe instead of looking at it as depriving him of information or manipulating him, why don't you look at it as, we already know what the Torah says, that a husband should listen to his wife. Avraham already got that instruction about Sarah. But Yitzchak is so stubborn, he's so obstinate. Every night the pillow talk is Rivka saying, look, you're underestimating Yaakov. I'm telling you our Yaakov, he may look like the bookworm, he may be brilliant, he may have a perfect score on his SAT and MCAT, but I'm telling you, he's the one. I'm telling you you're underestimating him. He can do it. And Yitzchak says, leave me alone already. You tell me this every night. I can't talk about this anymore. What are you talking about? He can't do it. I know him, I'm his Rebbe. I'm in the Yeshiva with him. The kid is a terrible athlete, and the kid's not social, and the kid, he just sits with the book. I'm telling you he can't do it. And how many times is Rivka going to have the conversation? So she knows what she does? She says, okay, let's prove to Yitzchak that Yaakov can do it. Yaakov, here's the deal. You're going to dress up as your brother and you're going to trick and manipulate your father. Your father thinks you can't handle the street? You don't have, you don't have street smarts, only book smarts? Let's show him. It's the only way that he's going to come around. And Taka, he comes around. And it also explains why at the end Yitzchak is not furious, neither at Rivka nor at Yaakov. After Yaakov tricks his father, but before he goes to the home of Lavan, he comes back again at the end of our parsha and Yitzchak gives him another bracha. Another bracha? He should give him a smack across the, a פרס על פניו pras al panav. What do you mean another bracha? Okay, he's a little old for a patch, but he should tell him, I'm outraged. How could you have done that to me? But we understand in that context why he doesn't. Because he says, I've been made to see the truth. I understand why you did what you did. I was so stubborn, I was so blind, the only way that I could see that you have this in you is for you and your mother to have done what you've done. I'm not angry at your mother, I'm not angry at you. לך גזונט, קום גזונט Gei gezunt, kum gezunt. Go, I understand you got to run from your brother right now, but you're the chosen one. The parsha comes full circle. If you see it in that context and analyze it in that way, it's I think a very again for me, it's a very persuasive way of seeing, of seeing the parsha. Eisav comes home and he's starving, and Yaakov gives him food, and he calls it the red stuff, and that's why he's known as אדום Edom. And I love this insight. After he sells it, ויאכל וישת ויקם וילך ויבז עשו את הבכורה vayochal vayesht vayakam vayelech vayivez Eisav es ha'bechorah. In one breath, in one sentence, what happens? They cut a deal. Yaakov says, I want the בכורה bechorah. I want to be the firstborn, which had certain rights, of the status of a priest, of a kohen. Not only then, but in perpetuity. Eisav says, I'm hungry and that red stuff looks pretty good. We've got a deal. Now the fact that Eisav sold the birthright for a plate of cholent is pretty pathetic and pretty weak, but also understandable. If in fact he came home and he was starving, and he thought his life lay in the balance, can understand people out of hunger make all kinds of decisions, sometimes even self-destructive ones or not in their best interest. We can understand that. What we can't understand is what happens next. What does Eisav do? In one breath, Yaakov gives him the food. ויאכל וישת ויקם וילך ויבז Vayochal vayesht vayakam vayelech vayivez. In one breath, he eats, he drinks, he gets up, he goes, ויבז עשו את הבכורה vayivez Eisav es ha'bechorah. And he heads to the bar. He goes to the club. He goes back to what ויבז vayivez. He disparaged, he spurned the birthright. What does that mean? Sometimes you have to part with something. I've given this before. A person who runs out of money and they have to huck an heirloom of the family, jewelry their spouse gave them. And they go to the what's the story that you go to the pawn shop. They go to the pawn shop because they desperately need some cash. So they're going to go get rid of the jewelry that belong to their great, great bubby. But do they walk out of the pawn shop with a little skip in their step and a little hop and a big smile and that they walk out with their head down and they're broken and they're נבך nebach, that was what they had to do in order to get the money. But they're broken. They can't sleep for three days and they can't eat for three days afterwards. And all they think about is they did the right thing and the pain from which it took to part with that precious heirloom. What does Esav do? ויאכל וישת ויקם וילך ויבז Vayochal vayesht vayakam vayelech vayivez. In one sentence, he eats, he drinks, he satisfies his boych, he got his cash, he's got a hop a skip and he's smile and he heads off to the club, to the bar. ויבז עשו את הבכורה Vayivez Eisav es ha'bechorah. ויבז Vayivez. He doesn't do it sadly or he doesn't do it with any sense of of humiliation or hesitancy or reluctancy, he ויבז vayivez. He ויבז vayivez. There's another famine because our Avos all had to experience the version of a famine. Yitzchak like his father thinks it's time to go to מצרימה Mitzrayma, but he is a holy sacrifice, he's not allowed to leave Eretz Yisrael. And we have the story of Yitzchak in Gerar. And then we have the story of Yitzchak and the wells. What's going on with Yitzchak and the wells? I told you I'd come back to this notion that Yitzchak is the continuity of his father. So Rav Soloveitchik has a very, very beautiful insight here. He says, I'm going to read to you his words. Yitzchak's birth was connected with laughter. right, his name, Yitzchak is צחוק tzchok. Sarah said צחוק עשה לי tzchok asah li. And Avraham also does and Sarah's criticized and Avraham is complimented. According to some, and Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. צחוק עשה לי אלוקים Tzchok asah li Elokim. Everyone that hears will laugh on account of me. Rashi and Onkelos render the word not as laughter but joy. But other commentaries among them Rav Yonasan ben Uziel Targum Yonasan translate the word laughter literally, people laughed at the event. They did not believe that Yitzchak would inherit Avraham, that he, a young lad of the new generation, would continue to carry out Avraham's visions and laws, that he would engage in building altars and calling on the name of God. When Avraham dies, people said his entire philosophy will perish. His altars will be dismantled. They did not hate Yitzchak, they simply belittled him. They laughed, they derided, but they did not hate. So they laughed. They said, ah, this new generation who's got Snapchat and Facebook and Instagram and social media, this new generation, they'll never stick with this Shabbos thing. This new generation is so addicted to their technology, they'll never stick with Shabbos. They'll never stick with kosher, they'll never stick with צניעות tznius, they'll never stick with honesty. Years past, those who were want to laugh at Yitzchak in the hopes that Avraham pinned on him, suddenly began to ask, is Yitzchak really sincere in his efforts to resuscitate Avraham's work? What's going on? They rubbed their eyes. Isaac, Yitzchak was indeed continuing Avraham's enterprise. He was fighting for the same ideals, doing the same things his father had done. And the laughter ceased. They stopped making jokes on Yitzchak's account and began to fight against him. In place of derision came jealousy and hatred. The scoffers, the ליצני הדור leitzanei hador who were want to ban the joke, to bandy jokes, stories and slanders about Avraham and Sarah, suddenly became the wicked of the time who sought to crush Yitzchak. Now they recognized his existence, now they felt hatred and jealousy. When they saw what was happening, the Jewish people because of this new age, millennials with their technology and breakthrough philosophy were not abandoning Torah. They were returning to it. It wasn't a progressive stream that was the strongest stream, they were disappearing. But it was the true Torah stream which was growing in size and influence. So now those who opposed it didn't laugh at it anymore. Now they were jealous. And jealousy leads to oppression or persecution, but also brings about respect. They began to hate Yitzchak, but they also began to respect him. In this attitude towards Yitzchak, we may discern the first victory of Avraham's house. It's better to be an object of jealousy and hatred which leads to respect than an object of pity which is always accomplished accompanied by derision and contempt. The insight of the Rav about Yitzchak and Avraham, but also an insight, Rav Soloveitchik talked often about the Jewish condition after the Holocaust, where the world, the United Nations, the Christian world, the church thought the Jews are no longer the chosen people, they'll disappear now, this movement is over. Holocaust, the Jews are no longer God's chosen, it's all over. They laughed and they scoffed, and now the Jews are here and we're here to stay and we're stronger than ever and that is transformed into sometimes jealousy from others a form of respect, but it's certainly better than pity which breeds contempt. So with this Rav Soloveitchik describes, that's what it means they filled in the wells of Avraham and Yitzchak redug his father's wells. What it means that Yitzchak redug his father's wells is, he remained true to those values and to that tradition and to that, and to that מסורה mesorah. And that's how in fact he explains at the end after he redigs the wells of his father, ויבן שם מזבח ויקרא בשם השם vayiven sham mizbeach vayikra b'shem Hashem. He builds a מזבח mizbeach and he calls in the name of God. And here the Rav writes again, when Hashem appeared to Yitzchak, Hashem identified himself as the God of Avraham but not God of Yitzchak. Yitzchak had not yet developed his own approach to Hashem the way Avraham had done. Yitzchak redug the wells of his father but now he's just imitating his father. He's just, he's just shadowing exactly what his father had done until now. This is more than a story about wells. The Torah is teaching that Yitzchak only drew water from the wells that his father had dug. He had not dug his own wells. He had not yet developed a unique religious approach. At this point God promised to bless Yitzchak and multiply his seed but only for the sake of Avraham. Yitzchak realized it was insufficient to reopen Avraham's wells. He had to dig his own. At the moment that he built his own altar and called on the name of Hashem, developing an edifice and approach of his own, Hashem was no longer merely the Hashem of Avraham. Later when God appears to Yaakov, he identifies as God of Yitzchak as well as God of Avraham. And that's the introduction we have in our Shmoneh Esrei. אלוקי אברהם אלוקי יצחק ואלוקי יעקב Elokei Avraham Elokei Yitzchak v'Elokei Yaakov, not only אלוקי אברהם יצחק ויעקב Elokei Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov. Each developed their own relationship. And Rav Soloveitchik felt very strongly this balance, which is very difficult at times, the notion between the מסורה mesorah, remaining true to our tradition, but at the same time being innovative. At the same time being appropriately progressive, that one has to strike that balance between being true to where we come from, being true to the מסורה mesorah and tradition we have, to redig the wells of our ancestors, of our forefathers, אלוקינו Elokeinu, it's the God of our ancestors, אלוקינו Elokeinu, but at the same time simultaneously, אלוקי אברהם אלוקי יצחק ואלוקי יעקב Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak v'Elokei Yaakov. Not אלוקי אברהם יצחק ויעקב Elokei Avraham, Yitzchak v'Yaakov. אלוקי אברהם אלוקי יצחק ואלוקי יעקב Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak v'Elokei Yaakov. That each generation, each time, takes our tradition, our מסורה mesorah and we apply it in the world and in the generation in which we are, in which we are living. And that's how we saw it. That's how we saw it. Okay. Let's go back to the beginning of the parsha. Or to conclude the summary, Yaakov tricks his father, he gets the bracha, Esav goes crazy. Yitzchak has this tremendous fear and Yaakov has to run and flee for his life. End of parsha. Okay. We are going to continue where we last left off last year, which according to my notes is פרק כ\"ה פסוק כ\"ב Perek Kaf Hey Pasuk Kaf Beis. Chapter 25, verse 22.Chapter 25, verse 22.We're in the Artscroll חומש Chumash on page 124. You see we didn't get that far last year. Page 124. Says the Torah, what's happening now? Rivka was barren. Yitzchak davened desperately on her behalf and she becomes pregnant. And what happens? It's a difficult pregnancy. ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה ותאמר אם כן למה זה אנכי ותלך לדרוש את השם Vayitrotzetzu habanim b'kirba v'tomer im kein lama zeh anochi, v'telech lidrosh et Hashem. ויתרוצצו Vayitrotzetzu, the children agitated her, they're kicking, they're wild inside her. ותאמר Vatomer and she says אם כן למה זה אנכי im kein lama zeh anochi, which is difficult to translate. Translate those words. אם כן im kein, if so, if I'm enduring such a difficult pregnancy, I have such a, and and I have, ברוך השם, בלי עין הרע Baruch Hashem, bli ayin hara, I have seven children and my wife could tell you much better than I, but their personalities were evident already in utero. One of my children in particular I remember, who is a lot of energy and vivacious in real life, when Yocheved was pregnant with her, didn't stop moving for nine months. Was doing somersaults and jumping jacks and gymnastics. So ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה vayitrotzetzu habanim b'kirbah. So Rifka says I can't sleep. This is, there's gymnastics going on. I got a gymnastics studio inside me. And ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה vayitrotzetzu habanim b'kirbah. אם כן למה זה אנכי im kein lama zeh anochi. If so, why this me? What does it mean? למה זה lama zeh? Why this? Why thus? אנכי anochi? for me? Why am I thus? You see the clumsiness of this, the awkwardness of trying to translate those words. למה זה אנכי Lama zeh anochi. And what does she do in order to resolve that question, which we're not sure what it is? ותלך לדרוש את השם Vateilech lidrosh et Hashem. She goes to inquire from the Almighty Himself. She goes to inquire from, from Hashem. What's going on over here? So look at the meforshim. Says the Rashi, ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה Vayitrotzetzu habanim b'kirba. על כרחך המקרא הזה אומר דרשני Al korchach hamikra hazeh omer darsheini. This pasuk is saying explain me. Because Rashi also is bothered that there's an awkwardness in understanding the pasuk. רבי אברהם דרוש ללשון ריצה, כשהייתה עוברת על פתחי תורה, על שם ועבר, יעקב רץ ומפרכס לצאת. עוברת על פתחי עבודה זרה, עשו מפרכס לצאת. Rabeinu darshu l'lashon ritzah. K'shehaysa overes al pischei Torah, al Shem v'Ever, Yaakov ratz u'mefarkes latzeis. Overes al pischei avodah zarah, Eisav mefarkes latzeis. So the first understanding we're all familiar with this is that when she would walk by the בית מדרש Beis Medrash, the ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem v'Ever, Yaakov was clamoring to get out. And when she walked by the בית עבודה זרה beis avodah zarah, Esav was clamoring to get out. So every street she walked down where there's a religious symbol, one or the other, there was all this activity going on of those inmates trying to escape. And she felt that level of activity. Okay, still, what bothered her so much about that? What bothered her so much? דבר אחר Davar acher says Rashi. מרוצצים זה עם זה ומריבים בנחלת שני עולמות. M'rotzetim zeh im zeh u'merivim b'nachlas shnei olamos. There was something much more existential happening. This wasn't just active fetuses. There's something much more existential that was happening. And what is that existential thing that was happening here? There was a collision, a collide of two different worlds, of two different world views. The fathers of two nations were about to be born, and those nations would perpetually be in conflict. And which set of values would influence and mold and shape the world? People mistakenly think, Rav Soloveitchik writes, that the anti-Semitism in general began due to economic and political motivations, and the hatred of the Arabs towards the Jews started with the Zionist movement. The antipathy of the anti-Semite is not due to external factors. It's a prenatal tendency. We can appreciate this after Pittsburgh last week and this discussion, the rise of anti-Semitism that we've seen again. And the struggle of so many who want to understand it. How does it make sense? Why can't we break through? Why can't they just accept us and receive us? Why don't they recognize our contributions to the world and admire us? Why does anti-Semitism persist? Why are there anti-Semites in a world of political correctness and the world of ethics and morality, in the world of accepting people for who they are, whatever their orientation, their appearance, their identity? Everyone's entitled to exist but the Jew. Everyone's entitled to be recognized for who they want to be, but the Jew. And we sit and we scratch our head and we wonder, why? We thought that we had earned a reprieve after the Holocaust, the world felt bad, and there was somewhat of an outpouring of acceptance, love, or support. So what happened? And Rav Soloveitchik is articulating this harsh reminder that maybe it was a 70-year reprieve, but that was never a new normal. And that was our mistake to think it became a new normal. It's not a new normal. The default, the normal of reality is the Jew is hated.
