Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. The privilege today of studying פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. A critically important as every parsha is, but really has a tremendous staying power because it continues to inform our sense of diplomacy until this very day. I want to thank our generous Parsha series sponsors, Dr. Becky, sorry, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעלוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנשה l'ilui nishmas David ben Menachem Menashe. I also want to dedicate our parsha shiur this morning to someone who just passed away, unfortunately, very sadly, Dr. Gil Mellon. Dr. Gil Mellon lives in Woodfield Country Club. I never had the privilege of meeting him. Very young man who passed away after being diagnosed with an illness only in June. And just passed away yesterday. His family called me because apparently he loved to listen to the Parsha class and though we never met and he never came here, he wanted to meet before he left this world and so we spent some time together on Sunday. And I just learned of his passing so I wanted to dedicate our learning in his memory. And also be a reminder in life, never wait, never wait until it's too late, take advantage of every moment. There's someone you want to meet or spend time with, or have lunch with or coffee with, or be in conversation with. Don't ever wait. His נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah was a very special person to his family, to his community and beyond. Dr. Gil Mellon, עליו השלום alav hashalom. Okay, פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach, page 170 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. וישלח יעקב מלאכים לפניו אל עשיו אחיו ארצה שעיר שדה אדום Vayishlach Yaakov malachim lefanav el Eisav achiv artza Seir sdei Edom. It's time for the big reconciliation. It's time for the big reunion. After 34 years of being apart, 14 years he's been learning in ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem V'Ever. I don't know how Yaakov negotiated that with his parents, 14 years in yeshiva, but he did. Like what שנה shana, what year are you up to? שנה ב' Shana bet, שנה ג' shana gimmel? שנה י\"ד Shana Yud-Daled. I don't think you stop counting by then. I don't think you're no longer saying, any longer saying what, what שנה shana, what year you are. So 14 years in ישיבת שם ועבר Yeshivas Shem V'Ever, 20 years working for לבן Lavan. He's now got two wives, many children, lots of assets and property and it's time to reunite. He wants to reunite with his brother before what? The passing of his father. Why? Because he feels he's got a much better shot. Eisav might be much more likely, more predisposed to reconciling if יצחק Yitzchak is still alive, because Eisav excels at what מצוה mitzvah? כיבוד אב ואם Kibbud Av V'em. So his father, of course יצחק Yitzchak would want that reconciliation. He stands a much better shot than waiting until יצחק's Yitzchak's gone. Eisav so to say has nothing to lose. So still in his father's lifetime, he wants to try to reconcile. And וישלח יעקב מלאכים לפניו Vayishlach Yaakov malachim lefanav, he sends מלאכים malachim ahead of him. Zagt Rashi, מלאכים malachim, angels. Normally in the text when we encounter the word מלאכים malachim, what does it mean? Angels. Here, Rashi goes out of his way to say מלאכים ממש malachim mamash. Literally מלאכים malachim, literally ambassadors, literally agents, literally messengers. Why are they called מלאכים malachim? Why didn't he send angels as in the angelic, celestial beings of Hashem? Why does he send מלאכים ממש malachim mamash, people? Now is not the time, I think we've spoken about it in the past. Ibn Ezra is a fascinating insight, but you know what's higher than an angel? A person who acts like an angel. Our mission is to be angels for one another. To be agents, to be ambassadors, to be activists, to be those who represent one another, advocates for one another. מלאכים ממש Malachim mamash, a human being who cares enough to go out of the way to help, to act on behalf of another is a מלאך ממש malach mamash, is literally acting as an angel. So this is a very, reference, I alluded to the fact that this is a very, very significant Torah portion, not only because it's our פרשה parsha for this week, but because of what it represents. And in fact, the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah tells us, מנהג ישראל תורה minhag Yisrael Torah. שמי שבדעתו לנסוע מביתו אותו שבוע shemi she'b'daato linsoa m'beito oso shavua, there used to be an old ancient Jewish custom, still some still observe it, observe it. That a person who's going to be traveling, a person who's going to be journeying from their home that week, and here we have a lot of, the world is global. We have a lot of snowbirds, seasonal people. We have a lot of people who go back and forth between New York and Florida. Know that there was an ancient custom that the מוצאי שבת Motzei Shabbos before you leave, before you embark on a journey, לפני נסיעתו lifnei nesiaso, what do you read? פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. To read this parsha. You're setting out on a journey, you have a destination, you're going to have to traverse some territory. So there was a custom to read פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach, the מוצאי שבת Motzei Shabbos before you leave. וזהו מנהג עתיק יומין v'hu minhag atik yomin. This is an ancient, this is an old מנהג minhag. מקור מנהג זה נובע מרבינו הקדוש Mekor minhag zeh novea m'Rabbeinu HaKadosh. Where does this מנהג minhag come from? The idea that you're going out, you have an important journey, you have an important business trip, that you read this parsha beforehand, it comes from none other than רבינו הקדוש Rabbeinu HaKadosh, רבי יהודה הנשיא Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, כמבואר במדרש בראשית רבה k'mevuar b'Midrash Bereishis Rabbah. The מדרש Midrash on our פרשה parsha tells us, פרק ע\"ח Perek Ayin Ches, שכן נוהג רבינו הקדוש לקרות פרשת וישלח קודם שהלך אל הקיסר sheken nohag Rabbeinu HaKadosh likros Parshas Vayishlach kodem shehalach el ha'keisar. Before רבי יהודה הנשיא Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi would go and his friend was the Caesar, was the great general, and before he would go and represent the Jewish people and their interests, before he would go meet with them for acts or conversations of diplomacy, didn't matter what parsha it was, didn't matter which time of the year, he would always read פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. ופירש הרמב\"ן u'feresh haRamban, שהיתה קבלה בידם shehayta kabbalah b'yadam, שזו פרשת הגלות shezu parshas ha'galus. You want to know what the playbook is, how to navigate the גלות galus? What's the formula? Where's the playbook? Where's the instruction manual? How do we navigate this deep, dark exile? How do we navigate a rise of antisemitism? How do we navigate having to confront the Eisavs of our generation? How do we navigate difficult conversations in exile? The answer is פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. ועל ידי הקריאה בפרשה זו ידע האדם עצה איך לנהוג כשהוא יושב בחברת עקום V'al yedei hakriah b'parsha zu yeida ha'adam eitzah eich linhog k'shehu yoshev b'chevras akum. When you're living among gentiles, when you're living among potentially hostile hosts, what do you say? How do you navigate? What do you do? ולראות הנהגת יעקב עם עשיו v'liros hanhagas Yaakov im Eisav. The answer is, go back to the precedent. מעשה אבות סימן לבנים Maaseh avos siman l'banim. How did יעקב Yaakov navigate his relationship, this reconciliation with Eisav? וכן גם כשחזר רבינו הקדוש לביתו, סירב ללוות בדברי מעבדי המלך הרומאים שם הקיסר, שכן מצינו ביעקב אבינו שסירב ללוות עם עשיו v'chen gam k'shechazar Rabbeinu HaKadosh l'veito, serav l'lavos b'dvarim m'avdei ha'melech ha'romaim sham ha'keisar, sheken matzinu b'Yaakov avinu sheserav l'lavos im Eisav. It went so far that when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, a very wealthy man who was good friends with this Roman general, when he would take leave of him and they offered him an escort home, a police escort, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, a great man, a great friend, a great peer, why should you have to sit in traffic? Why should you be in danger at risk? We'll send you a police escort. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi invariably always turned it down. And why did he turn it down? Because he continued to follow the playbook of Yaakov and Eisav, not only on his way there, but on his way out and on his way from. And when Eisav says, \"Nu, Yaakov, we hugged, we kissed, we made up, nu, let's go together.\" What does Yaakov say? I'm not going to press my luck. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say that. What he says is, I've got a lot of wives, I've got a lot of kids, they're very slow. They need to take a lot of bathroom breaks. You go ahead. You go fast, you go ahead. I don't want to keep you. So Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi deduced, he learned from that, not only what to do on the way in to those conversations, but on the way out. ומספר המדרש שם פרק ע\"ח u'mesaper ha'Midrash sham perek ayin ches, שפעם אחת אירע שרבינו הקדוש שכח לקרות פרשת וישלח לפני שהלך לקיסר she'paam achas eira she'Rabbeinu HaKadosh shachach likros Parshas Vayishlach lifnei she'halach la'keisar. One time Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi didn't have time or he forgot and he didn't read this parsha before he went in. והסכים ללוות לביתו עם עבדי הקיסר v'hiskim l'lavos l'veito im avdei ha'keisar. And so he agreed because he had forgotten the playbook. He didn't review the instruction manual, so he agreed to be escorted home with an entourage. ולא הגיע לעכו עד שהוצרך למכור את סוסו ומעילו לעבדי הקיסר כדי לשחדן v'lo higia l'Ako ad shehutzrach limkor es suso u'm'ilo l'avdei ha'keisar k'dei l'shachdan. He had to bribe that escort. He had to bribe those armed guards. And so he had to sell all that he had on him in order to bribe them for protection. וכן איתא במדרש לקח טוב v'chein ita b'Midrash Lekach Tov. אמר רבי יוחנן כל מי שרוצה לרצות מלך או שלטון ואינו יודע דרכם ותכסיסיהם, יניח פרשה זו לפניו Amar Rabbi Yochanan kol mi she'rotzeh l'ratzos melech o shilton v'eino yodea darkam v'tachsisayhem, yaniach parsha zu lefanav. You're invited to a meeting with the congressman, a person, a senator, a person of influence, a person of power. You're going to sit in the Roosevelt room. Before you go and before you sit down, you read פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach. And in fact, this is what happened. We just showed a film on מוצאי שבת Motzei Shabbos. 300 people came and sat outside on the lawn. Beautiful weather, a beautiful night, thank you Hashem. A wonderful documentary done about מנחם בגין Menachem Begin. It was an honor to have been a small part of it. And when מנחם בגין Menachem Begin, this is not in the film. In the documentary it does talk about that when he won against all odds and he became Prime Minister and he came to New York to meet with some great rabbis, there was some pictures of him and the לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe, but it doesn't say what they spoke about. When Prime Minister Begin came to New York to prepare for the critical meetings with with Sadat and Carter, he stopped in New York on his way to Washington, and he met individually with three great rabbis. Anyone know who they were? The לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe, that was in the documentary, gave it away. Who else? הרב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik and רב משה פיינשטיין Rav Moshe Feinstein. He met with three great rabbis on his way to this important meeting and negotiation, which would have enormous impact, consequence for the Jewish people and Israel. And it is reported that in all three meetings, all three, הרב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik, the לובאוויטשער רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe and רב משה Rav Moshe, all told him, read פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach before you go into the White House. You have to read וישלח Vayishlach before you engage in that conversation, before you engage in that conversation. The מהרי\"ל Maharil quotes the story a little bit differently, and אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah has a big discussion of this. But we have the מנהג minhag. Not only when you're going into a place of power, will have an audience with somebody of influence, but he quotes a custom anytime you're going to be traveling that week, the מוצאי שבת Motzei Shabbos before, וישלח Vayishlach. The story of a journey and how we navigate our way and how we make our way. So, he does three things, he sends three things. We all know the story, he prepares in three ways. ויצו אותם לאמר כה תאמרון לאדוני לעשיו, כה אמר עבדך יעקב, עם לבן גרתי ואחר עד עתה Vayetzav osam leimor koh tomrun l'adoni l'Eisav, koh amar avdecha Yaakov, im Lavan garti v'echar ad ata. Here's the message, here's what I want you to get across. Go ahead. reconnaissance, I want you to go and and spy, investigate a little bit. and I want you to get the following message across. Tell my brother that your servant Yaakov, עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, you know where I've been? 34 years. A long time. Why didn't you make any effort? Not one text, not one email, not one postcard. Why didn't you try sooner? Where were you? Tell them עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti. I was living with Lavan, ואחר v'echar, and I was delayed עד עתה ad ata, until this point. I was living and I was delayed until this point. Says Rashi: גרתי garti is בגמטריא b'gematria, תרי\"ג Taryag. כלומר עם לבן הרשע גרתי, ותרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי, ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים. Klomer im Lavan ha'rasha garti, v'taryag mitzvos shamarti, v'lo lamadeti m'maasav ha'ra'im. Says Rashi, you know where I was, I was living with Lavan, but Yaakov embeds in, now lest you think your holy brother Yaakov, while you were out hunting for women and for money, and you were at the casino gambling and you were experimenting with drugs and alcohol, and your brother Yaakov was always the goody two shoes, sitting and studying, sitting and learning. And now you're going to smile, and now you're going to have some some joy, I was living with Lavan. You think that I was influenced? No, עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti, גרתי garti is גמטריא תרי\"ג gematria Taryag. No, I didn't compromise an iota. I didn't compromise whatsoever. תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti. I observed, I kept everything. ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים v'lo lamadeti m'maasav ha'ra'im, I didn't learn anything. I wasn't influenced an iota. We've quoted in the past a beautiful insight, I forgot from whom, ולא למדתי v'lo lamadeti that Yaakov was actually saying something to indict himself. He was not advocating for himself, he was actually criticizing himself. Why? לא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים Lo lamadeti m'maasav ha'ra'im. I didn't learn anything from him. That's a good thing, no? Why would that be a negative? Because how did Lavan perform, how did Lavan pursue his מעשיו הרעים maasav ha'ra'im, with a passion, with a zeal, with an enthusiasm. And Yaakov said, I didn't learn from him. I could have learned what not to do. I could have learned the same excitement and enthusiasm that he devoted to pursue the wrong thing, I could have learned to to apply that to do the right thing. But ולא למדתי v'lo lamadeti, I didn't learn, I didn't learn. Now many ask, אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah among them, how in the world can יעקב Yaakov with a straight face assert that I observed all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos? Can anyone here raise their arm, raise their hand and say, I keep all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos? Can anyone say, I've lived in hostile environments, I've lived in difficult circumstances, I lived in challenging times, I want you to know I observed all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. Why is it no one can say that? Did someone here perform both יבום and חליצה yibum and chalitza? Anyone here do the עבודה avodah in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash? מצוות התלויות בארץ Mitzvos ha'tluyos ba'aretz if you live in חוץ לארץ chutz la'aretz? There's a long list of litany of mitzvos that we're simply ineligible to perform. You cannot have the status simultaneously that would make you qualified to keep all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. It's impossible. So what did יעקב Yaakov mean? עם לבן גרתי, תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי im Lavan garti, Taryag mitzvos shamarti. What do you mean? How is that possible? How is that possible? So, the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah suggests maybe we can understand based on a גמרא in מנחות Gemara in Menachos. The גמרא מנחות Gemara Menachos teaches, מאי דכתיב זאת תורת החטאת, זאת תורת האשם? כל העוסק בתורת חטאת כאילו הקריב חטאת. כל העוסק בתורת אשם כאילו הקריב אשם. Mai d'k'tiv zos toras ha'chatas, zos toras ha'asham? Kol ha'osek b'toras chatas k'ilu hikriv chatas. Kol ha'osek b'toras asham k'ilu hikriv asham. We have a notion that sometimes when a person is devoted to studying a portion, a part of Torah, it is as if they kept it. It's not the same thing to actually act, to perform, to observe, to keep, to behave, but to study, to engage the head, the heart and the soul in the topic, it is as if one kept it. כל העוסק בתורת אשם כאילו הקריב אשם Kol ha'osek b'toras asham k'ilu hikriv asham. וכן גם בשאר מצוות התורה v'chein gam b'sha'ar mitzvos haTorah, שעל ידי לימוד המצוה נחשב כאילו קיימה she'al yedei limud ha'mitzvah nechshav k'ilu kiymah. ובצירוף זה קיים יעקב אבינו כל תרי\"ג מצוות u'v'tzeruf zeh kiyem Yaakov Avinu kol Taryag mitzvos. Maybe Yaakov says, no no, listen, I can't keep everything. I'm not a כהן, לוי and ישראל kohen, levi and yisrael at the same time. I didn't do יבום and חליצה yibum and chalitza. But I've learned, I've studied, I'm committed to, and I'm connected with the totality of Torah. There is no part of Torah that I'm not part of. And I think it's important when you think about it in this sense, and he continues, he quotes, יש הרבה מצוות שלא יבואו לידו לקיימם Yesh harbeh mitzvos she'lo yavo'u l'yado l'kaymam, על פי מה שכתב רבינו יונה al pi ma she'kasav Rabbeinu Yonah. רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah writes in שערי תשובה שער ב' אות יוד Shaarei Teshuvah Shaar Beis, Os Yud. כי האיש אשר קיבל על נפשו בלב נאמן לשמור ולעשות על פי התורה אשר יורוהו ועל פי המשפט אשר יאמרו לו היושבים על המשפט, יש בידו מן היום הזה שכר כל המצוות. Ki ha'ish asher kibbel al nafsho b'lev ne'eman lishmor v'la'asos al pi ha'Torah asher yoruhu v'al pi ha'mishpat asher yomru lo hayoshvim al ha'mishpat, yesh b'yado min hayom hazeh schar kol ha'mitzvos. על אשר שמעה אזנו מדברי התורה ותבין להם, וגם על הדברים אשר לא גלו אזנו עליהם עדנה, וצדק לבש וקנה חוסן על ניקלס יאמין על כל הנאמר. Al asher sham'ah ozno m'divrei ha'Torah v'tavin lahem, v'gam al had'varim asher lo galu ozno aleihem adena, v'tzedek lavash v'kanah chosen al nikalos ya'amin al kol ha'ne'emar. Says רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah, you know how you can keep all תרי\"ג Taryag without keeping all תרי\"ג Taryag? By caring about and being committed to and believing in all תרי\"ג Taryag. He doesn't write this, but it occurs to me. The גמרא Gemara tells us in יבמות Yevamos, the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes and we practice הלכה למעשה halacha l'maaseh. I have more conversion meetings tomorrow. we're doing a conversion this Friday. And we ask a convert both in a meeting and while they're in the מקווה mikvah, are you committed to keep all מצוות mitzvos? All תרי\"ג Taryag? What do you mean? They should look up and say, I'm not even Jewish yet. I'm not a כהן, לוי, ישראל kohen, levi, yisrael. I can't do יבום and חליצה yibum and chalitza. I can't. Don't you know anything, רבנים rabbanim of the בית דין beis din? Don't you know anything, דיינים dayanim? It's impossible for one person to keep everything. So how could you ask me to be מקבל כל התורה mekabel kol haTorah, to be מקבל כל מצוות mekabel kol mitzvos? The גמרא Gemara says a person who accepts all מצוות mitzvos חוץ מדבר אחד chutz m'davar echad, חוץ ממצוה אחת chutz m'mitzvah achas, is not eligible for conversion. Let's say a person says, look, I believe in it all, it's beautiful, it enhances life, comes from the omnipotent God, except for שעטנז shaatnez. שעטנז Shaatnez makes no sense to me. I'm not willing to check my clothing for wool and linen. I just don't buy into it. It doesn't make sense. I'm out. I'm willing to keep everything except כל אישה kol isha. I love the opera. I can't give it up. I'm going. I can't do it. Makes no sense to me. Doesn't apply today. I'll do everything but כל אישה kol isha. Will you convert such a person? Does it depend if it's דאורייתא, דרבנן d'oraisa, d'rabbanan? Does everybody agree? Is there a minority opinion? Why are they saying they won't keep it? What's the הלכה halacha? We once had a woman we were converting who had survived cancer, had recovered from cancer. And she said my hair means a lot to me. Not just fashion or vanity or looking in the mirror, but I didn't have my hair when I was undergoing chemo. And now every time I see my own hair when I'm in public, it's a reminder to me that I've survived. So I can't cover my hair. I believe in the מצוה mitzvah, but I just can't do it emotionally. I can't do it. Is that חוץ מדבר אחד chutz m'davar echad? These are interesting questions. But the גמרא Gemara, the הלכה halacha paskins that if a person says, I'll keep all מצוות mitzvos except for one thing. So think of how remarkable that is. I'll tell you sadly, we've had candidates who when we've tested how much they're observing, and this isn't part of the parsha. I got to get back to the parsha. But when we're talking to them about what they're observing, they'll say, \"Rabbis, you know you have some members who pick and choose? That's the kind of Jew I want to be.\" You know, I've come to be integrated into your community. So there are some who keep kosher rigorously and vigilantly in their home and out of their home, but you have some members who eat out. That's, that's what I'm going for. Can I sign up for that level? And it's sort of an indictment on us and on our community. It's a sad statement to a certain degree, though we're not judging everyone, everyone's on a journey, everyone's on their own place. Last שבת Shabbos we spoke about the rungs of the ladder, everyone's on their own rung. It doesn't matter which rung, but it matters which direction you're heading. So we're not judging, but it is an indictment. That when someone who says I want to embrace and pursue and I want to become Jewish engages a community and then says, \"Oh, there's a menu of which way? I can be part of the community that picks and chooses?\" So the הלכה halacha says you can't. You can't. So, someone who says חוץ מדבר אחד chutz m'davar echad. So how, what's the answer back to the convert in the מקווה mikvah who when we say, \"Do you accept to keep all of מצוות mitzvos?\" They say, \"Well, I can't keep all of מצוות mitzvos, rabbi, because we're not in Israel, so I can't observe trumos and ma'asros and I can't do yibum and chalitza and I can't do the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. I'm a convert, I'm not a kohein.\" What would our answer back be? We're not asking you to technically keep all of mitzvos. We're asking you do you believe in the divine nature of all mitzvos? Do you believe that they're all from Hashem? Do you believe that they're his blueprint for creation? Do you believe they're part of his prescription for humanity? That's what we're asking. So says the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah, it's very מדויק meduyak. Because what does Rashi say? Listen to this. It's גישמאק geshmak. Yaakov Avinu doesn't say עם לבן גרתי, ותרי\"ג מצוות im Lavan garti, v'taryag mitzvos... ותרי\"ג מצוות v'taryag mitzvos עשיתי asiti, קיימתי kiyamti. What does he say? תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti. He doesn't say I kept all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. He says I safeguarded all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. I protected, I represented, I advocated for all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. That is really what's going on. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah, my new favorite sefer, then goes on here for pages and pages to talk about, where do we get the idea of תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos? Where does it come from? Where does it come from? So the סמ\"ג Smag in his הקדמה hakdamah writes, יש לאדם לידע יסודות של כל מצוות שציוהו אדון הכל, אף על פי שאינם צריכים עתה בזמן הזה. Yesh l'adam leida yesodos shel kol mitzvos shetzivahu Adon ha'kol, af al pi she'einam tzrichim atah b'zman hazeh. You have to know all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos, even though we can't keep them all today. There is a notion of studying, of knowing. There are people who memorize all תרי\"ג Taryag. תשובת רדב\"ז Tshuvas Radbaz, סימן תתת קכח Siman Taf Taf Kuf Ches writes, והוא מחזיק תמיד בידו ספר קטן מאד שכתוב בו רמזי תרי\"ג מצוות. V'hu machzik tamid b'yado sefer katan me'od she'kasuv bo remzei Taryag mitzvos. He carries in his pocket a little booklet so that he could review all 613 mitzvos on a regular basis. היסוד ושורש העבודה Yesod V'shoresh Ha'avodah writes, קודם לימוד תרי\"ג מצוות יאמר לשם יחוד, הריני רוצה ללמוד תרי\"ג מצוות שציונו הבורא יתברך שמו ויעלה, וכונתי כדי לידע ולהזהר בהם ולשמור ולעשותם. Kodam limud Taryag mitzvos yomar l'shem yichud, hareini rotzeh lilmod Taryag mitzvos she'tzivanu ha'Borei yisbarach shemo v'yaaleh, v'kavanasi k'dei leida ul'hizaher bahem v'lishmor v'la'asosan. היסוד ושורש העבודה Yesod V'shoresh Ha'avodah had a little נוסח nusach, as if there is a mitzvah to review the תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא L'shem yichud Kudsha Brich Hu, I'm now going to חזר chazer תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos with a commitment to safeguard, to protect, to advocate all of them. The sefer אלף כסף Elef Kesef, he quotes in the in the um in the study of the שדי חמד Sdei Chemed, he had a clock, a big clock. And he would look up at the clock all the time. And his family wondered, how come when he was learning, he would stop and look up at the clock? He'd be in a conversation, he'd stop, he'd look up at the clock. Why was he always looking at the clock? And he answered because embedded in the clock were hints and allusions, signs for all תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. So every now and then he'd look up, as he would review the clock, as the hands of the clock went, it would remind him and he was able to review all of תרי\"ג Taryag, all of תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos. Where's the first reference in חז\"ל Chazal for תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos? מסכת שבת Maseches Shabbos. It says מה פסח שהוא אחד מתרי\"ג מצוות Ma Pesach shehu echad m'taryag mitzvos? שבת דף פז Shabbos daf Pey Zayin. Just like the פסח Pesach is one of the 613 מצוות mitzvos, and we see it elsewhere in ש\"ס Shas. Most notably מסכת מכות Maseches Makkos. comes after מסכת שבת Maseches Shabbos. דף כג Daf Kaf Gimmel. שש מאות ושלש עשרה מצוות נאמרו למשה, שלש מאות וששים וחמש לאוין כמנין ימות החמה, ומאתים וארבעים ושמונה עשה כנגד איבריו של אדם Shesh me'os ushelosh esrei mitzvos ne'emru l'Moshe, shlosh me'os v'shishim v'chamisha lavin k'minyan yemos ha'chama, u'matayim v'arbaim u'shmonah asei k'neged evarav shel adam. מאי קרא Mai kra? תורה ציוה לנו משה מורשה Torah tziva lanu Moshe morasha. תורה Torah בגמטריא b'gematria שש מאות ואחת עשרה הוי shesh me'os v'achas esrei havi. אנכי ולא יהיה לך מפי הגבורה שמענום Anochi v'lo yihyeh lecha mipi ha'gvurah shma'anum. So we've learned from the pasuk, תורה ציוה לנו משה מורשה Torah tziva lanu Moshe morasha, גמטריא gematria, and we learned 613 and therefore we have a combination, Jews have a combination for their luggage. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And he's the first one to write. So the גמרא מכות Gemara Makkos tells us there's 613 based on a pasuk. How do you now go through all of Torah and identify which are the 613? So the first one to do it was the ספר הלכות גדולות Sefer Halachos Gedolos. רבנו שמעון קירא Rabbeinu Shimon Kayyara. One of the great גאונים geonim of בבל Bavel. So he was the first to write the ספר מצוות גדולות Sefer Mitzvos Gedolos. And then we have רס\"ג Rasag, the רמב\"ם Rambam, the חנוך Chinuch, סמ\"ג Smag, the סמ\"ק Smak. We have countless who then undertook this project. We have a tradition of 613. How am I going to squeeze many more into 613? What will be my rules and my criteria, my principles that will guide me to be able to reduce many more into 613 to count the 613? The רמב\"ם Rambam in his ספר המצוות Sefer HaMitzvos, the רמב\"ן's Ramban's השגות hasagos arguing on the רמב\"ם's Rambam's rules of the ספר המצוות Sefer HaMitzvos. We have רב שלמה אבן גבירול Rav Shlomo ibn Gabirol. We have many, many, many more who did that, and it's all captured in this beautiful idea of תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti. עם לבן גרתי Im Lavan garti. Rav Wolbe makes another great point. Says Rav Wolbe, where did יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu get the fortitude and the spiritual resilience to observe the תרי\"ג מצוות Taryag mitzvos? Rashi writes גרתי garti, I lived, 613. So says Rav Wolbe in his שיעורי חומש Shiurei Chumash on our פרשה parsha is something brilliant. He says, you know why יעקב Yaakov was able to say תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti? Because he says עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti. What does the word גרתי garti mean? What's a גר ger? A stranger. What did אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu tell עפרון Efron? גר ותושב אנכי עמכם Ger v'toshav anochi imachem. I'm just visiting. I'm passing through. I'm a גר ger. I'm a tourist, I'm a visitor, I'm passing through. גר ותושב Ger v'toshav. I'm both a resident. I live here. I don't have any state income tax because I spend one day more than 50% of my time in Florida. I'm a תושב toshav. I'm a תושב toshav. But really I'm a גר ger. Some of you are like that. I don't have state income tax. I spend 50% of my time in one day for my tax purposes, but really I'm still a New Yorker. Been a New Yorker. I'm a גר ger. I'm a גר ger. גר Ger for tax purposes, I'm a תושב toshav. For culture purposes, double parking, I'm a I'm a גר ger. I'm a גר ger. So יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu was saying עם לבן גרתי im Lavan garti. You know how he was able to say תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti? Because גרתי garti. 20 years is a long time. Think about where you were 20 years ago. What has transpired in the last 20 years of your life. 20 years is a long time. But the entire time that יעקב Yaakov lived with לבן Lavan, you know what he didn't do? He never unpacked. He never unpacked, literally or figuratively. But he never moved in. He never became a permanent resident. He never changed his address. He remained גרתי garti. And says Rav Wolbe, that's why he was able to confidently say תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti. When we let down our guard and we assimilate into the society around us, and we forget that we're just visitors. This is a foreign country. It's a very hospitable country. It's incredibly has blessed us in innumerable ways. But we're just guests here. We're we're גרים geirim. We're just visiting, we're just visiting. And we have to remember that. He says there's some truth to the claim that assimilation is a natural process. A person behaves like the non-Jews around them, it will lead to assimilation. Rav Wolbe lived in Sweden for eight years during and after the Second World War. And he had a lot of occasions to observe the Swedish customs. On the 20th of December, the local residents would dance around a roasted pig. The longest day of the summer, the entire population, men, women and children, would dance around a tall tree and sing children's songs. Even if there's nothing intrinsically wrong, technically, there's a danger in adopting foreign customs that will make us continuously or increasingly forget who we are and how we're different and how to maintain that balance. Look around this great country which has blessed us in so many ways, that now there's a 70% intermarriage rate outside of Orthodoxy. And look at the assimilation rates. The Torah says, לא תלכו בחוקותיהם לא תלכו lo selchu b'chukoseihem lo selchu. Don't follow the practices of those around you. Says Rav Wolbe, the word חוק chok comes from the word חיק cheik. חיק Cheik means a person's chest. A country's customs stem from the heart of the nation. And if you join those customs and you feel connected to the heart of that nation, you'll forget the beat of your own heart and it's easy to lose yourself. And the way that the way that יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu was able to maintain and confidently be able to say תרי\"ג מצוות שמרתי Taryag mitzvos shamarti, because he was only גרתי garti. He never became a תושב toshav with לבן Lavan, he remained a a גר ger. So he prepares, פסוק ח' Pasuk ches. What does he do? ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו Vayira Yaakov meod vayeitzer lo. Yaakov gets afraid. He's concerned. Maybe he'll be unworthy. Maybe God won't save him. Maybe Eisav will in fact annihilate him. ויירא לו, ויחץ את העם אשר אתו ואת הצאן ואת הבקר והגמלים לשני מחנות Vayira lo, vayachatz es ha'am asher ito v'es ha'tzon v'es ha'bakar v'hagemalim lishnei machanos. He divides the people and the flock, cattle and camels into two camps. He introduces us to a very important concept called what should you do with your investments? Diversify. If you diversify and you divide, you mitigate risk. If you go all in in one way, then you take on enormous risk. But if you diversify, then you can mitigate some of the risk. It can't eliminate, but you will mitigate some of the risk. Says רב נחמן Rav Nachman is a very powerful lesson here, not only about our physical enemy, the physical enemies of our world like a Eisav, but a powerful lesson also of the spiritual enemies. Says רב נחמן Rav Nachman, כששמע יעקב שעשיו בא לקראתו עם ארבע מאות איש k'sheshama Yaakov she'Eisav ba likraso im arba me'os ish. When Yaakov hears that Eisav is marching towards him with 400 people, he's afraid. So he divides his family into two camps. החיים הם מלחמה מתמדת נגד היצר הרע ha'chaim hem milchama masmedes neged ha'yetzer hara. says the holy רב נחמן Rav Nachman of Breslov, life is life not a battle and a war against our יצר הרע yetzer hara? ובמלחמה מה לעשות, לא תמיד מנצחים u'v'milchama ma la'asos, lo tamid menatzchim. We don't always win. Sometimes we stay in bed, we don't make it to minyan. Sometimes we don't keep up that promise or pledge for the learning we were going to do. Sometimes we give into our rage or our anger and fly off the handle, speak in ways we regret. Sometimes we look at things that we've promised that we're going to stop looking at. We don't always win. לפעמים האדם רואה שהיצר הרע הולך ומתגבר עליו, והוא אינו מצליח לעמוד כנגדו בקרב. Lifamim ha'adam ro'eh she'ha'yetzer hara holech u'misgaber alav, v'hu eino matzliach la'amod k'negdo b'krav. Sometimes we see, I'm not winning. I'm losing. How many times have I tried to stop looking at things I shouldn't look at? How many times have I promised to stop speaking lashon hara? How many times have I said I'll make it to minyan or not talk during davening? How many times have I said I'll never raise my voice or lose my patience or complain? So what do we want to do when that happens? We give up. We give up on ourselves and we don't believe we're capable and we don't believe we'll achieve and we say, you know, if I look at that late at night at the internet, then what's the point of going to minyan early the next morning? What's the point? What's the point of learning the Daf Yomi, of going to the Daf, if then maybe I sometimes struggle to submit receipts as business expenses even though they weren't? So what's the point of going to the Daf if I'm not entirely honest in my income taxes? We sometimes feel that it's all or nothing. And if I'm not going to be pious and righteous and virtuous entirely, then why bother either even striving? Why have ambition? Why ever trying? So רב נתן Rav Noson writes in ליקוטי הלכות ראש השנה, ו' נ\"ב Likkutei Halachos Rosh Hashanah, Vav Nun Beis, שבמצבים כאלו על האדם להתפלל ולבטוח בהשם she'b'matzavim k'eilu al ha'adam l'hispallel v'livtoach b'Hashem. השם שיעזור לו Hashem she'ya'azor lo. In those moments of weakness, those moments you want to give up and give in, those moments you want to have despair, you have to turn to השם Hashem and דאווען daven. Let me believe in myself. Let me believe in my capability and capacity. Let me believe in my brighter future. Let me believe that it's not all or nothing, and that I shouldn't give up just because I'm struggling in this one area.And he quotes, in this beautiful sefer with the teachings of רב נחמן Reb Nachman on the parsha, כששומע יעקב שעשו צועד לקראתו k'she'shomea Yaakov she'Eisav tzoed l'kraso, when Yaakov hears he's coming at him, what does he do? He diversifies. And why does he diversify? So that he won't have to be hopeless and in despair. If God forbid Eisav is successful, and he wipes out one camp, one unit, one segment, Yaakov says I'm going to survive another day. I'm still here. I have upon which to rebuild. Why? Because I divided and conquered, because I've diversified. כך גם האדם המתמודד kach gam ha'adam ha'mismodeid. עליו לקבל על עצמו alav l'kabel al atzmo, שלא חשוב מה יקרה ומה יעבור עליו she'lo chashuv ma yikreh u'ma ya'avor alav. בשום אופן לא יכנע לגמרי ויפול לייאוש b'shum ofen lo yikana l'gamrei v'yipol l'ye'ush, ויעזוב את עבודת השם שלו v'ya'azov es avodas Hashem shelo.רבינו שאג Rabbeinu sha'ag, it's a beautiful song. רב נחמן Reb Nachman screamed, אין שום ייאוש בעולם כלל ein shum ye'ush ba'olam klal. There is no ye'ush. You can't have despair, you can't give up, can't ever be hopeless. We have to attack and we have to confront the יצר הרע yetzer hara, the same way יעקב Yaakov did with עשיו Eisav. How? By dividing and diversifying. By saying, you know, my entire religious identity and life is not all or nothing. And therefore, if I skip the דף daf, I shouldn't skip מנין minyan. And if I looked at the thing on the internet, it doesn't mean I should fly off the handle with my wife or child. And if I wasn't honest in business, it doesn't mean that I shouldn't try still to not talk during קדיש Kaddish and קדושה Kedusha. It's not all or nothing. The same way that יעקב's Yaakov's strategy when confronting the embodiment of the יצר הרע yetzer hara in עשיו Eisav was to diversify, ויחץ את העם vayachatz es ha'am, similarly, we can do the same. אדם שרוצה ללמוד הרבה תורה ולהתפלל את התפילות בכוונה adam she'rotzeh lilmod harbeh Torah u'l'hispallel es ha'tefillos b'kavanah, ושלא יהיה לו שום הרהורי עבירה v'shelo yihyeh lo shum hirhurei aveirah, והוא רואה שזה יותר מדי קשה לו v'hu ro'eh she'zeh yoser midei kasheh lo. It's too hard. If you lose it or give up in one, don't give up in everything. Divide and conquer. Realize that in overcoming the יצר הרע yetzer hara, it's not all or nothing, says רב נחמן Reb Nachman. מגיד יוסף, רב יוסף סלוצקין Maggid Yosef, Rav Yosef Slutzkin wonders about the order. Wonders about the order. Rashi tells us התקין עצמו לשלושה דברים hiskin atzmo l'shlosha devarim. Rashi tells us that Yaakov prepared in three ways. What were they? דורון Doron. What's דורון doron? A gift. Diplomacy. The מנהג minhag is when you go to the White House and you meet with the president, you bring a gift. That's the מנהג minhag. לתפילה L'tefillah, you gotta daven to השם Hashem. And, if both of those are unsuccessful, what do you have to turn to? You better be prepared for war, gird for war. לדורון ותעבור המנחה על פניו, לתפילה אלהי אבי אברהם, למלחמה והיה המחנה הנשאר לפליטה l'doron v'ta'avor ha'mincha al panav, l'tefillah Elokei avi Avraham, l'milchama v'haya ha'machaneh ha'nish'ar l'fleita. ולפי סדר הפסוקים נמצא שקודם התקין עצמו למלחמה v'lefi seder ha'psukim nimtza she'kodem hiskin atzmo l'milchama, ואחר כך לתפילה v'achar kach l'tefillah, ולבסוף לדורון u'l'vasof l'doron. If you look at the order of the פסוקים psukim, it sounds like the reverse. First he prepared himself for war, divided his camps, made sure they were armed, trained, ready to go. Then he davened. Hashem spare me in the merit of my father and grandfather. And then at the end, here's the gift. Here's the diplomacy. ודברים תמוהים ביאור V'dvarim temuhim biur says Rav Slutzkin, קודם לכל kodem la'kol, what, what should we expect a righteous person like Yaakov to do first? What should come first? Davening. You daven. First comes davening. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the true arbiter. He's going to determine the outcome. So first you submit and surrender to him, first you daven to השם Hashem, and then you go through the other exercises of human initiative. וכן צריך תמיד להקדים דורון למלחמה v'chein tzrichin tamid l'hakdim doron l'milchama. And, the gesture of the effort towards peace, diplomacy should come before the signal for war. So why is it in the wrong order? Psukim seem in the opposite order, why does Rashi quote it in this order? And he says the following, fascinating idea. והנראה בזה על פי דברי רש\"י v'ha'nireh b'zeh al pi divrei Rashi, שהקדוש ברוך הוא לא הוריד טל ומטר על הארץ עד שאדם הראשון לא הרגיש בחסרונו she'HaKadosh Baruch Hu lo horid tal u'matar al ha'aretz ad she'Adam ha'Rishon lo hirgish b'chesrono, והתפלל עבורו v'hispallel avuro. הרי שהתפילה צריכה לבוא מתוך הרגשת חיסרון וצורך harei she'ha'tefillah tzricha lavo mitoch hargashas chesaron v'tzorech. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the entire ecosystem of condensation and rain, of the earth and the soil, going back to פרשת בראשית Parshas Breishis. But he didn't press start. He didn't press go. He didn't make it start raining. Why? Until when? What was missing? Man. So what? Why can't the ecosystem of the world operate even before man? Because until there's a person to דאווען daven, השם Hashem doesn't press go. Why do you need a person to daven? Because the person needs to feel they lack, they're missing something. It's only a feeling of lacking, of missing, a feeling of submission and surrender, a feeling of dependence on השם Hashem that makes tefillah authentic. Tefillah that comes with a sense of arrogance or confidence is not authentic. The גמרא Gemara says in several places that three things cause השם Hashem to examine a person closely. שלושה דברים shlosha dvarim, three things cause הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu to be מעיין me'ayin, to be דן dan, to judge a person. What are those three things? If you walk under a bent wall, crooked, flimsy ladder. Why? הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to himself, says Rashi, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to himself, this person feels so confident, they're so worthy, they're engaged in such risky behavior. They're so confident they're worthwhile being saved, everything's going to be okay. Bring me their file. Let me see if I should protect them from this wall that naturally should collapse on their head. Second thing is המוסר על חבירו ha'moser al chaveiro. Somebody who turns in someone else. Why? You think you're in a position to rat on someone else? Snitches get stitches. My kids tell each other all the time. Snitches get stitches. You can't rat someone out in Judaism. Of course unless they're a danger, a person is a danger, it's a מצווה mitzva to be מוסר moser. But otherwise, one can't. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says bring me their file. And what's the third thing the גמרא Gemara says? עיון תפילה Iyun tefillah. What's meant to עיון תפילה iyun tefillah? What does it mean? עיון תפילה Iyun tefillah. What did a person do wrong? It's a מחלוקת רש\"י תוספות machlokes Rashi Tosfos there. But it means that a person who walks out of דאווענען davening, two people, I was once davening. I was once davening, what's that shul street on the bottom of בן יהודה Ben Yehuda? A very narrow alleyway, there were some restaurants there. יואל סלומון Yoel Solomon. There's a little hole in the wall, that minyan factory, you could catch a מנחה mincha. I was once davening in there, and two hippie-looking guys were davening there, and davening ended, it was a מנחה mincha, and the two gave each other a high five, awesome davening, dude. Great prayer, man. And they walked out, a little skip in their step, happy. A lot of כוונה kavanah, great davening, השם Hashem is surely going to answer. I'm not judging them, it was a beautiful scene. I remember it many years later. But what the גמרא Gemara is saying עיון תפילה iyun tefillah is, if a person davened really well, a lot of כוונה kavanah, really present and mindful for every word they said, and then they walk out and say, you know, I was really connected. השם Hashem is surely going to answer me. Now he's definitely going to give what I've asked for. You know why? Because I, I davened really well. So השם Hashem says, you think so? Bring me your file. Let me see whether you're worthy. Why? What's the problem? What's the problem with the attitude that if I daven well, Hashem will surely answer me? Who's in charge? You're then, the whole exercise of davening, the whole idea of davening is an exercise in humility. The whole experience of davening is that I submit and I surrender and I say he's in charge, not me. He's in control, not me. I work for him, he doesn't work for me. But when you say, as long as I daven well and with a lot of כוונה kavanah, he'll surely answer me, then השם Hashem is just another check on your checklist. Got to go to the doctor, got to go to the pharmacy, got to tie the red בנדל bendel, got to say put the קטורת על קלף ketores al klaf, I got to this, I got to that, oh and I got to daven really well because then everyone will answer me. Everyone will do my bidding. Everyone will respond the way. השם Hashem is not your pawn. It's not your puppet. He's the one who's in charge and control. We can ask, we do ask, we ask our Father, but you don't ask our Father on condition that our Father. It's like the kid who tells his friend, I just spoke to my father, I got it, don't worry. I know how to ask him, I know what to say to him, I know how to manipulate him. We got this, don't worry. We got this. If the father's eavesdropping on the kid who says, don't worry, we got this. I just knew exactly what to say, the father says, really? Let me remind him who's boss. So עיון תפילה iyun tefillah. So רב סרוצקין Rav Slutzkin's not quoting any of this, but it's undermining underlying what he's saying. What רב סרוצקין Rav Slutzkin's saying is, why did יעקב Yaakov, why does it רש\"י Rashi have the tradition? יעקב Yaakov first gets ready for war, arms for war, and only then דאווענען davens? Because when you get ready for war and you realize what's at stake, that's going to be a different type of davening. Before the Six-Day War, when they dug 100,000 graves throughout Israel and prepared for what could have been the end of Israel, your תפילה tefillah after digging those 100,000 graves is a very different תפילה tefillah than before. And that's why it's out of order. וכן נראה הדבר מדוע הקדים מלחמה לדורון v'chein nireh ha'davar madua hikdim milchama l'doron, כי דורון מחבר בין הנותן למקבל ki doron mechaber bein ha'nosen l'mekabel. ואם כן הסכנה הרוחנית של מתנת עשיו v'im kein ha'sakana ha'ruchnis shel matnas Eisav חמורה יותר מהסכנה הגופנית של מלחמה איתו chamura yoser me'ha'sakana ha'gufnis shel milchama ito. ולכן קודם הדורון התפלל שלא יפגע נפשו על ידי קין v'lachen kodem ha'doron hispalel shelo yipga nafsho al yedei kein, and so on and so forth. A beautiful explanation he has. Great. So, he's getting ready and he says, השם Hashem save me, מיד אחי מיד עשיו miyed achi miyad Eisav, פרק ל\"ב פסוק י\"ב Perek Lamed Beis, Pasuk Yud Beis. הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשיו כי ירא אנוכי אותו פן יבוא והכני אם על בנים hatzileini na miyad achi miyad Eisav ki yare anochi oso pen yavo v'hikani em al banim. Save me from whom? From my brother, from Esav. That seems like a little bit of a redundancy. Isn't your brother Esav? So we've shared many times, what was Yaakov saying? My brother is duplicitous. My brother's two-faced. I don't know which version of my brother I'm going to get. Will I get מיד אחי miyad achi or מיד עשיו miyad Eisav? I don't know which version I'm going to get. So Hashem, save me מיד אחי miyad achi, save me מיד עשיו miyad Eisav. If he comes on like he's my brother and I'm vulnerable and I'm going to forget that sometimes he'll stab me in the back and betray me, then save me. And if he's an Esav who confronts me as an enemy, save me. Either way, save me. But listen to this incredible רוקח Rokeach the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah dug up. The רוקח Rokeach, the רוקח Rokeach says the following. דבר פלא מאוד בשם מדרש אגדה davar peleh me'od b'shem Medrash Aggadah. כשברח יעקב לחרן מפני עשיו k'she'barach Yaakov l'Charan mipnei Eisav, נולד לו לעשיו בן nolad lo l'Eisav ben. Esav had a son. And you know what the son's name was? אחי Achi. כדי שלא ישכח מה שעשה לו יעקב kedei shelo yishkach ma she'asah lo Yaakov. You know why Esav named his son my brother? So that every time he'd call his son, אחי Achi, time for dinner. אחי Achi, did you do your homework? He would remember, oh, I have a brother and I'm going to get even. So he would never forget the intense feeling of hate that he had towards his brother when he did what he did. He named his son brother to always be mindful he had a brother and he was going to get even. Anyone ever hear, did anyone hear ever heard that before? Never heard this רוקח Rokeach. So he look at, I should get royalties on the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah. So, he had a son. And that's what Yaakov was saying, says the רוקח Rokeach, זהו מה שהתפלל יעקב אבינו הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשיו zehu ma she'hispallel Yaakov Avinu, hatzileini na miyad achi miyad Eisav. Save me from my nephew אחי Achi and save me from עשיו Eisav. Save me from both. So says the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah, but now we got a problem. Why? Because we find in ש\"ס Shas several תנאים ואמוראים Tannaim v'Amoraim whose names were רבי אחי בר חנינא Rabbi Achi bar Chanina, רבי אחי בן יאשיה Rabbi Achi ben Yoshiya. והלא קשה הגמרא ביומא דף ל\"ח v'halo kashe ha'Gemara b'Yoma daf lamed ches tells us, מה בשם רשעים ירקב אמר רבי אלעזר mai v'shem reshaim yirkav amar Rabbi Elazar? רקביבות תעלה בשמותם rakvivus ta'aleh b'shmosam, דלא מסקינן בשמייהו d'lo maskinan b'shmaihu. רש\"י Rashi says, שלא יקרא אדם לבנו שם אדם רשע shelo yikra adam l'vno shem adam rasha. We don't name after a wicked person. We don't name after somebody who was evil. We don't name after a רשע rasha. So כיצד נקראו תנאים ואמוראים אלו בשם אדם רשע בנו של עשיו keitzad nikre'u Tannaim v'Amoraim eilu b'shem adam rasha bno shel Eisav? So if אחי Achi is the name of עשיו's Eisav's son, how can we name after עשיו's Eisav's son? ונראה ליישב על פי מה שכתב החיד\"א v'nireh l'yasheiv al pi ma she'kasav ha'Chida in יוסף אומץ Yosef Ometz. שאסור לקרוא לבנו בשם אדם רשע דווקא בשם כינוי she'asur likro l'vno b'shem adam rasha davka b'shem kinui, שעצם השם מורה על כך שהיה רשע she'etzem ha'shem moreh al kach she'haya rasha. אבל שם נאה שיש לו הוראה נעימה aval shem na'eh she'yesh lo hora'ah ne'ima, שפיר קוראים לבנו בשם זה shapir korim l'vno b'shem zeh, אף על גב שנקרא אדם רשע בשם זה af al gav she'nikra adam rasha b'shem zeh. So the חיד\"א Chida, this is an important חיד\"א Chida to know. Sometimes people come and they ask a question, there was a grandparent, there was a person that we want to name after or being pressured to name after, but they were, they weren't a צדיק tzaddik. Let's just say it like that. Can we name after them? So the חיד\"א Chida says, the tradition from the Gemara Yuma that you don't name after a רשע rasha is if embedded in their name, in the etymology of their name is a negative notion, is רשעות rishus. But if it's a neutral name, it just happened to be that your ancestor who was a רשע rasha had it, and now you want to use again that neutral name, then you're allowed to. ונראה שהשם אחי אין השם כינוי v'nireh she'hashem Achi ein ha'shem kinui. אלא אדרבה שם נאה ella adraba shem na'eh, מלשון אחוה ורעות mi'lashon achva v're'us. ולכן אין איסור לקרוא לבנו בשם אחי v'lachen ein isur likro l'vno b'shem Achi. Also, there are אחי כשגור בפי כל בר בירב Achi k'shagur b'fi kol bar bei rav, אבל בנו של עשיו יש שמו אחי aval bno shel Eisav yesh shmo Achi. נמצא שני שמות שונים לגמרי nimtza shnei sheimos shonim l'gamrei. אחי, אחי, אחא Achi, Achei, Acha is different than אחי Achi the son of עשיו Eisav. So again, he dug up fascinating, really interesting. I had never heard that before. פרק ל\"ב פסוק כ\"ה Perek Lamed Beis, Pasuk Kaf Hei. ל\"ב כ\"ה Lamed Beis, Kaf Hei. So he's about to go and encounter and confront and seek to reconcile with his brother, but first he forgets something. What do you forget? He forgot his פך שמן pach shemen. So an allusion to חנוכה Chanukah. He goes back for the jugs that he forgot. You see that צדיקים חסים על ממונם tzaddikim chasim al mamonam. The Jewish neurosis to not waste money is not just because throughout our exile we've been persecuted, oppressed and in a position that we couldn't afford to waste any resources, which is true. Right? The Jewish take and you know, take in those Sweet and Low packets and wrapping up the cake and the napkin to bring back to the room for later. And we all know all of the embedded in the Jewish DNA practices of not wasting is not just because we descend from survivors who who understood what it meant to get a peel of a potato, every morsel of food, what it means. It's more than just that. It's that we understand the value of resource. We understand what it is. And waste is not just haste, waste is is offensive to Hashem. So the חז\"ל Chazal tell us צדיקים חסים על ממונם tzaddikim chasim al mamonam. You think that the wealthier you are, you can afford to waste, but you can't. It's Hashem's world. Where do you direct those resources? What good can be done with them? What can we bring out of them? So Yaakov is not just cheap. That's why he goes back to get his פך שמן pach shemen. He's teaching us a very powerful lesson about resources and preserving and protecting them and using them and channeling them. He goes back ויותר יעקב לבדו vayivaser Yaakov l'vado. Some suggest reading it not לבדו l'vado but לכדו l'kado, to go back to get his כד שמן kad shemen, to go go back. And what happens? ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר vayei'avek ish imo ad alos ha'shachar, and he wrestles with a man the entire night. He wrestles with the man the entire night. He goes back. So we all know the story. Did it happen or not? Is this story true or are we meant to believe it happened? Or is it a metaphor? Is it a dream? Is it a prophecy? Did it really happen? So the רמב\"ם Rambam in מורה נבוכים Moreh Nevuchim, the רמב\"ם Rambam in מורה נבוכים Moreh Nevuchim in the second sefer פרק מ\"ב Perek Mem Beis writes, know again that in the case of everyone about whom exists a scriptural text that an angel talked to him or that speech came to him from God, it did not occur in any other way than in a dream or a vision of prophecy. The רמב\"ם Rambam holds in all these cases, בלעם Bilaam did not speak, בלעם's Bilaam's donkey did not speak to him, and the snake did not speak to חוה Chava, and יעקב Yaakov did not wrestle with an angel. Says the רמב\"ם Rambam in מורה נבוכים Moreh Nevuchim, all these things are meant to be taken metaphorically. They're meant to be taken as a prophecy. They did not happen literally. The רמב\"ן Ramban is very unhappy. The רמב\"ן Ramban takes enormous issue with the רמב\"ם Rambam. And the רמב\"ן Ramban writes, והנה דברים סותרים הכתוב v'hinei dvarim sosrim ha'kasuv, אסור לשמעם אף כי להאמין בהם asur lishmo'am af ki l'ha'amin ba'hem. It is forbidden to hear them, let alone believe them. The רמב\"ם Rambam for this and other at the time radical positions, we know the רמב\"ם's Rambam's books were burnt. When we sit on the floor on תשעה באב Tisha B'Av and we say שרפו באש sorfu ba'eish, and we cry and lament of all the volumes of Talmud that were burnt in Paris, רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah says that that was a punishment from Hashem for the burning of the books of the רמב\"ם Rambam. The רמב\"ם Rambam said what was considered to be many radical things at the time. This among them. So the רמב\"ן Ramban says, God forbid, not only that you believe them, God forbid you even hear them. Basically Goldberg, why did you read the רמב\"ם Rambam in the parsha class? You have no right to repeat that רמב\"ם Rambam. God forbid we should believe it. And then the רמב\"ן Ramban asks a very compelling question. ועניין ויאבק איש עמו שבפרשה v'inyan vaye'avek ish imo she'b'parsha, שהכל מראה הנבואה she'hakol mar'eh ha'nevuah, if all of this is really a matter of a prophetic vision, ולא ידעתי למה יצלע על ירכו בקום v'lo yadati lama yitzla al y'reicho b'kum, so when יעקב Yaakov walks away with a limp, why is he limping? If it was a prophecy or a dream, if it's a metaphor, why is Yaakov limping? ולמה אמר כי ראיתי אלוקים פנים אל פנים ותנצל נפשי v'lama amar ki ra'isi Elokim panim el panim v'tinatzel nafshi? כנביאים לא יפחדו שימותו בהראותם מראה הנבואה ka'nevi'im lo yifchedu she'yamusu b'heraosam mar'eh ha'nevuah. It's a pretty compelling question of the רמב\"ן Ramban. If it was all a dream or prophecy, why in the world is Yaakov limping? So the רלב\"ג, רבי לוי בן גרשון Ralbag, Rabbi Levi ben Gershon offers an explanation. Listen to this רלב\"ג Ralbag. I dug up this רלב\"ג Ralbag, not the אוצר פלאות חכמה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah. I didn't dig it up. I must have seen someone else who dug it up. He suggested that the limp was not a consequence of the dream. The limp actually preceded the dream. The גמרא Gemara tells us that we dream based on what we're thinking about in our subconscious when we're awake. What do we dream about at night? What we're thinking about. That happens to me all the time. When you have a dream, a strange dream, all you have to do is think about what might have been on your mind, what was the last conversation you had before you fell asleep? What are you worried about in your conscious or subconscious? And that's what we tend to dream about. What we experience influences and shapes our dreams. So the רלב\"ג Ralbag suggests that יעקב Yaakov had hurt his leg. Right? He twisted his ankle when he was going back for the פך שמן pach shemen, for the פכים קטנים pachim ketanim. יעקב Yaakov uh hurt his leg, dislocated his hip, and then when he had this dream, he had a dream that incorporated that reality of the injured hip into the dream. So the limp wasn't the result of the dream, the limp is actually the cause or what precipitated the dream. That is a wild רלב\"ג Ralbag. It's fascinating, but I want to tell you the אברבנאל Abarbanel. דון יצחק אברבנאל Don Yitzchak Abarbanel. The אברבנאל Abarbanel has yet another interpretation. The אברבנאל Abarbanel says, מה שיורה השכל בנבואה הוא יותר נכבד ממה ma she'yoreh ha'sechel b'nevuah hu yoser nichbad mima, והוא הפך האמת v'hu hefech ha'emes, כי שיורה לחוש ki she'yoreh la'chush. ואתם מהרמב\"ם איך יאמר שהוא אסור לשומעו v'atem me'haRambam eich yomar she'hu asur lishmo'o, you can answer in this way. Says the אברבנאל Abarbanel, our imagination creates reality. There's research that shows today that that's true. We didn't need the research, it's true because Torah tells us it's true, but the research confirms this. That dreams, think about the phenomenon of placebo effect. ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha'olam she'hakol nihiyeh bidvaro. You know the placebo effect. Every major biotechnological study incorporates placebo. To one part of the population you give the drug you're testing, to the other you give placebo, sugar water, sugar pill. And you see, those who think they're taking the real thing but take a placebo, often have an improvement too. How much greater is the improvement of those who got the real drug over those who took the placebo? Right? You can have a kid who doesn't feel well, you insist he needs medicine, give him a Tic Tac and tell him it's a Tylenol, and they'll tell you that their headache got better. It's called the placebo effect. Adults, same thing. Ailments ranging from pain and depression to Parkinson's disease have been improved through the placebo effect. In a study, Crawford measured brain stem activity with high-resolution MRI and participants as they rated the pain of a hot stimulus applied to their arm. The team conditioned participants to think three types of cream had been applied to their arm. A pain-relieving cream with lidocaine, a heat-intensifying cream with capsaicin, and Vaseline. The answer should have been none of them, because they were all actually Vaseline, which is completely harmless, often soothing. This means that any perceived difference in pain came only as a result of placebo. Placebo effect influenced activity in the same brainstem circuit but in opposite ways. The strength of the placebo effect was linked to increased activity in an area called something of the medulla and decreased activity in the nucleus and and made people feel like it was less painful. It's not only true for physical ailments, but mentally as well. There's a new study, patients with social anxiety who were assured that antidepressants would help them were much more likely to feel better than those who didn't receive such assurances. Despite receiving exactly the same treatment, almost four times as many patients responded to the treatment when correct information about the drug was given. So basically, with the אברבנאל Abarbanel says is that you could believe like the רמב\"ם Rambam. You could believe it was all a dream. But you know what happened? What we dream about, what we think about, what we fantasize about, what we put our imagination to, creates a reality. The placebo effect happened to יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. The Hebrew word אדם adam is rooted in the word דמיון dimyon, which means imagination. רב דוב בער פינסון Rav Dov Ber Pinson suggests that what does it mean to be an אדם adam? What it means to be a human being who is created in the divine imagination is to also create using imagination. We are created by the divine imagination and we imitate God by creating with our imagination. Just like we are the results of Hashem's imagination, ומתי תהיה דעתי בלכתך בדרכיו u'matay tihiyeh da'ati b'lachtecha b'drachav, we can imitate Hashem when we create with our imagination. And we have the ability to create with our imagination. We can create reality. Reality with the placebo effect and reality with our dreams, and all this comes from a fascinating אברבנאל Abarbanel that maybe, that maybe יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu woke up with a limp, even if it was all a dream, because psychosomatic. Right? The whole impact of psychosomatic disorders. There's a big controversy among fibromyalgia about other diseases. Are they, I'm not weighing in, don't email me if you struggle, we wish you a רפואה שלימה refuah shleimah from fibromyalgia. But there's a big debate. Sometimes you have patients who present with so many ailments and every test they do shows there's nothing wrong, and doctors conclude, sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly, unfairly, and cruelly that it's all psychosomatic. Psychosomatic, something else going on with you, it's all in your head. Psychosomatic. Essentially the אברבנאל Abarbanel's concluding that יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu was experiencing something psychosomatic. But if that's true for the negative, it can equally also be true for the positive. We can use the power of our דמיון dimyon. If you want to really be an אדם adam, to be an אדם adam מלשון דמיון mi'lashon dimyon is to actually engage that power of of the power of the imagination. That's what it means. That's what it means. As a result, we don't eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh. I always quote the חזקוני Chizkuni. פרשת וישלח Parshas Vayishlach, why don't we eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh? The sciatic nerve we trame, why don't we eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh? To commemorate what? The limp. What about the limp? So most people think, even though they've heard me every year say this חזקוני Chizkuni, most people think you know why we don't eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh to commemorate the limp? Because this alter ego of Esav wanted to kill Yaakov. He survived. Let's not eat. חזקוני Chizkuni wonders, I don't understand. Everything else in the Jewish calendar, everyone knows the old Jewish joke. They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat. פורים Purim, חנוכה Chanukah, פסח Pesach, שבועות Shavuos, that's every יו\"ט Yom Tov. They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat. That is the motto of every יו\"ט Yom Tov. So they tried to kill him, he survived, let's not eat. That doesn't make sense. So why don't we eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh? חזקוני Chizkuni says you have it all wrong. It's not because Yaakov survived, it's because Yaakov almost died. And why did Yaakov almost die? What's the key word? ויותר יעקב vayivaser Yaakov לבדו l'vado. Why was he alone? Because Yaakov says to his 12 children, I got to take out the garbage. Anyone want to help? Oh, I said, I'm so tired. I'm already changed, I'm already in bed. But I'm so comfortable sitting on the couch. So Yaakov goes back and how does he go back? ל' לבדו l'l'vado. So we remember forever, says the חזקוני Chizkuni, we don't eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh to remember that what? He was לבדו l'vado. A Jew never leaves another Jew alone. A Jew never leaves another Jew to go by themselves. A Jew never abandons another Jew. We don't eat the גיד הנשה gid ha'nasheh not to celebrate a victory, but to know just how close we came to losing אבינו Avinu, יעקב Yaakov, because we left him לבדו l'vado. That word לבדו l'vado we've spoken about in the past, we won't revisit now, has good and bad. On the other hand, Yaakov has an enormous spiritual breakthrough. Why? Because he's לבדו l'vado. He's practicing some התבודדות hisbodedus. ויותר יעקב לבדו vayivaser Yaakov l'vado, he wrestles through the night. How does he wrestle? By himself. When do we wrestle? We don't wrestle when we're in a crowded room, when we're in conversation, we don't wrestle with ourselves at the קידוש kiddush. When do we wrestle with ourselves? When we're alone. When do people have the biggest breakthrough thoughts? When they're davening, when they're in the shower, and when they're falling asleep. What do all three have in common? You're alone with your thoughts. You're not listening, you're not watching, you're not talking to anyone else. All three, you're alone with your thoughts, and that's why we have the biggest breakthrough thoughts in those moments. In those moments, falling asleep in the shower while davening. So, יעקב Yaakov is לבדו l'vado, hopefully you're not doing all three at the same time. But יעקב Yaakov has ויותר יעקב לבדו vayivaser Yaakov l'vado, יעקב Yaakov breaks through in this battle with עשיו Eisav because דוקא dafka he was לבדו l'vado, he was alone in that moment. Let's see what else we'll get in here. ישראל Yisrael. Hashem changes his name to ישראל Yisrael. כי שרית עם ki sarisa im. Because you wrestled and you won, which is a funny name to give. Because you wrestled and you won, that's why he gives him the name, because it should have been because you won, not because you wrestled. What do you see from here? The importance, where our name ישראל Yisrael is, we're a people that wrestle. We're a people that battle. We're a people that don't give up and don't give in. We are a people that believe in ourselves, we don't despair and we're never hopeless. ישראל כי שרית Yisrael ki sarisa. But also embedded in the name ישראל Yisrael is, Yaakov's name is changed to ישראל, על שם ראשי תיבות של אבותינו ואמותינו al shem rashei teivos shel avoseinu v'imoseinu. יו\"ד Yud is יצחק Yitzchak. שי\"ן Shin is שרה Sarah. רי\"ש Reish is רבקה Rivka and רחל Rachel. אל\"ף Alef is אברהם Avraham. למ\"ד Lamed is לאה Leah. So you see the ראשי תיבות rashei teivos of our matriarchs and patriarchs, ישראל Yisrael, יעקב Yaakov embodies all of our אבותינו ואמותינו avoseinu v'imoseinu, because embedded in his name ישראל Yisrael is ראשי תיבות rashei teivos for all of them, all of them together, all of them as one. All of them as one. פרק ל\"ה Perek Lamed Hei, פסוק ב' Pasuk Beis. ל\"ה ב' Lamed Hei, Beis. ויאמר יעקב אל ביתו ואל כל אשר עמו הסירו את אלהי הנכר אשר בתוככם והטהרו והחליפו שמלותיכם Vayomer Yaakov el beiso v'el kol asher imo, hasiru es elohei ha'neichar asher b'socheichem, v'hitaharu v'hachlifu simloseichem. They're going to בית אל Beis El and יעקב Yaakov turns to his family and he says, listen up, everybody, get rid of the idols. הסירו את אלהי הנכר אשר בתוככם hasiru es elohei ha'neichar asher b'socheichem. Get up, get rid of the idols, cleanse yourself, change your clothing, we are out of here. Says the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah, he quotes from רבינו אפרים Rabbeinu Ephraim on the בעלי התוספות Ba'alei HaTosfos. He brings a גמטריא gematria. אלהי נכר elohei neichar, get rid of your idolatry is בגמטריא b'gematria, אלהי נכר elohei neichar is the same גמטריא gematria as Anyone want to guess? ישו Yeshu. יאָשקע Yoshka, Jesus. You're allowed to say Jesus in a shul. The ביאור הגר\"א Biur HaGra quotes on שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. You know why you could say it in a shul? Because that's how he got an עליה aliyah when he was called to the תורה Torah. ישו Yeshu, Jesus was Jewish. יהושע Yehoshua, that was his name. The ביאור הגר\"א Biur HaGra quotes, you could say his name. His second name you can't say, because that means deity or god, that we don't believe in. So C, you can't say. J, ישו Yeshu, Jesus, you can say. The Gra said it, because that was his name. That was his יידישע נומען Yiddishe numen, that was his Jewish name. Anyway, ישו Yeshu in גמטריא gematria is אלהי נכר elohei neichar. When יעקב Yaakov says, get rid of the idolatry, purge it, destroy it, purify yourself from it, says רבינו אפרים Rabbeinu Ephraim, that was a, an allusion, that was already portending to a time, get rid of ישו Yeshu. רבינו אפרים Rabbeinu Ephraim heard from רבינו תם Rabbeinu Tam that one time the, שאל את שר החלום sha'al es sar ha'chalom, אם ישו ואמו מרים נרמזו בתורה im Yeshu v'imo Miriam nirm'zu baTorah. רבינו אפרים Rabbeinu Ephraim says he once heard from רבינו תם Rabbeinu Tam that he asked an angel in a dream, are Jesus and his mother Miriam alluded to in the תורה Torah? And the, the angel said yes, אלהי נכר הארץ elohei neichar ha'aretz is גמטריא gematria, ישו ומרים Yeshu u'Miriam. This is an אוצר פלאות התורה oitzer p'los haTorah. הייליגע חסידישע איד Heilige chasiddishe Yid quoting from רבינו אפרים Rabbeinu Ephraim quoting from רבינו תם Rabbeinu Tam. That there's an allusion to Jesus and Miriam in the תורה Torah, our פרשה parsha, get rid of the אלהי נכר elohei neichar. Also it says לא תביא אתנן זונה ומחיר כלב lo sovi esnan zonah u'mechir kelev. גמטריא Gematria ישו Yeshu. מחיר חופן mechir chufan. Don't, don't adopt or follow their, or follow their way. Being hacked a little bit online. Okay maybe that's a sign that we stop here. פדן ארם Padan Aram. I have to say one more. One more ווארט vort. One more ווארט vort because it connects to something we said earlier. I love this idea. One more. Where does the time go? You're wondering. At least I'm wondering. One more. Here it is. אלה בני יעקב אשר יולד לו בפדן ארם Eileh bnei Yaakov asher yulad lo b'Padan Aram. פרק ל\"ה, פסוק כ\"ו perek lamed hei, pasuk chaf vav. These are the children of יעקב Yaakov who were born to him in פדן ארם Padan Aram. Says the חזקוני Chizkuni, ah, בנימין לא נולד בפדן ארם Binyamin lo nulad b'Padan Aram. Why does the תורה Torah list all the children of יעקב Yaakov as that being born in פדן ארם Padan Aram? בנימין Binyamin was not born in פדן ארם Padan Aram. אלא הכי קאמר, אשר יולד לו על פי התפילה שנתפללה רחל בפדן ארם ela hachi ka'amar, asher yulad lo al pi ha'tefillah she'nispalelah Rochel b'Padan Aram. You know why the תורה Torah associates בנימין Binyamin with being born in פדן ארם Padan Aram? Because that's where רחל Rochel davened for him to be conceived. Says רב גדליה אייזמן Rav Gedaliah Eiseman, the משגיח mashgiach of קול תורה Kol Torah. You see an incredibly important יסוד yesod from here. That the real birth of something is not when we get it. The real birth of something, its conception, is when we daven for it. Is when we daven for it. You know, we, we tend to, we find ourselves that we, we daven for things, and then the next day we daven for the next things, and then the next day we daven for the new things. And the next day we daven for the new new things we need. But do we ever stop and pause and realize that the ברכות brachos of today are the answer to the תפילות tefillos of yesterday? Do we ever pause to realize my תפילות tefillos are being answered? They've been answered and I'm grateful for they having been answered. Do we ever realize that that which I got today, you got news that a grandchild got engaged, a great grandchild was born, a job that you got, a שידוך shidduch was made, do you realize wow, when I was davening under my חופה chuppah that I would have grandchildren, thank you השם Hashem. When was that grandchild born? The date on the calendar that their birth certificate says? No, when you davened under the חופה chuppah that you would have grandchildren. Or whenever it was. We have to draw that line and connect those dots in order to realize that that which we have, the ברכות brachos that we're blessed to get are the answers to the תפילות tefillos that we and those who before us offered. And that's what the חזקוני Chizkuni says, how can you say בנימין Binyamin was born in פדן ארם Padan Aram? What do you mean all of יעקב's Yaakov's children were born in פדן ארם Padan Aram? בנימין Binyamin was not born in פדן ארם Padan Aram. Yes, he was. You know why? רחל Rochel was davening to have another child in פדן ארם Padan Aram. So the תפילה tefillah, בנימין Binyamin was born in פדן ארם Padan Aram. בנימין Binyamin was born in פדן ארם Padan Aram. should know. And and we should pay that forward. Our children and grandchildren need to know that the ברכות brachos of their life is because they had parents and grandparents who davened when they lit the candles, who davened when they came out of the מקווה mikvah, who davened when they were מוסר נפש moser nefesh, who davened under the חופה chuppah, who davened in so many ways. That's when they were born. The ברכות brachos that they're receiving and experiencing were conceived, they were born even earlier when those תפילות tefillos were offered. So a lot more to share about that. Wishing everyone a fantastic day. Stay happy, stay healthy.
