Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayishlach

       Parshas Vayishlach brings about the long awaited showdown between Yaakov and Esav. After waiting years to confront Yaakov for stealing the brachos, Esav finally got his chance at revenge. When he heard Yaakov was returning to Eretz Yisrael from Charan, he immediately gathered 400 men and began marching towards him. When Yaakov heard that Esav was coming, he began to prepare for the inevitable confrontation. He prepared his camp for battle, he davened to Hashem to protect him, and he arranged a lavish, three-part gift to be sent to Esav.

       Together with the gift, he gave his messengers very specific instructions. “וַיְצַו אֶת הָרִאשׁוֹן לֵאמֹר כִּי יִפְגָּשְׁךָ עֵשָׂו אָחִי וִשְׁאֵלְךָ לֵאמֹר לְמִי אַתָּה וְאָנָה תֵלֵךְ וּלְמִי אֵלֶּה לְפָנֶיךָ. וְאָמַרְתָּ לְעַבְדְּךָ לְיַעֲקֹב מִנְחָה הִוא שְׁלוּחָה לַאדֹנִי לְעֵשָׂו וְהִנֵּה גַם הוּא אַחֲרֵינוּ. וַאֲמַרְתֶּם גַּם הִנֵּה עַבְדְּךָ יַעֲקֹב אַחֲרֵינוּ כִּי אָמַר אֲכַפְּרָה פָנָיו בַּמִּנְחָה הַהֹלֶכֶת לְפָנָי וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן אֶרְאֶה פָנָיו אוּלַי יִשָּׂא פָנָי.”“And he commanded the first group saying, ‘When you meet Esav, my brother, and he will ask you, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and for whom are these before you?’ And you will say, ‘(We belong) to your servant, Yaakov, it is a gift to my master, Esav. And, behold, he (Yaakov) is (coming) behind us.’… (And Yaakov commanded the other two groups) And you will say, ‘Behold! Also your servant, Yaakov is behind us…” (Bereishis 32: 18-19, 21).

       The Kli Yakar asks: In pesukim 18-19, we are told exactly what Yaakov told his messengers, including the fact that they should tell Esav that he is following behind them. In pasuk 21, we see Yaakov talking to the second and third groups of messengers, but there he only mentions to them to tell Esav that he is following behind them. Without the pasuk saying anything, we would assume that Yaakov told the exact same thing to each group; now that the pasuk does tell us something he told to the later groups, it appears to be the exact same thing he told the first group! Why does the pasuk repeat this command?

       Yaakov figured that Esav would ask his messengers three questions: who do you belong to, where are you going, and who is the present for. Therefore, he gave them three answers: we belong to Yaakov, we are going to Esav, and the present is for him. However, Esav was not necessarily going to ask where Yaakov was at the moment, maybe because he figured Yaakov wouldn’t be anywhere near him. Therefore, Yaakov told his messengers to tell Esav that he himself was coming to meet Esav, in order to honor him.

       The second and third groups would know that they would need to know the answers to the three questions, otherwise, how would Esav know who this stuff was for! So those answers they would make sure they paid attention to while hearing the instructions given to the first group. However, maybe they would not have to tell him that Yaakov was coming too since it had nothing to do with Esav’s receiving the gift. Therefore, Yaakov had to specifically mention to them to tell Esav that he was coming, more than having to repeat to them the answers to the three questions. So the pasuk is not simply repeating one piece of Yaakov’s message, it’s actually repeating exactly what Yaakov told the last groups (it’s the only thing he actually told them)!

       Why was it so important to make sure each group repeated the message? Wouldn’t it be enough if the first group alone gave it over? The answer is Yaakov was afraid that Esav would expect him to be there immediately after the first group. Upon seeing the second group, Esav would question them as to where Yaakov was and they wouldn’t be able to answer because they wouldn’t know Yaakov was heading that way! He would assume Yaakov was lying about the whole thing and wouldn’t accept any of the present, putting Yaakov in a dangerous position. In order to avoid this potentially tragic circumstance, Yaakov impressed this message upon the messengers.

Shabbat Shalom!  

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayeitzei

       This week's Dvar Torah is in memory of Ezra Schwartz, HY"D. May it be a blessing for his memory.

       This week’s parsha is Parshas Vayeitzei, where the birth of the Jewish People takes place. Yaakov worked for Lavan for fourteen years in order to marry Rachel and Leah, and through them, as well as Bilhah and Zilpa, the twelve shevatim are born. After an additional six years of working for Lavan, Yaakov gets a message from Hashem that it’s time to leave.

       Yaakov was afraid that Lavan would try to stop him from leaving; so while Lavan was away, Yaakov packed up his family and his possessions, and left. When Lavan found out, he and his sons chased down Yaakov and confronted him. A heated argument ensued where we see Yaakov confront Lavan for all the times he tried to cheat him. At the end, Lavan decides to set up a treaty with Yaakov as a truce.

       “וְעַתָּ֗ה לְכָ֛ה נִכְרְתָ֥ה בְרִ֖ית אֲנִ֣י וָאָ֑תָּה וְהָיָ֥ה לְעֵ֖ד בֵּינִ֥י וּבֵינֶֽךָ... אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם וֵֽאלֹהֵ֤י נָחוֹר֙ יִשְׁפְּט֣וּ בֵינֵ֔ינוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י אֲבִיהֶ֑ם וַיִּשָּׁבַ֣ע יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב בְּפַ֖חַד אָבִ֥יו יִצְחָֽק” “And now, come, let us form a covenant, you and I, and may He be a witness between you and me…May the God of Avraham and the god of Nachor judge between us, the god of their father. And Yaakov swore by the Fear of his father, Yitzchak.” (Bereishis 31:44, 53). Lavan offers Yaakov to affirm the treaty through either Avraham’s God (the True One), or through Nachor’s (a false god), whichever he is more comfortable with. But Yaakov takes the third route and swears in the name of “the Fear of Yitzchak.” Rashi explains that this refers to Hashem. What does this mean and why did Yaakov do this?

       Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky, in his sefer, Emes L’Yaakov, offers an interesting explanation. During the Seder on Pesach, we read in the Haggada that Lavan was worse than Paroh since Paroh only tried to kill the Jewish boys while Lavan wanted to eradicate the entire Jewish Nation. The commentaries ask that we do not see Lavan ever trying to harm a single one of Yaakov’s children. In fact, he states multiple times that he loved his daughters and grandchildren very much! They explain that while Lavan did not try to physically eradicate Bnei Yisrael, rather, he attempted to spiritually dilute them until they merged with the general society. Where do we see this?

       R’ Yaakov explained that we find it in this story. When Lavan offers to make a treaty, he actually offered Yaakov like this: “Let’s take the God you serve, the God of Avraham, and the god that I serve, the god of Nachor, and join them to truly bond us together!” He proposed a treaty where the two deities being worshipped, the True One and the false one, would be merged to create one new “religion” that would bond him and Yaakov together for generations; a very practical idea for a treaty. This is what the pasuk means when it refers to “the god of their fathers”. In this way, the service to Hashem would eventually be worn down until there was no actual real Judaism left. In this way, Lavan attempted to completely eradicate the Jewish People, even before they had really started.

       As a counter response to this proposal, Yaakov gave a calculated answer. First, he swore not in the name of Avraham, whose connection to his brother Nachor, Lavan’s grandfather, provided a platform where the two systems of belief could potentially merge. Rather, he chose to swear in the name of Yitzchak, someone who, though he was still related, never had any connection with his idol-worshipping relatives. Secondly, he used the phrase, “the Fear of” to refer to Hashem instead of using the normal Hebrew word for god, “אלוהים”. Both Hashem and false gods are referred to with this name. Therefore, in order to completely detach himself from Lavan’s proposal, he used a “nickname” that referred only to Hashem, the True God, thereby showing that he would only commit to Him and not to an avoda zara.

       In today’s day and age, we come across different situations in society where we feel a need to show our support and encouragement towards these circumstances. While it is always nice and important to show caring and compassion, in each of these instances we must make sure that we go in from a perspective based on Torah. Every instance may be supported, but it must be done with the proper outlook, one based on Hashem and His Torah.

Shabbat Shalom! 

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Toldos

       Parshas Toldos begins by reintroducing us to Yitzchak. However, the introduction seems a little repetitive. “וְאֵ֛לֶּה תּֽוֹלְדֹ֥ת יִצְחָ֖ק בֶּן־אַבְרָהָ֑ם אַבְרָהָ֖ם הוֹלִ֥יד אֶת־יִצְחָֽק” “And these are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham; Avraham gave birth to Yitzchak” (Bereishis 25:19). The commentaries all ask why the pasuk has to repeat itself; after saying that Yitzchak is the son of Avraham, why does the pasuk turn around and say that Avraham gave birth to Yitzchak? Isn’t that the same thing?

       There are several answers given, ranging from simple to more complicated. I would like to focus on the answer of the Kli Yakar.

        At the end of last week’s parsha, the pasuk told us “וְאֵ֛לֶּה תֹּֽלְדֹ֥ת יִשְׁמָעֵ֖אל בֶּן־אַבְרָהָ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָֽלְדָ֜ה הָגָ֧ר הַמִּצְרִ֛ית” “These are the generations of Yishmael the son of Avraham; who was born to Hagar the Egyptian” (25:12). There is a distinct difference between the way the pasuk describes Yitzchak and Yishmael’s lineage; by Yitzchak, the pasuk calls him the son of Avraham and that Avraham gave birth to him. By Yishmael, he is called the son of Avraham, but the pasuk says he was born to Hagar.

       In Hebrew language, there is a big difference between being called someone’s son and someone’s descendent. There are times when a person can be called someone’s son without being a true descendent of theirs. For example, students of a specific teacher are called his children if they accept him as their rebbi, their spiritual guide. A community can be called the children of their leader if they truly accept his authority over them.

       On the other hand, no matter what, there are certain natural tendencies, including behavioral, spiritual, physical, and mental, that all children inherit from their parents. They are a person’s natural tendencies that make up their character before they make any changes.

       This is the difference between a parent and a teacher. The tendencies you inherit from your parents make up your natural state of mind, and are extremely difficult to change out of. However, that which you learn from your teacher does not come naturally, and is gained with difficulty but lost easily.

       This, explains the Kli Yakar, is the true difference between Yitzchak and Yishmael. Yishmael is known as Avraham’s son because he did pick up some good traits by living in Avraham’s house. However, his natural tendencies leaned towards his mother, Hagar; as we see in the pasuk, as soon as he left Avraham’s house, he became a bandit (See 21:20). Therefore, the pasuk tells us that he was truly descended from Hagar.

       By Yitzchak, Avraham was both his father and his rebbi. While he too learned many things from living in his father’s house, even more so, he naturally imbibed his father’s (and mother’s) sterling traits, proving him to be the true heir to Avraham. Therefore, the pasuk tells us that he was both Avraham’s son and that he was descended from him.

       From this parsha, we see how important it is to make the most of the opportunities provided to us. Yishmael had a 50/50 chance of ending up like Avraham or like Hagar; but instead of going towards his Avraham tendencies, he went in the opposite direction. When we are placed in a situation where we can go one way or another, or where we have the opportunity to connect to someone who can lead us in the right direction, let’s make sure we don’t act like Yishmael, and take the proper path.

Shabbat Shalom! 

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Chayei Sarah

In this week’s parsha, Parshas Chayei Sarah, Eliezer travels to Charan to find a wife for Yitzchak, the son of his master, Avraham. The Torah describes in great detail the tremendous siyata dishmaya that led Eliezer to finding Rivka and bringing her back to Eretz Yisrael.

       While on his trip, Eliezer meets the rest of Rivka’s family, including her brother, Lavan. Lavan takes a more prominent role in later parshiyos when Yaakov goes to live with him; however, one aspect of Lavan’s character is shown immediately, starting from our parsha. Lavan was known as a liar and cheat; different examples show this to be overwhelmingly true, including most famously, his switching Rachel for Leah under Yaakov’s chuppah, as well as examples in this week’s parsha and other encounters with Yaakov. However, there is one pasuk in this week’s parsha that paints a slightly different picture.

       “וּלְרִבְקָ֥ה אָ֖ח וּשְׁמ֣וֹ לָבָ֑ן” “Rivka had a brother whose name was Lavan.” (Bereishis 24:29). The Ohr HaChaim brings a medrash that explains that when a pasuk in the Torah introduces a tzaddik, it will write, “and his name was…”, but when talking about a rasha, the pasuk will write, “and…was his name.” So according to how our pasuk is written, Lavan was actually a tzaddik!

       The Ohr HaChaim explains that by looking at the whole pasuk, we can understand what was actually happening here.

       Immediately after he is introduced, the pasuk says that Lavan ran down to the well to meet Eliezer, and the beginning of the next pasuk says he saw the jewelry that Eliezer had given Rivka. Chazal explain that he ran down to see if Eliezer was going to hand out any more money; consistent behavior with our overall impression of him. However, if this was the case, shouldn’t the pasuk say that he first saw the jewelry and then ran down to meet Eliezer?

       Explains the Ohr HaChaim, after coming home from the well, Rivka told Lavan all about this stranger who she was very excited about, but who Lavan saw was clearly making advances on his sister. This immediately brought up protective feelings in Lavan and he immediately raced down to the well to defend his sister from whomever this man may be, without even listening to a proper explanation! But after seeing the expensive jewelry that Eliezer had given Rivka, and listening to him speak, he understood that Eliezer had only the best intentions in mind and was actually paying his sister a huge honor by bringing her into the family of Avraham. At this point, all of Lavan’s suspicions were gone, and he began to plan to separate Eliezer from his money, once again slipping back into his natural state.

       The Ohr HaChaim says that it was from this small act of running to defend his sister that Lavan merited having the Bnei Yisrael come from him. From his two daughters, Rachel and Leah (as well as Bilha and Zilpa according to one opinion) came the twelve tribes of Yisrael, meaning Lavan was the grandfather of the Jewish People!

       While we hopefully will do more mitzvos and kind acts in our lifetime than Lavan did, it’s important to realize the power of a single act. It’s not as if Lavan did something crazy, he was simply following his instinct to protect his sister, and yet, Hashem rewarded him magnificently. You never know which act you do will be the one that affects you, your family, and the whole world for generations to come. Don’t waste the opportunity, this may be it.

Shabbat Shalom!

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