Nahar U'Pashtei Parshas Vayishlach

He Never Leaves Us

Last week we discussed the concept of Elokei Yaakov, and that Yaakov’s special avodah was to walk the line of utilizing the mundane for a holy purpose. Continuing in this theme, we can explain the significance of the monument stones Yaakov Aveinu establishes and places oil, and in our Parshah, wine as well, atop them. A monument represents the limits that a person or thing has reached, with no more potential for growth. One large stone is erected to symbolize finality. Just as a stone will not grow larger, the monument symbolizes that whatever it represents has achieved its end. In the case of a deceased person, the monument at their tomb represents the totality of what they were able to accomplish in this world. When Yaakov Aveinu took oil; shmaltz, fat, which is the perfect medium to portray physical excess and desire, and poured it upon a monument, this symbolized that the pleasures of this world must be limited, used only to aid us in our journey upward. In our Parshah, after Hashem changed Yaakov’s name to Yisrael, promised him children that would be kings, and renewed the promise to his fathers that his descendants would receive Eretz Yisrael, Yaakov renewed his commitment with another monument. This time he pours not only oil, but wine as well. The wine represented the joy one must have in his lifestyle in order to properly thrive in this new world of using the physical and sanctifying it. This joy will not only propel him forward, but will guard him from falling prey to the ever-present pitfalls that the physical world presents. How can a person feel this joy? One must realize that he is living a life of doing the ratzon Hashem, and this should allow him to cultivate the satisfaction and indeed the happiness he requires in order to continue to live a Torah lifestyle in peace. All these lessons in hand, perhaps we can explain an interesting language used by the pasuk. The Torah tells us Hashem rose up from above [Yaakov] in the place that He had spoken with him. Rashi raises the question of the seemingly extra words in the place He had spoken with him. Why does the pasuk need to make a point of the fact that Hashem departed from the place that He spoke to Yaakov? Following the thread we are discussing, there is a profound lesson hidden here. For in the very next pasuk Yaakov erects the second monument we mention earlier. Yaakov was committing to this new life of sanctifying the physical and building serenity in avodas Hashem in the very place that Hashem departed from him. Both pesukim mention that it was this place to emphasize this added potency to our commitment. Even when Hashem’s face is hidden - alluded to by the fact that Hashem had departed from there - we do not falter! We continue to serve him, and live lives full of trust and the serenity born of true bitachon. And to further this point even more, when the Torah says that Yaakov made his commitment, it uses the words, the place He had spoken with him, identical to the first pasuk, rather than, the place He had departed from. For even when we talk of Hashem leaving us, he has not departed. He is in the exact same place he was before, only He is hidden from us. Hashem is indeed still there, in the exact same place He was when things were better. It thus behooves us to strengthen our tefillos and ask Him to end our tzaros. A gut Shabbos! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss

Nahar U_Pashtei Vayishlach

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Nahar U'Pashtei Parshas Vayaitzei

Yaakov’s Mission

In Yaakov Avinu’s dream, we find that Hashem appears to him as The G-d of your father Avraham and the G-d of Yitzchok. We begin our Shemoneh Esrei with a similar statement, recognizing Hashem as the G-d of Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchok, and the G-d of Yaakov. Why does Hashem mention that He is G-d twice in our verse, and why do we begin our davening with this seemingly repetitive declaration? The three distinct mentions of G-d’s sovereignty, each attached to the name of one of our Avos, serve to identify three key facets of service to Hashem, each built on a distinct way in which the Avos related with Him. Each of our forefathers had a unique mission, and it was his life’s work that became known to us as a specific way of relating to Hashem. Avraham brought to the world the foundation of avodas Hashem, which was the concept of being a servant to a Master. Hashem was the Master of the world and His edicts must be followed regardless of personal want or gains. And as Avraham perfected this concept, he reached a level of hishaleich lefanai veh’yeh samim. Then came Yitchok Avinu. He worked all his life to build on this hashkafah and turn it into a burning love for his Creator. The level of avodah born of this dedication is known to us a gevuras Yitzchok, for nothing can stand in the way of such a bond. As we have discussed in previous weeks, the akeidah was a chance to glimpse these two great men each exercise their connection with Hashem. We approach our tefillah each day recognizing the way our forefathers connected with Hashem, and recommitting ourselves to following in their footsteps. Now, to understand what Elokei Yaakov, the G-d of Yaakov, symbolizes for us, let us look a bit further in the passage. Yaakov awoke from his dream, and was afraid. He exclaimed that had he known that this was a place of the Shechinah - indeed, the place where the Beis HaMikdash would stand - he never would have allowed himself to sleep. Then, the next pasuk informs us that he woke up in the morning - which means that he went back to sleep! What are we to learn from this sequence of events? The answer is that we all know how Yaakov learned in Yeshiva for fourteen years without ever going to sleep. Now that his avodah was to go to find a wife and to leave the Yeshiva, he reasoned that he was allowed a pause in his steadfast dedication to learning, and he could rest. He was now on a different mission, and sleep was allowed. Hashem arranged for Yaakov to end up sleeping in this holiest of places to teach him the avodah that was to be his. Sleep was not a necessary evil standing in the way of learning, meant only to indulge in now. Sleep itself was meant to become holy. When a person uses the physical parts of this world solely for the purpose of shteiging, he elevates his physical actions and makes them holy! This is why Yaakov went back to sleep. He had been taught that it was his mission to sleep a sleep that was holy. Being mekadesh the physical world and walking the tight line between indulgence and need; this is the relationship codified in the phrase Elokai Yaakov. A gut Shabbos! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss

Nahar U_Pashtei Parshas Vayaitzei 5781

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Nahar U'Pashtei Parshas Toldos

Money Should Never Talk

As children we learn that Eisav had Yitzchok Aveinu fooled. We think that he was so good at pretending to care about halachah, as well as at honoring his father, that Yitzchok actually thought him to be righteous. This was the reason Yitzchok loved Eisav more than Yaakov, and even initially desired to shower the Divine blessings upon him. But a closer look at the chain of events running through our parashah tells a different story. When Yitzchok informed Eisav that it was time to receive his blessings, he was careful to instruct him to slaughter the animal properly, which leads us to believe that this was commonly not the case for Eisav. Furthermore, Yitzchok told Eisav to make sure to hunt an animal that was ownerless; a very clear hint not to steal one. These are seemingly basic things that he should not have needed to mention at all if he was speaking to a decent person! Rather, Yitzchok Aveinu knew very well of Eisav and his wicked ways. The difference of opinion between Yitzchok and Rivka Imeinu when it came to Eisav was more intricate. Yitzchok also knew that Eisav was not careful in his performance of mitzvos, and that when he looked involved, he was merely putting on a show. But when he heard Eisav ask his question about salt, he thought and hoped this was the real Eisav shining through and showing a desire to be connected to Torah. Yitzchok reasoned that maybe Eisav pretended to be so meticulous in the laws of maaser because he wanted to hide his embarrassment, and all his wickedness was only due to his inability to fight his base desires. Maybe, thought Yitzchok, with the right coaching and introspection, the righteous Eisav could shine forth. The Midrash gives the example we have been discussing - when Eisav asked how to tithe salt - and Yitzchok’s response to it. He would ask, “Is one required to take maaser from salt”, and Yitzchok would be happy and exclaim, “How careful my son is in his performance of mitzvos”. In truth, adding extra stringencies to the Torah that have no basis is not a good thing. Rather, it was the intention behind the question that Yitzchok saw as good; he felt it was something to build on. The question remains though, that if Yitchok really knew how terrible Eisav was, why did he want to give the blessings to him and not to Yaakov? True Eisav had potential, but Yaakov was clearly the one who was going to carry on the legacy of his fathers and build a nation of Torah? The answer is that if you look at the blessings, they are not blessings of righteousness and the like, but blessings of bounty and tranquility. Yitzchok wanted Eisav and Yaakov to engage in a Yissachar-Zevulan arrangement, where one partner supports the other with half his money in exchange for half of the learning done by the second partner. It was Yitzchok’s vision that Eisav would be the business partner, while Yaakov would spend his time completely engrossed in Torah, with no need to be busy with the monetary aspects of the world. Yitzchok thought this to be the ideal plan for both his sons, and was ready to give Eisav the blessings of physical wealth. But Hashem did not want it to be so. When a person with morals defined by his own choices is the sole patron of an institution, there is a great risk that his twisted hashkafos will be welcomed in exchange for his support. The spiritual leaders of that institution will have no choice but to extend boundaries past where they would have, or else to agree to a less stringent outlook on one subject or another, even if, in truth, they believe it to be incorrect to some degree. Eisav was so evil, that even should he pledge to support Yaakov for all time, it would have come with a terrible price. The dependance that Torah would have on people unaffiliated with and uninterested in its intricacies would no doubt lead to them perverting its guidelines and chv”sh, a changed Torah. Only daas Torah knows how to properly fight the yetzer hara and exactly how to construct an environment where Torah can flourish. This is why Yaakov needed his own blessing of bounty and to be totally reliant on his own merits, so that the foreign influence of Eisav’s hashkafos would not automatically affect Klal Yisroel because of his support. A gut Shabbos! A Project of the YSI Alumni Association Written by R’ Moshe Weiss

Nahar U_Pashtei Toldos 5781

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