The sedras
Toldos, Veyeitzei and Vayishlach outline the birth of Yaakov and Eisav, how
they grew up to be so different and to have such a contrastingly different way
of life. The brochos that Yaakov Avinu received and, therefore, Eisav’s hatred
to him followed by Yaakov Avinu’s years with Lovon, having children, returning
to Eretz Yisroel, meeting Eisav on the way and diffusing Eisav’s anger. Before
encountering Eisav, an angel, who is known to be the patron angel of Eisav,
fighting with Yaakov and all that he managed to do, was to give him a
dislocated hip. Yaakov finally to be given an extra name, Yisroel.
I would like to
day to explore in more detail the stark divergence between the two brothers and
their children, which has continued to this very day.
Whereas Yaakov
Avinu did not get married until he was 84 years of age and then married two
sisters within the space of a week, in Padan Aram, Eisav was already married at
the age of 40 to local girls from Canaan. They worshipped avodah zora.
Subsequently, he married Mocheles the daughter of Yishmoel and their children
have in them the blood of both Eisav and Yishmoel.
Furthermore, I
feel sure that over the generations there were many cross marriages between the
grandchildren, great-grandchildren and further generations of the descendents
of Eisav and Yishmoel and not just Eisav having married the daughter of
Yishmoel.
We have only to
read, towards the end of Parshas Vayishlach, regarding the generations of Eisav
and Rashi’s comments regarding the various mamzerim to begin to appreciate the
depths of their depravity.
The oldest son
of Eisav was Elifaz. The Sefer Hayosher, which is a medrash, states that Elifaz
was commanded by Eisav to chase after Yaakov when Eisav found out that Yaakov
had been told by his parents to go and find a wife from the children of Lovon,
his mother’s brother.
Elifaz, so the Sefer
Hayosher states, was 13 years old at the time and he pursued Yaakov together
with a whole band of men, ready to kill. When he caught up with Yaakov, Yaakov,
his uncle, begged Elifaz to have mercy on him. Elifaz was moved by the request
but asked Yaakov “what do I do with the command I received from my father”. “Well”,
said Yaakov, “I was given silver and gold and other possessions by my parents
so that when I go to look for a wife I should not be penniless. If you take it
all from me, I will become a poor person and we have a rule which states חשוב כמתעני , a
poor person is reckoned as if he was dead.”
Elifaz departed with
the money and Yaakov was allowed to continue on his way.
We have to
understand this. Eisav was known as a killer, he had killed Nimrod and, no
doubt, many other people. If he had told his own son to dispose of Yaakov what
was going to happen when Elifaz returned. Eisav might be so annoyed that he
would kill Elifaz. What was Elifaz’s rationale in taking the money rather than
disposing of Yaakov?
The Shem
M’Shmuel, the son of the Sochotchover Rebbe and grandson of the Kotzker Rebbe
asked another question. What was the use of Yitzchok and Rivkah sending Yaakov
to Padan Aram in order to save him from Eisav. We know, because the Torah tells
us at the end of Parshas Toldos that Yitzchok blessed Yaakov and sent him to Padan
Aram and Eisav was aware of this. That meant that Eisav knew exactly where
Yaakov was going and could find him.
The Shem
M’Shmuel explains that Eisav’s hatred for Yaakov was fuelled by the fact that
Yaakov had received the brochos, which included the one that stated that his
brother would be a servant to him, namely, all the goodies that would come to
Eisav would, in fact, belong to Yaakov. We have a rule, כל
מה שקנה עבד קנה רבו, all that
a servant acquires belongs to his owner.
However, Yitzchok
said to Eisav והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך, namely that when Yaakov would be troubled
and busy, the yoke of Yaakov removed from Eisav. This would be caused if Yaakov
or his descendents did not adhere to the standards of the Ovos and did not keep
the Torah. Therefore, Eisav reckoned to himself that he should let Yaakov go to
Lovon who had a reputation as a first class rogue and drei kopf . Eisav
believed that Lovon would influence Yaakov to be the same and therefore, the עול, the yoke,
of Yaakov would be removed.
Accordingly, if
Yaakov became like Lovon then Eisav would no longer be under the domination of
Yaakov. That is what the Shem M’Shmuel suggests.
We can,
therefore, similarly explain Elifaz’s reasoning in taking Yaakov’s money and
sparing his life.
Elifaz reasoned
that if Yaakov would have arrived at Lovon’s house with plenty of funds, it
would be sensible to assume that Yaakov would stand up to Lovon and not be
influenced by him. He would marry one of the daughters, come back to Eretz
Yisroel and, therefore, continue in his path as איש תם, as perfect man, a yiras shemayim, because
he would not be influenced by Lovon However if he arrived at Lovon’s home town
penniless, he would be sure to be influenced.
In fact, what
happened was that Yaakov served Lovon for seven years before acquiring Rochel
as a wife and nevertheless remained a tzaddik.
This idea is borne
out by the expression used when Yaakov sent the angels to Eisav and told him, עם לבן גרתי, I
sojourned with Lovon, and Rashi gives two explanations.
The first is “I
did not become a שר, a special person”, alternatively Rashi says “I kept the 613
mitzvos”. The word גרתי equalling 613.
The way we have
explained the reasoning, the two explanations fit together. Yaakov was implying
to Eisav even though “I did not become a great person, שר, in Padan Aram, I was
still only a stranger, גר, in the place and I had to be under the yoke of
Lovon, nevertheless, I still did not change my ways and remained a tzaddik.”
I think we can
extrapolate something which is relevant to our generation from all these
exchanges. We have experienced over the last 50 to 60 years a profound increase
in Torah learning, a baal teshuva movement, a great increase in what is
colloquially called Bnei Torah. However, especially, in Eretz Yisroel, pressure
is put on to try and keep these people poor, on the basis of trying to then
influence them to change their ways, for the bad.
We know that in
the same way as Paroh in Mitzraim wanted to destroy the Yidden and it states אשר יענו אותו כן ירבה וכן יפרוץכ, and the more they afflicted
them, the more they increased, so it is nowadays. The כח of Torah continues to grow despite the
pressures and problems.
Let us now
consider Yaakov Avinu and his children.
The Torah tells
us that Yaakov Avinu was איש תם יושב אהלים. He was not just a perfect Tzaddik, he
studied in the Yeshiva originally run by Shem and after his petirah continued
by Ever and according to the Sefer Hayosher he learned there the best part of
40 years. This includes the 14 years he was at the Yeshiva immediately before
he went to Padan Aram.
Despite the fact
that he worked very hard for 20 years from the age of 77 to 97 looking after
Lovon’s sheep, as the Torah eloquently tells us, he remained a tzaddik. The
first 7 years he worked for Rochel, the next 7 were for Leah, both of whom he
married and the final six years that he should acquire some wealth before going
back to his father in Eretz Yisroel.
During the
course of the middle seven years, he had 11 sons and one daughter all of whom
were tzaddikim, as were his wives, Rochel, Leah, Bihla and Zilpa.
Altogether this
was a colossal achievement. He was not at home with his parents Yitzchok and
Rivkah, he was in the environment of Lovon. Furthermore, the people of the
whole of the town of Padan Aram were, likewise, not tzaddikim, nevertheless,
despite all the difficulties, מטתו שלימה, he had a special family.
What was the
secret of this success story. I believe that there were a number of factors but
will just point out a couple. First of all Yaakov’s upbringing, learning, time
spent in Yeshiva and personality had rounded him into an individual who could
be firm yet understanding and remain a tzaddik under pressure. He was a living
example to his children.
We know that the
middoh of Avrohom was chesed, kindness, the middoh of Yitzchok was gevurah,
strength. Yaakov’s middoh was known as tiferes, splendour, that is a mixture of
the two and because he had this mixture was able to run his household and bring
up his family in an exemplary manner.
He was, of
course, ably assisted by Rochel and Leah who were themselves צדקניות, very
righteous ladies.
I also believe
that there was one other major factor that helped considerably in ensuring that
all his children followed in his ways.
I mentioned
earlier on that Yaakov was busy day and night looking after Lovon’s sheep and,
therefore, it was down to his wives, who were at home with the children to bring them up as he would wish (and, of
course, as they wished). What I think helped considerably was that the wives
gave the names to the children, not Yaakov, but Rochel or Leah named the
children. This gave them an additional incentive for each child to be a
tzaddik. Psychologically, a person deciding a name for a child feels more
responsibility for the upbringing of that child.
One other point
that should be mentioned is that Rochel and Leah were actually sisters which
could have also caused a lot of friction but they co-existed very well in all
the circumstances.
The Torah states
at the beginning of Toldos after the birth of Yaakov and Eisav, Eisav was איש יודע ציד איש שדה,
he was hunter who loved the outdoor life. The Torah continues Yaakov was איש תם יושב אהלים,
he was perfect man who sat in tents, meaning studying Torah.
Rashi tells us
about Eisav that the expression יודע ציד, he knew how to hunt, did not just mean
hunting animals, he also had confrontations with human beings, he killed
Nimrod, and others. But Rashi adds that he tried to emulate Yitzchok and so
impress Yitzchok that he, Eisav, was really a good man and a bit of a tzaddik.
For example, he got married to two Hittite women at the age of 40 because
Yitzchok also got married at the age of 40. However, Rashi brings a medrash
that until then, not only had he been hunting animals and killing people, he
had been enticing married women away from the their husbands.
The medrash
tells us that Eisav asked his father, how to you take maasar, tithes, from
salt. As far as his father was concerned, he projected himself as very
righteous and honoured his father, in his own way.
One could say
that he had a similar basic nature to Yitzchok in that Yitzchok was a strong
character who spoke his mind and made people understand in no uncertain terms
that there was an Hashem who created the world and runs the world.
For example,
when Avimelech sent Yitzchok away from Gerar and afterwards Avimelech came to
ask him to renew the pact that his father had made with Avrohom, Yitzchok’s
reaction was “Why are you coming to me, you hate me, you sent me away.” Not
very diplomatic, to say the least. Therefore, Yitzchok was taken in by Eisav
who had a similar type of nature but unfortunately had flaws in his character in
that he used his physical strengths and mental abilities in a twisted manner.
Yaakov, by
contrast, was more like his mother, he had the firmness of Yitzchok but he had
a great dose of the chesed of Rivkah and he was the intellectual and not איש שדה.
The differences
between the two brothers became even more pronounced in the next generation or
two. We have already mentioned Elifaz, the oldest son of Eisav, but one
generation later, his son, was עמלק Amolek.
We all know that
the tribe of Amolek was the one that attacked the Yidden when they came out of
Egypt, when everybody else was in awe of them.
Unfortunately,
this difference in basic nature and attitude has continued over the
generations.
I mentioned
earlier on that Eisav married the daughter of Yishmoel and, no doubt, there
were many cross marriages later on between the two nations.
In that context,
I would, once again like to mention the story of Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin,
the Rov of Yerushalayim which happened about 120 years ago.
Rabbi Diskin was
coming home one Friday night in the Old City of Jerusalem from davening,
accompanied by a number of baalebatim. All of a sudden stones were being thrown
at them by Arabs. The baalebatim scattered and the Rov took one look and
carried on walking home.
Later that
evening, the baalebatim began coming round to his house to apologise for having
left him on his own. One of them asked him why was it that he appeared not to
be shocked, as they were, at the stone throwers.
He answered. “It
is written clearly in Torah”. We are talking here about people who could really
learn, they were יקירי
ירושלים. One ventured to
suggest that the Rov was referring to a posuk which reads as follows:-וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך. Namely, that all the people of the world
will see that the name of Hashem rests over you and will fear you.
No, said Rabbi
Diskin, I did not mean that. They tried other pesukim, but to no avail.
Eventually he
told them what he was driving at. When the angel came to Hogor and told her
that she was going to have a son, the following statement was made:- והוא יהיה פרא אדם ,
and he will be a wild man.
In English we
refer to somebody of that ilk as a wild man, the adjective comes before the
noun, wild-man. However, in Hebrew, Loshen Hakodesh, it is always the other way
round, namely the noun comes before the adjective. For example, if you would
like to call somebody a “good man”, you do not say טוב
אדם, you say אדם טוב, namely
the אדם
comes first. Rabbi Diskin continued, significantly, the Torah refers to ישמעאל as פרא אדם, in
other words the noun is פרא wild, אדם is only the
adjective. He just looks like a man. So Rabbi Diskin completed his statement,
“In the circumstances, I was not surprised to see stones being thrown at us”.
The combination
of stone throwing and that for Eisav of על חרבך תחיה, you will live by the sword, unfortunately
is in the blood of the Bnei Eisav and Yishmoel mixed together, as I mentioned.
I know that it
is very painful to mention but we all know what has happened very recently in
Eretz Yisroel, stone throwing, stabbings, culminating in the most painful
incident of the four kedoshim in Har Nof just a fortnight ago. I have seen it
reported that Reb Chaim Kanievsky when he heard about this, commented with just
two words חבלי משיח. I feel that there is no doubt we are very much in the last
throes of the חבלי משיח. We just have to be strong in face of all the problems and
pressures.
Let us come to
our day and age, I mentioned that we have been blessed over the last 50 years
or so by having a tremendous upsurge in Torah learning, new seforim being
produced and shemiras hamitzvos are on the up and up. Not only that, a great
proportion of the shomrei Torah and Mitzvos live in Eretz Yisroel which has not
happened for thousands of years.
The other side
of the coin is the hatred shown by the nations around the Middle East in
particular, but also anti-Semitism generally has again reared its ugly head and
we see the background of Eisav and Yishmoel threatening.
We must remain
firm in our belief that Hashem will look after us and that Moshiach will soon
come. Meanwhile, we must continue in our path of learning Torah, keeping the
mitzvos and with middos toivos, showing a good way to other Jews and to the
nations of the world, making a Kiddush Hashem.
By doing that,
we will hasten the coming of Moshiach, במהרה בימינו אמן.
