Toldos cont.; Vayetsei; Vayishlach

That Esau's plight, Esau's destiny is linked to that of Jacob. As long as Jacob, as long as Jacob is true and faithful to Torah, so then Esau will be subordinate and subjugated to Jacob. But if Jacob is not faithful to that, so then ופרקת עולו מעל צוארך and then Esau gains the upper hand. So where Esau and Jacob respectively are on this seesaw is totally determined by Jacob. This too is a very important perspective to retain, bifrat in times like these when Klal Yisrael finds itself in an eis tzara. So often we confuse what is only hishtadlus and we ascribe more importance to it and we think that that's what actually determines. What's true for Jacob and Esau is true for Isaac and Ishmael as well. If the Hamas, yimach shemo, when they're successful, it's not because the ultimate cause is a breakdown in Israeli intelligence. It's not that the ultimate cause is that the government is too soft on them, but the ultimate cause is that ופרקת עולו מעל צוארך is that if we're not sufficiently devoted and faithful to Torah, so then be it Esau, be it Ishmael can gain the upper hand. Now there is a mitzvah, there is a chiyuv of hishtadlus in the Torah. When a milchama comes, so afilu chosson mechuphaso, he doesn't just run to say Tehillim, but he has to make the hishtadlus. So there absolutely is a chiyuv to make hishtadlus and there absolutely is a chiyuv to try to counter through natural channels any sakana which threatens us. But while that chiyuv is there and while we have to discharge that chiyuv, we should never ever lose sight of the fact that what we're doing is hishtadlus and what ultimately determines our success or failure is not the ingeniousness of the planning. I mean, the Israeli intelligence is no less capable now than in their failed attempt to save the kidnapped soldier, Hashem yikom damo, was the same intelligence that pulled off the Entebbe raid. So how do you distinguish between the two? The same, the same highly touted Israeli intelligence. So the answer is that the Israeli intelligence is the hishtadlus. And whether the hishtadlus is crowned with success or rachmana litzlan meets with failure is not toluy on the intelligence officers. It's toluy on each and every one of us and the rest of Klal Yisrael in terms of our devotion and dedication to Torah. So while absolutely hishtadlus should be made to try to secure... acheinu bnei yisrael who live in Eretz Yisrael, but to become so preoccupied with the hishtadlus and lose sight of what ultimately determines our fate would be a grave, grave error. And that's what Yitzchak tells Esav, that whether you will have the upper hand has got nothing to do with you, it's got nothing to do with how big an army you have, nothing to do with how much military might you have. It will have to do with whether or not Yaakov is faithful to his charge. That's the pshat, we once spoke on a different occasion, that's the pshat what we say in the Shmoneh Esrei in Yamim Noraim וכל הרשעה כולה כעשן תכלה. That's the girsa which is printed in most machzorim, ke'ashan tichle, that all evil will end, will be terminated like smoke. So what's the analogy to smoke? So smoke is דבר שאין בו ממש. Dos, it just evaporates. You have a strong wind comes and then the smoke just totally disappears, it dissipates. Something of substance, so the wind doesn't dissipate it. The wind may move it, but it doesn't, it doesn't dissipate it. It doesn't make it disappear. And yet we're told that kol harisha kula, all evil in the world, is ke'ashan tichle. It will dissipate as though it were דבר שאין בו ממש. So what does it mean? What does it mean? That's certainly not our experience of risha. Our experience of risha is that even when risha is vanquished, it's vanquished at tremendous, tremendous cost. There were millions and millions of casualties in World War II until the risha of World War II was ended. So you wouldn't describe that as ke'ashan tichle. It's not ke'ashan tichle. So the answer is that bizman hazeh ba'avonosinu harabbim, so when we vanquish risha, so it's not ke'ashan. But le'asid lavo we'll see and we'll recognize that be'emes, risha has no independent koach. It has no independent strength. Whatever kochos the risha or resha'im have in the world, it comes from our chesronos, because we feed them. It's our, the Gemara says that there's no every milchama that comes in the world is because of bittul Torah. That there's no milchama in the world without some element of bittul Torah. What does it mean? It means that be'emes, risha has no independent base. It's not that risha has a base and that we have to try to overwhelm it and overcome it. No. It's that when we are lacking in our pursuit of kedusha, so then we support and we sustain kochos hatuma. If we don't pursue tahara and are not faithful to tahara the way we're supposed to be, so then mimaila we strengthen kochos hatuma. So what does that mean? So the implication clearly is that to undermine tuma, so le'asid lavo you're not going to, you don't need bombs, you don't need nuclear bombs, but just the fact that if we'll be totally, totally devoted and moser nefesh for Torah, for kedusha, for tahara, so then mimaila, mimaila is when Yaakov Avinu is true to hakol kol yaakov, so then the yadayim yedai Esav are rendered totally impotent, totally impotent. So that's what it means when we say kol harisha kula is ke'ashan tichle, is that le'asid lavo, risha will just evaporate because it has no independent source of power or energy, but it's all because of the chesronos and the avonos that we create the source of energy for the risha. That means וכל הרשעה כולה כעשן תכלה. So clearly, clearly in the aftermath of all the terrible things that have happened in Eretz Yisrael. So besides whatever hishtadlus can be made, it's not clear that any hishtadlus can really be made long-distance, it's not clear that there is any worthwhile hishtadlus to be made here, but the most important thing is that given this relationship between Yaakov and Esav, Yitzchak and Yishmael, where it's totally up to us to determine who will have the upper hand through our dedication and rededication to Torah, so surely at a time like this we should all be mechazek ourselves and each other to try to intensify our yiras shamayim and our talmud torah and through that, through that, the ol of Yaakov should remain and should subdue Esav and Yishmael. In parshas hashavua, it's very, very simple but it's good sometimes to remind ourselves of simple things. When Yaakov Avinu addresses Hakadosh Baruch Hu אלקי אבי אברהם ואלקי אבי יצחק, so Rashi says even though Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not miyached shmo on a person while he's alive, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not referred to as Elokei a yachid while the person's alive, only once the person's track record has been completed and having been completed he's worthy that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's name should be associated with his name, so only at that point is Hakadosh Baruch Hu miyached shmo. Here Yitzchak Avinu was still alive. So Rashi says from Chazal that he was already blind and therefore he had no yetzer hara, had no yetzer hara. So obviously as with everything, this has many deep and deeper and even deeper levels of meaning, but on its most simple prosaic level, ayom venora, what Chazal say here is ayom venora. Yitzchak Avinu, one of the Avos, so as long as he could see, so then the yetzer hara posed a threat and he wouldn't have been worthy of having Hakadosh Baruch Hu miyached shmo on him. When he became rachmana litzlan a sagi nahor, so at that point, so then his he was spiritually secure. So mamash ayom venora. Chazal tell us also, Rashi quotes it in parshas Shelach, ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם, that the eyes are the scouts for the yetzer hara. They scout out and then the lev is chomed. Then a person has desire for devarim assurim. So the importance of shmiras einayim just can't be can't be exaggerated, can't be overstated. Even Yitzchak Avinu was threatened as long as it was an avodah for him to maintain his shmiras einayim, so even his standing was threatened. So אנן מה ענן בתריה. And if this was true in the days of the Avos and if this was true of course on the madreiga of the Avos for something which we don't even recognize as a chet, avada avada, but how much more so is it true in the times, conditions and society which we live in, the need as much as is possible to try to work on this avodah of shmiras einayim and to try to to retain the kedusha of the chush haria. And it's a very, very difficult thing bazman hazeh. It's a very difficult thing bazman hazeh. And unless, unless a person is very, very conscious of making special exertion in this area, so there's absolutely no way he's going to accomplish, because just the normal daily routine which a person would follow bazman hazeh, just walking in the street, isn't, isn't conducive or consistent with shmiras einayim. And it requires a tremendous, tremendous avoda and a tremendous, tremendous awareness, tremendous, tremendous awareness. And not only, not only Rav Moshe writes in his Tshuvos Igros Moshe that bimkomos mechusim shebah, in areas which a woman is obligated to have covered, so then there's an issur histaklus even if it's not al mnas lehanos. Be'etzba ktana in mekomos megulim shebah, so then the issur is only if he does it al mnas lehanos, because he wants to enjoy the sight. But bimkomos mechusim shebah, so a person is not supposed to look even if he's not motivated by al mnas lehanos. So obviously this requires a tremendous, tremendous effort on our part to try to observe even lachatza'in, never mind entirely, but even lachatza'in to observe this din bazman hazeh. Maybe while we're on the topic, me'inyan le'inyan,

מה ששייך בו אותו עניין, מה ששייך בו אותו עניין,

but me'inyan le'inyan, maybe the time to discuss it is now even though I don't know that it's really relevant, immediately relevant to many of you now. על אחת כמה וכמה if a person has a chiyuv in terms of shmiras einayim to do the best he can, על אחת כמה וכמה that we also have an obligation not to be machshil anyone else in this area. Nashim certainly have a chiyuv to be dressed properly and their husbands have a chiyuv to give them chizuk, ideally besafa uvelashon raka, whatever the most effective way is, but it's the husband's achrayus as well. If, if a woman is not dressed properly, so it's the husband's achrayus as well. And it's not enough that the husband, the husband can't say that אני בשלי והיא בשלה. It's my job to go out to learn at night, to maintain a seder, to pay, to earn a living, to pay tuition for the kids in yeshivos, and then there are things which fall into her domain. So it's not, for two reasons. Reason number one is that there's just the general din of yesh beyado limchos. Whenever a person is in a position to be moche, so rachmana litzlan, we know what the Gemara in Shabbos says, ויש בידו למחות ואינו מוחה. So certainly just mitzad zeh a husband can't disassociate himself, אני בשלי והיא בשלה. He has an achrayus. He has an achrayus. And even beyond that, even without the din of כל מי שיש בידו למחות, very often, not necessarily all the time, but very often... If the woman would have the chizuk from her husband, so she wouldn't, she would be able to be misgaber more and to dress properly. Lemaise, for many women, so styles and being stylish and fashionable is a big yetzer hara. Should it be a yetzer hara, shouldn't it be a yetzer hara, but it is a yetzer hara, pashut lemaise. It is a yetzer hara. But if the husband would be mechazeik, so in many cases, in many cases, I don't know what the percentage is, but certainly in many cases, that chizuk would be enough that the woman would dress in accordance with dinei tzniyus and not chas veshalom to be machshil others in this avodah, shmiras einayim, which we've been discussing. On this topic, one last observation. I think last year, a certain Shabbos, the same Shabbos that Rabbi Schiller was here, so I think he mentioned this as well. It was before Shavuos, I think he's the one. He mentioned this as well. Sometimes we let our guard down, sometimes some things in society around us, we realize they're wrong, and the fact that they're prevalent notwithstanding, so our guard is still up against it. And some things, once they become so accepted in society around us, we assume oh it's got to be okay, it's got to be okay. The fact that in society around us, magazines like Newsweek or Time are considered for intelligent and refined people, and it's the other papers of ill repute which are for lower class, so we assume oh it's an intellectual thing, so it must be an innocent distraction, an innocent way of relaxing. But you certainly cannot, I don't know how many pages you can go through, but you certainly can't make it through cover to cover in terms of this avodah of shmiras einayim, so it applies to pictures also, it doesn't apply just in person. It applies to pictures also, and clearly even what the society considers upper class also caters to certain pritzus which has become accepted in our society, and you can't have your guard lowered by the fact that, well, society all around us considers this upper class, considers this refined, considers this intellectual, it still has to be clearly assessed and evaluated al pi Torah. Just one last bikitzur, one last he'arah in the parshah. ויחלום והנה סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה. So the Gemara in Chullin says, what are the malachim running up and down for? So the Gemara in Chullin says that עולים ומסתכלים בדמות דיוקנו של מעלה and then יורדים ומסתכלים בדמות דיוקנו של מטה. So what does it mean? So it means as follows, that they were comparing the heavenly image of Yaakov Avinu with his earthly, his terrestrial image. So what's the pshat in the Gemara? So the pshat is as follows: The דמות דיוקנו של מעלה means that every one of us has an ideal image, what each of us could be. of each of us would exert ourselves to the fullest. Exert ourselves to the fullest. Life is not for taking it easy. Adam l'amal yulad. Adam l'amal yulad. A person is supposed to when we refer to Avodat Hashem belashon avoda, so it's meant to send a message. It's not supposed to be easy. It's not supposed to, you're not supposed to sit back in your chair and glide through life. But if a person's supposed to exert himself to the fullest, a person's supposed to exert if he exerts himself to the fullest there's a דמות דיוקנו של מעלה. There's an ideal image of what the person could be. How much Torah he could learn, how many mitzvot he could do, how well he could daven, how much of a ba'al chesed he could be. Then there's a דמות דיוקנו של מטה. Then דמות דיוקנו של מטה is what we really are, what we really are. With our chesronot, with our laziness, with our inconsistencies. And the avoda of a person in this world is as much as possible that when the malachim go and they compare the דמות דיוקנו של מטה with the with the real image, with the דמות דיוקנו של מעלה, with the ideal image, that those two images as much as possible there should be no discrepancy between them and as much as possible there should be a total identity between our דמות דיוקנו של מטה and our דמות דיוקנו של מעלה. In conjunction with Parshat Hashavua. Parshat Vayishlach is the is the source, is the paradigm for relations between Jews and Gentiles. Rebbe used to review the parsha. So perhaps just a little bit to again not so much with rayot from the parsha but just in a more general vein, just to discuss a little bit one's attitude towards Gentiles. There are two very important perspectives which sometimes we lose sight of and to our detriment. It's very important to have the following two perspectives in mind. One is al derech mashal as the sugya says, subject to a machloket Rishonim, but the sugya says in Berachot that האומר על קן צפור יגיעו רחמיך משתקין אותו. Rashi:

אנשים שהיו מראים עצמם כמכוונים להעמיק בלשון תחנונים ואומרים בברכתם וחנון אתה ועל קן צפור יגיעו רחמיך שחמלת לשלח את האם משתקין אותו.

So the Gemara says why why what's his terrible aveira that meshatekin oto? So chad amar מפני שמטיל קנאה במעשה בראשית וv'chad amar

מפני שעושה מדותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא רחמים ואינן אלא גזירות.

So here there is a machloket in the Rishonim in what

עושה מדותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא רחמים ואינן אלא גזירות

means. Some seem to take it as discouraging us from giving ta'amei hamitzvot. Others the Ramban al haTorah. says that we misconstrue that the reason is that this person who's saying על קן ציפור יגיעו רחמיך is misconstruing what the real reason is. The real reason is not HaKadosh Baruch Hu's concern so much with the bird but rather his concern with us and that the reason

שלא שמידותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא רחמים על העופות על הציפור ואינן אלא גזירות

which are intended to mold human character, which are intended to mold human character. So what does that mean? So it means that even if, even if the tzippur for argument's sake even if it weren't so crucial to show compassion for the tzippur because of who the tzippur is or what the tzippur is. But nevertheless in terms of our own character it's very important that we maintain a posture of compassion and concern even vis-a-vis the tzippur, even vis-a-vis the tzippur. So what's the pshat? The pshat is as follows. The pshat is that if a person gets into the habit of being cruel or contemptuous or less than truthful so even if he would do it in a context where lich'ora maybe he thinks there could be some justification for it. So even in such a case, even in such a case it's wrong, absolutely wrong. Because if a person, if a person again even in contexts where he thinks that in this context it's legitimate is less than truthful or less than considerate or less than compassionate so then he doesn't, he doesn't always do it le-shem Shamayim. If he'll do it just because it's mutar. We're not talking about when there's a milchama and there's a mitzvah to go out and do what's necessary. We're talking about in a devar reshus but a person just thinks well maybe there's a heter over here. So that's what the Torah says that even if it's not, even if the tzippur doesn't necessarily deserve that concern but in order to maintain your character consistently so you're mechuyav to consistently display that concern. U-le-chorah that same mussar haskel emerges from the famous Chazal which Rashi al haTorah quotes that Moshe Rabbeinu had to be makir tov to the ocean, had to be makir tov to the ground when he buried the Mitzri. So the obvious what's the point in being makir tov to inanimate, inanimate objects. So the simple, the simple pshat is, the simple pshat is that ein hachi nami in terms of the vayitmaneyhu bachol also the sand really wouldn't have been too offended if Moshe Rabbeinu had been the one to unleash kinim. Wouldn't have been too offended and there wouldn't have been a terrible outrage. But lema'aseh the point is that in every, every middah that a person has so there's always two sides to it. Number one a person always has to be concerned with what effect his actions have on the other person and a person has to be gomel chesed to the other person because the other person needs it, the other person deserves it. For yenem you have to be good and you have to display consistently certain middos, certain character traits. But there's a second din also. It's not just for him. Even if he doesn't need it or even if you think he doesn't deserve it, if a person is going to maintain his own, his own ruchniyus, his own spiritual character, so he has to do it consistently even if he thinks that the person or if it's not even a person on the receiving end isn't worthy of it. Because

ירדה תורה לסוף דעתו של אדם. ירדה תורה לסוף דעתו של אדם.

And hachush meid as well, it's not something that we accept only on emunah, it's something which hachush meid as well, is that midos raos, it's very, very difficult to isolate and bottle up. If a person has in him a capacity for being a kfoi tov, so that capacity will surface not only legabei inanimate objects but ultimately it will surface legabei people as well. If a person has in him a capacity to be insensitive and unfeeling, so even if there's an instance in which that capacity could be legitimized, we can't legitimize it because that capacity will ultimately, ultimately surface when no one could justify it, when no one could justify it. A similar idea Rabbeinu Yonah says in the Mishnah at the end of the first perek in Pirkei Avos,

על שלושה דברים העולם קיים על הדין על האמת ועל השלום.

So Rabbeinu Yonah quotes from the Gemara, from the Gemara that a person can't lie even about trivial insignificant details. If you know that right now it's 61 degrees in Central Park, and someone asks you, "What's the temperature in Central Park?" you can't say it's 60 degrees. Ai, mai nafka mina? Mai nafka mina? No nafka mina in the world, no one has a million dollar bet riding on it. There's no nafka mina in the world, doesn't make an iota of difference. So what difference does it make if a little bit you knowingly, you are knowingly imprecise and inaccurate? So the teretz is, Rabbeinu Yonah says, if you're not always truthful, the middas emes, so ultimately, ultimately you end up being less than 100 percent truthful when it really comes and when the stakes are very important. If a person is always very medakdek that everything should be emes l'amito, as we just had the Gemara, everything should be not just emes, everything should be emes l'amito, so then that will carry over, carry over into everything. When you learn, you'll learn with tremendous precision, you'll learn with tremendous precision, and there a small difference means a lot. When you deal with people in your business dealings, so you'll be honest down to the peruta, down to the penny, you'll be honest. But if a person has within him, oh well on the big things you tell the truth, but on the little things, a white lie, a purple lie, a green lie, as long as it's not a, whatever color, certain colors are muttar, so once you have inside of you that mida, that capacity for sheker, so it's not going to stay bottled up. That's what Chazal tell us. So certainly that's one perspective without discussing, even before which the second perspective will, but without even discussing what the inherently or intrinsically a gentile may be deserving of in terms of our relationship to him. Even without, you can quote the Hasagos HaRavad in Avos HaTumos about shchitas akum if you want, whatever you quote, the bottom line is, the bottom line is that a person who has, who will display an attitude of bittul and of contempt and will take for granted that not only is it muttar to cheat and steal on government programs, but that it's a mitzvah to cheat and steal on government programs, so even, even, even, even if you would think that this on its own would be legitimate, so that's what Chazal tell us that even if the tzibbur is not deserving, but you have to act compassionately to the tzibbur because otherwise you become corrupted. And even if the ocean and the land are not really deserving of hakaras hatov, but you have to show hakaras hatov because otherwise you become corrupted. And even if what you're discussing really isn't deserving of middas ha'emes because it's mah be-kach, it's דבר של מה בכך, but it's needed for you, it's needed for you. So that's one very, very important perspective to have on whomever you deal with under any set of circumstances, that whatever you may think of the other person, you have to know that your behavior and your morals. character has to be maintained. The other perspective that's important to have is that there's another mistake which we make sometimes. We know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu endowed Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov with Kedushas Yisroel and did not do so to Bnei Noach. And we also know correctly that we should be aware of that. That defines who we are, it defines what we are, it defines what we live for every second of every day of our lives. And it's something which we should never ever lose sight of. However, the way to appreciate, show appreciation, and articulate appreciation for that gift of Torah, for that gift of Kedushas Yisroel, is not by denigrating people who weren't given that gift. And if anything, it sort of shows a form of a lack of understanding and appreciation of the gift, if the only way, if the only way it expresses itself is by denigrating and dehumanizing people who weren't given the gift. If a person really appreciates Torah, so he doesn't have to dehumanize or demonize people who weren't given Torah. Adderaba, the way you appreciate Torah is by appreciating all the positive in it. If the only, if the way you show your appreciation for Torah is just by negating other people, so that's, so then the sum effect of Torah is instead of, instead of elevating you, it's lowering someone else. And that's not what Torah was given for. Torah was given as a means and a challenge to elevate us, to help us come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and even that for the purpose of serving as a role model for the entire Beriyah. So it's sort of a tarti d'sasri to express our uniqueness by denigrating others. Number one, it shows that we really don't appreciate what the uniqueness is, because instead of our accepting Torah and rising above medaber, so we sort of accept Torah and we stay as medaber and we try to push everyone else down to chai or tzomei'ach or domem. But that seems to be rather, rather impoverished perspective, because Torah is so great, so there's no need to dehumanize other people in order to understand and accentuate the difference between an Am HaNivchar who were given Torah and the Umos Haolam which weren't given Torah. The simple reading of the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos is חביב אדם שנברא בצלם וחביבים ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום, that's not, that's not how the Maharal says pshat, but the simple, the simple reading of the Mishnah is חביב אדם שנברא בצלם is universal, and then חביבים ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום, again, is that they rise above that. But the way they end up higher and the way they become special is not by pushing other people down, is not by denigrating or negating others, but rather by pulling themselves up on the ladder of kedushah. I think if we would have these two general perspectives, number one, that if it's the right thing to be makdim shalom bashuk, so then you're מקדים שלום אפילו לנוכרי בשוק. Because if it's the right thing for you to do to mold your personality in a torah'dike fashion, so then Yochanan was also a big tzaddik. Yochanan also understood the gap between himself who learned Torah and the nochri shebashuk. And nevertheless, but if that's the right middah, if that's the way your personality is correctly molded, so then you're מקדים שלום אפילו לנוכרי בשוק, number one. And number two, number two, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu Doesn't write off the entire bria, so I'm not sure that we can, I'm not sure that we can either. If רחמיו על כל מעשיו, if yemos hamashiach is supposed to redeem the entire bria, not just us, ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה' ונהרו אליו גוים רבים, if the entire bria is going to be redeemed and Hakadosh Baruch Hu hasn't written off the entire bria, so I don't know that we should either, and aderaba, we should always make sure that our appreciation of the uniqueness of kedushas Yisrael and am hanivchar is a positive one, is one which expresses itself by our aspiring to and achieving higher levels of kedusha through Torah rather than trying to express that uniqueness by lowering others.