Erev Shabbat Kodesh
As we learn how to deal with Eisav's perfidy firsthand (the US President does not act in a vacuum and no one is making a move to stop him), there are many good lessons for us in this parshah where Eisav and Ya'aqov meet again and then go their separate ways.
Keep in mind that it is Ya'aqov's destiny to rise above the status of Eisav's twin ("Great Satan, Little Satan" anyone?) and become Yisrael!
"The deeds of the fathers are signs for the children."
Parashat Vayishlach - Fearing no one but G-d - Rabbi Meir Kahane
“As a muddied fountain and a polluted spring, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked” (Prov. 25:26) [...] G-d said to Jacob, “Esau was walking on his way, and you sent him a message, saying, “Your servant Jacob says...” (Excerpt from Bereshit Rabbah 75,2)
G-d had promised Jacob that He would be with him, and had Jacob believed this and not feared Esau, Esau would have gone on his way. Through his fear, Jacob brought Esau upon himself by sending him messengers and by his servile use of, “Your servant Jacob.” Tanchuma Yashan (Vayishlach,4) teaches, “Jacob sent [vayishlach] messengers...to his brother Esau” (Gen. 32:4): G-d lamented: “Alas [Vai!] Jacob was sending messengers to Esau!” Likewise, regarding the verse, “So shall you say to my Lord Esau” (32:5), our sages comment (Bereshit Rabbah 75:11), “G-d said to him, 'You degraded yourself and called Esau 'my lord' eight times. I swear that I shall make eight of his offspring precede yours as kings.”
To understand the pitfall of lack of bitachon (trust in G-d), we must ponder the following verse: “He selected a 'mincha' for his brother Esau from what he had with him... These he gave to his servants... He said to his servants, “When my brother Esau encounters you, he will ask, 'To whom do you belong?'... You must reply, 'It belongs to your servant Jacob. It is a 'mincha' to my master Esau'”...Jacob said to himself, “I will win him over with the 'mincha' that is being sent ahead”... He sent the mincha ahead. (Gen. 32:4,17-19,21-22) A 'mincha' is a gift or present, but it is also the name of an offering or prayer. The offering whose specific name is mincha is brought from plants, either wheat or barley, and is called mincha because it is brought not only as a gift or present but also out of self-sacrifice and trust in G-d.
Our sages said (Menachot 104b): Why in the case of the mincha does it say "nefesh", (soul)? [“If an individual [nefesh] presents a meal-offering to the L-rd” (Lev. 2:1)], whereas regarding the olah, or burnt-offering, it says, “When one person [adam] brings an offering to the L-rd” (Lev. 1:2).] G-d said, “Who normally brings the mincha? The poor man. I shall treat him as having sacrificed his life before Me.” A poor man is unable to bring an animal, and even the flour he brings for his meal-offering involves self-sacrifice for him. Surely this is the true purpose of the korban, or sacrifice – that one sacrifice oneself and thereby bring oneself closer to G-d. The poor man, although even the meal-offering is as hard for him as sacrificing his life, still brings it, trusting in G-d to worry for him about his livelihood. This offering is called 'mincha', from the word "nach", “passed away”, as if the poor man bringing the mincha has died. For that same reason, the prayer preceding evening is called mincha.[...] It is called this because when the sun is already turning westward to rest [lanuach], to set, this is the time of mincha and of trusting in G-d. The light is dimming, darkness is approaching, and a person trusts that after the darkness of night, the sun will rise again and there will be light. The time for mincha is when sunset and darkness are approaching. This is why it is called mincha. Every mincha is tied to trust in G-d, and to poverty and humility before the One Who is Master of all. G-d will bring light and day once again. He will bring a livelihood to the poor man who brought Him his fine flour. He will save Israel from all its mighty enemies ...
[...] Jacob took the mincha, our gift to G-d, representing man's lowliness before his Maker, and his faith and trust in Him, and he transferred these sentiments to Esau. This reflected great lack of bitachon (trust in G-d), as in Rashbam's explanation of why Jacob was smitten in hist struggle with the angelic prince of Esau (on Gen. 39:29): Jacob was smitten and ended up with a limp, because G-d made a promise to him while he was fleeing. Just so, all who refuse to take G-d's path, or who take an opposing path, are punished.
In Rav Kahane's “Peirush HaMaccabee” we find: There were two people to whom G-d made promises but were afraid…: One was the choicest of the Patriarchs – this is Jacob, as it says, For Hashem chose Jacob to Himself (Psalms 135:4) [i.e. this verse testifies that Jacob was the chosen of the three Fathers]. And G-d said to him, And behold I am with you (Genesis 28:15) – and yet, eventually he was afraid, as it says, And Jacob was greatly afraid (ibid. 32:7). And the other was the choicest of the prophets – this is Moses, as it says, He said He would destroy them [the Israelites], had Moses, His chosen one, not stood in the breach before Him (Psalms 106:23). And G-d said to him, Because I will be with you – and yet, eventually he was afraid [of Og, king of Bashan], as it says, And Hashem said to Moses: Do not be afraid of him (Numbers 21:34); and one would only admonish “do not be afraid” to one who is afraid. – (Genesis Rabbah 76:1). This commandment, do not be afraid, is a difficult one to obey, and a major commandment. But the person whom G-d has sent on His mission must stand firm in his trust in Him. And if he has committed sins, he must understand that even though sins can indeed annul G-d’s promises, this will not happen as long as he is fulfilling a defined mission, according to G-d’s specific decree. [...] There is a moral here. Jacob feared Esau only because he was concerned that his own sins might have caused G-d to annul His promise to him: All these years, [Esau] was dwelling in the Land of Israel – meaning that he is coming against me with the power of having settled the Land of Israel… and meaning that he is coming against me with the power of having honored his father and mother (Genesis Rabbah 76:2). Nevertheless, he was wrong to be afraid, and was punished for having feared Esau. G-d had, after all, given him an explicit command – which entailed precisely the attributes of faith and trust in G-d – to return to the Land of Israel; and He surely would not have commanded him to endanger himself by returning to Israel had his sins been liable to annul the promise. To the contrary: this command was designed to test his trust in G-d against Esau – but he was afraid, and was therefore punished.
Faith and trust in G-d are no small matter. The Jewish People must prove their trust in G-d by difficult, frightening, and sometimes ostensibly dangerous acts, acts that demand of Israel courage, acts which by their very nature show disdain for the non-Jew, anger him and threaten to bring a confrontation between him and Israel, and all must be performed with complete faith and trust that if Israel do what is decreed upon them, then G-d, too, will fulfill what he promised His treasured nation.
Precisely this proves one's true faith and trust, for it is impossible that one who fears mortal man really believes in G-d. Real trust in G-d requires the Jew both to trust in Him and cast off all fear of mortal man and reliance on human aid. [...] Whoever accepts this principle of bitachon (trust in G-d) unreservedly, truly believes that G-d is the One Supreme Power, G-d of heaven and earth. Whoever hesitates, whoever fears the non-Jew, shows that he questions G-d's ability to help His people. It is doubtful, whether he completely believes in G-d as an Omnipotent Supreme Power.
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Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from "The Jewish Idea" and "Peirush HaMaccabee on Shemot" of Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY"D
Parashat Vayishlach: Towards the final conflict
by Daniel Pinner
“[Jacob] said to [Esau]: ‘My lord knows that the children are tender, and the flock and the herd are suckling. If they will be driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. So let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will make my slow way at the walking pace of the herd before me and the pace of the children, until I will come to my lord, to Seir’. And Esau said: ‘Please – I will present to you part of the people who are with me’. And he said: ‘Why is this? Let me find favour in my lord’s eyes’. So Esau returned on his way to Seir that day, and Jacob travelled to Succoth” (Genesis 33:13-17).
Two aspects of Jacob’s behaviour here seem puzzling. Firstly, after not seeing his brother for over twenty years, he was terrified at the encounter. He made every preparation to protect himself and his family from Esau’s murderous fury – so when Esau seemed to have completely forgiven Jacob’s “usurpation” of his birthright and blessing and welcomed his twin brother back home with hugs and kisses (Genesis 33:4), why did Jacob reject his reconciliation?
Secondly, Jacob’s overriding characteristic was truth (“Grant truth to Jacob, loving-kindness to Abraham, which is what You swore to our fathers in ancient days” – Micah 7:20); so why did Jacob lie to his brother here, promising to meet him in Seir?
Jacob was returning from Paddan Aram, hundreds of miles to the north; he encountered Esau while he was passing southwards through the vicinity of the River Jabbok (Genesis 32:23) on the east bank of the River Jordan, about 60 km (36 miles) south of the Kinneret.
Seir is some 200 km (125 miles) south and slightly east of the River Jabbok in southern trans-Jordanian Israel (the region currently occupied by the Kingdom of Jordan). While “Esau settled in Mount Seir” (Genesis 36:80), Jacob headed just a few kilometres south to Succoth (Genesis 33:17) where he dwelt for a year and a half (Megillah 17a, Bereishit Rabbah 78:16), then moved to Shechem (Genesis 33:18) about 30 km (19 miles) west and slightly north of the Jabbok, then southwards from there to Beit El (35:1-7), and finally southwards via Ephrath and Beth Lehem to Hebron, there to be reunited with his father Isaac (35:16-27).
When he finally left Hebron, decades later, it was to go down to Egypt to escape the famine and to join his son Joseph who was viceroy of Egypt. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 25a) makes it clear that though Jacob told his brother Esau that he would meet him in Seir, he never intended to go to there.
So why the apparent subterfuge?
In fact, Jacob was speaking absolute truth when he told Esau that “I will come to my lord, to Seir”. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 78:14 and Sechel Tov, Vayishlach 14) quotes Rabbi Abahu: “We can search the entire Tanach, and we will never find that Jacob our father went to Esau in Mount Seir throughout his life… When, then, will he come to come to him? – In the future time, which is the meaning of ‘Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau’ (Obadiah 1:21)”.
The Midrash Lekach Tov adds a few details: “‘Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant’ – this refers to temporal authority in this world; but in the World to Come, Israel will lead. [Esau] said to [Jacob]: Are you not afraid of being subjugated to other kingdoms? He replied: ‘I will make my slow way’ – I will go le-honi le-honi [either “with my possessions”, or “at my natural pace”, or “with my health and sanity intact”], slowly and calmly…‘until I will come to my lord, to Seir’. But he has not yet gone there! When will he ever go to Seir? – In the future time, as it is written ‘Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau’ (Obadiah 1:21)”.
Yes, Jacob was telling Esau the truth when he told him that he would one day meet him – indeed, confront him – in Mount Seir. Not in his physical lifetime – but one day, Israel will yet confront Esau in Mount Seir.
Abram, Sarai, and Jacob all earned new names for themselves: Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah – they both merited the extra letter heh, representing Hashem. Jacob became Israel by his courage and determination. Esau, too, earned a new name for himself: Edom, related to adom, red, because of his blood-lust (Genesis 25:30).
Esau – Edom – evolved into the nation of Rome – the nation which would destroy the Second Temple. The subjugation and exile which began with Rome has lasted until today. The Ba’al ha-Turim (Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher, Germany and Spain, c.1275-1343) notes that the final letters of the phrase avo eladoni se’ira (“I will come to my lord, to Seir “) spell the word eleiha (“to it”), and the gematria of the word avo (“I will come”) is four: “This is a veiled reference that after the four exiles [Egypt, Greece, Babylon/Persia, and Rome], they [Israel] will come to it [Mount Seir], ‘before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Hashem’ (Malachi 3:23), and then ‘Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau’ (Obadiah 1:21)”.
The Haftarah for Parashat Vayishlach is the entire Book of Obadiah – the shortest Book of the entire Tanakh, with just one chapter, 21 verses, 291 words, and 1,120 letters. “Obadiah was an Edomite convert, who prophesied against Edom that ‘there will be no surviving remnant of the House of Esau’ (Obadiah 1:18)” (Vayikra Rabbah 18:2). And as the Talmud expresses it, “Obadiah was an Edomite convert, which is why people say: The axe-handle that fells the forest comes from the forest” (Sanhedrin 39b).
Indeed, the subject of the Book of Obadiah is the prophecy of Edom’s downfall, how “though you arise like the eagle, and even if you place your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says Hashem” (Obadiah 1:4). Edom’s – Esau’s – downfall will be the final conflict before the ultimate redemption of Israel, which is what the prophet means with his closing words, “Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau – and then the Kingship will be Hashem’s” (Obadiah 1:21).
At the beginning of our Parashah, when Jacob sent the angels ahead of him, the message he sent with them to Esau was, “Thus said your servant Jacob: I have dwelt with Lavan, and I have delayed until now” (Genesis 32:5). The Midrash ha-Gadol interprets the word garti (“I have dwelt”) to imply that Jacob observed all the taryag (613) Mitzvot even despite the corrupting influence of Aram and Lavan (garti being an anagram of taryag). Based on this, the Ba’alha-Turim sees a coded message in Jacob’s message to his brother: “If you want to claim that you too kept the Mitzvot, then come and fight against me. ‘And I have delayed until now’ – that is to say, I must delay until atah [‘now’, spelt ayin-tav-heh]: ayin [numerical value 70] – the 70 years of Babylonian exile; tav [numerical value 400] – the 400 years of Egyptian exile; and heh [numerical value 5] – 5,000 years. But when the sixth millennium, which is the time of Mashiach, will come, then ‘Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau’ (Obadiah 1:21)”.
We are today on the threshold of the sixth millennium, the time beyond which Mashiach and Israel’s final redemption cannot be delayed. Israel can delay no longer, and the final conflict between Israel and Esau is not far off. We are both heading swiftly towards our long-awaited final confrontation on Mount Seir, the Mountain of Esau.
When Israel and Esau met all those long centuries ago, “Esau ran towards him, and hugged him, and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (Genesis 33:4). In every Torah-scroll, there is a dot above each of the six letters of the word vayishakehu (“and kissed him”). Dots above letters (which happens several times throughout the Torah) are always there to call our attention to something unusual, and in this case those dots are ambiguous: according to some, they denote that Esau’s kiss was insincere; according to others, they denote that despite Esau’s usual hatred for his brother, on this one occasion his kiss was pure and wholehearted and genuine (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 34; Sifrei Bamidbar, Beha’alotkha 69).
The question is as yet unresolved: did Esau kiss his brother Israel with genuine love or not? Esau – Edom – evolved into Rome, the Roman Empire, which in time evolved into western civilisation. We have all experienced the kisses which western civilisation showers upon us, from the most patently insincere to the most genuine love.
In recent decades some of the most vicious Jew-haters have explained that their murderous hatred of Israel is really love – a passionate desire to “save the Jews from Zionism” in the words of Jim Allen, who wrote a truly evil Israel-bashing play called “Perdition” (a distortion of Ben Hecht’s Perfidy).
And we know only too well the “love” of our “friends” who hate the idea of Jews living in most of Israel, lovers of Israel who express their love by forcing Israel to withdraw from our historical heartland and to set up a “Palestinian” state cleansed of Jews. We have all heard the hypocritical cant of self-appointed “protectors of Israel” who in their burning desire to “save Israel from itself” yearn to expel every last Jew from the most ancient of Jewish cities, to surround Israel in a murderous embrace of Arab weaponry.
Only last week another “friend of Israel”, John Kerry, threatened us with another Intifada and international isolation if we do not heed his loving advice and make peace.
And we have experienced the hugs and kisses of Christian missionaries, who want our souls.
And we have also experienced the genuine altruistic love of Christians who risked and often lost their lives rescuing Jews during the Nazi era, who have come to Israel to fight for the nation with nary a thought of reward, who have fought for Israel in battlefields and government offices from Israel to the USA to Kenya to Micronesia.
Our final meeting with Esau is swiftly approaching, and Esau will soon have to make his final decision. Are his kisses genuine, or do they mask his inner hatred? The answer to that may be encoded in some of the more esoteric commentaries on the Torah, the Talmud, the Midrashim, and the Kabbalah. And the answer may also be found between the lines of tomorrow’s newspapers and radio news broadcasts.
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