Esau

Before the Mitzvah and after the Mitzvah: What we learn from Yaakov’s relationship with Laban and Esau

by Yedidah on December 21, 2022

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The Torah is not a history book. The outer events of our forefathers’ lives are recorded in the Torah, but the meaning of these events and the intentions of the protagonists are recorded in the inner aspect of the Torah, the Zohar. It’s when we put the inner intentions together with the events, we can begin to understand why these stories are important for us today in living our own lives.

In this shiur we look at one example in which Yaakov teaches us how to handle our own selfishness and egoism. We discover that before we plan to do a mitzvah, our own yetzer hara comes to us as an inner voice telling us that since our work is not perfect it’s not worth doing. This is the voice of Laban, who claimed all Yaakov’s work for his own. “The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the animals are my animals, and all that you see is mine.”( Gen.33:43)

What does Yaakov teach us to say to this inner voice?
He says “I dwelt with Laban yet I kept the Torah and mitzvot.” We need to ignore it. We need to raise ourselves up with pride in the fact that we are the children of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and have faith that God takes pleasure in our work, in whatever form it takes.

But then “Yaakov sent messengers to Esau.” This action of Yaakov takes us by surprise. Why not let sleeping dogs lie? But here again Yaakov is teaching us an important lesson. After we have done the mitzvah we need to go to the opposite extreme, and consider how much our wills to receive for ourselves alone are really the basis of our work.

What is Esau’s response? He sas, I have plenty my brother, Keep what is yours!” In other words, here our inner voice of the yetzer hara is saying exactly the opposite! it says,”you are so righteous, you have nothing more to do!” It wants to convince us that our work is perfect, so that we rest on our laurels and don’t prgress another inch!

What does Jacob do? He entreats Esau to accept his gift and humbles himself before him. In the same way, we also need to realize how much our wills to receive for ourselves alone are involved in our service to God. We need to ignore the inner voice of Esau , and separate from it going our own way into the Land of Yisrael, the consciousness that is in affinity of form with God until we merit to come to Beit El, the house of God.

This podcast is dedicated lilui nishmat my dear mother, Chaya bat Menachem haLevi

Material taken from Birkat Shalom ” Al HaTorah, Parhsat Vayishlach, and the Zohar with Perush haSulam Parahst Vayishlach, beginnning

Picture by Menachem Halberstam

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Give us the Truth of Ya’acov: True Intentions Disguised by Actions

by Yedidah on November 9, 2018

Jacob and Esau from the Zohar ,Perush haSulam, Rabbi Ashlag

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:29 — 22.5MB)

On this week of the Parasha Toledot, we read the story of Ya’acov and Esau. This story is such a perplexing one when we read the simple bald recital of the events as they took place as described in Bereishit, the book of Genesis. So many questions arise!

Ya’acov refuses to give Esau soup until he sells his birthright to him. On the surface, this looks like a callous act, to put it mildly. Yet how can this be? Ya’acov, is described as a dweller of tents, meaning that he dwelt in the tent of Torah. How could he behave in this way? To get an answer to this, we need to go deeply into the reasons and intentions that lie behind the outer acts.

These we find in the Kabbalah, which teaches us that although on the surface, it appears that Esau was hard done by, in fact, he hid his true nature. Esau came in from the field, exhausted, close to death because he had just murdered Nimrod, and taken his garments. These were garments that had come to Nimrod from Adam, but , unlike Adam, he used them in an evil and wrong way. Esau coveted them.

This day, Ya’acov was making lentils, because it was a dish given to mourners, and this was the day that Avraham died. Esau, rejected the legacy of Avraham, which was not a legacy of riches and material possessions, but a legacy of faith in God. He despised his birthright and wanted none of the obligations and responsibilities that it invoked.

Ya’acov, by taking on the birthright, for himself and his descendants took on the faith in God, with all the responsibility that it involves, rescuing the vessels that belonged to Esau bringing them with him into the framework of holiness. Similarly his action with the blessings was a work of great tikkun.

By learning the Zohar on this story our difficulties with the literal interpretation of the story melt away and we come into a deeper appreciation of the need to see the Torah, in all its aspects, the Pshat, Remez, Drash and Sod as a whole.

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Jacob’s Intentions: A Man of Truth

by Yedidah November 17, 2015

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If we don’t know the intentions of the other person we can so easily misjudge their overt actions. Nowhere is this truer than in the Bible stories. Learning the literal story alone, may even lead us away from the truth revealed within it. By revealing intentions, the Kabbalah teaches us the consciousness of the Torah in a way that we can grow ourselves. Nowhere is this more poignant than in the story of Jacob and Esau.

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The Truth of Jacob

by Yedidah November 25, 2014

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The Sages of the Zohar asked Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai , Why did Jacob withhold giving Esau some lentil stew until he had sold him the birthright? The unspoken question is “Is that the way a righteous man behaves?!” Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai ‘s answer, was decisive. Jacob was a righteous man of truth who is incapable of deceiving anyone. What was this truth of Yaakov and how does it affect us till this day?

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