True Preparation

B"H

Last week we left Jacob after he had just received his father's blessings.
Understandably angry, his brother Esau wants to kill him. So Jacob is sent off by his very wise mother Rivkah to go live by her brother Lavan.
There, he is to find a wife and establish his family. It is time now to leave the "tent of Torah," his secure, holy environment, and enter the material world.
A world, whose Hebrew name 'olam' is connected to another Hebrew word 'he'elam' meaning hidden. G-d Isn't so revealed in Vegas!
Kinda sucks for Jacob. But he's gotta do what he's gotta do, right?

Now, how is a good Jewish boy like Jacob supposed to adapt to his upcoming new surroundings?
One would think he should study what life is going to be like in his new city. Perhaps study under a craftsman or filed laborer to learn the tricks of the trade?
At least buy new clothing to fit his new environment? Jacob does neither. "Vayifga b'makom" - "And he reached the place (and prayed)" [Genesis 28:2].

The actions of our forefathers are lessons to us as descendants for all time.
When involving ourselves in the world, now more than ever we need spiritual re-enforcement, to make sure we don't get lost in our activities.
To always remember our purpose and our ultimate goals while involved in family life & business, we must make sure to plug in to learning and prayer.
The Torah continues and states, that on the way to his new home, Jacob stops for rest & surrounds his head with stones.
The Q: is asked: what was the point? Rashi explains "in order to protect himself from wild beasts." But how much protection can 3-inch stones really offer?
And if Jacob was relying totally on G-d's Supernatural Protection, why put stones at all!?

In Jewish Mysticism it's explained that Jacob's action represented every Jew's need to protect what's in their head from danger.
Jacon knew that, as long as all of the values and Torah that he had learned and integrated into his life until now were kept secure,
he would do just fine in his new environment, and sanctify his surroundings. Not to be lowered by them - but rather to uplift.

May we be empowered by our father Jacob to always keep our Jewish values & Wisdom intact as we interact with the world around us.

~Shabbat Shalom!~

-Daniel
Crown Heights, New York

Dressed for the Occasion

In this week's Torah portion, Toldot, we read about the birth and early years of Jacob & Esau. Born to righteous parents Issac & Rivkah, Jacob & Esau end up going separate paths, as the Torah says: "And the youths grew up, and Esau was a man who understood hunting, a man of the field, whereas Jacob was an innocent man, dwelling in tents."
While Jacob lived preoccupied in learning and character refinement, Esau went out into the world, ready to conquer.

As time passes, Issac realizes that his life may be nearing to a close. He therefore calls his son Esau to fetch for him food, where upon his return, he will be blessed by his father. When Rivkah overhears this (believing that Jacob is more deserving of blessing), she immediately commands her son Jacob to enter his father's tent with food she will prepare, and receive Issac's blessings instead of Esau. Since Esau happened to be very hairy, Rivkah dresses Jacob in a hairy animal's clothing, and Jacob enters his father's tent (Being blind, Issac could only feel the difference in skin).

And Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come closer, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
So Jacob drew near to Isaac his father, and he felt him, and he said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
And he came closer, and he kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his garments, and he blessed him, and he said, "Behold, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field, which G-d has blessed!"

So what was really going on here? Why did Issac want to bless the wicked Esau? Why did Rivkah decide to intervene and "trick" Issac?
There are many insightful explanations to the meaning of these events, but I would like to focus primarily on one part: Jacob's need to disguise himself in Esau's clothing. If the blessings were ultimately meant for him by G-d, why was it set up in such a way that he had to go with a disguise in order to receive them?

Our Chassidic Masters explain the inner meaning behind this fascinating story of our forefathers. Jacob, the unblemished one, is a symbol for a Jew's G-dly soul.
Esau, the hunter, the worldly one, is a symbol for a Jew's body. Now in order for the soul (Jacob) to receive G-d's Blessing - in order to succeed & fulfill its reason for being - the soul cannot remain in the spiritual realms, but must rather descend into a coarse, physical body (Esau's clothing) and into a physical world. For in order to affect the physical world, the soul alone is just not gonna cut it. It needs a body to work with. A soul cannot put on tefillin or light Shabbos candles or put up a mezuzah, but hands can.
The body is the vehicle in which the soul can succeed in its mission on earth.

But there's one more point here. While riding in this vehicle called a body, during this stay in the physical world, Jacob must never forget that he is Jacob.
No matter how long he's wearing "Esau's clothing", he must never forget who he truly is, who he must identify with. The soul, us, must never forget that we are souls on a mission. Yes, we're in bodies that need food, showers and pampering. And yes, we have to work in the world, leaving the 'tents of Jacob' in order to succeed in it as best we can.
But we mustn't forget who we really are, and what the purpose is of this excursion into Esau's clothing.
As it says: "G-d Desired a Dwelling Place in the lower realms." - (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 16)
When the twins Jacob & Esau were born, the Torah says Esau went out 1st, and Jacob's "hand was grasping Esau's heel."
The soul must have a hold on the physical, in order to uplift it. But we musn't get consumed by the world's flashy "appeal." We are Jacob underneath the clothes of Esau. We must remain true to our essence.

As Issac put it best: "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
Through the voice of Jacob, Torah and prayer, we can succeed in enriching our hands' work in this world to be the way it should be.
And then we will receive all of the blessings possible, both materially and spiritually, in all that we need.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

-Daniel
Crown Heights, NY

A Rose among Thorns

In this week's Torah Portion, Chayei Sarah, we come across a very perplexing thing.

The content centers around the events leading to the marriage of our great grand-parents, Yitzchak (Issac) and Rivkah (Rebecca).
We are told in great detail and at great length, how Avraham's trusted servant Eliezer travels to Rivkah's town and finds her.
Rivkah then shows great kindness and sensitivity in providing water for each of his camels, showing the sterling character befitting as holy a mate as Yitzchak (note to those looking for a spouse: Kindness!)
Then, when he reaches the home of Rivkah's family, the ENTIRE episode is re-told to us in the Torah, as Eliezer explains the miraculous events that led to his finding Rivkah. This saga ends happily, as Rivkah agrees to marry Yitzchak and comes with Eliezer. Rivkah and Yitzchak then embark on their special lives of purity and spreading of good, and in the ultimate creation of the beginnings of the Jewish people.
Ummm, why is this so strange again?
It's strange because the Torah never wastes words. Every single letter & word is learned from & pored over by our sages. To teach us critical laws and Mitzvot about how we are to live our lives for all generations, the Torah generally suffices with very few words. Sometimes it suffices with hints in 1 letter!
Yet we find with Yitzchak and Rivkah's match and subsequent marriage, pages and pages of information told to us, not once but twice! This is the A.D.D. generation man!
Why write at such great length? The Torah could have just written:"And Yitzchak married Rivkah" - or at least something shorter than what we have.

The inner dimension of the Torah bails us out as usual, explaining to us what's really going on here.

Before his marriage, Yitzchak had reached an amazing degree of spiritual perfection. He was the 1st Jew to have a circumcision at 8 days, was then guided & educated by his father Avraham. He later showed an eagerness to sacrifice his Life for G-d, from which point he attained an extremely elevated level and was considered as a blemish-less being. He wasn't allowed to even leave the land of Israel because of his great sanctity.
Rivkah, on the other hand, is described in the mystical writings, quoting the Song of Songs, as: "A rose among the thorns."
She was born in a wicked, idolatrous family, far removed from Issac's pure upbringing.
THUS, the union of Yitzchak & Rivkah was a meeting of extremes. It is for this very reason that the Torah goes to such lengths to focus on and expound the events leading to their coming together. For Torah is a guide to uniting extremes. Whenever a mitzvah is fulfilled, a mundane physical object becomes infused with G-dliness.
The marriage of Yitzchak & Rivkah thus represents the marriage of the physical and the spiritual.
This meeting precipitated the meeting & marriage of G-d & the Jewish people under the canopy of Mt. Sinai, with the giving of the Torah, a Torah which when followed produces a fusion of physical and spiritual. A blessing of praise to G-d upon eating a salad, fuses its physicality with a spiritual force.

May we all succeed in following our parents Yitzchak and Rivkah, using this ability we all have to unite the 2 extremes of this physical existence & its spiritual counterpart -
into a beautiful harmony that can be tangibly felt.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel