Vayishlach 5786 - The Three Pronged Response to an Attack

We have the struggle the of Jacob and Asov Jacob getting ready to battle Asov. And um as known the um many of the things that are written about in the para are meant to be instructions to how to deal with enemies and so on. So, Dram makes a point of it and uh I want to speak it out. Now, Ramban says it's the par the point of the par is first of all to tell is there for us. He you know he protects us and he saves us. Okay, that's obvious. Then he says teaches us that Yakov did not rely on a sitkus but he tried um he did. Now this is something that could be um it's an extraordinary lesson. One could have said well first of all Yakavir could rely on it and where's his ben it says he he he he was he he he prepared himself for Doron trilan and so those are all inanim that are you know the duran and certainly they're certainly natural cause and effect and also it's it doesn't say that He only does filler and he can he he has you know despite having which is but what we're obligated to do is do things up just like for instance somebody lapses in front of us we rush and get the oxygen and is whatever else they do the CPR whatever the the the um whatever is needed and we don't rely on we we we definitely understand that without a kesh who is held nothing will happen but is not replacing that we have an obligation what's so he says over here we have three things we have and filler I want to talk about that um the the uh the people become very caught up with a shittita about how to deal with adversary adversaries. We have enemies coming. Well, one one train of thought is fight, you know, fight as hard you can. Don't give, don't budge. Don't dare don't you dare appease them. And then there's a second way of bribing, appeasing. It's not very very um dignified, but it gets the job done if it does with very little bloodshed. So he says um so he adds over here as far as the part goes he says to run away. He is either the sensor he's not not terribly um happy to to the censor actually quotes and he says that for us it means you know doing things like running away and stuff like that. So the the one thing that we see over here is there are no shittas involved such as it is cowardly to pay off your enemies. It is cowardly to sort of gravel at their feet and and and yeah whatever you'd like and please and so wonderful great and and a man a heman should fight. So on but that's not what happened. And the Raan says we have to sit and consider all the possibilities. Now consider possibilities means we have to ask ourselves what are the chances that bite could work or running away. What are the chances that bribery would work and so on. we have to take out of consideration any type of ideology and so on. I want to reference something um which it's fascinating. I once heard this from actually a very left-wing professor um in in at the time of Sam Mikdash Rabioan was stuck with secretim and the secretim um wouldn't didn't want any appeasement with the Romans. They wanted to fight till till the end and um felt it's not going to work. It's it's you know it's it's they're hopelessly outnumbered. There's no set won't help them and so on. So he snuck out. Famous story in one repeated here. Snuck out made peace with Vespacian and and was able to save um a few a few items. Not the city but a few items. uh and and and so on. Now the the we see clearly that in that case they asked why didn't they fight and said it wouldn't work. So that was his fight with the bayoni. Bioni wanted to only fight and he said no it's not going to work. In other words, the course of action that we ought to take whenever there's some adversary or something like that is not a shittita but a calculation as to what will work best and has the best chance of succeeding and and the Raman says we have to prepare ourselves for all of them. So we need not to be afraid to fight or to run if that's what's needed like the Ramban says or um to to uh um bribe and and to sort of uh you know make ourselves humble and and do what it takes. There is no fixed ideological hugger that's that the Torah points to. The Torah says just whatever it takes. That's that. So first of all, so that's that's an important lesson says this is a lesson we should take with us. Dominique used to be that when people used to go to um when you had a a dealing took a a trip to go to see the would say and so on. That's that was that's obviously uh important. But there's the more here in terms of teaching us that there is no one particular action that's become sacred. We will fight till the last and not give a nickel for um you know for shhat or vice versa. You have to figure out what are the better chances to win and go with that. Now the um the filler piece over here is very interesting because the um it's put on par with the other two. Meaning it's meant to be part of the package and not a replacement. Fighting does not replace filler. Filler does not replace fighting. Same thing as bribery. understanding that filler is something which is meant to integrate itself weave itself into the fabric of a mitus. Now that's really the the essence of trillo. Trill means we have uh um our normal lives are physical deal with physical realities and we sort of um live in that world of physical cause and effect. Filler is supposed to take us out and say it's true that these are the pieces that were that that that that were falling but it's coming from someplace else. That's what filler is all about. So filler over here that we're talking about is not replacing the um the the the um the doing doing things. It's it's it's part of the equation. Um and depending on what's the most effective, that's what you do. the um the the um and he says means we have to we we have to do what we can in terms of we never can rely on our sitkus and say well I have so much for sure this will happen we don't know we don't know so briefly That's just because of Raan Ramb here says that the actions of Jakov as are the blueprint for every future interaction with um the forces that seek to destroy us. They require a threepronged approach of and doron and muham which means there is no fixed physical way to deal with it. We choose what will be most effective with the least losses and the um and sometimes it's fighting and sometimes it's making peace even after even if it is not on the terms we would have wanted but it it it doron is is part of it. The filler that we have over here, the donut filler is something which is not replacing any type of physical activity and and so on, but rather it's adding to it. It's one of the three things that's and so is part of the process. Its job is actually to help us realize that it's not the physical activities but something higher than that did it but never let us replace it. A ka scroll who follows in the path of Yakov is preparing itself with Duran and with and with Bama.