Vayishlach - Light Ends the Struggle

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hashem's never-ending assistants in Irma picture Israel 5783 2022 this week's fire chest purchase in our Parsha we have the encounter the world shattering the cataclysmic encounter between Jacob avino Jacob and Asaf Esau but not just on a physical level when they meet and yaakov is able to subdue his brother as it were through his submission we also have immediately previous to that the encounter between yaakov and the ace and the angel of asaph that is an even more powerful encounter it's a spiritual encounter between the spiritual power of Asaf and the spiritual power of yaakov levada tells us yaakov had brought his family over the river and he came back in order to bring the rest of his possessions and on his return by himself there he was alone there was a man who struggled with him and our sages say it wasn't just any man it was the sorry Chalice of the angel of asaph AR they continued battling they continued struggling until the morning and then finally the angel says it's time for me to go I need to go back to heaven in order to praise Hashem to sing his praises but in this battle both on the physical level and on the spiritual level gazal or sages see a muscle an analogy for all times for the Jewish people's struggle throughout history with asav with the world of the West in Europe in America spiritual struggle a physical struggle one that continues until today and when that ultimately will be resolved when Michelle comes when the Messiah arrives I'd like to share with you this really incredible measure that talks about this on a level that I've never seen before I don't recall ever seeing anything like this very deep very profound and let's study this together so our hazar I say just say like this what what what was the predicate what predicated the the battle the spiritual battle between yaakov and and the angel what was the back story how did they start struggling what was the fight about refunding says that the angel of asab appeared to yaakov as a Shepherd as a Shepherd The zetson Villa said sign each one of them had sheep and they each had camels and they needed to bring their their flocks to the other side of the river [Music] actually there's two different gearses here one is I'm actually reading from the magician shiroshim which has a very similar almost identical measures to our Parsha in our project says you bring over your animals first the angel said to to Yahoo you bring over all of your flock first and then I'll bring over my flock let's do it one at a time so we don't get mixed up between our flocks so everything remains clear Kevin after yaakov finished bringing over all of his flocks so yako said let me go back and I want to make sure that I haven't forgotten anything foreign now when he came back and there was nothing left of his on the on the first side of the river so the shepherd so to speak the angel said to him hey what are you doing here you already brought all your stuff you must have come back to try to steal something that's mine and they started to struggle and fight that's how the acsif understands this piece in the majors so that's one understanding measure Springs a story about two Tomatoes I believe it was too Tommy the common who were having some kind of of business dealing in the times of the gemara and they they were involved with some expensive skira some expensive merchandise and after they left they came back to just check that they hadn't left anything there and they found a very expensive bundle of items that they had left behind they learned it from yaakov avinu that we need to go back and check and make sure there's nothing left behind interesting what exactly is the concept and I want to get into it really too much because it's off of the direct topic that I'd like to speak about but I'll just touch on it because the piece in the message before mentions that this story of yaakov avinu is emblematic of all that will happen to the Jewish people as we as we said and so it applies first of all to the right what's he taking across the river he's taking all of his all of his merchandise so to speak he's he was a Shepherd his children were shepherds so he's bringing over all of his possessions so it's representative of the fact that Claudia Israel throughout the ages will have a struggle a struggle when it comes to their parnasso because of their livelihood but there's also a there's also a struggle in general will we survive will we survive the gullus of Adam will he survive the Exile in the in the lands of the West will we make it back to the land of Israel will we get back here safely also represents our spiritual struggle will we be able to succeed in our spirituality will we be able to study the Torah properly that's the piece of the magistrate before and the in shiroshima and so over here very interestingly our sages took this literally and they understood that anything that I can glean anything that I can learn from yaakov you know I need to apply to my business it's going to be true when it comes to our battles our spiritual battles our our physical battles for survival there's so much that we learn from yakovino but let's look a little bit deeper and see one more statement as to what happened here the first version of rafuna so the angel said to Yakov you bring your stuff over first I'll bring my stuff over a second and then they they got in a fight but now listen to this version the sages say the angel appeared to yaakov as an arch villain or an arch Thief a super Thief the leader of a gang perhaps we could say Pirates a a master pirate Lizette simulator so he was a scary foe that yaakov had to deal with he couldn't just bring ayaka was a very strong person as the before Shem explained he was very powerful and why does he need the help of somebody else but the but he felt backed into a corner the excessive explains so this is what happened he was back into a corner the the angel says the Ark of look I'm going to help you with your stuff and then you'll help me with my stuff okay this sounds very reminiscent of what Asif is going to say later after their encounter he's going to say you know why don't we walk together right so Aesop's Angel says to to Yakov you know it's very deep why don't we help each other why don't we help each other so what happens will I have here fine so naturally or supernaturally the angel being a spiritual being so he helps yaakov in a moment in a moment all of yaakov's stuff is transferred to the other side of the river now it's yaku's turn to help the angel foreign jakov avinu so he starts to help His companion who helped him very quickly wow it was amazing he starts to help His companion he starts bringing over the sheep of the of the Angel to the other side of the river comes back another sheep another sheep all night long and as the the magician arapaksha says he kept coming back new sheep kept appearing it was like it was unbelievable you just when you think you're done there's more oh is that all no there's more what is this what is this magical business masayako avino yaakovino understood Jacob understood that something something strange is going on here something Supernatural is going on here right um says something which I actually do not understand exactly what is the concept of it well let's just take it that's what it says repenta said that he took yakovino took a a soft piece of wool a soft wool sudden some kind of material any and he wrapped it around his neck he wrapped it around the neck of the Angel Maybe maybe he got him in a noose maybe he got him in a in a uh a neck lock it's not clear exactly what he was doing on my legs so he said to him you're a magician you're using black magic yaku still didn't realize that this was an angel right so he says you're you're using black magic in order to confuse me in order to in order to start up with me so he got he got he wrapped this around his neck and he said you have power when do you have power you have power at night this is the explanation of the T rosh you have power at night right black magic only works in the Darkness right if we shine a little bit of light on this uh wait let's wait till the morning right uh right there they're waiting to get to the morning Yahoo is just trying to get through the night because the power of this malach how is he able to how's the angel able to exert influence over yaakov it's only through his magical powers or that's what yaakov thought metasa oh sorry voice the mouse said at that moment I gotta do something so yaakov knows who he's dealing with [Music] two different gear says there's the gears to here which says that he took his finger and he put it onto a rock there's another gear set in our Majors which says he took his finger and he put it onto the Earth but either way the angel took his finger which is interesting why is it specifically his finger and with his finger he's set a he he lit a fire all of a sudden a fire burst out from his finger perhaps the fire was starting to burn around on the Earth so what's the understanding of this what's the fire versus the dark what's what's going on as I understand it what the magic is saying is that yaakov was accusing the angel of using black magic which is the forces of evil the angel says don't think that I'm using black magic I'm using the forces of good aish fire represents spirituality as we'll see when it comes to yako's response so the angel is saying I'm not using uh evil forces I'm using forces of good in order to fight with you um says you're you're you're scaring me with that you're scaring me with fire you're trying to use a spiritual Force to scare me I'm not cool elimination brings the magic the plastic which is you know the powerful verse I think we have in our in our uh haftarah this week so cannot speak about what is the end of Asa what is the end of the Western World what is the end of this spiritual Force called ASO if he gets destroyed how does he get destroyed with the fire of yaakov with the with the flame of Yosef foreign says I am referred to as fire you have one finger of Fire I my whole Essence is fire I'm a spiritual fire I have a spiritual fire my fire will put out your fire my my power will destroy your power um the Magister continues and interestingly this piece is not in the magician araparsha however it's very instructive to understand what is the the concept here foreign Hashem says to the to the malach to this Angel the the spiritual power of asaph he says to him what how do you stand how can you how can you fight with yaakov you can't fight with yaakov a Allah he is coming to you and he has five powerful zukuyas five powerful merits that are in his hands so he has his own merits his own spiritual merits he has a spiritual merits of his father Yitzhak his father of his mother he has the the Merit of his grandfather avram and the Merit of his grandmother sorry mainu um compare yourself to him check out your merits you can't compare yourself to him at all you have no power compared to him yaakov has all of the Power natives asks obvious question what do you mean how does yaakov have power he has it for himself from his parents well he said also has parents and so there's also from YouTube and Rifka is it was also from avram and sorry but clearly the difference is that yaakov is the one who continues in their ways how do I have a merit for my parents and my grandparents for their Good Deeds how does that stand for me it stands for me if I am also behaving in the way that they behaved if I am also doing the positive things that they did avrum was a pillar of said yaakov continues in the way of self-control Yahoo continues with that self-control that's ayako has this course is it did not continue in their ways Ace have rejected their ways asaph was busy with his own desires whatever he wanted that's what he did but see the thing is and this is what's very interesting as the HCS have also points out he did have his ghost that's why yaakov was afraid he did have a merit Haka was fearful why because and this right this is really represented by if you think about it perhaps you can say that Yago is five merits in his hands what are five five fingers right he has in his hand Jacob has the whole hand Aesop also has a finger right the fire comes out of the finger he has one finger what is his finger what is his mirror what is his power what is his spiritual power the acss says really two things one is his keeper of aim ASA was exceptional in his honor for his father Yitzhak number two asaph was living in erits Israel an incredible Scrolls he was in Russia he was terrible he didn't follow in the ways of his of his parents and his grandparents but he had the the incredible Merit of living in Heritage Israel just living in Israel is a very powerful Merit and yaakov had been away for 22 years he didn't have keep it over him he didn't have the Merit of honoring his parents he didn't have the Merit of living in Israel that's why he was concerned points out the 8cisive but Hashem says to to Ace of to the Sarah to the to the malach to the angel he says it's true there's power it's true that Ace of has spiritual power even but that power is nothing compared to yaakov's power yago's power is the full hand he's got the full deck Ace of is playing with a without a full deck he's missing part of the deck he's a missing part he's missing a an incredible part he's missing everything and immediately what happened was Ace of his angels saw that he couldn't succeed against yaakov I remember I believe he says what does it mean that he saw besides what we just said he saw that he couldn't succeed because he sees he doesn't have the Merit furthermore he saw the Shekinah he saw the divine presence what is this like says the message listis back to this archilisis this arch villain this super Thief this super pirate a super pirate came and he was battling with the son of the king the prince suddenly the arch villain looks up and he sees the king he sees the king is standing over him immediately what happens to the super pirate the super pirate is just a paper tiger he immediately collapses under under the sun under the prince the struggle is over the fight is over why because the shrina appears the divine presence appears the king appears the moment the divine presence he had no power that's what it means he saw that he couldn't succeed that's what ruby Levy said he saw the divine presence so what does it mean what is the concept here what is the depth of this what is this spiritual power what is the fire of yaakov what is the fire yaakov that offsets the power of Asa you see Ace of wants to do business with us Ace of wants to say I'm going to help you you help me we're going to help each other but it doesn't really work out so well when we get involved with Asaf we just end up in a struggle the Jewish people we are a nation that dwells alone we are a nation whose Essence is spirituality we are a nation whose Essence is the fire of the screen of the fire of the divine presence that is our power when we try to meet up with A7 we try to join hands with those who represent the physical around those who represent dedication to to physical to the physical exclusively to the to the detriment of all spirituality that's the incredible challenge that's the incredible struggle that the Jewish people are in for all time until until mashiach comes until the Messiah arrives but here we are as you mentioned last week here we are at at the moment in time when yaakov is returning to Earths Israel and we're talking about mashiach we're talking about the Messiah we're talking about the ultimate Revelation about who of God in the world that's what we're talking about the fire of of yaakov the destruction of ace of these are all Concepts that have to do with the Advent of mashiach the Messianic age which God willing is upon us soon upon us so what is the message what is the message the message is that where is our power where is our fire where is our success it's not it's not going to be by teaming up with the non-jewish world it's not going to be by teaming up with the forces of asaph not on a spiritual level right they have a spiritual power right there are good there are good people out there there are spiritual people out there there are people who are committed to Godliness but that's not where our power comes from our power comes not from connecting to to their power because our power is absolute our power is the full hand their power is the finger alphar is the full hand and it's our connection to our Torah it's our connection to the others to our parents our grandparents the the Patriarchs and the matriarchs it's our connection to their exalted me this their character traits that's what gives us the power to succeed that's what gives us the power to struggle and win we just have to get through the night we just have to get until that moment when the light bursts forth when the light starts to come up we have to continue this this struggle this commitment this spirituality the shahina is there right and that's what it comes out because the very end like we saw is that the Shekinah was there all along standing over the sun sending over the prince and and what happens the the malach just folds just Folds that's the end I want to bless you and ask you to bless me ashram should help us that we should be able to use the tools in our Arsenal in this struggle in this spiritual struggle whether it's for our paranasa our livelihood whether it's for our spirituality every single aspect of Our Lives should help us that we should be able to infuse our lives with the fire of Tire with the fire of our tradition where the fire of yaakovino of Jacob and Hashem should help us to Merit to see the day when we will all return and have a basement a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.regoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]