Parshat Vayishlach: The Epic Meeting - Rabbi David Kaplan

But you say Jacob and the arena so but Jacob raises his eyes and he sees Esau is coming the email may have got 400 men by Jacob Esau and him and Leah and Rachel and the two maid servants. And he groups the how does how does the Esau translate by Jacob? Um He divided them. He divides the children up among Leah, Rachel and the and the two maidservants. Uh Now, you should have a question right here. Something should be curious about something. Didn't Jacob divide his people into two camps? He divided them into two camps. So if Esau kills one camp, he won't kill the other camp. Won't he won't get wiped out the other camp. So what are they all doing together over here? He had divided them up. He put a day's He put a day's distance between the two camps. And one of the reasons by the way is very interesting. You know why he put a day's says that he says to put a day's distance between them the Madrasas. You know why? Cuz Rebecca had said to Jacob when she sent them away, you know, I don't want Esau to kill you. Why should you both die on the same day? So Jacob somehow they knew that him and Esau were going to die on the same day. And Jacob figures, okay, so I'll put a day's distance between the two camps. That way if he kills me, he's going to die on the same day. He won't be able to get to the other camp. That's why he puts a day's distance between them. Now, what are they all doing together? What are they all doing back together? The answer is that Jacob has seen a sign. What was the sign? That wrestling match with the man sorrow shall Esau. Jacob sees that as a sign that Esau is not going to be able to defeat him. He sees that as an omen. A sign here you know you have to be a person who could read signs. Signs are very tricky to read by the way. Signs are very very tricky to read signs. You got to be careful when you start reading signs. And we are not readers of signs cuz signs are a double-edged sword. Imagine Imagine you decide you want to go you want to go to the the old age home to go visit somebody. You get to the bus stop and just as you get to the bus pulls away. Is that a sign? Well, sure it is. What's it a sign of? Don't know. Could be a sign well today's not the right day to go. Or it could be a sign that let's see how let's see how determined you are to do your mitzvah. Right? And therefore you don't read signs. Don't read signs because we don't know we don't know what signs are. You do the logical thing. If it's logical not to go because you don't have time now you missed the bus and your time you get there you're going to get back you're going to be late for whatever else you have to do. That's something else. But don't go reading signs and making life decisions because you don't know how to read signs. I'll tell you my favorite Do you remember my favorite story? My favorite story. My favorite story when it has to do with there's this guy decides he wants to get married. So he goes to you know they have the you've heard of the what do you call it? Amuka? You've heard of Amuka? Yeah, where people go to Davin for a Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is buried there and he left he said anybody come to Amuka and you Davin for Davin for a match. So this guy goes to Amuka and he wants to go down to Amuka. So first he goes up to for Shabbos. When he gets to he sees a young lady in a brown dress. He's absolutely smitten. Absolutely smitten. Okay, but he's a guy she's a girl you know I obviously can't talk to her. Fine. He goes to Amuka on when he goes to Amuka he gets down there and just as he gets there he gets his living. Young lady in a brown dress. You know that is unbelievable. And he Davins at Amuka and then somebody leaves a sitter. They see somebody left a sitter behind. He opens up the name sitter he says name is Rachel Schwartz whatever it is with an address. He goes to and knocks on the door. Who answers the door? Young lady in a brown dress. He says this is unbelievable. Here I you lost this. He gives her he gives her the Okay. A day later he gets a call from a friend of his I have a girl for you. Yeah, what's her name? Rachel Schwartz. Wears a brown dress. That's the one. You know okay. Okay. Right. Starts checking out. Next day next day another friend calls. He's got a girl for you. What's her name? Rachel Schwartz. Wears a brown dress. This is unbelievable. Two weeks later they met and six weeks later six seven weeks later they met six weeks later got engaged three months later they got married. And two months after that they got divorced. I always tell that story to guys when they start going on dates. You don't go making decisions based on signs. You make decisions based on logic. So nice girl, she's got the right life goals. Dad's got money. Marry her. The only signs the only signs we look at is dollar signs. That yes. Other than that no other sign. We don't look at omens. We don't look at signs. You know what does an omen mean? Oh well, you know, I can't believe it. I went to Amuka and there she was and there she was and there she was. Therefore you marry her. That's like you don't make decisions like that. It's irresponsible. You don't make decisions You make decisions based on And what's interesting is what's interesting is because what happens is when you're on a you're on a and you'll see you're on a and it gets close. Then the girls do something like the girls are going to ask you that one question. This is going to be their life decision. They're going to about to decide where they put their life in your hands based on you like if you were stuck in an elevator and you only had one candy bar and you can listen to one tune what would it be? I said well definitely you know a Baby Ruth bar and the and the and you know some some from the Beatles. I can't believe it me too. You know that's your for eternity. I got news for you. I don't go making decisions like that. You know that's not we don't read omens ever. You live based on logic. You live based on Jacob he sees this is obviously through prophecy or whatever it is he sees that's a sign that he's not going to be destroyed by Esau. Therefore he brings the camps together. That's why they're all together when they get to this meeting. Now Um he approaches Esau and take a look. Um But three lines from the bottom. Who of our life they have Jacob went out ahead of everybody. By the way Esau shove him at Esau he bows down seven times till he reaches his brother. Jacob bows and he bows again and he bows again seven times he bows each time he bows till he gets to Esau. Now we're going to see Jacob criticize Jacob for being too submissive. for being too submissive. Now this is very very tricky very difficult to understand because we find at the time of the second base of when the second base of was destroyed the Romans they went out to negotiate they wanted Ben Zakkai wanted to negotiate with the Romans. Remember the story? And there were the the were the the young the young militants who refused to listen to the they burnt all the supplies in in order to force them into open combat combat with the Romans. And those are criticized severely. There are those that say that Masada was those they ran off to Masada and they fought the they they they barricaded themselves. Those are those those those those those those militants group who refused to accept the authority of the Torah scholars who said that we should negotiate with the Romans. So these are the says they're severely castigated for taking on the Romans and not submitting. Now why should Jacob be criticized? He's criticized you you you submitted. Why you submitted too much. So the commentaries point out that why so the you know it's difficult to be a Jew. It's difficult to be a Jew. It's I shouldn't say difficult it's challenging. Because on the one hand you have to submit. On the other hand don't submit too much. That means we're held we're held to a very exacting standard. There's a certain amount but not more. How much is that amount that you have to that you have to have the correct judgment to decide how much should I submit. But don't go above and beyond what would be acceptable. And therefore Jacob to a certain extent is Jacob is is what do you call it? Jacob is is is a subject here to a certain amount of criticism for over submitting to Esau. However, now this is the kicker this is what we want to get to. Esau runs towards Jacob. By the way Esau hugs him and Esau hugs around the neck. By the way Esau he kisses him by they cry. So they always used to they always used to tell us that you know why are they both crying? Well, you know uh Jacob is crying cuz he knows that if the guy kissed him it's going to cost him. And Esau is crying cuz he had to kiss the Jew. That's what they used to say. That's why they're both crying over there. But you notice the word Esau has dots over it. The word Esau has dots over it. And that means that in a safer Torah although a Torah does not have vowelization safer Torah is only letters. When you look in a Torah scroll you'll see that of over the word Esau there are dots in the safer Torah. They have to be there for the Torah to be kosher. You have to have these dots in a safer Torah. Why are there dots over the word? So take a look at Rashi. It's in the left column four lines from the bottom. If you find it please please show the person next to you. Uh Esau says who? Says Rashi no good all of there are dots over the word Esau. Which means that we're supposed to derive something from it. The talking about prices that you free there are different opinions in the price and the in the in the Madras there are different opinions. What do those dots indicate? What is the message that they're trying to convey? Yes should make good as a long march alone and the holy but there's some opinions that you know I kissed him but dots over it means he didn't kiss him with a whole heart. Now you have to understand they haven't seen these are brothers. They're twin brothers and they haven't seen each other for 20 something years. So there is going to be a certain amount of emotion here. So Esau runs forward and he kisses him. Jacob softened him up by bowing down submitting sending the gifts bribing him. So Esau runs and he kisses him. One opinion is yeah but he's kissing with half a heart. Um Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai Rabbi Shimon Yochai says I disagree. How long he be a doer it's a well known law that Esau hates Jacob. Esau hates Jacob. It doesn't say in the past tense by the way. It says it in the present. Esau hates Jacob. At that moment he was completely emotionally overcome. He kissed him with his entire heart. There's a medrish that says that not only he didn't kiss him, he tried to bite him. And Yaakov's neck turned to marble and Esau's teeth broke. And that's the dots on top are symbolic of broken teeth. Right? There there there is a medrish like that, okay? Now, let's examine this. So, there are two opinions here. There is one opinion that says, "Well, you know what? He he hugged him, but it wasn't with a full heart. There's still a certain amount of reserve because of what Yaakov has done. There's some history there." That's a certain amount of reservation. The other opinion is Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai. Now, what do you know about Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai? What do you know about Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai? What's that? He wrote the Zohar. Where did he write it? In a cave. He was in a cave. A cave for 12 years. Why was he in a cave for 12 years? Cuz the Romans were trying to He was a fugitive from the law. The Romans were trying to kill him. So, he, better than anybody else, knows what it's like to be with Esau breathing down your back. And he's hiding in a He's hiding in a cave for 12 years. He's out of the cave for 12 years. By the way, I want to While we're on the subject, I want to clarify something so there shouldn't be a misconception. It's their Gemara. It's the Gemara in Shabbos on daf lamed gimmel. And the reason I remember it is cuz Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai, what do we celebrate? We celebrate Lag baOmer, which is lamed gimmel. And it happens to be on page lamed gimmel in the Gemara in Shabbos. I don't think it's an accident. And the Gemara says that first they were hiding in a shul. And then the pressure increased. The Roman search parties got a little more intense. And Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai said to his son, "Nashim da'atan kalu sala'an. They're going to pressure my wife, your mother. We better run off." That's when they went off to the cave. Now, that expression, "Nashim da'atan kalu sala'an" means women are This is a mistranslation, people. It literally means women are light-minded. Which obviously we are have taken criticism for. Well, there you go with your chauvinistic attitudes again, you know, you're a bunch of chauvinists. And they translate as feeble-minded. Right? We never said feeble-minded. It says light-minded. Nashim da'atan kalu sala'an. So, what we spoke about many times is men's minds and women's minds work differently. But, one of the explanations, what does it mean women are light-minded? What does that mean? So, again, obviously shalom, there's never anything derogatory in our literature. We don't say derogatory things. We're telling you the facts. The fact is, a woman has an ability that a man does not have called multitasking. You ever see women in the house? Right? They start cooking supper, change a diaper, put some stuff in the laundry, go back to check the stove, break up a fight, nurse the baby, change another diaper, go back to the stove. And they're moving from one talk on the phone. They're moving from one thing to the other. Put a man in that situation. How long would you last, guys? I would I would I would go absolutely No, I would go I have gone bananas in that situation. You're absolutely You could go You could go into You could go mad doing that. I love my kids dearly. But, I can only do one thing. You know why? Cuz men are heavy-minded. When I'm doing something, I'm completely focused and concentrated. I can't be involved in something else. And if I have to, it gets you It's very unnerving. You know what I'm talking about. And that's why when I when I whenever I did anything for the kids, when I had to take care of them, if I did it, it was like right here making them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it's like you know, it's got to be you know, it's what the kid is just kind of looking at me and I'm like, "Daddy, I'm hungry." You know, and the wife, it's like next next. You know, and then she's putting in the laundry doing it. And I'm like, "Hey, one second. I'm on peanut butter and you know, Picasso is working on his peanut butter and the kid." My wife once said to me, "If men fed the kids, they'd probably starve." And which is possible, right? It might not I I can't say not. And and what happens is a woman is light-minded, she's able to effortlessly move from one task to another. It's a blessing. It's her job. She's in the mastics. And therefore, she has to do that job. So, Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai and his son, they know more than anybody else what what what Esau feels about them. So, what does he say? Halacha hi bi yedu'a, it's a known halacha that Esau sonei le Yaakov. That's a fact. But, in this situation, what happened? Esau actually overcame himself and he hugged Yaakov with a full heart. Now, the question that the commentaries talk about, the point the commentaries make over here is, what kind of statement is that? It's a halacha that Esau hates Yaakov. Esau meaning the anti-Semites of the world hate the Jews. What do you mean it's a halacha? Which halacha is it? Yeah, let's learn some Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. Okay, today's halacha, yeah, the anti-Semite has to hate the Jew. What kind of halacha is it? What does that mean it's a halacha? Why does it say halacha hi bi yedu'a? It's a known halacha that Esau sonei le Yaakov. What's the answer? What's the answer? The answer is, do we understand all halachas? Do you understand why you can't eat pork? Do you understand why you can't wear shatnez? Do you understand why why you have to put up a mezuzah? Ultimately, we don't understand. It's a halacha, you have to do it. Rashi is telling you over here, he's quoting the Gemara Rashi is telling you that this is a fact of life. And that's why all the books written about anti-Semitism, analyzing why there's anti-Semitism, this and anti-Semitism, that, the books are excellent books. Many of these books are written are excellent books. Again, if you ever have a table at home that's wobbly and you need to put something to wedge something underneath it, that's what you should use those books for cuz that's what they're worth. Right? Some of the books fit very well. Some of them are very thick books. So, if you have a really wobbly table, it goes in. And then if you need to make a bonfire on Lag baOmer, then the books are excellent for starting your your bonfire. That's what the books are worth. All the all the experts who analyze anti-Semitism, we know why there's anti-Semitism. You know why? Best answer in the world. Because. That's it. One-word book. Right? That's it. Because. Right? Well, no, the Jews If the Jews wouldn't be so involved in money. Yeah, okay. So, what are you supposed to do for parnassah? Well, if the Jews would be a little more like the Well, so try to be like the and they put you in ovens. Okay, the Jews should stay Jews. We're always accused of you guys are always sticking to yourselves. Right? So, we join in. So, what do they do? So, then they get they get even more upset. So, what So, what do you want from me? What do you want? The answer is, there's anti-Semitism. What's the real reason for anti-Semitism? Because your very existence makes the anti-Semite uncomfortable. Cuz he sees the Jew and he understands the Jew has a value and Jew is living for something more than just this world. And you are the conscience of mankind, which is by the way why the secular have it in for the religious. Right? There's nothing you could do. There's nothing you could do. It's not your fault. You represent their conscience. I was once in a doctor's office. I was in a doctor's office and I was There's a lady there and I was in the waiting room. And I was probably about as far you know, she was sitting It was a long table. She's sitting down where Daniel sitting. I was sitting on the other side of the side. And I had a Chumash with me. And I was very careful I and I know I know when I'm guilty and I know when I'm innocent. I've been guilty plenty. This time I was innocent. And I was reading my And also, she looks at me she goes, "Would you quiet down? This isn't a shul over here." Okay, you know, I I quieted down. So, she goes into the doctor and then I And after it's I go in. And I said to the doctor, who was a religious guy, I said, "What was eating her? She gave me a hard time out there." He says, "Oh, you Oh, her husband is a German non-Jew." Right? Well, the woman is married to a German non-Jew and I'm sitting there with the Chumash. My very existence is bothering her. There's nothing I could do about it. You You with your Chumash represent everything wrong with what I'm doing and I can't tolerate it. You're irritating me. You're absolutely irritating me. And therefore, you're the conscience. That's what's bothering them. You're behaving like a Jew and I want to be Jewish without behaving like a Jew. I can't stand you cuz you're making me uncomfortable. How? What did I do wrong? You exist. Oh, sorry. That's going to continue for a while, hopefully. And we can't do anything You could join us. We can't You know, nothing we could do about that. That's what Esau Esau hates Yaakov. Whenever Chazal are darshaning things, there are different ways it could have happened. One way is either either Remember that you know, there are the 13 principles of Rebbe Yishmael? 13 principles of Rebbe Yishmael of how you darshan things when you learn Gemara. So, when it comes to the non-halachic parts of darshaning, there are not 13 rules, there are 32 rules. So, the same way we can't apply the 13 rules because there are too many possible combinations and complications, that's why the Talmud became a sealed book. In these areas, it's even more complicated. 32 rules with with with with combinations and sub-combinations. Now, when it comes to Hillel and Shammai. Now, we're opening up a whole We're opening up a whole thing I think is important for you guys to understand. You have a situation where Well, one of them's wrong. Either he did hug him with a whole heart or he didn't hug him with a whole heart, right? Okay. Gentlemen, we are the board of directors of the uh of the Pilot Pen Company. Okay? We are the board of directors. This is the new model pen and I want to give it a name. Okay? A one-word description, which is going to be the name. This is the new blank shaped pen. Okay? What are you putting into the blank? What shape is it? You know? One word. Spaceship. The spaceship shaped pen. Okay? Max? Anything. Fish. The fish shaped pen. Okay, we're going to come back to that. Anybody? Joe? Anybody? Smooth. The smooth shaped pen. Sir Fogel? Missile. The missile shaped pen. Okay, we're getting closer. Yeah, go ahead. Gavriel, anything? You could say the same thing somebody else said, by the way. You could say the same thing. Bottle. The bottle-shaped pen. I would call it the rocket-shaped pen. You can say anything you want. What do you say, Jeremy? The master-shaped pen. The The master-shaped pen. Master-shaped pen. Okay. Go ahead, Harry. Anything. You can say what's been said, by the way. You can repeat what's been said. You can repeat what's been said. Oh, can I change mine? You can change yours, yeah. change it to intuitive to intuitively. The intuitively shaped pen? Yeah. Leave it to me. Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. Okay. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, okay. So, what happens is like this. What happens like this. We go around the room. Seven of us said it's the rocket-shaped pen, for example. Two say it's the ruler it's the it's the the missile-shaped pen. Okay. Now, we have to figure out. Is it a rocket-shaped? Well, yeah. That's not wrong. Is it missile-shaped? That's not wrong. Is it fish-shaped? That's wrong. Right? This is not I I've never seen a fish like However, we're going to come back. It's important you said that. Okay? Now, what that means is like this. None of us are wrong. It's rocket-shaped and it's missile-shaped. How do we reach a conclusion what we're going to call it? We take a vote in the board of directors. The majority rules. That's what it means. You're both right. But we pasken like Beis Hillel. That means I've applied the 13 principles or the 32 principles to my conclusion. If you applied the principles correctly, there's more than one possible conclusion. And based on those principles, this is a rocket-shaped pen. No, based on the principles, this is a missile-shaped pen. Okay? We're going to vote. The majority says rocket. We're going to call it the new rocket-shaped pen. So, you're right for rocket. You're right for missile, which means that you've applied Torah properly. You're Beis Shammai. You're Beis Hillel. Fish, you're the Reform Rabbi. Right? You did not apply it properly because you came to the absolutely wrong conclusion. It's not even on the chart. That's what the Ritzvah expects. You understand? If it's objectively correct, but we're not paskening like you. Okay. So, you were wrong and you were wrong. You hold it from an angle. What shape is this? What shape is it? It's straight. Okay. That's true. It is straight. What other shape is it? It's round. So, it depends what your angle is. So, when it comes to something like this, there are one of two possibilities. Either they applied the rules of darshening it and each one came with a different conclusion. But the dots were there to be darshened and there are rules for how to darshen dots. That's one possibility. Sometimes there was no darshening at all. Sometimes it was just a tradition that was handed down from Sinai what the dots mean. But the fact that they came to opposite conclusions, and this is where it gets very subtle. This is where it gets We don't really care what actually happened. That's not what our interest is. Our interest is according to our understanding of Torah what happened. It's not a history lesson. All right. If we applied Torah, what happened? Well, he hugged him. If we applied Torah, what happened? Well, he kissed him with half a heart. What really happened? What's the What's the difference? I'm more interested in the rule of Torah application to understand and ultimately, whichever way you go with it, there's a life lesson for you. Ultimately, there's going to be a life lesson. Like that's how you can get in argument in the Gemara. The Gemara will argue about what did the Beis Hamikdash look like? How was the Beis Hamikdash How was the Beis Hamikdash? What a silly argument. And you just go to you know, go get go go go go look at archaeological digs or wait till the Messiah comes and he'll tell us. The answer is What does the Torah indicate? Based on the verses, what are the indications? And you're both right based on how you understand it, as long as you've applied Torah accurately and responsibly. If you didn't apply it accurately and responsibly, then you're outside of the graph. You're outside of the graph. You're outside of the grill. And whatever whatever whatever you said is not legitimate. It's not It's not a We cannot submit that as a possibility. Okay? Now, take a look. So, um a very interesting little exchange now. Vayisa Eisav vayara es nashav v'es yeladav. Eisav sees the Eisav sees the women and the children. Vayomer mi eileh lach? Who are they? Vayomer ha yeladim asher chananam Elokim esav. Those are the children who God has graced me with. Something wrong with that exchange, gentlemen? See a problem in that exchange? The women. Ah, Yaakov doesn't say a word about the women. He Eisav didn't either. Eisav Eisav says, "Whoa, who are they?" He didn't know who she was. It says that he It says Eisav sees the women and the children. He says Yeah, but he didn't know who she was. One second. One second. He says, "Who are these people?" Who are they? So, Yaakov says, "Oh, these are the children that that that that Now, what what's Yaakov saying? What are they He knows He knows what Eisav is asking. What does Eisav really care about over here? Care about the He care about the little kids over What does Eisav really care about? Just what the girls are. Hey, who's the Yeah. Yeah. Who are the ladies over there? Right? So, what does Yaakov do? Yaakov plays a game, which is a very interesting game in life. When you can play it, you play it well. He says, "Oh, those are the children." Meaning, you were obviously a tzaddik like you wouldn't be asking about the women. What am I with you? Right? Yeah. He says, "Oh, those are those are the children that got his blessing." Now, Eisav stuck cuz he'd really like to know why. But he's not about to say, "Yeah, but where are the chicks?" He's not about to say that because he What he wants is and that's what he really would like to know. But he also doesn't want to be seen as being a lowlife. So, there are certain times in life where you actually trap somebody. It's a great situation when it happens. Yeah, it makes your day. You can actually trap somebody in that situation and get them into like Like And that's what Yaakov does. He answers about the children. Now, everybody goes and bows down. And Yosef and Rachel bow down. Yosef stands in front of his mother so that Eisav shouldn't get a good look at her cuz she's beautiful. And then Eisav and Yaakov also have another exchange, which is an indication of our approach to life. Vayomer mi l'cha kol hamachaneh hazeh asher pagashti. He says, "What is that whole camp that I met? All those those flocks that you sent that you sent me?" Vayomer Yaakov says limtzo chein b'einei adoni. I want to find favor in your eyes. It's a gift. Vayomer Eisav yesh yesh li rav achi ilcha asher lach. Eisav says I got a lot. I got a lot. I'm loaded. I don't need You keep it. I'm loaded. Right? Who talks like that? President of the United States. Right? I'm loaded. I GOT SO MUCH. You can't imagine how much I got. Right? I'm loaded. Right? What does Yaakov say? Vayomer Yaakov al na. Please not. Im na matzasi chein b'einecha. Find favor in your eyes. V'lakachta minchasi miyadi. Take my gift. Ki al kein ra'isi panacha kire'os pnei Elokim vatirtzeini. I see you the way I've seen the face of God. You know, I You're important to me. Kachna es birchasi asher hu vas lach. Ki chanani Elokim. God's been gracious to me. V'chi yesh li kol. I got everything. What does he mean I got everything? He doesn't mean, "I got the whole world." That's not what he's saying. What's he saying I got everything? I got everything I need. I don't need more. I have I have everything. I'm satisfied with what I've got. That's the difference between the Eisavs and the Yaakovs. "I'm loaded." Right? "I'm loaded" means load me up some more. Yeah. Yaakov here is like Yaakov Yaakov says, "No, no, no. Please." Eisav You know, it's like when you're sitting there, "Please take." "No, no, you take." "No, no, you take." "No, you take." "Okay, I will." Right? You know, you know, Yaakov already said, "Don't lose this. Don't lose this. Make sure you come out Make sure you come out with Eisav. Get it in his hand." I'll tell you there's a very very There's a very interesting story that You've heard of Rav Chaim Brisker, right? So, Rav Chaim Brisker was the you know, he's he's one of the great scholars who gave us the path in how we analyze Gemara. So, in Brisk, they had a the the the the local the local governor, whoever it was. And the first governor retired. And a lot of the Jewish problems were settled by greasing the guy. They were able to grease the guy. So, then he retired or he died and a new governor came in or mayor, whatever it was. And he's a virulent anti-Semite. And he made it known to the Jewish community. He's making a decree. He made some sort of anti-Jewish decree. And he also made it up, "Don't even try to bribe me. I don't want money. I will not take money. Don't bribe me." Okay. So, Rav Chaim Brisker calls the heads of the community together. He says, "All right, guys. You're going to have to go grease him." They said, "But he won't take the bribes. He won't even let us in to see him." Rav Chaim says, "Get You're going to have to try." Okay. So, they get the money together and they get the the get a thousand rubles together. And they go down to the what do you call the guards won't even let them through. And they come back. They say to Rav Chaim, "They Sorry. He won't No no go." Rav Chaim says, "Give me the money. Give me the money." It's a hot day in June. Rav Chaim Brisker puts on a heavy raincoat and an umbrella. And he takes the money and he goes down to the guard. The guards know he's the chief rabbi, so they let him in. So, he comes into the mayor. And the mayor says, "Rabbi, you know, nothing's going to help you. I'm not rescinding the decree and then nothing's going to help." So, Rav Chaim says, "I don't I'm not even asking you to rescind the decree. I just wanted to I just wanted to see if you would You don't want to rescind the decree, that's fine." So, yeah, "Rabbi, why are you wearing a Why are you wearing a raincoat? And why are you wearing a heavy raincoat? It's a It's a hot day in June." So, Rav Chaim says, "Well, because you know, my my grandmother came to me in a dream last night and she said there's going to be a storm today. By this afternoon, there's going to be a storm a thunderstorm." So, the guy looks out the window. Blue sky. 70°. Says, "There ain't going to be no storm today." He says, "No, my grandmother said there was going to be a storm. There's going to be a storm." He says, "There ain't going to be any storm." He says, "Listen, I'll wager a thousand rubles there's going to be a storm." So, the guy says, "A thousand rubles there ain't going to be no storm." Right? So, Rav Chaim says, "Okay. We'll see." So, they wager a thousand rubles. Right? Comes back two hours later, there's no storm. Says, "Well, I guess I lost the bet." He puts a thousand rubles on the desk. He walks out. The mayor sitting there, he goes, "Boy, that Jewish rabbi is smart." All right, boy, that And he rescinds the decree. All right, the main thing is get the money in his hand. Get the money in his hand. Once the money's in his hand, then you're able to then you can then you then you can then you then you can you'll be able to deal with it. Get the money in his hand. Now, so Yaakov Avinu's attitude is, "I got everything I need." That's the biggest blessing for a Jew. Biggest blessing for a person to be satisfied with what you have. Cuz if you're not satisfied with what you have, there's no end to it. Not satisfied with what you have, then you're always going to be missing something. The blessing is yesh li kol. He says, "I have everything I need." So, then Esau says, "One more point." Vayomer Nisa oven elecha ve'elchah lanegdecha. Esau says, "You know what? Let's travel together." We'll travel Let's go traveling together. Great offer from Great offer from Esau to Yaakov. "Let's travel together." So, what does Yaakov say? Vayomer lo, "Adoni yodea ki hayeladim rakem. You know that the children are very, very fragile. They're delicate. Vehatzon ve'al habakar olosav alai. The cattle, you know, I'm loaded down with cattle. Im defukem beyom echad and you push them you're going to rush them in one day um Esau kol etzo. They'll they'll The sheep are all going to cattle all die. Ya'avor na adoni lifnav. You know, you go on ahead. Ve'ani esna'ala le'iti. I'll go off slowly. The regular melacha shelefanai because of everything that I have to do. Uleragel hayeladim asher itzavol adoni lifnav. Until I I'll meet you eventually in Seir. I'll meet you back in your town." So, what's Yaakov saying to Esau? He's talking about a a world view of a difference in ideology. Think, you are living for accomplishment, for glory. You're living for what we call fast-paced. You're living fast-paced. You're hungry to achieve something. You're always rushing to get to the next level, more money and more position and more honor and more pleasure. You're fast-paced. You're you're you're a Manhattan guy. All right, everything is just fast. Everything is fast. Your whole life is fast. You're just right in a headlong rush. We're moving along slowly. We're not We're not rushing anywhere cuz there's nothing that we we really want to do other than grow as people. We're not rushing along. We got a complete difference in ideology here. And eventually I'll get to you. We'll come You go on ahead and eventually I'll meet you in Seir. Question, gentlemen, does Yaakov ever go to Seir? No. Never goes to Seir. So, the Gemara says we learn a very important lesson here. If anti-Semites ever stop you when you're traveling and they say to you, "Where are you going?" Always tell them a farther distance. Always tell them somewhere further and then cut out in the middle. All right, you're going across country. You're going from New York to Cleveland. The anti-Semites say, "Where you going?" "We're going to LA." Oh, okay. So, then they'll wait. Then in Cleveland you get off the bus. Cleveland In Cleveland you hop off the bus. All right, this is the Ponevezher Rov was once in New York. He got on the subway. And some guy four guys come over to him and they started up They he could tell that they what do you call it? They're starting up with him. So, he knew that he was in trouble. He was alone on the subway car with these guys. So, he walks over to him and says, "Can you tell me how to get to a certain street?" Which is way off, way down. All right, so they said, "Okay." And they're sitting there cuz they know he's going to get off at that stop and then they'll get off with him. Everything will be good. All of a sudden halfway Ponevezher Rov suddenly waits to the last second. Subway train stops. And just before he all of a sudden gets up, jumps off the train. The doors close and he just kind of waves to the guys as as the train pulls off in the distance. So, you always The Gemara says, "If somebody asks you where you're going, always tell them Yaakov says to Esau, 'Yeah, I'll meet you in Seir.'" Yaakov never goes to Seir. He's not interested in Seir. That way Esau will go off to Seir and he'll wait there for Yaakov Avinu. He won't have to worry now. Okay, we'll stop. We'll go to the We'll continue next week.