Parshat Vayishlach: Embracing the Struggle - Chizuk for Iron Sword by Rabbi Jeff Bienenfeld

okay good okay good afternoon early evening I guess uh thank you Hana again and the Sam Rabbi Sam for arranging these these sessions and I'm sure taken together I'm sure they've all been helpful to us it's just like Han and I were just talking about how the mixed feelings we all have about the hostages we want them all back but but what price is Hamas exacting from us who knows you know look uh as Hashem runs the world Le Mel be Hashem Hashem is in charge and hopefully uh we know we're going to win hopefully it'll be soon and we'll bring all the captives back and our soldiers should be Victorious and they should all come back all those who are wounded should have and um those who tragically have lost loved ones they should they should have the that comes from knowing that their you know their soldiers for in Mitzvah and uhem and as I mention again in the previous there's no there are few rewards which can compare to that I I I'd like to uh since Tuesday is always still in the orbit of last shabas so I I'd like to um uh discuss what I think is an important message for all of us uh so let me see if I can build up it the uh you know yob has this dream famous dream of the latter and he sees the Angels going up and down so Rashi says what's this dream mean the Angels going up and down Rashi gives the classic response that I'm sure we're familiar with that the angels that accompanied yakob while he was still in erit Israel yakob was now leaving he was going and apparently according to the rules of Heaven uh there are angels that belong to is there are angels that belong to and there need to be a changing of the guards so the angels of erit Israel were returning to heaven and the angels to escort Yakov to lovan's house in in came down and Rashi at the end very end of the par of a says a similar thing that when Yakov returns he's he's left uh fleas from you know from loven's home to return back to and there too it says and and uh and you see yob calls the place M and there too Rashi comments and says we're dealing with two camps of angels now the angels of are returning and now the Angels Mar are coming back to escort Yakov home so Rashi is consistent and that is the classic one of the classic interpret ation to understand the dream however the gimar has a very very different take on this very very different take and there are other other interpretations there are somewhat uh what shall I say uh mystical interpretations uh and in all these interpretations I'm sure there is truth to all of them they don't necessarily contradict but they I guess they are emphasizing or underscoring a different facet of what the dream is so the gar inal claim as follows the gar says that uh what were the Angels going up and down when Yakov uh this was the place where he fell asleep and he's having this dream so the Angels were going up to heaven and they wanted to determine the identity of this person who was lying down to go to sleep and theal say that the picture the image of Yakov is inscribed engraved on the kak covered on God's you know metaphysical chair as it were so the angels went up they saw the picture the Deus the picture of Yakov above and they went down now the Angels going down according to this it was the same group of angels and they saw that the person the image of the person below did not resemble at all the image of the person above there was a huge discrepancy and so they thought that the person asleep below who as we know was yakob they thought he was a fr they thought he was an impostor because his image what they call His Image below did not correspond to His Image His Image above and so the Angels wanted to harm him so the P says Hashem stood above them and Hashem uh protected you know protected yov and in so many words told the angel no it's the same person so you know how do you how do you account for this how do you account for this discrepancy so the way this kazal is understood is Yakov basically at this point was uh about 77 according to rashi's calculation about 77 years old certainly wasn't a youngster but for intents and purposes the path of his life his journey was really just beginning we all know the many many things that going are going to transpire in Yo's life once he leaves home and it it's it of course it continues into into this coming week's paraa and basically until almost almost well actually until the end of the book of barus so yov is beginning his life and when a person begins their life their image is an image which is waiting to be realized it's potential and when the person realizes what their mission in life was then their Earthly image begins to resemble their their Heavenly image at this point yakob was just beginning and so indeed there was a discrepancy between his Earthly image and his Heavenly image and basically what God was telling the Angels was give this man a chance he is being challenged and will be challenged by many many things in his life let's see if he can Elevate his life so that his image below will ultimately resemble and match his Heavenly image above does that indeed occur so according to ramban the way ran understands the very last very last PUK in last week's para remember we said Rashi said that when yakob was going back he dreamt of two camps of angels just like he did when he left but Rana is a totally different interpretation ramban disagrees with Rashi says Rashi cannot be correct because Jakob in returning had not reached the border of er Israel s has another interpretation about M and I'm going to read the words of ran is they're very important he says he says who were the two camps here Camp number one was yacob's Camp it's coming back now with his wives his children and the second Camp was the camp of the Angels Lar something incredible happened after 20 years in the house of lovan yacob's camp now resembles the camp of the angels in other words according to ramban yako after 20 years does succeed in elevating his Earthly image to now resemble his Heavenly image Yakov his passed the critical test and that critical test was living in the house of Loven how do we know it was a major test and Yakov could have failed because if you remember in last week's paraa Yakov Works 14 years for his two wives you know Rael and Leia and then after 14 years he wants to go back home he wants to come back with some property and he makes an arrangement with lovan and for the next six years he manages to accumulate a great deal of possessions servants and Maid servants and all different types of animals he now is a wealthy person and of course uh he sees that love and is not too happy love and is jealous and yakob then has a dream and God comes to him in a dream and he says yakob it's time for you to go home the question is why does Hashem have to come and tell yakob it's time to go home yakob didn't miss his parents he didn't miss his mother didn't miss his father father Hashem has to tell him to go home yov calls R out into the field out of the earshot of their father Lov one and tells them about the dream that he had but he expands on the dream he says more and here's exactly just going to read what yob tells his wife he said God came to meob God said okay yob is there so Hashem says to the angel look up and tell me what you see in this dream you see an awful lot of animals you're seeing animals animals and then here's the critical phrase now I see everything that loving is done to you Hashem is saying yov when you left your parents house you had a dream of angels you had a dream of Heaven and Earth a ladder connecting both and you dreamt of your challenge to make sure your Earthly image would resemble your heavenly image and yaka what's happened to you you have to leave now what are you dreaming about you're dreaming about material things you're dreaming about riches about more animals and more possessions and more possessions do you see what love and is done to you you stay with love and one more day and you'll become a lover and you will forfeit your great Destiny now look this was a test I mean to us looking back he says well should have been an easy call but no in the lap of luxury you know money all of your needs being satisfied that's a very very attractive setting in which to live and when yakob is going back he's anticipating meeting ASA like in this week's and Hashem says yaku you have to leave and he leaves he runs away what does he run away it was difficult it wasn't easy he had to run away he had to run away and at the point that he runs away and when he finally gets home having passed the test now he meets the Angels again but his Camp is like the Angel's camp they are equal meaning is now his Earthly image is De no mat has now resembled reached the level of his de Noel Mila the Heavenly image so look this is a in general this a challenge for every individual all of us have an Earthly image and we have a Heavenly image and each of us in our own way everyone is different we spend our lives meeting One Challenge after another to try as best as we can in our 120 years M so that our Earthly image can eventually resemble our Heavenly image which means the type of people that we were meant to be the individual unique mission that each of us has and then I thought take this one step further just like every individual has an Earthly image and a Heavenly image so to Every Nation every nation has an image below and an image above and every nation also has a mission also has a purpose in being okay the non-jews their Nations right that's what it means when kazal say that every non-jewish nation has its own Mal there's a purpose for all nations of the world but what about us as a Jewish people what about you know what about our nation what's our purpose sometimes during our long history we've forgotten that we have a message to be an ER go a message M to announce Proclaim what God is what he stands for who he is the shef MIT no our position in the world I mean we have a mission we have a message and also for ourselves to realize the sort of people we are the special Covenant that we have with Hashem sometimes we get sidetracked sometimes we forget what our mission is we're too immersed in the physical material world we assimilate our Judaism becomes peripheral marginal and tragically you know we're gone it's an interesting comment that this Fus makes you know there are two Paras in the Torah you know if you ever take a look at at a at a Torah scroll you see there are spaces they're called pumos different types of spaces there are no vowels or anything but there are like paragraphs as it were there were two Paras in the Torah mik and V which have no spaces at all other words from the beginning of the parish until the end it's like one long you know no spaces no paragraphs so of course it begs the question why so this the great you know the grandson of the the founder of so thees comes up with a beautiful interpretation he says yob is now going to spend 20 years in the house of love he's going in a sense in into a type of godess how can yaku be sure that he won't lose his way as we said he almost lost his way but how can we make sure what gives Yakov the strength to Traverse and journey through difficult periods through a gas difficult periods and to still come out whole and faithful so this says because when yob left beish he never forgot where he came he never forgot his Origins he never forgot his parents of course as we know kazal say he spent before he went to Lan's house he spent 14 years in the Yesa and kazal tell us what did he learn in those 14 years that he didn't learn in the house of his parents H RKA Yesa sh taught him how to live in GIS how to survive in Exile when there are pressures around you which forc you to assimilate and give in but yako during those 20 years it was difficult we know it was difficult Yakov never forgot where he came from and therefore the par there's no break Yakov maintained his faith his commitment he overcame the difficulties and of course ultimately again repeating what ran said when he finally comes back to Israel he's home right he's managed to accomplish what Hali we should all be able to accomplish in our life that our Earthly image should resemble our Heavenly image and hopefully in the struggle that we're in now why what there all sorts of theories that I'm sure you've heard why we apparently are being tried in very difficult trials during this period this war the hostages and all the many many different aspects of what we're going through which is painful and filled with unease and anxiety but whatever it is whatever the reason is as long as we remember where we came from what our mission is what our purpose is as a country as a Medina to be really a that this should be the beginning of the Redemption if we can remember that and never forget it then hopefully the image of our wonderful country as a people as an amula will rise and will ultimately be able to fulfill our mission and when this is over the lessons of akas the lessons of Shalom that hopefully we've learned will remain with us and catapult us into heaven so that our image perhaps at the beginning our nation was only in potential maybe there was a discrepancy but now our Earthly images of people will resemble our Heavenly images of people when that happens ladies and gentlemen that's Ghul that's Redemption okay thank you for listening have a great week and God willing you would be back in touch next week