Parshat Toldot | Rabbi Joel Kenigsberg | November 19th 2025

Hey, good morning bat everyone. Pleasure to be here with you once again. I'm standing in this week forever maning and uh it's always a pleasure to be learning together. We thought we'd talk this morning a little bit about something connected to the para. We'll use the para as a springboard for our discussion. I want to talk about blindness. Blindness is a theme that comes up that is very prominent in this week's par of all the avot. It's very interesting and it's a very we have a mysterious para that mysterious story that takes place in this para as a result of the fact that cannot see a lot of questions that this raises a lot of uh a lot of things which need study and need need further analysis but we'll see what the story is what is the story behind the story and how does it relate to us how does it relate to us in nowadays we know as we read through particularly all the stories that happened to the Avat are not just stories but they're really paving the path setting the way for their children which is us and giving us lessons in terms of how to lead our lives and what's going to happen to us on a national level on a personal level as well. So there is no handout for this sh if people want to follow along with the you can but it's not necessary I will read out I thought what we'll do we'll start just going through the listen to the story it's a familiar story all the stories of brach are familiar but when we delve into them and we delve a little bit deeper we'll see maybe the questions will start jumping out at us think about the questions think about the things that don't make sense in theukim that we're reading and uh we'll stop and we'll discuss a few of them afterwards I'm going to begin peraf Zion in this is the famous story of the and the story begins off right was very old and his eyes became weakened from seeing he could no longer see became blind. Interesting way the Torah expresses that the wording that his eyes right failed to see right obviously he could have just said what's the there's an emphasis here on the fact that he cannot see with his eyes and he calls Asav his older son and he says to him my son and Asav answers Hinani that word Hinani we don't normally associate with Asav we normally associate with Abraham with etc with Moshe Mosheu but says now why was blind why could he not see so at this point let me read Rashi we'll come back to it very very significant very interesting explanations that Rashi gives Rashi says here he gives three explanations explanation number one he says with the smoke of these who are these so of course we're picking up in the middle of the in the middle of the para. But just before that, we're told just before this story, we're told was 40 years old. As takes two wives and we're told and these wives caused a lot of grief, a lot of anguish, a lot of discomfort in the house. They were not uh exactly the model of you know what a what a nice Jewish home is what nice Jewish wives are going to be like. So Rashi tells us here that this is the connection between that the previous section and this with the smoke. What is the smoke? Not they were smoking cigarettes. They were they were burning incense for a zara. Imagine such a thing in the very home of and there is a z that is being worshiped that smoke tells us from that smoke that is one explanation how became blind a second explanation when was bound up at and his father was going to kill him at that moment moment the heavens opened up and the angels saw and the angels began to cry. The angels began to weep and their tears went so to speak went into the eyes of and that is ultimately what caused his eyes to weaken and caused him to become blind. Two explanations could not be further removed from one another. The first one says from the from the incense from the smoke of a zar that was within the house. Second explanation says from the tears of the okay and finally and this is very mysterious says in order that could get the in order that this whole story could work and engineered it in such a way that couldn't see that he had to be blind. Why did he have to be punished? Why did he have to be blind so that Jacob could get the bra? Couldn't it be done another way? Okay, so that's what Rashi says. Those are the three three explanations. We'll come back to it. We're going to focus specifically on the first two, but we'll come back to it later. Back in the Sovs calls and he said, "I'm old. I'm getting old. I don't know when I'm going to die. Go and take your weapons. Go and take your hunting tools. Go out into the field and trap for me an animal. Make me a nice food and bring it to me and I'll eat. This all sounds very, very strange, very bizarre. This is what cares about. It's not about the food in and of itself. It's not concerned with a stake. He's concerned with giving Asav the opportunity once again to fulfill the mitzvah of and therefore he says do that and bring it to me and I will give you a bra. I will bless you. This is where all the problems start when somebody overhears what somebody else is talking about. So Rifka hears what's going on and goes out. He's out of the way now. He's in the field. So Rivka turns to her son Jacob and she says, "By the way, Jacob was not the son of he was the son of And the is emphasizing she's the he's the son of of I heard your father talking to." And this is what he said. and go out and do all this and bring me bring me this food right and I will give you a blessing. That is what as we know that's what just said to so now says now listen to me listen to what I am commanding you out into the field. You don't need to go into the field. Just go into our flock. Bring me two uh uh two goats, right? and I will prepare them for your father and you will bring them to your father and he will eat them and he'll give you the braha. But the question here, the question that we ask ourselves as we read through this para is couldn't they just have spoken to couldn't Rifka just go and told why are you giving the braha to give the brah to but no this whole treachery this whole scheme etc. Yeah, because you know this isn't going to work, right? He's hairy. I'm not hairy. He's going to be our father. He's going to be on to us. Maybe he'll figure out well. He'll feel me. He'll figure out what's going on. He'll understand that I'm not actually who I'm pretending to be. He'll know that I'm Jacob, not Asaf. Again, all of this begins. All of this happens because can't see. So, he's not going to see. He's not going to recognize it. But maybe he's going to touch me. Maybe he's going to feel me and he'll realize that I'm pretending to be Asaf, but I'm actually not. So, there's something here, by the way, that's very, very interesting. It's not our direct topic right now, but there are a lot of questions that this raises and tremendous difficulty. We know that of the avot, right? Each one is a special mid. Each one has a certain characteristic. Abraham is representative of is representative of is representative of of truth. We say it every day. This whole scheme this whole thing seems to be very opposite of truth. It's lying. It's treachery. It's deception etc. And very very interesting the guy points out something here. says when it says you know there are two words in Hebrew to say maybe perhaps there is the word and there is the word pen and pen and does not just mean maybe means maybe but with a positive connotation means maybe something will happen if there's something that you don't want to happen you don't say you say pen pen means lest you would translate in proper proper English but means maybe where do we see this for example Last week we saw the story of Elez right when Eleazar goes to find a wife for and he says to Abraham makes him take an oath and Elz says to maybe the woman won't come with me. So the vagan points out it shouldn't have said it should have said le meaning is turning to he's saying I'm going to do everything you said I'm going on this in fact the name of how many times does the name of the whole par is about him how many times is name mentioned in >> zero not even once he's called throughout the par he's called he's called the servant why is that maybe it's to emphasize the fact he's a servant he's faithful he sees himself as an evident of Abraham it's not about me it's not about my personal desires wishes or anything I am here on and yet even with that so it says he says he says maybe the woman won't come with me in other words Elzar had a desire deep down he was hoping he was hopeful that the would not work why because he wanted he had a daughter tell us and he wanted to what he was really saying to Abraham was maybe we won't be ABLE TO FIND HALVI WE WON'T be able to find anybody and then my daughter will get married to Abraham's son shalom Israel right it's not the way it happens but we but we see there from the fact that it says so tell us in fact when the story happens the first time it says with the vav and when Elzar is repeating the story later on to etc it's written ali the same word it's uli but it's without the vav which can mean to me and rashi there comments what what he comments what I've just explained explained but the vagan says it's not just about the vav or not the vav but it's the fact that it used the word and not the word pen because pen means maybe something will happen that I don't want to happen means maybe something will happen that I do want to happen so bring it back to us bring it back to our para rivka tells Jacob of her plan and says you're going to go and you're going to go and get the bra from your father and Jacob is worried about being caught what's going to happen his father says hang Wait a second. You're pretending to be ASV. You're actually I'm not going to get a I'm going to get a I'm going to get a curse. He's worried about it. He should turn to his mother and he should say maybe my father will will lest my father will discover me. But he says which means there's an element here of what Jacob is actually saying is I'm so uncomfortable with this. I am so connected to the mid of to the mid of truth that it's it's it's I you know I'd rather I'd prefer that I get that I get found out maybe there's an element that I want that to happen and hang on one second of Kamki has a beautiful on this whole piece he says that what's really going on in the story is that this is the of Jacob Ainu we know each of the avot went through most famously Arainu went through 10 he went through 10 or what is an ordeal what is that is when you have to go against your character. That is when the things that come easily to us and come naturally to us, we have to go against them. Yeah. Abraham's main main uh focus, his main mid was said. So all of Abraham's orals in some way are where he has to overcome his kindness, right? Most famously the he has to overcome the natural feelings of kindness towards his son and to sacrifice ultimately not sacrifice but in terms of what what Hashem wanted. So Yakov's mida is the mida of truth. He has to act in a way that is on the surface seems like it's not so much truth seems like false. It seems like a certain element of deception. Again requires f further discussion as to why that was okay. It doesn't mean that all of us can go around and lie and cheat and that's not the message we're meant to take. But uh in any event he's going against his natural mida tells us that when Rivka tells him it was through prophecy etc. But uh that's why that's that that's the meaning of Yeah. >> What what disturbs me about this is that Jacob is going against what his father has which and although the assert hasn't been given yet he's not honoring his father. He's he's walking with his mother against his father. Well, well, you're right. The story, as I said at the beginning, when we look at it on the surface, at least in our first, you know, at first glance, it's a very disturbing story. And I believe that the Torah gives us a disturbing story for a reason and says, "Let's go, let's learn, let's understand what is beneath the surface here and what what's really going on." The question is, what did his father wish, right? That's that that's the question underlying the whole story. What did And we'll see in a moment when Yakov comes in. There are two different schools of thought amongst thee in terms of what thought after he discovered Yakob. Did he realize that it was did he think it was Asav standing before him or did he actually realize that it was Yakov standing before him? Many many say he understood that it was Jacob standing before him and that's part that's part of the whole point. We'll see. >> Just two things. One is could it be that the translation of maybe >> yes >> that 10 would be less >> right >> could that be >> yes yes >> okay and the other thing I'm just thinking is that with hash says to listen to if you take it forward now again it's a woman doing something that we would think would be not so good but it's very >> you said But listen to a wisdom that works its way into the >> Yes. >> Sure. >> It's not always straightforward. >> It's not always straightforward. That's right. >> That is not the message to take from the show. Okay. In anyway, so so it carries on. So Jacob says, "Oh, maybe." Okay. So we'll skip a little bit. We get to the part where okay where where he comes in. So he takes the goats and he takes the skins and he puts them on and he pretends to be he pretends to be seemingly that's that's one reading of it. Right. Right. He comes inside. He says my father. He says here I am. Who are you? says to his father, I am I am as your firstborn. Okay, Rash points out famously that what did he say? He says he says it's me. Pause. As is your firstborn. Okay, you can decide how satisfying that answer is, right? There's obviously more to it than than that. But he says, "I've done as you've commanded. Come now and eat and then give me the blessing." You get a sense here from the understands that something is not quite as he imagined it in the first place. Something some something's up as they would say it nowadays, right? Isra says to his son, "What is this? you've come so quickly. How did you find already? He says, notice how what is what what does say, right? He's getting into the role here. He says, God, he doesn't say he says that maybe he's trying to speak the way may have. He says it just happened. It's like says, "Okay, come come closer again. I can't see you. I can't see you, but come here. Let me feel you. Let me check who it really is. Is it you, my son, or not? And approaches his father and he feels him. And now he says the famous line. The voice is the voice of Jacob. You are speaking in the way that Jacob speaks. You're mentioning the name of God, etc. You're speaking with a certain respect, a certain refinement that your voice is the voice of Jacob. But the hands, the action is the h the hands of as now the question on this is what does think to himself when he says does that mean does he understand? Is it he's confused? He's not sure something's up. He says, "Okay, therefore it's asaf and therefore I'm going to give ultimately gives him the braha." Is he convinced despite the fact that something strange is going on, but he's convinced that actually this is asaf or or is he saying something else entirely? Is he it's like saying, you know, until this point I thought that as was the one who should get the braot in the world. I thought that as was the one who was worthy. I thought that and Jacob and Asov were going to be maybe a partnership in the world. You know where do we see this? We see this later on with essentially thought to himself maybe that Jacob and As were destined to work together to be the there are different people and there are different talents and there are different abilities. Jacob is the is the man of action. We know he's the man of action. He goes out, he hunts in the fields at the game, etc. He thought that Asa could be the man of action in a way. Bring that in to Torah. Bring that into a way to bring the world to where it needs to go. And you'll have these and you'll be the man of action. You will be the and will be the obviously haven't been born yet, but that's the that's the concept. And then when he says maybe the fact is I realize now that I made a mistake. I thought that there were two at this point already that there were two brothers. There was Yakov with the coal and there was Asaf with the hands and Yakov was unable to do that. But maybe what is saying is I now understand who is standing before me that it's in one son that it's all Yakov and Yakov has been able to do what he's been what he's been doing and it's not just because of trickery but it's to show that Yakov has the tools and he's able to to act in the world and he can be the man of action as well. In other words, the hands which are worthy of receiving the bra which I thought was being going to be through as is actually going to be through Yakov. In other words, it's not clear from the and that's why we have two different two different strands of thought in our commentaries realizes that the son who is standing in front of him is the one who's going to get the braha and he gives him the braha. Does he know that it's Jacob or does he still think that it's as that we don't know? There are those who say that yes maybe that that was the trickery was that Jacob had to convince had to make think that he was someone who he's not make him think that he's asaf or maybe the point is no he's not actually tricking him he's acting in a way he's overcoming his mid in such a way but to show that he can be in this world and he can act in this world and he can do what needs to be done and that is what convinces what convinces he's like okay this is Jacob but Jacob is not who I thought he was what certainly comes out of this posture is that by the end realizes that well he realizes that Asav is not who he thought Asavv was. Maybe he realizes that YaKob is not who he thought Yakov was. Does he know who's in front of him that he can't see that? We don't know. Yeah. I think maybe it could also be that he realizes though he thought that our leadership of of beyond as >> now he realizes that you need both and then both >> yeah so again so the truth we're going to see this from now through to the end of it's going to come up again with it's going to come with it's going to come up throughout I think understood that we need both but thought that what was the what was the what was the argument between and we asked why couldn't just come to and say why do you have to go through this whole thing because that wouldn't that wouldn't approve anything because thinks that we need both but they can be done through it's two separate people and what Rivka is essentially saying is that we're not there yet we're not there yet right now Asavv has to be thrown out the same way that Ishmael had to be thrown out and YaKob is the one Jacob's got everything and later on Yakov is going split up into the 12 traps. Yes. >> All the in resoluge to get things going right or whatever it was like Sara sent away and Hashem said listen to S listen to your wife. It's interesting. >> It's always good advice. Yes. >> Correct. You're right. And here as well. It doesn't say here it's not as explicit in the sukim. Not as explicit in the sukim but in the enulos he says that Rivka did what she did through prophecy as well. Okay. In any event so then so then we know the rest of the story right Jacob gets to afterwards he goes out now just say just say the following week going in the right he says again he says is this you my son and he says it is me. There's a lot of repetition in he says yes give me the food I'll give you the he brought him food he brings him wine approach me and kiss me so now it's not only he feels him he also smells him he smells it's like smells the smell of his clothes again notice how much theim are emphasizing all the different senses Because seeing is out of it. There is no sight. Now listen to this. He gives him the blessing and then he says anything strange about that says see the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Hashem has blessed. But what is the word doing here? makes us think of madai right where it says that they saw the sounds again we've been emphasizing so from the beginning of the sh I've been telling you we started off saying yes I can't see and he can't see and he has to feel and he has to feel and he has to smell and all the senses and everything the only thing he can't do is see and all of a sudden his son comes forward and he smells him and he says I can see how you smell the Torah is not just using a figure of speech to doesn't do that there's something much deeper going on why does it say that he can see the smell So the meshma asked this questionma says an amazing thing. He quotes the he says the smell. Do you know what the smell was that he could see? It was the smell of the field that was talking about. It says that when when when yakov approaches sees it's opened up before him a vision of as opposed to when as comes in and he sees a vision of go. Right? And that's why afterwards Asaf is going to come in and it says right he's given him the bra and now Jacob leaves and he's going to have to run away we know but then comes back from the field and now As doesn't know about this whole scheme right this was in the days before WhatsApp etc right when comes in sorry I should have read the Oh, who are you? As's been I've already given him the right. I am your first one. As uhoh, the bells are going off. Right. This is the Listen to that. He is trembling. A very great trembling. A very great fear. You can't emphasize that more if you try. Me for who? Who? Who? Who is it? I said so again the superficial the surface simple reading if we didn't have any of them seems to be made a mistake he didn't know he thought it was as something fishy was going on okay but I gave as the now somebody else comes in and it's like what's going on I made a huge mistake so there's certainly a reading that could say that didn't know he didn't know that was Asaf he thought it And now Yakov comes in. Well, now As comes in, he realizes he's given the brah to the wrong son, etc. That's one reading. Again, many many of the midrash, many of the understand he knew that it had been. But what's the again he doesn't think he's given the bra to to to the wrong person. He knows he's given the braha to the right person, but he realizes that his son as in fact not the person who he thought he was, and he's not capable of doing what he thought, etc. Okay, there's a lot more to talk about. There's a lot more to unpack that wasn't really our direct topic now, but we had to get get a picture of it. We could talk about this for hours, talk about this for months, but that's hopefully given you something to something to think about at Khabat. But I want to go back to what we started off with this whole story and this whole incident and all the questions raises and all the issues it raises and all the difficulties. And again these brakot are not just something that happened you know once upon a time but this is leading to how the nation that are going to be the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Asov and how we going to have our place in the world and everything that's going to happen throughout Jewish history it all has its roots in the parish and it all began and this whole story and this whole thing meaning the root of ultimately receiving the braot all began from the fact that au was blind mind from the fact that couldn't see. Right. That was the third reading in Russia. I want to go back now to that rashi and I want to explore a little bit. Yeah. >> And it's possible that's what this all our history unfolding. >> Yeah. >> Because of this moment, >> right? He doesn't just hate I'll tell you he doesn't just hate us because of that. Right. It goes it goes far deeper. But but but yeah, so now again I'm going to read it to you again the rushing that we started off with. Remember the beginning of the whole para the beginning of the whole story this whole thing begins because is blind and he cannot see. Why is he blind? Again the two main reasons that Rashi brings remember the smoke the smoke of the smoke of the incense the smoke of the aod that is within the house or because of the tears of the angels from above last year I remember it Rabbi wats gave a drash morning upstairs and he said something which uh which appears more or less in a similar form in a book which he published And he quoted this rash and he quoted these two ideas of the te of of of the blindness where it comes from either from the as we've said either from the aaz inside the house or from the tears that come outside the tears that come from the and listen to whatever wine writes. He says the Torah tells us that cannot see our rabbis as always go into a deeper level, deeper understanding of the story. This is not just you know old age and you can't see there is a spiritual idea behind this as well. Right? That's rashy. We saw it's in the that the smoke of the was inside the house and that is what blinded. So too from the tears of the angels on the one hand the smoke it doesn't necessarily mean literally that there was the smoke that meant he couldn't see. Midrush is far deeper than that. What's it teaching us? Teaching us the smoke that is within the house. Yet sees his children. He sees his sees his son. He sees his grandchildren that are assimilating. He sees his great-grandchildren that are intermar that are way way way off the part of the Jewish people anymore. They're not part of the story. He sees them being absorbed being consumed in the surrounding culture. He sees that at the free Palestine marches that are taking place every week, the people leading the marches on campus are Jewish. You know, I saw I saw an interview this week with a certain uh I won't I won't bother mentioning his name, but a certain uh what's called influencer, right? You know this term, right? Nowadays, you know, the influencers, these are the people these are the people that are out there that they influence. They It's true. They influence people. They have millions of followers and lots of people listen to every word they say. this particular influencer, what is his expertise? What does he know about the Middle East? What does he know about international law? What does he know about religion? What is he knows nothing about these things, but because he has a microphone, so everything, every word he says is authoritative. And this guy's talking about how bad Israel is and about the genocide and about the Jews and about all these things, right? And guess what? He's Jewish, right? So on the one hand and there are so many of them and it's and it's and it's and and it's and and it's you know how many Jews are there in the world and yet we have a disproportionate influence we have a disproportionate influence against ourselves as well sometimes but he says so on the one hand sees he sees the smoke he sees the he sees the assimilation he sees the he sees the antagonism he sees the auto anti-semitism that takes place within the house and that makes it very difficult for him to see. That makes him confused. That makes him blind. That is on the one hand. He sees his children. He sees his grandchildren lost in the culture of they've gone so far off the of Abraham. And on the other hand, what does he see? The tears of the angels. He sees the smoke that's within the house and he sees the hatred that comes from outside. He sees that not it didn't happen once that is was placed on the altar that once there was a threat there were those who wanted to kill and wanted to kill right but that's something that continues the knife is placed against the neck of the Jewish people again and again and again in every generation the form of on the one hand the tears the the smoke that represents the assimilation And on the other hand, the tears that represent the threat that comes from externally and therefore he cannot see at the very least it's difficult for him to see it distresses. In other words, what's being represented here by the blindness. Beautiful, beautiful drush. He can't see. He's lacking vision. He's lacking vision for the future. Saying what's going to be there was Abraham and I came after Abraham saw saw something as a wine writer as well. You know the what's the para called? That's not a trick question, right? told why is it called the parasha begins right normally we say the name of the para everybody thinks the name of the para is the first word it's not always the first word very often it's not the first word this is called begins it could have been called that would have been f it could have been called because in fact that that phrasiology we've seen that before right you go back earlier on in the second para of of of you all know it. How does begin? And it's called and it's called No, it's called. So, it could have been the opposite way. It could have been it could have been that doesn't work with the song but it could have been and this could have been why over there is called and it's called so said something amazing he said what happened both no and come through a cataclysmic event where nearly everything is lost by Noah nearly the entire world is destroyed by nearly his entire world is destroyed But they survive. Both of them are survivors. But no as a survivor, what does he do? He goes and he plants a vineyard and he gets drunk. And we know and and the points out at the beginning is by the end of the parish. So it's he wasn't able to he wasn't able to continue it. But yet that that event at the that became seared into Jewish consciousness that became seared into a part of who we are as part of our DNA and gets passed on generation to generation to generation and continues. So it's to do it continues. It carries on we carry on the story. So that's carrying on the story from Abraham. But now he sees he's looking forward and he's looking into the future. He knows what he's done. He knows what his father's brought into the world. He knows what he's continued that revolution. Abraham dug wells and he's like redug the wells and he gave them the same name. But now he's looking forward. And what does he see? He sees within the home. He sees assimilation. He sees everything is lost and he sees from outside he sees that the aa is not over but it's going to continue and they continue attacking us and there are so many tears that will be shed throughout Jewish history. What what's left? What hope do we have? Everything seems very very dark. And then in comes Yakov. And the one place where the para says that he saw is when Yakov comes in and he smells the smell of Gan and he sees and he has this vision of Gan and he has a vision for the future. It's a way of you know seeing Yakov and ultimately saying to him it's okay. Sometimes when we look around us, everything seems so dark and everything seems to blind us physically. But by not being constrained by what we can see around us, which does not always seem to be very good, it doesn't seem to be a prognosis. But there's a spiritual vision, there's a deeper sight, there's a ironic and it's paradoxical, but the fact that it's cannot see in the literal sense is what allows him to see further. And that's why he can see Grenaded, which is not right here in front of us. It's not what you see on the news when you turn it on. In our days, I would say, you know, if you turn on the news, which as I've said many times, and you all know what I'm going to say, it's never a good idea. >> But if you turn on the news and you listen to the media and listen, you know, what's going on and it doesn't matter. and after two years of war and all the achievements and all the things and all the miracles and yet you turn on the TV and it's still it's clum and this one was our friend and this one's not our friend and that this achievement is lost and that's lost and there and I'm not saying there aren't things to worry about there are things to worry about there are things to be concerned not not not uh negating that but nonetheless sometimes you need to close your eyes to see the bigger picture and to have a vision and to understand where we're going and that perhaps is what the blind kindness of is really really teaching us. So these are the reasons why was blind. We have them in our days we have within the household and maybe there's a certain comfort in knowing and you see the influencer who's Jewish who's talking against us and this one who's Jewish and and this that one who's Jewish is against us. It's always been that way. It's been that way since we had Asa and his children and their wives and we had them in the home. We had data and we've had in every generation we've had we've had that smoke inside the house. We've had those tears that come based on what happens outside. But ultimately that blindness gives way to vision. Now we see this somewhere else. We see this in a in a in a remarkably similar way. Close the kumsh for now. I'm going to take you to the gum. But there is a remarkable remarkable gum. The Quran talks about Sanhedrin talks about the end of days talks about the time of Mashiach and you know we say every day you know we're meant to wait for him every day the grandbab tells us when a person dies there's certain questions that you are asked one of the questions that you await that you proactively await and engage and look forward to the redemption. So if you were to ask our greater sages in history, you were going to go back to the days of the Gan, ask the Amim themselves, no less, are you waiting for the Mashiah? When do you want the Mashiach to come? We would think that they would say now let him come. There's something unbelievable here in the Gumra. There are three of our greatest sages, Raban, Rabba, and each one of them says the same thing. Each one of them says, Let him come. Let the Mashiach come. Let him come, but let me not be there. Meaning after I'm gone, when when we're not here anymore, then then he can come. And you look at this and you think, well, you know, what what are we going to say? If that's what the Amarim had to say, what are we going to say? But why why is that? And the answer is that they understood that things don't come easy. that the Mashiah is going to come the time of redemption the future time what am is going to go through orals what we call the Mashia there are going to be challenges there are going to be a lot of tears there's going to be a lot of smoke there going to be a lot of confusion there's going to be a lot of blindness spiritual upheavalss physical upheavalss things that are very very difficult to confront by the way our rabbis tell us they could have asked they could have said they had the luxury so to speak of saying we're now in the period of how long that is. If it's 100 years, if it's hundreds of years, we don't know. But we're in that generation. We didn't have the luxury of being asked if we want to be there or not. We're here. So, we have to deal with it. But they said it's going to be a time of so difficult, such upheaval. We don't want to be there. Of course, we want Mashiah to come, but we don't want to be there. There's one sage who says differently, and that's Ra Ysef. Rav in that same he says something also unbelievable. He says, he says, "Let him come," which means, "Let him come and let me merit to sit in the shade the to sit in the shade of the droppings of his donkey." Yeah. Messiah is going to come riding on a kamar. Again, this is all figurative. It's not meant to be taken literally. He says, "Let me sit in there." What what does that mean? What that means is that the word is related to the word, which is material, which is the physical, which you know there's we talk about the time of ga, we talk about the time of redemption. You talk about building up a state and establishing there are lots of things. We saw this. We experienced this the first time when we went from the midbar into Erit Israel and we have to build up a society and we went from a purely spiritual life into one which gets dirty and there is conquest and there are wars and there is government and there's economics and there are all sorts of things that you have to be involved in. It's much easier to just sit in the desert and learn all day and have your food falling man falling from sham. It's much easier. But if says no I'm willing to get my hands dirty so to speak. I'm willing to go and to be there if that's part of the plan and that's part of the vision and the grand sweep of Jewish history. I want to be there. I want to be part of it. What did Ravi have that the others didn't have? What was it that gave him the ability to say that that said, I know it's going to be a time of such crisis and such chaos and such spiritual upheaval and there's going to be a holocaust and after that there's going to be a a war of independence and there's going to be a yonipur one. It's going to be an October 7th and there's going to be all these things. I'll be there. The other said we can't handle it. So there are two things we know about Ra. One is that we know that he had an you know that he was humble says that after all the certain things certain sages died certain qualities were removed from the world after rebi died there was no more anava of says don't say there's no more anava I'm still here very humble. Okay that's a topic for a different time. There's there's there's a very beautiful and deeper explanations for that for that statement and how he could say it and what anava really means. I'm not getting into it now. But the point is he had that quality of that quality of humility which means that says I work for you, you don't work for me. The ga is going to come and it's going to come in such a way and the state is going to be built up and these these are the people that are going to come back and this is the government we're going to have and that's the army we're going to have. This isn't the way it's meant to be. Well, sometimes you need a little bit of humility to know actually, you know, he might know better than we do. He might. But something else is that Ravi was blind. Ravf couldn't see. And because Ravsef couldn't see, he couldn't see around him the here and the now. He couldn't see the news. He couldn't see the panels every night telling us how bad things are and how much doom and gloom there is around. But he could see beyond. He could see the he could see the big picture. That's the difference. I'll read to you here of the founding of Eli. He writes this in one of his and he says the following. He says it like this. I have to find where it is. Um he says we'll stop before that. He says he had great humility with all the suffering and all the complications I can accept what's happening and I can go with the I can go with you in one Hebrew they say you know the to flow to go with the flow in every in every place and in every situation to find the light comes even if it's not the way exactly that I wanted the way that I had planned it. That's the first quality. He was blind. Sometimes one who is blind sees better. Is that that that that surrounding that external that superficial sight that shows me all the problems and all the stumbling blocks can able to see beyond that. By the way, there's somebody else in Tanak, somebody else in we're going to encounter him very, very soon who had a lot of these qualities as well. And that was also Ysef. Ysef Sadik. That's exactly what Ysef does. Ysef is precisely the one who can see beyond. He can see the vision. You think about what Ysef went through. He's sitting in the pit. He's gone from being the next generation. He's gone from being the favored son of Yakov. All of a sudden, he's in a pit. He's by himself. He's sold off. He's taken hostage. You know, we read those words now, the stories unfortunately, tragically, but they come alive. I think we can connect them on a much deeper level. You know, understand just imagine what this means. And he's taken hostage and he's gone down to Egypt and he's completely disconnected. And it would have been so easy for yourself as well to throw up his hands and say, "God, what do you want from me?" >> He had his dreams. >> What do you want from me? But that's exactly the point. He had his dreams. He could see beyond. And later on when ultimately he's reunited with the brothers and he says to him, don't worry. He says, you had your intention. You saw it in one way, but but God saw it differently. I can see beyond. I can see in the dreams and I can see the vision. And sometimes it's that same blindness that allows me to see beyond and understand what's going on. So that I believe is the message. That is what the Torah is trying to tell us here as well. This midrash couldn't see. He couldn't see because of the smoke from within. in he couldn't see because of the tears caused from that which comes from without. We have all of that in our days as well. But we know as well that ultimately we are the descendants of Yakov. We know that we have received the brah and ultimately there is that braha. There is that promise that fulfillment that will come. There's that ra and aiden that is waiting for us. And ultimately at the end of the day everything will be good.