Come Aboard! | Rabbi David Haber

Perhaps one of the most famous and well-known negotiations, maybe in world history, takes place in Sefer Bereishit. It's between two brothers, Yaakov and Esav, and the pesukim tell us how they essentially negotiate the purchase of the firstborn, the purchase of the בכורה. And as it goes back and forth, Yaakov Avinu says, I want the rights to the firstborn from you. Esav says: So הלעיטני נא מן האדום האדום הזה give me some of that red stuff. Yaakov Avinu goes back and forth and then the pasuk tells us that Esav's response is, What is this birthright to me, anyway? And he sells it. To which the Gemara tells us, at that moment, Esav is deemed a כופר בעיקר, a heretic. The question is... Why? What did he say that made him a heretic? Here, Yaakov, take it. It means something to you, there’s value to you, you're giving me value. Take it. What is it to me? Why does that make him a כופר? Imagine for a minute that you go to the airport and you see standing there, in the center of the airport, there is a man standing in solitude with piles of luggage surrounding him at his feet. And you walk over him and you say: My friend, where is it that you're trying to go? And he turns to you and he says: The truth is, is there's places I want to go, but I'm afraid I can't get there. And you say to him: Why? He says: You see, I have a ton of luggage, and I'm watching as these planes land and then they take off, one plane after another plane after another plane. And I'm realizing so many people are boarding. How could this plane possibly carry all this luggage that I have to bring? Your response undoubtedly would be, Fool! Do you know the way airplanes work? Do you know the way engineering works? Do you know the way aerodynamics work? Do you understand aviation? Of course it can carry your luggage. Of course it can carry your weight. Our Rabbis say, You know what the mistake was that Esav did at that moment? You know what made him a כופר בעיקר? Here is what he said. He says: Here's me, Esav, a person who's got all sorts of issues, has all sorts of skeletons in my closet, has all sorts of scars, has all sorts of Aveiros. You think this grand and noble and significant post, known as the בכורה, is something that I can take? This isn't a mantle in which I can do. This isn't a capacity which I can fill. Look at all my baggage. That made him a כופר בעיקר. You see, if a person says, The job, the task at hand is too big, this capacity I can't fill, I have too much baggage. That person doesn't understand the way Hashem created the world. You see, many people see this movement of Vayimaen, see this unbelievable migration towards Kedushah and towards purity, and they say: Me? I've got too much baggage. It can handle me. My friends, that's not the way it works. That's not the way this is engineered. Each person, regardless of his past, regardless of his history, regardless of the amount of luggage that he's carrying, it can handle it. Come aboard!