Yaakov’s Yesh Li Kol: Gratitude, Family, and the Wealth of Being a Yid

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. The present I've given you, take it. Ki chanani Elokim, the Ribono Shel Olam has given me chaninah. V'chi yesh li kol. I have everything. Chabalt. Vayiftzar bo, vayikach. He pushes Esav, and Esav takes. Rashi points out that Yankiv Avinu uses the lashon, v'chi yesh li kol. Esav doesn't use that lashon. Esav uses the lashon that he has more. The Esav diber b'lashon gaivah, yesh li rav. In the ilu pasuk tes, yoser, vayosem echdei tzarko. So Yankiv's shprach, Yankiv's language is chabalt. Esav, chabasach, sach. That's the difference, you hear, between Yankiv and Esav. A few words, not even one word. Yankiv Avinu, yesh li kol. Esav, one word, Esav, yesh li rav. There's a lot of difference between the two. You see Rashi, the Chazal already, they focused on a one-word difference, you hear. Sometimes it takes one word to see the difference between a Yankiv and an Esav. From koil to rav. How come? So what they said, rav, what they said, koil, they're basically saying we both have become rich, we both made it in life, right? They're saying we're okay off. We're okay. Ein a nutzter shprach, Yesh li koil, and ein a nutzter shprach, the other one says, Yesh li rav. Un dos iz shein a nafkamina tsvishn yenke un eyns. What is the difference? What's the difference if a person says, Yesh li koil, or he says, Yesh li rav? What's the difference? So Rashi is clear: gaivah, gaivah. When a person says, I have a... dos an usach fun gaivah. Mashenki Yesh li koil, dos is normal. That's normal. That's shprach fun a tzaddik. What's the gaivah in saying, Yesh li rav? So pashut pshat is, he's showing off his riches. He's trying to say that he's mamish... You know, rabbeisai, there are many people who have nothing and walk around saying, Yesh li rav. It's a krenk. I've come to, over the years, meet such people. They're the poorest of the poor. I'm a mevazeh for developed chovas sach. Yesh li rav, yeah, I have so much. They're the first ones to make the promise and the appeal. Amel lenaise, zeh hamikadesh. Amal, in outside the house, zet men yesh li rav, un in shtub der emes iz ein li klum. Un dos iz geyven. Dos kumt fun heshtalteltzach. He's trying to show off. In English, reft men dos to show off. Ate dos lechoras, Rashi iz mehalech: Yankiv geshli koel, Esav geshli rav. And in this, there's a world of difference between Yankiv, who's humble, and Esav, who's a baal gaivah. This is lechora the pshat, according to Rashi. The Kli Yakar, the Chofetz Chaim acharav—maybe he didn't see the Kli Yakar; the Chofetz Chaim gave a shmues about it—zogt der Kli Yakar, un nach dem der Chofetz Chaim, that the difference is an entirely different issue. Yesh li koel, content. Yesh li rav, I have a lot, but I still don't have everything I want. Yesh li koel, I have everything.

I'm happy. I'm content. Yesh li rav, v'chol asher, chover noch nisht. I'm still, I'm still looking to make more. I'm never happy. Mi sheyesh lo מאה, רוצה מאתיים. ממילא, ער איז נישט צופרידן, און ער איז צופרידן. Heelt recht. Del nafkamina, the difference between a Yankiv and an Esav, one word. Yankiv is kol, he's content. Esav is never happy because it's always, I have asach, aber noch nisht. That's what I'm really looking for. Why does Yankiv feel he has everything? What makes Yankiv feel and say, Yesh li kol? What's he referring to? What does he mean? Does he mean yesh li kol, I have a lot of money? Is he referring to his mamnus? I want to show you something interesting. Leah has a child, Yehuda the fourth. All of the sisters, all of the... the handerem gekragen, drei. Three children. She gets her fourth. Hapam odeh es Hashem shenatalti yoser mechelki. A kasha, Reb Beisai. Midaf nish modeh zayn tzu der Ribono Shel Olam? I don't know. Every time I had a child, ... bris, ... kiddush, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Yetz, oides Hashem. What's this pizyetzt? Leah. ... ... ... ... What does he mean, a paam oides Hashem? And why does it have to be she'natalti yoser? Zog, she'natalti chelki. What's wrong? ... You weren't shortchanged. Be happy. Zog, hapaam odeh es Hashem. She'natalti chelki. So by the third child, she should have been happy, hapaam odeh es Hashem. No. She has to wait to the fourth child. Then she dankt the Ribono Shel Olam, not, I'm child one and child two and child three, which is chelki like everybody else, but no, hapaam odeh... natalti yoser. ... I thought about it for a long time, maybe since the day I was born. I grow and I think, and life teaches me. Let's use those words. Life teaches me. Hapaam, now, oides Hashem, she'natalti yoser michelki. I start to realize even one, and even two, and even three, that's also yoser michelki. Hapaam oides Hashem. When she gets four, she starts to realize, chasdei Hashem. You know what? That's me'orer to the person. Ich darf danken dem Borei Olam, af der ershter kind, achet. Ich darf danken dem Ribono Shel Olam, af dem tzveyte kind. Ich darf danken dem Ribono Shel Olam af dem dritten kind. Hapaam, now, odeh es Hashem, shenatanti yoser michelki. I see the all, all, everything that I have is yoser michelki. Not pshat the fourth one, and af ershten, tzveyten, dritten kind darf nisht zayn. Hapaam, yetzt, start to see the chasadim of the Ribono Shel Olam, and I look back and I see, al tzuz ich hob dich. It's yoser michelki. It's more, more than I could have ever asked for. Yidden always walked around understanding, believing, and saying, it's alts fun Himmel, a matanah, it's alts. Don't take anything for granted. The zel takes for granted, az bishteitufen, ... un me geit arbet un me macht gelt. And if you make it big, and if you're out of the norm, range of the norm, then, ah, mamish darf ich danken Borei Olam.

The Creator. Yidden looked at everything was ... everything. Matanah from Him, a matanah from Him. Vos ich gei, un vos ich shtei, un vos ich leb, un vos ich mach, afilu a dollar of keifel breit aufn tish, to buy bread on the table. Das is shem matanah. Lo lidei matnas basar vadam. Matanah? Yeah. A Yid tracht alts is a matanah from Him. Everything, everything. He ate a piece of bread; it could have been a stale piece of bread. Yeshiva days, I don't—today, Baruch Hashem, in yeshiva. Leilah, ... Sometimes I wonder, maybe it's כדאי to go there for just to ... a breakfast, a lunch. I'm in ... especially when we were in the Mir. Oy yoy yoy, you had to really be hungry to eat over there. ... ... A Yid believes. A Yid is focused, and is trained, so then alts, alts, everything, alts, alts, alts is a matanah from Him, from the Ribono Shel Olam. Habeisai, it's clear in the pesukim also. If you look, Yaakov Avinu says clearly to Esav when Esav asks him. Vos is dos, der gantze machneh? For vos? What is all these people? What do I see here? Zogt dem Yaakov Avinu. Zogt dem Yaakov Avinu. Ah. A Yid says, Eino yaasah nashim ... me'eilecha. ... Veis vos s'heint? Hayeladim asher chonan Elokim es avdecha. Er hot nisht kinder. Normal, everybody has children. Yaakov Avinu says, asher chonan. Di nusach Chaninah. You know what Chaninah means? Geschenkte matone. For those that need the English, okay. It's a gift, precious gift. Chaninah is a precious gift. ... Hayeladim. ... Ver iz dos? Mein zun. No, what are you answering? It's my son. No, what he says, children, right? This is the present from Shamayim, asher chonan. Un tsu vemen redt er? Ken meinen er redt tsu di greyse, di greyse menshn mit hashkafah, mit etiquette. You're talking to an Eisav. ... End of story. Yaakov Avinu expresses, Yaid redt un a Yid tracht. Hayu lodim, asher chonan Elokim. Rabosai, why Elokim? It's interesting, why Elokim? The teretz is, midas hadin, not kiken. Farderen az ich hob kein zach nisht. Im Elokim imadi. Whenever he talks, Yankev Avinu, about krigen fun Borei Olam, to get, he uses the lashon Elokim. Last week's parsha, Elokim, asher chonan Elokim. You know why he uses the lashon Elokim, rabosai? Yetzt zet men, afilu midas hadin. I don't deserve anything, me. Der Elokim git mir. Hashem agarn a chet, and still the Ribono Shel Olam is giving. Dos is chaninah, asher chonan Elokim. Avadeh the midas hachesed git, but the chizuk un ich farshtei, az afilu midas hadin hot gekent zogn az kein zach krig ich nisht. There is nothing that I get. Asher chonan Elokim. The Ribono Shel Olam is chonen me, Elokim.

Sefarim, Chassidus sefarim, bifrat. You can find this on the Baal HaMusar, and the Mishnayos, on ... asemeiya b'chalkoi. They learn that the pshat in Chaninah, and why he says, Yesh li kol, Chanan Elokim. What's the lashon? The lashon is that the Ribono Shel Olam gave me. Ki chanani Elokim, again. See the lashon, Chanani Elokim, v'chi yesh li kol. Dos alein vos ich hob a nebishter. Chassidus sefarim. In Toldos Yaakov Yosef, he says that that's the pshat in the Mishnah: Eizehu ashir? Hasameach b'chelko. What chelek are we referring to? We're referring to chelkeinu, ashereinu, ma tov chelkeinu, ma na'im goralenu, u'ma yafah yerushaseinu. That chelek. Eizehu ashir? Who is an ashir? An ashir is a person that's sameach b'chelko, who says, IYH. Dos alein vos er ken zogn in der fri, shelo asani goy. Dos alein is the Chanan Elokim v'chi yesh li kol. Chavshin alts vos ich hob. Chavshin alts vos ich hob. We're trying to address the question: what was Yaakov referring to when he said kol? What did he mean, I have everything? Everything what? So we're saying maybe he means, Chavar HaRibono Shel Olam, IYH, I have everything I could ask for. Eizehu ashir? Hasameach b'chelko, ashereinu, ma tov chelkeinu. That's what it's referring to. I'll tell you an interesting thing. I can give you the whole history behind this letter. In the beginning of Maaseh, the sefarim, the Beis Aharon, a letter was printed. Maaseh put in a letter, the last letter that he got. The Alter Zeide during the war. Zeide was either in the ghettos or the concentration camps. It's very hard to know. But the letter came from that tekufa to Shanghai. Reb Shmuel David, his son, Maaseh, was in Shanghai, so the Alter Zeide wrote the following: V'atah, banai, al teotzvu. Don't feel bad. Yes, there's no food. ... Gefelach, gefelach, shreklach. Imagine. V'al teotzvu, ich bin okay, I'm all right. Why? Kol minhagosai, all my minhagim that I've done, that I've kept till this matzav, I've continued in this concentration camp. I continue with it. Lo chasarti davar. Yes, because of this, tash kochi v'nechlash gufi. But I realize, ki adam yachol lazon b'ruchniyus levad. A man can live with ruchniyus alone. It's not a thousand years ago, not ... seventy years ago. Seventy years ago. A Yid ... can leben in a matzav fun shivah medurei Gehenom, fun shraiben a bit b'seder, I'm okay, I'm surviving it. Rebbe says, when a mensch versteht chelko, chelko, vos er zayt, he versteht dem Hashreinu, ma toiv chelkeinu, that he could be oived the Ribono Shel Olam. He understands what it's about, what life is about. He gets it. He gets it. When you get it, when you understand what it's about, m'meila you could say, Chanani Elokim, even through the middas hadin. Yaakov could say, Eisav's halev v'sechatan, the shtub fun Lavan, right? Chanani Elokim, ... bechayei li kol. Dos aleina bechutz. Dos aleina bechutz. That's pshat number one, Rebbe says, I think. The Chanani Elokim, bechayei li kol. I'd like to tell you another pshat, ... Hashem yisbarach. Hefsher geit es weiter, what he said above. Above he said, Hayeladim asher chanan Elokim. Maybe he's referring to that. Eisav, those cooks, those ... hoo, look.

Chanani Elokim, mynikimda. That's what he calls Chanina. Like the pasuk above says, hayeladim asher chanan... And on that, he's saying Chanani. He's continuing with the same Chanani Elokim, v'chi yesh li kol. That's what he's referring to. I want to tell you an interesting thing about this. The Gemara in Shabbos says, kuf yud ches amud beis, that Rabbi Yosi was proud, so to speak. It's like hishtaltzirt, Yiddish, like hishtaltzirt. Miyamai, by the tag, havachnishdaskin tande, big inyanim. One of them is, miyamai lo istakalti b'milah sheli, kedushah. The thing that's interesting that stands out, he says, miyamai lo karisi l'ishti ishti, ul'shori shori, ela l'ishti beisi. Ul'shori, I called him tzaddai. Rashi says, v'vos is the greiste gedilah? What's the big thing? She'af sichas chulin sheli yesh lilmad. Hey, menuchach. Is that chachmah? What a brilliant thing. And instead of saying ishti, he said beisi. Talk about all the greats... it should have said... kedushah, ... Maybe the chochmah, ... from my sichas chulin, but I never once called my wife... Mir darft zich a pshat in Gemara emes l'amito, eizeh Hashem yisbarach, a yesod. Many times a person walks around saying, This is my house. My ears, it does bring... I can't listen to it. I start to... This is your house. This is your home. Your home happens to be located within these four walls. A beisai. It's not your house. It's your home. Beisi. What is my beisi? Ishti. It's my family. He's saying, Mi yomai, I always understood, this is what I understood. What is my house? My house is my mishpacha. Hayeladim asher chonan Elokim osi. It's not the money in the bank, nor is it the house I acquired. It's my family. My family is beisi. I want to tell you from Zeidy. Zeidy wrote sefarim Beis Aharon. It's a beautiful, eloquent hakdamah. He writes, Banisi libatim bYisrael. I built houses in Klal Yisrael: the Beis Aharon on Bava Kama, the Beis Aharon on Kiddushin, the Beis Aharon on... Banisi libatim. You see that beisai? A yid kukt in a zayn, vos iz ar bayis? What is a bayis, a beisai? What, it's the bricks and the walls? Bnei Yisrael, batei kehunah, batei leviyah, we're batim. What is a bayis? I mean, there's a whole different understanding what a bayis is. Pasuk says, Hashem beirach es Avram bakol. Chazal tell us bakol is ben or bas. That's the bakol. Hashem beirach. Chazal are telling us the greatest bracha. The bakol is this. There's a rebbe, Rav Pam zichrono livrachah, used to say over from Dovid Gurary. Bakol, kol asher titen li, aser asrenu lach. It's all bakol. V'chi yesh li kol, and bakol, va'aser asrenu lach. And pashut, what he meant to say was, aser asrenu comes from beirach, meaning that will bring bakol. You have and you give maaser, v'soichez ein bakol, v'stah bin nachgeltim, right? L'choira. Over the years I started to understand the Rosh Yeshiva meant something else, the Rebbe, epes andersh gemeint. You know what he meant? How many times do we find that people, they're patur from maaser, they say, you know why? First I have to pay up all my expenses. Why is everyone smiling? First we have to pay up all my expenses.

Then I give maaser. If a person believes, yesh li koach, chaval, I don't need so much. Meileh, v'choil asher titein li, aser a'asrenu lach. Ah, ah, I'm shaking the head. Dos iz a bichfashtanen, valecha mevatel geven mayn daas un mayn rebbe rav pam. Try to understand the simple things, the sichas Chulin, like the Rashi says, the sichas Chulin was the Rebbe gezogt. You know where it comes from? Koil asher titein li is shayach to the v'chol asher titein li aser a'asrenu lach. Comes from the v'chi yesh li koach. When you start understanding what koach means, then you can give maaser. If not, you always need more and more and more. Vayehi li shor v'chamor, Yaakov says to Esav, I had shor v'chamor. What does he mean, I have shor v'chamor? Look, Rashi, he actually only had one? He had many, he had shoirim, he had chamorim, he had a full flock. So Rashi, it's a derech eretz. The nusach in Rashi, the derech eretz is to say on many shoirim, shor. Why derech eretz say it's dikduk? What kind of nusach is derech eretz? It's all Rashi means to say is azoi redn. Efsher kemen zogn az der heilige... The Rashbam says, why does he say shor v'chamor? Himit. Lechushai. He's trying to play it down. Yesh li shor, chabanoks, chabachveis. Vos a nafkamina? Tzitzis. Tzitzis, toisn ox or ein ox? An ox. What's the difference? ... Toisn shoigeg, b'meizid shogeg. By him, the same thing. By heili, vos? ... At the end of the day, that's all it is, a shor v'chamor. Another gate: chov tzen shtib, heiser, ten house, ten house, here, house, there. It's a house, a home, it's a place to be. Heili, shor v'chamor. You know what the Alshich says? You think shor made the ox? He meant chamor made the chamor. Of dem shtelt tzirtzach. Yankev Avinu, shor is Yosef, and chamor is chamor ... Yissachar. ... Yissachar. ... Heili shor v'chamor. ... Yosef cooked ... shor v'chamor. ... Maybe that's the loshon yachid. ... Yosef mit a Yissachar. ... Heisaf cooked ... You talking about your ox, right? You're talking about your money, your bank account. ... You see, the yesh li rav and the yesh li kol is a chiluk in one word. It's worlds apart. It's worlds apart between a yesh li kol. And yesh li rav. I once studied another gadol. I know the clock is two more seconds, not base. My two seconds, two minutes, which I call two seconds, okay. He had made it like a kinderlach, very good children. And I tried to study why was he zocheh so vadedis and tefillah and ... mazel, good. But there has to be an ingredient that's bringing about in the shtub as elcheshein a kinderlach. You know what I realized? When he addresses his children, he uses always the word, mein oitzer. And I remember my bubby used to say that, tayerekeit. That's how she used to address the children: mein oitzer, my diamonds, my bank account, yeah. I started to think to myself, if you express that the kinder are your oitzer, both you and the children start to think what's chashuv and ... And the tata expresses...

Chanani Elokim, yesh li kol. And what's he referring to? Chanani Elokim, hayeladim asher chanani Elokim. Yankev Avinu, she was teaching the children. What's the ikker? What's called reich? What's called to be rich? What does it mean, yesh li kol? The children. And I want to tell you one more last thing, if you don't mind, my beis. You know, there's another expression which I don't enjoy very much. I don't like to say I don't like, because I'm not such a big baal shita. But it would be more positive if it was said differently. You ever hear the expression, Baruch Hashem, I have enough. Did Yankev say, I have enough? I'm sorry, I didn't hear that in Yankev. What did he say? Yesh li kol. I have everything. There's another world of difference, Rebbeisai, between having enough and having everything. Where did I see this? In the chachma of the Mashgiach, Reb Yerucham. Reb Yerucham says, Yankev goes after pachim ketanim, but it's nothing. It's tiny. What is it? And the Torah says, like, well, why does the Eibishter gave it to him? Except the answer is, the Ribono Shel Olam, you need it, and you should want it, and you should be happy that you have it. You shouldn't do with less than what the Eibishter gives you. What the Eibishter gives you, you should want. For thinking I could do with less, so then get rid of what the Eibishter gave you too. And he brings the story. He says, look at the Taschach. Rebbi Yochum, mitamaisa, a professor that wanted to show that he'd be able to live on the bare minimum, so little by little he got rid of everything in his house. The only thing he said, I need a pump to pump the water, right? Otherwise I can't drink, and I can't live. The professor one day passes by and he sees, mentioned, bending down into the river, into the pool of water, and they're drinking directly. Guess what? I don't need the pump either anymore. I'm off to some... That's Rebbi Yochum. It's not... it's Rebbi Yochum there. The... Rebbi Yochum. Yeah? Says Rebbi Yochum, that it's not an inyan to get rid of everything and have nothing. It's to not need, to not want what you don't need. But what the Eibishter gives you, that's called what you need, and therefore you want it, and therefore you're even going... I believe that's the pshat of the Mishnah, איזהו עשיר? השמח בחלקו. Chofetz Chaim's chusiyah, used to ask, why doesn't it say, איזהו עשיר? השמח במה שיש לו. When the teretz is, I'm sameach, that's my chelek. במה שיש לו means he's happy with enough. Enough, whatever I have is good enough. You shouldn't think that way. יחב עצמותיך דשן. Chelek, it's what the Eibishter gave me. Chelek. This is the formula, rabosai. As we began the shiur, I think the first few minutes wasn't taped. So they're not going to know what the address of the shiur is, but the focal point of the shiur, so I'll just repeat it for a half a second, and that was: it takes study and learning and teaching the children what is life and how one is going to be happy in life. Yesh li rav will never make you happy without a teach to yesh li kol. You have Yiddishkeit. You can learn, you can daven. That's chelkecha as a Yid. You have chelkecha, you have what the Ribono Shel Olam gave you, you have bread on your table. That's chelkecha. Yesh li kol. You have everything. I will end with the following. It was levaya this morning of a very chashuve Yid, Rav Tully Stern. It was Rosh Yeshiva in Adelphia. I knew him well. We learned in the same beis medrash for very long, for very many years. He was a real adam chashuv, a real talmid chacham. He was a model role to me in this area, in this inyan. The shmooze I prepared before I even knew that he was niftar, it all came together on the same day. He was a person that learned, and that's what brought him simcha. He wasn't searching for fame. He wasn't searching...

Many talmidim or a big yeshiva, whoever was there, he learned with them, happy to be a Yid, happy to be a ben Torah. I always wondered how he was able to do it. Many roshei yeshivas have many talmidim. That itself is easier; it becomes a mechayev. Then you see a person who's able to, whatever it is that the Eibishter has given me, I learn and I daven, and I am happy, content with what it is, walking around, Yesh li kol, I have everything I need. It takes years, rabosai, of understanding and appreciating kirvas Elokim. I didn't have time to listen to the levayos; I was busy, I had to come to the shiur. But the few minutes that I did hear, they brought out this point. I think that he said, Reb Meir, his older brother, Rav Tully was happy with what he had because he only looked for kirvas Elokim. That's what he was looking for in his life. And that, rabosai, you could have no matter what. As I showed you from the Zohar, even in a concentration camp, you can have a yesh li kol. That's what brings simcha, and that's the only thing that brings. Shezechro baruch. But this is a lesson that we should teach our children. Healthy, healthy means yesh li kol. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.