Toldos: Why Yaakov Took Esav’s Brachos Through Mirmah—Two Ways of Living in Olam Hazeh

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We have Birchas Yitzchak l'Yaakov, that Yitzchak gives the brachos to Yaakov Avinu, and as the Torah teaches us that actually he wanted to give the brachos to Esav. And Rivka intervenes, and she makes Yaakov take away the brachos from Esav, and Yitzchak gives the brachos to Yaakov instead of Esav. Now it's interesting, the way Yaakov Avinu gets the brachos with such a sneaky, sly way. I mean, what would be wrong if Yaakov Avinu gets the brachos direct? Why did the Torah, why did the Rabbeinu Shlolam make it that the brachos should be given through a trickery? Why did it have to be through such a situation where it was supposed to go to Esav, and Yaakov Avinu comes sneakily thinking that, making that he is Esav? The kasha is on the self-understood, the choches ha-politika maaseh. Now, of course, the simple answer is chushbah d'Rachmana. We are now asking why the Eibishter. Maybe it's not our business. Maybe it's not for us to know why the brachos were given in such a way. The Rabbeinu Shloilam wants it. If that's how the Rabbeinu Shloilam planned it should be, then we accept that that's the right way it's supposed to be, and maybe it's not our place to ask farvos. But af al pi kein, it screams to a pshat, screams b'dafkashtein pshato. We have to understand why, why was it done in such a way. And also, the fact that the Torah details so much of how the sneaking happened, how the trickery happened, then possibly there's a lesson in it. Even if we don't have to explain why the Eibishter wanted it that way, but maybe yet we still have to understand why, in order to understand what's the lesson from it. L'choira there's a limud, there's a lesson to be learned from the way the brachos were given over to Yankiv, instead of direct, through a trick, through a sneaking, a sneakery. Why? Why? And if we don't have to know why al kol panim, what's the lesson that should be learned from it? Now, rabosai, it's interesting to note. Why bichlal does Yankiv Avinu want to give the brachos to Esav? Why does Yitzchok want to give the brachos to Esav and not to Yaakov? That's a question which needs to be understood. Chamein, Yankiv Avinu is ish tam, yoshev ohalim, he's a tzaddik. Esav is dacha. He's a wild man. He's a wild chaya. So why does he want to give the brachos to Esav over Yankiv? Now, to say kipshutei that Esav fooled Yitzchok to the point that Yitzchok had no idea who his sons were. Az eis mashma in the pesukim. The pesukim seem to say that Yitzchok was fooled. Ki tzayid b'fiv. Chazal tell us he used to ask questions of Yitzchok to fool him, to make him look like he's a tzaddik even though he wasn't a tzaddik. Was he so easily fooled? Yitzchok Avinu, the heilige Yitzchok Avinu. It's hard to believe that Esav is one of the avos, from the avos.

V'za Av should be fooled by not knowing between the two children. Shtei vayigdelu hana'arim. The pasuk says clearly that as soon as the children grew up, they turned thirteen, it was noticeable. The people already noticed who went to the good and who went for bad. So everybody, both Yitzchak, realized this. From Chazal is mashma everybody knew, and just poor Yitzchak did not know. Maybe, maybe, that when the Eibishter doesn't want someone to know something, he doesn't see it. Maybe. Maybe it was planned that way also. The same way there was a plan for the brachos should be officially supposed to be given to Esav, and at the end Yaakov gets it, so part of that plan was that Yitzchak should be fooled. Otherwise, it's a peleh: which father has no clue between the two children? One is sitting and learning all the time, and the other one is hunting wild animals all day. I mean, you don't know the difference? ... Maybe the teretz is that that was the plan of the Rabbeinu Sholeilam. Maybe that's part of what the Rabbeinu Sholeilam's ultimate plan to have the brachos originally to Esav and to be taken by Yaakov means that Yitzchak had to be fooled. When Hashem wanted, he could make the most seeing person blind. Or maybe, or maybe we could say, like the mefarshim say, that Avadah Yitzchak knew the difference, the difference between Esav and Yaakov Avinu, who Yaakov was, Esav was, and af al pi kein, and af al pi kein, and even so he wanted to give the brachos to Esav. And Rivka felt that the brachos have to be given to Yaakov, so then we have to ask, why? Why, if he knew, if he had a good clue of who Esav was, he got a good taste of who Esav was, so why is it that he wanted to give him the brachos? We have to better maybe understand what the brachos are. Maybe if we understand better what the brachos are, what do they represent, then we can understand better why Yitzchak Avinu felt that he should give it to Esav. And maybe then we can understand why Rivka felt differently. And what's the pshat, the machlokes Esav and Yitzchak, Rivka? I mean, how could there be such a machlokes בכלל? Chamei Yitzchak is גדול הדור. Yitzchak is the posek. I mean, how has Rivka become—true, she's a great rebbetzin, b'emes—and true, שמע בקולי. When Rivka tells Yaakov, go listen to what I tell you, even though you don't want to go take the brachos, שמע בקולי, Chazal say it was ruach hakodesh. So maybe it was Rivka's ruach hakodesh that was telling Yaakov. Maybe it's not a machlokes between Yitzchak and Rivka. Maybe. Ein hachanami, you can't have machloikes, Rivka and Yitzchak, because Yitzchak is the gadol hador. Yitzchak is Rivka's, the rebbetzin. Rebbetzins are supposed to, in the background, take care of the home, be mechazek the yiras Shamayim, though, but not make decisions, so to speak, in yesodisdike things of chinuch and halacha. It's a halacha shaila: who gets the brachos? So it's Rivka's business, so to speak. It's Rivka's place to say a deah, to say an opinion. Rivka is the rebbetzin. She's in the—I'm scared to say it, even though that's what I'm trying to say—her place is in the home, in the kitchen. Her place is not to mix into Yitzchak's affairs in halacha. So if Yitzchak paskens that the brachos are supposed to be given to Esav, unless you learn that maybe Yitzchak was misguided, and like we're saying, that Yitzchak didn't know who Esav was.

So Rivka felt that instead of telling Yitzchak who Esav was, so she got the brachos for Yaakov Avinu. Which means that she really believed the halacha that Yaakov should get it and Yitzchak would agree to that halacha. It's just that Yitzchak didn't know the metzius. Maybe that's the pshat. Avada, it's not a halacha shaila between Yitzchak and Rivka. Really, the brachos, even Yitzchak would agree should go to Yaakov; he just didn't know Yaakov was. Like we started saying in the beginning, maybe he was blinded by the reality. He didn't know the metzius. Ela mai, let Rivka go and tell Yitzchak and have a sit-down with him. Chashuva tayere man, tayere husband, I want you to know that you don't know clear your two children. You're making a mistake between the two boys. Yaakov is really the tzaddik, and Esav is not. Unless maybe she didn't want to do that. You know, maybe she didn't want to have such a conversation with Yitzchak. Maybe it would hurt him too much. I don't know. Al least I understand how Rivka mixes in to the affairs of Yitzchak Avinu. But if you learn the way we learned, that actually Yitzchak knows. Yitzchak knows, and af al pi kein he wants to give to Esav. He knows who Esav is, and he still wants to give it to Esav. So what place does Rivka have to mix in and feel differently? Unless maybe we could say. That actually Yitzchok knew, and Yitzchok wanted to give the brachos knowing who Esav was. But Rivka didn't know that Yitzchok knew. Maybe that's the pshat. Maybe because they never had this conversation, so Rivka feels that Yitzchok maybe doesn't know, and the truth is Yitzchok does know, and af al pi kein he wants to give the brachos to Esav. Maybe that's the pshat. Rivka thinks that Yitzchok doesn't know, but Yitzchok does know, and af al pi kein he wants to give to Esav. So that's the machlokes Rivka and Esav. And we could be mefalpel all day long about this, back and forth, back and forth. You hear, Rebbeisai? But there's a Beis Halevi that we have to address. The Beis Halevi says that there was a yesodizdike shaylah here with the brachos. What are the brachos? The brachos are Olam Hazeh. That's what the brachos are. So Yitzchok felt that Yaakov Avinu doesn't need these brachos, because Yaakov's an ish tam yoshev ohalim. What does he need it for? While Esav, who's out there, he's anyway out there. He is involved in Olam Hazeh, so he needs the brachos of Olam Hazeh. Rivka? Rivka was mechadesh that no, Olam Hazeh is not for Esav. Olam Hazeh is actually a bracha for Yaakov also, because even in Torah, even for the yoshev ohalim, he needs to be involved in Olam Hazeh to an extent. He needs parnassah in order to be able to learn, in order to be able to learn. And this becomes the machlokes. Yitzchak feels, Yitzchak feels that Esav needs the brachos, while Rivka feels that actually Yaakov Avinu, taka, the yoshev ohalim, he needs the brachos. He needs the brachos. Mazeh Zikhron Livrachah says a little bit differently the pshat. Mazeh Zikhron Livrachah says that the pshat is that Yaakov Avinu is ish tam yoshev ohalim, mimeila he's blessed, mimeila he's gebentsht. What does he need? The Beis Halevi is learning he doesn't need Olam Hazeh, because Olam Hazeh doesn't go together with Olam Haba. You see, don't forget, in the beginning of the parsha we find that they were already fighting over nachlas shnei olamim. It says in the beginning of the parsha, Vayischatzu habanim b'kirbah. What were they fighting? Nachlas shnei olamim, says Rashi. So you see already that—

That there's a shaila, who gets what, right? Now, l'choira, there's a good question involved. What I want, you don't want, and what you want, I don't want. So what's there to fight about? I want Olam Haba, you want Olam Hazeh. It's great. פעם told me over a nice vort from Vishnitzer Rebbe that I heard from my zeide, zichrono livracha. By Ephron, it says, Eretz arba me'os shekel kesef, beini uveincha mah hi. What kind of a talk is that? So Rashi says, bein shnei ohavin, between two friends. Ephron tells Avraham Avinu, buddy, buddy, between two buddies, chabibi, okay? Between the two of us, what's already four hundred shekel kesef? So first of all, it's interesting, what does that mean? I mean, a price is a price, and money is money, you know. What does that mean, between two ohavim? And he says he doesn't understand, since when did they become ohavim? Did they have any connection before? Ephron has anything to do with Avraham Avinu? What does he have to do with Avraham Avinu? How does he talk? Yeah, buddies, friends. So the pashut pshat is, that's how they talk in the Middle East. You ever speak to an Arab, habibi, habibi, habibi, everybody's habibi, and then he can kill you. What does habibi have to do with that? He has no shaychus. Everybody's habibi. So maybe that's what Ephron was—a Middle Easterner, yeah. Habibi, v'shnei... habibi v'shnei... yeah, what are they? Could be. That's the pashut pshat. Maybe. But the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, zicher livracha, says, Oy havim doesn't mean Ephron and Avraham. Ephron wasn't telling Avraham that we're both friends, and what's the big deal, four hundred shekel kesef. Oy havim, we both love, but each one a different thing. You, Avraham Avinu, you love to be an ehrlicher mensh. You like to be Torah, mitzvahs. You like to be a straight person. Me, I like money. So we're both oyhavim, but not each other. We both like something else. So what's four hundred shekel kesef? You like to be ehrlich. You like to pay to the penny. I like to jip people. I like money. So what's four hundred shekel kesef between the two of us? It's a virtue, but it's very applicable here too. What are they fighting about? What are they fighting about? Olam hazeh, olam haba. Yaakov Avinu tells him, You can keep what you... I'll keep mine. What are they fighting about? So bishleima, you could come and say Esav. Maybe Esav is fighting because he wants both olam hazeh and olam haba. He wants, pakert, Tomos nafshi mos yesharim. When he's alive, he wants olam hazeh, but when he dies, he wants olam haba. He wants the, as they say in English, the best of both worlds. He wants the best of both worlds. But what's Yaakov fighting about? Yaakov needs olam hazeh. Va zucht er olam hazeh. What's he looking for? So the teretz is, that's what Yitzchok really felt. Yeah, he doesn't need... Olam hazeh. So then what's Yaakov fighting? So either the pshat is Yaakov is fighting because Eisav wants to take away his Olam Haba. Eisav wants Olam Haba, says Yaakov, do me a favor, you stay away from my Olam Haba. The last person I want to see in Olam Haba is you. That's pshat they're fighting. I don't want to see you in Olam Haba. I don't want to. Eisav is trying to get Olam Haba, and Yaakov is trying to keep him away from Olam Haba. That's the fighting. Not that Yaakov is fighting for Olam hazeh. Maybe we could explain that Eisav and Yaakov are fighting. Eisav is trying to steal from Yaakov Olam Haba, and Yaakov is trying to fight it off. Whatever it is, the point is, what are they fighting about? So you could come and say maybe they're fighting because Eisav wants Olam Haba, and Yaakov doesn't want him there. Or maybe we have to say that actually Yaakov is fighting also for Olam hazeh. And the question is, what does he have for Olam hazeh? What business does he have for Olam hazeh? And this becomes, says the Beis Halevi, actually the machlokes between Rivka and Yitzchak.

Yitzchok feels, what shaychus does Yaakov have with Olam Hazeh? He has no shaychus to Olam Hazeh. While Rivka feels he needs Olam Hazeh. There's a little bit, a little bit you need. Ze vi shteit, that there's two Mishnayos. One Mishnah says, Kach hi darkah shel Torah: pas bamelach tochal, u'mayim b'msurah tishteh. No Olam Hazeh. Yet it says, Im ein kemach, ein Torah. A person has to have a little bit, something. You're right, you don't need luxuries, but you need Olam Hazeh. So therefore, this becomes the machlokes. Mazeidah wants to say that could be Yitzchok's kavanah of not giving the brachos, because he's already gebenched. In English we say he's the most blessed person around, that he has yoshev v'halev, that he could sit and learn. You know what it is to be out there in the world, to make money. A person has no life. He has no life. The greatest life a person can have is to be yoshev v'halev. So what do I have to give you a bracha? You're already gebenched. Mazeidah brings a story that he went with his older brother, Reb Chaim Volozhin from Volozhin. He was the last rav in Rosh Yeshiva in Volozhin, and he went to the Chofetz Chaim to ask for a bracha. The Chofetz Chaim refused to give Reb Chaim Volozhin a bracha. Refused. He said, A bracha? You already have bracha. You have it already. You have Torah. You have Torah. You're sitting and learning. You have a family, yirei Shamayim, bnei Torah. You're already gebentsht. There's no point in me benching you. The lesson that the Chofetz Chaim was trying to teach: this is the biggest bracha that a person could have in this world, is to have Torah. So Yitzchok maybe feels, what's the point of bracha if you're already gebentsht? V'eia noichi nosein lifneichem hayom es habracha v'es haklala. What's the bracha? Asher tishme'u el mitzvos Hashem. Memeila, he doesn't want to give Yaakov the brachos. Ma she'ein kein Eisav, he needs brachos. He has no life. Eisav, he can live a hundred years in Olam Hazeh and not have one day of life. What's hotter from them? So therefore he had to give bracha, bracha, bracha, bracha. He needs brachos. So learns the zeh. So we have two yesodosdike pshatim in why—and actually maybe not why, but what was the underlying question: should Eisav get the brachos, or should Yaakov get the brachos? One side, Eisav should get the brachos because he's the Olam Hazehnik, while Yaakov, he's in the Olam Habanik. And the answer was that the Ribono Shel Olam wanted, yes, that you need the brachos also. You need the brachos too. Ma she'ein kein, the second pshat is learning that Yitzchok felt he doesn't even need bracha. What do you need brachos for? You're already mevorach. So the answer is that he still needed the brachos, because even with Torah you need a bracha to have a little bit Olam Hazeh. Comes out a big yesod, that if we understand properly Olam Hazeh, there's two Olam Hazes. There's Olam Hazeh, which is Esav's Olam Hazeh. And then there's an Olam Hazeh, Yankiv's Olam Hazeh. And I think that's the ravim b'nachlas shnei olamim. Whose Olam Hazeh will be Olam Hazeh? Esav wants Olam Hazeh, a certain theme. He wants something out of this world. That's Esav's Olam Hazeh. While Yankiv has a different Olam Hazeh. You know, it's what you make of Olam Hazeh that Olam Hazeh becomes. Yitzchak understood that Olam Hazeh is Esav's. Rivka understands that Olam Hazeh, real Olam...

Olam hazeh is Yaakov's. Eisav thinks Olam hazeh is Eisav. It's olam ha'asiyah. I'll give you a story to explain what I'm trying to bring out. My zaidy told me that he was once present when Reb Mendel Zaks, zichrono livracha, the son-in-law of the Chofetz Chaim, had a discussion with the Chofetz Chaim as follows. Ta, tata leben. This is how Reb Mendel Zaks addresses the Chofetz Chaim: Tata, you know, they try to minimize olam hazeh. Eh, you look at the Baalei Mussar, the sefarim, eh, olam hazeh. But their emes is az der velt echa velt, that this world is also something to give importance to. It's a chashuv a thing. You know, you read the Baal HaMussar, it says clearly, the Reb Yisrael Salanter, that this is only a trocklin. It's a side lobby to get into the olam haba. A prozdor. See, you would think, well, what is it already? You know, you have a prozdor in a house. You know what they keep over there sometimes? They keep the dirty boots and then... right? So you could look at it as a lobby, right? That's all it is, a prozdor to get into the main house. Or you could look at it... As a prozdor, you ever see a lobby in a hotel? Beautiful. The lobby itself is almost a hotel, right? So he's trying to say that when you learn from the Baal HaMusar, you could get the wrong impression that maybe this world is a cheap lobby. It's a cheap hallway, right, where you keep the galoshes and all the, you know, all the coats. No, but it's really, it's eicha velt. It's also important, the prozdor. Look at it as maybe as a lobby. I'm giving the example of the lobby of the hotel. That's not what the Remendel Zaks brought out, but I'm just trying to explain what Remendel Zaks's point was, that a lobby can also be something very, very chashuv, something very special. The Chofetz Chaim, hearing this, commented and he said, Oy, cha velt, that this is also a world. It's also—no, nor a velt, only. This is the only world. In this world, a person could learn and daven. In Olam Haba, he can't even say a kapitel Tehillim. Once you come to Olam Haba, it's finished. Here in this world, there is room for a person to conquer, so to speak. He could grow, and he could achieve. It's the Olam HaAsiyah, the world where a person could do and do and do and accomplish. So it's not olam hazeh, nor, nor, nor. This is the world. This is it. In Yene velt, afilu a kapitel Tehillim kemen nisog. So the Chofetz Chaim is trying to say, if you understood what Olam Hazeh is, what is Olam Hazeh? It's the land of opportunity, literally. In this world, we have opportunity to grow in yiras Shamayim, in Torah. So this world, that's called Olam Hazeh. Of course it means that we have to live in this world and have food and live in a house and have a car. I would like to call it a tale of two worlds. Unfortunately quoting Dickens, it's not a tale of two cities, but a tale of two worlds. And that is that there's a world, Esav's world, and then there's a world, Olam Hazeh, Yaakov's world. And I think this explains a lot in the parsha. Give me an example. If you notice, when Esav realized—

emphasizes that the brachos were given to Yaakov. So he tells his father, he tells Yitzchak Avinu, Vayoymer, vayam... Oh, pasuk lamed ches, perek chof zayin: Vayomer Esav el aviv, Habrachah achas hi lecha, avi? You only have one bracha? Barcheni gam ani, avi. Vayisa Esav kolo vayevk, and he cries. So the question is, I saw the Satmar Rebbe's me'orer, but I think others before him have also spoken about this question. Not a bracha achas; that's not true. He gave many brachos, just not for him. What does it say, I only have one bracha? That's not true. He gave a lot of brachos to Yaakov. So don't come and say you only have one bracha for Karet. I know you have a lot of brachos, but you have nothing for me, so why does he speak it out, You only have one bracha? It's a beautiful question. I would say pshat's like this. If you look at the Medrash, the Medrash says, V'yiten lecha mital hashamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, v'rov dagan v'tirosh. That was the bracha that Yitzchak gives to Yaakov. Okay. The Medrash on the pasuk V'yiten lecha says, V'yiten lecha, mital hashamayim zo Mikra, mishmanei ha'aretz zo Mishnah. On every part of that pasuk and bracha, there's a drasha for a pasuk, for pesukim, for Chumash, for Mishnayos, for Gemara. What does that mean? Vitala shemayim means Gemara, Shmani Aretz means Pesukim. I mean, what does that mean? Imagine a person says, Go to the store and get me a milk and a bread. Oh, I don't mean milk and bread. I mean a Gemara and a Mishnayos. To say Gemara and Mishnayos. What does the Medrash mean? Chazaldike Medrash: Hitalech lecha, vitala shemayim, zu Mikra; Shmani Aretz, zu Mishnah; zu Talmud. Just say it straight: hitalech lecha Mishnayos and Gemara and Chumash. It sounds, chaverai, is there something deep going on here? All the brachos are for one purpose: in order to learn Torah and get close to the Ribbono Shel Olam, to do avodas Hashem. That's what it means. Tala shemayim is for Mikra. Shmani Aretz, Mishnah. It's all for the purpose of Torah, and more Torah, and more Torah. And that's what Esav is wondering: Habracha achas hi lecha? You only have one theme? That's it? That's all it's about? It's all about Torah? I'll give you a story to bring out the pshat. Reb Yerucham Levovitz, mashgiach, zechuso yizchereh livrachos, chus yagen aleinu, says something interesting to be noticed, to notice something, a point, that when a person needs parnassah, when a person needs money, yeah, so he davens to the Ribbono Shel Olam for parnassah. Every part of the Shemoneh Esrei, he's able to tie it into the parnassah. Baruch, Hashem bless you. Oh, you give parnassah, bless you, bless you, bless you. I told you, Ribbono Shel Olam, it's You gives parnassah. He parnassah. Magen Avraham, You protect Avraham, and he got parnassah, so me too, parnassah. Mechayeh meisim, I need techiyas hameisim, I need parnassah. Chonen hadaas, I need seichel so I can get parnassah. Hashiveinu, ... if I do teshuvah I'll get parnassah. One track mind. Every part of the Shemoneh Esrei, says Rav Yerucham, turns into what the person is preoccupied with. Says Eisav, I got to hear the brachos. He was preoccupied. Habrachah achas hi lecha, avi. It's all about Torah. It's all one theme: Torah and Torah and more Torah and weiter Torah. You don't think you could give a shtickel brachah, vesaveis l'olam hazeh for me? Okay, I don't need the Torah part. I'm happy that he got the Torah. The brachos that lead to the Torah, good, but maybe, barecheini gam ani, habisah Eisav there.

Maybe there's a meila mazeh for me. He's saying, he used to say over that the Chofetz Chaim would say, and they would read a shidduch family member. Pasuk says, Sheker hachen, v'hevel hayofi. So chen and yofi, it's all sheker. So the Chofetz Chaim would say, Efsher sida bis hale sheker hachen vhevel hayofi? Is there a little bit, maybe a little bit sheker? Because a little bit is needed, right? Avissel dafke in the Chof, you have to know it's sheker hachen vhevel hayofi, but you might need a little bit, because that's what's needed in this world, even for an ehrlich yid. You can't. You need a little bit. But how did the Chofetz Chaim understand it? You got to know the reality. The reality is, Olam hazeh is all about Olam Haba. The reality is, Sheker hachen, ishah yiras Hashem hi tishalal. But in order to function, a person needs a little bit, right? This is what's going on here. Habracha achas hi lecha, Esav is starting to get a bad feeling of what all these brachos are all about, yeah? It's not about Olam hazeh. So what? There's nothing that there's brachos, that a little bit Olam hazeh which you can give me, those brachos Yaakov doesn't need. Borcheini gam ani avi. Vayeisu Esav kolo vayeif. So this is Vayan Yitzchak avi vayomer eilav, Hinei mishmanei haaretz yihyeh moshavecha, umital hashamayim meal. Mital haShamayim me'al. What does he mean, Mishmanei ha'aretz yihyeh moshavecha? Yihyeh moshavecha. You notice that actually this bracha was given to Yaakov, but with a different nusach. Vayitncha Elokim, mital haShamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, without moshavecha. Notice, Yaakov Avinu gets the same bracha: Vayitn lecha Elokim mital haShamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. Yet Esav gets mishmanei ha'aretz, but what's mishmanei ha'aretz? Yihyeh moshavecha. So if you look, Rashi says this is referring to Italy. Zu Italia shel Yavan, a medrash. So the Sifsei Chachamim beautifully explains that that's why we know it means Italy. Why? Because mital haShamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz, it doesn't say moshavecha; it says stam mital haShamayim u'mishmanei ha'aretz. It's going to have the peiros, the fruits. But you, Esav, you're going to get mishmanei ha'aretz; yihyeh moshavecha, where you're going to live is going to be mishmanei ha'aretz, the most beautiful of lands. Yavan, the Alps. You have the Alps, you have, right? The French, and you have the Swiss, and then you have the Italia part. Beauty, beauty, beautiful, right? Mishmanei ha'aretz yihyeh moshavecha. What's the pshat? It depends why a person wants Olam Hazeh. If you want Olam Hazeh so you can grow in Torah. So you don't need mishmanei haaretz. What does that do for you? What does it help you? What, vacation, sightseeing, swimming, sport? What do you need? So what you need is the peiros, the food. Peiros, peiros, the fruit of the land. Like this, you can be able to learn. Esav looks at the chitzoniyus. He needs this world not for learning. He needs it because he enjoys this world. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I'll give you Italy, beautiful country. I'll give you a beautiful car and a beautiful house. America. America. You see, the point, one of the brachos about Yaakov Avinu's brachos, armital hashamayim u'mishmanei haaretz, in order to reach a certain madreigah in Torah. So Olam Hazeh will be blessed in a way that leads to the Torah. For Esav, it's the chitzoniyus. It's the Olam Hazeh sheb'Olam Hazeh. So the Ribbono Shel Olam says, okay, I'll give you the Alps, I'll give you the Italian Alps, I'll give you. My zeide used to say over that in Radin, the Chofetz Chaim, Reb Meir Shapiro, his zeide, when they wanted...

Wanted to eat a little bit more food. They were hungry. They wouldn't ask for another portion of food. They would phrase themselves, Efsher ken mir geben noch a bisl koyach of lernen? Could you give me a little more strength to learn? The portion of food was called. The portion of food was called more koach of learning, because to them, they didn't see a pizza. They didn't see a hamburger. They saw an opportunity to learn. The food was for the purpose of Torah, you hear? Not that they had hamburgers and pizza in Radin. They probably just had kartoflach. But instead of calling it a kartofl, they called it a potato. Instead of calling it a kartofl, what did they call it? Noch a bisl koach of learning, because they understood. They understood what is the purpose and tachlis of this world and the food in this world. If you look, yeah, if you take a look, the pasuk, the pasuk speaks how Yaakov gets the brachos. Hakol kol Yaakov, v'hayadayim yedei Esav. Chazal tell us that when the kol is kol Yaakov, then the yadayim shel Esav are not yadayim shel Esav. Hakol kol Yaakov, v'hayadayim yedei Esav, that the koiches of Yaakov, of kol Yaakov, then there won't be yadayim yedei Esav. So l'choira, how does that play into the brachos, l'choira? I mean, l'choira the brachos we're saying is about Olam Hazeh, for the purpose of reaching Olam Haba. It's for the purpose of learning and davening. So why does the Torah, and why does the nevuah of kol kol Yaakov v'hayadayim yedei Esav follow into this pasuk? When it's kol kol Yaakov, then hayadayim yedei Esav. So what's the pshat? So l'choira you have to say that the brachos of Olam Hazeh is, in a way, when it's kol kol Yaakov. The tenai of hakol kol Yaakov is for the brachos of Olam Hazeh. The minute that it's not kol kol Yaakov v'hayadayim yedei Esav, so Klal Yisrael loses the zechus in Olam Hazeh. It's a condition in Olam Hazeh that in order for Klal Yisrael... To get birchas haaretz, it has to be understanding that the kol kol Yaakov. Because if not, hayadayim yedei Esav, because then he is misgaber in what Olam Hazeh is. You want to know what this world is without Torah? It's war. This world, without Torah, without kiyum hamitzvos, the world is a world of adrasna b'olam. It's a world that self-disintegrates. Hakol kol Yaakov. It's not so much in Yaakov and Esav over here. Pashut, you learn that here the Ribbono Shel Olam is teaching Yaakov Avinu, for Klal Yisrael, the future, that if you don't do what you're supposed to do, then Esav is going to come. So why is this the place in the brachos? How is it only in the bracha? Bracha is in this world, Olam Hazeh, brachos. You want to know, maybe in Rivka, right? Rivka, shetzafah, and a nevuah...

Yam haYitzhak, it's all there. There was a nevuah. What's going to be between the two children? Over here, it's not about the two children. It's about Olam Hazeh and a bracha. So how did it turn into hakel kol Yaakov, v'hayadayim yedei Esav, the nevuah of Yaakov's kol, and then there won't be Esav's yad? Because it's all about Olam Hazeh. If Yaakov makes, Chazal says, al shlosha devarim ha'olam omed: al haTorah, al ha'avodah, al gemilus chasadim. So the world is dependent on the kol kol Yaakov, because if not, then the world can't exist. It turns into yadayim yedei Esav, churban. The world cannot exist without Yaakov's Torah. So the birchas haaretz, which it was, it was brachos. Yitzchok's kavanah was here to give the bracha of shefanei haaretz, tal haShamayim, but it's all dependent on the kol kol Yaakov, v'hayadayim yedei Esav. I want to tell you over something interesting. I was zoche to hang around Alter Mirers, the old Mirers, those that learned by Reb Yerucham. And one such mirror was Reb Anshel Weinhaus. He was from the Mir, a Mirer chevra. And I asked him a lot about Reb Yerucham. I used to have discussions with him. He told me once something interesting. He said that he was once present when a bochur from the yeshiva, one of the Mirers, came over to Reb Yerucham with the following question. He says it's known that Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, when he said Birchas Hashachar in the morning, Hanosein lasechvi vinah lehavchin bein yom uvein laylah, he would dance. He would dance. It sounds like a chassidishe rebbe maiseh. Tell me a maiseh shehayah. A person went over to Rabbi Yerucham and asked this question to Rabbi Yerucham. Now, Rabbi Yerucham didn't deny it. Rabbi Yerucham didn't say, No, it's not true. But what was the question that the person asked? How come we don't have that? How come we're half asleep when we say Hanosein lasechvi vinah? That's at best, that we're half asleep. Sometimes we're completely asleep. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter is dancing. Why don't we have that? So Rabbi Yerucham didn't deny Rabbi Yisrael Salanter's dancing, and he said, I'll tell you why. He said the following. He said that, you ever notice that if a person has a beautiful car and he's the only one on the block that has it, he's very happy, he's very proud, and he shows off this car and he's excited that he's the only one that has it. But if everybody on the block has the same car, so what's the big deal? No matter how beautiful the car is, right, you don't feel any importance because everybody has such a car. He says that when we walk out and we see the sun shining, we think to ourselves, It's not just for me the sun shining. Everybody has it. It's for everybody, so we're not that excited about it. It doesn't affect us that much. Reb Yisroel Salanter, because it was for everybody, is what made him happy. And that's why he was able to dance. Pekech ivrim, everybody opens up their—if you would be the only guy to open up your eyes and see, and everybody else couldn't see, you'd every day, yeah, wow, ... But since everybody is everybody, so what's not a big deal, you know, what's the big deal, yeah? And he says, Hagufos, why Reb Yisroel Salanter used to dance. Ha, Baruch Hashem, everybody's able to see, everybody's able to have clothing, and that's what excited. So said Reb Yeruch. I would like to offer another understanding in it, and I think it's also true, okay? You know, we look at the sun and the clothing and everything that we say in the brachos as Olam Hazeh, it's life, you know, it's life, right? You know, we had this yesterday. We believe pretty much we'll have it tomorrow also. So what's the difference? After a while, you get tired of it. I mean, what's the big deal, right? You're right, the first few times we're excited, but then it becomes habit, so to speak.

Natural, right? But if let's say there was a one-day opportunity, you'd be very excited. We look at it as life, and life, we are getting used to life. Therefore, we don't get that excited from it. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, every morning when he woke up and the sun rose, he realized, why is the sun rising? So I could learn more Torah. Why do I have eyesight, and why do I have clothing, and why? And the answer is, in order for me to be oived HaKadosh Baruch Hu and learn Torah, בכל יום יהיו בעיניך כחדשים. It's a new opportunity every day. Every day it's a new opportunity. You hear? So it comes out that he gets excited every day. Baruch Hashem, I got this sight today, so it's not my eyesight; it's my eyesight, I learn another Tosafos. I have clothing so I can go to the beis medrash to learn another piece of Gemara. So it's not the same thing as yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and the day before. You know, Olam Hazeh, the nicest car in the world, you're going to get used to it after a while. It doesn't mean anything. Then you're going to need something new, and something new, and something more, and something new. But if you look at Olam Hazeh as the opportunities that Olam Hazeh brings for Olam Haba, for Torah, for mitzvahs, that's endless, and every day it's new, and every day that a person gets it, he's excited to the point that he's able to dance and be b'simcha. Sometimes. We take these things for granted. We just had recently—not you, you didn't experience it as much—but in New Jersey, there was power outage. Two weeks. People didn't have electricity for two weeks. We didn't have water for two weeks. I didn't have water in my house for two straight weeks. We didn't have water. And I thought to myself, what was the lesson? What was the lesson? And there's many. Of course, when the Rabbeinu Shalom does something, there's many lessons to be learned from it. What was the lesson here? We take things for granted. It has to be. You wake up in the morning, and I want you to know, the beginning—you know, the first day, I woke up quickly, and I went to the sink, and I opened it up, and then I caught—I realized there's no water coming out. It's almost habit-forming that everything we take for granted, yeah, and m'meila, it's got to be there. The Rabbeinu Shalom is showing us, don't take it for granted. And if you don't have the water, you can't learn. There were so much—the yeshivas, I don't know if you realize how many yeshivas had to stop learning because of this. Understand the tachlis, the tafkid of what Olam Hazeh is, and this becomes a tremendous bracha in itself. And that's what I want to end with. What are the brachos? I think the brachos are the understanding of how to utilize everything. If Olam Hazeh is used the wrong way, and it's viewed the wrong way. That Olam Hazeh could be the most destructive thing in the world. Olam Hazeh could be used in a way where Olam Hazeh is the word. The Gemara tells us, Mi sheyesh lo mana, rotzeh masayim. So there, the Olam Hazeh is detriment to the person, and the more Olam Hazeh, the worse it makes it for the person. Chazal tell us, Hakinah, v'hataivah, v'hakavod motziin es ha'adam min ha'olam. What is the expression, motziin es ha'adam min ha'olam? It takes him out of the world. It should say, meimis. Meimis it, it kills, it's a killer. What is the word motziin, motziin es ha'adam min ha'olam? And the answer could be that kinah and taivah and kavod take a person out of the world that he could live in. The world has so much good, has so much potential. So this is motzi. It takes him out of the world. Not that he's necessarily going to die. A person could live in this world, but it's not called living. Chazal tell us, it's a Gemara in Taanis. The Gemara says that they asked, Alexander Mokdon asked the chachamim...

Who lives? What's life? And the Chachamim answered, על האדם, the moited, הרוצה להחיות ימית עצמו. If you want to live, you should kill yourself. הרוצה למות יחיה עצמו. He should make himself have תענוגי עולם הזה. What does that mean? It means that a person could have physical living, but he's not alive. That's not called life. I told you in the past, if you notice, we give a person a bracha, אריכות ימים ושנים. What is the אריכות ימים and שנים? אריכות שנים, we should give you many years. What's long days and long years? So I heard בשם רבי שלמה זלמן אוירבך זכר צדיק לברכה that a person could live many years, but the days are short because there's nothing in it. And I once gave you a beautiful story to back this up, to show you how I saw this firsthand. I used to go visit cholim in a place called Sharon Manor, near my home in Brooklyn, where I lived when I lived in Brooklyn. And there was a Yid in the shul over there, an elderly Yid. They had a shul in the bottom, and it was a nursing home, an old age home. And he comes to shul, and he sits there, and he's there way early. I walk in there and I ask him, What time is Mincha? Because I wanted to daven Mincha. It was getting Shabbos afternoon. He tells me it's 20 minutes to Mincha. 20 minutes to Mincha. And I took my kids with me, they're sitting there, and I'm thinking, 20 minutes to Mincha. Should I go visit and then come back for Mincha? Should we daven Mincha, then go visit the people? I hear he keeps on repeating, It's 20 minutes to Mincha, 20 minutes to Mincha. I thought maybe he was just trying to remind me, I don't know. Then all of a sudden I hear him saying, It's 19, 19, 19, 19 minutes to Mincha, 19 minutes to Mincha. Then he says, 18, 18 minutes to Mincha. I started to realize, what's the pshat? He has nothing what to do, this person. ... It's an older person. He has no life here. He's counting the minutes from boredom, from boredom, pashut. Okay. Tell you the end of the story. As they say, it's a story with a twist. They came down at 5 o'clock. This was after 20 minutes of him counting, and they announced that they have to prolong the Mincha a little longer. They can't daven Mincha now because the seudah, the meal upstairs, isn't ready yet, whatever. Another 20 minutes. The poor guy now has to count another 20 minutes to Mincha. ... A person can actually breathe, but the life is completely empty. This is... The bracha, the bracha is to be able to tie together Olam Hazeh with Olam Haba, then you have bracha. And I was trying to bring out this in the beginning, the trick, the trick, the chachma, and that's what I think the pshat, rabosai, is as follows. Why did the bracha have to be given in such a way? Yaakov had to fool his way to getting the brachos. And the answer could be like this: he does it, shema b'koili. What does shema b'koili mean? Listen to the ruach hakodesh, Chazal say, the mahalach of how to get brachos Olam Hazeh, the way a person's supposed to, in Yiddish, the tzugehen to them, is supposed to be, because the Ribbono Shel Olam said so, shema b'koili. It couldn't be that he came to get the brachos because he wanted them. He came to get the brachos because the Eibishter said to get them. Again, you know what I'm saying, a miridike pshat. Yankev Avinu, part of the bracha is to accept it because the Eibishter is giving it. But if it's because you want it, then it's not good.

You know why a person needs Olam Hazeh? Because the Ribono Shel Olam said, you have to live in this world. The Ribono Shel Olam said that a person has to be makpid on his health, so he has to go and do exercise. Olam Hazeh is because not I'm looking for myself for what I want, but it's because of Shema b'koili, that that's what the Eibishter wanted. And I think this is also pshat in Bachochma b'mirma. The Targum says, what's mirma? B'chachma. Because the way to deal with the brachos, the way to deal with Olam Hazeh is, tackle with chachma. It needs to be with wisdom. You have to understand what the point of the Olam Hazeh is. You have to understand the balance, when yet and when not. It takes a precision chachma on Yankiv's part to be mekabel the brachos. So this is what I was asking: why did the brachos have to be in such a b'di'eveddik way? Why couldn't the brachos be direct? And the answer is because it is b'di'eved. The whole yesod, you takke need Olam Hazeh, you hear? You takke need Olam Hazeh. But it had to be done in a way that it was Shema b'koili, because the Eibishter said. It's the Eibishter who sent him to get it. It has to be done b'mirma b'chachma, because if not, Eisav is there. Then Eisav—there's an Eisav in Olam Hazeh too. And that's what I'm saying: hakol kol Yaakov, v'hayadayim yedei Eisav is the taich. But Yaakov Avinu has to know that there's two drochim in Olam Hazeh. There's Olam Hazeh which stands for kol Yaakov. But then there's an Esav could come and say, Habrochah achas hi lecha. There's also an Olam Hazeh called my Olam Hazeh. And it has to be b'chochmah that he takes the Olam Hazeh away from the Esav. Maybe in deeper terms I would say, Esav represents the... You know where I know this from? It says clearly in Chazal. It's a mefurash Chazal. You know, Esav was born with a tattoo on himself. A snake. He had a tattoo. He was born with it. Nach shrichai. It says Yaakov, Esav is ish sadeh, ish nachshrichai. The Medrash, the Targum says ish nachshrichai. The pshat is he had a snake on him. The Chasam Sofer is masbir, because he represents the snake, the... On his leg. On his leg. It's mefurash Chazal. It's a mefurash Targum. No, he was born with it. He was born with it. It says clearly he was born with it. You hear? What's the pshat? Pshat is, I'll tell you even more. You want to hear even more? I'll tell you more. You notice that Yaakov Avinu is grabbing onto the foot of Esav. Why the foot? Why does it have to be that he grabs onto the foot? So you could come and say, Ah, it's, it's ... it's ... Now, it's Rishonim ask this question. So the Baal HaTurim says, chiddush nifla. Baal HaTurim says, but the pshat is he didn't want to hurt his mother upon delivery. So once his mother opened the womb to deliver Esav, he was going to sneak out with Esav. This was in order not to cause an extra labor, pain of a labor to his mother. The ... Taisis say that the reason why he's holding on, because remember, Esav is called chazir meyar. Chazir meyar. He's considered the chazir, right? He represents Amalek. He represents the one thing that the chazir shows always is his feet, that I'm kosher. So that's the only part of something which a little bit kosher. So Yaakov grabs onto that. He wants to have nothing to do with Esav. Have nothing to do with Esav. It's unbelievable that he grabs onto the feet because the feet...

is the only part which represents a little bit kosher. Chazal tells that the pig sticks its feet out. As a matter of fact, the Gemara says that le'asid, the chazir will become kosher. I don't know that, but it says it will become kosher. That's what Chazal said. And Mashiach comes, the chazir — that's why it's called chazir, yachzor — it's going to return. No, it's brought down, brought down in the mefarshim, chazir, that eventually it's going to come back. What's the pshat, rabosai? Chazir is a taych. It shows its hooves, which means, take a look, Olam Hazeh, it's kosher, it's kosher. You hear? Come, come. What do we say? Get to see a little bit further. It's all chazir, it's the worst of the worst. If you don't do it right, and you drag along Esav, you get with Esav, then you have a whole different Olam Hazeh. He tries to get you. He's a nachash. He's nachash. He's the Satan. He's there to convince you. So that's the pshat. Yaakov Avinu b'mirmah has to know how to deal with Olam Hazeh. He has to steal the Olam Hazeh away from Esav. What Esav is trying to sell you an Olam Hazeh, you're supposed to come and outsmart and use the Olam Hazeh for Klal Yisrael Yaakov. And that's why it's taka Klal Yisrael ... Esav. It goes hand in hand. Baalei mussar always say, either you're oleh, either you go up, or you're yored. There's no middle. There's no middle. Either it's Klal Yaakov, which means you're utilizing Olam Hazeh properly, or you're ... Esav. That's why it's b'ochicha b'mirmah. You have to be with chochmah. I would use the expression, a veg ganven in the Olam Hazeh. You have to know how to steal away Olam Hazeh for the right reasons. The world uses Olam Hazeh for the wrong reasons. We have to utilize it. That utilization has to be b'mirmah. It has to be shma b'koli, the Ribono Shel Olam is telling you, and that's with the chochmah of understanding why Olam Hazeh. When we understand why Olam Hazeh, then we can utilize. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.