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A refreshing and clear review of each Parsha in the Torah presented by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe
00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody to the Weekly Parsha Review. This week is Parshas Toldos. It is the sixth portion, the sixth Parsha in the book of Beraeus in Genesis and the sixth Parsha since the beginning of the Torah. There are 106 verses, 1432 words, 5,426 letters. Important to know is that there's not an extra letter in the Torah, there's not an extra word in the Torah and there's not an extra verse in the Torah. As we see every single week, the words mean something. Every single word that's in the Torah is there for a reason and we're going to go through the journey of this week's Torah portion. So we have the beginning of the Torah portion talks about that after 20 years of marriage, yitzchak's prayers are answered and Rivka conceives twins. The pregnancy is extremely painful as the kids inside her belly are always fighting.
01:01
Hashem reveals to Rivka via Sheim. She goes Lydrosha sashem. The Torah says what is Lydrosha sashem? She goes to the Rabbi and she asks the Rabbi. The Rabbi doesn't just have all the answers. I know people think that sometimes we do. We don't have the answers. His name was Sheim and Hashem sends a prophecy, like message to Sheim that the kids will be the fathers of two great nations and the suffering is a microcosmic prelude to the worldwide conflict that will rage between the two great nations, rome and Israel. The younger one will eventually rule the older one. That's why they were fighting even before they were born.
01:49
Asav is born first, and then Yaakov, holding on to Asav's heel. Asav is hairy and redheaded and becomes a hunter, a man of the physical world, of the material world, whereas Yaakov is peaceful and sits in the tents of learning Torah and developing his soul. There are two worlds that one can be engaged in not simultaneously Either in the internal spiritual world or the external, physical, materialistic world. You cannot be digging into both of them. You can't have your hands in both. One will always come at the expense of the other. If a person decides to elevate his materialistic levels, he's going to diminish his spiritual levels. If, the opposite, he elevates his spirituality, his materialism goes down. The more one invests in spiritual pursuits, the less they're interested in materialistic pursuits. It goes hand in hand.
02:55
The second part of this weak Torah portion deals with the birthright sale After Avraham's funeral. Abraham died, abraham had a funeral. Asav goes hunting while Yaakov cooks lentils for the traditional mourner's meal. Round foods are eaten after a funeral and the reason is so that we remember that life comes and goes. Everything that God has created is round, if you notice, to always remind us that things come and go. Come and go. Life begins and life ends. It's always a circle of times that are great and times that are not so great, and times that are great and times that are not so great. It's life is a circle.
03:42
Asav rushes in ravenous from a hard day's hunting and demands give me to eat. He demands Yaakov pour the food down his throat. Yaakov conditions this on Asav selling him his firstborn birthright. Asav agrees with its accompanying spiritual responsibilities for the lentil. He sells his firstborn birthright and gives it to Yaakov, including the blessings that will come with it, demonstrating his unworthiness for the position of firstborn. The birthright gave Yaakov the future privilege to serve in the holy temple.
04:26
Asav didn't behave appropriately to serve in God's temple. He hunted and killed and didn't have respect for life. So this is the definition of someone who's unworthy of serving God in the temple Someone who doesn't value life, someone who doesn't appreciate godliness. It's interesting we mentioned last week that Asav, in his mind, was perfect, spiritual, but his body, his body, wasn't up to it his body. Sometimes we know things in our mind. For example, we know that the speed limit is the fastest we should drive, yet our body wants to get someplace faster. We mentioned this when we talked last week about Asav's head that was buried in the cave of the doubles in the cave of Machpella. And why was only the head buried there? Remember? Because his head was righteous. His body didn't follow suit. Then comes a famine. A famine strikes the land of Canaan.
05:36
Yitzchak thinks of escaping to Egypt. Hashem tells him that because he was bound as a sacrifice in the binding of Isaac, he has become holy and must remain in the holy land, which is very, very interesting. My rabbi, rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz, sharing the same name as Yitzchak Avino, doesn't leave Israel. He wasn't born in Israel, he was born in New York, in the Bronx, and he says that he considers his relationship with the land of Israel like marriage and leaving Israel would be a divorce, and therefore he's been offered tremendous things for him to come to the United States imagine if I had the privilege of having him come visit us here in the torch center. That would be amazing. You know right, it would be incredible doesn't leave Israel and think it's something very interesting to note that you have a special relationship with the land when it's a land of holiness and you are holy.
06:36
He relocates to Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, where to protect Rivka. He also says that she is his sister. They become famous and immensely wealthy. The Philistines grow jealous. Avimelech, the king, asks him to leave. Yitzchak miraculously redigs the three wells that were dug by his father, abraham, asak, sitna and Rahovot, prophetically alluding to the three temples the two temples that we have already had and the third temple that will be built speedily in our days. Amin, king Avimelech sees Yitzchak is blessed by Hashem and makes a treaty with him, just like he made a treaty with Abraham.
07:20
Now comes the blessing Isaac. Yitzchak Avino is old, he's blind and senses his end is approaching. He summons Asav to bless him. Rivka, acting prophetically, arranges for Yaakov to impersonate Asav and receive the blessings. When Asav, in frustration, reveals to his father that Yaakov has bought the first right, yitzchak realizes that the birthright has been bestowed correctly on Yaakov and confirms the blessing to Yaakov. Asav vows to kill Yaakov. Rivka sends Yaakov to Haran, to her brother Lavon, to find a suitable wife. Yaakov is also commanded to only choose of the Hebrews, and that's a very important lesson we'll see in a minute. So now we get to the important lessons portion Rifgah.
08:19
As we mentioned, the matriarchs were barren. Hashem doesn't give a person a challenge that they cannot handle. Hashem made Rifgah barren so that she can pray. He loved her prayers, he loved the connection with our matriarchs and patriarchs, who were so holy and righteous. And, like the example we've given, when a child says something really sweet and cutely like even a lollipop can have a lollipop right and they say it in a really sweet, cute way, you take away the lollipop and you say say it again. Say it again. All right, say it again. Hashem wanted Sarah, rebecca, rachel, who were all barren. He wanted their prayers. Abraham Isaac and Jacob prayed, prayed and prayed relentlessly. Hannah prayed relentlessly. God loved their prayers and gave them their wish. So if something doesn't go your way, just know that Hashem predestined that for you and he wants you to talk to him. It's a flag where God says I want your prayer, talk to me Now.
09:35
The struggle between Jacob and Asav is the struggle of two worlds the physical and the spiritual world. In the beginning of the Torah we say Bereish is Baralikim, the beginning. God created Es Hashemayim v'es ar. It's the heavens and the earth, the spirituality and the physicality. These two opposites coexist in the world we live in today, in the world that Hashem created, every day.
09:59
That is the struggle of man. Are we going to be heavily invested in the physical world or are we going to be heavily invested in the spiritual world? This was the struggle with Noah. Noah goes into the Torah, he goes into what we call the study hall. He goes into the study hall and outside it's raining and outside there are distractions and outside there's advertising and marketing trying to grab our attention. But we have to remember that in order, we have to be in our arc, we have to maintain our own holiness and our purity in our own midst. That is the struggle of every human being. Yeah, we can go out to the malls and you know what you're going to see. You're going to see a lot of things that are inappropriate. You're going to see a lot of things that are calling your attention. Or you can just stay in your own house and protect yourself, guard yourself from the negative external influences, because that is the constant struggle.
11:01
The constant struggle of mankind is the struggle between the physical and the spiritual. Now, in Judaism, we have something unique when we talk about physical and spiritual, is that we don't shut out all physical. You know, in other religions they, in order to be holy, in order to be pristine, in their opinion we have to be completely isolated from all materialism. That's not so in Judaism. In Judaism, what we do is we say, take that physical, like the delicious bagels that you're eating now, take that marriage, that physical relationship you have, and elevate it. How do we elevate our food? We say a blessing, we recite a blessing, and that blessing elevates the experience of the food that we're eating. It's no longer physical, it becomes spiritual food. What happens with a relationship done right? It gets elevated. It becomes now not only a physical relationship, it becomes a spiritual, uplifting relationship. Asa only caring about how things look. He cares about how it looks, it's all external, it's not about the fulfillment of it.
12:20
Next is the three temples. We mentioned that there were three temples that were represented in the wells that were dug. This is a prophecy that we're going to have these three temples. One was destroyed after 400 years, one was destroyed after 410 years and the third one has not yet been revealed to us. Our hope and our prayer is that our sages tell us that every mitzvah that one does builds another brick on that temple.
12:56
That third temple is not going to be built like an ordinary temple. It's going to descend from the heavens, our sages tell us. Now, descending from the heavens doesn't mean that it's going to be like a movie. It just drops down on the temple mount. It could be that it's going to be an abnormal, supernatural fashion. How it happens, our sages teach us that we don't know all the details of how the future, when Mashiach comes, how that's going to happen, but what we do know is that it's going to be in miraculous times. Right now we're living in miraculous times. Right now we're living in times that are supernatural, things that are going on in the world that we're looking around and saying how is this happening, to the good and to the not so good?
13:51
Hashem should bless us. We should all merit to see with our own eyes the third temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. I mean, yitzchak is blind. Hashem didn't want Asaph to get the blessing. That's why everything Hashem does is for a reason we mentioned, and even Isaac becoming blind, which doesn't happen to every person who gets old. We see it happen to Isaac, it happened to Jacob also, but it doesn't happen to everyone. Hashem didn't want him to see Asaph's wicked ways and Hashem didn't want him to see that he was giving the blessing to Jacob. What happened, was supposed to happen, and what happens to each and every one of us is supposed to happen to us.
14:35
Yaakov, it says Hakol Kol Yaakov. When Yaakov comes to get the blessing, it says Hakol Kol Yaakov. Vah Yadaim Dei Esav. The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esav. It's not Isaac telling a tale of what's in front of him. He's saying a prophecy of how we conduct our ways.
14:58
The nations of the world are about violence. The Jews use your voice, talk, communicate, verbally. Don't communicate physically. Additionally, our sages tell us that there is a law of nature, and the law of nature is Esav sonne esyakov. Esav hates Jacob. It's. This is the reality.
15:22
We have to understand that antisemitism is not a new thing. Antisemitism is not something. Oh well, in the past 80 years, there's been an uprising of antisemitism. It has been an uptick in the United States More. No, it's always been happening. My friends, you know why.
15:39
We mentioned this in our Talmud class, in the Thinking Talmudist podcast. Guess what? Hashem uses the nations of the world to whip us into shape. When we go astray, when we go awry and we are heading in the wrong direction, hashem uses the nations of the world to wake us up. Yesterday there was a terrible, terrible, devastating tragedy in Jerusalem. A 16-year-old Yeshiva boy was murdered by a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem. You know the only answer we have to that To Teshuvah Repent. Get closer to God. They only have the power to touch us if Hashem allows it. And why would Hashem allow it? We're his loving nation. He loves us. Why would he allow this? Oh, we're going astray. He wants us to strengthen ourselves, to become more resolved in our service of Hashem, to become more committed in our service of Hashem.
16:46
Guess what we observe Shabbos? Let's do it a little better. We pray. Let's do it a little better. We do mitzvahs. Let's do it a little better. And every person can find for themselves what is the little better that they can do. What is a something I can add, something I can improve, something I can enhance in the way I do my mitzvahs. That's the only weapon we have. Kol kol, yaakov. We have the voice. The voice. Talk to Hashem. Accept upon ourselves with our voice to do better. That's the tool we have Now.
17:25
Yaakov is sent to Chharan to avoid conflict. Why doesn't Yaakov just stay there and say hey, buddy, guess what? You sold me the first born birthright. Now guess what? That's the price of doing business. You made a transaction, you lost your right. You know why our sages tell us avoid conflict, avoid conflict, do whatever, even if you're right. There's no need to stand there in their face and say, yeah, yeah, come on, right. That's not the Jewish attitude. So Rivka sends Yaakov away. She says go, go to my brother's house.
18:09
He ends up learning in the Yeshiva of Sheva Ever for 14 years, becomes a tremendous Torah scholar. He was righteous to begin with, but he comes to tremendous Torah scholars We'll see next week. He stops at Mount Moriah, which is where his father was brought as an offering and the binding of Isaac, and he goes to sleep there. That's where the temple is going to be built and he has the division of a ladder where the angels are ascending and descending from the heavens An unbelievable image for us to understand a step-by-step growth process. It's a ladder. They don't need ladders. Last I checked, the angels don't need ladders. They're teaching us the weight of proper growth, but also what we see from this by Yaakov, avoiding the conflict is that Mishnah teaches us never try to appease someone in their moment of anger.
19:07
If someone is angry, someone is upset, don't come over and say oh I'm so sorry, please forgive me, that's not the time. Wait till their anger has passed, and sometimes that anger can take a week, it can take a month, it can take a year, it can take 10 years. Wait till the time passes, wait till the right time comes and then you can ask for forgiveness. Then we have the admonition to marrying a Canaanite woman.
19:39
Intermarriage today is our Holocaust. My grandfather said this time and again. We think the Holocaust was just that of Germany. Today in the United States we are experiencing a spiritual Holocaust that is almost unrecognizable. People don't realize when I hear from people all over the world that the intermarriage rates are just skyrocketing. It's devastating. It's devastating.
20:16
So here's the question what are we doing here in our class? What are we doing to stop intermarriage? What are we doing to stop assimilation? You know what we do? We learn Torah, because when someone knows why they're Jewish and why it's important, they make better decisions.
20:36
It's only when someone is ignorant of their own precious religion, of their own precious relationship with Hashem that they see it's meaningless. Like what does it mean? If it's only about gefilte fish and matzabal soup, then what's the purpose? I can have that if I'm married to an Asian woman? Heaven forbid. That's not what it's about. What it's about is about a relationship with God that will be severed by children not being Jewish, and I've seen people be so regretful and remorseful. I wish, rabbi, you would have told me this 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. I would have chosen differently, but then it's too late.
21:22
We need to arm ourselves with knowledge. We need to arm ourselves with a connection with our own Judaism and a passion for it, and when we have that connection, that is when we'll be able to stop intermarriage in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. You have some wisdom. Share it. You have some knowledge in Judaism Share it. Don't keep it to yourself. Use your voice, the voice of Yaakov, and share your Torah with the world. My dear friends, thank you so much. This concludes the Parsha review for Parshas Toldos.