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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)
We resume the weekly Parsha review. This week's Parsha is Parsha's Vayetse, the seventh portion of the book of Genesis and the seventh portion from the beginning of the Torah. There are 148 verses, 2,021 words and 7,512 letters, and we mention this every week because it's important for us to constantly be reminded that there isn't an extra letter in the Torah. There's not a single letter in the Torah. There isn't a single word or a single verse. Let's just throw it in for flavor. It's there for a reason. There are no Mitzvahs in this week's Parsha, no performative Mitzvahs and no prohibitions. So let's begin, let's jump right in. It starts with the dream. After fleeing from Asav in Bersheva, yaakov sets out to Charon. Yaakov is now looking for a wife and he heads down to Rivka, his mother's hometown, after 14 years in Yeshiva, sheva, eber, yaakov travels and reaches Mount Moriah. He's tired and Yaakov stops to rest. He takes 12 stones and puts them around his head as protection, and Yaakov sleeps in dreams of angels ascending and descending a ladder from heaven. Hashem promises Yaakov the land of Israel and that he will father a great nation and he will enjoy divine protection. This is all there while he is having this dream at Mount Moriah. We'll see soon what this means and why this is so important. Yaakov wakes up and recognizes the holiness of the place Vayivka Bamakom the place. We'll have to define what the place means. He takes the stone and makes it an altar and promises to tithe all that he will receive Anything that he receives in life he's going to give a tithe. Okay, now it's time for marriage. So Yaakov travels to Charon and meets Rachel, his cousin, at the well Again, remember last time when Abraham sent Eliezer to go find the wife for his son Isaac? What happened? He also found Rebekah at the well. The well is telling us someone who's overflowing. They just teach us that a scholar should not be like a cup that gets filled and gets emptied, but rather it should be an overflowing well where you're constantly putting in more wisdom and it just overflows. That's the way Torah should be taught. The goodness, the kindness that we see from Rebekah and we see this from Rachel and we see this from Lea, was a kindness that was overflowing from within. The metaphor of the well is not just that. Oh, they happen to be hanging out at the well. That was the local 7-Eleven where they were hanging out. No, they were there because this represented their virtues, their qualities.
03:07
He arranges, with love in her father, to work seven years for Rachel's hand in marriage. But love unfools, yaakov substituting Rachel's older sister, lea. And Yaakov agrees to work another seven years to also marry Rachel. And he works for seven years hoping he's going to get his betrothed, desired wife Rachel. And instead the father swaps out the brides and that's the, the veil that we have at our chupas. That same veil is what she wore. He wasn't able to tell who was under. Now we'll see in a minute what exactly transpired.
03:44
Let's just finish the timeline of the portion, then we'll go into details. The tribes are then born Lea, beers, seven children Ruvane, shimon, levi, yehuda, yisachar, zivulun and Dina, the daughter. And then Rachel is barren and gives Yaakov her handmaiden Bilhah, as a wife. Bilhah has Dan and Avtali. Lea also gives her handmaiden Zilpa, who beers God and Asher to Yaakov as well. And then Hashem heats Rachel's prayers.
04:16
Rachel gets pregnant and beers a son named Yosef Joseph, after 14 years, as we mentioned that he was working for Lavan, yaakov wants to return to Beersheva. However, lavan, his father-in-law, convinces him to stay, offering him a good package. He offers him a good retirement package and he says I'll give you sheep so that you can have your own flock as well. You can build your own wealth. Lavan tries to swindle Yaakov, but Hashem blesses Yaakov and becomes extremely wealthy. Yaakov becomes extremely wealthy as many, many, many, many more sheep than Lavan already. And after six years, yaakov, aware that Lavan has become dangerously resentful of his wealth, flees with his family while Lavan is away for a few days. Upon learning about their departure, lavan pursues them but is warned by Hashem not to harm them. Yaakov and Lavan agree to a covenant at Mount Gal-Aid and Lavan returns home. Yaakov and his family travel back to the Holy Land with protection from heavenly angels.
05:24
So now let's dig a little deep into this partial what's really going on here. So the first thing is we said that Vayivka Bamochom Yaakov was walking, traveling to Haran, hoping to find a wife in his mother's hometown, and he arrives at the place. What is the place? Our sages tell us Kizheh Shah Hashem, and this is the gateway to heaven. You want to know where our connection to heaven is, from this earth to the upper worlds. You know what that is. That's where our temple is. That's the Western Wall. You want to know the most disputed land in the history of the world.
06:06
It's funny because I searched this while I was writing my notes. I searched what's the most disputed land on earth in the history of the world, and you know what they write someplace out in Kenya that no one's ever heard of, but it's obviously Jerusalem forever since the creation of the world, the dispute about Jerusalem. Why? Because this is the core of the entire creation. The future site of the temple is going to be there. The Akheda, the binding of Isaac, was there, and this is the eternal battle for Jerusalem. Is this place this land? Okay, so now it's. This place is where Yaakov was.
06:55
Yaakov went to sleep, but this is where his father, isaac, prayed the Mincha prayer that Rebecca saw him praying. It says the Yitzchak, the Suach, the Sadeh. He went to pray in the field. It's that same place and it says about Abraham that he went up the mountain when he brought Isaac, as in the binding of Isaac. Same place. This is a very, very special place. That's what we call our homeland, it's what we call our holy land and this is the where our Sages tell us that all of our prayers. Whenever we pray here from Houston, texas, what direction do we face? We face east, facing towards Jerusalem. Why? Because that's where our prayers travel to Jerusalem and from there to the heavens.
07:41
Now, we mentioned that Yaakov learned in a Yeshiva called shame and Aver. Who were these two individuals? So shame was from the from the decadent generation of the flood and Aver from the generation of the Tower of Babel, and Yaakov gained the tools to cope with corruption and indecency. These two individuals realized that their generation was no good and they decided they need to discover Torah, they need to discover godliness, and they created an institution of Torah study because, as we mentioned previously, the Torah was given prior to creation and here they had an opportunity to study Hashem's Torah and to learn and to become holy and to become godlike and to learn to stay away from things that are corrupt and to stay away from indecent behavior, creating, hopefully, a culture, a society that is upstanding, that is proper. That was the purpose of the Yeshiva and that's where Yaakov went. Isaac learned there as well, abraham learned there as well. This is where the Torah was being spread, even prior to the Torah being given to the Jewish people.
08:52
Now Yaakov travels and our say just tell us. When it says that he left. It says one word the beginning of those districts, the name of this week's pastures they ate, say Jacob went out. What do you mean? He went out? What is the Torah need to tell us? You just tell us that he traveled. No, no, no, he went out from where he was and he went to. What's the idea?
09:13
The righteous people in a city have an impact. When they come, they have an impact, and when they leave, when they arrive and when they depart, there is an impact on the city. There is influence. There's tremendous power that Holy, righteous people like Jacob had on their entire community. When he left town, there was a certain blessing that was taken with him. There's a holy, heavenly, divine protection that was taken with him as well, and that's. Our sages tell us that you see a sonic when. I'm okay. When a sonic leaves a town, the divine presence leaves with him as well. It's important for us to always stay in the midst of the righteous Because they, they are a protection for us. There's another important thing Is that our sages tell us that whenever someone leaves their regular routine, they're in danger.
10:08
Traveling is very exciting for many. For some people, it's very anxiety inducing. Some people get very nervous before they fly, but there's something that happens when someone travels, that they suddenly feel like you know, we can do things that we perhaps wouldn't do in our typical ordinary day-to-day life. That our sages tell us Be cautious, be careful, don't just behave. Right now I'm out in Mexico, so nobody knows that I'm jewish. No, no, no, you carry your judeism with you. You don't leave it at home and say, oh, when I'm not used and I can just walk around differently. A person always needs to represent the relationship they have with God, no matter where they are.
10:55
And it says that about yako, that when yako traveled, he traveled the way he behaved at home. He traveled with the same dignity, he traveled with the same awareness of God and didn't allow his the fact that he was traveling Take away from his elevated state of spirituality. The next is, if you realized, when we started talking about the parasha, I said that yako took 12 stones and placed them around his head, but later I said yako took the stone Singular and made it into an altar. What happened? Was it stones or was it a stone? Our sages tell us that these stones were a prophecy Of the 12 tribes that yako was going to have, and that all of the stones were fighting, saying I want the tzadik, I want this righteous person, jacob, to put his head on me. So what happened? It was a miracle that happened and these 12 stones became one stone. They all combined to become one stone.
12:01
Sages tell us we mentioned this previously by imparsious Haesara, if you remember, when Abraham bought the property for the burial Of sarah, it says, by yakams de afron, the field of afron became elevated. Or because now to abrahams, we as human beings, with our spiritual connection, are able to elevate the physical and take that physical to a honu level. Physical doesn't need to mean that it's something which is lowly and something which is materialistic. We can take our materialism and elevate it. So you know what? You have a nice car. You can use it to do mitzvahs, you can give people rides, you can deliver Meals on wheels, you can go Volunteer with it, you can do things with it. It's not a problem for a person to have Materialism, for a person to have physical objects of luxury not a problem, but make it holy, sanctify it, uplift it.
13:09
And here we see that yakov had that influence on the stones. The stones Melted together, became one stone. It's also representative of how the divine wants us to Always have peace. Don't fight, become one. You're much stronger as one than you are as 12 separate parts, and you can. You can tear one piece of paper. You can tear two pieces of paper, but try to take 20 pieces of paper and tear it Together. They become stronger. When we're united, we're much stronger, and that's, I think, another hidden message of why the twelve stones became one, signifying to the future generations, to the tribes. Stay together, stay strong, be one. We need as a people. We need to stop with the divisiveness of labels and movements and all of this nonsense.
14:12
A Jew is a Jew is a Jew, and you have to understand that. The Germans didn't say oh, you're an Orthodox Jew, go to the gas chambers. You're a Reformed Jew, you're fine. No, it wasn't the case, it was everyone. You're a Jew. That's what counted, and it shouldn't be any different in our generation, where we should feel the love for one another, regardless of our politics, regardless of our membership. Quote, unquote every Jew and we talk about this so many times in our classes here the importance of shearing Torah. Don't keep the Torah to yourself. It's not yours, it belongs to every single Jew Moroza, kihilas, yaakov. It's an inheritance for every Jew, it belongs to them. Let's give them what they deserve. Let's give them what belongs to them.
15:03
Another thing that we learned from this dream is that Yaakov sees a ladder and our sages tell us we mentioned this at the end of last week's class that the ladder signifies a step by step process of growth. You cannot grow by jumping. You jump, you fall. You've got to take a small step at a time, one small step at a time. It's one small step for man, one huge leap for mankind. That's what becomes of a person who takes a small step. You take one little step. Guess what happens For your whole existence? You change it into a huge leap Because when you take small steps, the impact is almost indiscernible right now, but over time it makes an enormous difference. If you take a plane leaving New York and you move it just one degree instead of flying to Los Angeles, it'll end up in Mexico One degree. Right at the beginning it doesn't seem like very much, but over time it makes a huge, huge difference.
16:17
What we're learning here the angels don't need ladders to go up and go down. Some of our sages say that these were Moses and Aaron that Jacob was seeing in a prophecy. It was Moses and Aaron going up and down, but the idea here more than just that, they don't need a ladder. So why is there a ladder? To teach us Take a small step at a time. That is the proper process of growth.
16:45
Our sages also tell us that Yaakov's physical and spiritual tithe. Yaakov says from everything that I earn, from everything that you bless me with Hashem, I'm going to give a tithe. I'm going to give away 10% Y in recognition. Tithing, by the way, is not a Christian thing, it's a Jewish thing. Everything you earn, you're to give away 10% Y to remind you that it's a gift from Hashem. Every time you get a paycheck, put away 10%. That doesn't belong to you. That's Hashem's account. Hashem would have given you, instead of $100, he would have given you $90. He gave you an extra 10%. You know why? So that you should distribute it for him.
17:29
By the way, something that people many times confuse, tithing and charity are different. The tithing doesn't belong to you. Charity is of what's yours. Of that, 90% that's remaining. That's what you give charity. So we give charity beyond the arrow, 10%. Beyond the arrow, 10%. You take care of Hashem's account. Hashem will take care of your account. People are like, oh, but I can't afford it.
17:59
I have a story I've mentioned many times about a friend of mine who was very, very poor and had a big challenge wanted to stop giving a tithe. He goes to the rabbi. The rabbi says promised that you're going to give 20%, not 10%. He says 20%. He says that's crazy. I came to not pay the 10% because I can't afford it. Now he's telling me to promise you give 20%. And his wife says 20% of nothing is still nothing, so why not? The rabbi said you'll be blessed. And they started giving 20% of everything they earned and the success, the blessing that they've seen I heard this from him, he spoke about it at our home Just unbelievable.
18:38
So we have another responsibility and that is a tithe which Jacob shows. He gives a tithe of his children, meaning lavy, the tribe of lavy, which they were the scholars. Go sit and learn. Don't earn a living, don't do it. Everyone give up your time and our sages of this generation say that each one of us need to give a tithe of our time to other Jews. Go reach out to people, give a tithe of your time. God gives you an hour. Give 10% of it, give six minutes for other Jews. That could be sharing a podcast, sharing a video, doing something special for another person, but that's a 10% of our day for up for 16 hours. That's some time to give 10% of our time for other people. Another thing is that the future redemption of the Jewish people will come in the merit of Rachel. Why? Because of the story that happens in this week's Torah portion.
19:48
The most remarkable story in history is the story of this week's Torah portion. What happens? So Levan Laban, right is tricking Jacob. Now Jacob is a smart guy. He knows that his father-in-law your future father-in-law is not the exact example of righteousness. He works for him. He knows he's a cheater, he knows he's a scoundrel. So he makes a sign. He tells Rachel Rachel, just in case there's any shenanigans, this is the, these are the keys, these are the signs Now, under the chuppah, under the canopy, when we're about to get married, you tell me those signs and that way I'll know it's you. He thought this was going to happen. He expected it to happen. What happens is the whole excitement of the wedding and everyone's dressed up and Jacob's in his tuxedo and everyone's right and the photographer's there and everything is like it's exciting.
20:49
It goes out to Rachel that, by the way, you're not going down the chuppah tonight, your sister is. So imagine, is he like I know the codes? She doesn't. All right, okay, good luck. No, no, no, I thought what happens. She says in that case, give her these codes, tell her under the chuppah. When Jacob asks you give him these codes. Now why would she do that? This is her betrothed and she knows that her father's not honest. She knows that it's a very high likelihood that Jacob will not work another seven years for her hand of marriage, now that he's married to these, going to be married to Leia, the sister, she gives the codes. Why she gives the codes? So that her sister not be ashamed and embarrassed.
21:42
Imagine she goes up to the chapa. You know the music is playing and it's so everyone's like wow, this is so impressive. This is Jacob, what a righteous person. And this is Lea, not Rachel, who walks down the chapa. And now they're there and the rabbi is about to officiate the wedding and he says what's the code, what's the code? And she says the code and he's like okay, but what's if she didn't know the code? What would Jacob do? He says you see, love on, you're a cheat. Where's my wife? Where's my Rachel? You're swapping the sisters on me. Rachel saw that her sister was going to be embarrassed. She says I don't want my sister to be embarrassed. I'm willing to give away my life, I'm willing to give away my future, I'm willing to give away the 12 tribes of Israel, I'm willing to give away everything just so that my sister not be embarrassed.
22:42
And later the Magrish tells us that all of the righteous patriarchs and matriarchs said that the future coming of Mashiach, which will come speedily in our days, amin, in whose merit is it going to be? And Abraham says you know, I was going to give my son as an offering on the God says that's very nice, but that doesn't do it. Isaac says look, I was ready to be an offering. No, it's not enough. And each one of our patriarchs and matriarchs said that in their merit, the future redemption should be given to the Jewish people. Hashem says it's going to be in the merit of Rachel.
23:19
Meen ii, kolech mi bechii. You don't need to cry, rachel. Ki yeish sachar lipe ulatech. There is a reward for your action. You are ready to give up everything for your sister not to be embarrassed. In that merit, the Jewish people are going to get their future redemption In your merit, rachel.
23:39
It's the most remarkable act of selflessness. She's ready to give up her entire life, her entire existence, her entire future, the love of her life. She's ready to give away just so that her sister not be embarrassed, but she not be ashamed. That's our matriarch. That's Rachel. She was ready to give up everything. How much are we ready to give up for someone else not to be embarrassed? Or say, just tell us that someone who's embarrassed publicly, it's as if their blood was spilled, they were murdered.
24:24
Rachel wasn't ready to see her sister be murdered. She wasn't ready to see her sister be embarrassed. Imagine she's under the chuppa and Jacob gets up and he's like okay, there's a change in program here tonight. Everyone go back home, we're going to figure this out and we'll. You know it would be embarrassing. Rachel didn't want that. I'm sure she sat there at the wedding and danced as her sister took away the show. That reward is the reward that the Jewish people will forever be thankful to Rachel for that.
25:04
We'll see next week that when Rachel dies with the birth of Benjamin, her youngest, she asks not to be buried in the cave of Machpelau with the rest of the matriarchs and patriarchs, with Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Leah, but she asks to be buried in a different place on the way to Bethlehem. Why? Because when the Jewish people are going to be in exile and their temple is going to be destroyed twice, they're going to be leaving through there to travel to Babylon. They should have a place to stop and pray, which is why it is so precious. Rachel's tomb is the most precious place for prayer on planet earth because it's the only place that was created for prayer. Everything else was created for a different purpose. The western wall. We go to pray there. Well, it wasn't created for prayer. It was created where we brought, where we had the temple, where we brought offerings. There were other purposes. It wasn't created for prayer. Rachel's tomb is the only place on planet earth that was created only so that Jewish people have a place to pray. Very powerful place.
26:23
Rachel was such a unique, remarkable character. Let's take from her incredible character traits, her great meadows, and bring them into our lives. Another important thing is that we see that Rachel was not negatively or Leah were not negatively impacted by lovin'. They lived in their father's home and their father being a cheat, their father being dishonest, they still were able to maintain a proper conduct. They were able to, and it's interesting that we see that there's so much negativity from the house that they grew up in and they maintain their own righteousness. They maintain their own level of greatness, notwithstanding that their father was a constant negative influence. They were able to maintain themselves, stay pure.
27:21
And we we talk about influences a lot. We're influenced more than we can imagine, but we need to keep ourselves pristine. We need to keep ourselves holy, and it's our job. No one's going to do it for us. It's our job to always look out for our own spirituality. It's our job to look out for our family's spirituality and holiness. And guess what? If television isn't a good influence, get rid of it. If cable internet isn't good, if the cable television or if the internet or if the smartphones isn't good, get rid of it. We are the gatekeepers of our own environment and we can't say you know what, I'll just be like Rachel or like Leia and I won't be influenced by my negative you know, by my environment. We need to take steps and measures to ensure that our environment is one which is wholesome, one that is a good influence to us. Shem should bless us. We should learn the lessons from this week's Torah portion, this holy portion of Ayeetze, and, god willing, have an amazing Shabbos.