Hanna's Dvar Torah

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In this week’s Parasha Toldot, Isaac and Rebeca give birth to twins: Esau and Jacob. Even though they were twins, they did not look alike at all. Esau was a hunter, a thief and a murderer while Jacob was a Torah scholar, honest and righteous.  

When Isaac got to the age of 123, he decided to bless his firstborn, Esau. Rebeca, who knew her children’s characterwell, called Jacob, dressed him in Esau’s clothes and sent him to his father, so that he should get the blessings. And this exactly what happened.

This is a strange story which raises many questions, to which our Sages bring various interesting explanations [some of which are being explored in the current JLI seminar “Secrets of the Bible”].

We will mention here one of the explanations to the basic question: why did Jacob have to receive the blessings dressed as and pretending to be Esau?

If Jacob had received the blessings as himself, a righteous and honest Torah scholar, we could think that these blessings concern only his descendants who resemble him. In other words, the Jews who dress and act like Jews. Yet, there are Jews who do not resemble Jacob, who have changed their dress and their behaviour… Are these also included in the blessings?

This is the reason why Jacob received the blessings dressed us as Esau, to include in the blessings all the Jews, regardless of their current situation. Because each Jew has inside him or her a G-dly soul that is always connected to G-d. Even if a Jew looks more like Esau than Jacob, he is still part of the Jewish people.

When we consider this, we fill up with gratitude and love towards G-d, Who wants us close to Him and blesses all of us.

Let us do an action to reciprocate this love. A prayer, some Torah study, providing help to someone we were not planning to. Thus, we will hasten the coming of Mashiach, which all we await.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna

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Do you think there is someone who can say that all the years of his or her life were equally good?

In this week’s Parasha Chaye Sara, we read about the passing of Sara, who lived “one hundred years, twenty years and seven years”. According to our Sages, this circumvoluted way of describing Sara’s age, repeating the word “years”, teaches us that all the years of her life were equally good.

If we look at Sara’s life, we will be very surprised. Sara lived through many challenges and her life was far from easy. Because of the famine in the Land of Israel, she fled to Egypt with her husband Abraham. There, because of her exceptional beauty, she was taken to Pharaoh’s palace and only a miracle made it impossible for him to touch her, and she was thus freed. Likewise, she waited many years until she gave birth to a son, at the age of 90. How can we compare the years of sterility and the years of maternity, the moments with Abraham and the moments with Pharaoh and say that they were equally good?

Let us imagine a businessperson, who has various businesses. If one day, he wins thousands of euros with one business, while losing 50 cents with another, he will be very happy. If he is asked why is he not distressed about the loss of the 50 cents, he will not understand the question, since he earned thousands of euros!

This is the case of someone who lives a meaningful life. He or she has a significant goal in life, beyond survival and material pleasures. Thus, when difficulties arise, these do not overthrow him or her. The center of his or her life is not material issues. Like the businessperson who focuses and busies himself with the thousand euros and does not let the 50 cents affect him.

It is the same for Sara: She lived a meaningful life, with the significant goal of spreading the faith in the One and only G-d. The various difficulties did not bring her down.

We are living a complicated period. But if our lives are meaningful and focused on significant goals, the difficulties will affect us less.

Let us dedicate a few moments each day to reflect: What is the purpose of my life? What fills it up with meaning? As a result, we will be able to see what we accomplish, what influence we have on our surroundings. This will give us strength and courage, especially in difficult times, and motivate us to do even more.

Thus, like Sara, we will be able to say that all our years were significant and good.

Shabbat Shalom

Hanna