The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Bereishis (32:5) the Torah recounts Ya'akov's statement to Esav "Im Lavan Garti." Rashi famously explains that Ya'akov was telling Esav that although he lived with Esav, he still kept the 613 commandments ("V'Taryag Mitzvos Shamarti") - using the gematria of Garti and Taryag both being 613- and that he did not learn from Esav's actions.
Many meforshim ask why does it matter to Esav that Ya'akov kept the mitzvos? Why does he care that Ya'akov did things that Esav did not even believe in.
R' Frand answered by quoting the Sefer Ateres Dudaim from R' Zucker who makes reference to the Klei Yakar on the pasuk in Bereishis (27:41) where Esav plots to attack Ya'akov. The Klei Yakar explains that Esav's statement of waiting until Yitzchak would die was a plot to attack Ya'akov when he was vulnerable. Esav knew that as long as Ya'akov was learning Torah, Esav could not defeat him. But when Ya'akov would be in aveilus for Yitzchak he would not be able to learn Torah and Esav could defeat him.
R' Zucker explains that Ya'akov's message to Esav - I was with Lavan but I kept the mitzvos. This started when I was with my father and I learned Torah day and night. Then when I was in the Yeshiva of Shem & Ever I learned day and night. And Esav - you might think that I did not learn Torah while I was working with the sheep for 22 years, but I did.
R' Frand then linked the use of the word Shamarti in the Rashi to the pasuk later in Bereishis involving the brothers' hatred of Yosef where the Torah stated in Bereishis (37:11) that Ya'akov "Shamar Es HaDavar." R' Frand explained that the word Shamar means prepared. Here Ya'akov is telling Esav, I was and am prepared because all the time that I was in Lavan's house and I was working with the sheep, I was waiting to go back to learn.
R' Frand tied this into the introduction to the Chachmas Adam. In the introduction he writes that people will say that - you have been working for the last 15 years, how can you write a sefer? But those people should know that I did not work to become rich, I worked to support my family. A person reaches a stage where they need to get a job and leave the Beis Medrash, but if the person longs to go back to learning then he has not left the beis medrash. The person's Torah will stay with them if the person sees the job as necessary, but desires to go back to learn, much in the way that an almanah seeks to remarry.
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