Thursday, November 30, 2023

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Vayishlach

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.

R' Frand's first vort related to the pasuk in Bereishis 32:5 wherein Ya'akov instructs his messengers to tell Esav  כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ עַבְדְּךָ֣ יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב עִם־לָבָ֣ן גַּ֔רְתִּי. Rashi famously has two interpretations of Ya'akov's message. The first is that Ya'akov is telling Esav - even though I received the berachos they did not come to fulfilment. The second interpretation was that Ya'akov was telling Esav, even though I lived with Lavan, I kept the Torah and did not learn from Lavan's evil ways.

R' Frand quoted the Klei Yakar who observes that the two interpretations of Rashi seem to be polar opposites. In order to explain the seeming conflict, the Klei Yakar states that what Ya'akov is telling Esav is that the berachos did not come to fulfilment even though I kept the Torah while as at Lavan, because I obtained the berachos through trickery. As such Esav you should not hate me as I have not received the benefit of the berachos because of the method that I obtained them.

R' Frand said a second vort on this Rashi in the name of R' Levi Gurevitz. He explains that Ya'akov was lamenting to Esav that even though he lived with Lavan he did not learn from him. Ya'akov observed that Lavan pursued his evil deeds with passion and excitement. Ya'akov lamented that he had not learned from Esav how to become as passionate in doing mitzvos.

R' Frand connected this with a story involving R' Gifter. He had traveled to Mexico City to collect for the Telshe Yeshiva and had been attempting to collect from a man, but had difficulty finding him at home. After much effort he was able to meet him at work at a very early hour. He asked the man how he found time for his family and the man responded in Yiddish - you have to "live in the business." R' Gifter returned to the yeshiva and told the bochurim in a shmooze that they need to "live in Torah" like he "lived in the business."

R' Frand said a second vort based on the pesukim which compared the Avos to objects in nature. Avraham was compared to the stars in the sky, Yitzchak was compared to the sands of the sea and Ya'akov was compared to the dust of the earth.

Yet when Ya'akov was praying before he met Esav in Bereishis 32:13 he said - וְאַתָּ֣ה אָמַ֔רְתָּ הֵיטֵ֥ב אֵיטִ֖יב עִמָּ֑ךְ וְשַׂמְתִּ֤י אֶת־זַרְעֲךָ֙ כְּח֣וֹל הַיָּ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יִסָּפֵ֖ר מֵרֹֽב. But this was Yitzchak's metaphor? 

R' Frand explained that sand has a unique quality. One grain of sand can accomplish nothing, but sand when it adheres to itself can stop the surge of the sea. He was thus saying to Hashem, the only way that the Jews can vanquish Esav is when they are together like many grains of sand.

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