Will The Real Esav Please Stand Up

Yitzchok, the Zohar teaches, sensed the Shechina accompanying Ya'akov s version of Esav. There was never any deception merely an accurate portrayal of the a Esav that contained hope for the future of mankind.

The Sifsei Koehn that the prophecy Shem revealed to Rivkah during her troubled pregnancy that   ושני לאומים ממעילך יפרדו        two regimes from your insides shall be separated, alludes to the fact that even from Esav, good will come in the form of the righteous from his seed who would convert. The words of the prophecy are numerically equivalent to  צדיקים מתגיירים the righteous converts.

Parshas Toldos Will the real Esav Please Stand Up by Rabbi Tzvi Teichman

Toldot: Friday: “And He Shall Give You”

Gal Einai: *Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh*

*Toldot: Friday: “And He Shall Give You”*

Isaac blesses Jacob, _“And G-d shall give you from the dew of heaven and from the fat of the Land and an abundance of corn and wine.”_ Why does Isaac add the word, “And” at the beginning of his blessing? After all, this is the first sentence in his blessing!

This is why Rashi explains, “He will give and give again”. In other words, a never-ending blessing. He will give and give again and again…for eternity. 

We must also go in G-d’s path and adopt this character trait: Never-ending giving of charity and loving-kindness, to give and to give again. The more that we conduct ourselves in this way, the more that the Holy One, Blessed Be He will give to us and give to us again – an abundance of blessing with no end.

This year, the Friday of the Torah portion of Toldot falls out on the 28th of Cheshvan. This is the 58th day from the beginning of the year. 58 is the numerical value of the word חן, _chen,_  which means “grace”. The concept of grace in the Torah is expressed by the completeness of symmetry, exactly like the first appearance of _chen_  in the Torah: _“And Noah found favor_ (‘grace’ *chen*) _in the eyes of G-d”_. The Hebrew for Noah, *נח* , is *חן* _chen_  in reverse.

The Hebrew word for _“And He will give”_ in our verse, ויתן , _Veyiten_, also hints to the secret of _chen_. If we write out the letters of the word _chen_ in Hebrew in full, _chet חית_ and _nun  _ נון, we discover that the letters that fill out those two words actually spell out ויתן , _Veyiten_. The letters that fill out  the _nun_  - _vav_ and _nun_, surround the letters that fill out the _chet – yud_ and _tav_. Something so graceful always finds favor, awakening never-ending giving. He will give and give again and again. 

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*The translations this week l’ilui nishmat Alteh Necheh bat Chaim Nuta and R’ Elimelech ben Moshe.*

Toldot: A Mother's Love

11/16/17 Gal Einai: Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

Toldot: Thursday: A Mother’s Love

Jacob manages to receive/steal the blessing from his father Isaac in place of Esau, his brother. But Jacob is just a _shaliach_, a messenger of his mother, Rebecca. She is the person who initiates the plan for Jacob to receive Isaac’s blessing and she takes responsibility for it, telling Jacob that if Isaac discovers that he is not Esau and curses him, _“your curse will be upon me”_. Actually, there is a conflict between two sides in this story: Isaac and Esau on one side and Rebecca and Jacob on the other. And the second side triumphs. 

On a deeper level, the struggle is between  two loves: Isaac loves Esau and Rebecca loves Jacob – and Rebecca’s love for Jacob triumphs. Why is Rebecca’s love greater than Isaac’s love?

We read in the Torah, _“And Isaac loved Esau for venison was in his mouth, and Rebecca loves Jacob.”_ Isaac has a very good reason to love Esau: _“venison was in his mouth”_.  Esau honors his father and brings him delicacies. Kabbalah explains that Isaac sees the holy sparks in Esau, the sparks that were revealed in subsequent generations as great righteous converts who descended from Esau. But _“Rebecca loves Jacob”_. She simply loves him, no reason given.

In other words: Isaac’s love for Esau, in a certain way, is “love dependent upon a reason.” But Rebecca’s love for Jacob is “love that is not dependent upon a reason.” It is the pure love of a mother for her son. And it triumphs. 

⭐ *Tonight*, Thursday night, or-l’28 Cheshvan, farbrengen with Rabbi Ginsburgh in honor of his birthday. 

10 PM at the Talmud Torah in Kfar Chabad. *Live broadcast* (Hebrew) here - https://goo.gl/da9fF3

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11/16/17, 9:00 AM - Gal Einai: AUD-20171116-WA0000.mp3 (file attached)

11/16/17, 9:00 AM - Gal Einai: A New Nigun By the Rav