Vayeitzei: Monday: How Beautiful*

*Vayeitzei: Monday: How Beautiful*

_“And when Jacob saw Rachel…and Jacob kissed Rachel.”_ This is a story of love at first sight. Jacob feels that Rachel is the twin soul that is waiting for him. Subsequently it is written in the Torah, _“And Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance”_. Was Jacob attracted to Rachel because of her beauty? Yes. There is a very deep point here, as the Rav the Maggid of Mezeritch explains. Jacob embodied the character trait of *tiferet*, splendor, “the _tiferet_, splendor, of Israel.” As such, he has a particular sensitivity to identify points of splendor and beauty in the world. When Jacob sees Rachel’s beauty, external beauty that reflects inner beauty, he immediately identifies with this beauty and knows that Rachel is his soul-mate.

Jacob also correlates to the trait of emet, truth, as is written, “Give emet, truth, to Jacob.”  Truth comes from above, demanding that we ‘straighten out’ according to the Divine yardstick. Beauty, however, ascends from below. Something beautiful in the world catches our eye. Jacob connects truth and beauty, thus achieving perfection. This is beautifully hinted at in gematria: *אמת* _(emet)_ plus *יפי* _(yofi)_ = *ישראל* Israel (the name that expresses the loftiness of Jacob).

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Vayeitzei: Sunday: The Evening Prayer

*Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh*
*Vayeitzei: Sunday: The Evening Prayer*
_“And he impacted upon the place and he slept there, for the sun had set”_. From this verse our Sages say that Jacob enacted the evening prayer. The Talmud says “The evening prayer is optional”. The morning and afternoon prayers are obligatory, while the evening prayer depends upon the will of the person.

Daylight is likened to clear and bright recognition of G-d’s light. In the daylight, a person can concentrate his thoughts and intention on the presence of G-d and say, “Blessed are You”… But when evening ( _erev_ in Hebrew) falls, everything becomes mixed up (mitarbev in Hebrew, the same root as erev, evening), darkness covers the earth and a person enters into his own self and doesn’t see G-d. This world is likened to night – particularly when one deals with mundane, optional matters, like one’s livelihood, for example. (This is what Jacob is on his way to accomplish).

 In the *optional* realm, it is difficult to demand of a person to turn to G-d. After all, he is in a distant place that seems like a space void of Divine Presence, bereft of Torah and commandments. For this reason, the evening prayer is *optional*.

But wondrously, the Nation of Israel accepted the evening prayer as an obligation and this is the Halachic ruling. We are the children of Jacob, who also prays from amidst the darkness. We find G-d in the midst of our mundane and optional matters, as well. As Jacob said, “There is G-d in this place.”

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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