The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Vayishlach

The Rebbe says:

1. In this weeks Parshah Ya’akov Avinu (our father) meets with his brother Eisav after many years of not seeing each other. When Ya’akov Avinu had taken the Blessing from his father Yitzchak that was “supposed” to go to his brother Eisav he ran away in fear of Eisav’s wrath. Now Ya’akov Avinu is about to meet with his brother Eisav for the first time after this incident. Ya’akov Avinu is nervous about what his brother Eisav will do to him and therefore he sends angels to speak to Eisav before he actually sees him again.

2. Part of the message that Ya’akov Avinu tells the angels to give over to Eisav is “Eem Lavan Garti – I lived as a guest with Lavan” (see Chapter 32, Verse 5). Rashi (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, he wrote a super-commentary on the Bible and Talmud) writes that what Ya’akov Avinu meant to tell his brother Eisav was that he had kept all of the 613 Torah commandments even though he had lived with their wicked Uncle Lavan. Rashi writes that he knows this explanation because the word “Garti – I lived as a guest” has the numerical value of 613, and the total amount of commandments from the Torah is 613.

3. Question number one: The basis of Rashi’s commentary on the Torah is that he only explains the simple meaning of the verse -the Pshat. But his explanation of “Garti – I lived as a guest” (that Ya’akov Avinu kept all the Torah commandments even while he lived by the wicked Lavan) is not according to the simple meaning of the word!!? So we must find a connection from the actual meaning of the word “Garti – I lived as a guest” to the explanation that Rashi gives (that Ya’akov Avinu kept all the Torah commandments even while he lived by the wicked Lavan).

Question number two: These words- “Eem Lavan Garti – I lived as a guest with Lavan” -are in a message that Ya’akov Avinu is sending to his brother Eisav with the angels. So according to the explanation of Rashi of these words, that Ya’akov Avinu kept all the Torah commandments even while he lived by the wicked Lavan, why would Ya’akov Avinu feel the need to let his brother Eisav know this??

4. Answer to question number one: The word “Garti” as we said means “I lived as a guest”. This means that Ya’akov Avinu was only a guest to all the important things that Lavan lived with. The focus which Lavan lived with was a strange thing to Ya’akov Avinu, it wasn’t his thing.

The focus of Lavan’s life was all physical. He used physicality to fulfill all his hearts desires.

The focus of Ya’akov Avinu’s life was to make Hashem happy. Ya’akov Avinu’s “house” was learning Torah and doing Hashem’s commandments. Ya’akov Avinu was a guest to all physical things. Physical things to Ya’akov Avinu were only a springboard to connect him to Hashem.

And because physicality was only a guest in Ya’akov Avinu’s life he was able to keep all the 613 Commandments even though he lived by Lavan.

So now we see how the word itself “Garti – I lived with Lavan as a guest” explains to us that Ya’akov Avinu was really saying “And I kept all of the 613 Commandments of the Torah”.

Answer to question number two: Ya’akov Avinu knew that Moshiach (Messiah) will only come after the world is cleansed, only after the world is a proper dwelling place for Hashem. So after Ya’akov Avinu was done cleansing his part of the world by Lavan (in Charan) he was ready to greet Moshiach.

Therefore Ya’akov Avinu told Eisav his brother “Eem Lavan Garti – I lived as a guest with Lavan”. We explained that this means that Ya’akov Avinu did not dwell in physicality; he used physicality as a springboard to connect to Hashem. So he was telling Eisav that he was done his part in cleansing the world because he thought for sure Eisav would have by now also completed his task in cleansing his part.

[But the angels told Ya’akov Avinu when they came back that Eisav is not ready, he is still the same Eisav as when you left him (see Chapter 32, Verse 7).]

5. The lesson for each of us in our lives:

Every Jew must know that even if the world has not been completely cleansed and ready for Moshiach to come yet, he must make sure that his own part is done. He must make sure that he has cleansed his part in this world. The first step and introduction to a persons work with cleansing the world is that he must know that physicality is not his home. His home is Torah and Mitzvos (commandments) and he is only a guest living with physicality. And when a person knows this, not only is physicality not an obstacle to his service to Hashem, but he can ultimately turn physicality into a proper vessel for Hashem’s presence!

Now, when a Jew prepares for Moshiach by making sure that he has done his part in cleansing the world, then Moshiach will come and redeem everyone! As it says in the Talmud (Tractate Kiddushin, Page 40, Side 2) that the scale of the world’s good deeds and bad deeds is equal and when you do one good deed you have tipped the scale of the whole world to the side of good!!!

6. Everything that happens in this world is by Divine Providence, nothing is just a mere coincidence, therefore the liberation of the first Chabad Rebbe from jail which took place in the week after Parshas Vayishlach must have a connection to the lessons we just learnt from Parshas Vayishlach:

When the first Chabad Rebbe- the Alter Rebbe- was freed from jail this symbolized that Chassidus was now free to be spread to the world. Chassidus gives us the strength to live as a guest with physicality. Chassidus gives us the outlook on physicality which empowers us to use physicality only for the service of Hashem.

Now we see clearly how the liberation of the first Chabad Rebbe- the Alter Rebbe- has a connection to that week’s Parshah of Vayishlach.

Taken from Likutei Sichos Chelek Aleph, the first Sicha. Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. This Parasha article was sent to CrownHeights.info as part of a weekly mailer from the author.