The big sugya in this parshah is the marriage of Yaakov Avinu to Rachel and Leah. There are many things that we need to learn and study and analyze from Yaakov’s marriage because they could be very relevant to us.
In this week’s parshah, Yaakov Avinu is encountering his brother Eisav. And Eisav was quite upset with Yaakov. Eisav came to kill him. And the emes is, you know, that Chazal tell us what really happened. The malachim that Yaakov sent to greet Eisav had to teach Eisav a lesson that he wouldn’t forget. It says they began to beat him up. Eisav wasn’t used to getting pushed around, and they pashut beat him up and he was pleading with them to stop and to have rachmanus.
In this week’s parshah, the Torah tells us about Yaakov Avinu, who found himself in double jeopardy. Number one, he hadn’t yet gotten married. He was no youngster anymore. He was in his sixties. So he was an older gentleman already and he was not married. His father had gotten married at the age of 40. So Yaakov Avinu was way over the top. That was one situation he was facing. The second challenge that he was facing was that…
The parshah begins with a story out of the life of Yitzchok and Rivkah. It tells us that they – who had gotten married in such a wonderful and miraculous way through the hands of Hashem – had a difficulty with having children. At the time, Yitzchak was 40 years old, and his bride, Rivka, was a young girl. Yitzchak understood he wasn’t going to have children right away, but then “right away” became a longer period of time. The Torah tells us “Yitzchak pleaded with Hashem” because his wife was barren.
In this week’s parshah, we see a very interesting criterion for a shidduch. Eliezer is sent by Avraham Avinu as a shaliach to bring about one of the biggest shidduchim in history. The Torah tells us that Eliezer davened to Hashem to send him the right girl for Yitzchak. Now, Yitzchak was known for his tremendous and amazing yiras Shamayim. If you were to ask me to tell you what to look for when seeking a shidduch for Yitzchak, I would say you should find a girl who also possesses tremendous yiras shamayim. That would be a match.
We recently spoke about the chashivus and chiyuv of chessed. But the problem is you can talk and talk, and for some reason, very few people actually fulfill this chiyuv, which Rabeinu Yonah calls min hachamuros, from the stringent mitzvos. Rav Chaim Volozhin’s son, Rav Itzele, writes in the hakdamah to Nefesh Hachaim about his father: My father constantly spoke to me and gave the following message.
The Ramban comments on when the command of lech lecha was initially said to Avraham Avinu. He says that initially Avraham was in Ur Kasdim – that’s where they tried to burn him at the stake, and that’s where Hakodosh Boruch Hu found “his heart to be faithful.” After that episode, Avraham Avinu fled Ur Kasdim with the intention of going to Eretz Canaan, even before Hashem commanded him to go there. He went to Charan and was stopped there, and that’s where Hashem came to him and told him: lech lecha
What we’re going to discuss today is the sugya of the mabul. Now, if you want to study the mabul, the source of studying the mabul is the gemara in Sanhedrin.
The first thing we’re going to discuss today is what brought about the sin that caused the mabul. We’re going to study this aspect. We want to understand what caused man to fall to the point they did?
Let us take a look at the end of Parshas Emor where the Torah discusses the Yom Tov of Sukkos. The pasuk says: On the 15th day of this 7th month, it is Chag Hasukkos Lahem. A few pesukim later it says: However, on the 15th day of the 7th month, when you gather in your harvest, you should celebrate a chag hashem shivas yamim. The obvious question is why does the Torah repeat these dates twice?
The time period of the year that we now find ourselves is the most unique period of the entire year. There are no other days remotely like this. We’ll start with some words from the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 2:6) who writes the following: Even though teshuvah and davening are always yafeh (nice)…Now, let us pause for a moment and study those words. The Rambam says that teshuvah and davening, both teshuvah and crying out to Hashem, are yafeh all year long. What does that mean that it’s yafeh? What does that mean, it’s nice?
