Vayishlach

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.

We live in a generation where the darkness is such a darkness and people have accustomed themselves to the darkness that they actually perceive as light. The passuk says, “Hashem placed the world under choshech and it became night” (Tehillim 104:20).

The parshah begins with the episode of Yaakov preparing himself for his ultimate meeting with Eisav, and the Torah tells us about Yaakov Avinu’s emotional state. It is rare for the Torah to reveal the emotional states of our avos and our imahos. But on rare occasions, Hashem pulls back the curtain. You have to realize that if the Torah does that, it means it’s important for us to know about it. We could face the same situation and we can learn from the Torah how to deal with.