בס''ד
After
years apart caused by Yaakov’s righteous deception and Eisov’s thirst for
revenge, the estranged brothers finally come face to face in our Parsha. The lead up to this epic meeting involved
Yaakov sending tributes and messages to Eisov by means of which he hoped to
broker a peace deal with his brother.
His opening gambit involved him informing Eisov that “I lived with Lovon”. The word for “I lived” in Hebrew has the
numerical value of six hundred and thirteen, the total number of Torah
commandments. He was thereby informing
Eisov that despite having lived with a person of tremendous wickedness, he had
maintained his own spiritually high level.
But why did Yaakov tell Eisov this?
What difference would it have made to him that Yaakov still kept all the
Torah?
Yaakov’s
initial intent when sending these gifts and communications was, as we stated,
in order to bring about peace and harmony. However contained within such a plan
was a danger of a misunderstanding on Eisov’s part as to exactly what form this
peace would take. Reb Moshe Feinstein
zt’l therefore explains that Yaakov’s proclamation was there to make it clear
that although he was happy to negotiate a peace, Yaakov’s spiritual status was
non-negotiable, and there was to be no merging of their camps in terms of the
standards that they each kept to. This
was something that Eisov had to accept.
Just as Yaakov preserved his level during his sojourn with Lovon, so too
he was resolute in his intention to retain this level after any agreement would
be reached.
Growth
is an absolute imperative for successful living. Staying at one’s previous level is simply not
an option for one seeking to achieve all that one is able to. The changes that are necessary for one’s
development can be hard for you yourself to accept and perhaps even more
difficult for those around you. Those
who are close to you can experience a feeling of rejection and condescension
perhaps as a result of someone, previously at their level, deciding that they
want to aim higher. The key here is in
the idea of acceptance, acceptance of who you are and who you choose to
be. If someone is unwilling to live with
your choices then they are perhaps not people you need in your life. And if you cannot accept the adjustments that
others are making, then perhaps you are not the friend or support you may have
thought you were. Acceptance of the
other’s choices is fundamental to any relationship, as long as it neither harms
you nor them. Anything else belies true
love for the other.
*May this Shabbos
inspire us towards the movement we all must make
לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם
uלעילוי נשמת שרה יעל בת גרשון
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let me know if you enjoyed this week's Musings or if you have any other comments that you would like to make about the ideas discussed. I would love to hear from you.