Vayishlach

 These parshiot teach us the ways of life.  Toldot Yaakov Yosef: the Torah is eternal. Hinted to here is the war with the yetzer harah. Q Why Yaakov as the one with struggles? Even in the womb and then over bechorite and brachah, then 20 years with Lavan. 14 for women to marry, 6 over the sheep.  Wrestling w the man/malach, the worst angel/malach hamavet, etc. Why just for Yaakov to this extent throught life? 

Q Vayishlach… el Eisav achiv, then the messengers say they came from your brother who is Eisav, later he prays save from my brother, from Eisav. He is bechir avot - we are his sons, Brei Yisrael.

 A These portions teach us about his wrestling, his Torah - teaching us that our lives should be wrestling always with the negative.  He comes out better for it- his name changes to be about struggling and gaining from it. Our lives are struggles and fights through which we gain/benefit.

We’re taught ways to wrestle. Realms to take on.  Lavan - brain fights, ideas, faith. He was for idolatry. Heresy, against Providence.  He said it’s all mine, it’s not yours via your G-d.  Thus Chazal say he wanted to uproot all - faith. We serve with faith, this is our life. Lavan fought this faith.  Kefirah is our number one enemy that can take everything.  With faith we have a way to fix. If we’re tackled by kefirah, we can’t fix - and thus Lavan challenged faith.  Yaakov mentions 10 times wages were challenged - if emunah’s 10 midot get knocked down then we’re out.  Im Lavan garti - I wasn’t affected, kept emunah in full clarity.  

Lavan - it’s all mine - vis R Levi Yitzchak - the yetzer harah says you and I are partners together, all the good you do I’m there for it, passion, etc.  But he can put negativity into the positive via negative thoughts.  Further - he can uproot everything, seek to undo all the good, as Lavan did. It’s all mine can be that it all has my dirty hands on it, bad intentions, your prayer and Torah, etc. is all infiltrated and brought about by my negativity. His klipah wishes to take over all the good. Thus Yaakov says Taryag mitzvot shararti, untouched.

Arami oveid avi - our lives our fueled by our connection with our Father, all the times we live through.  Lavan is always trying to undo this av element. 

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Eisav’s klipah challenges desires, etc. Red, boiling, negative.  Lust, desire, etc.  Achi/Eisav. Things that are challenged head on/or we’re told to do good under Eisav’s influence.  Yaakov asks to be saved from both, first from his brother? Why the seemingly less bad aspect first? Yaakov didn’t fear the head on bad as that wouldn’t tempt him.  But Eisav infiltrating the positive scared him.  His level was to be in the physical world, to elevate it. So he asked to be saved from his brother who would enter this physically elevated realm and bring it down. In the wrestling match his thigh is pulled. Yaakov would not lose to what’s clearly forbidden, but the heel represents the realm of heter, where the yetzer gets you.

Aspects of Eisav further explained: Yaakov though the klipah would attack the good openly, blatantly, and that there’s no hidden element.  So he sent to Eisav and then to his brother secondarily.  R Moshe (Zohar related Rabbi) - bowing to Eisav 7 times - till he reached him, till his brother.  Ad. Ad.  It’s odd. Eisav was surrounded with 7 circled of bad, Yaakov bowed and brough the circles down.  Then he revealed the “brotherly” aspect which was awakened. And then they embraced/kissed. He reached the inner good, which the malachim-messengers described a certain way.  They looked at Eisav and said that they saw that he’s putting the brother part first and that’s also part of his klipah essence.  He acts like a brother, and that’s most dangerous. That’s what they warned of, but in the end Yaakov redeemed the essential good of Eisav, as we’ll now explain.

Rebbe of Leokovich - we sing in zemirot regarding sheep that are sheared.  The wool grows long and then is cut easily.  So too yetzer harah lets us build up so much good till it’s easy to knock it all down.  We go high, and then run the risk of having been set up to be knocked down low. This is why the danger of brother is put first. Ad. Ad. He learned how to approach and awaken the good but removing the outer coverings of bad and was able to embrace the essential actual good of his brother, rather than the negative the malachim - messengers saw there alone before.