Rochel & Leah, Fighting our internal esav
Rochel & Leah, Fighting our internal Esav
by Rabbi Moshe Weinberger
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c48v46uel2u0npw/Rabbi%20Moshe%20Weinberger-%20week%2033.m4a?dl=0
Hi Chevra. Welcome to Emunah Daily.
Chazal tell us that Rachel is the עלמא דעסקליא, and she revealed beauty and holiness, יפת תואר ויפת מראה. Additionally, she had children that also reflected this perfection: Yosef HaTzaddik and Binyamin HaTzaddik. In life, many of us dream of a world of perfection. We admire a perfect husband, perfect wife, perfect children, and a perfect life. In fact, Yaakov also wanted to marry Rachel, the image of perfection. Rav Tzaddok teaches that Rachel symbolizes the world of the ideal tzaddik, for whom Yiddishkeit is completely natural and comes with ease. On the other hand, the passuk teaches that ועיני לאה רקות. Leah Imeinu's beauty was the deepest, but some was lost as a result of her endless tears. She wept constantly, davening that she would not have to marry Esav, as it was logical to have the eldest daughter, Leah, marry the eldest son, Esav. As a result, Leah represents the world of Teshuva. Similarly, Esav too could have become a baal teshuva, but did not choose to fix his ways. For most in our generation, Yiddishkeit is not easy. We feel within our hearts and minds the turbulence of Esav. Though we are drawn to the world of Esav, we constantly battle to fight it off. We yearn for Mashiach ben David to redeem us, may it come speedily in our days. Mashiach ben David is a descendant of Leah, and also experienced many milchamos, struggles, in his lifetime. It is clear that for him, holiness did not come easy. Unlike Yosef HaTzaddik and Binyamin HaTzaddik, Rachel's sons, it was hard for David and it is hard for us. But, this is the greatness of our generation. Every time we turn away from Esav and beg Hashem to help us, we attach ourselves to Mashiach ben David, to that world of עלמא דעסקליא, concealed holiness. Even though on the outside we don't always look so great, we are not like Rachel Imeinu or Yosef HaTzaddik, Hashem knows that we are His warriors, His fighters. When one of my daughters was very little, she wasn't careful with negel vasser. I used to say, "A real Jew has to wash negel vasser!" Once, my daughter woke up and went straight to the bathroom without first washing. Not noticing that she went to take care of her needs before washing negel vasser, I simply waved at her. She looked at me and thought that I was on patrol to ensure that she had first washed before anything else. She looked up from the kisei and said to me, "But Daddy, I am still a Jew!" I have thought about this story so many times. We often feel ourselves in a filthy place, in the world of Esav, but the greatest nachas to Hashem is that even when we are stuck there, we still look up and say, "But Ribbono Shel Olam, I am still a Jew. I am still one of Yours. I am one of the chassidim of David HaMelech. I am a layman, but I am trying."