Friday, December 14, 2012
Our relationship with Gentiles
12:31 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
WHY ANGELS?
“Yaakov
sent angels ahead of him to Eisov” (32:4)
When Rav
Sternbuch was a child his father asked him why Yaakov had to send real angels.
Why could he not have sent ordinary people? Rav Sternbuch responded that had he
done so Eisov would have killed them, but his father explained that since
Yaakov had sent presents to Eisov he would be likely to think that Yaakov had
become like him, steeped in the affairs of this world, and Yaakov therefore
sent angels to indicate that he was still exclusively focused on spiritual issues
and uninterested in worldly affairs.
600,000 angels
had been dispatched by Yaakov. These were beings that Yaakov himself had
created as a result of all his Torah, mitzvos and good deeds. Each mitzvah
performed by a yid creates an angel which acts as his defense counsel whose
importance and power depends on the concentration, dedication and joy with
which the person’s deeds are performed. However, Eisov remained unmoved. Having
been educated in the house of Yitzchok and Rivka he knew all about the world to
come, but his intense craving for "cash" here and now, for fulfilling
all his material desires in this world, almost completely clouded over his
intellectual knowledge. In any case, upon being faced with all these important
angels, Eisov realized that Yaakov had remained the same righteous person who
was totally immersed in spiritual matters.
No compromises
“I have
sojourned” (32:5) Rashi: "I lived with the wicked Lovon but still kept
the 613 commandments and did not learn from his wicked deeds”
Yaakov was
telling Eisov that even though he was willing to compromise in gashmiyus
and send him lots of presents, he should not think that in matters of ruchniyus
there was any room for compromise. Even in the hostile environment of Lovon’s
house he had not given up even one mitzvah.
Alternatively,
Eisov initially thought it was difficult to observe the Torah and therefore had
not been that interested in Yitzhock’s blessings, but upon seeing the presents
and how Yaakov was benefiting from both worlds Yaakov was worried that he would
become jealous of him. He therefore emphasized that he had lived with Lovon and
had had a very difficult time observing the 613 commandments there. That way he
hoped to prevent Eisov from becoming jealous.
WAR
“He divided
the people who were with him… into two camps” (32:8)
Yaakov Ovinu
prepared himself with presents, prayer and war and the Medrash says that
each camp prayed for itself. Yaakov did not want everybody to rely on all the
people accompanying him. He therefore divided up the people into two smaller
camps so that each camp would pray and cry out to Hashem to save them as if
they were the only camp. Being relatively small in number, their prayers would
be more likely to be sincere and heartfelt instead of relying on their own
prowess.
In the recent war
in Gaza more than 1000 missiles were fired at us causing relatively few
casualties or damage. Hashem was testing us to see firstly whether we put our
faith into our strengths and wisdom and in the “Iron Dome” system or whether we
rely totally on Him, and secondly, whether we react with appropriate gratitude
for His protection over the nation now that the war is over.
Our enemy wants to lose
“He said,
"I will not let you go unless you have blessed me” (32:27)
Chazal (Masseches
Chulin 91b) say that the angel told Yaakov that from the day that he had
been created his time had not come to sing a song of praise until now.
The Chebiner
Rov, Rav Dov Berish Weidenfeld zt”l
explained that although the yetzer horo’s task is to lead us astray, since
he is an angelic being who knows the truth he is happy when we overcome him.
Therefore, when he saw that he was unable to overcome Yaakov, neither in his
pose as a talmid chachom nor in his pose as a Gentile, he was happy and
asked to be released, because now for the first time, the time had come for him
to sing Hashem’s praises: in other words, there had been no more appropriate
time for him to be happy and sing than now when Yaakov had overcome him.
Yaakov replied
that he would not release him until he had blessed them: in other words until
he had confessed that Yaakov had managed to overcome him, and that the yetzer
horo no longer had any power over him. Even if we cannot emulate this
completely, it remains our task to attempt to vanquish the yetzer horo
to the best of our ability, thereby causing our "enemy" ultimate joy
and satisfaction.
Anti-Semitism
“And he
fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (33:4). Rashi: Rabi Shimon
ben Yochai said: It is a well known principle [halocho] that Eisov hates Yaakov,
but his compassion was moved at that time, and he kissed him wholeheartedly
Rav Menachem
Zemba zt”l hy”d comments that Rabi Shimon is the one who is usually doresh ta’ama dikro (derives practical conclusions from rational
reasons for commandments) but in this case he emphasizes that the phenomenon of
anti-Semitism is an irrational halocho. How else can we explain the fact that the
Jews are accused of being socialists on the one hand and capitalists on the
other hand, of being rich and successful but simultaneously also poor and lazy
and a burden on the state?
The maskilim ("enlightened
ones who wanted the Jews to integrate more into secular society) argued that if
we changed our external appearance and adopted the positive aspects of our host
culture the Gentiles’ animosity towards us would disappear. This argument was
conclusively debunked when Germany, the cradle of haskolo (the Jewish
Enlightenment movement) and assimilation, became the source of unparalleled
cruelty, destruction and annihilation during World War II.
The Kloisenburger Rebbe zt”l,
a Holocaust survivor, asked why
Yaakov’s sons insisted that all the male inhabitants of Shchem circumcise
themselves in the parsha of Dinoh. On a plain level this was to
serve as proof of their sincerity, but the Rebbe suggested a different reason.
Had Yaakov’s sons subsequently committed an act of "mass murder" on
the uncircumcised population the whole world would have been in uproar, but now
that they were circumcised the surrounding nations would consider them to be
Jewish, and the murder of Jews is something that can be committed with impunity.
Similarly, concluded the Rebbe, the Germans and their henchmen, could never
have got away with killing six million Gentiles.
Our erring brethren were and remain unaware
that, as noted by the Medrash
Hagodol Eisov’s hatred towards
Yaakov was created by Hashem for our benefit to prevent our assimilating
amongst the nations and remaining a holy nation. No amount of public relations can
change this fact and the genuine response to anti-Semitism lies in increased
observance of Torah and mitzvos.
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