"All that happened to Yakov also happened to Yosef." So say Chazal, noting that Yakov's battle with his brother, his long separation from his father, and his ultimate vindication would all reappear in Yosef's life.
Yet, in a deeper sense, we know that the events of Yakov's life (and all the Avot) continually resurface throughout the generations among the whole Jewish People. So it is with the seminal events depicted in our parsha.
"I lived with Lavan," says Yakov, and Rashi comments that Yakov "remained a stranger, keeping the 613 mitzvot."
"Yakov stood alone" before his dramatic confrontation with Esav, and Rashi says that Yakov was emulating G-d in this respect, for He, too, is "alone" in the Universe.
How apropos to today's situation. Like Yakov vis-a-vis Esav, we, too, try to appease the nations of the world and avoid conflict with them. In the Diaspora, we are model citizens, never rocking the boat, always contributing far beyond our numbers for the good of our hosts. In Israel, we are always the party that gives in; we guard our enemies' holy places, while they desecrate ours; we refrain from using the same brutal tactics used upon us.
And yet, like Yakov, "we remain a stranger," we are "left alone," isolated on the world stage. No amount of suicidal concessions by misguided Jews seeking to appease the world will bring us their love or acceptance. It will only cause them to mock us and accelerate their evil designs upon us.
The problem, as they say, contains its own solution. It is precisely because we remain alone - unique and set apart from the other nations - that we will we survive. As Yakov says: "Im Lavan garti, v'acher ahd ata." - "I may have lived with Lavan, but I remained acher, different, from him." My mind-set was not his mind-set, my agenda not his agenda. He pursued material greatness, I sought spiritual success.
When the nations perceive us as somehow set apart from them, they recognize, even respect, our special character and role. But when we try to be "just one of the guys," we evoke contempt and engender ill-will.
Why did Esav respond so submissively, so meekly, to Yakov after all the latter's trepidation that there would be a major blow-out? I suggest one reason is because Esav perceived that his brother was not a threat to him, for they lived in totally different worlds. Esav was completely safe in his universe, so long as Yakov stuck to his own natural habitat of spirit.
There's no point in trying to "out-Rome Rome." Rather, let's strive to be the best Israel we can possibly be.
[With thanks to Rabbi Simon Dolgin.]
Yet, in a deeper sense, we know that the events of Yakov's life (and all the Avot) continually resurface throughout the generations among the whole Jewish People. So it is with the seminal events depicted in our parsha.
"I lived with Lavan," says Yakov, and Rashi comments that Yakov "remained a stranger, keeping the 613 mitzvot."
"Yakov stood alone" before his dramatic confrontation with Esav, and Rashi says that Yakov was emulating G-d in this respect, for He, too, is "alone" in the Universe.
How apropos to today's situation. Like Yakov vis-a-vis Esav, we, too, try to appease the nations of the world and avoid conflict with them. In the Diaspora, we are model citizens, never rocking the boat, always contributing far beyond our numbers for the good of our hosts. In Israel, we are always the party that gives in; we guard our enemies' holy places, while they desecrate ours; we refrain from using the same brutal tactics used upon us.
And yet, like Yakov, "we remain a stranger," we are "left alone," isolated on the world stage. No amount of suicidal concessions by misguided Jews seeking to appease the world will bring us their love or acceptance. It will only cause them to mock us and accelerate their evil designs upon us.
The problem, as they say, contains its own solution. It is precisely because we remain alone - unique and set apart from the other nations - that we will we survive. As Yakov says: "Im Lavan garti, v'acher ahd ata." - "I may have lived with Lavan, but I remained acher, different, from him." My mind-set was not his mind-set, my agenda not his agenda. He pursued material greatness, I sought spiritual success.
When the nations perceive us as somehow set apart from them, they recognize, even respect, our special character and role. But when we try to be "just one of the guys," we evoke contempt and engender ill-will.
Why did Esav respond so submissively, so meekly, to Yakov after all the latter's trepidation that there would be a major blow-out? I suggest one reason is because Esav perceived that his brother was not a threat to him, for they lived in totally different worlds. Esav was completely safe in his universe, so long as Yakov stuck to his own natural habitat of spirit.
There's no point in trying to "out-Rome Rome." Rather, let's strive to be the best Israel we can possibly be.
[With thanks to Rabbi Simon Dolgin.]