After Yaakov and his family crossed the
Yabok River, Yaakov returned  to retrieve pachim ketanim — small flasks.
There, the Sar of Esau confronted him; what followed was the definitive battle
for supremacy between the forces of good and evil. This battle continued to
rage throughout the night until finally, Yaakov emerged victorious at which
point he was informed of what his new name would become.

           The stage was set for this momentous
battle by Yaakov’s interest in recovering some small flasks. What could the
Torah be hinting to when it informs us that the pachim were small? What
relevance does their size have to the lessons in this episode?

             Although many people assume that
“bigger is better”, sometimes we find that very low-key events or small items
actually are the “key” to accessing new horizons of achievement and success.

             A key is a relatively small and
inexpensive item, but it serves to open important doors. Without one’s keys a
person could find oneself without entry into ones own home, car or office.

                Like keys that open physical
doors, the words of holy Torah open mental and spiritual portals, therefore let
us try to “key-in” on the meaning of the name uttered by the Sar of Esau when
he announced: “No longer will it be said that your name is Ya’akov, but YiSRAL,
for you have striven with the Divine and with man and have overcome.”
(Vayishlach 32:29). 

  
      The Creator entrusted the “key”
to insights and wisdom embodied in our holy Torah to Avraham Avinu. This
tradition (“key”) was handed down to his son Yitzchok, who later gave it to his
son Yaakov. Apparently at that time since the Bnei Yaakov were beginning their
transition from a single family into a nation of millions, it was deemed the
appropriate time for the Creator in His infinite wisdom to, so to speak, design
within the developing Bnei Israel a tamperproof supernal combination lock for
the Torah that only the Jewish people could access.

              What is this mystical combination code that
binds us with our unbroken tradition all the way back to the Avos? We know that
a person’s name reveals his or her spiritual essence, purpose and potential. Therefore
it behooves us to unlock one of the deeper meanings within the name given by the
Creator to the entire Jewish nation as well as this same name given for our
holy land. The Ari Z’l  reveals in a few
short words one of the mystical secrets of our national name by informing us
that the five (osios) letters of the name Y’SRAL are the acronym – roshei
teivos – of the names of our three Avos and four Imahos: The Yud of  Yitzchak and Yaakov is coded
within the Yud of Y’SRAL; the S of Sarah within the Shin;
the R of Rivka and Rachael within the Raish, the A of Avraham
within the Alef and the L of Leah within the Lamed. Imbedded
with our Nation’s name and the name of our land is the spiritual genetic
combination of all our Avos and Imahos! The name Y’sral, the “key” –
combination code – to our existence is an example of a single word in the Torah
that contains worlds of meaning and value. 

         May we, the Bnei Y’sral, soon merit the final
geula allowing all of us to once again live peacefully in our promised land –
Eretz Israel.

All articles appearing on this blog are copyrighted by Rabbi Yehoshua Binyamin Falk. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share/download/copy this information as long as it is accompanied by the copyright. Separately authored/copyrighted materia

               Upon
awakening from sleep, we resume our life’s journey. From the moment that the
holy Jewish soul is returned to the body, a fresh opportunity is presented to
actualize our lifelong process of growth. How do we achieve this lofty goal?   

Chazal explain
that sleep is the period of time when our soul (the neshama) ascends to the
supernal realms. The vacuum left behind causes a temporary influx of what we
call – tum’ah – spiritual impurity. Upon awakening this tum’ah recedes to our
hands with our sages giving us the knowledge of how to remove it by
re-sanctifying our hands.

    But even before we do that, t he
first thing we do in the morning is say “modeh ani”, proclaiming our
humble gratitude to our Creator for showing His confidence in us by restoring
our soul to our body, giving us another day of life in which to fulfill Torah
and mitzvoth. We surely appreciate that the renewal of our life each day is a
gift — a fresh opportunity to actualize our lifelong process of spiritual
growth.  How do we achieve this lofty
goal in a practical way? And how, we might ask,  are we  permitted 
to say “modeh ani,” before we have purified our hands?

             In order to try to answer these
questions, we will look a bit more deeply into the spiritual connection between
our hands and our voices.

The Malbim
explains that the hands represent the earthly power and might that lie within
the domain of  Eisav; but the voice,
which emanates from the realm of the soul lies within the domain of Yaakov.

 When Yaakov approached Yitzchok for his
brachos, Yitzchok touched him and felt the “hands of Eisav” but heard the “voice
of Yaakov”, and thus made the immortal declaration:  “…hakol 
kol Yaakov —- ve hayadayim yedai  Eisav.” (Toldos 27:  22)

            Looking
more deeply into these words, we come to learn that, according to the Malbim, Hashem
desired that Yaakov be given both spiritual and material gifts and
blessings.   However, material blessings would come to Yaakov
not by means of natural cause and effect, but only through hashgacha, through
his voice – his Torah and tefillah. If however, G-d forbid, his Torah learning and
tefillah were to be  diminished then the
flow of material blessings would also decrease. 

            And
now we are ready to address our earlier question – how is it that we are
permitted to utter the “Modeh ani…” even before we wash our hands?   First we should recognize that the impurity
that rests on our hands when we wake up is reflected in interesting ways.
Accordingly to one neurologist, the first parts of the body to, so to speak,
wake up after sleep are the hands. Conceptually, we can understand this as
follows: Our Sages have taught us that the first inclination that “wakes” up
within us is the yetzer hara and only later in life does the yetzer hatov
“awaken” thereby becoming proactive. Thus Eisav, the embodiment of the  yetzer hora, proceeded Yaakov and was born
first, the Midrash teaches in order to absorb any extant impurities, so that
Yaakov Aveinu could be born free of blemishes. Another moshal which can clarify
this issue is that many fruits initially are surrounded by an inedible klipah
which actually protects the valuable fruit until it fully develops. 

            Our
precious soul, which has now been graciously returned to us, needs be the
director of all our deeds. Therefore, first thing upon awakening, we proclaim are
the “modeh ani…” to acknowledge that it is our neshoma for which we thank
Hashem. The neshoma is embodied in the voice – the kol, kol Ya’kov, a Divine
gift. And since the praise is of a purely spiritual content, it lies beyond the
realm of any negative influence of impurity. Therefore, we are able to express this
praise  even before washing  our hands. However, for other praises,
blessings and tefillos that are connected with our physical endowments and
pleasures, we need  first annul any
remaining impurity and re-sanctify ourselves through netillas yadayim.

          Interestingly, the nusach of netillas
yadayim, the first blessing of the day, provides a profound insight:  “Blessed ( or: The Source of all) are You,
Hashem, our G-d King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments,
and has commanded us on the washing –“netillas yadayim” – of the hands. Notably,
the Sages did not choose for this blessing the word “rechitza” meaning “washing”
but “netilla” meaning “taking”, as 
in the bracha of  the lulov  where we say “al netillas lulav,” on the
taking of the lulov, Perhaps a deeper reason for the selection of this – nusach
 is  that just as the mitzvah of lulov is
accomplished through the  act of “taking
hold” of  the lulov, so also do we
achieve spiritual success with the use of our hands – our ma’aseh yadayim –  by  “taking
hold of “ , i.e., controlling and directing  our actions toward the fulfillment of the will
of  Hashem.  May we soon merit to raise our voices and
hands together in a unison greeting the Moshiach and the final redemption soon
in our days.              

All articles appearing on this blog are copyrighted by Rabbi Yehoshua Binyamin Falk. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share/download/copy this information as long as it is accompanied by the copyright. Separately authored/copyrighted materia

                                                                                                                                                                                     ‏

                                                                                                  ‏

                  “Hashem said to Abram,  who was then  living in Ur of the Chaldees, a cosmopolitan city of idol worshippers:  “Go away from the land, from your relatives and your father’s  house to the land that I will show you.”  So Abram left Ur and settled in Eretz Canaan where he was able to grow in the ways of  Hashem.  Yet, when it came time for Avraham to find a wife for his son, Yitzchak, he sent his servant, Eliezer , back to that idolatrous setting where he had grown up, saying  “and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house,”  that is from the very place from which Avram had fled those many years before. 

Avraham Aveinu’s spiritual journey continues to provide  the  road map for our journeys today.  So there is a great lesson for us in these pesukim — a great formula for personal growth in the service of Hashem, When a person decides to relinquish his or her former lifestyle and lead a life of  enhanced holiness,  he or she  remains  vulnerable to the inducements of that original lifestyle for quite some time.  This can create a serious impediment to his or her complete spiritual transformation.   

After Avraham Avinu had successfully climbed up to the ‘mountain of Hashem’ and achieve a new level of understanding  from that vantage point, he was able to infuse these ideals of purity and righteousness into  his son Yitzchak.  Though Avraham Aveinu did not himself return to his point of origin, he had achieved the strength necessary to take some of the good from that place in the form of a wife for his son, Rivka Imeinu.  

                 However Avraham did not himself go back to Ur nor did he send his son Yitzchak.   Avraham had perfected the meda, attribute, of chesed, altruistic loving kindness which at its extreme can see everything and everyone as good. This is a beautiful quality but nefarious people can easily take advantage of such a person. His son Yitzchak had perfected the meda attribute of gevuros, discipline and restraint. This quality when isolated without a balance of chesed can be to structured without a balanced flow which can lead to becoming too judgmental and unforgiving. Perfection lies in the balance of kindness and restraint, the quintessential attribute called teferes – splendor as represented by Yaakov Aveinu. It was therefore through Yaakov Aveinu that the entire Jewish nation could be developed. Thus neither Avraham nor Yitzchak returned to Avraham’s because the Torah wants to teach us that in order to be qualified to overcome the influences of one’s upbringing in a healthy perfected manner it is necessary to balance and blend chesed and gavurot so well that our personality unifies these attributes to the point that all our decisions and action emanate from the newly developed attribute of  teferes.

               Yaacov Avinu lived many years in the home of Lavan who was the prototype deceiver and epitome of unperceived evil but Yaacov didn’t compromise his righteousness throughout his stay. He was successfully able to release all the fallen sparks of holiness that had been trapped in the (klipa) prison of spiritual darkness and raise them back up to the light of kiddusha this being his wives, twelve children, who became the foundational roots of the entire Jewish nation, and the flocks.

                Yaacov Avinu is the prototype of Torah, Avraham Avinu is the prototype (gimilus cassadim) kindness and Yitzchak Avinu is the prototype of (Avoda) Divine service. These are the three pillars of Jewish life and all need to be in place for true service. With them we are then able to confront and challenge any and all people and situations in life. Until we reach that unity and balance we need to withdraw ourselves from any and all negative influences that can distract us from our goal of spiritual enlightenment. Our front line defense is the strict adherence to following the Torah and following the wise dictates of our Sages.

              At every step of the way we need to turn only to the Creator with our sincere heart and soul pleading to be shown and lead down the correct path of life. When we have securely rooted ourselves in Torah, Avoda and Gilmilus Cassidim then when can when called upon safely return – mean interact and confront even the subconscious pulls of our past. Returning to ones place of birth and upbringing – means returning to an environment and mindset whose lifestyle is parallel to that what which had before our spiritual transformation but now being able to differentiate from ones needs and ones wants. Returning to ones family means allowing our old connections and emotional feelings to surface however now being able to properly separate true G-dly emotions from emotions of self interest. Returning to ones parents  means to allow ourselves to as a spiritually mature adult interact without those who had greatly influenced us but not become swayed by any emotion of nostalgia.

          Even after Yaacov Avinu has successfully began his ascent back to the holy environment from which he came, we find that the Torah tells us an episode whereby Eisav confronted Yaacov trying to impede his ascent on the ladder of holiness. It was only through Yaacov’s perfection of Torah, Avoda and gimilius cassisdim that Yaacov was able to overcome Eisav and his angel. Perhaps this is hinted to in to three ways in which Yaacov prepared himself to interact with Eisav, who represents the epitome of evil. The Cazal inform us that Yaacov send gifts to his brother Eisav. First he send gifts which emanate from the media of gilmilus cassidim our spiritual inheritance from Avraham Avinu. He also prepared himself through prayer – this being Avoda parallel to Itzchak Avinu, and finally he prepared himself for war – this being the efforts of learning Torah paralleling Yaacov Avinu himself. This confrontation with Eisav came after the other challenges perhaps to teach us another important and profound lesson. Yaacov and Eisav were born twins. What are we suppose to learn from this? Cazal tells us that until they were the age of bar mitzvah Yaacov and his brother Eisav were indistinguishable – meaning they both acted externally the same. Only later did the evil of Eisav show itself in his actions. Perhaps this is to teach us that even after being successful in subduing our desires in our surroundings, influence from friends and relatives we still have another battle to confront with, that being the inner conflict of overcoming our own evil inclination that vies for power and control. This is our personal (yetzer hora) selfish inclination that exists to a certain extent  no matter how perfect our environment, friends and education was thought to be. This is the face to face confrontation with our Eisav. The Torah therefore teaches us the proper way to subdue, control or defeat our evil inclination through gifts of bestowing chesed a another even if he is you enemy, through prayer thereby showing ones believe in a Higher Source to life and through preparedness for war meaning as a last resort to be willing to stand up and fight for what we believe to be right and just.    When we are able to reach this level of return and tikun then the whole world will be awakened with the revelation of the proper service of Hashem in holiness. We will then be able to raise up not only ourselves but those around us thereby helping to bring the final geula.

            May we merit this so soon in our days.

All articles appearing on this blog are copyrighted by Rabbi Yehoshua Binyamin Falk. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share/download/copy this information as long as it is accompanied by the copyright. Separately authored/copyrighted materia