No Share of The World To Come: Parashat Vayishlach

0:01In the Gemara Masechet Sanhedrin, page 99a, it talks about people that lose their Olam HaBa. And the question at hand is, Rabotai, we have Parashat Vayishlach, where Yaakov is about to meet Esav, but we see that Yaakov is very scared of Esav. But he's not scared of Esav beating him up, he's not scared of Esav picking on him; he's scared of something very much different. And before we get to that point, we have to ask ourselves: Are we more like Edom, the nation of Esav, or like Yisrael, the nation of Yaakov Avinu? Now, of course, the average person out there is going to say, of course, I'm more like Yaakov. I'm a nice person. I like to learn. I'm watching the shiurim. And people really don't like Edom, even though sometimes they act like Edom without realizing it. People love Yisrael while fighting them.

1:05without even realizing it. Meaning, you can be a fan of Am Yisrael, you can even be part of Am Yisrael, but yet act against Yisrael without even realizing it. And tonight we're going to uncover a klipah, a layer of the Torah that you've never heard in this way before. and we're going to help each and every person know exactly whether they resemble Edom or they resemble Yisrael. Ultimately, the goal is not to rub you the wrong way or to upset anyone, but rather to give everyone a reality check of where they stand so they can make an educated decision. What they want to do about it, so the parashah starts off by simply telling us that Yaakov is about to meet Esav. He sends the angels; he sends a message with the angels, but then he prays to Hashem. He cries out to Hashem where he says: Hashem, save me, save me from the hand of my brother, save me from the hand of Esav, for I fear lest he come and strike me down, mother and children. So we see that Yaakov, if you read it literally, is repeating the same thing. First of all, he's referring to Esav as his brother and also by his name, Esav, indicating that it is the same person.

2:28And then he's mentioning how this Esav is a danger not only to Yaakov but also to his wives and children, and he's praying to Hashem to help him. But later on, we find out that Yaakov Avinu defeats an angel. So he wrestles with an angel. The angel ends up blessing him. So obviously Yaakov is extremely strong. We even heard about this when Yaakov first met Rachel, how he lifted the cover off of the well. That was something that a whole group of shepherds had to do together in order to accomplish. He did it by himself. So obviously Yaakov is extremely strong. So this fear is not really very much a physical fear, if you will. Yet Yaakov is scared, scared to death of seeing Esav because Esav could hurt him, Esav could hurt his wives, Esav could hurt his children. Already, the average person is saying, see?

3:33Now, I know I'm not like Esav. People are not scared of me. People like me. People are friends with me. People invite me to their parties. People give me job offers. So I'm not like Esav. Well, let's hold on a second. Who is Esav? Who is Esav? What is so bad about Esav that we don't like him? That in fact, even HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "I hate Esav. Et Esav saneti. I hate Esav." Who is this Esav, Rabotai Yekarim, and how can we make sure to not only stay away from Esav and his followers and those who are supporting him even to this day, but in fact, how do we ensure that we don't act like Esav? For that, Rabotai Yekarim, we're going to have to fast forward toward the end of the parasha. At the end of the parashah, we start learning about the descendants of Esav. And in one of the places, we start finding out that the descendants of Esav were not exactly the ideal family, if you will. In fact, they're considered among the most notorious families and descendants in the history of mankind. The Torah says in chapter 36, verse 22,

5:01Here we're talking about the descendants of Esav, and it says here in verse number 22, "The sons of Lotan were Chori and Hemam, and Lotan's sister was Timnah." Now, okay, I understand that Lotan... Had some sons, that's good. But then you're mentioning his sister. Why do I need to know about his sister? Why do I care about his sister? First and foremost, rabotai yekarim, this verse seems like a verse that perhaps is not necessary. Maybe it could be shortened, if you will. But in fact, rabotai yekarim, the Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin, tells us a little bit more; well, the Gemara says that discussion among the sages, sages of course covered every single part of the Torah, and uncovered to us in the Gemara and the Talmud. In the Gemara, in Masechet Sanhedrin page 99a, it talks about

6:26People that lose their olam ha'ba lose their eternal blessings and, in fact, receive eternal punishment. One of them, the Gemara says, is one who violated the commandment. Referring to the one who violates the covenant of the flesh, meaning he wasted seed or committed immorality without doing teshuva, such a person loses their Olam Haba. And then the Gemara starts talking about other types of sinners that initially seem like they're not... Relevant, but then we'll see very much how connected they are. It was taught by the sages. The Gemara says that they talk about a person where it says "Ki Dvar Hashem Bazah," meaning a person that despised the word of Hashem. The Torah is not from heaven.

7:35he says the Torah is not from Heaven. He doesn't believe in the Oral Torah, he doesn't believe in the Written Torah, or he doesn't believe in a single verse in the Torah or even an insight of the sages in the Talmud. Such a person is considered as if he despised the word of Hashem, and even if such a person, the Gemara says, stated that the entire Torah is from Heaven, but there's an exception of... one verse. I don't think this verse is from it or perhaps one particular insight of the sages—I don't think that's from Hashem, even though it's already in the Talmud. Even if they don't agree with one of the stories that's said about the sages, they simply say, "This is make-believe. This is a fairy tale. I don't believe it." It's as if... He said that the entire Torah is not from Heaven. Now, what's the connection to someone who commits immorality, such as committing adultery, marrying another man's wife while she's still married, marrying his mother, or his sister? These are all types of disgusting things, at least disgusting to normal people.

8:59What is that connected with somebody that thinks that the Torah is not real? It's not from God. So then the Gemara asks, who did such a thing that said perhaps the Torah is not from heaven? By what verse did they justify such a statement? On page 99b, Rabbi said, "You know there was a person who was a king of Israel. His father was Chizkiyahu, the tzaddik. Chizkiyahu, whom Hashem wanted to make Mashiach, had a son named Menashe. Menashe became the next king, but at first, he was a very wicked person. How did this wickedness begin?" Menashe would gather around all the people, and of course, if Menashe had a lecture, everybody had to show up. There's no such thing as not showing up. There's no such thing as, "I'm tired," or, "My wife is pregnant and I have to take her." Nothing like that. When Menashe had a lecture, everybody had to be there. What would he lecture about, this Menashe? And this again was all before he did Teshuvah. Eventually, Menashe would make fun of the Torah. How would he make fun of the Torah?

10:24used to sit and expound on scriptural narratives, ridiculing them. What would he use to ridicule? He used this verse from this week's parasha that the sister of Lotan is Timnah, and you would say: What, did Moshe Rabbeinu have nothing to write in the Torah other than this useless trivia about Lotan's sister, Timnah? What do we need this for? Why do we care that Lotan had a sister and her name was Timnah? What use is this? Now, of course, the sages say there's a lot to learn from this. There's a lot of secrets in this verse that, at this time, Menashe did not realize. But we see that this is a verse, in fact, that the Gemara discusses and says, listen, this is a verse that Menashe used to make fun of the Torah. And of course, anyone that makes fun of the Torah, it's only a matter of time before they despise the Torah openly.

11:46and make that their life's mission and commit all types of heinous crimes against the ship. You know, today people say, "No, how do I know that God is real? How do I know that He gave us the Torah? Are there scientific proofs of it?" Usually, people that don’t believe in the Torah today, it's simply because of ignorance of the... Proofs of the Torah, whether they be scientific, archaeological, or rational, scriptural proofs. But here we have someone who came from a religious house, the most religious house, made all of Israel learn to such an extent that they couldn't find even a six-year-old that did not know the entire Mishnah by heart, the most difficult parts of the Mishnah—purity and impurity. six-year-olds knew, but yet his own son, when he became king, he became a scorner of the Torah, starting with him making fun of a version of that Lavan's sister is Timna.

13:18Thank you.