The Sword of Esav: Parashat Toldot

0:00Use that sword that Hashem gave you to bring life to yourself. By your sword, you shall live. How? Your brother, you shall serve. Who is your brother? Which brother? Yaakov, the tzaddik. Go serve him. Go serve the tzaddik. Why should you serve Yaakov? Why not go to Yishmael? Why not go to all the Canaanites? Why not go to Lavan? Why not go to the resha'im? Why not go to... Because Yaakov is the tzaddik. Hashem gave you sustenance. Hashem gave you power. Hashem gave you a sword. Use every ounce of your energy to go serve your brother. Who? The tzaddik. Don't ask twice. Why? This is an opportunity of a lifetime. What happens sometimes? The Satan fools you. Satan sees a new Ba'al Teshuva.

1:19sees a new convert or somebody who wants to convert doing good things. They start supporting the tzaddik. They start publicizing Torah. They start sending 10%, 20% of their income and even more, more tzedakah, more opportunities. But all of a sudden they hear that the tzaddik said something they don't really like. All of a sudden they see the tzaddik is getting busy, so he doesn't get back to them right away. All of a sudden, they see that the tzaddik can't be their friend and call them every Friday. Suddenly, they realize that the tzaddik is not giving them the personalized, customized relationship that they expect. After they invested so much money in him, they figured with the money, they're not only doing mitzvot, they're buying the tzaddik. So what happens? They become aggrieved. They get angry. They say, I used my sword to bring life. I served my brother, but he's not reciprocating like I want him to. He's not dancing to my tune to make me mad.

2:37Says HaKadosh Baruch Hu to all of those foolish people that think that the tzaddik needs them, that think that HaKadosh Baruch Hu needs them, that think they’re doing anybody but themselves a favor. He says to them, I’m the one that gave you the sword, I’m the one that gave you the sustenance, I’m the one that told you you can bring life to yourself by going to serve the tzaddik. What do you do? You think you bought the tzaddik. And you got mad. You said, "Ah, the heck with this tzaddik. I'm going to be on my own. I'm going to do my own thing." And what does the rest of the pasuk say? "You may cast off his yoke from upon your neck." Once you abandon the tzaddik, you see that it's a downward spiral. Not only in your relationship with the tzaddik — that was your choice — but a downward spiral in your relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. chessed. By bringing you an opportunity of a lifetime, you thought you were doing Him a favor. You thought you were doing God a favor. You thought God needs you. Minus the money, minus the gold, says the Master of Legions. And here we see that Eisav had an opportunity after an opportunity. It started off with having a father who was a tzaddik.

4:05Favor. By bringing you an opportunity of a lifetime. You thought you were doing him a favor. You thought you were doing God a favor. You thought God needs you. Minus the money, minus the gold, says the Master of Legions. And here we see that Esav had an opportunity after an opportunity. It started off with having a father that was a tzaddik. a grandfather that was a tzaddik, a teacher that was a tzaddik, a brother that was a tzaddik. He went off. Hashem gave him another sign. Everything is failing. Do teshuva. Didn't do it. Then even more. The blessing that he gets from his father is not just a blessing of what he's going to have, but rather a path to do teshuva. Hashem will give you money. Hashem will give you power. Hashem will give you position, stage, and popularity. You can use all of that to do teshuva. Yes, you made it in ways that are not supposed to be. Yes, you did it in ways that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says no. But now you want to do teshuva? Hashem will say, I'll still accept you. At the very least, use it. Use what I gave you.

5:32To come and serve me. Connect to tzaddikim. Follow the ways of the tzaddikim. What do you think you’re doing? You think you’re helping the tzaddikim because they need you now? How would they eat if it weren't for you? You think HaKadosh Baruch Hu needs you to feed His children? How would they pay their rent if it weren't for you? You think HaKadosh Baruch Hu needs you, a little puny you? You can't even go out to the bathroom without the assistance of HaKadosh Baruch Hu's miracles. You think that He needs you to go feed His tzaddikim? You're worse than Esav if you think that. And that's what happens to people who are spiritually stupid because of their arrogance. They not only lose the tzaddik, but they also lose other tzaddikim. They lose everything. And the worst part of it all is that as long as they have an ego, they continue living in denial, thinking that they're doing okay.

6:35thinking they're still religious, thinking they're still going on the right path, even though deep down inside they know they are a liar and they're living a lie. Hashem wanted to make sure that we know His Torah, and therefore He made His Torah beautiful; He made His Torah beautiful. an elderly sage, it is always a gift from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Our dear Rav or avreichim, or anyone that we meet who's a true tzaddik that toils over Torah, it's all a gift from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Sometimes people look at me and they ask, "Why do you do all that?" And I look at them confused and say, "What do you mean?" They say, "You're the one that has this and has that. Why are you serving them food? Why are you kissing their hand?" And I respond, "Why am I serving them food?" They say, "Yeah, you're not a waiter."

7:56Why am I kissing their hand? Yeah, you're not their servant. You're wrong. I'm taking advantage of an opportunity to secure my ticket to Gan Eden. These are HaKadosh Baruch Hu's favorite soldiers. These are my tickets to Gan Eden. And you want me to miss out on an opportunity to serve them, to help them, to sit next to them, to learn from them? If I could lay on the ground, and they could step over me so they could climb into their bed, like Antoninus did with Rebbe HaKadosh, I'd be happy to. Just like I told Rav Chaim Kachlon last night at the event. I told him, if you ever need somebody to step on, to get on the bed, please, I'm the first one in line. He laughed in his humility, but he knew that I'm serious. Why? Because when you see Tzaddikim and you understand, at least in your limited capacity, what they are, you realize this is what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants. If you could spend one minute more with them, whether it's making them a coffee or learning Divrei Torah from them, and you miss out on that opportunity because you think you have something better to do, that means you don't know what Tzaddikim are, and you certainly don't know what Torah is. And that's why the Torah calls you an Am Haaretz.

9:26A little boy, 12 years old, finished the Mishnah in six months. It wasn't too long ago he was a Mechalel Shabbat, but now he's able to do that. That's a Tzaddik in the making. That Torah that he learned is better than anybody that's learning Torah right now in the world. Why? That's the Torah of Tinok Shel Beit Rabban. He's not even Bar Mitzvah yet. Those kids that finished the Mishnah, most likely gave Am Yisrael a few more months, a few more years, a few more opportunities to overcome the obstacles and do Torah before HaKadosh Baruch Hu ends it all and brings Mashiach. A person that doesn't understand what Tzaddikim are is a person that doesn't know anything about Torah. Once a person knows what Tzaddikim are, they themselves can become one. most likely gave Am Yisrael a few more months, a few more years, a few more opportunities to overcome the obstacles and do Torah before HaKadosh Baruch Hu ends it all and brings Mashiach. A person that doesn't understand what Tzaddikim are is a person that doesn't know anything about Torah. Once a person knows what Tzaddikim are, they themselves can become one. Rabbotai Yekarim, people have many opportunities to learn Torah. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to us, choose wisely from whom you learn. V'atavri tov avicha, kol ha'yom sicheeti.

10:45V'atavor tov atvicha, kol ha'yom sichati.