This week's parsha
Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.
A Woman's Persuasion
"And [Jacob] arose during that night, and he took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children, and he crossed the ford of the Jabbok [stream]." -- Genesis 32:23
"But where was [Jacob's daughter] Dinah? [Jacob] put her into a chest and locked her in, so that Esau should not set eyes on her. Therefore, Jacob was punished for withholding her from his brother – [because had he married her,] perhaps she would cause him to improve his ways – and she fell into the hands of Shechem." -- Rashi's commentary on the verse
Esau was reared in the most ideal household imaginable. His earliest childhood memories were of life together with his illustrious grandfather Abraham, the paradigm of kindness and purity, who personally oversaw the education of his twin grandsons and gave them the foundations for a meaningful spiritual life. With Abraham's passing when Esau was fifteen years old, life for the young lad continued in the presence of Isaac and Rebecca and his brother Jacob. Seeing a tzaddik (righteous person) even once has an intense impact on a person, and Esau spent decades with none other than the three Patriarchs! One would be hard-pressed to find another person throughout the course of history who had a comparable upbringing, yet this had very little effect on a very thick-skinned Esau.
Marry Two Sisters?
Jacob's marriage to Rachel and Leah, Laban's daughters, is related in this week’s Torah portion, and many commentators grapple with the question of how Jacob was permitted to marry two sisters -- in view of the fact that he kept the entire Torah before it was given, and the Torah explicitly forbids such a marriage. A summary of a profound and scholarly explanation of the question by the Rebbe follows.
Our forefathers took upon them-selves to keep the entire Torah -- even though they had not been commanded to do so -- as an extra added measure of devotion to G-d. If those Mitzvot or commandments of the Torah which they were not ordered to observe happened to conflict with precepts that they had been explicitly ordered by G-d to observe, then they obviously did not keep the Mitzva that they were not commanded. In fact, such action constituted for them true Torah-observance; the Torah itself required that they refrain from doing an extra, added act of devotion when this was in conflict with an explicit command.
Our forefathers took upon them-selves to keep the entire Torah -- even though they had not been commanded to do so -- as an extra added measure of devotion to G-d. If those Mitzvot or commandments of the Torah which they were not ordered to observe happened to conflict with precepts that they had been explicitly ordered by G-d to observe, then they obviously did not keep the Mitzva that they were not commanded. In fact, such action constituted for them true Torah-observance; the Torah itself required that they refrain from doing an extra, added act of devotion when this was in conflict with an explicit command.
The Tent and the Field
Jewish teaching sees the life of the individual as expressing an inner struggle. One part of the person relates to Nature -- untamed, uncontrolled, like natural forests and unclaimed fields. The other part has a Divine quality, expressing G-d Who created nature in order to make it His dwelling.
The untamed aspect is called the Natural Soul, or the Animal Soul. Sometimes the Sages describe it as the "Evil Desire." The problem is that much of the time it does not appear as evil, just as free and unrestrained: natural. The Divine quality is known as the Divine Soul, the spark of G-d within the person. It is sometimes called simply the "Good Desire."
These two forces within person, the Natural Soul and the Divine Soul, struggle together. Each soul tries to dominate the day-to-day life of the individual: what one thinks about, what one says and above all what one actually does. But the Divine Soul is seeking not just to win the immediate battle. Its goal is to transform the Natural Soul, to tame it, to reveal its tremendous potential for good.
The relationship of these two dimensions in a person's life is described in our parshah, in the account of Jacob and Esau. For everything related in the Torah is not only telling us our history, but also our spiritual psychology. Every event described in the Torah took place thousands of years ago, and is also repeated in some form within the life of each person.
The untamed aspect is called the Natural Soul, or the Animal Soul. Sometimes the Sages describe it as the "Evil Desire." The problem is that much of the time it does not appear as evil, just as free and unrestrained: natural. The Divine quality is known as the Divine Soul, the spark of G-d within the person. It is sometimes called simply the "Good Desire."
These two forces within person, the Natural Soul and the Divine Soul, struggle together. Each soul tries to dominate the day-to-day life of the individual: what one thinks about, what one says and above all what one actually does. But the Divine Soul is seeking not just to win the immediate battle. Its goal is to transform the Natural Soul, to tame it, to reveal its tremendous potential for good.
The relationship of these two dimensions in a person's life is described in our parshah, in the account of Jacob and Esau. For everything related in the Torah is not only telling us our history, but also our spiritual psychology. Every event described in the Torah took place thousands of years ago, and is also repeated in some form within the life of each person.
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