Why Esav Became Esav, What It Says About Your Phone, and the Hidden Cause of Greatness | Parshas Toldos

The Question That Starts It All

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Motivation Congregation. My name is Michal Brook, and I'm very glad that you're here. Folks, let me start with a question. What decides who a person becomes in life? Most of us would say big moments, hard tests, major decisions, moments of truth. But in our Parsha this week, Parsha's Toldos, we learn something very different. The Torah introduces us to two brothers, twins. Yakov andesov. Twins are very near and dear to my heart. I'm a twin. I'm eight minutes younger than my older brother Ike. But Yaakovinesov, they had the same parents, the same home, the same upbringing, the same, the same yeshivos opportunities, the same shiduk opportunities, yet they grew up in two completely different worlds. Shne Olomos that could not be more different. And when the Torah describes them, when we're introduced to them, and it gets a chance to give us the main difference between the two of them, it skips everything that we would expect to be the main difference. It gives each of them just a few words. But as we will see this week, on the weekly Parsha podcast here on the Motivation Congregation Podcast Network, that those few words contain their entire futures. See when Rivka's belly, her womb, was bothering her, she ran to the Rush Shiva and said, Why is this happening to me? What's going on inside of me? I don't understand. And she learned that there was going to be two twins, two nations born from her. And there was a little bit of a difference, discrepancy, and battle, a real internal struggle that was going on inside of her between the twins that were to be born named Yaakov and Aesov. And when they're finally born, we have two nations that could not be more different. Two boys that could not have gone in more different directions. We have Yaqov and we have Aesov. And the Pasak tells us, when it describes

Two Twins With One Home

SPEAKER_00 2:24

who they are, Vayhi. And it was all Psukim that begin with a Vayhi. You know that something good is in store. And it was, behold, check this out. Aesov Ish Yodeat Sayid Ishuda. Aesov was a man who knew hunting, a man of the field. The Yakov Ishtum Yoshaba Hullim. Yaakov was a wholesome man, a dweller of tents. Toldos, Khav He, Pasukhav Zion. Now it's interesting. Don't you think? That when the Torah has a chance to describe these two nations, to describe these two folks, these two twins, it notes that the difference between the two of them is well, they are essentially one is a hunter, a man of the field, and the other one's a wholesome man. Don't you think that it's odd that you know the resume of what Yaqov is going to do and what Aesov is going to do? You know how different these folks are. You know that Yaqov is going to go on a path that's totally devoted to Torah, who is fully furthering the covenant of Avram and Yitzhak. Yaakov is further building a family that literally becomes the Jewish people. He's gonna spawn the Shvatim. He's the one who's going to persevere in all of the difficult working conditions. He is the one who will persevere in all of the endless suffering and exiles and deceptions and deceits and deaths, losing of children, God forbid. Yaakov is the one who's the going to become named Yisrael and fight with the Malachim, well, fight with a malach, and then bless his children and give them their marching orders for the rest of time. Don't you think that some of those accolades should be involved in Yaqov's description of what he is? And not simply a wholesome man who sat in tents? Don't you think that description of the man makes one look for some more content? And on the flip side, diametrically opposed to this, the antithesis of this is when you look at Aesop's description. Can you see how terrible of a human he became? How he treated the holy Bechira as disposable. He tossed it aside like a cheap plastic cup. He despised it. He dismissed that sacred responsibility. He committed egregious averos. Murder, immoral relations, Avodazara. Details of events that are not speakable on this podcast did he commit. He planned to murder his brother before his brother ran away, and he married people that served Avodzara, which brought tremendous bitterness of the soul to his parents, Yitzhak and Rivka. And not to be remiss, Aesov's legacy, his descendants? Were they decent people? No. His descendants include Amalek, who would later attack Beneathro. And furthermore, Aesov's loss of potential becomes clearer when we acknowledge the Khinoch that he had access to, the family that he had access to, and the potential that he had access to. You even learn in Devotum Rabbah, Aleph Yud Ches, that's not a thing, Aleph Tesvov, that he was exemplar and keep it of the aim. So in a mitzvah, he was a strong person in one category. But oversee his whole legacy in review, it was nothing but a Ponzi scheme trying to trick his father so he can get blessings because the man was out for blood, blood of humans and blood of animals. And when we finally get a chance to describe who and what he is and how he's different than Yaakov, the Torah doesn't say any of this. It just says he was a man who knew hunting, a man of the field. That's his whole description. The two twin brothers that couldn't be more different are described only as Aesav was a man who knew hunting a man of the field, and Yaakov was a wholesome man, a dweller of tents. How much as Ichar, Chasar, Minhasaifer, how much subplot is missing here? And what does the Torah mean to be conveying and the definitions of the two of these nations, these two twin brothers and folks? But what we have here is a classic example of a Torah

Why The Torah Describes So Little

SPEAKER_00 7:37

lesson and gold mine, of what we see is not a mistake, but clearly the essence of what they both stood for. The Great Mirror Mashkiach, Rabba Yoruchim Lavabitz explains that when you're looking for Yaakov's accolades, what do you get? You get Yoshav Ohalim. He was a dweller of tents. And when you look to translate that in the Targum of Yonason ben Uziel, the translation of Yoshav Ohalim are two words that he was tovah Ulfan, that he sought instruction. Tovah, he seeked. He saw it in past tense. Ulfun means teaching. He sought instruction. He sought more. He sought wisdom. He sought improvement. And what Rabbi Rucham explains is that this means that Yaakov essentially had the power of seeking. Not just that he learned Torah, but he had the power of seeking. These words tova'ulfan are what are in Yaqov's essence. We find the same words tova'ulfan after the Chetah Ego when the nation is mourning and Moshura Bainu takes his tent and pitches it far outside of the camp, and he calls that place the Oel Moed. And the Pusak says that Vahoya call me Vvakesh Hashem, that anyone who sought Hashem would go out to the tent to see Moshe. Over there, the Mavakshe Hashem were the ones who went out there. Look at Uncle Is translation of the words Mevakesh Hashem, and you will see the words Kol De Tovah Ulpan. Whoever sought instruction, the Mavakshe Hashem are those who went to find Moshe Abainu after the Khaita Egel to seek instruction. Kol did Toven notice that in both places there's an oil that they're seeking, and that Mavakshe Hashem are those that seek that tent, those that seek the instructions, those that seek the Torah from that positive drive, the engine of going to be a Mavakesh Hashem is what it means to be a Tova Ulfin, and what is Yaakova Vinu at his heart. This seems, says Rabbi Yeruchum Levovitz, to be the cause of everything good in Yaakova Vinu's life. And once the cause is there, the force that produces the results and the future is already secured in the cause. All of Yaakova Vinu, says the Mashiach, everything that he would ever become was already contained in those two words. His entire legacy is contained in Tova'olfan, that he sought instruction, that he was a man who was Yoshav Aholim, that he sought instruction, that he wanted to learn. He had a drive to be a Mavake Shashem. That source is the entirety and the only description that we have of Yaqov. On the other hand, we have the idler. I D L E R. Listen to how the Torah describes his brother. Asa is a man who knew hunting, a man of the field. Don't you want to know that translation? Unkelus says this is a Gever Nach Shirchan. Look it up. Blue art scroll Khamesh. Gever Nach Shirchon. What does that mean? He's an idle man. He's an Rashi says he's an odum buttil. Really, to get more context of this Unculus translation, the Aramaic word of Govar Nachshirchan. Rabbi Rucham shows us that those same words come up in Mesachtubhavakama 92B, where Rabbeinu Tam is explaining and citing Unkelis's words that the man who's Govar Nachshirchan is describing a man who literally just wanders in the field for leisure

Yaakov As The Lifelong Seeker

SPEAKER_00 11:44

just to be free of anything that's actually gonna burden his life. But it's interesting that you'll see here now, hunting is active. And Aesav was out in the field all day chasing animals. So how does the Torah call him idle? And the answer is the whole schmooze. Because his activity, everything that he was, it wasn't a proactive effort to gain more. He wasn't a Mavakish Hashem, but his entire root is nothing more than a Gever Nach Shirchon, somebody who is an idle man, somebody who's a botlan, someone who does nothing and only wants leisure. He's not interested in building or growing. He's interested in escaping. He's just a botlan. He just wants to do nothing. He just wants leisure. He doesn't seek or pursue anything. The drive is not there. And notice that the Torah leaves all of his terrible deeds out in his description. Says the Mashkiar. You don't need it. Because they're all simply just the results of the causative factor of what he was. The force of idleness. Even before Aesap has done anything wrong, married poorly, sought to kill, done idolatry. His entire future was already contained in this one single clause, and the clause of that he was a Gever nach Shirchan, that he was a man who just was a man of the field, who sought leisure. That cause was his whole essence. Yaakov, the very antithesis, he sought, he searched, he seeked, he had a drive. He was a Mavakesh Hashem, and the other one drifted, wanted leisure, did not want anything, did not drive after anything, did not pursue anything, except for a good time out in the field. And from these two descriptions, Yaakov's and Aesov's legacy are contained. To picture this practically, let me give you a mushle. Picture a railroad switch where a train is heading down the track. And at one point a lever moves the rail just a few inches. Those few inches of the moving of the rail decide whether the train will end up in New York City or in Chicago. At the switch, the difference is almost nothing, but by the time that everything settles, the train is hundreds of miles apart. And it's far too late to make the change because that is what sits as the cause. The cause that Rev Yruchum wants us to understand. A person needs to think and understand about the cause, and because in the cause is where your entire legacy and actions will result. But it's about a person to think deeply about how important causes are. Sebos are. How carefully you have to guard yourself against causes that lead to sin. Because even when those causes are completely permitted, they already carry full weight of the sin if the causative factor is already inherent or present. Rivi Rucham says it very strongly that all of Gehenim can be already present once the cause of sin is there. And the classic way that he can say it. Think about the Bensora Umora. How the wayward son who's judged Al Shame Sofo, according to where he'll end up, but the cause of sin is there, where the Torah looks at the switch, not at where he's going to end up, but looks at the switch, the cause. And you can already tell where the train is headed. The SIBA's there and it's all over. It's game over. The assault of the week is that we care about the SIBA. We care about what is driving your actions. We care about what is driving you. And this Muster Schmooze, it slaps now more than ever. It matters more in our generation than in any other generation before it. Because remember the description of the cause that made Aesov go astray? That he's a man who wanders in the field for leisure, looking to be free of anything. Just sheer boredom and senseless actions are what he's interested in. Doesn't that sound familiar? The modern version of Ace of there are so many people that are interested in just leisure, just scrolling through their feats. You could have a person who sits playing video games for hours and considers himself busy. Your thumb's moving, your eyes are moving, but you're not seeking anything. You're essentially, God forbid, acting like a mensch who's hunting in the fields, just the fields are on the phone, or whatever it is, the sense of leisure of not pursuing and craving and wanting and driving. The idleness. Ghazal saw this a long time ago. They already said that idleness is what leads to sin, To zema, to immorality. The struggles of our time don't stem from the decision

Esav As The Idle Drifter

SPEAKER_00 17:22

to sin. They begin with boredom and nothing to do with no goals in sight. You have a quiet evening and a few minutes alone, and you're bored. The phone could be all ready to fill that space, and through the endless scrolling and entertainment and news in the modern field, you could wander like ASAP, escaping the burdens of life. Because there's a very short difference of sin that comes from what the eyes should not see to quickly spawning into lush and harga, reading, passing along, notes, sending content that's not supposed to be sent, and then hours of bital tyra, of just senseless, meaningless suicide of time that no one ever decides to do. It just stems from a sense of acting like A Sov, not pursuing anything, but just wanting idliness and being a man of the field. It's not just about Ace of the description, the cause is there, God forbid. It's really a guide that the real fight is at the cause, not in every separate Aveira. A person who fights in each temptation, he's already a step behind. You have to get down to the root of what makes a sin. So many sins are driven by not just our love of leisure, but think about the SIBA of taiva, the dangers of taiva. It's not about the physical desire or each specific taiva, not in the forbidden act, but the danger that it trains you that you just continue to pursue bodily cravings. And even if it's permitted, you can understand why Tara says that taiva is so dangerous and that Kedoshim T don't be a novel Bersasa Torah, a degenerate within the bounds of the Torah, just indulging in permitted food and drink and pleasure without limit. Because taiva itself, when you start to feed it, it grows and grows, and the more that you feed it, the hungrier it gets. They also say that no one dies without half of his desires fulfilled because the indulgences, even the permitted ones, they just spawn more taiva. Taiva leads to taiva, which God forbid can eventually eradicate a person from the world when the taiva's unchecked. So the very first sin even became Halitanina, not Halitanina, but but but the chava with the taiva la ainayim. She saw the fruit. The taiva is the cause. Chazal care about the cause. They don't care about the offshoots of what happened. They're getting to the root cause of where the train decides whether it's going to end up in New York or end up in Chicago and seeking leisure and indulging in taiva? These are dangerous routes that a mensch needs to be aware of and attack at the root. Is he just seeking leisure? Is he not wanting more and pursuing good? Is he not having his indulgences in check? But on the flip side, Maruba Mida Taiva, we know how much more good is than evil, and how much more precious and important and weighty good is in the face of evil? If you can already hear Birucham's words and the idea that everything is contained within Taiva, contained within being a man of the fields, well, can't you see how everything is contained in the goodness of being a tovah ulfun? Everything is involved in the Seba of Yaakov. Everything that

The Railroad Switch That Decides Life

SPEAKER_00 21:10

he accomplished is already living inside of that. He was a Mavakesh Hashem. And you can become a Mavakesh Hashem and learn to want God and want to do good. Everything lives within that. Think about why Chazal are obsessed with Talmatoira. Why Claulistral's pastime and obsession should be Talmudra. Because the Gemara says it could do in that Talmatoira Godl Shimavili De Myssa. It's the catalyst and it's the cause. It's the what produces every other result. When you learn and you realize, wow, this stuff is really otherworldly. When you learn about what Hashem is and how perfectly chazal or medaic the Torah, and how everything works hand in hand, and the deeper that you go, Only the more truth that you see, you see that the Talmudra starts to change you and shape you. And if you can only buy into Talmudra, then the rest of your life seems to work itself out. Because that's the Sebah. We just want to stoke the coals of Talmud Tirah in a young Jewish person's heart. Because it all lives there. Avas Hashem, Yiras Hashem, all the Svarim and Musr, all of the reiteration of Sefer Devarium of the important parts of the Torah. It is nothing more but Avas Hashem and Yiras Hashem because this is what everything else comes from. When you start to think about love of Hashem and how to get there and how grand Hashem is, and how perfect everything is, and how small that we are, and how much we owe to Hashem based on gratitude. These are the things of catalysts for everything else. The love and the fear, they're not just mitzvos. They're roots, they're sibos. So be osik in the sibas, what the whole talk here that Rubi Ruchim is saying is about. That everything of Yaqob and Aesov is contained in nothing more than a mere posak that describes them as a ish, Yodaiat Sayyid, Ishadeh, a man who is a hunter, a man of the field. Everything is contained within that and diametrically opposed to that, and the exact opposite, the antithesis, the man of Yaakov, everything is contained in the fact that he's an ish tom. Yoshiv O'alim is a dweller of the tents, meaning he's a tovah ulfin. He seeks Hashem to be a Mavakish Hashem, the SIBA. We care about the SIBA, we care about the cause. Think about the cause of why your struggles happen. Don't solve them at the result. Solve them at the actual

Phones, Boredom, And Modern Idleness

SPEAKER_00 23:58

creation of the struggle, at the siba, at the cause, and get your causes in check. All of us deal with it at the root. So, folks, we began here with two brothers who grew up in the same home, with the same parents, with the same opportunities, yet they could not become more different. And when the Torah describes them, what they each accomplished, it doesn't tell you. It just doesn't need to. Because it tall told us one's a tava ulpan, one's a seeker. The other one was a gever nah shirchan, at ease, an idol in the field. And with those causes present, everything else is just a result, waiting to happen. Their legacies are contained within these two descriptions. This is the lesson that we should take to heart. The shmooz of Rabbi Rucha being Medaik these psukim. The battle for a person's life isn't won or lost at the moment of the Aveira or the mitzvah. It's decided way earlier when you're choosing the switch. At the level of the cause, what you allow to guide and govern and push you and your life. Idleness, taiva may look harmless, but we're noting how even if they're permitted, it's still a very serious risk that comes along with that. And it carries a very heavy weight of what may come. And we're also saying, even more importantly, that working on Talmud Torah, setting up time to learn, dwelling on the greatness of God to bring out Avas Hashem and Yerez Hashem. Those are causes of such greatness. Those are the sea bathassi boat. And it's all about cause. Whole Torah is all a cause from Hashem, and we care about Anoichi Hashem. It's all there because cause it's about the deeper cause. Cause, cause, cause, cause, cause. And the ultimate cause is just one. It's all God. But for our Avota to God, it's about getting down to the cause. May we all merit to be from the Yaqovish Tom Yoh Ohalim Vakshay Hashem, true Yoishve Oyhalim, the ones who seek like Avram Avinu and

Building Better Causes To Close

SPEAKER_00 26:24

everything that we're meant to become, it can already be contained in what we choose to push us and to cause success today. I thank you for listening to the Motivation Congregation podcast. And I hope that you'll be with us next week to talk about the next great Eusod, a lesson that the Torah wants us to know and internalize to make us better servers of the holy creator of the world.