The Torah is not a history book. The outer events of our forefathers’ lives are recorded in the Torah, but the meaning of these events and the intentions of the protagonists are recorded in the inner aspect of the Torah, the Zohar. It’s when we put the inner intentions together with the events, we can begin to understand why these stories are important for us today in living our own lives.

In this shiur we look at one example in which Yaakov teaches us how to handle our own selfishness and egoism. We discover that before we plan to do a mitzvah, our own yetzer hara comes to us as an inner voice telling us that since our work is not perfect it’s not worth doing. This is the voice of Laban, who claimed all Yaakov’s work for his own. “The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the animals are my animals, and all that you see is mine.”( Gen.33:43)

What does Yaakov teach us to say to this inner voice?
He says “I dwelt with Laban yet I kept the Torah and mitzvot.” We need to ignore it. We need to raise ourselves up with pride in the fact that we are the children of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and have faith that God takes pleasure in our work, in whatever form it takes.

But then “Yaakov sent messengers to Esau.” This action of Yaakov takes us by surprise. Why not let sleeping dogs lie? But here again Yaakov is teaching us an important lesson. After we have done the mitzvah we need to go to the opposite extreme, and consider how much our wills to receive for ourselves alone are really the basis of our work.

What is Esau’s response? He sas, I have plenty my brother, Keep what is yours!” In other words, here our inner voice of the yetzer hara is saying exactly the opposite! it says,”you are so righteous, you have nothing more to do!” It wants to convince us that our work is perfect, so that we rest on our laurels and don’t prgress another inch!

What does Jacob do? He entreats Esau to accept his gift and humbles himself before him. In the same way, we also need to realize how much our wills to receive for ourselves alone are involved in our service to God. We need to ignore the inner voice of Esau , and separate from it going our own way into the Land of Yisrael, the consciousness that is in affinity of form with God until we merit to come to Beit El, the house of God.

This podcast is dedicated lilui nishmat my dear mother, Chaya bat Menachem haLevi

Material taken from Birkat Shalom ” Al HaTorah, Parhsat Vayishlach, and the Zohar with Perush haSulam Parahst Vayishlach, beginnning

Picture by Menachem Halberstam

We all experience our thoughts as being our own. They feel like ours. We don’t usually consider where our thoughts arise from, and we either dismiss our thoughts or act on them automatically, without particularly questioning whether this is what we really want to do.

But Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag, the great master Kabbalist, teaches that our thoughts do not originate from us, they come to us from God.

All the thoughts that come into our minds are the work of the Creator. But this does not accord with the way we feel things. We think that we attract our thoughts from someplace, or that our thoughts arise within us. Our thoughts feel like our thoughts. But this is a complete falsehood, the greatest of all lies. That we think that we own our thoughts is the greatest lie of all.

The truth is, that it is God who sends even the most subtle of thoughts into our minds, and is through this means that He motivates us, moving us to act through the thoughts He sends us. It is through this means that He motivates us and moves us

Just as the earth cannot feel who is sending it the rain that causes the seeds to sprout, so we cannot feel who is sending our thoughts to us that create within us motivation or needs. This is because until a thought has entered our minds, we cannot actually think it. And once it is in the domain of our minds, it feels like it is ours.

God sends us thoughts one after the other, in a tailor- made sequence, in order to move each one of us further along the path that will bring us into affinity of form with Him and thus enable us to receive all the good and delight that God purposes for each and every one of us.

So God sends to us a series of thoughts and feelings, both good and bad. Thoughts and feelings, which are organized according to the Divine providence, tailored uniquely and intimately for every one of us to bring us to the fulfilment of our soul’s purpose. No one shall be left out, as it is written in Samuel II 14:14 “even the banished one shall not be cast out.”

Pri Chacham Sichot.

From what Rabbi Ashlag writes, we can see that we have here an amazing channel of communication and of contact with our Creator. It’s a channel of communication which is intimate and true, inspiring us to turn toward God, a channel that is always available to us. It is ready for each one of us to use, so long as we acknowledge it and consciously use it. Indeed we need to give thanks for every thought we receive, and feel great joy that God Himself is communicating with us, demonstrating His care for each of us as a unique individual who is precious in His eyes.