Vayishlach-2015

· 32:25 – “Yaakov remained alone.  A man wrestled with him until daybreak.  The man saw that he could not defeat Yaakov, and he struck the socket of his hip.  Yaakov’s hip joint was dislocated as he wrestled with him….  The man said, ‘No longer will your name be Yaakov, but Yisroel, for you have contended with God and with men, and you have won.’  And Yaakov limped because of his hip.”

· Rashi says that this was the Saar of Eisav. 

· Many years before, Yaakov had escaped after getting the brochas instead of Eisav.

· Yaakov was returning to Eretz Yisroel with 4 wives, many children and wealth.

· He was afraid of the confrontation with an angry and vengeful brother Eisav

· Somehow winning the battle during the night with the Saar of Eisav neutralized the threat of Eisav, and Eisav was friendly towards Yaakov and welcomed him back to Eretz Yisroel.

· So let’s ask three questions.

o Can spiritual beings take on a seemingly physical form?

o What does it mean to fight with Hashem and spiritual beings?

o What does it mean that Eisav had a Saar – i.e. who and what else has a Saar?

CAN SPIRITUAL BEINGS TAKE ON SEEMINGLY PHYSICAL FORM?

· 3 Angels that visited Avraham, and then went on to Sedom

· Angel that met Shimshon’s parents

· Yuma – 67b –

o The Gemara asks about the meaning of the name Azazel - the goat that is pushed off the cliff , the scapegoat.

o The Yeshiva of Rabbi Yishmael answers it’s from Aza and Azazel.

o Rashi explains that they were two bad angels, who at the end of Parshat Bereshis, are called the Nefilim because they found the human women attractive, they came to earth in physical form, and mated with women.

o Og Melech Habashan was one of their children. 

o This were the Nefilim that scared the Meraglim, that made them feel like grasshoppers.

o There’s nothing more physical than this.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FIGHT WITH HASHEM AND SPIRITUAL BEINGS?

· Breshis 1:11–-  Trees rebelled when they were created

o Hashem created an Aitz Pree – a tree that was fruit.

o Rashi – This implies that the taste of the trees should be the same as the taste of the fruit. 

o However  the trees did not do this, but rather, “The earth sprouted forth… a tree producing fruit”, but a tree itself was not a fruit.

o This implies that the trees went against the intention of Hashem

· Avraham challenged Hashem about Sedom

· Moshe on Har Sinai fought with Hashem to grant forgiveness for the Jewish people after the Chait Ha-egel, and won

· Choni Hamagil Taanis 23a –

o Once it happened that most of Adar had gone and no rain had fallen. The people asked Choni Hamagil, Pray that rain may fall. He prayed and no rain fell.

o He then drew a circle and stood inside it and he cried out, Master of the Universe,  I swear by Your great name that I will not move from here until You have mercy on your children!

o Rain began to drip and his disciples said to him, We look to you to save us from death;

o Then he cried out: It is not for this that I have prayed, but for rain to fill cisterns, ditches and caves. The rain then began to come down with great force, every drop being as big as the opening of a barrel.

o His disciples then said to him: Master, we look to you to save us from death;  Then he cried out to Hashem, It is not for this that l have prayed, but for rain of benevolence, blessing and bounty.

o Then rain fell normally.

· Dispute with Rabbi Eliezer in Baba Metzia 59a,

o Rabbi Elieer argued with the Rabanim in Yavne about whether a certain oven could become Tomay

o Rabbi Eliezer said it was Tahar, and the Rabanim said it could be become  tumay

o Shamayim, meaning Hashem, clearly agreed with Rabbi Eliezer, and showed it by making the river go upstream, moving a carob tree, and bending the walls of the Bais Medresh.

o But the Rabanim held their ground, and said, we poskin differently that  Torah Lo Be Shamayim He

o And they won.

o One of the Rabbanim ran into Eliyahu who said, Hashem was laughing, they fought with me and won

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT EISAV HAD A SAAR – WHO AND WHAT ELSE HAS A SAAR?

· Eisav had a Saar that represented him.

· Mesilis Yesharim says that each nation has a Saar, except the Jewish People who interact with Hashem directly.

· When Hashem offered the nations of the world the Torah, perhaps he offered it to the Saar of each nation.

· At the Yam Suf, it says that Hashem badly damaged the Saar of Egypt, from which they never recovered.

· So when it says that the trees rebelled, probably it wasn’t the actual trees, but the Saar of the trees that rebelled.

FASCINATING EXAMPLE WITH LUTHER BURBANK

· This might explain a fascinating article about Luther Burbank.

· Luther Burbank lived from 1849 to 1926.

· He worked in Southern California and developed more than 800 varieties of plants over his 55-year career, including completely new fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables.

· He developed a spineless cactus without needles that is still used for cattle-feed.

· He also created a new kind of potato that we call the Idaho potato that is the most popular form of potato in the US.

· Burbank didn’t keep notes on what he did, and nobody knows how he created about on average 14 new varieties every year over 55 years.

· From Outlook Magazine for the Blind, December 1925

· Helen Keller describes her visit with Luther Burbank

· “In another part of the garden we saw the spineless cactus. The plants were enormous, one of them weighing two tons. Near the cacti which Mr. Burbank had persuaded to surrender their spines were their uncivilized cousins, still very thorny, whose hostile natures the wizard of the garden will someday charm into friendliness and usefulness. He is not only a great scientist, he is also a great teacher and a poet at heart. He has the rarest of gifts, the receptive spirit of a child. When plants talk to him, he listens. That is why they tell him so many things about themselves. Only a wise child can understand the language of flowers and trees. Mr. Burbank feels the individuality, or genius of the plant — that something which invents, changes, urges and adds or drops characteristics as the plant advances. So he encourages the plant to put forth the best of which it is capable. In the same way, he says, every human being should be given a chance to grow in freedom and develop his powers according to the inner law of his nature.”

· It seems possible that Luther Burbank was communicating with the Saar of the various vegetables and fruits, encouraging them to improve themselves, to be the best that they could become.