Shalom uvracha mi'Yerushalayim!

MAZAL TOV TO ZEV AND YISRAELAH ALEXANDER
YEHI RATZON SH'TIZKU LIVNOT BAYIT NE'EMAN B'YISRAEL, BINYAN ADEI AD Ð B'SIMCHA
TAMID!

	This week's parsha is awesome. There are so many deep and important lessons to
learn from it that it is difficult to decide where to begin. Once again I'm
reminded how Reb Shlomo zt"l used to say, "Let's jump right in." We have learned
in the past that Yaakov Avinu's story is also the story of the Jew in exile, the
story of the neshamah in this world. We have learned a number of the survival
lessons that are contained in this parsha (and you can find these teachings at the
end of this week's parsha learning). Today I would like to add a few more thoughts
and teachings that we learned this week on the same theme.
	"Va'yeitzei Yaakov mi'Be-eir Sheva, va-yeileich Charanah."
Yaakov went out from Be-eir Sheva, and he went to Charan.

	Yaakov Avinu went from Be'eir Sheva - the city which represents peace and
tranquility, the city that represents Shabbos, to the city of Charan. The Rabbis
of blessed memory teach us that Charan represents "charon af shel olam" Ð the
anger of the world. (Rashi at the end of parshas Noach.)

	We have learned many teachings about anger in the past and there is a new and
interesting aspect that is being revealed here in this opening verse of the
parsha. Here the world we live in is portrayed as the place pf anger. Elsewhere we
have seen that this world is known as 'the world of separation' [or separateness],
'the world of lies'. The neshamah is far from Hashem in the place of anger; the
Rabbis have taught that the Shechinah departs from the one who is angry, that one
who is angry is considered like one who is worshipping an idol.

	To greater or lesser degrees we all know the truth of these teachings from our
personal experiences. What interests me, or should I say, what bothers me is the
pervasiveness of this reality and why it's so difficult to rid our selves of
anger. Even if we have managed to learn to control our anger, or at least to
express it in ways that are more socially acceptable, it's still there in other
manifestations, such as haughtiness, sabotage and even self-sabotage. Until we rid
our selves of it completely, it continues to separate us from one another and from
Hashem and we continue to live a somewhat lonely existence. And so I'd like to
share a beautiful and helpful teaching from the Piasetzner Rebbe zt"l that I think
is very helpful in dealing with our anger and its many manifestations. This
teaching also appears in the Tanya in a somewhat different way.

	The Piasetzner Rebbe writes in Chovat Hatalmidim that the underlying cause of
many of our spiritual ills such as haughtiness, anger, laziness and stubbornness,
is the lack of the 'Jewish I'. When we received and accepted the Torah, Hashem
said "I Am Hashem your G-d..." ANOCHI Ð there is the divine 'I Am' and there is
the personal 'I am'. A spark of the divine 'I Am' is present within the personal
'I am'. We received this from Hashem when we accepted the Torah. Hashem has
blessed us and endowed us with [so to speak] a part of Himself. But we tend to
forget this and we think either that it ours alone, or we think that we don't
possess it at all, 'chas v'shalom'. We forget that we are always in the presence
of Hashem and that Hashem is always present within us and before us. When we lose
touch with our 'Jewish I' we end up like a ship without a rudder tossed about by
the wind and the waves in the turbulent sea. We are easily subjected by every
emotion and desire even if they are self-destructive.
"Those who go down to the sea in ships ... they rise to the sky, plunge to the
depths; their soul melts in distress. They reel and stagger like a drunkard, all
their skill is to no avail."  (Psalm 107)

	The solution lies in meditating on the greatness of Hashem, on how close Hashem
is to us and how close we could be to Him, if only we would allow our selves to do
so, if only we would say one sincere prayer. "Hashem I don't want to sink. Hashem,
Ribono Shel Olam I don't want to be alone, I don't want to feel alone. I don't
want to think and act as if it's all about me. Hashem I want to live the truth,
Your truth."
"They cried out to the Lord in their distress, and He brought them out from their
calamity. He transformed the storm into stillness, and the waves were quieted.
They rejoiced when they were silenced, and He led them to their destination. Let
them give thanks to the Lord for His kindness, and proclaim His wonders to the
children of man." (Psalm 107)

Have a wonderful Shabbos, b'ahavah ubivracha
Sholom



[the following was sent out lasat year]

I hope that everyone is B"H very well. As we are getting closer to Channukah we
are beginning to sense its light and joy more and more. In many ways our parsha is
very much connected with Channukah, as we will see. We continue to pray and wish a
refuah shleimah to all our friends who need healing. We all thank you for your
prayers as well... may Hashem answer all our prayers. Amen

YAAKOV AVINU GOES INTO EXILE: LESSONS IN JEWISH SURVIVAL

This weekÕs parsha begins with the verse:
"Va'yeitzei Yaakov mi'Be-eir Sheva, va-yeileich Charanah."
Yaakov went out from Be-eir Sheva, and he went to Charan.

Our holy father Yaakov was forced to go into exile. He had to leave Be-eir Sheva,
the holy home of his father Yitzchak and of his holy grandfather Avraham Avinu,
and go to Charan, which was outside of the holy land, a place of decadence and
deception. Even a righteous person, when choosing a place to live, is advised to
live in communities that practice loving kindness in the proximity of righteous
people. We can hardly escape the power of environmental influence. That is why the
Mishnah in Pirkei Avot advises us strongly, 'acquire for yourself a good friend'
and 'distance yourself from a wicked neighbor'. When this is not possible, we are
nevertheless responsible for our behavior, as Hillel taught: "and if you are
living in a place where there is not a single upright person, make great effort to
be an upright person!" And here in our parsha we are learning that Yaakov Avinu
had to leave not only the holy environment of his parents' home, but also from the
Holy Land.

Yakov Avinu, who was described in last weeks' parsha as "ish tam yosheiv ohalim" a
simple [whole] person, who dwelt in tents, in the tents of Torah study, no longer
has the luxury of a comfortable and sheltered life. He is out there in the
'galut', the bitter exile, where he is cheated and robbed many times. But he
maintains his integrity and together with our 'holy mothers', Rachel and Leah, and
with Bilhah and Zilpah, he builds the first whole Jewish family.

This is the story of how a Jewish person survives in unfriendly places, to put it
mildly. It is the story of learning how to live an authentic Jewish life wherever
you are. Knowing that whatever it is you have to be involved with in your life,
there is a way to do it without losing your integrity as a holy Jew, without
assimilating. And by doing so you are elevating the mundane into the realm of the
spiritual, to the point where not only is the 'neshamah' soul overpowering the
desires of the body, but even greater than that, the body becomes a willing
partner in the soul's journey.

TORAH STUDY AND PRAYER

"He happened upon the place and he spent the night there, because the sun had set.
He took some of the stones of that place and he arranged them around his head, and
he lay down to sleep in that place." Bereishis 28:11

The Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l points out how Yaakov Avinu went about maintaining his
Jewish integrity. Before actually leaving Eretz Yisrael, before building his
Jewish home, Yaakov Avinu spent fourteen years studying torah intensely in the
Yeshivah of Shem. According to Rashi he did not lie down to sleep during those
entire fourteen years.

When he finally had to flee from eretz Yisrael, as broken as he was, the Midrash
teaches us that first and foremost Yaakov Avinu did not give up! He did not
despair! Though his holy father and holy grandfather lived like kings and they
were able to devote themselves completely to serving Hashem, he Yaakov had to flee
penniless. But he did not despair. He resolved that if it was meant for him to
serve Hashem in small ways, in exile, then that is what he would do.

The Rebbe further points out that the Talmud teaches us that that night Yaakov
prayed in 'that place' before going to sleep, before leaving the Holy Land. The
Talmud teaches us that he was the first one to pray the evening service. A Jew
must always pray to Hashem. We connect our conscious minds through Torah study.
But we must also connect our hearts to Hashem through prayer.

Yaakov Avinu placed stones around his head. The Rebbe explains that this signifies
that the Jewish body can be exposed to the world as long as he keeps his head
protected- we have to maintain a solid Jewish consciousness; solid like the stones
that Yaakov placed around his head.

THE DREAM AND THE PROMISE.

On the last night before leaving Eretz Yisrael, Yaakov has a dream:
11. He reached the place and spent the night there because the sun had set.
He took some of the stones of that place and arranged them around his head,
12. He dreamed: behold a ladder was set up on earth
and the top of it reached toward heaven;
and behold angels of Elokim were ascending and descending on it.
13. And behold Hashem stood above it [him], and said,
"I Am Hashem, G-d of Abraham, your father, and G-d of Yitzchak,
The land upon which you are lying, I will give to your descendants.
14. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth.
You shall spread to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south.
Through you shall be blessed all the families of the earth,
and through your descendants.
15. Behold I Am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go,
and I will ring you back to this land. I will not forsake you
until I have done that which I have spoken to you.


THE LADDER

I learned the following three descriptions of the ladder:
1. According to the holy Kabbalah, the ladder reached down to the lowest of the
lowest places, and reached up unto the highest of places in heaven.
2. According to some Midrashim, and the Rambam takes this view as well, the ladder
had four steps.
3. In another Midrash we find that the ladder was extremely wide, many kilometers
wide.

Basically, we need to remember that wherever we find ourselves, no matter how low
we think that we have fallen, we may not give up! The ladder is right next to us!
The four steps [probably] represent the four worlds of Assiyah- Action, Yetzirah-
Feeling, Bri'ah- Knowledge and Atzilus- Being. And the extreme width of the ladder
represents the awareness that you are not making this journey all alone- we are
all on this journey together.

There is a Midrash that asks: two people are on a ladder, one is on the eighth
rung and one is on the second, who is higher? And the Midrash answers: it depends
on the direction of their movement. If the one on the eighth rung is going down
and the one on the second rung is going up, the one on the second rung is higher.
If the one on the second rung is going down and the one on the eighth rung is
going up, the one on the eighth rung is higher. If they are both moving in the
same direction, they are equal!
This Midrash is basically alerting us not to look at other peoples' spiritual
position in relation to our own. Which rung we started life on was not a matter of
our choice. If you started on a higher rung than your friend, it does not mean
that you are better than them; for some reason you were blessed in this way. Every
one of us is blessed, every one of us has a unique purpose and destiny and each
one of us has to take personal responsibility for fulfilling our personal
missions.

Above all we must not give up we may not despair. "Serve Hashem with joy!"

THE VOW TO BE CONSCIOUS AND TO SERVE HASHEM WITH ALL YOUR POSSESSIONS

Yaakov rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had placed at his
head; and he set it as a monument. And he poured oil on its top. He named that
place Beit El, but Luz was the original name of the city. Yaakov made a vow,
saying: "If Elokim will be with me, and guards me on this path that I am going,
and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear; And I will return in peace to my
father's house, and Hashem will my G-d; [Then,] this stone which I have set as a
monument, will become a House of G-d, and of all that You give me, I will surely
give a tenth to You." 	Bereishis 28: 18-22

A PRAYER FOR FAITH AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Lord, our G-d, please do not make us dependent upon the gifts of mortal men, nor
upon their loans, but only upon Your full, open, holy and generous hand, that we
may never be shamed or disgraced. [From the Grace After Meals]

Reb Yaakov Koppel Chossid was one of the extraordinary chassidim of the Baal Shem
Tov. He was a very hidden and humble holy man who earned a modest living from his
small store. Being a chassid who had complete faith in Hashem, he wondered about
the above prayer: If you believe that your sustenance comes only from Hashem, what
difference is there if you receive it directly from Hashem, or by the sweat of
your brow, or as a charitable gift or loan from another? Whichever way it comes to
you, it is nevertheless only by virtue of Hashem's decree!

Reb Yaakov explained the kavannah of the prayer as follows:
May it be Your will Hashem that both the giver and receiver of Tzedakkah should
have perfect faith that it is not the hand of man that is the giver of sustenance!
The giver should know that what he is giving is not his own, but that he is giving
from Your full and open hand. Likewise the receiver should know that he is
receiving his sustenance not from the hand of flesh and blood, but from Your full
and open hand. This is not a prayer fro sustenance, but rather it is a prayer for
faith.

It is told that Reb Yaakov Koppel Chossid was an awesome scholar and servant of
Hashem. But no one knew of his greatness until one Shabbos the Baal Shem Tov
discovered him, when the Baal Shem Tov was in his town for Shabbos. After he had
completed the Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv prayers, the Baal Shem Tov sensed a
great light shining forth somewhere in town. He went walking about the streets in
search of this light.

Soon enough he found it emanating from a small house on a run down street. The
Baal Shem Tov stood outside and looked in. There he saw a small simple table that
had been prepared for the holy Shabbos. The Shabbos candles were glowing, the wine
and the challah were on the table and the meal was waiting to be eaten. Though
most people were already well into their Shabbos meals in all the other homes, no
one was seated at this table. Instead the Baal Shem Tov saw that this householder
was singing and dancing ecstatically with all his body and soul. The Baal Shem Tov
watched this for quite a while; the man sang and danced in honor of the holy
Shabbos until his soul was about to expire. Only then did he sit down to the meal.

The Baal Shem Tov knocked on the door and was invited in. he asked Reb Yaakov why
he was dancing before the meal. Reb Yaakov explained that before eating the holy
Shabbos meal one must first enjoy the spirituality of the holy Shabbos food and
ingest its holiness. Only afterwards may you physically partake of the food. The
Baal Shem Tov was very pleased with this answer. That Shabbos Reb Yaakov became a
chossid of the Baal Shem Tov.

Reb Yaakov Koppel 'Chossid' was a very saintly man indeed. He became that 'baal
tfillah' in the Baal Shem Tov's shul and he composed many inspired Chassidic tunes
that were sung for many generations. Even the local peasants would refer to him as
the 'Shiviti man', for they would always hear him saying "Shiviti Hashem l'negdi
tamid,"- I place Hashem before me, always- even as he was attending to his
business in his small store.

When Yaakov Avinu woke up from his dream he prayed that he should always be aware
that Hashem was indeed with him. Yesterday was the 'yahrtzeit' of the 'Mitteler
Rebbe' Ð the second Rebbe of Chabad. At one of his first 'farbrengens' Ð gathering
with the chassidim Ð he said that a Jew must always pray just to be a Jew. As
astounding as this sounds, we must realize that it is such a gift to have faith in
Hashem, that it is an awesome gift and privilege to be a Jew.


THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL

Chassidut teaches us that in addition to the 'pshat' meaning of the Torah, the
Torah is always teaching us lessons in serving Hashem. 'Ma-asseh avot siman
la-banaim', the deeds and life experiences of our Avot and Mahout are signs for
their children! Yaakov Avinu's story is also our personal story. In the 'sichos'
of the Lubavitcher Rebbe as well as in other 'sifrei kodesh' we find that our
opening verse is also referring to the experiences of the 'neshamah' (Yaakov) when
it has to leave its place of tranquility in heaven, the place where it was
enjoying the uninterrupted glory of the Shechinah (Be'er Sheva), and go to a
turbulent and angry place (Charan), a place of lies and division, to dwell in this
world that we live in.

FOR WHAT PURPOSE

It is Hashem's will that the neshamah descend into this world "la-asot lo dirah
b'tachtonim" to make for Him a dwelling place here in this lowest of all worlds!
We serve Hashem not only through the study of Torah and prayer, and not only by
doing the mitzvot. We try to serve Hashem even through our involvement in the
mundane aspects of life.

Hashem is good, and it is the nature of good, to do good. Our souls while in
heaven were already being nourished by the Shechinahs' glory. However the
nourishment it receives is referred to as "Nahama d'keesufah" bread of shame,
because the neshamah has done anything to earn this. The greatest favor that
Hashem is doing for us by sending our souls down to this world is that we are
being given an opportunity to earn our divine nourishment. This is similar to the
Rambams' teaching that the highest level of tzedakkah is to give the poor person a
job so that he can earn his livelihood with honor. As we perform the mitzvot and
overcome our tests and the obstacles that we encounter, we reach higher levels of
unification with Hashem. It is truly amazing that we are given these
opportunities, and it is even more awesome that we accomplish this through our
involvement in the mundane aspects of this world, according to Torah and mitzvot.

Once it happened that on Shabbos parshas Va'yeitzei, that the 'holy grandfather'
of Lechovitch, did not say any 'divrei Torah'. His students asked him why he
didn't teach them any Torah this Shabbos. He explained that the whole parsha is
about elevating the physical aspects of our daily lives and therefore the 'avodah'
service of this Shabbos was to do all manner of physical things such as sleeping
and eating in holiness; and in this manner of service even the physical acts
become 'divrei Torah'.

FROM SHABBOS TO THE WEEK DAYS:
OVERCOMING FEAR WITH FAITH, TRUST, JOY, FRAGRANCE, LIGHT AND WISDOM

The Slonimer Rebbe presents a teaching that Be'er Sheva represents the holy
Shabbos. [Originally the name Be'er Sheva derived from the oath that was taken
there; 'shvu'ah' means an oath.] 'Sheva' means seven, 'shavuah' is a week ...
seven days. Be'er Sheva alludes to the seventh well. Shabbos the seventh day of
the week, is the "day of the soul", for on Shabbos the soul is restored,
strengthened and rejuvenated.

But at the end of Shabbos the soul has to return to the weekdays. It leaves Be'er
Sheva, its tranquil home and goes to Charran, the place and the days of turbulent
involvement in physicality, attempting to gain a livelihood in a competitive
world, honestly. The secret is to bring Shabbos into the week; this is our task,
to elevate the weekdays until we will finally arrive at the "yom sh'kulo Shabbos",
the day when it is entirely Shabbos. We need to be aware of the distinction
between 'kodesh' holy and 'chol' weekday, and we also need to master the secret of
the transition from one to the other; how to bring the Light of Shabbos with us
into the weekdays.

THE HAVDALAH PRAYER.

At the beginning of Shabbos we enter into the holiness of Shabbos, by lighting the
Shabbos candles, praying, singing and dancing the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers and
making "Kiddush". At the end of Shabbos, we make "Havdalah" to mark the conclusion
of Shabbos and to move from the holy day into the weekday. As Shabbos ends we pray
to overcome our fear of leaving the haven of Shabbos and re-entering the
competitive and scary world. We seek to declare and strengthen our faith in
Hashem's salvation and deliverance. We remember that though we are sad that
Shabbos is over for another week, we are exhorted to joyously draw water and light
from 'the fountain of living waters' the source of our lives Ð our Torah. We pray
that our faith and trust in Hashem will be strong throughout the week. We herald
our faith and trust in the power and strength of Hashem.
In the Havdalah service we have wine, fragrance and the lights of fire. While
holding a cup of wine in our right hand, we begin with the following prayer:

"Indeed God is my deliverance;
I am confident and shall not fear,
for God the Lord is my strength and song,
He has been a help to me.

You shall draw water with joy from the wellsprings of deliverance.
Deliverance is the Lord's;
may Your blessing be upon Your people forever.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our everlasting stronghold.
Lord of hosts, happy is the man who trusts in You.
Lord help us; may the King answer us on the day we call.

For the Jews there was light and joy, gladness and honor---
So let it be with us.

I raise the cup of deliverance and invoke the Name of the Lord."

Then we recite a blessing over the cup of wine and this is followed by three
special blessings.

FRAGRANCE: the first blessing is on the smelling of fragrant spices. Why do we do
this particularly at the end of Shabbos? There is a teaching that we make a
blessing over the fragrant spices so that we should not faint as we end Shabbos.
On Shabbos our souls were in the Garden of Eden. The soul needs to have a way of
remembering this, especially as it will find itself in the thickness of worldly
affairs. Since the sense of smell is the only one of the five senses not mentioned
when Adam and Chavah ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, therefore it
is the one sense that has retained its spiritual sensitivity. "Rey-ach" smell, and
"Ru-ach" wind/spirit are related; smell is carried by the wind. Thus the sense of
fragrance is the best for remembering the fragrances of the Garden of Eden, for
reminding the soul of the reality of Shabbos during the week.

THE LIGHTS OF FIRE. The second one is recited over fire. We make the blessing and
then we look at its reflection on our fingernails, as well as at the distinction
between the light and the dark. According to the Midrash, in the Garden of Eden,
before we had a need for clothing, our bodies were covered in the same substance
as our fingernails. By looking at them we are reminded of our existence in the
Garden of Eden, when our physical selves were more translucent and we reflected
and shone with Hashem's light more readily.


CONSCIOUS AWARENESS. The third blessing is the actual Havdalah blessing:

"Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, who makes a distinction
between sacred and profane, between light and darkness, between Israel and the
nations, between the Seventh Day and the six work days. Blessed are You Lord, who
makes a distinction between sacred and profane."

THE HOLINESS OF YAAKOV AVINU

Where is the depth in all of this? Herein lies the depth of this parsha. Our
father Yakov was very much involved in day-to-day life experiences. His greatness
lay in the way he was able to build a full Jewish home amidst all the various
difficulties and hardships that he and his family had to endure. This is the story
about the holiness of day-to-day life, about the holiness of working out
day-to-day problems.