toldos

After יצחק gave the berachos to Yaakov instead of Eisav, Eisav cried bitterly and said to יצחק, don't you have even one beracha that you could give me? Then יצחק blessed him saying, משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, From the fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling.
Asks הגר"ח מוולוז'ין, how could יצחק bless Eisav with משמני הארץ when that's the beracha that he just gave Yaakov?
On the words משמני הארץ, Rashi comments that it's referring to איטליא של יון, Italy of greece.
Why over here does Rashi say that משמני הארץ is referring to a specific land, while by the beracha of Yaakov he doesn't say what it is referring to?
The gemara says (shabbos 56B) that when Shlomo Hamelech married the daughter of Pharaoh, the angel Gavriel came down and thrust a reed pole into the sea, and a sandbank formed around it. On that was built the great metropolis of Rome, the tormentor of כלל ישראל. Based on that, it turns out when יצחק gave the berachos, איטליא של יון didn't exist. Therefore, when they were given to Yaakov they didn't require explanation, for it just meant the best of the land. However, when it was given to Eisav it was for the future, so it meant איטליא של יון, as Rashi explained. So there were two different משמני הארץ. As a proof that for Eisav it was a beracha for the future, the posuk says יהיה מושבך, that it will be, sometime in the future.
Now we really need to understand this. Why does Shlomo Hamelech marrying the king's daughter cause the creation of the nemesis of כלל ישראל? And why is this alluded to now, when יצחק is giving the berachos?
The next posuk in יצחק's beracha says והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עולו מעל צוארך, Yet it shall be when you are pained, you may remove his yoke from your neck. Rashi says what יצחק was telling him is that there is a way for you to get back the berachos. When the Jews transgress the Torah, then you can remove the yoke.
The sefer לב שלום explains that the reason Yaakov merited the berachos, was because he was involved in the study of Torah. Now if the study of Torah stops, the berachos revert back to Eisav. This is alluded to in the words הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו. Why is the first קל spelled without a vav? It's telling us that when the voice of Yaakov is קל, weak, then the hands of Eisav are strong, teaching us that the only way we can overcome Eisav is with the power of Torah. Without it, all the berachos we have will go back to him.
Shlomo's marriage to the Pharaoh's daughter was the beginning of idolatry in כלל ישראל, which ultimately led to the destruction of the temple and the exile of the Jewish people at the hands of Eisav. That's why יצחק alluded to this now, forewarning us that if we go away from Torah we will lose our blessing & be in the hands of Eisav. The Torah is teaching us here that in order for us to triumph & to have the beracha that we so desperately need, we have to separate ourselves from Eisav. The only way to do that is by attaching ourselves to the Torah , committing to uphold it, & by doing so we will merit to all the berachos & the rebuilding of the temple speedily in our day!

Chayei Sarah

The posuk says ואלה ימי שני חיי אברהם אשר חי these are the years of אברהם's life that he lived. רבי צדוק asks, it seems that the words אשר חי - that he lived, are superfluous.
He answers that אברהם's main focus was doing positive commandments, for his essence was the love of 'ה. The yerushalmi says that the root of doing positive commandments is a love of 'ה,whereas negative commandments are out of fear of 'ה. Therefore, everything he did was with זריזות, for when you act out of love there's nothing to slow you down. He kept going up, never standing still. That's why it says אשר חי, because his whole life he was always going up in his own service of 'ה.
Similarly, the Midrash says that every צדיק has his own world. This means that each person has to strive to complete his own goals on his own level, according to one's own character traits. אברהם's was love, & he kept building on that so that his whole life was considered a spiritual climb until his world was completed.
The posuk says earlier, ויהיו חיי שרה מאה שנה ועשרים שנה ושבע שנים שני חיי שרה,Sarah's lifetime was one hundred years,and twenty years,and seven years; the years of Sarah's life . Again it repeats שני חיי שרה, & Rashi says it's telling us כולן שוין לטובה, They were all equal for good. First of all, where do you see that all her years were good? She had many troubles. Also, what are the repeated words coming to teach us? Explains רבי יהושע אהרן צבי, אב"ד מורגרטן, when chazal say רשעים בחייהם קרויים מתים that the wicked even in their lifetime are called deceased, they mean that the days of a person's life that count are the days that one does good deeds. However, if one just wastes his day, & does nothing to serve his creator, it's not considered as if he lived those days. This is what the posuk is telling us. שרה lived out each day doing good, bringing people closer to 'ה, & that's why it's considered שני חיי שרה - that she lived fully all her days.
However, how does that answer why Rashi says all her days were good ? Maybe like we said by אברהם, that each person's job is to fulfill his own mission, & if one completely does what one is supposed to do, then what we might perceive as a hardship, to them is just a challenge. When one overcomes their challenges, says the דרש דוד, there is no greater happiness than that.
We can learn from אברהם and שרה that each person has their individual purpose, and it doesn't matter what the next person is doing. No matter what the challenge, when we overcome it, we will merit true happiness and fulfillment in our lives!

vayera

The posuk says וישב אברהם אל נעריו, And אברהם returned to his young men. The Midrash Rabba brings down the chazal that asks, where was יצחק? Why didn't he return with אברהם? Rav says in the name of Rav Chanan that אברהם sent him off to the yeshiva of שם to learn. The Midrash compares it to a woman who became rich from spinning thread on her spindle. She says, inasmuch as I became rich through this spindle, it shall never leave my possession. So too, אברהם said all that I have, and all the trials that I passed, I was only able to do because of the Torah and mitzvos.  I don't want that to ever be missing from my descendants, so he sent him off to learn.

Wouldn't you think that after the trauma of bringing him up as a korban, and nearly losing him, he would just take him home, show his mother he's ok, spend time with him and teach him himself?  
It says earlier in the parsha that Sara told אברהם to banish Yishmael from their house. וירע הדבר מאד בעיני אברהם, It was bad in the eyes of  אברהם, and he didn't want to send him away. Then 'ה said to him, כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקלה,  listen to whatever שרה tells you. The דרש דוד raises a few questions on this story. First, if it's as Rashi says, and he was committing the three cardinal sins, and that's why she wanted him out, then why would אברהם want him around? Also, Rashi comments that when it says to listen to her, it meant to her רוח הקודש. Why did he need Sara's רוח הקודש to tell him to banish Yishmael if he was committing these sins?  Also, when he was dying of thirst, the malachim said to 'ה why are You saving someone whose descendants in the future will kill your children with thirst? And 'ה said, I only judge by how one is now and now he's a tzaddik. If he had committed the cardinal sins, how could he be a tzaddik?

To explain this, we must say that he was a tzaddik and didn't commit the sins. So now, why did Sara say to banish him? דרש דוד answers that although he didn't commit the sins yet, the stirrings were in his heart and he was looking to commit them. It was only a matter of time, and that's what Sara saw with her רוח הקודש, and that's why אברהם didn't see, because Yishmael hadn’t done anything yet. The Torah is teaching us that in order for יצחק to be the one to follow in אברהם's footsteps, he needed to have a pure home and upbringing without any negative influences. Maybe that's why he sent him straight from the עקידה, for he knew how important it was for יצחק to go to learn, and didn't want him to be with Yishmael for even one second. 
This week has unfortunately been a very heartbreaking and sad one. First, two boys on their way back to yeshiva were tragically taken from us. Then, the very next day we lost a great rosh yeshiva. People have been asking each other, what does 'ה want from us? What is He trying to tell us? For us there really are no answers. However, maybe we can take a lesson from אברהם, that after his greatest trial he said that more important than anything else is learning the Torah without distraction and negative influences. Let's all commit to strengthen our studying of the Torah, which in turn will change us for the better, showing 'ה that we're listening and we don't need any more messages!

lech lecha

It is interesting to note two conflicting stories in this weeks parsha, both involving אברהם אבינו. The first one is when אברהם is on the way down to Mitzrayim, he tells his wife אמרי נא אחתי את please say that your my sister למען ייטב לי בעבורך so that it will be good for me because of you .
Rashi says on that יתנו לי מתנות that פרעה will give אברהם presents.
Then we have the story of when אברהם אבינו went to rescue לוט, & fought & defeated the four kings, after which the king of Sodom wanted to give him all the spoils. אברהם said he wouldn't even touch a shoelace from him, for he didn't want the king of Sodom to say אני העשרתי את אברם that he made אברהם rich.
The אוצרות התורה asks, why the change of heart? Why did he want presents from פרעה, however from the king of Sodom he wouldn't touch a thing?
The ספר בכורי אברהם answers based on the רמב"ן, that everything the אבות did was a sign for what their children would go through. אברהם knew that his children would be slaves in Mitzraim, & wanted to make sure that they would go out ברכוש גדול, so he wanted to get presents from פרעה so that his children eventually would too.
But what about the king of Sodom? Why wouldn't אברהם take presents from him? Why did he care if the king said that he made אברהם rich? He knew where it really came from.
There was a simple Jew who worked for the czar,who was his sole source of income . From time to time the czar would ask him how he's doing, & he would always answer "Boruch Hashem", "everything is from 'ה". The czar would get upset thinking to himself, I'm the one who gives him his livelihood. I'm the one who takes care of him, so why does he constantly thank 'ה & not me? This went on for a while, & finally, one time, a few weeks before pesach, the czar fired him & said, let's see 'ה take care of you now. The man went home dejected, with no money for food. While everyone else was getting ready for pesach, this man & his family were starving for bread & water. Meanwhile, the czar would come by his house every few days to gloat,proving to him that it was he, & not 'ה, who supported him..
One day the czar was in his treasure house checking his gold coins to make sure there were no fakes. In order to test them, he would bite on them to see if they were real. He did this with coin after coin, reveling in his wealth. The czar had a pet monkey who liked to imitate his master. When the czar left the room, the monkey started putting the coins in his mouth too, not realizing that his master had spit them out. He kept swallowing them until he choked, & died.
When the czar saw the dead monkey, he thought, what a great way to antagonize the jew. He went with his henchmen in the middle of the night, & flung the dead carcass into the jew's house.
The jew awakened by the sound of breaking glass, ran to see what happened, saw the dead monkey & went to check it out. As he got closer, saw a glint coming from the monkeys mouth. He looked closer & saw a gold coin. He then took the carcass & cut it open. There he found enough gold to last a lifetime. He immediately thanked 'ה for saving him, went out & bought the best foods for pesach, & the most expensive clothing for his entire family. He invited all his friends and relatives for the seder, & had a seder that was truly fit for a king.
The czar said to himself, tonight I have to go see him, for by now he has surely learned his lesson. It's pesach & he has nothing. He goes to the house of the jew, & is flabbergasted by what he sees: the lavish foods, clothes, & many guests. He can't contain himself. He goes in & says, how did you get all this?? It's not possible! So the jew tells him, it's all from 'ה. He tells him the story of the monkey, & the czar saw that truly, it is all from 'ה.
Here too answers the אוצרות התורה, the actions of אברהם are to teach us, the future generations, the proper path. Yes, he knew where his wealth came from. He didn't really care if the king of Sodom would say he made אברהם rich, however, in order to teach the future generations that all that we have is from 'ה, & not to make any mistake about where your money comes from. He had to refuse to take anything from the king of Sodom so that no one could deny that it is 'ה who makes one rich & no one else!