Toldos

When we are first introduced to Yaakov and Eisav the Torah tells us they were born, they grew up and went their separate ways, עשו איש ידע ציד איש שדה ויעקב איש תם ישב אהלים
Eisav was a hunter a man of the fields, Yaakov was a wholesome man abiding in tents.

The לקח טוב points out that while the Torah is telling us the essence of their characters, interestingly enough, it doesn't tell us about the great deeds or pure character of Yaakov. Rather, it says only יושב אהלים which is translated by the Targum Yonasan as תבע אולפן which we can understand by way of the posuk that states 'והיה כל מבקש ה which the Targum translates as כל
דתבע אולפן . This teaches us that a יושב אהלים is a 'מבקש ה , one who seeks out Hashem.

Similarly, in the description of Eisav, the Torah doesn't tell us about his wickedness or treachery but uses only the words איש שדה which the Targum translates as גבר נחשירכן . Tosafos translates this to mean נח ובטל . The Torah itself doesn't single out Eisav’s actions but says it all with these words that are his essence, meaning all his actions stem from בטלה , idleness.

What is a ' מבקש ה ? Reb Chaim Shmulevitz told his students that once when he was young, he went to the Nevardik Yeshiva where his uncle רב אברהם יפהן was the Rosh Yeshiva. During his stay, he asked his uncle to show him who was the most exemplary student there. His uncle pointed out one boy and said this is the most studious and then showed him another one and said he's the most intellectual and yet another was the most spiritual. Reb Chaim asked again, “I see that each one has his own qualities but who is the one that's above all the rest?”

Reb Avraham then took him to one of the corners of the bais medrash and said, “this boy is the one that's above all the rest.” Reb Chaim asked him, “I don't understand. When we went through all the boys and you told me the ones that were the best at each thing, this one's name didn't come up once. How could he be the best one? His uncle answered that this one's qualities are different from all the others because he's a מבקש . He's the מבקש of the Yeshiva; the one whose whole essence is just to get closer to Hashem, to fulfill the will of Hashem. We now know that boy as the Steipler.

This past week was a very difficult one for כלל ישראל . The massacre in Har Nof defies reason. People are asking themselves what can I do to help? What is Hashem trying to tell us? Maybe we could take this lesson from Yaakov and Eisav, to try to do something that could make a difference. If we look at Eisav's essence which is בטלה , wasted time, nothingness and Yaakov's which is a מבקש ה , one who is just looking to see what Hashem wants him to do, one whose only desire is to get close to Hashem. If we could try to minimize the wasted time and trivial things that we occupy ourselves with and instead try to get closer to Hashem by seeing what He wants us to do and what we could do to get closer to Him, then perhaps we, in our own little way, could make this world a better place!