Lots of Everything – Vayishlach
In parshat Toldot Yaakov received the blessing of material wealth from Yitzchak, intended for Eisav. Initially though, it seems that the blessing didn’t work very well. When Yaakov flees Eretz Yisrael to go to Charan (in last week’s parsha), Eisav sends his son Eliphaz to kill Yaakov. Yaakov manages to convince Eliphaz not to kill him, but to “fulfill his mission” rather by stealing all he possesses, (someone without parnasa is considered “dead”).
Yaakov meets Rachel at the well and cries on her shoulder. According to one perush he cried because he was embarrassed that he had arrived in Charan penniless, unlike Eliezer, sent by Avraham to find a wife for Yitzchak, who was laden with camels and wealth.
For his first 14 years in Charan, Yaakov’s financial situation did not improve one iota. He worked 7 years (supposedly) for Rachel, but got Leah and had to work a further 7 years to really marry Rachel. During these 14 years he remained indigent and all he possessed were the clothes on his back. He received no wages from Lavan and slept in the field.
After he had paid his 14 years for Rachel and Leah, Yaakov continued to work an additional six years for Lavan, but this time for wages. It was then and only then that the material bracha of Yitzchak really came into effect and with HKB”H’s help and despite Lavan’s trickery, Yaakov became very wealthy.
It was in this affluent situation that Yaakov reunites with his brother Eisav in our parsha. Yaakov sends ahead extravagant gifts to appease his brother. Upon their meeting, a very interesting dialogue develops between them. Eisav says to Yaakov - ויאמר עשו יש לי רב אחי יהי לך אשר לך (בראשית לג, ט), thank you very much for your gifts Yaakov, but no thank you, I am wealthy enough - I have רב, a lot! Yaakov persists trying to persuade Eisav to take the gifts and he replies - קח נא את ברכתי אשר הבאת לך כי חנני א-לקים וכי יש לי כל ויפצר בו ויקח (שם, יא), please take my blessing that was sent to you, because Hashem has been kind to me and I have כל, everything, and he (Yaakov) implored him and he (Eisav) took (the gifts).
It is seemingly a very small nuance, but I have davka chosen it as the main topic of this shiur, because it has profound life lessons for us. I am referring to Eisav’s expression of wealth versus Yaakov’s. Eisav says יש לי רב and Yaakov says יש לי כל. What is the difference between רב and כל ?
In parshat Ki Tavo, in the tochecha, Hashem gives us the reason why we are thus punished – תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' א-לקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל (דברים כח,מז) because we did not serve HKB”H with simcha and a good heart מֵרֹב כֹּל. These are two expressions of wealth, but they are not equal. רב is a lower madrega than כל.
Let us closely examine the letters that make up these two words.
רבcomprises the letter ר followed by the letter ב. The second letter is a progression of the first - a ב consists of a ר with an extra line added at the bottom. The letter ב is the shape of a kind of a vessel, but only because it has the line at the bottom added, without that line, it would be a ר which is like a box with only one side - as you fill it, it spills out.
כל comprises the letter כ followed by the letter ל. Again the second letter is a progression of the first - a ל consists of a כ with an extra line added at the top. Both the כ and the ל are closed vessels, but they are progressively more advanced vessels than a ב. The ב is an improvised vessel with a piece added. The כ is an integral vessel, no pieces stuck together. The ל, like the כ, is an integral vessel, but it has an extra piece on top, aspiring upwards.
These four letters are essentially a scale of how we perceive wealth. Wealth is given to us by HKB”H from the שפע עליון and the way we receive it (the type of vessel we are) determines our perception of wealth.
Someone who is a ר is like a vessel with one side missing. Hashem rains down his blessing on this person (like He does on everyone), but the ר person is missing a side, so as soon as he gets HKB”H’s שפע, it spills out and he remains empty.
Someone who is a ב is like a leaky bucket. A ב is an improvised vessel that has ability to accumulate שפע, but is not hermetic. So when Hashem rains down his blessing on this kind of person, some is retained but some leaks out. The combination of רב is always being pulled downward in the direction of the ר.
Someone who is a כ is a hermetically sealed vessel. Whatever שפע Hashem give them, none of it spills out, all of it is retained. The letter כ has two forms - כ and ך. Being able to retain שפע is insufficient. The person has to also be able open the vessel to release the שפע to filter down and be beneficial, hence the two forms.
Someone who is a ל has the most elevated perception of wealth. They have all the benefits of the כ and in additional they have an umbilical link upwards toward HKB”H. The combination of כל is always being pulled upward in the direction of the ל.
When HKB”H tells us why we are being punished in Ki Tavo He also teaches us the correct way to perceive wealth.
It is possible to progress from a ר to a ב to a כ and finally to a ל, but usually the רב type people remain like that and the כל type people also remain like that.
The רב type people are the “half empty” philosophy of life. Whatever שפע HKB”H gives them, it is either going to spill out or leak, it is always tending downwards. People like this never feel they have enough and they always crave more. Eisav was like this, he said יש לי רב, I have lots (but in his mind he is never satisfied, he always wants what he does not have).
The כל type people are the “half full” philosophy of life. Whatever שפע HKB”H gives them, none spills out. It is all appreciated, highly valued and successfully utilized. It is always tending upwards, recognizing where the source of the שפע is, from HKB”H. Yaakov was like this, he said יש לי כל, I have everything.
Did Yaakov in fact have everything? He was very wealthy, but there were many people materially richer than him in the world! Whatever Yaakov had, he was satisfied with it and perceived himself as wealthy. This is the secret ofאיזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו. This is also the reason why Yaakov was the rightful custodian of Yitzchak’s blessing of material wealth, because he perceived and used it the right way and had hakarat hatov for HKB”H who bestowed it upon him. Were the ingrate Eisav to have received that blessing, he would have abused it and would constantly have been craving more wealth, more power, eventually destroying the world in that misguided pursuit.
The sefer אותיות דרבי עקיבא explains the meaning of the letter כ. It says that the כ is the archetypical vessel. Not only is it shaped like a vessel but it is the first letter of many words that indicate vessels, for example כוס, כף, כלי, כד, כיור and many others. But the כ is not only a vessel it is also a symbol of royalty, for example כסא, כתר. אותיות דרבי עקיבא explains why the letter כ is shaped like a cup and is adjacent to and pointing toward the ל in the Hebrew alphabet - because the words כוס and כסא (cup and throne) are one and the same and a throne כסא is destined for a king (the letter ל is the tallest letter in the alphabet, and towers over the other letters, like a king).
Not surprisingly therefore the Lechem Hapanim and the Shulchan in the Beit Hamikdash are symbiotic and integral to each other. The Lechem Hapanim is shaped like the letter כ and the Shulchan is a symbol of מלכות.
I will conclude with an incredible perush by the Ramban on the passuk -ואברהם זקן בא בימים וה' ברך את אברהם בכל (בראשית כד, א). The Ramban says that כל is a middah of HKB”H that is the foundation of everything and is the 8th of the י"ג מידות. It is to this middah that Shlomo Hamelech is referring in Shir Hashirim when he uses the word כלה. Hashem says אני כשנטעתי אילן זה להשתעשע בו כל העולם ורקעתי בו הכל וקראתי שמו כל שהכל תלוי בו והכל ממנו יוצא והכל צריכין לו ובו צופין ולו מחכים ומשם פורחים נשמות. It is a deep mystical concept that we can only partially understand.
When Yaakov was saying יש לי כל he was not chas vechalila claiming to have the same creative power of HKB”H כל but rather that he was the grateful beneficiary of that middah.
How many of us can truly say יש לי כל, regarding our material possessions and our situation in life?
In terms of parnasa, to be able to truly mean יש לי כל, we have to completely and totally believe that what we currently have is exactly what we need at this point in time. That HKB”H knows exactly what we need and provides it. We may have different needs at different times in our lives and our parnasa may vary. The need may not necessarily be financial, it may be to point us in a certain direction or to be metaken flaws we may have. Obviously we have to do our own hishtadlut, like learning a trade or profession, working hard etc. We learned from Yitzchak in parshat Toldot that HKB”H’s blessing of shefa cannot rest on an empty table - it needs some tangible basis to rest on. Our hishtadlut is that basis. Conversely we need to remember that there is a limit to hishtadlut, beyond which it begins bordering on lack of emunah.
The same principle applies to things that happen to us in our life. Chazal say that whatever derech a person chooses, HKB”H sends them nisyonot, davka in that area. For example, Avraham chose the path of chessed and Hashem sent him nisyonot to test his dveikut to that path. Yaakov chose the path of emet and his nisyonot were related to that. Often circumstances happen that anger us or depress us and we wonder what we did to deserve this. To truly mean יש לי כל, we have to accept that what is currently happening to us is necessary, be it to test us and the derech we have chosen or to be metaken flaws in ourselves and purify us.
Only someone who truly embraces יש לי כל, can serve HKB”H בשמחה ובטוב לבב knowing that HKB”H is looking after them and giving them exactly what is necessary for them in their life at that specific point. This is the true remedy for anger and depression and the foundation of עבדו את ה' בשמחה.
Avraham had the perception of כל as we see above. He passed this bracha to Yitzchak, as it says ויתן אברהם את כל אשר לו ליצחק (בראשית כה, ה). Yitzchak in turn passed it onto Yaakov when he gave him the bracha intended for Eisav, as it says ויהי כאשר כלה יצחק לברך את יעקב (בראשית כז, ל).
B’ezrat Hashem we should all have the strength and the wisdom to embrace the hashkafa of the Avot and to look upon what we are given as “everything”, to truly appreciate it and give thanks to HKB”H who gave it to us.
That is someone who is truly wealthy.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Showbread Institute
www.showbreadinstitute.com
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