Parashat Vayishlach
From Torah Or
By Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Explanation and Commentary by Rabbi Gedaliah Potash and William Schecter MD
December 2, 2023
This draft has neither been edited nor approved by Rabbi Potash
Brief Summary of the Parashah:
Jacob sends emissaries to his brother Esau. When they meet, they embrace and the two brothers and their families and live stock go their separate ways. Jacob’s daughter Dina has relations with Shechem who wishes to marry her. Her two older brothers Shimon and Levi murder all the men in Shechem for dishonoring their sister. Jacob returns to Beit El (where the ladder dream occurred) and builds an alter there. Following this Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjamin. Jacob is reunited with Isaac.
Commentary of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi:
The Elter Rebbe begins his commentary by quoting the first Pasuk which states that Jacob sent emissaries to his brother Esau upon his return to Eretz Yisroel from Aram. The Elter Rebbe begins his commentary based on Kabala by saying “it is known that the root of Jacob is from the Name Mah (Mem Hai in Hebrew)* from the World of Tikun (Repair) whereas the root of Esau is from the World of Tohu (Void or Chaos)” associated with the Name Sag (Samach Gimel in Hebrew)*. The numerical value of Sag is greater than the numerical value of Mah as explained in *. Therefore, the Elter Rebbe reasons that Esau is on a higher spiritual plane than Jacob. How can we explain this? The lights (energy) of Tohu are so great that they cannot be contained within the Vessels which shatter allowing this all-powerful energy to spill out in a random unorganized fashion and ultimately descend, through the process of Tsimtsum (contraction) to our World (Asiah).
Rabbi Potash used the analogy of a child who has an idea for a painting but he does not yet have the skill to paint the idea, has so much energy and excitement that he rips up the paper. Rabbi Potash said that the energy of Tohu is so great that the vessel containing it shatters and the energy falls to the lower worlds. This energy of Tohu associated with Esau is considered Makif (surrounding) as opposed to the energy of Tikun (associated with Jacob) which is considered Pnimiut (best translated as internality—the energy of the G-dly Soul within us surrounded by layers of materialism and corporeality).
Although Esau is considered “evil” in the Mishnaic literature, in fact from a spiritual level he is on a higher level than Jacob because the energy of Tohu from the World of Azilut is all encompassing compared to the energy of the World of Tikun, the root of Jacob. The problem is that the energy of Tohu cannot be harnassed for “useful” purposes. And so, when Jacob sent messengers to Esau, in a way he was sending messengers up to a higher spiritual plane represented by the World of Tohu as compared to the World of Tikun represented by Jacob. The Elter Rebbe further goes on to say that Esau in Mount Seir has the attributes of the Six Ancient Kings from the World of Tohu which “transmit” the encompassing energy to Jacob below in the World of Tikun. Who are these “ancient kings” to whom the Elter Rebbe refers. In our Parasha, 7 kings of Edom are listed who are presumably the descendants of Esau. After each of the first 7 names, the Parasha says that “he died”. They represent the vessel of Da’at which shattered and the eighth king, Hadar, represents the beginning of the World of Tikun wherein the Vessels will be repaired. The idea is that the encompassing energy will “enlighten” the “internal energy” in each Soul (the Neshama HaElokit—the G-dly Soul) and they will unite. Rabbi Potash says that this unification of the Makif energy from Esau and the Pnimiut energy from Jacob is a work in progress which will not be completed until the arrival of the Mashiach.
For those of you interested in Gematria, the Tetragrammaton can be spelled four ways and each way has a different numerical value depending on the letters used. The note below explains the numerical values with reference to Mah and Sag as referred to above. See *
*The letters of the Tetragram for the Name of G-d (י־ה־ו־ה) can be spelled four different ways. Since each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value associated with it, each method of spelling the Name of G-d has a different total value. These four different numerical values are abbreviated: עײב (72), סײג (63), בײן (52) and מײה (45). These numerical values correspond to the following possible spellings of the letters of the tetragram: יוד הי ויו הי (72- עײב), יו"ד ה"י וא"ו ה"י ( (63- סײג), יו"ד ה"ה ו"ו ה"ה (52- בײן), יו"ד ה"א וא"ו ה"א (45- מײה). The higher the numerical value, the higher the spiritual level.