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Miketz-Chanukah 5785
Vayeshev 5785
Vayishlach 5785
Vayetzei 5785
Toldos 5785

Toldos 5785

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YouParsha Toldos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VQqpf0HP-A Rebecca Has Twins

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Parsha Toldos, Genesis 25:19-28:10, discusses the life of the patriarch Yitschok. Yitschok was forced to move to Gerar because of a drought in Canaan. On several occasions, Yitschok ordered that wells be dug only to have them stuffed up by the Philistines. In those instances, the Hebrew word Vayachperu - and they dug is used. The servants acted as individuals. This created a sense of separation and divisiveness. The Philistines were able to stuff it. The last well Yitschok ordered dug uses the verb Vayichaper - and he dug and they found living water. This well was not stuffed up. Yitschok acted with selflessness creating unity. When there is unity, not only can nothing stop it, but one would be able to find living water.

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Near the town of Lubavitch there was a small village with a Jewish-owned inn. On his many travels throughout the area, Rabbi Shmuel, the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe, passed the village, but never stopped in that inn. One day, the Rebbe asked his driver to stop his carriage and the Rebbe went inside. No one was home except the owners' two small children. "What subjects are you learning in school?" the Rebbe asked. "I learn Torah," replied the elder of the two. "And I can read Psalms," chimed in the younger. "That is very good," said the Rebbe. The Rebbe opened the nearby book of Psalms and he and the children began to read together.

When the mother returned, she was amazed to find the Rebbe sitting at her table with her children reciting Psalms. As she stood there, without knowing why, she began to weep. The reading of Psalms continued for some time, and then the Rebbe rose to leave, but, as he reached the door, he suddenly turned around and resumed his Psalms with the children. The group read together several more pages and the Rebbe stood again, and left.

The woman's nerves were on edge. She anxiously waited for her husband's return. The innkeeper had gone off to some of the neighboring villages to collect debts owed to him by his peasant customers. The hours passed and night fell without his arrival. Discomfort turned to fear as the family began to imagine what could have happened. Finally, in the early morning they heard a knock on the door. The poor woman, shaking from fear, ran to open the door. To her horror, her husband fell in, fainting on the doorstep. When he finally was able to open his eyes and speak, he related the following tale:

At the house of one of his debtors, the peasant asked him to accompany him to the barn where he would measure out grain that was to be his payment. The two men walked together to the barn, but when they were inside, the peasant suddenly bolted the door announcing to the Jew that he was going to kill him. It took only a few more seconds for the Jew to realize that this was no joke; the peasant had every intention to carry out his terrible threat. The innkeeper fell to his knees and begged for his life, sobbing that he was the sole support of a wife and innocent little children, "I always do what I say, and I am going to kill you now!" was the bellowing reply. The poor Jew asked for a few minutes to pray to his Creator, and the peasant nodded absent-mindedly as he combed the barn looking for his axe. Then he remembered that he left it in the house.

He bound the Jew hand and foot with a heavy rope and ran to the farmhouse to retrieve the weapon. Not a minute passed when the peasant's wife returned from her work in the fields. When she opened the barn door, there was the Jew trussed up like a calf waiting for the slaughter. He implored the woman to untie him, promising her everything he could think of, but she was caught in a quandary. On the one hand, she could not resist his tearful entreaties, on the other hand, she was deathly afraid of her husband who would murder her on the spot if he knew she had freed him. Finally, she agreed and quickly undid ropes, telling him to go hide in the haystacks in the field. While the Jew hid in the field, he could hear the peasant's heavy breathing as he frantically searched for him. His heart beat in terror as he imagined being found. Miraculously, the peasant did not find him. The Jew, meanwhile, lay in the field, barely breathing. Finally, after midnight, he crawled from his hiding place and slowly began his journey home.

His wife listened in increasing wonder. When he finished, she told him of the Rebbe's visit and they both understood what had happened. During the first reading of the Psalms, the Jew had survived the encounter in the barn. When the Rebbe returned a second time, he had been saved from the peasant in the field.

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