December 15, 2005 – 14 Kislev 5765 - Vayislach
Men start the morning with four actions:
Bathroom
Wash
Tallis
Tefillin
You can’t just have words—you need actions.
We are looking to create the effeminate man: he’s smooth of skin, cooks lentils. This is to create sensitivity in order to create SMUDGE.
Abraham was preceded by villains: Nimrod, Aveimelech, Pharoah.
Isaac: Ishmael, Avimelech.
Jacob: Aisav, Labn (we finagle a shady deal)
This is the darkest time of the year: Shechem was a very dark place.
G*d doesn’t dwell with depression (re Jacob when Joseph was missing) nor with wickedness. There is the mysterium and also a storehouse of tribulation.
G*d says to Jacob, “I will not forsake you until….” This refers to Meshiach.
Shechem rapes Dina, sodomizes her, and then cleaves to her. Cleaving is the highest form of intimacy. They were beshert. Their gilguls were Zimray and Cosby, Akiva and the Roman wife.
Yaakov is shalame (complete). Reeling from one shock-
Aisav is ish sadday, a man of the field. Leah went out—this is the opposite of lech l’cha, projective reality. Lech l’cha is go into yourself. People in the projective reality end up killing the projection.
Dina was the daughter of Leah. Dina was implicated; she learned that you need a man to affirm your value. MALKA BATYA OBJECTS!
Is making peace the same as getting out of projective reality?
Why was Dina immodest for going out?
We’re not trying to repress sexuality, but to hide it. If it’s public, it loses its allure and becomes boring.
Simon and Levy were not just angry at Shechem, but were also angry at Yaakov because of the placement of the family when preparing to meet Aisav.
Yaakov says to his sons that they are few in number and could be attacked. Later he tells his sons to get food so the neighbors won’t be jealous.
Teshuva comes from the issue we work on the most. Jacob is truth – his story has more lies per square inch.
Abraham is love and he has the most trouble with loving relationships (sent second wife away, sent seven sons away, sent first son away, almost killed the second son).
Shechem to this day is a place of anger: Nablus.
Levy slaughtering animals is channeling aggression. Shimon doesn’t do this, because he is unrepentant.
There are no bad guys. Everybody is implicated.
How did the neighbors respond?
Shimon marries Dina.
Dina’s daughter is Osnat. She marries Joseph in exile and they raise Ephraim and Menashe, the first brothers who get along, the triumph of bereshet.
You have to approach your enemy with Prayer (because he’s not just your enemy, he’s G*d), bribes, and being ready to fight (we don’t turn the other cheek).
Aish Kodesh, page 245, Akeida
I am afraid he could kill us. The donkey won’t eat untithed food.
Redeeming captives is teshuva.
Your property affects your ethics.
We have to address our predatory essence in the way we eat meat.
The youths are compared to asses.
There’s a connection between the donkey and Meshiach.
The cloud on the mountain represents maybe, don’t know, small steps in a dark room.
The dark room is Moria, waiting to be amazed v. having rigid expectations, tied to results.
Abraham had to elevate himself before he could see the cloud.
To connect with the mind of G*d, you have to walk to G*d.