Venue: Aish Gesher Aish Gesher

Parsha:

Vayishlach 

Collections: R' Yoni Miller The Torah of America

Description

The Rebbe teaches that Yaakov stayed an outsider in the materialistic world of Lavan, Garti - like a ger. As such, he could perform taryag mitzvos and live primarily in the spiritual realm. With a primary focus on the neshama, he declared he was in the reality of mashiach, (represented by the chamor). So too for his essence, he built a bayis but for his mikneh, his acquisitions, he built temporary dwellings. He knew what mattered. He reached out to Esav to see if he would be prepared to live this life, esav rejected. It is this mentality that brings mashiach and this mentality that chassidus brought the world. Rav Aharon Kotler explains the Gemara that the angel appeared as a talmid chacham. Immense danger when people falsely claim to