Tag Archives: Leadership

Well, welcome back, Rabbi. Another week of Madlik Disruptive Torah.

And you know, there’s so much talk these days about Israel. It goes on politics. It goes on religion. But how many times do people actually ask what the word means? What does Israel mean? I Christianity is defined by Christ, who is their Messiah. Islam, I guess, is peace. And that might be another episode. But what does Israel mean? So we’re going to dive right in. And we are in Genesis 32.

And if you recall, last week, Yaakov left Laban and he took all of his family, his two wives and two maidens, and all of his kids. And now he’s going to have that fateful reunion with his brother Esav who he left on some bad, bad ground. Esav thinks he stole the blessing from him.

So it says, now, Yaakov sent messengers on ahead of him to Esav his brother in the land of Seir in the territory of Edom and charged the messengers saying, thus say to my lord to Esav thus says your servant Yaakov, I have sojourned with Lavan and have tarried until now. Ox and donkey, sheep and servant and maid have become mine.

Geoffrey Stern (02:23.394)
So I have sent to tell my Lord to find favor in your eyes. The messengers returned to Yaakov saying, we came to your brother to Esav but he is already coming to meet you and 400 men are with him. So I highlighted a few things here. Rabbi, if you really have self-confidence, you pick up the phone and you call somebody. You don’t send a shaliach. You don’t send a shaliach carrying gifts.

Clearly, Yaakov is typecast here. He is humble. He is concerned. He’s feeling the water. He’s tepid, so to speak. And it also says that he tarried until now. And we’re going to look at that a little bit. Garti va’achar ad ata This idea of him kind of…

building and packing in explanations to Esav of why he’s coming, who he is. And then already he wants to find favor in your eyes. He’s obviously working here from a minority point of view, from not on an even playing field. And then of course,

Adam Mintz (03:42.149)
a position of, I think we call it today, a position of weakness.

Geoffrey Stern (03:46.088)
Absolutely. And then his messengers come back and say, guess what, guy? He’s already coming to meet you. So if you had to kind of look at the two players here, Yaakov is the one who tarried. Yaakov is the one who hesitates. Yaakov is the one who sends messengers rather than be there himself. And Esav is the one who has already taken the prerogative and is coming to meet him.

So Then what does Yaakov do? He divided the people that were with him and the sheep and the oxen. I think I might have mentioned this before. The word that it uses for divided is yachatz. Those of you who remember the Passover Seder, the first thing we do is divide stuff. And we all have stories about poor people put a piece of matzah away for tomorrow. But obviously this is one of

Not putting all your eggs into one basket. Again.

Adam Mintz (04:46.403)
I just want to say the word yakats, of course, comes from the word Hatzi It’s the same word, right? Which means divide in half.

Geoffrey Stern (04:53.202)
Absolutely. So he divided the people that were with him and the sheep and the oxen and camels into two camps. And he said to himself, should Esav come against the one camp and strike it, the camp that is left will be a remnant that escapes. In Hebrew, it says, v’nishar le’pleta.

Those of you who have ever been to New York City and seen the oldest synagogue in America, it’s called She’erit Yisrael. She’erit is that which is left over. These were people who were kicked out of Spain and they saw themselves as shirayim, as that which was left over, as a pleita. Again, he’s coming as a remnant. He’s coming as a part of a people that’s been decimated and he’s kind of

trickling home. Then Yaakov said, God, God of my father, he’s starting to talk to God and he says, God of my father Abraham, God of my father Yitzhak, O God, who said to me, return to your land and to your kindred and I will deal well with you. He says, too small am I for all the loyalty and faithfulness that you have shown your servant.

So two things here, Rabbi. We’ve always talked about a maaseh avot siman labanim, that the myths in Genesis are a sign to later generations. You could make the case this is a dress rehearsal for coming back from Egypt. He’s crossing this river. He’s telling God, you promised that you would return me to the land. But again, he talks about katanti, I am small. This is a diminished human being.

and

Adam Mintz (06:45.493)
Well, you could say it two ways. He really is diminished or that’s part of his play to Esav? that. That’s the humility. Is he really humble or he’s just acting humble?

Geoffrey Stern (06:57.814)
But again, When you’re talking to an enemy, being humble is probably not, I mean, unless you’re assuming that you’ll benefit from his mercy upon you. But basically, even as a strategy, it’s a type of strategy. One would want to puff oneself up like any good blowfish or porcupine and make it look like you’re bigger than you are, rather than come out and hope.

that the mercy of your brother who was not only did you trick him, but he’s a rough and tough guy.

Adam Mintz (07:36.127)
So that’s interesting. That’s like Netanyahu. You know, Netanyahu says it’s because of us that Assad fell. Means he makes himself tougher and stronger. That’s the way that we play the game of strategy today. And Yaakov obviously plays the other game of strategy, which is I’m humble, I’m nothing. And therefore let me alone.

Geoffrey Stern (07:59.69)
I love that you’re bringing it up into the future and we will definitely spend a little more time in the future. But let’s continue with the story. I agree with everything you’ve said. So he says, for I am in fear of him, lest he come and strike me down, mother and child alike. Em al-Banim. Again, we could have a separate podcast on this expression that resonates throughout Halacha, actually.

But the point is that he’s trying to say, I know I’m going to get hurt. I know I could be decimated, but I don’t want everything to be lost in one day. But you, you have said, says to God, I will deal with you well with you. I will make your seed like the sand of the sea, which is too much to count. He spent the night there that night and took a gift from one what?

was at hand. VaYikach min Haba B’Yado Again, Rabbi, we’re reading a lot into this, but every little tick, every little nuance focuses on what somebody who has nothing does. He takes what he can take in his hand. That’s all he can grab and go with. It’s really someone who has no stakes in the ground.

and is really at a deficit. For Esav his brother, she goats 200 kids and 20. And then it goes on and he tells his tribe, his family, cross on ahead of me and leave room between herd and herd. He charged the first group saying. So again, he’s dividing them up so not everything is lost at once. And then he goes,

that he says, then say to your servant, to Yaakov, it is a gift sent to my Lord to Esav. So he’s on the one hand, he’s doing everything he can to placate, to humble himself, to engender himself to Esav. And now gets to the naming story. So he himself is also behind us. So even here, as they show up,

Geoffrey Stern (10:17.76)
to Esav, they are instructed to say, Yaakov, he’s behind us. He’s in the rear. He’s controlling this from the rear. And I have to say, Rabbi, as long as we’re talking about names, you know, the word for being behind is achare. The word Yaakov comes from ekev which is heel.

which is also considered something behind. It’s the nether- most last part of the body to cross the finish line, so to speak. There’s so much about Yaakov who is from behind here, and he’s emphasizing that to his brother.

Your servant Yaakov is behind us. Second time he repeats the same thing. He’s like saying, I am still diminished, buddy. Don’t worry. For he said to himself, I will wipe the anger from his face. And with the gift that goes ahead of my face, afterwards when I see his face, perhaps he will lift up my face. The gift crossed over ahead of his face.

Adam Mintz (11:18.938)
Mm-hmm.

Geoffrey Stern (11:39.84)
So yet last week we spent time on a verse that said the word makom three times. Today it’s face. And if you had to say, Rabbi, what is the opposite of achor in behind? It’s lifne, in front of. So he is definitely a kind of, or the author is definitely contrasting these two personalities. One’s behind, and that’s Yaakov.

Adam Mintz (11:52.812)
It’s the face.

Geoffrey Stern (12:07.978)
and one’s lifne in front of, and that’s Esav And it started right from the get-go that they said, he’s already on his way. He’s coming to us. So now it goes on. But he, Yaakov, spent the night on that night in the camp. He arose during that night. He took his two wives and his two maids and his 11 children to cross the Yabok crossing. to cross the Yabbok crossing.

He took them and brought them across the river. He brought across what belonged to him, and Yaakov was left alone. So again, you do have that crossing the river into the promised land, so to speak, but Yaakov was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the coming of the dawn.

He saw that he could not prevail against him, so the man or the angel saw that he couldn’t prevail against Yaakov. So he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Yaakov’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him. Then he said, let me go. So here the let me go is from the malach or from the angel or from the messenger. For dawn has come.

But he said, Yaakov said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. He said to him, the angel said to Yaakov, what is your name? And Yaakov said, my name is Yaakov. Then he said, not as Yaakov, and I’m using the translation of Everett Fox. So he actually translates the name Yaakov as a Heel and a Sneak. So he says,

Adam Mintz (13:48.134)
very interesting he uses it He says Heal- Sneak it’s almost as if that’s a phrase Heal which means that he’s a sneak

Geoffrey Stern (13:57.014)
Listen, I mean, if you named your child Heel, I mean, people would draw the same conclusion. I think it is what the translator, Everett Fox, is saying is that “Yaakov” resonated with people. When they heard that name, they really thought Heel Sneak. So not as Yaakov Heel Sneak shall your name be henceforth uttered, but rather as Yisrael, God-Fighter.

So again, we’re going to get into what Yisrael means, but Everett Fox is calling it a God fighter. For you have fought with God and men and you have prevailed. Then Yaakov said, and he said, pray tell me your name. So now he’s saying to the messenger, what is your name? And he said, why now do you ask about my name? And he gave him a farewell blessing. There Yaakov called the name of the place Pne’i-el.

Face-of-God . So now we have this same word for face that we had a second ago that was used to represent the person with power, the person who does the action, the person who makes things happen. And Yaakov calls the name of that place the face of God, for I have seen God face to face and my life has been changed.

The sun rose on him as he crossed the Panou El, the new name for that stream, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the nerve sinew that is on the socket of the thigh until this day, for he had touched the socket of Yaakov’s thigh at the nerve sinew.

So before I get your impressions, one thing that I gotta say, Rabbi, is that number one, if you look for the word Yisrael that he has just been called going forward, it’s not used in the rest of the book. of Exodus. He’s still called Yaakov. The next time it’s used is when God actually seals the deal and says, I’m gonna change your name to Yisrael. The next thing is that B’nai Yisrael is

Geoffrey Stern (16:09.42)
definitely not used until much further on in the book of Exodus. So it’s kind of fascinating and then limping away is fascinating. So what what thinks you of this narrative, especially reading it the way I did this year for the first time with that kind of contrast between achor, behind, panei, in front.

and the characterization of the characters before this name change.

Adam Mintz (16:40.563)
So everything you said, I couldn’t agree with more. I would just say one little piece. I think alone is related to that. In front, behind, but it doesn’t really matter. see, I’ll just say it like this. In front and behind are relational. I’m in front of you, I’m behind you. Alone is the opposite. Alone means there’s nobody else there. If you’re alone, you’re not in front or behind anybody.

That’s even worse, right? It’s one thing to be behind, at least I’m racing with you. But if I’m then I don’t have anything.

Geoffrey Stern (17:16.532)
And of course, one thinks of the Pasuk, Am Levado Nishkon we are a people that dwells alone. So I think also what needs to be said is whatever name change we are having here, it doesn’t seem like while it was game changing, he still limped it away. While it was name changing, he was still referred to Yaakov afterwards.

Adam Mintz (17:21.638)
Yishkod. I’m Levadad Yishkod.

Geoffrey Stern (17:44.258)
And that’s going to be part of the puzzle. So let’s look a little bit. I started by saying the first time that achor is used, behind, is where he says to his messengers, tell Esav that I am behind and that I have been delayed by being in Lavon’s house.

The word, T’achru for instance in Genesis, he said to them, and this is where he is, it’s Eliezer who has just found Rebekah and he wants to leave already and they want him to stick around for a few more days of festivities. So he says, do not delay me. God has granted success to my journey. And I bring this just to give a little bit of a sense.

that he’s not only saying I was delayed, but possibly I was enslaved, possibly I was held back. When Eliezer says it, he’s saying, don’t hold me back, I need to leave. So in a sense, getting back to the parallel with much later on when the people of Israel leave Egypt, he’s saying I was kind of kept, I was kind of enslaved. The word achor means to hesitate, it means to defer,

It really focuses on what I was talking about before, where this is not the actor, the main character in the novel. This is the one who is controlled by others’ events. But getting back to it being not only delayed, but also being behind, the famous story when Amalek attacks the children of Israel when they are leaving Egypt,

It says in Deuteronomy 25, remember what Amalek do did you on your journey after you left Egypt, how undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers. He came out after you, Kol Hanechalim acharecha. So in the rear. Again, he’s like a typecast as the weak, the followers.

Geoffrey Stern (20:07.414)
the ones that are left behind. So we have both this sense of tarry and captured and also the sense of being left behind and being behind. And of course that ties immediately into Eikev and Yakov, which means to come from behind. So everything in the story that precedes the name change simply emphasizes what it is like to be that weak

minority to be that weak member. He said

Adam Mintz (20:41.911)
What dictionary did you take that from?

Geoffrey Stern (20:45.148)
This comes from Strong’s Concordance. And I find many times in Spharia, it’s very similar, if not exactly the same. So who knows? But there’s no question that we are widening the scope of Yaakov when we start bringing in this whole va’achor. And so if you go further on,

Adam Mintz (20:48.257)
fantastic, okay.

Geoffrey Stern (21:14.262)
When you get to Rashi, Rashi says, have become neither a prince nor a person of importance. So it says, when he says, Gartie to the messengers to tell to Yaakov, he says, Lo Naasiti Sar I was not made a prince nor other person of importance, but merely a sojourner. It is not worth your while to hate me on account of the blessing of your father who blessed me. So.

What of the fast-

Adam Mintz (21:43.734)
You understand that’s a play Im Lavan garti that I was just a ger I was just a stranger. I mean, that’s a funny thing because the word garti means to live. Ger means a stranger. They’re not exactly the same meaning, but Rashi has a little twist, a little d’var Torah there, which is good.

Geoffrey Stern (22:03.936)
And I would add, as we’re going to see in a second, that it’s also a play on Sar Yisrael has the word Saur in it as well.

Adam Mintz (22:15.445)
Right.

Geoffrey Stern (22:16.482)
So in the beginning when he was still in that Yaakov modality, he says, I was not made into a sar. We will see there are some commentaries who understand Yisrael to mean sar of God, to be a prince of God. Again, a play on that word. Rashi goes on, he feared greatly and was distressed. He was afraid lest he be killed and he was distressed.

That he might not have to kill someone. So this gets back a little bit to what you were saying about the present of Israel and and Bibi you know normally when I read this and I think the last time I focused on this Israel was not under attack I was very proud of the fact that our progenitor was not only afraid of being killed but didn’t want to kill anybody else

Adam Mintz (23:10.141)
Mm-hmm.

Geoffrey Stern (23:10.752)
But when you look after October 7th and what we’ve been through in the last 14 months, you have to be able to defend yourself. You have to be able to take matters into your own hands. And sometimes you have to kill somebody. And he was lacking on that as well. Rashi goes on, and he took of that which came to his hand. Midrashic explanation is…

precious stones and jewels which a person ties up in a package and carries in his hand. alert, Jews have been money changers and jewelers not only because of the laws of taking interest, but also because you can put a few jewels in a little napkin and you can run for your life. and you can move. This is what a refugee does.

Everything that is either in the text or is being explained by the commentaries is focused on this picture of a person before the name change who is a refugee who is just thankful to be standing. Here we go further. The Midrash, now he’s talking about Al-Panaw on my face. The Midrash connects the word Panaw, Al-Panaw with Panim, anger.

I guess Malbin Pene’ Havero, the idea of when you get somebody angry, his face turns either red or it turns white. So I guess that’s the connection to anger. He, Jacob, was also in an angry mood that it should be necessary for him to do all of this. So not only do we have a refugee, but we have a pissed off refugee. He is not happy with his lot here.

Adam Mintz (24:52.423)
That’s funny. Right.

Geoffrey Stern (25:00.962)
So now we get to Rashi who says, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel literally not Jacob, supplanting. So it shall no longer be said that the blessings came to you through supplanting and subtlety, but through noble conduct and in an open manner. So he says, She’habrochot bau l’cha b’akva u’remiya

Ki im B’shrara v’gilui panim. Here again in the Hebrew you get it where his name from here on is going to be someone who achieves his things in the open without having to cut corners, without having to go through all of these white lies and Rama is basically doing what one needs to do.

to squirm and squeeze and work the system and find an angle.

Adam Mintz (26:03.75)
I’m not gonna be in the back anymore, I’m gonna be in the front.

Geoffrey Stern (26:07.296)
and I’m going to do it proudly, lifne, absolutely in public, in front of everybody. So this again is interesting. Rashi goes on and explains what happened here, that really the angel knew that God was going to change his name. But the angel got captured by Yaakov, and he wanted to give him something.

So he says, when Yaakov says, will you call my name? He says, wait until he will speak with us there, and then I will admit your right to the blessings. Jacob, however, would not agree to this, and against his own wish, he had to admit his right to the blessings. So what this backstory says is that what Yaakov really did, and I think he founded his strength inside of himself, is he grabbed this messenger and he goes, I want

my name changed now, or putting it into another phraseology, I want the rights to the blessing now. Because as long as I’m Yaakov the schemer, the heal, those blessings were stolen. And I want you to change it now and I can’t wait. Here this guy who tarried with Laban, he is not waiting for the dawn. He is not letting this guy go until his name is changed.

Adam Mintz (27:14.905)
Right.

Geoffrey Stern (27:36.086)
So it’s really a kind of metamorphosis that we’re watching in front of us.

Adam Mintz (27:41.805)
It’s remarkable and it’s remarkable, know, Rashi doesn’t usually speak this much. You know, this is a long Rashi. Obviously Rashi felt, you know, very much committed to explaining this right here. This is where the whole story turns around from being behind, from being Yaakov to Yisrael, from being Achar to being Lifnim.

Geoffrey Stern (28:05.056)
Now I just want to go back to the actual verse where Israel is named, because as we saw, for instance, when names like Beersheba were played out in Scripture, many times multiple reasons are given for the same name. Beersheba could be the place where there were wells. Beersheba could be the place where there were oaths. We have in the Bible both explanations.

But here we have the verse that says, it says, Lo Yaakov y;omar oad shemcha ki im yisrael Ki sarit im Elohim it doesn’t really leave to us a lot of imagination, and is typically translated as, wrestled.

You fought with God, am I correct?

Adam Mintz (29:04.61)
That is correct.

Geoffrey Stern (29:06.434)
So the bottom line is that here I started by saying Christianity is called its name for a reason, Islam is called its name for a reason. As someone who has a podcast that is basically arguing with the Torah and the text and God all the time, I should be very happy that Yisrael means wrestled with God. But I think does that actually kind of reflect

what happened to Yakov? I think to a degree, yes, because to wrestle with somebody, you have to come of yourself and…

Adam Mintz (29:41.47)
Well, a vatuchal. Vatuchal means you’re victorious, right? You played a good opponent and you won. Nothing’s better than that.

Geoffrey Stern (29:51.114)
So I agree and I think that we have to say today that one of the explanations for Yisrael is people that struggle with God. Let’s fight with God. And Avraham did that before Sodom. That ain’t too slouchy. That’s not so bad. But I want to give other suggestions as well. And I hinted at it before that

Rashi says that he told Esav that he had not become a prince. And he used that word sar, and you pointed out that he used the word ger. I was a stranger, I was a foreigner, and I wasn’t a prince. Now, I looked at all of the translations, and not one Jewish rabbinic translation gave the word yisrael as prince of God. But the King James Bible

Adam Mintz (30:31.754)
Mm-hmm.

Adam Mintz (30:49.171)
Correct.

Geoffrey Stern (30:49.266)
says thy name shall be no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince has thou power with God and with men and has prevailed. So I don’t know whether Rashi was quoting a midrash or whatever that made that connection with Sar but there is no question that

part of this is that a sar means, again, someone who is a leader and not a follower.

Adam Mintz (31:20.286)
Let me just say the reason that the King James isn’t what we call the pshat the literal explanation because says ki sarita im Elokim It sounds like the word sarita is a verb. im Elokim you fought with, but to be a Prince with is a little tricky. So it’s almost as if the King James is saying a dvar Torah

Geoffrey Stern (31:44.13)
Okay, so let’s hold that thought for a second, because in Genesis 35 10, which as I said is the only other place in Genesis that it uses the word Yisrael, we get to the time where God decides to change Yaakov’s name. And in 35 10, saying to him, you whose name is Jacob, you shall be called Jacob no more.

But Israel shall be your name, thus he was named Israel. So here it doesn’t say because you fought with a messenger or fought with God, it leaves it a little bit more open to discussion. Rashi says thy name shall not be called anymore Jacob, which means a man who came as a lurker and trickster, but it shall be called Yisrael, which signifies prince and chief. So Rashi does side with the translation of

the King James Bible in this regard. And that, again, is kind of fascinating. The word Sarah is this idea of controlling things. You make a line of crops, a shur is shura. When you make the Torah, you write the words in a straight line. So it does have the sense not only of

Adam Mintz (33:01.306)
But look in three, sara means to fight, but it really only means to fight if you’re victorious. Right?

Geoffrey Stern (33:06.038)
Yep.

Geoffrey Stern (33:10.178)
Mmm. Yeah, yeah. So again, we’re getting more nuance here. And I think from the Beersheva example, we are allowed to give multiple meanings. And just because the Torah gives one meaning in one verse in one context, that doesn’t mean that there are more. The Ibn Ezra says, Thou name shall not be called any more Jacob. You shall no longer be called only Jacob, but also Israel.

This is a whole new nuance, Rabbi. After Abraham, Avram, and Sarai’s names were changed, they were never called Avram and Sarai. There were even halachot that you get. It’s a sin to call Avraham Avraham, but not Yaakov. So we’re talking about a name change that is adding, I believe, to his character, but not in any way taking away from what was.

Adam Mintz (33:49.029)
Right. But it’s not true for Yakov.

Geoffrey Stern (34:09.346)
In Hosea 12 it says about Yaakov, strove with an angel and prevailed. The other had to weep and implore him. At Bethel, Jacob would meet him, there to commune with him. So again we have this Bethel again and in Isaiah we have my most favorite verse, maybe in the whole Torah, Rabbi.

It says, every valley be raised, every hill and mount made low, let the rugged ground become level and the ridges become a plain. It says, v’haya ha’akov l’mishur. This is talking about the end of days. It is a prophecy. And what it is putting into one piece of language is it has ha’akov,

which is the same root as Yaakov, which means crooked. And the crooked shall be turned le-mi-shor. Here you have that word, shor, which is straight. And this is just beautiful because what this does is it defines redemption. Redemption is when the Jewish people, maybe the world, will no longer have to weave and go serpentine.

Adam Mintz (35:28.569)
Be dishonest,

Geoffrey Stern (35:30.292)
as they say in the in-laws, walk serpentine. They can walk straight. And so what does the Ibn Ezra say? The crooked, it is the opposite of straight, Akov deceitful. So here we have, think, of boiled down to the bare minimum, this sense of what the two polarities are. There’s the crooked and there’s the straight. And the straight.

has to do with not only straightness, but it comes to do with being a sar, being a leader, being in front and not behind. It kind of ties it all together. And I think it’s just a really beautiful transition that we have, and it gives us so much more meaning to the sense of what Yisrael means. So where are you right now on “Yisrael”? What does it mean to you at this point?

Adam Mintz (36:26.327)
I mean, I always liked sar, but was always very much aware of the fact that the pshat seems to go with the idea of struggle. Maybe it’s both. Maybe you need a struggle and you need to be victorious. Maybe there are two sides of it. We’re always struggling, but Yisrael gives us hope and a sense of self-confidence. You started with the fact that Yaakov had no self-confidence. Now we kind of conclude with the idea that it’s all about self-confidence.

Geoffrey Stern (36:57.026)
So we are going to conclude with commentary by a rabbi called the Kli Yakar And we’re going to discuss not only how he reads our text, but some Talmudic texts. And the fascinating thing about the Kli Yachar, last week you talked about the background of the scholar that we mentioned. So this was the chief rabbi of Prague.

and it was in, they call it the 17th century if it’s he lived till 1619, right? And he wrote a book called Kli Yakar.

And one of the fascinating things is Rabbi, in the introduction to his kliakar, he relates that the name Shlomo was added to his name during a life-threatening illness, a common practice in Judaism. So we are talking about someone who is intimately involved with the power of name changing, but we’re going to walk through the verses with his guidance, because I think you will see that he draws certain, like,

fascinating conclusions from our text. So he says on Genesis 32, name shall no longer be Jacob but Israel. And this is my translation, unfortunately. It’s the best I could do. From the language of straight God, Yashar El. Since Yashar is the language of seeing from the language of line of sight and not nearby. You can see it from afar. You can see it clearly.

And there is an admission that Jacob saw the face of God and he did not reach to shield him from seeing the presence of God. So seeing God face to face is something that we normally associate with Moses, but here, if you recall, Rabbi, it said he saw him panel panim. The point was he didn’t hide. He didn’t cover his eyes.

Geoffrey Stern (38:59.894)
This striving with God is more than just physical striving. He was able to look God in Kivya Chol, his eyes, and in saying he strove with God, he removed the name of Jacob from him since the name Jacob reflects on Devious’s nuff heart of all people. It is perverse. Who can fathom it? And Israel is from the language of straight as it is written, quoting our verse, the…

rugged ground shall become level and the ridges become plain and not straight in the eyes of man but straight in the eyes of God and man. So the Kli Yakar is actually just pointing out to us, take a little stock here, this isn’t only about Yaakov and Esov, it’s also about Yaakov and God. That this humble, shy person who is afraid to stand up for himself

is not only standing up to Esav, but he’s standing up to God and can look Him in the eye. Since from his completeness of action, he will be a prince and leader with God and man and will prevail. And this is Israel, the straight of God, Yashar El, straight and strong. He will appear also in the eyes of God. Do I do think we could have missed that?

But it’s making a point about Yaakov not only with regard to man, but also with regard to God. And this gets back to the struggling.

Adam Mintz (40:25.169)
That’s very good. The Kli Yakar is always great.

Geoffrey Stern (40:29.81)
So we talked a little bit about how maybe this was a dry run for the children of Israel going into leaving Egypt and coming into the promised land. So now we’re going to get even a little bit deeper. And now I’m going to quote something, a Mishna that every one of us knows from the Haggadah. And it says, there is a mitzvah by Torah law to mention the Exodus from Egypt at night.

But some held that the mitzvah was like philine or ritual thinges only during the day. For this reason it was decided the exodus from Egypt is mentioned by night.

adjacent to the Shema, Rabbi Eliezer Ben Azariah said, and this is a mishna not the Haggadah, I am approximately 70 years old, and although I have long held this opinion, I was never privileged to prevail. So here we have the famous discussion about whether you remember the Yitzi’at Mitzrayim also, not only during the day, but also during the night. The rabbis rephrased the question and say

The days of your life refers to the days of this world is also to include the days of the Messiah. So this is right out of the Haggadah a very strange discussion. In the Gemora it says, was taught a brighter Ben Zoma said to the sages. And is the Exodus from Egypt mentioned in the days of the Messiah?

Was it not already said in Jeremiah, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, that they will no longer say, the Lord lives, who brought us from the children of Israel out of Egypt? So there’s a discussion whether actually when we are finally redeemed, whether we still bother to talk about leaving Egypt. And here is the punchline. They said,

Adam Mintz (42:15.758)
Mm-hmm.

Geoffrey Stern (42:21.842)
Actually, you do mention it, but it is not primary. In a similar way, the meaning of the expression, “your name shall no longer be called Jacob, rather Israel will be your name. The Talmud brings proof from this that says that just as Yaakov’s name was changed to Israel, but we still call him Yaakov, so too, even when the final redemption occurs,

we will still remember Egypt, although it won’t be primary. So from this, the Kli Yakar says an amazing thing. The Kli Yakar says that the, ties it all together, and he says what is in common with the Exodus from Egypt and the name Yaakov is that the name Yaakov

He was afraid to show his face. He had to do everything b’rama (decietfully) He had to do it circuitously. The same is true with the leaving of Egypt. He says when we left Egypt, we had to say to God, we said to Pharaoh, we need to go worship our God for three days in the desert. That was a white lie, Rabbi. We left at night. We prepared our meals,

b’lachatz under pressure, this was not, and the word that the Kliakar uses is be’yad rama. We didn’t leave Egypt holding our head up straight. We kind of left in the middle of the night. We baked our bread quickly. We ran out. And we did it like Yaakov would have done it. And…

what the Kli Yakar says is, in the final redemption, we will do it the right way. We will be redeemed b’yad rama, we will not have to cut corners. And I think it’s fascinating that he draws this all together because then it really does tie not only what Yisrael means, I think the word that I would say about Yisrael is it’s aspirational.

Geoffrey Stern (44:40.926)
It’s what we aspire to. It’s our North Star. We’re not there yet. There’s still a lot of Yaakov in us. But nonetheless, it is absolutely fascinating.

Adam Mintz (44:56.013)
That’s a great thing. That Kli Yakar is a perfect way to end this amazing discussion.

Geoffrey Stern (45:01.14)
And the only last thing that I will say is that if you recall, he limped out. He still limped out. And the word for Passover is Pesach, which means Piseach. It also means when we left Egypt, we also limped out. And all of this

Adam Mintz (45:21.322)
Has a Hasidic Bartora.

Geoffrey Stern (45:23.048)
It is, but I’m bringing the word Sele, and at the end it says, word that is often thought to mean lame or crippled is Piseach. I mean, they are the same words, the two stories end the same. And you were talking about Bibi and Israel today, and I think the amazing mixed emotions that we have during this war is in the one hand, on the good side, Israel.

has really been doing what it feels it needs to be done. It has a wonderful partner in the United States, but when the United States says to them, take it easy, make a truce, bank your successes, Israel didn’t do that. It act like Yisrael. It says we have more to achieve, we have to achieve our goals, we have to do it in broad daylight, and it’s amazing what’s happened. On the other hand, in terms of the government and other things, there’s still a lot of Yaakov going on.

There’s still a lot of deal making in the background of circuitous reasoning. So it’s really this story kind of lands up until today. We have these different powers bearing upon us. But in terms of the aspirational side, I think we can all agree where our aspirations are that one day we’ll be able to just stand up and do what is right and look the world and look God in the eye.

and do what we feel is necessary for our own survival and the betterment of the world.

Adam Mintz (46:54.268)
Amen, fantastic. Shabbat shalom, everybody. See you next week.

Geoffrey Stern (46:58.464)
Shabbat Shalom. All the best.