After twenty years of separation, Yaakov and his brother Esav met. Beforehand, Yaakov sent his brother flocks of animals as a gesture of seeking his brother’s good will. Esav tells Yaakov that the gifts are unnecessary and he should take them back. Yaakov persists and convinces Esav to keep them.
In their conversation they both express a similar sentiment but with a difference of one word. And that one word makes a world of a difference. It reveals the chasm between Yaakov and Esav in the way they lead their lives.
Esav says:
יֶשׁ־לִי רָב אָחִי יְהִי לְךָ אֲשֶׁר־לָךְ׃
I have plenty, my brother; let what you have remain yours. (33:9)
Yaakov responds:
קַח־נָא אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי אֲשֶׁר הֻבָאת לָךְ כִּי־חַנַּנִי אֱ-לֹהִים וְכִי יֶשׁ־לִי־כֹל
Please accept my present which has been brought to you, for God has favored me and I have everything. (33:11)
Esav sums up his estate and values it as plenty, but not as everything. Yaakov sums up his estate and values it as everything.
Esav recognizes the vast amounts that he possesses, but there’s still something missing. That’s because Esav lives in the world of materialism and in that world there’s never enough. So he’ll spend his entire life pursuing the missing part but he’ll never find it.
Actually it can be worse.
The Midrash (Kohelet Rabah 1:13) declares, “No person leaves this world with half his desires in his possession (i.e. fulfilled). He who has one-hundred wants to make two-hundred from it. He who has two hundred wants to make four-hundred (from it).” There’s a bit of discrepency in this statement. The Midrash starts off saying that a person doesn’t leave this world with half his desires fulfilled, but the illustration depicts someone who does have half! The answer is that by this person, the half he doesn’t have is worth more than the half he does have! Thus a person doesn’t depart from this world with half his desires fulfilled.
That elusive missing part actually diminishes what a person has.
Yaakov on the other hand has everything. In the world of G-dliness there is the recognition that whatever Hashem gives is what’s best. That’s everything!
Rabbi Yisroerl Meir Kagan, the famed “Chofetz Chaim”, once asked a person how things were. He responded in a very common way.
“It wouldn’t hurt if things were a little better,” he said.
“And how do you know it wouldn’t hurt?” replied the Chofetz Chaim. “The Almighty knows more than you what’s best. Because He is merciful and gracious he certainly would want to give you more than he has and He could certainly do it. If He hasn’t, it’s because that’s what’s best for you.”
This is the meaning of Yaakov’s words, “for God has favored me and I have everything.” Everything I have is by G-d’s favor. Therefore, it’s everything!
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak