Dvar Torah for Parshat VaYishlach

Based on Likutey MoHaran I, Lesson #54:4

"[The messengers told Yaakov Avinu (our patriarch)], 'Esav is coming with 400 men!'"
Genesis 32:7

Esav was coming to attack Yaakov Avinu with ayin ra (evil eye). The gematriya (numerical value) of ayin ra is 400.
Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #242

Yaakov Avinu was prepared. He had his wives and children. He had capital. He stood on the border of his ancestral and future homeland. He knew what his mission in life was. And Yaakov Avinu had God's promise. (Yaakov Avinu knew, however, that no matter how righteous and saintly he might become, no matter how much previous success he had had, sin could cause him to fail [Berakhot 4a on Genesis 32:11].)

There was no stopping him. So Esav tried to subvert Yaakov Avinu. Esav tried to give Yaakov an evil eye.

There are a number of manifestations of the evil eye. The most well-known one is the poisonous look of jealousy that people too often give one another. Whether or not such a look is meant to cause harm, it is still dangerous. In fact, the Talmud says that looks can kill (Bava Metzia 107b). Esav not only tried to give Yaakov Avinu and family such an ayin ra (Genesis 33:5), he tried to infect them so that they would look at one another in the same way.

Yet, there is another aspect of ayin ra that Esav tried to instill in Yaakov Avinu's family. This aspect of ayin ra Rebbe Nachman calls a demise of the heart. Everyone knows the feeling of excitement and of anticipation when embarking on a new project. It happens, more than than occasionally, that those feelings get lost. One runs into obstacles, one gets distracted by competing projects or one begins to view the project in a different, more unfavorable light. One's heart stops beating for the project.

Jewishness is our project, our mission. Lord knows how many obstacles there are. The projects that our responsibilities are can be distracting. The projects of our own making"pursuing what we don't need"are even more distracting. Sometimes we may have an uncertainty attack and question the importance of (our individual) Jewishness. Any of these can cause our heart to die within us, so that we pursue our mission poorly or not at all.

The difference between the "before" and "after," when we started out and when we seem to have come to a dead end, is that initially we have a clear vision of what we want to accomplish and what that goal is worth and at the "end" we no longer remember what all the excitement was about. Esav, who as "the man of the field" (ibid. 25:27) pursued various outside interests, expressed this "what do I need this for" (ibid. v.32) attitude towards Jewishness. By transmitting this disease to his nephews, he wouldn't have to anything else to them. The mission would be subverted.

How do we combat Esav's ayin ra? By cultivating an ayin tov (good eye) of the kind that King David had. King David had "beautiful eyes and good vision" (1 Samuel 16:12). When King David was fleeing from the coup that his son Avshalom made against him, Shimi went out and vilified him (2 Samuel 16:10-13). Despite all the pain and despite the royal prerogative that his faithful wanted him to exercise, King David's eyes were so beautiful he was able to be merciful and to see that God was being merciful (ibid.; Berakhot 7b).

King David's vision was so good that he never lost sight of the future, of his mission and the Jewish people's destiny. Rebbe Nachman writes that King David, the heart of the world (Rabbi Nachman's Stories, pp. 386 and 437) was Mashiach (the Messiah). He was constantly thwarted and his efforts to establish God's kingdom were frustrated time and again. Yet his constant prayers that became the Book of Tehilim (Psalms) testify to the fact that King David never let his heart die. By making his prayers ours and by talking to God in our own words we keep our hearts from dying.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

(The Torah describes both King David and Esav as edmoni [ruddy], the former in 1 Samuel 16:12 and the latter in Genesis 25:25. As I'm sure many of you are aware, wearing a roiteh bendel (Yiddish for red string) is considered a segulah (talisman) that protects against ayin ra. Perhaps the redness of the string is meant: [1] to "absorb" the redness of Esav contained in the evil glance of another; [2] to remind the wearer to emulate King David and look at others with a good eye so that God will look at him with a good eye.)