Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

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בלה תובשחמ
Jewish. Esav’s descendents included Ovadiah the prophet, the sons of Haman
who learned in the yeshivas in Bnei Brak and Marcus Aurelius, the Roman leader
who became the loyal friend of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, and who let him seal the
Mishna.
When Hashem’s prophets told Rivkah, “the older will serve the younger” (25:23),
they were hinting to her that the divine plan was that they were going to become
one outstanding unit. Jacob was going to be the spiritual leader and Esav was
going to be the material leader. Just because Esav had a difficult nature didn’t
mean he couldn’t have become someone great. The very fact that Hashem gave
him these great challenges meant that he had the power to overcome them, if he
had only chosen to do so.
Life is filled with plenty of challenges, big and small. How we deal with those
challenges is pivotal to our life. The bigger the challenge the more strength we
have to overcome it. Hashem never gives us a challenge we can’t overcome. We
see throughout Jacob’s life that he faces challenges, but time and time again he
overcomes them. As a result, his name was changed to Yisrael (“the one who
struggles with Hashem and succeeds”), and we, the Jewish people, are called
“Bnei Yisrael” – the children of Israel.
Life is a series of choices, day after day. Esav chose poorly and, as a result, he used
the gifts Hashem gave him for terrible things. Later on in life he realized he had
made mistakes, but it was much more difficult to correct.
May Hashem help us maximize our potential and choose to follow in the path of
Yaakov Avinu.