Do you have plenty?
The wicked, in their own eyes, consider themselves to be tzaddikim, and that all that is given to them is their due.
Our Parasha relates the reunion of the brothers, Yaakov and Esav, after the former had left their home, to escape the wrath of his brother, for his having taken their father’s Brachot which had been intended for him.
We read: ( 33:4-11 )’Esav ran towards’ Yaakov and embraced him..and they wept. And Esav lifted his eyes and saw’ Yaakov’s’ women and children, and he said:’Who are these to you?’. And he said:’The children with whom G-d has favored your servant’…And he said:’What is to you ( the purpose of ) all this camp that I have met?’. And he said: ‘To find favor in my master’s eyes’.
‘But Esav said:’I have רב: plenty, my brother, let what you have remain yours’.
Thereupon Yaakov said: ‘Please no! If indeed I have found favor in your eyed, then you shall take my gift from my hand, because I have seen your facet, which is like seeing the face of an angel, and you have accepted me.
‘Now take my gift, which has been brought to you, for G-d has favored me ( with it ) and because I have כל: everything’. He prevailed upon him, and he took ( it ).’
Rashi comments:’I have everything’: All my necessities. Esav, however, spoke haughtily:’I have plenty’, meaning much more than I need.’
Rav Baruch Halevi Epstein adds:’Yaakov said: I have כל: everthing, and Esav said:’Ihave כל: a lot, but not ‘everything’, because the coarse people are not ever satisfied with what they have, and are never satiated.
‘Therefore Esav said: I have ‘a lot’, but not ‘all’.
‘The righteous and the wise, are satisfied with what they have; and therefore Yaakov in his humble way, only asked Hashem ( Vayetze 28:20 ) for ‘bread to eat and clothing to wear’ - then I will have ‘all’.’
Rav Moshe Sternbuch invites us to the commentary of the Kli Yakar, ‘that Esav, said ‘I have רב: a lot, as the wicked, even though they have all the silver and the gold in the world, feel that they are still lacking, and do not have all their needs.
‘This is why Esav said:’I have a lot, meaning: but not all my needs.
‘The righteous, even if they only have little, are satisfied with what they have, and rejoice in it, appearing as if they have everything.
Further, from Esav’s boast, that ‘he has a lot’, we see that he is taking pride in his wealth, and saying to Yaakov, that he does not want the gifts of little value that he is proffering; but Yaakov pleads that he accept his gifts as an offering, like the offering of a poor man, as a symbol, and not because of his need.’
The Ktav Sofer comments:’Esav said: ‘I have a lot’, because the gifts proffered by Yaakov were small, compared to his great wealth; and, from this, Esav concluded that Yaakov did not have much, when compared to him, from Yaakov showing - by imploring him to accept his offering - that that which he eas proffering to Esav, was important in his eyes.
‘Further, Esav, on concluding that his wealth was far greater than that of Yaakov, therefore said:’Let what you have remain yours’.
Yaakov pleaded with him to accept ‘that which Hashem has favored me with’, meaning:My gift is not as it appears in your eyes - which indeed is little - but it is great in quality, because it is from Hashem, and therefore I have all’, as what comes from Hashem will enrich and always increase.’
‘Moreover, with that which comes from Hashem, Hashem also gives the recipient the midah of satisfaction, that he should be at peace and his heart should not regret that he does not have more.’
The Netziv expounds:’There are two ways that one gives a gift to another:one, by a servant to his master, to find favor in his eyes; or, second, by a rich man to a poor man, more so, if the poor man is the brother of the rich man.
‘By saying: ’I have alot, my brother’, Esav addressed both ways.
As to the one, Esav said: ’I have no need’, and as to the other: I am not your master, but your brother, therefore:’Let what you have remain yours’.
Rav Yechezkel Landau - the venerable Noda Biyehudah - comments:’One who is happy in his lot, finds all in that which Hashem has given him; however the person whose eye is bad, though he may have great wealth, does not find joy in his wealth, and will never have the happiness of one who achieves all’.
‘This is the differentiation between כל: ‘all’ and ‘רב: ‘a lot’, because wealth will only , in itself, bring a man to the feeling of ‘a lot’, but even were his house full of silver snd gold, he will not attain ‘all’ - only if he has הסתפקות: the midah of ‘satisfaction’, does he have ‘all’.
‘Yaakov Avinu, in saying to Esav that ‘Hashem had favored him and that he had כל: all’, was reflecting the real midah of ‘satisfaction’; Esav, however, who ‘had a lot’, could boast to Yaakov of his wealth, but could not boast that he had ‘all’, because that midah was impossible to attain, in his eyes - because even great riches would not fill his eye, nor lead to his soul to cease constantly seeking more and More.
Rav Ahron Kotler expounds on the great gift of ‘having all’, bringing the commentary of Ramban, on the passuk: ( Chayei Sarah 24:1 ):’And Hashem blessed Avraham בכל: with all’, that ‘there is a midah of called ‘all’ before Hashem, so called because it is the foundation of all,,and it is the attribute of the Avot.’ Expounds the Rav: ’It is known, that the virtue of הסתפקות: satisfaction, is of the greatest attributes.
‘The Vilna Gaon wrote, that it is the main attribute to acquire Torah, even more than bitachon. Above this attribute, is the attribute of ‘being happy in his lot’, as, whilst in the attribute of satisfaction the person works on himself to be satisfied with a little, and not pursue more in food or clothing, but he still ‘feels’ his lack, although he makes do with little.
‘The attribute of ‘being happy in your lot’, means - as it says - feeling no lack, and rejoicing in what you have.
This is the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer ( Avot 2:9 ) ’What is the good path to which a person should adhere?’ Answered Rabbi Eliezer:’עיןֶ טובה:’ a good eye’.
Rambam expounds:’’’A good eye’: to be satisfied with what you have’; Rashi comments:’A good eye: having no envy of others, and their honor being as precious in his eyes, as his own honor.’
‘The way to acquire this lofty attribute of ‘a good eye’, is to constantly reflect on all the chessed of Hashem, more than anyone really merits - this feeling of gratitude will lead to him having ‘a good eye’.’
Rav Sternbuch brought the commentary of the Kli Yakar.
The Kli Yakar elucidate: ’The wisest of men - Shlomo Hamelech - said: (Kohelet 5:18 ):’Also every man whom G-d has given riches and property and has given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice with his toil; that is a gift of G-d’.
‘And later on, he said: (6:2): ‘A man whom G-d gives riches and property and honor, and his soul lacks nothing of all he desired, and G-d gives him no power to eat of it, but a strange man eats it; this is vanity and a grievous sickness’.
‘Why does Shlomo Hamelech first say: ’Whom G-d has given’, in the past tense, and then: ’Whom G-d gives’, in the future tense?
‘The answer is that the first saying alludes to the righteous man who does not differentiate between ‘a lot’ and ‘a littlr’, because even the little in his hand, in his eyes appears as if Hashem already gave him כל: everything.
Such a person truly rules on what he has, to do with it as he wishes, which is why it says: ’Gives him power to eat thereof..’.
‘The second saying, on the other hand, speaks of the wicked, who never have enough, and, in whose eyes, no matter how much he, in fact, may have, always asks that Hashem give him, in the future, more wealth and riches.
‘In addition, he covets the imaginary honor he believes wealth will bring him; this in contrast to the good person before Hashem, who seeks to escape from honor.
‘This is why the saying mentions ‘honor’ first, and then those who pursue greater wealth, and this though he really lacks nothing, yet desires that Hashem give him more.
‘Such a person assuredly ‘ Hashem will not give him the power to eat of it’, because, in truth, his wealth rules over him, and not he over it.
‘This is why Esav says:’ I have a lot’, while Yaakov says: ‘I have all’, and adds the word חנני: which Hashem has graced me with, as the righteous do not rely on their good deeds, but deem that whatever they receive, is by the grace of Hashem.
‘The wicked, on the other hand, in their own eyes, consider themselves to be tzaddikim, and that all that is given to them is their due.’
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/400639
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