Consult With Your Wife About Everything • The Daily Lesson from Rabbi Eliezer

Before you is a summary of the topics from the daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) – yesterday after the Maariv (evening) prayer, Tuesday night, the 6th of Kislev 5786, Parshas Vayetzei:

1. The entire concept of the blessing indicates that Esau, at his root, was more of a tzaddik than Jacob. This is why Isaac spoke to him. The Pri Etz Chaim (a Kabbalistic work by Rabbi Chaim Vital) writes that Esau originated from the left side of Jacob.
2. Whatever the wife says, one must do. This is because Rebecca said to Jacob that he [Esau] would not receive the blessings; she said, "If you do not go in, I will go in and tell Isaac not to bless this wicked man."
3. If Esau had performed teshuvah (repentance), he would have been a thousand times greater than Jacob. For David was also ruddy (red-haired), but with beautiful eyes. And Esau truly wanted to return in teshuvah (repentance) before he got married.
4. A person must consult with his wife about everything because only she sees the truth. Although his soul was lofty—and that is what Isaac saw—Rebecca knew that he had acted wickedly.
5. Therefore, Moses brought the Erev Rav (Mixed Multitude) close, as they were sparks from Jacob.
6. And because he delayed the Afikoman (the final matzah eaten at the Seder), Esau lost the blessings.
7. Esau should have nullified himself to Jacob; instead, he nullified himself to Isaac and cried before him that he wanted a blessing. "Do You have but one blessing?" The Gerer Rebbe blesses a thousand people in half an hour, but the blessing of the "dew of heaven"—the dew of the Resurrection of the Dead—this Jacob had already received.
8. Everyone should study the Rashi on the words "him, with him, to him" (Genesis 37:2). Rashi revealed himself to Rabbi Nachman the son of Rabbi Shmuel (of Horodenka) after he knocked on his grave. He revealed to him that the dispute between the brothers was that Joseph said the world should be created, while the brothers said it should not be created. Regarding this is the dispute between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, and ultimately everyone agreed that it would have been better if the world had not been created because man would commit sins. Only Joseph—the Tzaddik—said that he is the guarantor (ariv) and that the world should be created. The sale into Egypt was the judgment they performed on him regarding this matter of the guarantee.
9. Everyone should study on Tuesday night with his wife. The girls and women should say Tehillim (Psalms) until 11:00 PM, and afterwards they should say Chatzos (the Midnight Lamentation).