In this week's parsha we read about the encounter between Yaakov and his brother Esav. This took place over 20 years after Yaakov fled from Esav. The Torah and commentators explain the symbolism in this encounter and how it is a blueprint for the encounters between the Jewish People and the hostile nations that wish to harm us. They point out that Yaakov made three preparations for his encounter; he prayed to G-d to save him, he prepared himself strategically for war and tried to outsmart Esav by sending him a bribe.

Esav also represents the evil inclination that we are all tempted by. Everyone has their own struggles in life with their negative actions and character traits. How do we go about overcoming them? We need to learn from our father Yaakov. We need to pray to G-d to help us, we need to prepared ourselves to fight (it won't be easy and we need to be strong) and lastly we need to figure out how to outsmart the evil inclination. That may mean avoiding certain people or certain situations or improving ourselves in moderation and not trying to go "cold turkey".

May we all have the strength to overcome our external and internal enemies.

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath