Hi,

Jacob finally encounters his brother Esau.  (Genesis, 33)

In Jewish tradition, Esau represents the power of the sword. 

As opposed to the spiritual values of Jacob.

In fact, Jacob had run away because Esau was planning on killing him.

… What happens when they meet?

“ He hugged Jacob… kissed him.  They wept”.  (33:4)

Esau.  The warrior with a large army.

Cried!

Was Esau for real?

There are two opinions in the Talmud.

One says, it was a fake.  Esau wasn’t sincere.

The other opinion?

You can fake a kiss.  But you can’t fake tears!

And it was for real.

This seems to be the accepted opinion.

Esau was very far from a Tzaddik.  A righteous person.

But deep down there was a spark.

He was, after all, a grandchild of Abraham.

And the spark within him was ignited!

… The Rabbis of the Talmud lived under Roman occupation.

They experienced Rome’s brutality first hand.

But they never lost hope in a better world.

They never stopped dreaming of a better world.

They had faith in G-d.

And they believed in the power of the Torah to change the world.

But they also believed in something else.

That a human being is created in the Image of G-d.

They saw the Divine spark in Esau.

And they saw it in every human being.

… Theodor Herzl and Sigmund Freud both lived in Vienna.

For a short while they lived pretty close to each other.  But never met.

Elie Weisel observed.

“It’s a good thing they never met!

Because if they would have?

Herzl would have said, “I have a dream”!

And Freud would have said,  “You have a dream?

Come to my office tomorrow.

And I’ll cure you of your dream”!

… Why are the Jews still here?

And why did we change the world?

Because we never stopped believing.

And we never stopped dreaming!

All the best,