02 Dec VAYISHLACH: LIVING IN LIMBO

The Gemara in Masechet
Hagigah (5b) tells of Rabbi
Yehoshua ben Hananiah,
who was exceptionally
effective in responding to the
heretics of his time, those who
worked to challenge Judaism
and oppose the Jewish faith. When he grew
old, and it was apparent that he would soon
leave this world, the Rabbis approached him
to express their concern over how they would
deal with the heretics after his passing.
Rabbi Yehoshua reassured the Rabbis by
citing a pasuk (Yirmiyahu 49:7) indicating
that when wise people are lost from the Jewish
Nation, the wise from the enemy nations are
lost, as well. Meaning, Hashem ensures to
maintain a constant balance in the world
between the forces of good and the forces of
evil. And so if Rabbi Yehoshua, a strong
counterforce to the powers of evil, was
departing, then those forces will necessarily
be diminished.
Rabbi Yehoshua drew further support for this
concept from a pasuk in Parashat Vayishlah.
After Yaakov and Esav’s dramatic reunion,
Esav extends an offer to Yaakov, asking that
they travel together: 33:12). This indicates
that “Yaakov” and “Esav” work in tandem.
There is a certain balance between good and

evil. Hashem sees to it that the forces of
“Yaakov” and “Esav” work together in the
sense that there is always good, and there is
always bad.
To probe a bit deeper, and to understand how
this concept is practically relevant to each and
every one of us, let us look at Yaakov Avinu’s
response to Esav’s offer.
Yaakov tells Esav to continue forward without
him, “until Yaakov would eventually catch up
to him, in Seir.” Meaning, Yaakov declines
Esav’s offer, preferring that Esav go forward
while he, Yaakov, would travel at his own
place and join Esav at some point in the
future. Of course, as we know, Yaakov never
went to join Esav in Se’ir. He went to Eretz
Yisrael, and his descendants, the Jewish
People, have always lived separate and apart
from Esav. Rashi explains that Yaakov
referred to the time of Mashiah, when the
world will reach perfection, at which point the
descendants of Yaakov and Esav will be
reunited.
In our current reality, until the time of
Mashiah, we are in a constant state of limbo.
We are always on a journey, making our way
to our destination, without reaching it. This is
true both in the national sense, regarding Am
Yisrael’s journey, and individually, in the life
of each person. The Jewish People have

almost always been on a journey, having
experienced virtually no periods of perfect
stability, where we were right where we were
supposed to be. But this is true also
individually. Is there any person who can say
that he is precisely where he wants to be, that
his marriage is perfect, his income is perfect,
his health is perfect, his children are perfect,
all his relationships are perfect, his religious
observance is perfect, and everything in life is
exactly the way he wants it to be? Of course
not. In every person’s life, there is a “balance”
between “Yaakov” and “Esav,” between good
and bad. There are things to be grateful for,
and there are things which we would prefer
not to have to deal with. Until Mashiah comes,
we are on a journey, during which we balance
these two aspects of our reality.
It is vitally important for us to recognize this
truth, that life is not supposed to be perfect,
that we cannot and should not expect it to be
perfect. We feel discontented and aggravated
because we expect to already be at our
destination, to reach the completion of our
journey, to experience perfection. When we
live with this expectation, we make it all but
inevitable that we will feel unhappy and bitter
due to life’s challenges. Once we realize that
life is supposed to be a journey, that we are
supposed to live in limbo, then life’s
challenges become so much easier to deal

with. We accept them as part of our journey,
as part of the “Yaakov-Esav balance” that we
are supposed to experience. We will recognize
that we have so much goodness in our lives to
rejoice over, alongside the hardships which
we are expected to handle to the best of our
ability.
Many people go through life thinking that
once such-and-such problem is resolved, their
lives will be perfect and they will feel happy.
But by the time that problem is resolved, there
is another problem which arises – and this
becomes the problem that needs to be solved
in order to attain happiness. We must train
ourselves to accept the reality of our life’s
ongoing journey, that life will always be a
balance of “Yaakov” and “Esav,” of the good
and the less good, and we can feel content and
blessed with the good fortune we enjoy even
while struggling with the less desirable
aspects of our lives.