Ra'anana Community Kollel

                             Achieving True Happiness

                                                      Rabbi Dovid Horwitz

“And the boys struggled from inside her womb...” (Bereishit 25:22)

The sages tell us that all hatred directed at the Jewish people from the beginning of time until this very day ultimately stems from the animosity that existed between Ya’akov and Eisav. Rashi explains that this sibling rivalry actually began before the boys were even born when they fought over the essence of life itself. Both Ya’akov and Eisav instinctively knew that both this world and the next were “too small” for them to share, and as a result they battled over who would inherit both. Will the Tzaddik inherit both worlds or will the wicked be victorious? The final outcome, explains the Midrash, was a compromise! Seeing that neither one could defeat the other, they struck an agreement inside of their mother’s womb. Eisav agreed to take Olam Hazeh, this world, and Ya’akov agreed to take Olam Habah, the world-to-come. As Eisav’s portion consisted of this world, we would assume that he would have been able to achieve total happiness in its many pleasures, while Ya’akov would only find true satisfaction in the world-to-come.

However, in reality, we find the opposite to be true. A few weeks from now, we will read about Ya’akov’s reunion with Eisav. Upon seeing each other, Eisav comments how he has fulfilled “most” of his desires, whereas Ya’akov responds that he has achieved “all” of this world. It seems that although Eisav had agreed to take his portion in this world, he was unable to truly acquire it because he was never satisfied with what he had. Ya’akov, on the other hand, who placed little importance on amassing fortune in this world, was able to achieve true happiness. In essence then, Ya’akov won the battle that he had started before birth, for he was able to achieve true fulfillment in this world and in the world-to-come, whereas Eisav failed to achieve fulfillment in both.

We derive an important lesson from here. The more materially oriented a person is, the less satisfied he or she will be, whereas the less material oriented one is, the happier the person will be. This is clearly what the sages meant when they said, “Who is rich? One who is content with one’s portion.” In truth, wealth and happiness depend on how one qualitatively lives every day of life, and not on how he or she quantitatively lives or lived. The Gerrer Rebbe passed away at a young age. On the way home from the funeral, one son commented to the other that their father merited “arichut yamim”, long life. He explained that although the Rebbe did not, quantitatively speaking, have length of years, he did have length of days in as much that every day was lived to its fullest.

As the Sandler family arises from their week of mourning over the tragic loss of their husband, father and brother, Jonnie z”l, they should take comfort in the realization that although he did not have length of years, Jonnie most definitely merited length of days. I was privileged to have a close relationship with Jonnie for six years, practically since the first day I moved into Ra’anana. His soft-spoken mild mannered nature endeared him to all who knew him. Despite his busy schedule as a physician, he always found time for his family and community. He set aside time for Torah study and he successfully applied his Torah knowledge to his daily life. Like our forefather Ya’akov, Jonnie knew that the purpose of life was to amass spiritual wealth through learning Torah, fulfilling mitzvot, and doing acts of kindness. He excelled in all of these and achieved a state of inner joy and contentment that the rest of us can only look upon with envy. It is hard to believe that he is gone and I, like everyone, already miss him deeply. But I am proud to have known a man who was able to achieve so much in so little time, a person who, like Ya’akov, was truly able to acquire both this world and the world-to-come. May Hashem comfort the Sandler family among the mourners of Tzion and Yerushalayim.