Parshas Vayishlach
Why the Torah stresses three times that Yaakov's tefillah and his natural preparations against Esav happened on 'that same night.'
Part of Bereishit
After davening to be saved from Esav, Yaakov spends that same night preparing a gift and readying himself naturally for the encounter, and the Torah repeats the phrase 'that night' three times to describe it. The repetition teaches that acting through derech hateva is not a separate, lesser track from tefillah, but a direct continuation of it: Hashem wants effort done naturally specifically because that, too, is His ratzon. Doing hishtadlus and davening aren't two different modes but one uninterrupted hemshech.
Audio Transcript
A vort from the Rebbe on this week's Parsha, Parshas Vayishlach. In Parsha Vayishlach the Torah tells us that 讬注拽讘 讗讘讬谞讜 讚讗讜讜谞讟 to the Eibershter because he was afraid of Esav, he daven to the Eibershter the Eibershter should protect him from Esav. And it says also he also sent Esav presents trying to appease him, 讘讙砖诪讬讜转 驻砖讜讟, maybe he'll won't be angry at him anymore. And after the tefillah, when it says he daven, the Torah continues, 讜讬诇谉 砖诐 讘诇讬诇讛 讛讛讜讗, he slept there that night, and he took the things that he sent him, and he prepared it to send to Esav the presents. The word 讘诇讬诇讛 讛讛讜讗, that night, is written three times in this Parsha concerning his sending the presents. And the Rebbe asks, why is the 转讜专讛 诪讚讙讬砖 so much that it was that night, as if saying it's the same night? Why is it important and the Torah three times telling us?
And the Rebbe explains it as follows. He says that one might think that when you daven to the Eibershter, you're involved in ruchniyus, you're davenen to the Eibershter, then you're doing things 讘讙砖诪讬讜转, you have to do things in 讚专讱 讛讟讘注, naturally. But they're two separate things. The nature is because the world needs it, that's how the world runs, through the natural things. And davenen, that's something that's ruchniyus. The truth is not like that. The reason you should do things 讘讙砖诪讬讜转 in 讚专讱 讛讟讘注 is because that's what the Eibershter wants. Says in pasuk, the Eibershter will give you a 讘专讻讛 讘讻诇 讗砖专 转注砖讛, in everything that you do. So even the doing the things 讘讚专讱 讛讟讘注 is really one thing together with the tefillah, it's a continuation of the tefillah. So when Yaakov daven to the Eibershter and then he sent the presents to do 讘讚专讱 讛讟讘注 naturally, to protect himself from Esav, it's not two things, it's one, it's all one 讛诪砖讱.
That's why the Torah keeps on saying that that sending of the presents was 讘诇讬诇讛 讛讛讜讗, that same night, that means it was that night, it was right 讘讛诪砖讱 to the tefillah, that when he did the tefillah to the Eibershter, as a continuation to doing this, because the Eibershter says you should daven to him, the Eibershter also says you should do things in 讚专讱 讛讟讘注. So you don't do it because you really believe in the teva, the teva is real metziut, you believe in it because the Eibershter said so. That's why the Torah stresses three times the word 讛讛讜讗. And that's a lesson for us to know that even though the Eibershter wants us to do things 讘讚专讱 讛讟讘注, but we have to remember that the reason we have to do it because that's the Eibershter's ratzon. But we can't give any chashivut, any importance to the teva on its own, because on its own it is not chashuv. That's why we, that's what we learn from this pasuk, that the Torah stresses 讘诇讬诇讛 讛讛讜讗 a few times.