A vort from the Rebbe on this week's parsha, Parshat Vayishlach. In the beginning of the parsha it says that Yaakov sent malachim to Esav, and he said to them ויצו אותם לאמר, and he told them this is what you should say, כה תאמרון לאדני לעשו, this is what you should tell Esav: כה אמר עבדך יעקב, this is what your servant Yaakov said, עם לבן גרתי ואחר עד עתה, I lived with Lavan and I was late, stayed till now, ויהי לי שור וחמור צאן ועבד ושפחה, and I have a שור וחמור, etc., etc. What does this all mean? So Rashi says on the words עם לבן גרתי, Rashi says, I lived there and I'm still a ger. A ger is a stranger. So Rashi says what he was telling him, לא נעשיתי שר וחשוב, אלא גר. I never became, it's an officer there, became important there. By Lavan, I was a ger. Mimela Rashi says you should not feel bad about the brachot, because I'm only a ger there. And then Rashi says דבר אחר, another pshat, that גרתי בגימטריא תרי״ג. גרתי is gematria 613. And the emet is it's not just gematria in the number, it's the same letters, actually. גרתי is made up of the letters ת ר י ג. So he was telling him that, כלומר עם לבן הרשע גרתי, I lived takeh by לבן, ותרי״ג מצות שמרתי, and I nevertheless kept the תרי״ג מצות, the 613 מצות, ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים, I didn't learn from his bad actions. So we have two pshatim here in Rashi what the word גרתי means: one is that I remained a ger, a stranger there, and another pshat is that I kept the תרי״ג מצות, I was by Lavan takeh and I had all kinds of obstacles and hardships, and nevertheless I kept all the תרי״ג מצות and I did not learn from him. So these are two separate pshatim, but we know that the Rebbe says always that when you have two pshatim or more on one word or on one ענין, they have a connection.

And here the Rebbe explains, very simple, the connection between these two pshatim: what he was telling him that you know why while I was by Lavan I still was able to keep the mitzvot, the תרי״ג מצות, is because I was there as a ger. He was by Lavan, he was there for 20 years, and he nevertheless stayed a ger. Usually, when you come to a place, in the beginning you feel strange, not comfortable, but after a while you get used to it and it becomes okay. Had Yaakov become comfortable by Lavan, it would make it harder for him to keep the תרי״ג מצות. The only reason he was able to keep the תרי״ג מצות is because being by Lavan, he was not comfortable, he felt that this is not his place. And that's why when he felt that all the gashmiyusdike things and all the ta'avot that are there by Lavan are not for him, he feels uncomfortable there, then you could keep the תרי״ג מצות. The moment you start feeling comfortable, it's bad. And those are the two things he said to him: I was a ger by Lavan, constantly a ger, not a toshav, not a set established person, I felt uncomfortable, I felt strange, and that's why, the second pshat, I kept the תרי״ג מצות.

And this is the lesson for a Yid: when we're in זמן הגלות, we have to feel uncomfortable in galut, and then we're able to not get נתפעל from the galut, not get influenced by the galut. It's the same way we say in the Haggadah that when Yaakov and his children came to מצרים, לגור בארץ באנו, he said we came לגור, to live here, but live here in form of a ger. So if they would not be that way, they would start feeling comfortable, they could get influenced and fall into the trap of everybody else, and learn from the ma'asim of the Mitzrayim. So they the reason, but when they came they said לגור בארץ באנו, we came to stay as a ger. And the same is בנוגע a Yid בכלל in galut, that we have to remember that this is not our place, our place is with the ge'ulah, our place is in Eretz Yisrael with משיח צדקנו. In the meantime, we are here, but because we feel uncomfortable, we are able not to learn from the ma'asim of the galut. And this is what Yaakov told Esav: עם לבן גרתי, I'm a ger, and that's why תרי״ג מצות שמרתי, that's how he was able to keep the mitzvot.