Lead Tidbit
Halacha Hi B'Yadu'a...
The second word is HEE as in the English word HEED, not the friendly "hi" that it looks like. The title is the first part of R' Shimon bar Yochai's statement as taught to us by Rashi: It is a well-known fact that Eisav hates Yaakov. Try not to view that as pessimistic, just realistic. In fact, the full statement is about as optimistic as it gets - that the Eisavs of the world have their moments when they are genuinely fond of the Jewish people. Moments. It doesn't seem to last. In this week's sedra, Eisav's idea of reconciliation was joining together. The problem with that is that we tend to lose sight of our goals. Our spiritual goals. Sh'chem and Chamor's idea of loving us was total intermarriage and assimilation. Not a good idea for us. That's what the Greeks of pre-Chanuka times seemed to want. And many others.

Let's apply some of the above to Christian support for Israel. Is it sincere? Well, some of it is for the purpose of winning us over to their beliefs. That's like the opinion that Eisav's kiss was not sincere. The support is there, but the goals are potentially harmful to us. We must be on our guard. But some of the support is warm, wholehearted, totally sincere - just like the opinion of R' Shimon bar Yochai. Sincere. At this moment. But what about the Agenda. The history and the principles of Christianity vis- a-vis the Jews echoes the Halacha B'Yadu'a. And even those groups who repudiate the attitudes of mainstream Christianity - what do they really want. They want the Jews to flourish in the Holy Land. That's good, because so do we. But they look forward to the day when we will accept their ideas of faith and stop being so stubborn.

This Tidbit is not making any statement about Jewish communities or organizations who accept financial support from Christian sources. Yaakov did not refuse Eisav's kiss. But he was cautious as to how close he and Eisav were to become. And we too must be careful. Very careful.

The Jewish people must make arrangements to co-exist with other peoples. But not at the expense of our identity and destiny. Vayishlach's lesson is about being careful. About drawing lines. About what to accept and what to stand up to. And about resisting pressure to capitulate.