In this week’s parsha we learn about the meeting between two brothers, Aisav & Yaakov Avinu. The Torah tells us that when Aisav saw his brother from a distance he ran up to him, hugged him, fell on his shoulder and kissed him. Then something interesting happened. The passuk says “Vayivku”- “they (both) cried”. Asks Rav Shimon Schwab zt”l: why were they crying?
He posits that whatever reason is given for one of them crying must, too, be the reason for the other because the Torah puts both their crying actions in the same word “Vayivku”. [The truth is that even though Rashi does not give any explanation the Midrash does. It says based on the well-known story that as Aisav pretended to kiss Yaakov, in reality he tried to bite his neck. Hashem miraculously for a second turned Yaakov’s neck into marble causing Aisav's teeth to crumble like wax. It was this miracle that caused them both to cry; Aisav from the searing pain from his teeth, and Yaakov from the pain of a marbleised neck. This would seem to adequately answer Rav Schwab’s question.]
Perhaps we can say as follows: The Gemara tells us (Sukka 52a) that at the End of Days Hashem will take the Yetzer Hara-Evil Inclination and slaughter it in front of one and all. The sinners and the righteous among us will all cry. The sinners will cry because they will at that point see with clarity how simple it could have been to control their evil inclinations and brush him away like a wispy hair. The righteous people will cry for they will realise what an up-mountain struggle they had fending off this foe their entire lives.
Chazal present an opinion (see Rashi to Beraishis, 33:4)) that even though Aisav had intense hatred for his brother, nevertheless at this meeting for just a few minutes his heart miraculously melted, giving him genuine feelings of affection for Yaakov. This seems to mirror and perhaps is even a harbinger of the aforementioned future slaughter of the Yetzer Hara. For here, too, in order to make Aisav in a brotherly mood, it was not enough to give him a pep-talk about how brothers should love each other etc., rather Hashem had to do nothing short of eliminating his evil inclination for those few minutes. And just as in the future the sudden absence of the Yetzer Hara will cause all to cry, a similar reaction took place at this meeting. Aisav cried for he tasted for a few minutes a life free of a Yetzer Hara, which gave him the clarity to see how easy it could have been to fend it off all along. And Yaakov, like the Tzaddikim to come, responded by crying over the constant battle that he had to wage in order to stay on life’s straight and narrow.
This explains why the Torah puts both their cryings in one word - Vayivku, because even though they were crying for different reasons, it was the same cause that prompted those tears.
It is interesting to note that there are two hints that connect Aisav (and this meeting) to the episode of the slaughter of the Yetzer. The Maharsha (Sukka 52a) uses Aisav’s homeland Har Sai’ir as a way of remembering the two reactions at the time the Yetzer will be slaughtered. The wicked will see the Yetzer as a hair whereas the righteous will see it as a mountain. In Hebrew a hair is a Sa’ar which has the same root letters as Sai’ir, and a mountain in Hebrew is Har. Furthermore, we can see another hint, for at the End of Days when the Yetzer will be put down it says “Bayom hahu yihyeh Hashem echad”- “On that day Hashem will be one”. The passuk here uses the same phrase “Vayashav bayom hahu” - And he (Aisav) returned (from the meeting) on that day”.
Ma’aseh Avos siman Labanim- what happened to our Avos are triggers for our future. As Yaakov cried at his meeting in Tzaddik mode, so too we should shed similar tears with similar emotions in the very near future.
