“Rescue me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Eisav …” (Bereishis 32:12)
The Bais HaLevi writes that Yaakov Avinu was afraid of two things. One, Eisav was an experienced warrior and blood would be shed. Two, there was their close sibling relationship, and Eisav would possibly seek to make peace.
Rashi (Devarim 23:9) cites the maxim, “Someone who causes a person to sin does worse to him than one who kills him,” because he kills him only in this world, but when he causes him to sin the person may also lose his World to Come. Therefore, Yaakov’s main concern was to be rescued from his brother, because the formation of a friendly relationship was inherently dangerous. Then he asked to be rescued from “the hand of Eisav,” his violence. It would be much more preferable to just distance himself from Eisav, fulfilling the pasuk (Vayikra 20:26), “and I have separated you from the peoples to be Mine.”
HaGaon R’ Elyashiv substantiates the detrimental effect of a negative influence even on a young child by referring to two instances where we are warned concerning this.
The first is when the Torah (Vayikra 11:43) prohibits eating non-kosher food as it desensitizes a person, and weakens him spiritually. Our Sages teach us that a woman must be careful to eat kosher when she is with child. We learn, too, (Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Dei’ah) that a baby should not nurse from a non-Jewish woman.
Secondly, the Torah says (Vayikra 21:1) that the Kohanim should not contaminate themselves with a dead person. The Rokeach teaches that the wife of a kohen who is expecting is permitted to be within the presence of a dead body (even though a one-day-old son of a Kohen is prohibited) because it is a matter of a sfeik sfeika (a double doubt), i.e. it may not be a viable fetus, and it may be a female.
The reverse, i.e. the positive effect of a good influence, is also true. Our Sages tell us that R’ Yochanan ben Zakkai would enumerate the praises of his disciples as it says of R’ Yehoshua ben Chananyah (Avos 2:8), “Praiseworthy is she who bore him.” The Talmud Yerushalmi (Yevamos) explains that R’ Yehoshua’s mother would take his crib to the beis medrash so that his ears should hear the divrei Torah.
It is for this reason that, when asked (Avos 2:9) which is the proper way to which a man should cling, R’ Yehoshua responded, “A good friend.” He understood the significance of ensuring a good environment, and the virtue, morality and righteousness of “a good friend.”
That is the underlying principle of the mitzvah of Hakhel, which includes bringing the little children, even those who have not yet reached the age of chinuch, to hear the king read from the Torah in Yerushalayim. The little ones will become accustomed to hearing divrei Torah.
One Chanukah, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, rosh yeshiva of Ponovezh, was invited to a religious moshav. The celebration was held in the central shul. When Rav Kahaneman was asked to give divrei bracha, he included various thoughts on Chanukah.
One of his observations concerned the words of Al HaNissim – where we thank Hashem for the various miracles of Chanukah, “for the salvation, for the mighty deeds, for the victories and for the battles …”
He asked: How do we thank Hashem for the battles? It is understandable to thank Hashem for our victories, but are we appreciative for being engaged in war?
Rav Kahaneman answered: If we would only thank Hashem for the victories we might think that the war with the Greeks was over. The truth is that it represents a war of holiness against the forces of impurity. It is a continuous battle in which we will be engaged until Mashiach comes.
In the difficult times, when impurity pervades the world and threatens our existence, we should not succumb. Jews are never surrendered to the influence of impurity. We fight its taint with conviction, determination and tenacity to guard the holiness and piety of the Jewish people.
The Bobover Rebbe, R’ Bentzion Halberstam, zt”l, was surprised to receive a letter one day advising of the arrival of a huge container of books. Signed by a missionary organization, the letter explained that the organization was donating the books for the many impoverished students in Bobov who could not afford to buy the books they needed.
The involvement of a missionary organization was very suspicious, and the Rebbe immediately called a special meeting of his chassidim. Outlining the urgency of the moment, the Rebbe requested that he be informed as soon as the shipment arrived. He explained that he wanted to personally be present when the container was opened.
When the shipment arrived one night, the Rebbe was duly called. The container was opened, and the Rebbe’s suspicions were confirmed. All the books were specifically targeted against Torah teachings.
A huge can of kerosene was brought and poured over the entire container. All the contents were burned in the presence of the Rebbe, who remained until the very end, to ensure that every single page of every single book had been burned to a crisp. The Rebbe then made the blessing, “… Hashem, Who commanded us to remove evil from our midst.”
The tzaddik was very shaken by this close call, and was deeply distressed. He did not speak of this incident until the following Shabbos, at the seudah shlishis, when he made the following remarks:
“I was very disturbed when I saw the evil that others wanted to achieve to harm our holy souls. It is only with great Divine assistance that the letter reached me personally, and we were able to be successful, baruch Hashem, in preventing them from implementing their malicious plan.
“I wish to introduce a new melody for the tefillah of Yismach Moshe – let Moshe rejoice – that I pray will inspire many to do teshuvah,” and the tzaddik began to sing a song of deep deveikus (spiritual closeness to Hashem).
Many years after this incident, R’ Bentzion visited the city of Keshenov. During the tisch on Shabbos, two young men who had left the ways of Torah and mitzvos came in with the intention of mocking the gathering. When the Admur sensed their presence, he called out that the congregation should sing his song of praise for Yismach Moshe. The two young men sat silently, seemingly caught up in the intensity of the melody. As the crowd continued to sing the song over and over, the two young men tentatively joined the chorus. It was noted that they eventually returned to the ways of their fathers and Yiddishkeit.