The government introduced a new tax this past week. It's a tax on disposable dishes/cutlery. I'm not sure how much, but it's enough to get people to think twice about buying it. They did a similar thing a few years ago with plastic bags at stores. The extra 10 agarot per bag changed how people would take and use plastic bags.
Thankfully, we have always used it sparingly, so it doesn't affect our lives too much. However, there are families, especially larger ones, that use disposables all the time, both during the week and on Shabbos. They don't even own any dishes! So, they are either going to have to pay more (which was pretty expensive before the new tax) or learn to make a change in lifestyle.
We have friends who chose to make a change in lifestyle. They have seven kids and used to take out the garbage every day. Last week, they took it out only once.
While I'm certainly not a bleeding-heart, tree-hugging environmentalist, there still is a concept of taking care of the things Hashem gives you. Hopefully, we will see some good in this.
Rav Shimshon Pincus noted something that I never noticed before.
As mentioned last week, Yaakov was described as a "man who dwelled in the tents" while Eisav was described as "a man of the field." Yet, what happened to Yaakov when he received the brachos at the end of last week's parsha (which continued into this week's parsha)? He immediately goes into exile, begins anew with no possessions, and is forced to be "a man of the field" for several decades. And even after he returns with a full family, he continues to have trials and tribulations for the rest of his life, moving from one place to another, dealing with his children, dealing with his brother, etc. For a man who is described as "a man who dwelled in the tents," he's not doing a lot of "dwelling." In fact, he seems to be taking on Eisav's description more and more (albeit, not in the negative way).
So, what exactly is going on here?
Originally, there were to be four forefathers: Avraham, Yitzchok, Yaakov, and Eisav. Yaakov was to be the one to live a life of "purity," "in the tents," and raising his spiritual level by growing in learning and mitzvos. Eisav, on the other hand, was to grow spiritually by fighting his natural inclinations. He was a "man of the field," whose sole job was to grow by fighting the negative forces working against him. It was certainly a much more difficult job, however, it was also a much more rewarding job. Yaakov was to grow by pushing himself upwards spiritually, while not having to worry about the physical, and Eisav was to grow by pushing himself upwards by fighting the physical forces that were attempting to drag him down.
However, Eisav was not interested in that. We see that he was more than happy to rid himself of his brachos in order to stay out of the fight.
The second Yaakov received Eisav's brachos from Yitzchok, he needed to earn them. He was not just carrying his mission, but now had to complete Eisav's original mission as well. With that, he was forced to fight negative and/or physical influences as well.
That is why you will rarely, if ever, find a person sitting and learning without worries that pertain to this world. That's because that is not the job of a Jew in this world. Like Yaakov, we all have to complete Yaakov and Eisav's missions. We need to stay away from evil (Eisav) and grow in Torah and mitzvos (Yaakov).
When we are dealing with "the field," whether it be with work, the government, day-to-day issues, etc., we are fighting Eisav's fight; we need to work to stay away from evil and give in to temptations to do wrong. When we are "in the tents," whether it be at home, at shul, on Shabbos or Yom Tov, we are fighting Yaakov's fight; we are focusing on growing upwards, rather than fighting negative forces.
Fighting on two fronts is a difficult war to wage. However, it is the war that every Jew needs to fight at all times in his life.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!