Vayeshev תרל”ו 1
ברש”י ממדרש ראה יעקב כל האלופים נתיירא אמר לו הקב”ה ניצוץ אחד משלך כו’ בית יעקב אש כו’ עשו לקש כו’.
Rashi quoting the Medrash says that when Yaakov saw all the generals of Eisav he was fearful of them. HaShem replied to him one spark of yours can burn down all of them. As it says the house of Yaakov will be a fire etc and the house of Eisav. straw.
פי’ כי ע”י שראה כח אלופי עשו נתחזק כחו. וכינס כל הכחות להלחם נגדו.
The explanation is that by Yaakov actually seeing all these generals, it really gave him strength. And he now gathered all his energy to fight against these negative forces.
וז”ש ולאום מלאום יאמץ כי ע”י התחזקות כח היצה”ר נתוסף כח ביצ”ט להלחם נגדו.
And this is what is meant by the prophecy “One nation shall be mightier than the other”. Because the evil inclination was stronger this actually gave more strength to the opposite force of good to fight against it.
(When Yaakov saw so much negative force he knew that he was actually much mightier than he originally thought, because he knew that he had the ability to fight it off).
וכן פי’ הכתוב שע”י שבית יעקב אש כו’. כמו כן נעשה בית עשו לקש.
And similarly we can explain the verse above, and the house of Yaakov will be a frie, in as much as it is a greater fire, it causes the house of EIsav to be like straw. (See above תרל”ה that once of all the sparks of holiness are removed from Eisav, he turns into straw)
כי כח הקדושה בכפלים לתושיה שנתחזק כח הצדיק ונתחלש כח הסט”א.
Because the energy of the holiness is much stronger “a double blessing” that the energy of the tzadik is strengthened and the negative forces are weakened,
ז”ש במדרש וישב יעקב כינוסו וכינוס בניו כו’. שנתישב בחזקה ע”י שראה האלופים כו’ כנ”ל:
This is therefore the meaning in the Medrash on the pasuk “Yaakov settled ” He gathered himself and his children, i.e. he settled down in a place of strength because he saw all the generals of Eisav. Because he saw so much negative energy and he knew that the force of holiness combating this is even greater this fortified him and was able to “settle” “vayeshev” to dwell in confidence that he could beat them all through his extra strength.
