 Torah Thoughts
This week we read the Torah portion
"VaYishlach" (Genesis 32:4-36). It contains 154
verses and ONE negative commandment, (the prohibition against
eating the sciatic nerve in commemoration of the struggle in which Jacob was
injured by the angel of Esau.)
Overview
After parting from one adversary at the end of last
week's portion, Jacob prepares to confront the next. His messengers report
that his nemesis, Esau, is approaching with four hundred men.
A fearful Jacob prepared for battle. He divided his
household into two camps, hoping that if one was massacred, at least a
remnant would escape. Jacob then grasped his most potent weapon- prayer.
Finally, he prepared a gift of appeasement.
Our Sages summarize Jacob’s three pronged strategy-
gift, prayer and war. Commentaries explain that this is the route the Jewish
People must take when confronted by an enemy. We should pray, attempt to
resolve the problem diplomatically, and if that does not work prepare to face
the enemy militarily.
After supervising his household's crossing of a river,
Jacob remained alone on the other side. He became engaged in a fierce
struggle with a "man", who was none other than the spiritual
embodiment of Esau. They wrestled until dawn at which point the angel
realized that he could not overpower Jacob. He touched Jacob in a vulnerable
spot. Jacob’s injury only fortified his determination and eventually, his
opponent begged to be released. Jacob demanded a blessing. The angel informed
Jacob that he was now worthy of a new name- Israel, “for you have struggled
with the Divine and with man and have overcome.”
After this spiritual victory, Jacob was ready to
confront his evil twin. The encounter was surprisingly tender. Esau ran to
Jacob, embraced him and they cried. Esau refused Jacob’s gifts and departed
for his hunting grounds in Seir. Jacob proceeded to the Promised Land.
After arriving at the city of Shechem, Jacob purchased a parcel of land.
Dinah, daughter of Leah went out to explore the environs and to seek friends.
She was grabbed by Shechem, son of the ruler of the eponymous city. He raped
her and then asked his father to acquire Dinah for him as a wife.
Jacob’s sons disguised their horror and with guile,
refused the request unless all the men of the town circumcised themselves.
They agreed. On the third day, when the men were in great pain, Simeon and
Levi entered the town and slaughtered them and plundered the city.
Jacob upbraided his sons and upon Divine instruction
moved to Beth-El, the place of his vision when he first fled Esau.
After departing Beth-El, Rachel struggled in childbirth.
As she breathed her last, Rachel named her son “Ben Oni” - “son of my
affliction”. Jacob renamed him “Benjamin”- “son of the right hand”. Jacob set
up a monument over the grave of his beloved Rachel, on the road to Bethlehem. This place is
special to the Jewish People to this day. (Click here
to read more about Rachel’s Tomb.)
Jacob journeyed to Hebron
and reunited with his father Isaac. Isaac later died at a ripe old age and
was buried in the Cave
of Machpela by his
sons.
Our portion concludes with a genealogy of Esau, as he
exits the Torah’s stage.
Insights
Jacob’s struggle with Esau’s angel fires the
imagination. Can a man vanquish a spiritual being? Why is the angel referred
to as a “man”? Why was Jacob’s reunion with Esau following this episode so
pacific?
Maimonides, in his Guide, explains this encounter in a
rather controversial manner. He asserts that this melee erupted nowhere other
than in Jacob’s psyche. This does not detract from the power of the
experience, attested to by Jacob’s very real injury.
Indeed, the Torah does not note the arrival of this
“man”. Perhaps he was with Jacob all along, lurking in the recesses of his
soul, awaiting the opportune moment to engage him.
The angel of Esau is identified with none other than
Satan, the Evil Inclination. This “angel” was the man himself, the earthy
magnet, opposing the soul’s flight to reunite with its Source.
Jacob’s struggle is the paradigm for the life of
Everyman. Each human bears twins wrestling within.
Esau, man of the field, hunter, earthy predator, seeks
to dominate his potential human prey. Jacob, the perfected human dwelling in
the tents of Torah wisdom and spirituality, wishes to elevate the human to
celestial heights.
Jacob was ready for this confrontation only upon his
return from Exile, from the world of Laban the shyster, from the arena of
temptation. His descent into the “olam HaSheker”, the world of
falsehood, honed and tried his spiritual potential that would only remain
dormant if untested.
At the threshold of the Promised Land and with his
developed spiritual strength, Jacob was able to subdue this opposing force
within. Beyond that, he could induce his very adversary to bless him and
advance his spiritual mission beyond anything he could have imagined.
Having conquered the spirit of Esau, the corporeal
Esau was weakened and altered. When humanity subdues the evil within,
external evil is attenuated and subdued. This beast is tamed and
harnessed.
This struggle continues today within each individual and
for the Jewish People as a whole. Esau’s heirs persist on their mission of
annihilation. Through our own relentless pursuit of our goal of spiritual
perfection, following Jacob’s example, we will reach our potentials and the
tyrants of the world will be tamed too.
HAFTARA
This week we read the ENTIRE BOOK of Obadiah.
Don't fret- it's only 21 verses long! (This is the shortest book in the
Bible.)
The Haftara reflects a theme of our Torah portion in
that it deals with final justice that will catch up with the descendants of
Esau, who followed in their infamous ancestor's footsteps and brutally
oppressed the descendants of Jacob over the millennia. It is interesting to
note that Obadiah was the descendant of Edomite converts. Obadiah was sifted
and saved from the lineage of Esau which is marked for ultimate destruction.
Obadiah describes the conflagration awaiting the descendants of Esau. The
epic struggle between good and evil is an echo of the struggle between Esau
and Jacob. In the end goodness and those who embody it, will prevail.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Baruch Price
Technical
Note: Page is suitable to print.
|
