From:          "Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash"
To:            yhe-intparsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject:       INTPARSHA -08: Parashat Vayishlach



                   YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
      ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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            INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
                           
                     by Rav Michael Hattin
                           
                           
                   PARASHAT VAYISHLACH


                   Parashat VaYishlach
                           
                                                       
                Yaacov's Nocturnal Battle
                           
                    By Michael Hattin
                           

Introduction


     Twenty  years have elapsed since Yaacov  left   home,
fearfully  fleeing  the wrath of his  brother.   Arriving
alone  and penniless in the house of Lavan his uncle,  he
leaves  that house with wives, children and great flocks.
God  has  indeed preserved him and "kept watch  over  him
wherever he has gone" and now Yaacov is poised to  return
to  the  land  of Canaan and to the embrace of  his  aged
parents.   Although  two decades have passed,  Yaacov  is
apprehensive that his brother Esav has never forgiven his
seizing  of the birthright and the blessing, and may  yet
harbor ill will towards him.


     Of course, Esav has since left the ancestral land of
Canaan  to  establish  himself  in  the  land  of   Se'ir.
Indigenous peoples known as the Horites earlier inhabited
this  region, southeast of the Dead Sea.  By employing  a
combination  of intermarriage and warfare, Esav  succeeds
in  displacing  them and securing the land  for  his  own
descendents.

     Yaacov, however, is aware that he cannot reenter the
land  of  Canaan stealthily, and that sooner or  later  a
meeting and perhaps a confrontation with his twin brother
is  inevitable.   Sending messengers ahead  to  ascertain
Esav's  intentions, he is alarmed by  their  report  that
Esav  is  approaching with a group of four  hundred  men.
Yaacov responds to the news by dividing his own camp, and
preparing for war.  In a poignant prayer he asks  of  God
to save him from his "brother Esav, lest he come and kill
me, mothers and children!"  In a more pragmatic move,  he
prepares to deliver a peace overture of substantial gifts
from his flocks.


The Sudden Appearance of the 'Man'

     Finally  completing the preparations  that   continue
late  into the night, Yaacov finds himself alone  in  the
darkness,  just as he had been some twenty years  earlier
when his journey was only beginning.  The gifts have been
sent,  his  wives and children have been  safely  ferried
across  the brook of Yabok, and Yaacov remains behind,  a
solitary figure pondering his fate.

     Suddenly  a mysterious apparition emerges  from   the
gloom  and  begins  to grapple with the  Patriarch.   The
struggle  continues  until dawn is about  to  break,  and
Yaacov  sustains  an  injury to his thigh.   The  phantom
attempts  to break loose, but Yaacov maintains his  grip:
"Allow me to go, for dawn is breaking!" cries the figure,
but  Yaacov demurs, saying "I will not let you go  unless
you  first  bless  me."   "What is your name?"   asks  the
phantom, "it is Yaacov" he responds.  "Your name shall no
longer be called Yaacov but rather Yisrael, for you  have
striven   with  'elohim'  and  with  men  and  you    have
prevailed!"   Yaacov  inquires as  to  the  name   of  his
opponent  but  is rebuffed: "why should  you  ask  me   my
name?"


     Daybreak   approaches,  and  the   enigmatic   figure
vaporizes  with  the  morning mists.   Suddenly,    Yaacov
lifts up his eyes from the encounter and sees his brother
approaching.  Esav runs towards him and embraces him, the
two  exchange  kisses and they begin  to  cry.   Finally,
rapprochement is at hand.

     What  is the significance of Yaacov's struggle  with
the specter?  Is it a real encounter or the figment of  a
troubled and frightened mind? What are we to make of  the
strange injury that Yaacov sustains during the course  of
the  struggle?  How are we to understand the changing  of
Yaacov's  name to Yisrael?   And why does this  encounter
take  place  now,  in  the  midst  of  Yaacov's   feverish
preparations before seeing his brother?

     The classical commentaries offer differing views  of
the  event  and  its  significance.   Concerning   certain
details there seems to be concurrence, while with respect
to others wide disagreements exist.  We shall see a range
of  opinions in our attempt to comprehend the  importance
of the struggle.


The Narrow Approach

     Rashi (11th century, France) and the Radak (R. David
Kimchi, 13th century, Provence) both understand that  the
struggle with the mysterious figure actually portends the
confrontation  about to ensue with Esav.   This  man  who
appears  out  of  the darkness of night and  vanishes  at
sunrise,  is  actually an angelic figure identified  with
"Saro  shel Esav" or "Esav's guardian angel."   Rashi   is
rather terse about the entire incident, but in his  short
words  makes  it clear that the visitation is  to  afford
Yaacov  with  the knowledge that he will prevail  against
his  brother Esav.  In the end, he will acquire title  to
the birthright and the blessings by legal right, and will
be  regarded as a deceiver no more.  "Your name shall  no
longer be called Yaacov, but rather Yisrael, for you have
striven  with 'elohim' and with men and have  prevailed!"
'Yaacov' (literally 'one who holds the heel' but from the
root  ACaV meaning 'roundabout' or 'twisted') is  a  name
that  Esav associated with deception and ambush, when  he
railed  against  his  brother's employment  of  guile  to
secure the blessings from the aging Yitzchak.

     Rashi  explains that the 'men' in question,  against
whom  Yaacov will prevail, are none other than Lavan  and
Esav, the two antagonistic figures in whose shadow Yaacov
has  lived  for  the past twenty years.  In  fact,  later
events  reflect  his vindication, for at  the  moment  of
their meeting, Esav stakes no claim to the birthright and
the  blessings, thereby acknowledging Yaacov's  title  to
them  and to the land of Canaan as well.  Rashi does  not
make clear why Yaacov must sustain an injury to his thigh
in the confrontation with the angel, but presumably it is
indicative  of the pain associated with the  enmity  that
has existed between himself and his brother for so long.

     Following Rashi's lead (which is itself based on the
much earlier Midrashic sources), the Radak also maintains
that the episode is to strengthen Yaacov's resolve on the
dawn  of  the much-feared meeting with his brother  Esav.
Just as the angelic figure could not prevail against him,
so too his brother will not succeed in harming him.  Just
as  surely as dawn follows the night, so too the light of
salvation  will  follow the black  pall  of  his  earlier
tribulations.   Radak  admits the  possibility  that  the
entire  episode  may only have occurred  as  a  prophetic
vision  in  Yaacov's mind, so dreamlike and ephemeral  is
its  quality.  In the end, however, he decides  that  the
angel must have been incarnate and the struggle real, for
after all Yaacov did sustain a unfeigned bodily injury.

     For  Radak,  the  injury  was  to   indicate  to  the
Patriarch  that although he might prevail  against  Esav,
there  would be other painful incidents that would befall
his  direct descendants, namely his daughter  Dina.   For
Radak, the thigh is symbolic of progeny, and is used as a
metaphor  for  the  reproductive organs.   Curiously  and
additionally,  the  Radak  sees  an  aspect  of    painful
punishment  associated with Yaacov's injury,  as  if  the
limping that he suffers reflects Yaacov's own uncertainty
concerning  God's promises of deliverance!   In  biblical
usage, lameness is sometimes associated with an inability
to commit to a single course of action or belief, just as
a  lame  person seems to veer from side to  side  and  is
unable  to  maintain a straight course (see for  instance
Melakhim/Kings  1:18:21).  Yaacov, he  maintains,  should
not  have been afraid of his brother and should not  have
sent  him such substantial gifts of appeasement, in light
of God's earlier assurances of rescue.

     For  both  of these commentaries, the struggle   with
the  angelic figure is a local affair, a pledge to Yaacov
that  he  need not fear the meeting with his brother  and
that he will emerge triumphant.  Why a name change should
have  been  necessary is not entirely clear, nor  is  the
significance  of  the  prohibition  adopted  by  Yaacov's
descendants  concerning the consumption  of  the  sciatic
nerve  readily apparent. Both of these items, name change
and commemorative commandment, seem better suited to more
transcendent issues.


The Broad Approach

     In contrast to Rashi and the Radak, the Ramban (13th
century,  Spain)  and the Seforno (15th  century,  Italy)
explain  that the entire episode of the mysterious  angel
contains cosmic overtones.
    
     Commenting  on the figure's inability  to   overpower
Jacob,  Ramban says: "God's angels, mighty in  power  and
exact in fulfilling His word!  For this reason, the angel
was  not  able to overpower Yaacov, because  he  was  not
permitted to do so.  Rather, he could only injure him  on
his  thigh."  In other words, it is inconceivable that  a
human,  no  matter how strong, could prevail  against  an
angel  of  God  whose  vigor is  not  bound  by   physical
constraints.  In fact, the only possible limitation on an
angel's ability is God's will.  Thus, the angel could not
defeat  Yaacov only because God did not allow him  to  do
so. God, however, did allow the angel to injure Yaacov on
his thigh.

     Like  Radak,  Ramban  understands  the   thigh  as  a
metaphor for descendants.  Unlike Radak, however,  Ramban
explains  that the reference is not to Yaacov's immediate
descendents at all but rather to posterity, to the nation
that  would  emerge  far  in the future.   The   agonizing
injury  sustained by Yaacov on his thigh alludes  to  the
torment that would be experienced by the Jewish nation at
the  hands of 'Esav' and his cohorts.  The Jewish  nation
might suffer frightfully, but "all will pass, and we will
emerge intact."

     For the Ramban, Esav and Yaacov signify not only two
individuals   or  even  two  nations,  but    rather   two
worldviews.     Esav    the    hunter     represents    an
anthropocentric (anthropo = human, centric = at  center),
material  and  sensual conception of the world  in  which
human beings have free reign to exercise their wills  and
to  achieve their desires without the constraints imposed
by  moral  compunctions.  The slogan of Esav is  dominion
and  his  mission is subjugation, for no higher authority
oversees  his conduct.  Esav and Nimrod his forebear  are
one   and  the  same,  because  for  the  tyrant   or  the
tyrannical  regime,  the  ideal of  human  fellowship  is
anathema.   In the worldview of Esav, human life and  the
proceeding  of human history have no ultimate purpose  or
goal,   and  therefore  only  the  pursuit  of    temporal
pleasures  is  worthwhile - for Esav is a  hunter,  after
all.   It  should  be stressed that the  'descendants  of
Esav'  are  not  tied  to  him  biologically  but   rather
axiologically.

     Yaacov, in contrast, represents a theocentric  (theo
=  God), spiritual, and ethical worldview in which  human
beings are subject to a Higher Authority and a higher law
which  limits  their ability to do as they  please.   For
Yaacov, the precious gift of human autonomy carries  with
it  the  great task to act responsibly, and to  subjugate
personal desire when its achievement is at the expense of
another person.  The maxim of Yaacov is unity, for  under
his banner all of humanity is allied as the most precious
creation  of  a  beneficent Creator.  For  Yaacov,  human
history  is  a  guided  and meaningful  process  that   is
charged with a spiritual purpose and an ultimate aim.

     It  is not difficult to see how these two worldviews
must inevitably clash, for they cannot coexist peacefully
for  long.  The descendants of Yaacov, the Jewish  people
who  live by these ideals, must become the targets of the
descendants of Esav.  And so, Ramban maintains,  Yaacov's
nocturnal  struggle  will  be repeated  during  the  long
nights  of exile and persecution, until the end of  time.
The  dawn  will rise and the Jewish people will  triumph,
but  their victory will be achieved only at the  cost  of
great pain and struggle.


Names and Mitzvot

     In  this  context,  the name  change  of   Yaacov  is
entirely  appropriate,  for a  name  change  in  biblical
terminology  always indicates a change  of  destiny.   It
will  be  recalled that Avram became Avraham,  and  Sarai
became Sarah.  With their new names their barrenness  was
banished,  and  they assumed the mantle of  founding  the
nation.  Here, Yaacov assumes the new name Yisrael, which
indicates also the taking on of a national destiny.   But
implicit in this dimension of nationhood is confrontation
and  struggle, pain and eventual triumph.   To  emphasize
this  point, the angel will not provide his name when  so
requested by Yaacov, for an angel has no ultimate mission
or destiny.  Or, to quote the Midrashic formulation, "the
angel  responded: we have no permanent  names!   A   name
implies   a  mission,  and  our  missions  are    mutable"
(Bereishit Rabba 78:4).

     That   around  this  incident  a   Torah  commandment
develops, namely the prohibition of consuming the sciatic
nerve,  is also now clear.  The mitzvot are the  preserve
of  the  Jewish people, and constitute an eternal set  of
laws   and  practices  that  delineate  the   relationship
between God and that element of humanity chosen to  carry
His name.  A mitzva that is commemorative in nature, such
as  this  one, must speak about eternal truths that  will
nurture  the  Jewish  people throughout  their  long  and
checkered history.  What could be more significant than a
reminder of the essential aspects of the mission  of  the
Jewish  people, a mission involving hardship,  hostility,
but also hope and final success?

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433

Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion
All Rights Reserved

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Torah/Commentary:  Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Commentary on the Weekly Torah Reading for 18 Kislev, 5760 (November
27, 1999)

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Chief Rabbi of Efrat;

EFRAT, ISRAEL,  Yom Revii (Fourth Day - "Wednesday"), 15 Kislev, 5760
(November 24, 1999), : Have you ever been disappointed
that observant Jews are prohibited from eating filet mignon, generally
considered the choicest, juiciest and thickest variety of steak
available (cholesterol consideration aside, naturally)?  The source
for this prohibition stems from this week's Torah portion and it
certainlyquires an explanation.

The Bible records that after two decades in the diaspora with his
Uncle Laban, Jacob -- together with wives, children and livestock --
returns to his ancestral home, the land of Canaan.  However, Esau, his
estranged brother, is lying in wait to destroy him.  Jacob attempts to
appease Esau with gifts.

The night before the expected confrontation, a mysterious
vision-struggle occurs between the Patriarch and an anonymous
assailant:

"And Jacob remained alone - and a personage (ish) wrestled with him
until the rising of the morning star.  And he saw that he could not
conquer him...so he dislocated the sinew of Jacob's thigh-bone in his
wrestling with him...and he said, 'Not Jacob shall your name be called
anymore, but Yisrael, because you have struggled with G-d (powers) and
men, and have achieved mastery...and Jacob called the name of the
place Peni El, for I have seen G-d face to face and my soul has been
saved.  And the sun shone for him when he passed Peni El, and he was
limping because of his thigh. Therefore the children of Yisrael may
not eat the dislocated sinew which is on the flat side of the thigh
until this very day, because he damaged Jacob's thigh bone at the
dislocated sinew."  [Genesis 32:25-33]

This account is one of the strangest and most enigmatic of any of the
Biblical incidents.  Did a wrestling match actually take place or was
it a nocturnal vision?  Who is Jacob's anonymous assailant?  Could it
have been G-d Himself?  Why does it result in a food prohibition for
all subsequent Jewish generations:  the taboo against filet mignon?

After all, the commandments have not yet been given on Mount Sinai!
Until this point, we only have a general command for all humanity to
"be fruitful and multiply" and a specific commandment to the House of
Abraham to be circumcised.  This obligation is repeated for the entire
Jewish people much later on in the Book of Leviticus [12:3].

Why should only this mysterious occurrence warrant a prohibition which
binds all future generations of Jacob-Israel's descendants?  What
hidden eternal message lies in the sinew of the thigh bone?

One of the major principles of Biblical interpretation is that "the
incidents of the Patriarchs foreshadow and presage the history of
their descendants."

Rav N.Z.Y. Berlin (Neziv), in his Biblical Commentary HaAmek Davar,
makes the point that the place of the mysterious wrestling match is
first called Peni El -- "I have seen G-d" [Genesis 32:31] -- and is
then called Penu El -- "they have seen G-d" [Genesis 32:32], a
fascinating switch from the first person singular to the third person
plural.  The message of this grammatical change in person is that what
initially is experienced by Jacob will eventually be experienced by
his future generations.

Jacob, the most clearly drawn of the Patriarchs and the bearer of the
tradition of Ethical Monotheism as a legacy from both his father and
grandfather, faces two life-threatening challenges:  internal
assimilation which poses a danger to his soul and mission, and
external destruction which poses a danger to his body and physical
existence.  Both stem from Esau.

Jacob is understandably jealous of his elder sibling, whose hedonistic
appetites, external aggressiveness and mellifluousness of tongue
("entrapment was in his mouth") seems to have won him his father's
love and approbation!  Jacob not only acquiesces in his mother's plan
by assuming the garb and appearance of Esau in the presence of his
father.  He becomes an Esau-like personality during his twenty years
with Laban, when he seems to have forsaken his dream of Divinely sent
angels connecting heaven and earth for a dream of speckled, striped
and spotted sheep [Genesis 31:11, 12].

Esau has vowed to murder Jacob for having received the birthright from
Father Isaac, which includes the Land of Israel as well as the Keys to
ultimate world redemption.

"The incidents of the Patriarchs foreshadow and presage the history of
their descendants."

Jacob's life-and-death struggle with Esau is to characterize all of
subsequent Jewish history.  The night will be long and the battle will
be intense.  At stake is supremacy in both worlds, comprising Jewish
sovereignty over the Land-State of Israel as well as the truest path
to eternal life.  The angels seeking to link to worlds, to establish
the proper ladder between heaven and earth, are ascending and
descending.

The climb is not to be a steady ascent, Jacob's mastery over Esau will
not begin by his disadvantaged grasping at Esau's heel and from then
on his advancing excelsior, ever upwards.  Much to the contrary, the
angels will fall in descent as well as rise in ascent, the graph will
slide as well as soar, Jacob will grope in the darkness of the night
before he senses victory and salvation when the yellow-orange-red of
the sun-rays begin to push back the darkness and the clouds.

The struggle on earth between Jacob and Esau reflects a Divine battle
as well, a life-and-death contest for the soul of humanity and the
ultimate destiny of the Universe.  Will humankind opt for the specious
materialism of Marx and Stalin, for the gods of power and genetic
purity of Hitler and Goebbels, for the conquest of the sword of
fundamentalist Islam - or for the Ethical Monotheism of a G-d of
loving-kindness and tolerance preached by Moses?

Jacob will falter in the midst of his wrestling match.  He will fall
prey to the blandishments of assimilation, the Uncle Labans of the
diaspora summoning him to enjoy Esau's mess of pottage and forsake his
mission of purity.  He will have mourn twice his loss of sovereignty
over Jerusalem and Israel, and even the road to ultimate return will
have many potholes and land-mines along the way.  The sinew of his
thigh-bone will become dislocated!

The thigh is the Biblical symbol of and euphemism for the place of the
organ of propagation, the source of future generations and subsequent
history.  Many Jewish children will be lost to Judaism through
acculturation and intermarriage.  Many of our best and brightest will
be murdered in pogroms and killed in wars of defense fought over our
right to the State of Israel.

Jacob will limp, will be maimed and diminished as a result of these
losses and setbacks.

We are enjoined to eternally remember the struggle with the unnamed,
powerful forces, on earth and even reaching to the very heavens,
against whom Jacob battled during the Biblically recorded night of
nights.  We must remember and never despair.  The sinew of Jacob's
thigh bone is dislocated but the morning star of redemption does rise
and Jacob does achieve mastery.

Jacob's ultimate victory is reflected in his new name, our new name,
Yisrael - which has 3 possible meanings: a) he has conquered the
divine-like forces, b) he has struggled with people and with G-d and
has won, and c) G-d Himself, the G-d of tolerance and justice, has
emerged victorious.

Jacob's message to his descendants never to despair is reflected in
the prohibition against their eating the sinew of the thigh bone
"until this very day".  We may be diminished, but we will never be
destroyed.  We may lose many battles, but we will eventually win the
war.

Whenever you participate in an especially robust and 'filled minyan'
(a healthy number and strongly spirited quorum of Jews at prayer),
remember that it is due, at least in part, to their rejection of filet
mignon.

Shabbat Shalom from Efrat,


Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

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