Summary Vayishlach 5762
The In this sedra, the clash between Jacob and Esau reaches a climax. The sedra begins with their meeting, following Jacob's 20-year sojourn with Laban. The sedra ends with the details of Esau's descendents and a clear statement that Esau relinquished his claim to the Land of Israel (36:6).

But Vayishlach also contains several tragedies which befell Jacob: the rape of Dinah, the implied news of the death of Rebekah and, hardest of all for Jacob to bear, the loss of his beloved Rachel. She died in childbirth and was buried in Bet Lechem, or Bethlehem.

Jacob and Esau: The Reunion.
Jacob hoped that Esau would thus find it within himself to forgive.

Our sages have termed this portion the 'portion of the Exile' and said that what Jacob said and did in this episode, was to happen to his offspring in the future, particularly in the time of the Roman Exile. Traditionally, Rome is said to have come from Edom, another name for Esau. I shall indicate a few parallels as I go through the story.

Faced with meeting a hostile brother after many years, Jacob tried to send a message of goodwill to Esau, in which he referred to Esau as 'my master' and himself as 'your servant'. But the messengers (or possibly angels - see the first verse) returned with a warning that Esau was coming to 'greet' Jacob with an army of 400 men!

Jacob was extremely frightened. His first action was to divide his camp into two parts, with the idea that if Esau would smite the one camp, the other would escape. We have seen this many times in the history of our dispersion, that some Jewish communities have been decimated by persecution, pogroms and worse, while others have been relatively unscathed.

Jacob prayed intensely to G-d, recalling G-d's reassurance to him that He would take care of him on his return to the Land of Israel. But Jacob also expressed his fear that, having prospered so much in the house of Laban, he had used up his 'credit'.

Jacob sent many presents to Esau, instructing his servants to go in groups, putting a distance between each group. Each group was to tell Esau that the presents were from 'his servant Jacob', who was following behind. Nachmanides explains that the reason for the distance between each group was a plea to G-d, that when suffering should come to the Jewish People, there should be time periods separating such sorrows. As for the gifts themselves, European Jewish History is replete with examples of Jews bestowing gifts on rulers on order to avoid their hostility.

Jacob and the Angel
But perhaps the strongest example is Jacob's wrestle with the angel (32: 25-30). In preparing the camp to meet Esau, Jacob had escorted his family and his possessions over the Yabok brook. At one point, he was suddenly alone and a man wrestled with him until dawn. When the man saw that he could not win, he struck Jacob on his thigh, dislocating his hip-socket. But Jacob fought on until dawn. Then a strange sequence of events occurred:

The man asked to be released because of the dawn, but Jacob refused, unless the man agreed to bless him. The man asked Jacob his name and then declared: "No longer will it be said that your name is Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with G-d and man, and have prevailed".

Thereafter the Torah relates that Jacob limped away from the scene, but the sun shone on him, and he came in good health to Shechem, following the meeting with Esau.

Questions:

• Who was the man who attacked Jacob?
  
• What does the wounded thigh represent?
  
• Why did the man want to go just because it was dawn?
  
• Why did Jacob ask to be blessed?
  
• Why did the man ask him his name?
  
• Was there a name change or not? Later on in Vayishlach, G-d also informs Jacob of a name change, but unlike Abraham, Jacob is still called Jacob as well as Israel.
  
• What is the significance of the sun?
  

By now it is clear that this was no ordinary man. Our sages say that he was Esau's protective angel. In short, this was a spiritual battle against the forces of darkness. The wounded thigh represents the inevitable wounds we suffer along the way, be they through persecution or assimilation. One of the curious aspects of our history has been that at times of our suffering, we have also had many accusations hurled at us; christ-killers, blood-libels, poisoners of wells, among others. When Jacob asked for a blessing, he was in fact saying: "admit that I will be vindicated". The angel's response was to agree, but only in the future when the nations of the world will acknowledge that we are indeed 'Israel', meaning 'prince of G-d'. The sun therefore signifies the future redemption.

The Reconciliation (?)
When Esau saw Jacob, he ran towards him and kissed him. But the Hebrew word vayishakeihu - and he kissed him, has dots placed over it, causing the commentators to doubt Esau's sincerity. Once they have exchanged pleasantries, Esau offers to accompany Jacob. But the latter declines, citing his large family, including small children. Then Esau offers to leave some of his men with Jacob and is again met with a polite refusal. The midrash cites examples of Rabbis who used to look into this parasha before dealing with the Romans, including one who always declined the offer of Roman guards to accompany him on his way back from Rome to Israel. On one occasion he accepted and they robbed him of everything he had.

The rest of the sedra in brief:
Jacob moves to Shechem and purchases some land there. Dinah, Leah's daughter is raped and kidnapped by Shechem, the son of the local ruler. Jacob's sons are outraged both by the incident and by the offer of marriage. They suggest that if the marriage is to go ahead and other possible marriages between the two peoples, the men of Shechem should circumcise themselves. On the third day, Shimon and Levi killed all the males of the town. Jacob was very angry with them, as we see just before his death.

Jacob then has to contend with the death of his mother's nursemaid, Devorah. She is buried under an oak-tree called Alon Bachut - the Oak of Weepings. Commentators suggest that Devorah had come to inform Jacob that his mother Rebekah had died. Hence the double weeping. As we indicated above, Rachel died soon afterwards.

The sedra ends with a list of Esau's genealogy.

Shabbat Shalom