YAAKOV WAS LEFT ALONE. AND A MAN WRESTLED WITH HIM UNTIL THE BREAK OF DAWN. WHEN HE SAW THAT HE HAD NOT PREVAILED AGAINST HIM, HE WRENCHED YAAKOV'S HIP AT ITS SOCKET, SO THAT THE SOCKET OF HIS HIP WAS STRAINED AS HE WRESTLED WITH HIM. THEN HE SAID, "LET ME GO, FOR DAWN IS BREAKING." BUT HE ANSWERED, "I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME."

 

 

"AND A MAN WRESTLED WITH HIM UNTIL THE BREAK OF DAWN." - THE TORAH'S DOCTRINE OF WARFARE AND ITS ETHICS OF BATTLE

 "And a man wrestled with him"; not Yaakov, but his antagonist, is the attacker; Yaakov fights a defensive battle. As long as night covers the earth, as long as man's consciousness is dim, and things are confused beyond recognition to the point where it is impossible to ascertain their truth and their clarity, throughout all this time he may expect struggle and opposition - this is the content of that nocturnal experience, which is, in itself, but an answer to Yaakov's cry. He must wrestle with "the Minister of Esav"... dressed in royal garb, his sword at his side, and the struggle will continue until darkness departs from the face of the earth.

 (Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch on Bereishit 32:25)

 

"AS HE WRESTLED WITH HIM" - is superfluous, and Chazal, in Hullin (91) dealt with this. According to a plain reading (peshat) the meaning of "as he wrestled with him" is that until now, the angel wrestled with Yaakov, and now the angel desired to withdraw, but Yaakov renewed the fight and wrestled with the angel, and as a result he was punished, and his hip was sprained, and this is because Yaakov's attribute is an abundance of love of peace, as we have explained above, therefore he should have rested when the angel withdrew. But he betrayed his character, and therefore he was punished in his hip, where walking originates, and this [is symbolic] of man's customary behavior - and this is a major rule, that when a person's behavior is marked by a good quality, it is considered as though he took upon himself this quality with a vow, and afterwards, should he behave otherwise, he is punished - and it may be further said that this comes as a lesson for all generations, and the father's act is an example for the sons... and it comes to instruct us how one should behave with his adversaries, not to fight them excessively, and when the danger recedes, it is proper to allow the assailant to go on his way, and this [the wrenched hip] is to remind us of this.

("Haamek Davar" and "Harchev Davar" of the Netziv of Volozhin, Bereishit 32:26,32)

 

 

ON GAPS IN POWER AND THE USE OF POWER

IN OUR SOCIETY AND IN OUR FAITH

Amos Yisrael-Flishauer

 

How many buckets of ink have been poured dealing with the question "What kind of state Israel should be?" Jewish-democratic? Democratic-Jewish? Jewish? Democratic? A state of all its citizens? Few - too few - deal with the question of whether this state (whatever be its definition) is just or unjust. I should like to devote this study to examination of our attitude and that of Biblical sources to power, to the use of power and to power gaps. At the outset of our parasha is would seem that Yaakov's wealth has psychological effect on both Yaakov and his brother Esav. Throughout the parasha, Yaakov's (and his family's) strength is tested: against Esav, against the angel, against Schechem's behavior with Dinah, and against the kings, sons of Esav.

 

POWER AND ECONOMICS...

WHAT WERE THE OCCUPATIONS OF OUR FATHERS?

Yaakov supported himself as an employee (thank God, a successful one). Avraham was a nomadic shepherd who amassed his wealth in part from reparations (Avimelech, Pharaoh). Yitchak, in contrast to his passive image, was a successful, independent farmer. Wealth marks the social rank of the patriarchs as compared with that of their personal and ideological competitors. For example, the awarding of compensation to Avraham and Yitchak for the jeopardizing of their wives is seen as affirmation of their being in the right. As a rule, Avraham is wealthy - ergo, he is right; Yitzchak is successful - it is a sign that God is with him. Yaakov's success despite Lavan's deceitful efforts - signifies God's support, as in the words of Kohellet "And God seeks the pursued" (3:16). According to this approach, wealth in itself, and relative wealth (a large economic gap) in particular, is a fact which has political and spiritual significance.

Wealth - in the Bible - has another aspect, well expressed in the Haftara which we read last Shabbat: "When they grazed they were sated; when they were sated, they grew haughty; and so they forgot Me" (Hoshea 13:6). Wealth - absolute and relative - appears here as a destructive force. Wealth, like all authority and power, brings callousness, pride, a sense of omnipotence, and consequently leads to personal, religious and social sin (a separate discussion should be devoted to the influence of this analysis on the middle class). We have not found in the Bible condemnation of wealth per se. We have found censure of the sinning and apathetic affluent, and there is the call for concern for the indigent. Gaps of power, resources and opportunities are part of the Biblical world, and therefore, perhaps, one should not wonder that the religious parties carry no egalitarian social message, but rather one of tzedakah - charity - which creates and perpetuates dependence.

Also in the forthcoming unfortunate state budget, the path of charity - tzedakah - is a struggle against cutting this or that allotment. This is the course which supports differential salaries, power and strength, which obligates the prosperous to support the poor but not to change systems, because these systems have a function - psychological, social, political and perhaps even religious - in the world of the decision-makers.

The path of justice - tzedek - demands a reorganization of systems, a restructuring of priorities - diminishing of the wage gap, modesty in the consumption by the wealthy, equality of opportunity.

Rawls, in his book "A Theory of Justice", proposes the following intellectual exercise: Let us assume that in budget deliberations or in discussions of an economic package, it is clear that upon reaching agreement, there will be a lottery for opportunities in the work market; every citizen will be assigned by chance to a job, to intellectual and economic position, in keeping with the division of the cake as proposed in the new arrangement. In other words, every citizen would have equal opportunity to be a university lecturer, or to be the unemployed father of a twelve year old, illiterate girl who cleans up the lecture halls at night. The probability of each placement would be in proportion to the relative size of each level of the population; the Minister of the Treasury would have more than a 40% chance of being in need of salary supplements, and the Chairman of the Workers' Committee of a powerful government company would have more than a 100% chance of earning minimum wage or less working for a manpower organization than of retaining his present position. Such a mechanism would insure that persons of power at the time of decision would really be concerned with minimum conditions of opportunity for every citizen; they would, in all probability, be less concerned with charity.

The semantic distinction we have made is a product of modern Hebrew. Maimonides, who ruled that "we are charged with the mitzvah of tsedakah more than any other positive commandment... and the throne of Israel cannot be firm and the true faith cannot stand... and Israel can be redeemed only through tsedakah" (Gifts to the Needy 10:1 and see also 10:7) explains, saying that "the word "tsedakah" is derived from tzedek - justice... which means that every man receives that which is due him. (Guide for the Perplexed, III, 53).

Our blindness to the proportions and uses of power are expressed by the fact that in this country it is almost impossible to consume products which have not been befouled by the odor of exploitation, servitude, and oppression. Should we then consume these products? There are stores that are under the kashruth supervision of the Badatz, and there is the rabbinate, and there are stores for veggies and vegans; but what about a garage that carries certification that it pays fair wages and provides social benefits? A marketplace which does not employ children? A store that sells produce without exploitation of foreign workers who work in conditions of indenture? (See Maimonides, "Laws of Slavery, 9).

 

POWER AND PERSONAL SECURITY

Rashi faults Dinah for her 'going out'. It would seem that one should remain at home if he wants security. It's dangerous outside. But in many other places in the Bible, we find that supposedly safe places are not free of dangers - in Sodom and in Geva Binyamin the outside dangers menacing visitors are augmented by the decisions of the men to expose the women who are inside with them (the concubine or the daughters) to these dangers. In the stories of Avshalom and Tamar, Yosef and his brothers, Esav and Yaakov, the danger lurks inside the house. Our commentators were not apathetic to the violence revealed in Avraham's tent. Well-known is the Ramban's position that our mother, Sarah, sinned through her affliction of Hagar, (Ramban, 16:6) Radak writes: "And this story was recorded in the Torah in order that man learn from it positive qualities and how to avoid bad ones." But we are quite blind to this violence. Similar things occur in our society. Much is said about terror from without, and perhaps even about road accidents, but the "safe" places are not safe - 25,000 files pertaining to violence in the family are opened yearly. This is the basis for the estimate of 200,000 families suffering from violence [usually by the male]. Between 10-25% of schoolchildren are exposed to sexual attack and harassment in school, a place which, by law, they are required to attend. Here, too, the question is whether we are dealing with the consequences of the unchanging ratios of power (e.g., shelters for beaten women) or whether we deal with the ratios of power themselves (in all Israel there is only one "Bet Noam" where violent males learn to modify their behavior)? Are we prepared to lessen the very need for power gaps? The ratios of power and strength between men and women, between adults and children, between family members, between them and strangers - these and the exploitation of power within the framework of these relationships are basic facts in the narratives of the Book of Bereishit. These stories shape our thought, our culture, and our religion, and they limit the horizon of our opportunities as we attempt to consider the cost of our shaping of our world and possible alternatives - both partial and system-wide alike. The understanding of these formative influences is one of the main contributions of feminist thinking, and it seems to lie at the heart of prophecies of geula (e.g., Isaiah 11; Ezekiel 11, 34, 36) in which the redemption is described in terms of change of relationships between human beings and in the entire world.

Davka Esav, furious Esav, who plans to kill his brother (Bereishit 27:31) undergoes transformation at the end of our parasha: "And Esav took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all the members of his household... and went to another land because of his brother Yaakov. For their possessions were too many for them to dwell together, and the land where they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock" (Ibid., 36:6-7). This chapter parallels the Avraham-Lot relationship. But Esav, unlike Avraham, does not wait for the shepherds to clash; Esav concedes. (Despite Esav's ability to conquer his anger and concede, the Haftara of this week judges him harshly for not being able to take the extra step and support Israel).

Common to all the subjects dealt with is the acceptance of power relations as a weltanshaunung, as the way of the world. Must the order of events always follow the Prayer for the State of Israel - first "Crown them with a crown of victory", and only after that "Bring peace to the land" - or might it be possible to imagine peace without power? Are we called Israel only because "You have wrestled with God and with men and you have prevailed" - or is it because of God's presence, and as testimony to His honesty via our following in His ways (The word "Yisrael" can also be read "Yashar El" - "God is straight" , or "Straight before God". This, as against "Yaakov", which has a connotation of crookedness.). The basis for this outlook is concern not only for the weak, but for society as a whole. Following the prophets and Maimonides, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King also taught that the struggle for justice is not only for the sake of saving the oppressed from oppression, but (also) in order to save the oppressor from the role of the oppressor. Salvation will come not from tsedakah - charity, but from tzedek - justice, from the freeing of the master from his mastery. This is a theological, political, communal, economic and personal choice. Everything depends upon our conception of God (= power...) for our conception of God's relationships with our people is shaped, in the Bible, in terms of power relationships. An alternative is also to be found there - in more intimate relationships, in more love than fear, and there, too, is there need for the geulah.

Amos Yisrael is a middle-class Israeli Jew with western background who lives in Yerushalayim. He is a volunteer in centers for help to victims (male and female) of violence and rape.

 

 

"YAAKOV BECAME EXCEEDINGLY AFRAID AND WAS DISTRESSED" - IN WAR THERE ARE NO VICTORS, ONLY VICTIMS AND PAIN.

"Yaakov became exceedingly afraid and was distressed" - said Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai: This was neither fear nor distress, but "he became exceedingly afraid" - lest he kill; "and was distressed" - should he be killed. He said: if he overcomes me, he will kill me, and if I win, I will kill him. This is the meaning of the double phrase "exceedingly afraid" lest he kill, "distressed" should he be killed.

 (Midrash Rabba, Bereishit, Parasha 66)

           

Yaakov's attitude to his brother Esav weighs heavily upon his conscience. His gloom is so deep that he cannot lift his face to look his brother in the eye, certainly he cannot raise his hand against him, even in order to save his life and those of his household. Yaakov feels the need to receive Esav's forgiveness. His behavior in his meeting with Esav does not indicate a flaw in his personality; on the contrary, we have before us the beginning of Yaakov's reformation; he moves from that which was signified in his life by the derogatory name Yaakov towards that which will be symbolized in the future by the noble name Yisrael. It is not by accident that the parasha of his name change and the parasha of his reconciliation with Esav are juxtaposed.

(Y. Leibowitz: Seven Years of Discussion of the Weekly Parasha, p. 135)

 

'SHIMON AND LEVI ARE BROTHERS -

YOU HAVE BROUGHT TROUBLE ON ME"

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT IS UNACCEPTABLE

"You have brought trouble upon me": by shedding blood for no reason. He employs the term "reek" ["causing me to reek"] as a person causes wine to reek because of its lees, so have you made me reek among the inhabitants of the land, damaging my reputation, for they will say that we did evil to those who were peaceful with us.

                                                (Rabeinu Bahayeh, Bereishit 34:30).

 

...Now begins the shame, and we do not intend to hide it. Had they killed Schechem and Chamor alone, they would have been justified. But they had no pity on defenseless people, powerless in their hands. Yet more, they plundered, punishing the citizens of the town for the sins of their leaders. For this there was no justification. Therefore Yaakov admonishes them; "You have brought trouble upon me!" Our reputation and our honor were as pure as crystal, and you sullied them. "Making me reek" among the Canaanite and the Perizi; and just as you acted without justice, so you acted without wisdom, for we are few...

 (Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Bereishit 34:25-31)

 

 

The act of Shimon and Levi can, of course, be grounded and rationalized on the basis of moral principles subject to deliberation and rational consideration. But it seems that there are also moral postulates, among them the great issue of murder, which are not subject to consideration and deliberation; such transgressions impose a curse, irrespective of all considerations and deliberations that might seem to be justified and correct.

This is one of the great and terrible conflicts in human reality, both in the life of the individual and in the collective realities between nations. Granted, there are acts that are unavoidable, such as war, murder, and bloodshed, and whoever executes them does so out of recognition of the circumstances and for the sake of collective and personal security. But even so, he is stained with the stain of an immoral act that sticks to him; such an act is in the category of "has no atonement", it cannot be removed or cleaned.

The story of Shechem and Father Yaakov's curse upon the perpetrators during his final hours as he presents his sons with his vision of the end of days, offers an example of the terrifying moral dilemmas which, as already pointed out, repeat themselves not only in private life, but even more in the life of the nation; there may be instances of bloodshed which can be explained and rationalized and perhaps are even justified, but even so the act remains accursed. These thoughts are relevant especially in these crazy times, and we should record them in our hearts and should consider them carefully.

 (Y. Leibowitz, Seven Years of Discussions on the Weekly Parasha, p. 137)

 

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator),Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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