Parshat Vayishlah

THE MESSENGERS RETURNED TO JACOB, SAYING, "WE CAME TO YOUR BROTHER ESAU; AND MOREOVER HE HIMSELF IS COMING TO MEET YOU, AND THERE ARE FOUR HUNDRED MEN WITH HIM."

(Bereishit 32:7)

 

It appears to me in this matter that Esau did not receive the messengers properly and paid them no heed. Perhaps they did not even come before him for he did not at all give permission for them to come before him and speak to him for otherwise, Scripture would have related that Esau questioned them concerning his brother's welfare and about his circumstances and those of his household and children. [Scripture further would have told how Esau requested] that they convey greetings to Jacob and tell him that he is proceeding towards him to see him, and they would have told it thus to Jacob. Scripture, however, does not narrate that the messengers transmitted a word in Esau's name. Instead, he [Esau] kept his wrath in his heart, and he came with his army for the purpose of doing Jacob evil. Now the messengers had investigated the matter in the camp, and they knew that he was going to meet Jacob. This is the meaning of the word vegam (and moreover) [in the verse, and moreover he himself is coming to meet you], for they said, "We came to your brother Esau, but he did not answer us a word, and he sent you no greeting, and moreover he himself is coming to meet you with might and an army." This was why he added fear to his fear, as Scripture says, And Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed. And so our Rabbis said that the messengers recognized hatred in him [Esau]. Thus they said: "We came to your brother Esau. You behave towards him like a brother, but he behaves towards you like Esau the villain" (Bereishit Rabbah 75:7). However, in the end, when Esau saw the great honor that Jacob bestowed upon him and how he prostrated himself before him, bowing to the ground seven times from the distance until he approached him, his mercy was aroused, and he thought that Jacob was recognizing his birthright and his pre-eminence, as I have explained (above, verse 5). And with this he was comforted, for the hearts belong to God, Who turns them whither He will.

(RaMBaN on Bereishit 32:8, Chavel translation)

 

We came to your brother Esau - and you found favor in his eyes, as you had spoken. And out of joy at your arrival and his love for you, he himself is coming to you, and there are four hundred men with him, in your honor. That is the essence of the plain meaning of the verse. And so, too, Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see you (Shemot 4: 14).

(RaShBaM 32:7)

 

and he will be happy to see you - not as you think, that he will be harsh with you for having risen to greatness.

(Rashi Shemot 4:14)

 

And Jacob was greatly afraid - in his heart, for even though he [Esau] had demonstrated to the messengers that he intended to honor him [Jacob], he did not believe that Esau's thinking was for the good, but rather that it was for evil.

(RaShBaM Bereishit 32:8)

 

 

I saw your face as the face of an angel

Ronen Ahituv

While awaiting the encounter with his brother Esau, our father Jacob sent him an offering. It is explained with these words:

For he reasoned, "If I propitiate him with presents in advance, and then face hmi, perhaps he will show me favor. And so the gift went on ahead, while he remained in the camp that night. (Bereishit 32:20-21)

The expression propitiate [akhaprah panav] appears here in Scripture for the first time. The commentators disagreed about its meaning. Rashi writes: "propitiate - I will end his anger,... it seems to me that the word kaparah when conjoined with avon [transgression] and het [sin], and panim [face] - all are expressions of wiping away, and they are Aramaic... Scriptural language also refers to the holy fountains as kipurei zahav, since the priest cleans his hands in them, in the lip of the fountain." Rashi explains kaparah as wiping out anger. The gift is intended to wipe out Esau's anger.

Ibn Ezra interprets it differently: "The meaning of akhaprah panav is I will cover-up and hide." It is not a matter of ending the anger permanently, but rather of temporarily hiding it, and especially, canceling its destructive outcome. Esau's anger and enmity are not cancelled; instead, they will be temporarily held off by the gift, saving the lives of Jacob and his household for the time being.

The RaMBaN takes pains to reopen the discussion of the meaning of kaparah and disagrees with Rashi:

The connotation of "wiping away" attached to forgiveness [kipur] is not valid in the Sacred Language but rather in the Aramaic tongue... for the word kaparah is never used in association with sin [het], meaning wipe away, but instead Scripture says: lekhapeir [to make atonement] for your souls (Shemot 30:15); lekhapeir for him, and he shall be forgiven (Bamidbar 15:28), i.e., for his soul. And Scripture also says: akhaprah [I shall make atonement] for your sin (Shemot 32:30). All of them are related to the expression, Then shall they give every man kofer for his soul (Shemot 32:12), which means a ransom. (Chavel translation)

According to the RaMBaN, the Hebrew language does not contain the concept of kaparah for a sin, but rather only kaparah for a soul. Kaparah is ransom for a soul, a replacement for death. Jacob is saying that he himself deserves to die upon seeing Esau, and the gift is being given in exchange for his life.

The commentators' great efforts to research the philology of the verb-root kpr are not for naught. A weighty theological problem lies barely hidden behind the debate: of what value are ritual acts, and how do they atone for us? The immediate contexts that come to mind here is the rite of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, which atones for the sins of all Israel, and the atonement gained from guilt and sin offerings. What is the meaning of this atonement [kaparah]?

The three commentators suggest three different contexts for kaparah. According to Rashi, kaparah works at the level of a person's moral standing, wiping out his sins. Ibn Ezra says that it acts upon God, hiding His anger, while the RaMBaN thinks that it acts upon the person who offers a sacrifice, saving his life. The differences between these views are very significant for the way we are to understand how the commandments between man and God work, and for the question of the ability of a person to influence his standing before God.

Let us now return to the parasha's concerns. The deep discussion of the role of kaparah in human/God relationship seems wholly out of place in the context of Jacob's meeting with his brother Esau. The gift is a kind of offering of atonement made by Jacob, and the most amazing fact is that the kaparah is not made before God, but rather before the wicked Esau!

Scripture's use of the term kaparah here is not accidental. It directs us to recognize the existence of a theological dimension behind the meeting of Jacob with Esau. Scripture hints at this dimension in two additional ways:

1) During their encounter, Jacob says to Esau: "No, I pray you; if you would do me this favor, accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably" (33:10). Jacob himself says that Esau's face is like God's face to him.

If we do not want to explain all of this away as empty flattery on Jacob's part (as do the RaMBaN and several earlier sages as quoted in Bereishit Rabbah), we will be forced to notice the theological dimension of the brothers' meeting. This is not merely a fraught meeting between brothers; God Himself is involved in the matter, and even more than that - Jacob places God on Esau's side.

2) Jacob's struggle with the mysterious man is described as you have striven with God (32:29). Jacob is portrayed a kind of Jewish Prometheus in this story, fighting against the Divine will. Identifying the man with Esau's angel again raises the question of the relationship between Esau, his angel, and God. Which of the two brothers is favored by God: Jacob, the younger brother who fights for his status using methods which are not always proper, but who demonstrates determination and gets results - or Esau, the older brother who stayed to care for his parents, even though he had been cheated and deprived?

There are two ways to answer this question. Closer to the plain meaning of the text [and contradicting many midrashim of the Sages], we can say that at the time of the encounter, God supported Esau, but it could be that Jacob's struggling and determination again won out over strict justice - as had occurred several times in the past. Justice was with Esau, and Jacob was aware of that fact. However, once again, Jacob's special powers managed to overturn the Divine decree and the claims of justice, finding victory over them both. In this, he outdid the Hellenistic hero, Prometheus, who suffered punishment at the hands of the gods.

According to this interpretation, the story before us contradicts the promises God gave to Jacob at Beit El and Haran. In any case, this is not the only contradiction between the stories: the midrash already asked why Jacob was afraid despite the promises he had received, concluding that "there is no promise to the righteous man in this world" (Bereishit Rabbah 76:2).

On this interpretation, the gift is not intended to propitiate the human Esau. Rather, it is really a kind of sacrifice to God, offered in order to atone for his soul and for his problematic struggles with his fate.

The second way of explaining the strange pairing of God with Esau is to look at them through Jacob's eyes. Jacob is the one who identifies Esau with God. There is no ontological claim here that God really supported Esau; it is all about Jacob's subjective perception of the situation. When Jacob meets Esau, his twin and veteran adversary, he chooses to grant him honors worthy of the gods, because he recognizes a different person in Esau, one whose stance is different from Jacob's, and which possess its own inner legitimacy. Jacob recognizes Esau's own special truth, thereby admitting that it has a power just as great as Jacob's own subjective truth.

Of course, Jacob received Divine revelations and support in his dreams, but who can say that Esau was not also favored with such dreams? The Torah tells us almost nothing about Esau's inner world, but Jacob knows that such a world exists, and he admits that Esau's feelings and personality remain an unsolved mystery for him. It was not Esau's army and physical power that worried Jacob, but rather the intuition of justice and the emotional world of his betrayed twin. Just as the High Priest stands before the absolute God the Yom Kippur, helplessly awaiting judgment, so stands Jacob before Esau's personality. Jacob tries to penetrate Esau's inner world using methods that are similar to those used by the High Priest: offerings, obeisance, and respectfulness.

These two lines of interpretation lead us towards two educationally different conclusions. According to the first interpretation, the story teaches us about the great power of the will, which is capable of overcoming even what would seem to be a Divine decree, as Rabbi Yitzhak said, "It is good for a person to cry out [in prayer], whether before judgment is decreed or after judgment is decreed" (Rosh HaShanah 18a). According to the second line of interpretation, the story teaches us about our limitations when encountering the other, and of our duty to treat him with infinite respect, since the very image of God is revealed in the features of his face.

Dr. Ronen Ahituv hails from Mitzpeh Netufah and teaches at Bar Ilan University, at Oranim College, and at the Jordan Valley College.

 

 

Therefore the Children of Israel do not eat the sinew that is on the socket of the thigh

This is to say that it is right that the Children of Israel be fined and punished by the prohibition against eating that sinew, for they left their father alone, as is written And Jacob was left alone. They were brave men, and they should have waited for their father to help him if necessary, yet they did not accompany him and because of them he was injured, and from here on this will be a remembrance and they will be diligent in the mitzvah of levaya - accompaniment - and therefore Joseph accompanied Jacob.

(Hizkuni, Bereishit 32:33)

 

And Esau ran to meet him... and kissed him: Do not read and he kissed him (vayishakehu) but and he bit him (vayinshakhehu). Then his neck became a column, your neck is like an ivory tower (Shir HaShirim 7:5). It set the teeth of that wicked man on edge. When he saw that he did not succeed in accomplishing his desire, he became angry and grinded his teeth, as it says: The wicked man shall see it and be vexed; he shall gnash his teeth; his courage shall fail (Psalms 112:10).

(Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 36)

 

And kissed him - the word has dots above it. Should one suppose that this was a kiss of love? R. Shimon ben Elazar said: But were not all Esau's acts acts of hate at first? - Except for this one, this was an act of love.

 (Avot DerRabbi Natan 2)

 

And they wept - Both of them wept. This teaches us that, at that moment, love for Esau stirred in Jacob too. And so it is down the generations: when the descendants of Esau are inspired by a pure spirit to recognize the descendants of Israel and their qualities, then we too are stimulated to recognize Esau, for he is our brother. Thus Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi truly loved the Emperor Antoninus - and there are many more such examples.

 (Ha'Amek Davar on Bereishit 33:4)

 

Witness to this is the single word they wept. Fawning can result in a kiss, but not in tears which burst forth at the moment. The word bakha [cried] is related to the words baka [broke, burst] and pakah [opened]; the tears burst forth from the depths of the human soul. This kiss and these tears show Esau, too, to be a son of Abraham. It cannot be that Esau was no more than a wild hunter; were he such, how could he have succeeded in controlling all development of civilization? The naked sword, brute force alone, cannot qualify him for this. Gradually Esau will put away his sword, making ever more room for his humanity. In regard to Jacob, in particular, will he have the opportunity to demonstrate to what degree his humanity has prevailed. Respect for the rights of the powerful by the powerful is a matter of pragmatism. But when the stronger falls upon the neck of the weaker - as does Esau - throwing away the sword of aggression - only then can we see that justice and humanity have triumphed in his heart.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, Bereishit 33:4)

 

They cried - both of them, out of love and remembrance of the many years they had not seen each other.

(Rabbi Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio)

 

Cowardice or Pursuit of Peace?

Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: "You have brought trouble upon me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my men are few in number, so if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed."

(Bereishit 34:30)

 

Making me odious - [literally:] to make me stink. The meaning is: You brought it about that they would hate me and be disgusted with me as a person is disgusted by something that stinks. He did not say this because he feared war, because that is mentioned later - so if they unite against me and attack me. The [Cantillation mark] etnahata [that designates the major division of the verse] marks the word Perizzites because there are two separate ideas here. The first is that he is very troubled to be hated by the nations, even if he does not need them and they will not go to war against him. This was because it was his nature to pursue peace and he wanted to be loved by the nations, so that they could learn the ways of honesty and justice from him. That is why he said making me odious. The second idea was that he was also afraid that they might join together to attack him when he had few men [to fight by his side].

(Rabbi Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio ad loc)

 

The sons of Lotan were Hori andHemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna (Bereishit 36:22)

and Lotan's sister was Timna - Who was she? Timna was the daughter of kings, as it is written, the aluf [chief] of Lotan, the aluf of Timna (Bereishit 36), and every aluf was an uncrowned king.

She asked to convert.

She went to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they would not accept her.

[So] she went and became a concubine to Esau's son, Elifaz.

She said: "It is better for me to be a maidservant to this people than to be a matron of another nation."

Amalek, which caused trouble to Israel, descended from her.

What was the reason? Because they should not have rebuffed her.

(Sanhedrin 99b)

 

 

 

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