
Parashat Vayishlach
פרשת וישלח
בראשית Genesis 32:4 to 36:43
After twenty years of exile in the House of Laban, Jacob undertakes his long way home with his family, servants, and possessions. Before arriving, he apparently feels the need to make his peace, or at least arrive at detente with his estranged and wronged brother Esau.
Chapter 32, verses 4 through 13 – Esau and his entourage approach
Jacob sent “malachim” ahead of him. Text has the Hebrew מלאכים which usually can be translated as angels, although from the context, here it probably means messengers or envoys (שליחים). Why did Jacob feel the need to open this Pandora’s Box and contact Esau? Couldn’t he have simply bypassed Esau’s territory on the way back to Shechem? The messengers return and inform him that Esau is approaching with four hundred men (uh oh!). Note that the text does not state that Esau had evil intent, it is only implied. At any rate, Jacob’s faith is apparently shaken as he divides his entourage into two camps with the hope that if one camp is attacked, the other may escape. He feels the need to remind G-d of his earlier pledge to him.
Verses 14 through 33 – Jacob wrestles with an angel (or with himself)
Perhaps Jacob’s faith in a G-d that will protect him is shaken. Alternatively, he may just be taking prudent precautions. He sets out to appease Esau with an extremely generous, nay, excessive array of gifts. After bringing his family to a place of relative safety. Jacob was left alone as his two camps of servants went ahead to appease or at least hold off Esau and his followers. He had a struggle all night with a heavenly sent “man” (איש – or was he wrestling with his conscious?) who left him limping at the hip. The man or angel blessed him by renaming him Israel (ישראל – one who wrestles with G-d) as “he has wrestled with beings both human and divine” (עם אלקים ועם אנשים). Why was he left limping and how did he struggle with “beings both human and divine?” Perhaps he struggled with G-d overcoming his initial skepticism and disbelief and struggled with this “man” in overcoming his own sense of guilt to attempt reconciliation with his brother who he wronged so many years ago, or maybe he struggled with himself (Jacob the deceiver versus a new Jacob, or Israel the Patriarch). The fact that he emerged from the struggle with a limp possibly signifies that he continues to be torn between his old self, Jacob the trickster or deceiver and his potential as Israel, representing his positive potential, the G-d Struggler, the worthy patriarch of the Jewish people. In accordance with Torah instruction in verse 33, Kosher butchers to this day cut off and discard the femoral tendon (גיד הנשה) of any meat that they prepare.
Chapter 33, verses 1 through 17 – Jacob and Esau partly reconcile
Seeing Esau and his entourage approaching, he further divided his wives and children, putting in front the two maidservants and their respective children, then Leah and her kids, and keeping his favored Rachel and her son Joseph behind all of them so they would have a better chance of survival. Jacob went to meet Esau, bowing low several times (standard custom at the time) and in the end, they kissed. Interesting Rabbinic debate about the six dots over the Hebrew “kissed” (וישקהו 33:4). Is it just a typo or does it have a hidden meaning? One theory is that the dots were inserted by scribes to indicate that the word was in doubt and perhaps should be omitted. One source suggested that the resolution as to whether the dotted word should be included or omitted will be decided by Elijah in messianic times.
After reconciliation, and after first graciously refusing, Esau accepts Jacob’s gifts. The two brothers part company and go their separate ways. Jacob wanted reconciliation but did not fully trust Esau and did not want to prolong the encounter. Jacob parted with the understanding that he would join Esau at his home in Seir, but instead avoided a second encounter with Esau (didn’t want to push his luck?) and continued briefly westward on his journey; not to Isaac’s encampment near Beer Sheva but to Succoth, east of Shechem, on the east bank of the Jordan River where he settled. The Torah is silent as to why he chose this location to establish his home. Perhaps he simply wanted to avoid the danger of continuing further south and approaching Esau’s encampment at Seir. Possibly, future descendants of Esau (the Edomites) remembered this supposed slight by Jacob. This may explain why, further along in the narrative (Numbers chapter 20, verses 14 through 21) the Israelites, during their exodus from Egypt are refused passage through Edom.
Verses 18 through 31 – Dinah is raped, Simon and Levi exact vengeance
Years have passed and Jacob is now settled in Shechem (site of present-day Nablus) where he purchased land, giving him a toehold in the promised land. His children are grown. Dinah ventures into the city (was she defying the customs of modesty? – was she looking for trouble?) and is accosted and raped by no less than the town chieftain’s son Shechem (שכם). When the chieftain’s son wanted to marry Dinah, (which at the time was the accepted practice to resolve the problem, and in many middle eastern societies still is), and offered that both tribes would live in peace and intermarry, Jacob’s sons pretended to agree on condition that all the males in Shechem circumcise themselves. The chieftain of Shechem agreed to this condition in good faith and told (commanded?) the men of Shechem to undergo circumcision so they can live alongside the family of Jacob and intermarry with them. They did not imagine that this was all a ruse, While the males of the village were in pain, Simon and Levi slew them all.
Like father like son, two generations of deceivers!
The other sons of Jacob plundered the town. Jacob, upon learning what happened, is angry at Simon and Levy, bemoaning that they will bring trouble upon him from the other inhabitants. His reproach appears quite mild considering what they did. He appears to be concerned only about his own standing; he is not driven by repulsion by the wanton slaughter and looting. Not clear if this violent act was done out of consideration for Dinah. Indeed, she has no voice and no say in this story and is heard from no more. The Torah is silent as to her fate. As a violated woman, no longer a virgin, she was “damaged goods” and would be difficult to marry off (keep in mind that we are dealing with a Bronze Age society and its customs, primitive by our 21st century mores). In many middle eastern societies to this day, a violated woman would fall victim to an “honor killing” by a member of her close family to restore the family honor? Was that the fate of Dinah at the hands of her brothers? We do not know.
Note that the chieftain’s name is Hamor (חמור) which means donkey in Hebrew. This wasn’t derogatory. Donkeys had an honored status in the ancient world, used for transporting people and goods. A donkey may have been somewhat of a status symbol, beyond the means of most people.
Chapter 35, verses 1 through 29 – Birth of Benjamin, death of Rachel, death of Isaac
Jacob is told to go to Beth El and build an altar. Jacob orders his household to get rid of their alien gods. Note that Jacob buries them under a monument in place of destroying them.
Death of Deborah (Rebekah’s nurse – why was she with Jacob and not with her mistress back in Beer Sheva?) and her burial.
Again, a repeat of G-d’s blessings to Jacob/Israel. This may come from another tradition.
Near Efrat (present-day Beit Lehem), Rachel dies in childbirth, giving birth to Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest and final male son. The dying Rachel names her newborn son Ben Oni (בן אוני) – meaning son of my suffering or alternatively, son of my strength. Jacob named him Benjamin (בנימין) – literally “son of the right hand”.
Rachel is the only matriarch not buried in Hebron. Rabbis interpret the reason that while the Torah does not prohibit polygamy, marriage to sisters is forbidden so the two sister-wives are not buried together with Jacob. Ironic that Jacob is buried with the wife that was fostered upon him by trickery. Another, perhaps simpler explanation is that as Isaac had not yet died, the birthright may not have yet passed to Jacob.
Jacob’s firstborn, Reuben possibly violated his father’s concubine Bilha. At any rate, he acted inappropriately. The Torah does not elaborate on the context. While Reuben was the firstborn, as we will see in the coming parashah, Jacob accorded the privileges to Joseph. Could this incident be the reason?
Jacob went to his father Isaac at Kiryat Arba/Hebron. When he died, Esau and Jacob came together to bury him, just as Isaac and Ishmael came together decades earlier to bury Abraham. The Torah is silent as to the nature of this “reunion” or what the relations were like between the two brothers. Was there a genuine rapprochement? We are not told.
It is interesting to note that Isaac was about to die well over twenty years earlier (Parashat Toldot) and only here actually dies. This possibly comes from two different traditions.
Chapter 36, verses 1 through 43 – The chronology of the line of Esau
The saga of Jacob is interrupted for a quite detailed chronology of Esau’s bloodline.
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