This is one heck of a busy text, tayere Rabbosai, with lots of action, and more goys than you can shake a stick at. Quite exciting.
We find out about struggling with the divine, struggling with kinfolk, and struggling with outsiders. And we see Yakov being stiff-necked in the first instance where he struggles for himself, pragmatic and determined in the second instance when taking precautions to ensure the survival of at least part of his household, and acquiescent in the third instance when for the benefit of all one of his people seems expendable .
The story so far, from the sixth and seventh aliya in Parshas Vayeitzei: Yakov is 97 years old and has been away from home for 34 years (14 at Shem ve Eyver, 20 in Charan), and wants to leave Lavan, for whom he has laboured so long. He and his family flee and Lavan catches up with them. Yakov, while confronting Lavan for his years of duplicity, unknowingly curses Rachel. Yakov and Lavan separate, and Yakov reaches the borders of Canaan.
Question: If Lavan is evil, is there no danger that his daughters will have inherited that characteristic?
Answer: The souls are from the mother. And in this case, the mother was a relative of Yakov to begin with.
MALACHIM
After dealing with Lavan, Yakov prepares for his encounter with Esav. When a number of angels come towards him, he tasks them to return to Seir and Edom (representing hostility and anger respectively, but note also that these two places are mentioned again together in Seifer Bamidbar (Numbers), Parshas Balak, psook 24:18, where Balaam prophesies their eventual conquest by a goodly tented Israel) and destroy these qualities, but he realizes while speaking that such traits are needed as they make it possible to learn humility, and instead asks them to beg Esav's favour
[The word malachim can mean both ‘messengers’ and ‘angels’. In "and Yakov sent malachim to Esav his brother", Rashi (*) reads the word to mean angels. Rashi obsesses much on the divine explanation.]
As Esav approaches, Yakov adopts a flexible strategy - gifts, prayer, and preparation for combat - put differently, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
[This is like the sacrifice of two goats for Yom Kippur – one to Hashem, the other to Azazel. This scapegoat was to persuade the sitra achra to abstain from harming Israel in the coming year – and this is symbolically also an echo of mayim acharonim (last waters – cleaning one’s fingers after eating, before saying grace after meals), or portions designated for one of the baleful presences with which superstition is abundant.]
MAASEH AVOS SIMAN L' BANIM
[The acts of the fathers are an example to the sons]
Like Yakov, when faced with danger prepare with prayer, with gifts for assuaging, and with preparations for struggle, so also the struggles between Israel and her enemies, as illustrated repeatedly in Torah and Nach. But the approach is no less worthwhile today.
Psook 32:4 "Artzah Seir" = to the land (of ) Seir; Seir-wards.
Question: Why towards Seir?
Answer: Because that is where Esav was.
Question: Why not ‘le Seir’?
Answer: Rashi explains that everything which can be prefaced with a lamed (le = to, toward) can instead have a hey (= wards) after. This klal (rule) is noted earlier in the medrash, regarding Parshas Vayeitzei ("vayelech Charanah": and he went towards Charan).
So why does Rashi wait till this point to bring it up?
The answer is complicated, and somewhat unreal – per Rabbi Akiva (*), lamed is a remez (mental clue, allusion) for strength, because lamed is the largest of letters and thus the strongest. But Rashi tells us here ‘hey b’sofah’ (put a ‘hey’ at the end), explaining that ‘hey’ is a remez for teshuva ('tashuv-hey'), meaning repentance. The Hey is small and humble, which is what we become when we do Teshuva. One should not go into confrontations with strength, but with repentance. This formulation thus demonstrates how Yakov was preparing to confront Esav.
Yakov tells his messengers (angels, per Rashi!) to say to Esav, ". . .I lived with (my uncle) Lavan and I tarried there until now." (psook 32:5).
Regarding ‘I lived’ (garti) Rashi sees the gematria value of the number of mitzvos in the Torah (613), and gives a subtext of Yakov indicating to Esav that despite living with Lavan and his inequity for so long, he still kept the commandments – a remarkable interpretation, as the commandments were not given in full till Sinai. But Rashi and others assume, not entirely without reason, that the commandments were in fact inherent before then and voluntarily adhered to by the Patriarchs – and as the Torah itself was not given she biksav until Sinai, why should there not be such a clue written here from Yakov’s mouth?
But another way of looking at this is to note that garti is not in any way qualified – a life without anything added or subtracted is perfect, just as the Torah has naught added or subtracted. Had his residence in Charan been in any way questionable, qualifying adjectives and adverbs would have been employed rather than so plain a statement of the circumstance.
AFRAID AND DISTRESSED, ME'OD
Psook 32:8 "Vayira Yaakov meod vayetzer lo vayachatz et ha am asherito, ve et hatzon, ve et ha bakar, ve ha gmalim, lishnei machanot" (And then Yakov was exceedingly afraid and he was distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps).
Question: Why two words (afraid and distressed) to describe his feelings at that time?
Answer: He was afraid that he might be killed, and distressed that he might kill, according to the Midrash. And also, he feared his brother, and was distressed by the fact that he should fear him, because this is not a normal and proper way to feel about one’s sibling.
Psook 32:23 "…vayikach et shetei nashav ve et shetei shifchotav ve et achad asar yeladav" (...and he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons).
Where was Dinah during this time? It is said that Yakov had locked her in a chest, lest Esau set his eyes on her. For this, Yakov was punished by Dinah falling into the hands of Shechem; if he not hidden her from his brother, she would perhaps have brought Esav back to the proper derech.
As Hashem says to Yakov later "You would not wed her to a circumcised person, behold, she is now possessed by an uncircumcised one. You would not give her in a legitimate marriage, behold, she is now seized illegitimately."
[This is probably the most disturbing idea in the parsha.]
GID HANASHE
Before meeting Esav, Yakov struggles with ‘a man’, in consequence of which the sciatic nerve (gid hanashe) gains a symbolic weight, and is henceforth no longer permitted to Yakov and his descendants.
Psook 32:24 "Vayevaser Yaakov levado, veyeiavek ish imo, ad alos ha shachar" ( Yakov was left alone, and he fought with a man until dawn).
Several commentators suggest that the man was Esav’s guardian angel, but elsewhere it is clear that this man was the manifestation or agent of Hashem, as it says "your name will no longer be called Yakov, but Israel will be your name".
When Yakov fought with the angel he had already moved his property and family across the river, but he went back by himself for some small vessels that he had forgotten, as it says "Yakov was left alone" -.
The Midrash in Breishis Rabba (77:1) echoes this verse with, "Vanisgav Adonai levado bayom hahu" (the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day", a quote from Yeshayahu 2:11 and 2:17.
[Yeshayahu psook 2:11 "Einei gavhut adam shafel veshach rum anashim venisgav Adonai levado bayom hahu" (the lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed, and the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day).
Psook 2:17 "Veshach gavhut ha adam veshafel rum anashim venisgav Adonai levado bayom hahu" (and the loftiness of man shall be bowed, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day).]
What connects these two psukim? The word "Levado" (alone). What does this mean in this context?
Yakov having received his father’s blessings (psook 27:29): "The nations will serve you, nations will bow down to you, you will be a master over your brother, your mother's sons will bow to you, those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed", and was a powerful man with a large family and men at arms. Despite all this scope for loftiness or hauteur, when he goes to back across the Yabok he is alone - "Vayevaser Yaakov levado."
But it is also written in Tehilim 72:18 "Baruch Adonai Elohim oseh niflaos levado" (Blessed is Hashem our Lord, who does wondrous things alone).
Psook 32:26 "Vayar ki lo yachol lo vayiga bechaf-yerecho, vateka kaf-yerech Yaakov beheavko imo" (And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh).
According to the Ramban (*), Yakov's struggle with the angel represents the suffering of golus; when the angel injured Yakov's hip-socket this spiritually affected his descendants, signifying the Shmad (Roman brutality during their attempt to subdue Israel centuries later), which please note Yisroel survived also, like it is written: "And Yacob arrived, whole."
[We cannot eat the sciatic nerve? Hah, we never wanted to anyway – darn thing is too close to the you-know-what!]
As dawn breaks, the entity fighting Yakov tries to leave, but Yakov refuses to let him unless he blesses him and confirms that the blessing of the first born in actuality did belong to Yakov.
Why does Yakov demand this, and why should the word of a stranger count in that matter?
One explanation is that Yakov at this stage believes the entity to be daemonic and thus capable of insights that humans cannot have. Why should Yakov think this? Because river-spirits, which are what logically springs to mind in this context, given that Yakov crossed the river just before he was attacked, are active at night, and like the troll in the tale of the three billy goats, exact tribute or cause trouble for those crossing over.
[And note that at this stage Yakov has made a transition from one stage of his life to an entirely different one – such profound changes increase the likelihood of bad-luck or malignant influence; superstition holds that one is particularly at risk from the supernatural at such times.]
The divine being blessed him, saying "your name will no longer be called Yakov, but Israel will be your name", indicating that he will attain greatness because he strove with Hashem and won.
But he also keeps the name Yakov, which shows humility (Yakov comes from the word Eikev - the heel of the foot).
[Now note that from the time Hashem changed Avram's name, Avraham could no longer be called Avram – doing so would be in violation of a mitzvah. But with Yakov this is not the case. Why so? The tradition itself provides the answer – he is fairly consistently referred to subsequently by the name Yakov. Think of it as being a difference between a name and an appellation.]
YAKOV AND ESAV MEET
Psook 33:3 "vehu avar lifneihem vayishtachu artza sheva peamim ad-gishto ad-achiv" (And he himself [Jacob] went before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother).
[When Mordechai refused to bow to Haman, they said: "You will get us killed! How dare you go against the orders of the king?" Mordechai answered: "I am a Jew". They then asked: "Did not our forefathers bow to his (the king’s) forefather?" [Note that what is meant is that the king is a descendant of Esav.] Mordechai replied: "I am descendant of Benjamin, who was in his mother's womb at that time. Just as my ancestor did not bow, so I too shall neither kneel nor bow." ]
Psook 33:4 "Vayaratz Esav likrato vayechabkehu vayipol al-tzavarav vayishakehu vayivku" (And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept).
There is an interpretation that reads the mention 'and (Esav) fell on his neck' to mean that Esav tried to bite Yakov. Absurd! This psook follows immediately after Yakov rushes to humble himself before Esav. Clearly Esav in response feels an upwelling of brotherly love for Yakov, and, as it says, rushes forward weeping to embrace the brother whom he has not seen in years.
After 34 years of hatred, Yakov and Esav meet up, embrace, cry together, chew the fat, and then part ways again. Note that while Esav had initially refused the gifts, Yakov persisted.
Perhaps Esav genuinely did not feel worthy of gifts, perhaps Yakov genuinely didn’t trust his brother and by those gifts sought to commit Esav to peace. Or perhaps they were merely being maddeningly courteous – "no no I can’t" versus "but please I insist". Kinda like two Arabs fighting over who has the honour of paying for the coffee they enjoyed together.
YAKOV GOES TO SHECHEM, ESAV TO SEIR
Psook 33:18 "Vayavo Yaakov shalem ir shechem asher be eretz Kenaan bevo'o mi Padan Aram vayichan et penei ha ir" (And Yakov arrive secure at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram and encamped in front of the city).
Secure in body - he was healed of his limp. Secure in wealth - he did not lack despite the gifts to Esau. And secure in Torah – had not forgotten anything that he had learned in Lavan’s house (or alternatively, he had not forgotten anything that he had learned, while spending so many years in exile).
[Shechem = Shoulder. Modernday Nablus, north of Jerusalem, on a spur of Mount Gerizim. Shalaim = Whole, complete, secure, in safety; from the same source as shalom.]
The Medrash in Bereishis Rabba explains that he arrived as daylight faded on erev Shabbes, and made himself an eruv techumin (the space in which one can move around in shabbes).
Psook 33:19 "Vayiken et chelkat ha sade asher natasham aholo mi yad Bnei Chamor, Avi Shechem, bemea kesita" (And he bought the piece of land on which he had spread his tent, from the hand of the children of Chamor, Shechem's father, for one hundred kesita).
[There are three places about which the nations of the world can never say to the Bnei Yisroel that they have stolen them: the Meures ha Machpelah (which Avraham bought from Efron the Hittite for the full price in silver), the site of the Beis Hamikdash (which Dovid HaMelech purchased with six hundred gold shekels), and Yosef’s kever, which Yakov here buys for one hundred kesitah. ]
RAPE, VENGEANCE, AND THIRTEEN YEAR OLD BOYS
Dinah is raped by Shechem the son of Chamor, and in vengeance, all the males of the city of Shechem get slaughtered by a pair of thirteen year old boys (Shimon and Levi).
Dinah is first mentioned as an afterthought to the excessive fertility of Leah, in psook 30:21 "ve achar yalda bat, va tikra et shema Dinah" (and afterwards she bore a girl, and called her Dinah).
Then, when she is pubescent (naara: an adolescent girl), we are told in Psook 34:1 "va tetze Dina bat-Lea asher yalda leYaakov lirot bivnot haaretz" (and Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne from Yakov, went out to see the daughters of the land).
Psook 34:2 "vayar ota Shechem Ben Chamor ha Chivi, nesi haaretz va yikach ota va yishkav ota va yeaneha" (and Shechem the son of the Chivite Chamor, a prince of the land, saw her, and he took her, and 'yishkav' with her, and humbled her).
Psook 34:3 "vatidbak nafsho bedina bat-Yaakov va yeehav et-ha naara va yedaber al-lev ha naara" (and his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Yakov, and he loved the teenager, and spoke to the heart of the girl).
Shechem takes the girl by force. Even though he finds himself smitten by her afterwards, and speeks gently to her following his act, this does not erase the fact that he violated her.
Question: Not to indulge in a fit of blaming the victim, but is it nevertheless possible that Dina herself bore some responsibility for events?
Answer: That is not possible – what Shechem did is stated AFTER the verse explaining why Dinah went out. She went, her motive is stated clearly, and then Shechem saw her and acted - thus proving by his actions as a representative of his people how little trust could be reposed in Canaanites. He is a prince, but he acts like a criminal.
Following this he tries to throw money at the problem, likely with a sincere desire to marry the girl. But his motives must be doubted, like his character, because this is not an honest marriage proposal but an attempt to legitimize a conquest after the fact.
Psookim 34:14 – 16 " "vayomru aleihem lo nuchal la asot ha davar ha ze, latet et achoteinu le ish asher lo arla, ki cherpa hiv lanu" (We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is not circumcised, for it is a shame to us). "Ach be zot neot lachem im tihyu chamonu lehimol lachem kol zachar" (But this is how we can agree with you – if you will be like us, (and) circumcise every male among you), "venatanu et benoteinu lachem ve et benoteikhem nikachlanu ve yashavnu itchem ve hayinu le am echad" (then we will give our daughters to you, and we will (also) marry your daughters - we will settle with you and be one nation).
If Shechem with his father and all of the men will circumcise themselves, then the Yakov’s sons will agree to the marriage, and undertake to live with the people of the city as one nation.
Shechem, Chamor and the men of the city agreed and circumcised themselves.
Why did the other men of the city agree?
Because Shechem and Chamor spoke persuasively, and made mention of much cattle and wealth, which if they but circumcise themselves can be divorced from the clan of Yakov and will enrich those who are party to this deal. An incentive that the men of Shechem cannot resist! But note well that those who circumcised themselves because of this bargain thus marked themselves complicit in the rape.
[And it should also be noted that this circumcision did not indicate a covenant with Hashem, but rather a criminal conspiracy - the men of Shechem with their averice made a mockery of the meaning of circumcision.]
Three days later (yom ha shelishi), while the men of the city were still recovering, Shimon and Levi enter the city, slaughter the males, and rescue Dina.
Psook 34:25 "vayehi vayom ha shelishi bihyotam koavim vayikchu shenei vnei-Yaakov, Shimon ve Levi, achei Dina, ish charbo vayavou al ha ir betach vayahargu kol zachar" (Andso it happened on the third day, when they (the men of Shechem) were in pain, that two of the sons of Yakov, Shimon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each man took his sword and came to the city in quiet, and slew all the men).
Psook 34:26 "ve et-Cha mor ve et-Shechem beno hargu lefi charev, vayikchu et Dina mi beit Shechem, vayetseiu" (And they slew Chamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the blade, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and left).
Question: Why are Simon and Levi called Dina’s brothers? Was she the sister of these two only, and not the sister of all Jacob's sons?
Answer: They are called by her brothers because they risked their lives for her sake. It is a convention that people are called after a significant marker or characteristic, like Yakov being also named Yisroel, Dinah earlier being called the daughter of Leah (because of characteristics they share), or, in our day, Edomite terrorists being Abu this-that-and the other.
But why do you ask this, oh Father-Of-Moustaches?
Each man his sword: Chazal reckon that the younger of the two, Levi, was thirteen years old at the time. The Torah refers to him as a man, because thirteen is the age at which one attains manhood and becomes a bar mitzvah.
Now note that the act which they committed does not to our mind speak of the daas (reason, intellect) implied in observing the commandments, but it does show an extreme sense of integrity and respect for their sister, and that they valued her greatly. And it is very gallant.
Psook 34:30 "Vayomer Yaakov el-Shimon ve el-Levi achartem oti lehavisheni beishev haaretz baKenaani u va Perizi, va ani metei mispar ve ne'esfu alai ve hikuni ve nishmadti ani uveiti" (and so Yakov spoke to Simeon and Levi "you have shamed me, to make me odious to the natives, even to the Canaanites and the Perizites, and as I have but few numbers, they will gather themselves together against me and whack me and I shall be destroyed, I and my house).
Yakov denounces their deed, fearing that this would set the locals against him and his family – but the two brothers argued that doing otherwise would have done more to damage the clan.
This passage makes clear that the sons of Yakov broke an agreement which their clan made with the inhabitants of Shechem. But is a bargain made while the other side holds a hostage in any way valid?
Conditions had been met, and by setting those conditions in the first place, it can be argued that the deal was, indeed, valid.
But, daveracher, it can also be argued that the violation of their sister was answered in kind, and that doing so had precedence over any deal – a bargain made to legitimize a rape, wherein the rapist is rewarded for his act, is perhaps very Arab, but by no means ethical.
Rejecting the proposal outright would have consigned their sister to the whims of Chamor and his son, who would have been unconstrained at that point by any sense of agreement. Accepting Shechem’s offer was a tactic that bought them time and permitted them to deal with the situation as required. Shimon and Levi could not tolerate their sister being treated as a harlot; circumcision of the Chivites would not change either the basic facts, or the base character of the Canaanites.
Yakov’s complaint is that they had made the bargain nil, broken the agreement and their word, shown bad faith in negotiating. Shimon and Levi hold that no possible bargain was acceptable, and by allowing so depraved a deal to stand, they would shame themselves before the people of the land, and endanger themselves by so doing, because it would demonstrate that they would not resist advantages being taken of them.
One other point – the fact that Yakov was willing to let his family mingle with the Chivites shows that at that time, the Hebrews were not yet ready to be separate among the nations. It is a presaging of the exile in Egypt, during which they will indeed become a nation themselves.
Note also that the spirit of solidarity which marks the actions of Shimon and Levi as regards their sister Dinah contrasts markedly with the divisiveness that we will see when Yosef ends up sold to Egypt. The consequence of that failure of achdus will be several generations of misery.
Yakov moves to Beis El, and Hashem names Yakov ‘Yisroel’.
BENYAMIN, BEIS-LECHEM... VE BAVEL?
6th & 7th Aliyot: Rachel dies while giving birth to Benyamin. Yakov buries her in Beis Lechem (Bethlehem), on the way to Efrat.
Regarding the Kever Rachel (Rachel's Tomb): Why did Yakov bury Rachel along the road?
It was foreshadowed that the exiles from Jerusalem would pass that way in Babylonian times, so he buried her where she could pray for mercy for them, as is written in Yeremiyahu 31:15 "So says Hashem, ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentations and bitter tears, (it is) Rachel weeping for her children".
Yakov changes the name of this son from Ben Oni to Benyamin.
Question: What is the significance of the name Benyamin?
Answer: Benyamin means 'son of the South'. Benyamin is the only one of the twelve brothers to be born south of Padan Aram, and in the land of Canaan. But alternatively, yamin also hints at oaths and trust, and note that Yakov changes his name to Benyamin when Rachel dies, when all he has left is this son as a surety between him and his wife.
Yitzchak will live another 21 years and die at the age of 180.
BILHAH'S BED
Reuven, Yakov’s eldest son and Leah’s first-born, full brother to Shimon, Levi, and Yehudah, half-brother to the rest of the gang, commits a problematic situation with Bilha, his father's concubine, who who is the mother of Dan and Naftali, his half brothers. Following Rachel's death, Reuven switches the bed of Yakov from Bilha's tent to Leah's tent, and then gets mightily confused – a situation that almost begs for liquor as an explanation.
Psook 35:22 "vayehi bishkon Yisrael ba aretz hahiv vayelech Reuven vayishkav et-Bilha pilegesh aviv va yishma Yisrael..."(and so it happened that while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and 'yishkav' with Bilhah his father's concubine (pilegesh) and that Israel heard of it). That’s it. Just one line.
The text then mentions what we knew already, that Yakov had twelve sons.
Question: Why does it mention that Yakov had twelve sons? Did we not already know this?
Answer: It mentions the twelve sons to show, by the omission of any differentiation, that all twelve are of equal worth and worthiness.
[Remember my comment about adding or subtracting earlier?]
Now note as a contrast how detailed the text is as it lists Esav's descendants as well as the specific Kings of Seir that followed ("and Lotan’s sister was Timna, and Timna was concubine to Elifaz, Esav's son; and she bore to Elifaz Amalek" etcetera etceterim).
Why even mention "And Lotan's sister was Timna"?
Timna was a royal princess, of whom it is said in meseches Sanhedrin (99b) that, wishing to convert, she went to Avraham, Yitzhak and Yakov. When they did not accept her, she went and became a pilegesh to Elifaz the son of Esav, saying that she would rather be a servant to Esav’s people than a lady of another nation. And as a result of the fathers rejecting her, her descendants represent the ultimate rejection of Israel, culminating in Amalek
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(*)
RABBI AKIVA = One of the greatest scholars of the Mishnaic period, teacher of thousands of students, most of whom were done in by the Romans. After that disaster, he rebuilt upon the ruins and taught even more. Eventually the Romans did him in too. A great man, a great mind, and a great optimist.
RAMBAM = Maimonides; Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon (1135 - 1204), a prolific author and scholar whose writings cover a wide variety of subjects, but who is most famous for his Halachic works, of which the Mishneh Torah is one.
RASHI = Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak, a mediaeval bible commentator (1040 - 1105) from Troyes.
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