Vayishlach – Genesis 32:4-36:43
Summary:
In our portion this week, Jacob prepares to meet his brother, Esau. He wrestles with a "man," who injures Jacob while wrestling and at the end changes Jacob's name to Israel. Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. Later, in a violent occurrence, Dinah is raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of the country. Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi take revenge by murdering all the males of Shechem, and Jacob's other sons join them in plundering the city. Finally, Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. Afterwards, Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob's and Esau's progeny are listed.
Lesson:
Thousands of years before the development of psychology, our commentators knew that dreams had meaning. In our portion this week, our ancestor Jacob knows that his brother Esau is approaching with 400 men. The twins haven’t seen each other since Jacob stole Esau’s birthright, so its understandable that Jacob would be nervous, afraid. The night before they meet, while alone in the desert, Jacob meets a “man” and wrestles with him until the break of dawn. The “man” says to Jacob, “let me go, for dawn is breaking.” Jacob refuses and demands that the “man” bless him. The man asks his name, and when Jacob tells him, the “man” says, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”
A fascinating story of a wrestling match with an unknown “man” which ends in the blessing of a new name. Central to our understanding of our portion is the question, who is this “man”?
The earliest commentators on our portion teach that the “man” was an angel who appeared in the form of a robber. His goal was to frighten Jacob. However Jacob was strong and stood up to him. Because Jacob was brave, he was victorious in the wrestling match and in the end was blessed with a new name.
Other rabbis see the wrestling match as a symbolic match between the twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. The battle between them symbolized the bitter war between the Jewish people and those nations who would seek to destroy them. (Jacob represents the Jewish people and Esau represents those who will attack and persecute us.) Jacob/Israel would wrestle throughout the ages with the other nations, sometimes be injured, yet would always emerge secure, strong and victorious
Modern commentators propose that the wrestling match took place like a dream within Jacob’s mind. Before he could meet his brother, Esau, he had to first wrestle with his own guilt for stealing his brother’s birthright. He had to struggle within his own conscience with what he had done. Jacob struggled to become a better, more fair, more caring person. Only after Jacob became Israel was he ready to reconcile with Esau.
Elie Wiesel enlarges upon this perspective. He writes that the night struggle is when “two Jacobs come together.” Jacob wrestles with who he really is – a person filled with doubts and guilt or a brave and successful leader. After he wrestles with himself, he leaves with a new name – Israel, someone who has wrestled with himself as an individual and now, as founder of a people, is ready to wrestle with the world.
The Torah never answers our question. We are left with a mystery, who is the “man” with whom Jacob wrestles?
Personally, I love when the Torah leaves us with a mystery. It opens the text to our imagination, allowing us to read it through our own eyes and then come to our own conclusions.
Modern psychology teaches us that it is natural, even human, for each of us to wrestle with the many conflicting tendencies in our own souls. Each of us has within us the ability to bring good or evil into the world. We must continually wrestle with the many sides of our character.
Like Jacob I pray that we are brave enough to confront all that we find in our souls. And like Jacob, may our wrestling lead to a deeper understanding of who we are, and eventually, lead to blessings.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Donald Goor