Parashat Vayishlach
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Synopsis
The parashah begins with Jacob, approaching the land of Esau in Seir, sending messengers to his brother who he hasn’t seen in 20 years and left in less than agreeable circumstances. Jacob divides his community into 2 halves in fear of what Esau might do. Jacob then wrestles all night with a man angel who changes Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob and Esau meet and greet and part peacefully. Jacob and his people settle in Shechem and Jacob’s daughter is raped by Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite. The sons take revenge by murdering all the males of Shechem and ransacking the city. Jacob disapproves of his sons response. Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried near Bethlehem. Isaac dies and is buried near Abraham and Sarah.
Themes
1) Dealing with powerful people and nations
2) Wrestling with ourselves
3) The appropriate response to violence
1) Dealing with powerful people and nations
20 years before this parashah is set Esau threatened to kill Jacob after he tricked Esau out of his father’s blessing. Once again Jacob is coming into contact with his brother so he needs to decide how to deal with the situation. He sends messengers to Esau with gifts a-plenty, the question is he doing this because he’s afraid of Esau or because he wants to come in peace? It doesn’t really matter, it works Esau comes with an embrace not a fist to the face. There’s a famous saying which states that “No matter how hard the wind blows the humble reed is not blown from its place as it bends with the wind but the proud cedar stands tall against all winds except the south wind which can uproot the cedar and turn it upside down” Jacob swallows his pride in dealing with Esau. It is unlikely these days that someone you’ve had a disagreement is going to come at you with 400 armed men unless you’ve got yourself in some serious trouble, so broken bones aren’t at stake just pride. The question therefore when dealing with people who are in a more powerful position than yourself is do you humble yourself or stand tall and risk being broken?
2) Wrestling with ourselves
In the parashah Jacob wrestles all night with an angel. After he lets go the angel changes his name to Israel which means struggle with God. So why was Jacob wrestling all night and what exactly was he wrestling with. There are many different interpretations as to what exactly Jacob was wrestling with but the interpretation that sits with me best is that he was wrestling with himself in effect he was doing some real soul searching. There was one side of him that was fearful about his and his families future as well as being racked with guilt about stealing his brothers birthright and the other side which remembered how he’d fought to build his family and that he was the son of Isaac and the future of the Jewish people. There are times when we need to look at ourselves and decide the type of person we want to be and part of that is assessing where we’ve come from and where we want to go. It is only ourselves as individuals who can make that decision but don’t forget to ask for help making up your mind if you need it.
3) The appropriate response to violence
When Dinah gets raped by Shechem son of Havor the Hivite Simeon and Levi trick the men of Shechem into becoming circumcised so they would be weak and easily destroyed. There is no doubt that Shechem did a very evil thing but did every man in the land of Shechem deserve to die for his action? The answer quite plainly speaking is no. The people of Shechem were ready to live in peace alongside Jacob and family after all they took on the covenant of circumcision. Vengeance is such a bitter thing and falls far short of justice. These days the term appropriate response is used in conjunction with two countries U.S.A and Israel. When 9/11 happened there was much debate as to whether the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were an appropriate response. Again when Israel retaliated after the soldiers were taken in the summer there was much in the press about whether or not it was an appropriate response. It isn’t so black and white any more but I think it has to do with what your intentions are, for revenge or justice. Big difference
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