Parashat Va'yish'lach, Gen. 32:4-36:42

The eighth portion of the week, Va’yish’lach – literally, “and he sent,” as in “Jacob has sent agents to his brother Esau – continues to reveal the fascinating story of our third Father, Jacob (soon to be named Israel).  Indeed, last week we reviewed Jacob’s twenty years of service with Laban – a period summarized by Jacob in a very moving monologue at the end of the portion.  Now we enter a new era, the one in which Jacob prepares for a meeting he dreaded (and escaped from) for twenty years – the reunion with his brother Esau.  The portion also includes the famous story known as the Rape of Dina, Jacob’s daughter. I will make a short comment on each of those subjects.

I. “And Jacob remained on his own…”

Careful and meticulous – that is how the text describes Jacob’s preparation for his first meeting with twin brother Esau in twenty years.  To recall:  This is the same brother who said, even before their father Isaac passed, “Let the mourning period of my father end, and I will kill my brother Jacob.” (Gen. 27:41)   This is the brother from whom Jacob escaped to the other end of the Middle East.  This is the same brother from whom Jacob bought (or stole, if you ask Esau) the precious right of the elder son, or birthright, and then received their father’s blessings for it (or stole it yet again, according to the same version).   

And Jacob knows – what proves to be right – that his homecoming ceremony cannot be kept secret. Somehow, despite the lack of internet in those times, everyone seems to know that Jacob – with his property, two wives, two midwives, and eleven sons – is coming back home. So Jacob prepares, and he prepares well.  He is hoping for the best, and planning for the worst.  He begins by what every good general would do: gathering intelligence.  So he sends a group of reconnaissance warriors to find out about Esau’s intentions and actions. ((A side note: these warriors are described in the Hebrew original as “angels” (“Mal’a’chim”; Gen. 32:4), which is interesting as the only apparent real “angel” in this portion is actually described by the text as a “man” (“Ish”; Gen. 32:26)). Jacob then asks these men to deliver a message to his brother – basically that he has been living with Laban (a relative of both brothers, recall – their uncle), and that now he, Jacob, would like to appease Esau. But when these messengers return to Jacob they mention nothing about a message delivered; rather, their report is somewhat bleak: “We arrived at your brother, at Esau, and there he was – marching towards you and [a small army of] four hundred men with him.” (Gen. 32:7, my translation).  

Jacob, realizing the gravity of the situation, begins to prepare accordingly. He first divides his property, theorizing that if Esau would arrive at the first camp he would at least have the other to save.  He then prays to God and asks for salvation – something he hasn’t done, perhaps, in twenty years.  But our Third Father also realizes (and internalizes) the very important notion according to which God only helps those who help themselves.  He thus prepares a major gift for his brother – hundreds of sheep, ewes, rams, camels, cows, and bulls – and then divides it into separate groups.  He instructs his slaves to keep a safe distance between them and the property, such that every time Esau would run into one of them he – Esau – would hear the exact same text: “this is a gift from your servant Jacob.” (Gen. 32:19) He then takes his two wives, two midwives, and eleven sons and crosses the Jordan into Israel.  So far for Jacob’s meticulous preparation. [Consider, in that respect, Jacob’s previous encounters with his brother and how well prepared was he for those as well – as in buying the Birthright for a well-cooked stew, and receiving the blessings from father Isaac by wearing sheep’s skin on his arms, etc.]

And after all that preparation, after taking care of his family, his property, his men, and  his brother – after all that, Jacob remains on his own. 

And then he wrestles all night with an apparent Angel (the issue of the Angel’s true nature is far from self-evident, but I cannot enter that discussion here). After Jacob insists on receiving a blessing, the Angel blesses him and changes his name to Israel, as he could be present – “sari’ta” – with both God and Men.  (Gen. 32:25-33) And so the name of our people was created – “Am Israel,” the nation of Israel. We are not the nation of Abraham, nor of Isaac, but of Jacob’s – now called Israel.

The text does not explain why or how Jacob, who was accompanied by a huge entourage of a few hundred men and women, was “left alone” in the middle of the night to fight with the Angel.  But perhaps I may venture to guess.

After all the careful considerations, after all the meticulous planning, after all the cost-benefit analyses, game-theory considerations, and damage-control scenarios – Jacob is left alone.  It is he – and no one else – who has to wrestle with the consequences of his actions. It is he who has to fight his inner demons.  It is he who cannot sleep the night before the big event, wrestling with his God all night.

And this, I am afraid, is true for every one of us as well.  Indeed, at the end of all ends, “the buck stops here” for each and every one of us – not only for the president.  We can plan all we want, persuade ourselves that we externalize all the risk in the world, hide behind the most cutting-edge theories out there; but at the end of the day, it is us – each and every one of us – who has to account for our actions, alone.  It is us who need to wrestle with our inner Gods all night.  And only if we are still standing in the morning, we can be truly feel “Israel” – like someone who stood with both men and gods and was not defeated.

And, in case you are wondering:  The meeting with Esau went just fine. Esau ran toward his brother, hugged him, kissed him, and made peace (Gen. 33:4). All’s well between the brothers now.  [To be sure, things are a bit more complicated than that; but let’s leave it at that for now.]

II. The Rape of Dina

Dina’s rape is one of the most complicated stories in Jacob’s history.  According to the text, Dina – one of Leah’s (big sister) daughters – went for a walk, when suddenly a young prince, the son of a local king, saw her.  He took her to himself, slept with her, and tortured her.  The story quickly spreads – “an outrage has been done: someone slept with Jacob’s daughter” and her brothers are called to action.  But then a sudden twist:  The rapist falls in love with Dina, which apparently was not part of the plan. And so the prince’s father, the local king, asks Dina’s father (Jacob) for permission to his son to marry her.  Jacob, not a young lad, delegates the treatment of this delicate political issue to his sons.  They plot a revenge, whereby they would ask the men to circumcise in order to marry Dina, and then kill them while in pain. The plan carries out flawlessly, and Shimon and Levi executes it to its last gruesome detail. They save their sister, and everyone’s happy. 

Or are they? Even Jacob himself start having second thoughts when he hears on the price this local tribe had to pay for sleeping with his daughter; their men are all dead, their property stolen, and their wives and children taken prisoners. Isn’t that too much, even taking into account the horrific thing done by one of them?  (Gen. 34:30) The brothers answer with one sentence ending all conversation, which until today is used all too often by angry brothers (and husbands) who wish to avenge their loved one’s rape: “Should our sister be treated like a whore?”  You decide.

Shabbat Shalom.

Doron