Vayishlach
Genesis 32:4 - 36:43
Précis: As he nears his return to his homeland, Jacob sent (vayishlach) messengers to Esau to ascertain Esau’s state of mind after their 20 year separation. While he awaits a reply, Jacob encounters an “adversary” (most assume an angel) with whom Jacob wrestles through the night. As dawn breaks, the adversary announces that Jacob’s name is to be changed to Israel – “He who wrestles with God.” On the following day, Esau approaches, and despite Jacob’s fears, there is a happy reunion.
We then read the story of how a local prince rapes Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, and then asks to marry her. Jacob agrees on condition that all of the men of the city are circumcised. While the men are recovering, Jacob’s sons Simon and Levi attack the city and kill all of the inhabitants in revenge for the insult to their sister.
Jacob soon travels to Beth-el (the site of his ladder dream), and on the way, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies following her labor. Thereafter, Isaac’s death is noted, as is his burial by Esau and Jacob. The parasha ends with a genealogy of Esau and his descendants.
Genesis 32:8 “Jacob was greatly frightened; in his anxiety, he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps.”
Why was Jacob so frightened? How does he overcome this fear? The text tells us that there is a real basis for fear, despite a promise of God’s protection, and despite Jacob’s new wealth and power. As noted by Joel Rosenberg in Back to the Sources, the text tells us repeatedly and explicitly about the rivalry between Jacob and Esau. They are portrayed as being in conflict in the womb (Gen. 25:22-23), at birth (25:24-26), as opposites growing up (25:27), as loved by different parents (25:28), at the sale of the birthright (25:29-34), and at the theft of Isaac’s blessing (27:19-23). Jacob knew that at the reunion, he would have to face Esau’s anger and pain which he, Jacob, had caused. The brothers had spent twenty years apart. During that time they both had the opportunity to consider everything that had happened: the lying, the tricks, the loss, and the desire for revenge. Jacob had reason for fear.
I suggest that this fear was overcome when Jacob finds courage during his struggle with “the adversary.” Some commentators suggest that Jacob’s “wrestling” with the “adversary” was a metaphor for an intense struggle within Jacob’s own psyche, a fight between his yetzer tov and yetzer ha-rah (between the good and evil inclinations). Jacob’s new-found courage resulted from a deep and significant self-analysis, which led him to understand that seeking forgiveness was the true test of courage.
Jacob no longer waits for God to save him. He takes initiative and concrete steps to create the possibility for reconciliation: he apologizes, he offers gifts, and he abases himself before Esau.
All too often we engage in actions which cause real hurt to others. It takes courage to seek reconciliation with those we have harmed. Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky suggests in Renewal Each Day that if we really want forgiveness from those we have hurt, "We simply have to face each deceit of the past. [We] change what happened by changing what is happening now." Jacob and Esau's reconciliation requires courage by both parties: the courage to ask for forgiveness, and the courage to grant it. The Rabbis teach us: “Who is a true hero? The one who turns an enemy into a friend.” (Avot d'rabbi Natan, chapter 23).
Shabbat Shalom.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
More to the story than meets the eye
Yayetze
Genesis 28:10-33:3
Précis: As Jacob travels towards the household of his uncle Laban, he dreams of a ladder (some translate it as a ramp) to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. He vows to build a great House for God on the spot. Jacob meets and falls in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. Laban agrees to the match, provided that Jacob works for him for seven years. Laban switches the older daughter, Leah, for Rachel; Jacob works an additional seven years for her hand. After the 14 years, Jacob works for Laban for an additional six, and acquires great wealth and flocks through shrewd husbandry. During the stay with Laban, most of the children of Jacob are born. At the conclusion of the parasha, after tense negotiations with Laban, Jacob leaves with his possessions and family.
Genesis 29:10 “And it happened when Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother that he stepped forward and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.”
We are continually blessed by being part of a Torah commentary discussion stretching back more than 2,000 years. We hear the voices of the Mishnaic Sages, of Maimonides and Rashi, the other great rabbis of all ages, and we enter into a type of communion with them. Thus, it is usual practice in Torah study to state that “Rashi says” (and not “Rashi said") because we are, in effect, continuing a discussion.
The late 20th century provided us with another way of looking at the text which adds to our appreciation of its complexity and meaning: that of literary analysis. One of the leaders of this movement is Robert Alter, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. His earlier works, The Art of Biblical Narrative and The Art of Biblical Poetry have been followed by his own translation and commentary on the Torah, titled simply The Five Books of Moses.
This particular verse gives us an opportunity to consider how his analysis can enhance our understanding of the characters, and perhaps lead us to new insights. We can’t think of Jacob in isolation. First, while he was favored by his mother, his father favored his brother Esau (which certainly must have had an impact on him). His brother Esau has threatened his life. While he has earlier been described as a “dweller in tents” (Gen. 25:28), which is suggestive of a quiet, contemplative person, Alter notes that here we see a man of action, displaying a “Homeric” feat of rolling away a stone single-handedly, which the assembled shepherds had been unable to do together. He not only rolls the stone away – he waters the flocks.
Alter notes that the encounter of a maiden at a foreign well and the drawing of water tells us that we are witnesses to a betrothal scene (cf. Abraham’s servant with Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, and Moses with Zipporah). A comparison of these scenes tells us much about Jacob’s character, particularly as the details contrast with Isaac’s scene.
Jacob is present; Isaac was represented by a surrogate. Jacob, and not the maiden, draws the water. Thus, these scenes show that Jacob is strikingly different than Isaac. Isaac is repeatedly shown in the text as a passive object of others’ actions (he is the intended sacrifice in the Akedah; a wife is procured for him; he is deceived in the matter of the blessing). Jacob is shown to be a man of action: he leaves his homeland, he finds a bride (two in fact), he becomes wealthy, he literally wrestles with God, he returns to his homeland and faces down his sibling fears.
What are we to make of the differences we have found? I would submit that the text is telling us that there is no one-size-fits-all way of living a good life, and no one path to ensuring that a heritage is passed safely to the next generation. Isaac and Jacob were equally responsible (and successful) for the transmittal of Abraham’s knowledge and belief. That they were so different from each other suggests that how tradition is transmitted is less important than the transmission itself. Alter’s approach adds to our “tool bag” of ways to understand our heritage and pass it forward to the next generation.
Genesis 28:10-33:3
Précis: As Jacob travels towards the household of his uncle Laban, he dreams of a ladder (some translate it as a ramp) to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. He vows to build a great House for God on the spot. Jacob meets and falls in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. Laban agrees to the match, provided that Jacob works for him for seven years. Laban switches the older daughter, Leah, for Rachel; Jacob works an additional seven years for her hand. After the 14 years, Jacob works for Laban for an additional six, and acquires great wealth and flocks through shrewd husbandry. During the stay with Laban, most of the children of Jacob are born. At the conclusion of the parasha, after tense negotiations with Laban, Jacob leaves with his possessions and family.
Genesis 29:10 “And it happened when Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother that he stepped forward and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.”
We are continually blessed by being part of a Torah commentary discussion stretching back more than 2,000 years. We hear the voices of the Mishnaic Sages, of Maimonides and Rashi, the other great rabbis of all ages, and we enter into a type of communion with them. Thus, it is usual practice in Torah study to state that “Rashi says” (and not “Rashi said") because we are, in effect, continuing a discussion.
The late 20th century provided us with another way of looking at the text which adds to our appreciation of its complexity and meaning: that of literary analysis. One of the leaders of this movement is Robert Alter, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. His earlier works, The Art of Biblical Narrative and The Art of Biblical Poetry have been followed by his own translation and commentary on the Torah, titled simply The Five Books of Moses.
This particular verse gives us an opportunity to consider how his analysis can enhance our understanding of the characters, and perhaps lead us to new insights. We can’t think of Jacob in isolation. First, while he was favored by his mother, his father favored his brother Esau (which certainly must have had an impact on him). His brother Esau has threatened his life. While he has earlier been described as a “dweller in tents” (Gen. 25:28), which is suggestive of a quiet, contemplative person, Alter notes that here we see a man of action, displaying a “Homeric” feat of rolling away a stone single-handedly, which the assembled shepherds had been unable to do together. He not only rolls the stone away – he waters the flocks.
Alter notes that the encounter of a maiden at a foreign well and the drawing of water tells us that we are witnesses to a betrothal scene (cf. Abraham’s servant with Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, and Moses with Zipporah). A comparison of these scenes tells us much about Jacob’s character, particularly as the details contrast with Isaac’s scene.
Jacob is present; Isaac was represented by a surrogate. Jacob, and not the maiden, draws the water. Thus, these scenes show that Jacob is strikingly different than Isaac. Isaac is repeatedly shown in the text as a passive object of others’ actions (he is the intended sacrifice in the Akedah; a wife is procured for him; he is deceived in the matter of the blessing). Jacob is shown to be a man of action: he leaves his homeland, he finds a bride (two in fact), he becomes wealthy, he literally wrestles with God, he returns to his homeland and faces down his sibling fears.
What are we to make of the differences we have found? I would submit that the text is telling us that there is no one-size-fits-all way of living a good life, and no one path to ensuring that a heritage is passed safely to the next generation. Isaac and Jacob were equally responsible (and successful) for the transmittal of Abraham’s knowledge and belief. That they were so different from each other suggests that how tradition is transmitted is less important than the transmission itself. Alter’s approach adds to our “tool bag” of ways to understand our heritage and pass it forward to the next generation.
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