Jacob's Trail of Tears: Vayishlach
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
December 13, 2024
This week's Torah portion, Va-yishlach ("He sent messengers," Genesis 32:4--36:43), continues the tragic saga of Jacob, the third patriarch of the Jewish People. No longer pursued by Laban, his treacherous father-in-law, Jacob still has to face his first pursuer—his own twin brother, Esau. Jacob has left aspects of his past behind him several times. First, when he left his home (Genesis 28:10) to escape Esau's rage. A second time is his escape from Laban's house, where he had spent 20 years laboring for love and fortune. Now, however, as Jacob makes his way back to his homeland, he realizes that the past has no time limit. Esau is coming towards him along with 400 armed men. Jacob does all he can to protect himself and his family. He sends ahead messengers (mal’achim, the same word as “angels”) bearing lavish gifts along with the promise that more would be forthcoming. Then he divides his family and possessions into two camps, hoping that even if one is destroyed the other would still be safe. (Rachel and Joseph are in the latter camp of course, a gesture that no one in Jacob's family fails to notice and which will cause even more jealousy than already existed among them). Sending both camps ahead, Jacob remains alone on a mountaintop.
There follows a mysterious encounter that turns into a wrestling match. The Torah first describes the confrontation as between Jacob and "a man," but then lets Jacob—and us—understand that this was a "divine being." Wrestling until the dawn breaks, Jacob is hurt, but not defeated. In return for releasing the angel, Jacob demands a blessing, which he receives along with a name change. Jacob now becomes Yisrael, meaning, "You have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Gen. 32:28 NKJV--it is verse 29 in the Hebrew version).
Limping forward but heartened by the blessing, Jacob discovers within himself the courage to face Esau. Spoiler alert: The meeting between the two brothers goes well; Esau is appeased by Jacob's gifts and language--even if there was no actual apology in anything Jacob said. These are all the result of God's blessings, Jacob declares. Nothing has come to him from the (stolen) birthright blessings he had received from Isaac. Jacob's cleverness works once again, and Esau departs, letting Jacob proceed at his own pace to meet his own future.
Sadly however, the future is anything but peaceful. Dina, the daughter born to Jacob and Leah, goes out "to see the daughters of the land" (Gen. 34:1). She is seized and raped by the prince of the city. Two of Jacob's sons, Shimon and Levi, are so enraged that they trick the men of the city into circumcising themselves. At night, as the men of Shechem are lying in agony, the two brothers fall upon them, slaughter all the men and seize their possessions.
The tragedies continue: Deborah, Rebecca's nursemaid (who evidently joins Jacob's tribe, possibly to help with all the children), dies. Soon afterwards, in giving birth to Benjamin, the beloved Rachel dies too, and is buried along the way to Bethlehem. Step by tragic step, Jacob continues on his path home. When he finally gets there, he realizes that Rebecca, his mother, had died during the years he was away. He does manage to see his father, Isaac, but the Torah says nothing about this meeting, leaving it all up to our imagination.
On a somewhat hopeful note, when Isaac dies his two sons--Jacob AND Esau--come together to bury him. Peace, the Torah implies, even among sworn enemies, is possible when we recognize a mutual legacy. Fraught with errors and mistakes, our collective past is still what we have in common. Shalom--peace--is only possible when we join together broken pieces, fixing and making whole again that which was broken in the past.
It's a lesson that will be reinforced through the next story in the book of Genesis: the story of Joseph and his brothers.
© 2024 by Boaz D. Heilman
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