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Tag Archive for: Vayishlach

Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4−36:43)

December 9, 2022/in Torah Tidbit

This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4−36:43)

God Wrestler

וַיִּוָּתֵ֥ר יַעֲקֹ֖ב לְבַדּ֑וֹ וַיֵּאָבֵ֥ק אִישׁ֙ עִמּ֔וֹ עַ֖ד עֲל֥וֹת הַשָּֽׁחַר׃

וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַעֲקֹב֙ יֵאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל׃

“Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.“Said [God,] “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:25, 29)

This week we find ourselves in Jacob’s second dream, where he wrestles with an “ish.” Commentators explain that this “ish” might be a “man covered with dust” or perhaps it was Esau’s guardian angel (Genesis Rabbah 77:3). The word struggle, Va-ye’avek, shares the same root as dust (a-vak). Jacob is preparing to meet his estranged brother for the first time in many years. Jacob presumes that Esau is still raging with anger toward Jacob, so the idea of Jacob struggling or wrestling with both himself and an image or vision or memories of Esau makes sense.

Another play on Hebrew translation is Jacob’s name, Ya’akov. Ekev, which forms the root of Yaakov means both “because” and “heel (follow).” The Hebrew play illuminates a sense of cause and effect. When God speaks to Jacob a few verses later and changes his name to Israel, God does so because Jacob “struggled with beings divine and human” and prevailed. Because Jacob heels (follows) his mother’s instructions to steal Esau’s birthright, estrangement from Esua follows. Because Jacob still must learn some serious life lessons, he has to follow Laban’s rule.

Finally, Jacob overcomes his struggles and in the moments before meeting his estranged brother reconciles with his poignant past, resulting in the mystical battle with a dust-covered being and a transformation into someone new. Jacob transforms through struggle into discovering his highest self, becoming Israel, the ancestor of a great peoplehood.

What have your struggles led you to overcome? What are you wrestling with at this moment and how might this challenge help you transform into an opportunity for growth? May that be God’s will, for a blessing.

Parsha Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח Torah Summary:

Jacob prepares to meet Esau. He wrestles with a “man,” who changes Jacob’s name to Israel. (32:4-33) Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. (33:1-17) 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. (34:1-31) Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. (35:16-21) Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob’s and Esau’s progeny are listed. (35:22-36:43) Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח

Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4−36:43)

November 19, 2021/in Torah Tidbit

This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4−36:43)

Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have remain yours” (Genesis 33:9).

The world of Genesis is a world of lack and insufficiency, there is not enough for everyone. Only one child is chosen to get their parents blessing, only one child gets the parent’s love, only one child can continue the legacy of their parents. And the chosen child is always at the expense of the other child (children). Such a harsh and difficult message about our world.

Esau is the only one who sends a different message: “I have plenty, I do not want to take what is yours, there is enough for us all. We do not need to take what is not ours.”

Parsha Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח Torah Summary:

Jacob prepares to meet Esau. He wrestles with a “man,” who changes Jacob’s name to Israel. (32:4-33) Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. (33:1-17) 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. (34:1-31) Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. (35:16-21) Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob’s and Esau’s progeny are listed. (35:22-36:43) Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח

Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

December 4, 2020/in Torah Tidbit

This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Jacob is left alone, on his journey home, on the night before his momentous meeting with his brother whom he has always cheated and deceived. He wrestles with a man, an Ish, all that night. Neither wrestler can overcome the other, and when the dawn breaks, Jacob receives his new name Yisrael, which will become our name, the name of the Children of Israel forever.

Who was this mysterious wrestler who encountered Jacob in the night? Was it an angel sent by God with the blessing of a new name; was it Esau his brother, come to test him in the night; or perhaps it was all a dream and this is Jacob wrestling with himself, the deceiver he has been and the better soul he knows he can become? All the Torah tells us is that Jacob wrestled with an Ish.

But something about this story sounds familiar. There is another man, another Ish, who Jacob’s son Joseph encounters on a journey of his own. Joseph meets a “man in the field” an Ish Basadeh, who directs him towards his brothers and begins the incredible journey which will lead Joseph to be sold into slavery and cast into prison, only then to rise and become second only to Pharaoh, saving all of Egypt from famine, and bringing his family down to Egypt as well.

Could Jacob’s Ish and Joseph’s Ish Basadeh be one and the same? The mystical mathematics of gematria gives us a clue. Based on the numerical value of the letters of each of the words we can learn: איש (Ish) equals 311 and בשדה (Basadeh) equals 311 as well. A convenient coincidence don’t you see, particularly when you add the Hebrew word for “equals”, שוה (Shaveh) the numerical value of which equals 311 as well.

Jacob encounters a person on his journey to find his destiny. Joseph encounters a person on his journey to find his own. Each of us has encountered such a person who directed us on our own life’s journey. Each of us can be that person for those we meet and those whose lives we touch. Perhaps it was an angel who Jacob wrestled with that night. Perhaps we too are angels, messengers of the Holy One, as well.

Parsha Vayishlach Torah Summary:

Jacob prepares to meet Esau. He wrestles with a “man,” who changes Jacob’s name to Israel. (32:4-33) Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. (33:1-17) 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. (34:1-31) Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. (35:16-21) Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob’s and Esau’s progeny are listed. (35:22-36:43) This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4−36:43)

December 13, 2019/in Torah Tidbit

This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4−36:43)

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28)
We are called Israel because we continue to struggle with the Divine. Trying to understand what God wants us to be! Trying to become what we ought to be! Trying to understand our sacred texts that our tradition bestowed us with!

Vayishlach Summary:

Jacob prepares to meet Esau. He wrestles with a “man,” who changes Jacob’s name to Israel. (32:4-33)
Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. (33:1-17)
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. (34:1-31)
Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. (35:16-21)
Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob’s and Esau’s progeny are listed. (35:22-36:43)

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28)
We are called Israel because we continue to struggle with the Divine. Trying to understand what God wants us to be! Trying to become what we ought to be! Trying to understand our sacred texts that our tradition bestowed us with!

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