Skip to main content

Vayishlach | Yaacov's Nocturnal Battle

 

*************************************

In memory of Salomon David Helfgot, beloved father, husband, father-in-law, and grandfather (1913-1999). Ruben, Leslie, and Rebekah Helfgot, Atlanta.

*************************************

Introduction 

Twenty years have elapsed since Yaacov left home, fearfully fleeing the wrath of his brother.  Arriving alone and penniless in the house of Lavan his uncle, he leaves that house with wives, children and great flocks.  God has indeed preserved him and "kept watch over him wherever he has gone" and now Yaacov is poised to return to the land of Canaan and to the embrace of his aged parents.  Although two decades have passed, Yaacov is apprehensive that his brother Esav has never forgiven his seizing of the birthright and the blessing, and may yet harbor ill will towards him. 

 

Of course, Esav has since left the ancestral land of Canaan to establish himself in the land of Se'ir.  Indigenous peoples known as the Horites earlier inhabited this region, southeast of the Dead Sea.  By employing a combination of intermarriage and warfare, Esav succeeds in displacing them and securing the land for his own descendents. 

 

Yaacov, however, is aware that he cannot reenter the land of Canaan stealthily, and that sooner or later a meeting and perhaps a confrontation with his twin brother is inevitable.  Sending messengers ahead to ascertain Esav's intentions, he is alarmed by their report that Esav is approaching with a group of four hundred men.  Yaacov responds to the news by dividing his own camp, and preparing for war.  In a poignant prayer he asks of God to save him from his "brother Esav, lest he come and kill me, mothers and children!"  In a more pragmatic move, he prepares to deliver a peace overture of substantial gifts from his flocks.

 

 

The Sudden Appearance of the 'Man'

 

Finally completing the preparations that continue late into the night, Yaacov finds himself alone in the darkness, just as he had been some twenty years earlier when his journey was only beginning.  The gifts have been sent, his wives and children have been safely ferried across the brook of Yabok, and Yaacov remains behind, a solitary figure pondering his fate. 

 

Suddenly a mysterious apparition emerges from the gloom and begins to grapple with the Patriarch.  The struggle continues until dawn is about to break, and Yaacov sustains an injury to his thigh.  The phantom attempts to break loose, but Yaacov maintains his grip: "Allow me to go, for dawn is breaking!" cries the figure, but Yaacov demurs, saying "I will not let you go unless you first bless me."   "What is your name?" asks the phantom, "it is Yaacov" he responds.  "Your name shall no longer be called Yaacov but rather Yisrael, for you have striven with 'elohim' and with men and you have prevailed!"  Yaacov inquires as to the name of his opponent but is rebuffed: "why should you ask me my name?"

 

Daybreak approaches, and the enigmatic figure vaporizes with the morning mists.  Suddenly,  Yaacov lifts up his eyes from the encounter and sees his brother approaching.  Esav runs towards him and embraces him, the two exchange kisses and they begin to cry.  Finally, rapprochement is at hand.

 

What is the significance of Yaacov's struggle with the specter?  Is it a real encounter or the figment of a troubled and frightened mind? What are we to make of the strange injury that Yaacov sustains during the course of the struggle?  How are we to understand the changing of Yaacov's name to Yisrael?   And why does this encounter take place now, in the midst of Yaacov's feverish preparations before seeing his brother?

 

The classical commentaries offer differing views of the event and its significance.  Concerning certain details there seems to be concurrence, while with respect to others wide disagreements exist.  We shall see a range of opinions in our attempt to comprehend the importance of the struggle.

 

 

The Narrow Approach

 

Rashi (11th century, France) and the Radak (R. David Kimchi, 13th century, Provence) both understand that the struggle with the mysterious figure actually portends the confrontation about to ensue with Esav.  This man who appears out of the darkness of night and vanishes at sunrise, is actually an angelic figure identified with "Saro shel Esav" or "Esav's guardian angel."  Rashi is rather terse about the entire incident, but in his short words makes it clear that the visitation is to afford Yaacov with the knowledge that he will prevail against his brother Esav.  In the end, he will acquire title to the birthright and the blessings by legal right, and will be regarded as a deceiver no more.  "Your name shall no longer be called Yaacov, but rather Yisrael, for you have striven with 'elohim' and with men and have prevailed!"  'Yaacov' (literally 'one who holds the heel' but from the root ACaV meaning 'roundabout' or 'twisted') is a name that Esav associated with deception and ambush, when he railed against his brother's employment of guile to secure the blessings from the aging Yitzchak.

 

Rashi explains that the 'men' in question, against whom Yaacov will prevail, are none other than Lavan and Esav, the two antagonistic figures in whose shadow Yaacov has lived for the past twenty years.  In fact, later events reflect his vindication, for at the moment of their meeting, Esav stakes no claim to the birthright and the blessings, thereby acknowledging Yaacov's title to them and to the land of Canaan as well.  Rashi does not make clear why Yaacov must sustain an injury to his thigh in the confrontation with the angel, but presumably it is indicative of the pain associated with the enmity that has existed between himself and his brother for so long.

 

Following Rashi's lead (which is itself based on the much earlier Midrashic sources), the Radak also maintains that the episode is to strengthen Yaacov's resolve on the dawn of the much-feared meeting with his brother Esav.  Just as the angelic figure could not prevail against him, so too his brother will not succeed in harming him.  Just as surely as dawn follows the night, so too the light of salvation will follow the black pall of his earlier tribulations.  Radak admits the possibility that the entire episode may only have occurred as a prophetic vision in Yaacov's mind, so dreamlike and ephemeral is its quality.  In the end, however, he decides that the angel must have been incarnate and the struggle real, for after all Yaacov did sustain a unfeigned bodily injury. 

 

For Radak, the injury was to indicate to the Patriarch that although he might prevail against Esav, there would be other painful incidents that would befall his direct descendants, namely his daughter Dina.  For Radak, the thigh is symbolic of progeny, and is used as a metaphor for the reproductive organs.  Curiously and additionally, the Radak sees an aspect of painful punishment associated with Yaacov's injury, as if the limping that he suffers reflects Yaacov's own uncertainty concerning God's promises of deliverance!  In biblical usage, lameness is sometimes associated with an inability to commit to a single course of action or belief, just as a lame person seems to veer from side to side and is unable to maintain a straight course (see for instance Melakhim/Kings 1:18:21).  Yaacov, he maintains, should not have been afraid of his brother and should not have sent him such substantial gifts of appeasement, in light of God's earlier assurances of rescue.

 

For both of these commentaries, the struggle with the angelic figure is a local affair, a pledge to Yaacov that he need not fear the meeting with his brother and that he will emerge triumphant.  Why a name change should have been necessary is not entirely clear, nor is the significance of the prohibition adopted by Yaacov's descendants concerning the consumption of the sciatic nerve readily apparent.  Both of these items, name change and commemorative commandment, seem better suited to more transcendent issues.

 

 

The Broad Approach

 

In contrast to Rashi and the Radak, the Ramban (13th century, Spain) and the Seforno (15th century, Italy) explain that the entire episode of the mysterious angel contains cosmic overtones.

 

Commenting on the figure's inability to overpower Jacob, Ramban says: "God's angels, mighty in power and exact in fulfilling His word!  For this reason, the angel was not able to overpower Yaacov, because he was not permitted to do so.  Rather, he could only injure him on his thigh."  In other words, it is inconceivable that a human, no matter how strong, could prevail against an angel of God whose vigor is not bound by physical constraints.  In fact, the only possible limitation on an angel's ability is God's will.  Thus, the angel could not defeat Yaacov only because God did not allow him to do so. God, however, did allow the angel to injure Yaacov on his thigh.

 

Like Radak, Ramban understands the thigh as a metaphor for descendants.  Unlike Radak, however, Ramban explains that the reference is not to Yaacov's immediate descendents at all but rather to posterity, to the nation that would emerge far in the future.  The agonizing injury sustained by Yaacov on his thigh alludes to the torment that would be experienced by the Jewish nation at the hands of 'Esav' and his cohorts.  The Jewish nation might suffer frightfully, but "all will pass, and we will emerge intact."

 

For the Ramban, Esav and Yaacov signify not only two individuals or even two nations, but rather two worldviews.  Esav the hunter represents an anthropocentric (anthropo = human, centric = at center), material and sensual conception of the world in which human beings have free reign to exercise their wills and to achieve their desires without the constraints imposed by moral compunctions.  The slogan of Esav is dominion and his mission is subjugation, for no higher authority oversees his conduct.  Esav and Nimrod his forebear are one and the same, because for the tyrant or the tyrannical regime, the ideal of human fellowship is anathema.   In the worldview of Esav, human life and the proceeding of human history have no ultimate purpose or goal, and therefore only the pursuit of temporal pleasures is worthwhile - for Esav is a hunter, after all.  It should be stressed that the 'descendants of Esav' are not tied to him biologically but rather axiologically.      

 

Yaacov, in contrast, represents a theocentric (theo = God), spiritual, and ethical worldview in which human beings are subject to a Higher Authority and a higher law which limits their ability to do as they please.  For Yaacov, the precious gift of human autonomy carries with it the great task to act responsibly, and to subjugate personal desire when its achievement is at the expense of another person.  The maxim of Yaacov is unity, for under his banner all of humanity is allied as the most precious creation of a beneficent Creator.  For Yaacov, human history is a guided and meaningful process that is charged with a spiritual purpose and an ultimate aim. 

 

It is not difficult to see how these two worldviews must inevitably clash, for they cannot coexist peacefully for long.  The descendants of Yaacov, the Jewish people who live by these ideals, must become the targets of the descendants of Esav.  And so, Ramban maintains, Yaacov's nocturnal struggle will be repeated during the long nights of exile and persecution, until the end of time.  The dawn will rise and the Jewish people will triumph, but their victory will be achieved only at the cost of great pain and struggle. 

 

 

Names and Mitzvot

 

In this context, the name change of Yaacov is entirely appropriate, for a name change in biblical terminology always indicates a change of destiny.  It will be recalled that Avram became Avraham, and Sarai became Sarah.  With their new names their barrenness was banished, and they assumed the mantle of founding the nation.  Here, Yaacov assumes the new name Yisrael, which indicates also the taking on of a national destiny.  But implicit in this dimension of nationhood is confrontation and struggle, pain and eventual triumph.  To emphasize this point, the angel will not provide his name when so requested by Yaacov, for an angel has no ultimate mission or destiny.  Or, to quote the Midrashic formulation, "the angel responded: we have no permanent names!  A  name implies a mission, and our missions are  mutable" (Bereishit Rabba 78:4).

 

That around this incident a Torah commandment develops, namely the prohibition of consuming the sciatic nerve, is also now clear.  The mitzvot are the preserve of the Jewish people, and constitute an eternal set of laws and practices that delineate the relationship between God and that element of humanity chosen to carry His name.  A mitzva that is commemorative in nature, such as this one, must speak about eternal truths that will nurture the Jewish people throughout their long and checkered history.  What could be more significant than a reminder of the essential aspects of the mission of the Jewish people, a mission involving hardship, hostility, but also hope and final success?

 

Shabbat Shalom.

 

For further study: see the remarkable comments of the Ramban on Devarim 32:26 where he develops the notion that the eternal survival of the Jewish people is a necessity from God's perspective!  How do his comments there reinforce the thesis that he presents here?

 

 

This website is constantly being improved. We would appreciate hearing from you. Questions and comments on the classes are welcome, as is help in tagging, categorizing, and creating brief summaries of the classes. Thank you for being part of the Torat Har Etzion community!