Vayishlach | Confrontation and Reconciliation

 

A.  Great Expectations

      It is often helpful when studying a given Biblical narrative to temporarily forego on one's hindsight and try to predict the forthcoming sequence of events as if he hasn't read ahead.  Formulating our expectations in advance helps us take note of the peculiarities we encounter, and recognizing the question is already half the answer.  As we begin our study of Parashat Vayishlach, we will first briefly review the situation as we left it in Parashat Vayetze and delineate our expectations for this parasha.

 

     Yaakov spent Parashat Vayetze in Padan Aram, with his uncle, Lavan, executing the two tasks which his parents assigned him towards the end of Parashat Toledot: to start a family (28:2) and, perhaps more urgently, to escape from Esav's vengeance (27:42-45).  His mother had ordered him to stay with Lavan until such time as she deems his return to Canaan safe, at which point she will send for him.  After twenty-two years, no such telegram arrives.  Instead, the Almighty Himself appears to Yaakov and orders, "Return to the land of your fathers where you were born " (31:3).  What about Esav?  How can Yaakov return before receiving his mother's "all-clear" signal?  God seems to address this concern by concluding this brief prophecy with the promise, "and I will be with you."  Yaakov presumably understood this as a guarantee that a smooth road lies ahead, whatever dangers that have loomed in Canaan have been competently eliminated by the Almighty.  In reporting his prophecy to his wives, Yaakov cites a somewhat more elaborate promise: "I am the God of Bet-El, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me.  Now, arise and leave this land and return to your native land" (31:13).  Though Rashi explains this reference to Bet-El as an admonishment to Yaakov to fulfill his vow, the parallel to the earlier verse may suggest that God here also reminds Yaakov of His promise in Bet-El, when he first left Canaan: "Behold, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go… I will not leave you… " (28:15).

 

     And so, equipped with God's guarantee of protection, Yaakov embarks on his return trip home.  He arrives in Machanayim, a site viewed by Rashi as the border of Eretz Canaan, and he suddenly encounters "divine angels" (32:2).  Yaakov likely relates to these angels as the fulfillment - or at least symbolic of the fulfillment - of the promise he had received.  Just as the original promise twenty-two years earlier featured "divine angels ascending and descending" (28:12), so do the angels here represent the assistance God has assured him.  The first angels, as Rashi explains, came to protect Yaakov from his trials and tribulations in the Diaspora; the current angels come to Yaakov's side to protect him from Esav.  Just as God had promised - "Return to the land… and I will be with you," sure enough, no sooner has Yaakov reentered Canaan than did God dispatch His angels to protect him.

 

     What, then, would we expect to happen as our parasha unfolds?  Seemingly, nothing extraordinary.  Yaakov must simply retrace his steps from the beginning of Parashat Vayetze: return to Bet El to construct an altar and then continue southward to Chevron, where his father resided.  There he would live with his parents in peace and harmony and continue raising his children.

 

     Of course, as we read in our parasha, this is not how things work out.  We can raise many questions concerning Yaakov's conduct, such as why he first settles in Sukkot (33:17) and then Shekhem (33:18-20) before going to Bet-El.  We will focus our attention, however, on the first section of the parasha, the reunion with Esav.  Yaakov himself seems to have initiated this confrontation: "Yaakov dispatches messengers/angels ahead to his brother Esav… "  True, the meeting would have occurred anyway, since, as Yaakov now learns, "he [Esav] himself is coming to meet you " (32:7).  But what prompted Yaakov to send messengers to begin with?  Why didn't he simply continue traveling?  Indeed, several Midrashim sharply criticize Yaakov for initiating this confrontation (Bereishit Rabba, 75:2).

 

B.  Unanswered Questions

 

     The Malbim, however, explains that Yaakov's concerns may have arisen from the types of angels he encountered: "When he saw them, Yaakov said, 'This is the machaneh [camp] of God'" (32:3).  The term "machaneh" generally denotes a military setting.  The examples are too numerous to even begin citing.  It suffices for us to note the use of this term in our parasha, when Yaakov, preparing for a possible military confrontation, divides his family and company into two "machanot" (32:8).  Perhaps we should mention as well arguably the most overt association between this term and military combat: "Ki tetze machaneh al oyevekha" - "when you go out as a camp against your enemies" (Devarim 23:10).  Yaakov saw no ordinary angels; he encountered military angels.  Given our inexperience in this regard, we cannot imagine what about these angels reflected this quality, but in any event, these are the angels Yaakov beheld.

 

     He must now ask himself: what does this mean?  Must I wage war against Esav?  Will these angels keep Esav away or assist me in battle?  He therefore dispatches a "fact-finding commission" to find out what Esav is up to.  These messengers are to report to Esav about the immense wealth he had amassed (32:6) in the hope of evoking some reaction on Esav's part.  If he responds with a jealous rage, then apparently the hostilities of the bygone years have withstood the test of time.  If Esav extends a congratulatory greeting to Yaakov on his success, then the two can open a new page in their relationship, one of reconciliation and fraternal love.

 

     Unfortunately, Yaakov receives neither reaction from Esav: "The messengers returned to Yaakov, saying, we came to your brother Esav; he himself is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him."  What does Esav's arrival with a considerable entourage mean?  The commentaries debate this very issue.  The more common explanation, represented most prominently by Rashi and the Ramban, views Esav's response as an indication of hostility and preparation for warfare.  The Ramban adds that the lack of any verbal response on Esav's part suggested that he harbored feelings of enmity towards Yaakov and did not care to even address his messengers.  By contrast, the Rashbam (Rashi's grandson) contends that Esav brought along four hundred comrades as a show of respect for his brother.  Esav had come to extend Yaakov a warm, festive welcome back to Canaan, only Yaakov could not rest assured that Esav was in fact interested in love and friendship.  This confusion among the commentators clearly results from the dearth of information supplied by Yaakov's messengers as recorded in the text.  They tell us nothing other than the fact that Esav marches with four hundred men in Yaakov's direction.  This ambiguity prompted Rabbenu Yosef Bekhor Shor (a student of Rabbenu Tam, another of Rashi's grandsons) to offer what appears as the most plausible interpretation: the messengers do not know Esav's intentions.  He and his four hundred companions planned either battle or reconciliation; Yaakov has no idea which. 

 

C.  Two-Tiered Preparation

 

     The Midrash classifies Yaakov's various activities in preparation for his meeting with Esav into three categories: war, prayer and appeasement.  He devises a military strategy (dividing his camp into two), turns to the Almighty in heartfelt supplication, and sends an elaborate gift to Esav.  However, as Rav Mordechai Sabato (noted author and lecturer at the Herzog Teachers' Institute) claims, we may arrange these three reactions into two broader groups: war/prayer and appeasement.  He brings both conceptual and textual support for this grouping.  Conceptually, prayer always accompanies battle.  Consider, for example, the sounding of the trumpets described in Bemidbar 10:9: "When you are at war in your land against an aggressor who attacks you, you shall sound the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God and be delivered from your enemies."  These trumpets serve as the formal expression of prayer that the troops must bring with them to battle.  Thus, Yaakov's prayer in anticipation of Esav's arrival forms, at least in one sense, an integral part of his military preparation.  This preparation stands in contradistinction to his second strategy of appeasement.  Textual support may be drawn from the repeated account of Yaakov sleeping "that night in the camp."  We first read of his sleep after his prayer and just prior to his dispatching couriers to bring Esav's gift (32:14).  Then, after he sends these messengers, the Torah repeats, "he slept that night in the camp" (32:22).  Rav Sabato explains that clearly, Yaakov did not go to sleep twice that night.  Rather, each of these two references to his sleep marks the end of one of his two modes of preparation, which occurred simultaneously.  Before going to sleep that night, he prepared for both warfare and appeasement. 

 

     As mentioned, Yaakov does not know what awaits him, what kind of Esav he will confront.  He therefore prepares for either eventual outcome.  He mobilizes his people and prays to God in anticipation of warfare, and he extends an offer of reconciliation in case Esav seeks friendship.

 

     In the end, however, Yaakov's plans seem to suddenly change.  At the beginning of chapter 33, he sees Esav coming and prepares to greet him.  Here, too, he divides his family, just as he had done originally (32:8-9), but in a completely different arrangement.  For one thing, this second division does not include the military term "machaneh" that characterizes Yaakov's initial strategy.  Perhaps more importantly, Yaakov here does not divide his people into two camps; he rather arranges his children according to their mothers.  Suddenly, Yaakov no longer prepares for war; he plans instead for a warm, family gathering, and thus ensures that he and his family present themselves honorably before his brother.  What led to this abrupt change in strategy?

 

     Undoubtedly, it was the incident that had occurred the previous night.  Though Yaakov had planned to sleep in the camp, he instead wrestles until dawn with a mysterious angel, engaged in a struggle that brings about a totally new mindset as Yaakov prepares for his reunion with Esav.

 

D.  Affirming the Blessing

 

     Rashi, based on the Midrash, identifies Yaakov's assailant as "saro shel Esav," Esav's representative angel.  Several indications exist that this explanation accommodates "peshuto shel mikra," the straightforward reading of the text, and not just Midrashic homiletics.  For one thing, this incident appears in the Chumash as an integral part of the broader account of Yaakov and Esav's reunion.  In the Torah scroll, a block of empty space on a line marks a paragraph break, generally indicating the introduction of a new subject or plot.  No such empty space appears before or after the account of Yaakov's wrestle with the angel.  It thus occurs as part of the unfolding story of his imminent encounter with Esav.  Perhaps more telling is the fight's conclusion - Yaakov's demand of a blessing (32:27).  What does Yaakov want?  The man who attacked him finally wishes to leave; why does Yaakov hold him hostage until he blesses him?  As Rashi explains, this blessing brings us back two weeks, to the blessing that Yaakov stole from his brother.  Yaakov understands full well the identity of this mysterious assailant and realizes his goal: to block Yaakov's reentry into Canaan so that Esav can claim exclusive rights as heir to the blessing of Avraham and Yitzchak.  After emerging triumphant, Yaakov demands Esav's formal concession of the blessings.

 

     The defeated angel responds by changing Yaakov's name to Yisrael (32:29).  As many commentators explain, "Yaakov" signifies trickery and deceit, whereas "Yisrael" denotes unchallenged authority and dominion.  Yaakov is thus given his father's blessing cleanly and decisively, with Esav's full acquiescence. 

 

     As Rav Sabato explains, recognizing the role of Yitzchak's blessing in this encounter sheds an entirely new light on our parasha, particularly on Yaakov's uncertainty which we have discussed.  We have seen that Yaakov does not know whether Esav has come for confrontation or reconciliation.  Given that Esav's hostility was initially kindled as a result of Yaakov's seizure of his blessing, we may assume that this very point lies at the heart of Yaakov's current concern.  The question around which the first half of Parashat Vayishlach revolves is: has Esav conceded his rights to the blessing?  Does he still demand superiority over his brother, as Yitzchak's blessing had promised (27:29), or does he confess to Yaakov's right to the blessing he stole?  Yaakov prepares for either eventual outcome, not expecting to learn the answer to this question before he reunites with Esav.  Esav's angel, however, affirms Yaakov's right to the blessing.  Yaakov can therefore cancel his plans for confrontation and concentrate his efforts on reconciliation. 

     When the meeting finally occurs, Yaakov implores his brother to accept his gift: "if you would do me this favor, accept from me this gift, for I have seen your face as if I had seen the face of God - and you have received me favorably" (33:10).  This particularly difficult verse has lent itself to varying interpretations among the commentators.  Rashi, whose thread we have followed throughout, understands "the face of God" as a reference to the angel with whom Yaakov had wrestled.  This is supported by Yaakov's exclamation after the angel leaves: "I have seen a divine being face to face" (32:31).  Now that Esav's angel has granted Yaakov the blessing, the two brothers have no more reason to harbor feelings of enmity.  Esav should therefore accept Yaakov's expression of reconciliation.

 

     Esav accepts Yaakov's offering and, apparently, declares the final end of the conflict: "Let us go and travel, and I will go with you" (33:12).  Now that their conflict has been fully resolved, Esav suggests, they may peacefully work together and join forces.  Be it prophecy or insight, Yaakov foresaw that the Esav-Yaakov contention has not seen its final days.  He turns down the offer, claiming that he must travel slowly to accommodate his small children and herds of sheep.  Eventually, he tells Esav, he will join him in his country of Seir.  As Rashi explains, Yaakov here once again fools his brother.  He never had any intention of proceeding to Seir; he will do so only in the end of days, when Esav will once and for all accept Yaakov as the rightful and deserving heir of Avraham and Yitzchak.  Until then, "Yisrael" must remain, if only partially, "Yaakov."  He must still resort to trickery and deceit, realizing that his brother has yet to come to terms with Yaakov's right to the blessing.

 

Summary

 

     Parashat Vayishlach opens with the pressing issue of how Esav will respond to Yaakov's return to Canaan.  Will he withdraw his objection to Yaakov's having received the blessing and extend a conciliatory hand of friendship, or will he continue his struggle against Yaakov?  Yaakov's victory over Esav's angel resolves this question, as the angel formally acquiesces.  Yaakov understands, however, that the struggle between the two brothers is far from over; it will reach its ultimate resolution only in the messianic era, as foreseen by the prophet Ovadya: "Saviors will ascend to Mount Zion to wreak judgment on Mount Esav; and dominion shall be God's."

 

For Further Study:

 

I.      In his opening comment on our parasha, Rashi identifies Yaakov's messengers to Esav as angels.  (Targum Onkelos and others interpret "malakhim" in this context as human messengers.)  Explain this comment based on the end of Parashat Vayetze and the first half of this shiur.

II.   Many commentators struggle to explain why, at the end of Parashat Vayetze, Yaakov names his current location, "Machanayim," which means, "camps," while he declared, "This is the camp of God," implying that he beheld only a single camp of angels.  The Malbim, who, as cited in the shiur, identifies these angels as combat angels, explains that this vision led Yaakov to anticipate a military confrontation between two camps - his and Esav's - at that location.  He therefore invoked the plural form when selecting a name.  We may perhaps use the Malbim's general approach to arrive at a slightly different explanation.  A careful reading of this parasha reveals that Yaakov's wrestle with the angel occurred right there in Machanayim.  The verses make no mention of Yaakov's having moved at all until he crosses his family over the river and is then "left alone," at which point the angel assaults him (32:25).  Chazal explain that he returned to pick some last minute items.  Thus, Yaakov confronts the angel at his original location, in Machanayim.  This perhaps yields an astonishing conclusion: Yaakov was attacked by one of the angels he saw in Machanayim!  Apparently, this "camp of God" consisted of two groups of angelic warriors: those siding with Yaakov and those representing Esav.  He therefore named the location after the two opposing sets of angels he beheld.  This would lend strong support to the Malbim's claim that the vision of Machanayim triggered Yaakov's suspicion that Esav seeks military confrontation.

III. In the shiur we did not elaborate on one important issue relevant to this story dealt with by the commentators: what did Esav have in mind all this time?  According to the Rashbam's view, as we saw, he had planned reconciliation all along; according to Rashi and the Ramban, Esav planned an attack but was apparently softened by Yaakov's gestures.  Rabbenu Yosef Bekhor Shor advances yet a third theory, that Esav himself was undecided; he waited to see how Yaakov acts towards him.  However, Rav Sabato, whose approach we adopt in the shiur, explains differently.  He accepts the Bekhor Shor's view that Esav had not decided how to respond to his brother's return, only he claims that Esav's decision hinged on another factor: the results of the wrestle between Yaakov and his angel.  If Yaakov prevailed, then Esav would have to concede defeat and seek reconciliation.

IV. If you have it on file, review our shiur on Parashat Toledot.  Whose view have we assumed in this shiur?  Could our general approach here accommodate the other positions cited in that shiur?

V.   See Masekhet Avoda Zara 11b, where the Gemara describes a ritual observed by the Romans by which they conduct a parade condemning the Jews who descend from Yaakov, who illegally seized the blessing rightfully deserved by the Romans' ancestor, Esav.  Read this Gemara and relate it to the final section of this shiur.