Rabbi's Drash
Vayishlach    ( He sent )     5769
Bereshit (Genesis) 32:4-36:43
 

Our sages tell us that Vayishlach is a picture of the last days-the cosmic battle between good and evil, between two peoples, between the chosen and the rejected. In the end, Messiah will triumph and he will establish his kingdom over all the earth. There is a sod, a mystical meaning for us to grasp from the idea of the two (camps) at the end of the last parashah in Bereshit 32: 3 (machanaim) and tvnxm machanot in 32: 8. Yaakov divides his own family separating them from the erev rav or the gentile servants. He chooses those who will be the first to meet his brother, who may die and protects his favorite wives and children. This brings us the idea that G-d is the One who does the choosing and it has nothing to do with the behavior of the participants. Why would G-d choose Yaakov and not Esav? Our sages have such a vivid imagination in trying to defend G-d and protect His integrity. G-d could never be unfair! So they develop a story to try to show that Yaakov was good and holy while Esav was evil. They write that when Esav met Yaakov they kiss each other crying. However Esav really wanted to kill Yaakov and he bit him in the neck. Yaakov's neck turned to marble and Esav broke his teeth. Why do we think that we have to defend G-d? Instead of simply accepting the story at face value, we develop humanistic, sophisticated theologies to explain G-d's psychology. We insist on replacing Scripture with human teaching. We might think that this is simply unfair yet who are we to judge G-d? As humans our vision is so limited and our horizons, so narrow that we cannot see that in the end the two camps will be reunited as one. Yaakov is returning home and he has never felt so alone. He is in fear for his life and the life of his family. He knows that he cannot fight his brother. Esav was a skilled hunter, a killer and Yaakov was always the mama's boy. Even Esav's nickname "Edom" means red, bloody. Yaakov knew that it was humanly impossible to face and defeat his outrageous brother, that there would be no competition. He sends all the people ahead of him, divided into the two camps and he is left alone. In the Talmud in Bereshit Rabbah 77:1, the sages say: "What is written of the Holy One, Blessed be He: HASHEM alone shall be exalted (Isa. 2:17). Of Yaakov, too, it is written and Yaakov remained alone …Ramban notes in his introduction to Vayishlach, Israel's subjugation to Edom. Yaakov's behavior in the face of mortal danger is to be a guide for our own conduct in similar circumstances, and his salvation is the assurance that G-d will save Israel from destruction up until the eventual and final redemption by Messiah. Therefore when you are about to meet your enemy, there are three things you need to do to prepare: 1) Doron [vrvd - Bring a gift of peace offering. Yaakov did this by preparing a gift of 550 animals. One day payback time will come; these animals will multiply and earn interest to the power of "" and will be paid back to the redeemed Israel 2) hlft T'fillah - Pray for deliverance. The only way out is the cry out to G-d. Yaakov cries out to G-d an ynlyeh "I beg you, deliver me". 3) hmxlm Milchamah (war) - Prepare for battle. Yaakov wrestles with "a man" all night. How many of us have stayed up all night in fear wrestling with G-d? We as believers in the G-d of Israel go through times when we feel very alone. It would be so much easier to go along with the world and leave the struggles behind. We are persecuted, mocked for our faith and like Yaakov at times feel very alone. Some even feel like we are drowning in problems unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, Yaakov wrestled with a man (sya ish), however we also read in chapter 32: 31 "for I have seen G-d face to face and my life is preserved." This idea points to the words written by Rav Shaul in Ephesians 6: 12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." To repeat the words of our sages, we are in a cosmic battle, the forces of G-d, of good against the forces of evil. Is there a way out? Not without G-d! Yaakov needed to come to terms with his own fears; before the final battle he needed to defeat his own weaknesses and totally trust in the G-d of his fathers! Yaakov was ready to confront the unavoidable knowing that G-d Almighty would be with him. His prayers were answered and Esav openly wept as he hugged and kissed Yaakov, his brother. It looks like G-d has changed Esav's heart. We know from history however that the descendants of Esav have been the enemies of Israel to this day. G-d may have changed his heart at the last minute but Esav's children must have been filled with the anger and hatred that he harbored for his brother for all those years until this meeting. It has had a lasting effect on them from generation to generation and only G-d will be able to change their hearts and reunite the descendants of these twin brothers in the olam ha bah. Esav will become part of Yaakov and while the prophecy of the older serving the younger will be fulfilled. Today it is the opposite. In the middle of this portion we read about Dinah, feminine for Dan which means G-d is my judge. She is the only daughter that we know of from Yaakov and on their journey home she is raped by Shechem, the Hittite who then falls in love with her and wants to marry her. Her brothers Simeon and Levi devise a plot to circumcise all the men and then kill them when they were in too much pain to fight back. They succeed and take all the women and children of this nation and add them to their people. This is another remez (hint) that we as a people are not a pure race of Jews only. We see that from the beginning, Jew and Gentile would one day be together as one people under the G-d of Israel. In the same way that Esav's heart was changed, G-d has called us to be agents of change. Our people do not believe in the Messiah, their only hope is in this world and not in the olam ha bah. Are we living our lives as if there were no olam ha bah? What are we doing to prepare our lives for the olam ha bah- the world to come? Things are worsening in the world, not getting better as humanism and the enlightenment movement wants us to believe. My challenge to us in these days is not to make resolutions or promises that we cannot keep but instead to try to train ourselves; instead of despair to come together to pray for each other. We need a change of direction. Yaakov was committed. He did not turn back and run but went forward to face the enemy and G-d was with him. What does commitment mean? It means that we need to be willing to make sacrifices, to forget our individualism and to be ready to build community. Yaakov's fight changed him into larsy Israel. The rabbi's say this name could be pronounced as "Ish ra El - the man who sees G-d or as "Yashar El" meaning the righteous, honorable man of G-d. G-d has taken the man, Yaakov who was known as deceitful, imposter, dishonest and changed him. This shows us that in spite of ourselves, G-d is faithful. In spite of our struggles, in the end... G-d will triumph. If we look at this portion through the eyes or PaRDeS, the pshat or the direct meaning is that Yaakov was afraid. G-d came to and renewed his life from defeat to victory. The Remez or hint is that even if he was afraid, he prepared himself for the worst and would fight until the end. The Drash or the application for our lives is that even if we lose everything, G-d has promised to take care of us and finally the Sod or the mystical teaching is that this represents the final battle, the cosmic battle. Yaakov represents the people of G -d and Esav represents humanity without G-d. For a period of time, it looks like humanity will be winning but at the end Yaakov will emerge triumphant under King Mashiach.    May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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