Parashat Vayishlach - Sent out only to Return

 רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah

Parashat Yayishlach 

Genesis 32:4-36:43
By Rabbi Adam Ruditsky

     This parsha could have easily been called Yayashuv as opposed to Yayishlach. Yayashuv, וַיְשׁוּב, “he returned,” is when Jacob came back to his father’s home after leaving there many years earlier, his mother Rivka encouraging him to get out when he stole from his bother Esau and disappointed his father Isaac (Genesis 27:22).  Last week in Yayeitzei after Jacob had his dream where God promised him that he would meet his needs, in response Jacob also said, “I will come back to my father's house in peace, then will the LORD be my God,” something that happened after he lived much life (Genesis 28:21).  Even more so since Isaac lived in Beersheba when Jacob left home (Genesis 28:10) and now lived some 25 miles in Hebron (Genesis 35:27), was it really about Jacob returning to a physical location or was it about his family?  Still, during that time away Jacob would amass many children, herds and possessions, yet he also would learn some important lessons.  In this parsha we can learn from Torah that a person cannot bypass the journey in order to get to their destination.  For Jacob, his destination was to return to his father’s home different than how he left, he just did not know it at that time.
     Prior to meeting his brother Esau, Jacob sends (וַיִשְׁלַח, Yayishlach) before him angels in anticipation of their meeting.  Jacob has not seen his brother for over 20 years since he manipulated away Esau’s blessing from their father, which meant more to him than just a bowl of stew.  Jacob is fearful that Esau may plan to “come and strike” when they meet and once again and turns to his God for more than just basic provisions, saying, “rescue me, please from the hand of my brother” (Genesis 32:11).  As such Jacob formulates a plan not only to give gifts of appeasement to his brother, but also to split all that he has into two camps,  so if one is attacked the other will survive to secure both his legacy and the continuation of God’ promise for a land and descendants to the Jewish people.  At this point Jacob has an encounter, which like the initial dream regarding the angels, is about God’s presence in Jacob’s affairs.  According to Midrash this “man” who came to wrestle with Jacob in response to his fear was just not any angel, but Rashi teaches that in particular it “was the ministering angel of Esau” (see Rashi on Genesis 32:25, Genesis Rabbah 77:3).  Although I am confident that Jacob did not know it in that moment, in some strange way he needed to defeat Esau once again, although this time it was not about a blessing of sibling rivalry, but overcoming the fear of his brother that was owning him.  This man/angel came and wrestled with Jacob but could not defeat him.  While Jacob’s “hip-socket” was damaged it just seemed to make Jacob even more determined for victory, only letting go of the angel if ultimately he received a blessing.  This blessing for the 12^th century Rabbi, the Rashbam, was a sign that they would part in peace, which may have been a precursor to Jacob’s desire for peace when he meets Esau.  But the blessing itself is a mere name change, the man telling Jacob, “your name will be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:29).
     Later on in this parsha once again Jacob is told, “your name is Jacob: your name will not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel will be your name'; and He called his name Israel” (Genesis35:10).  Why a second time?  Rabbi David Kimchi suggests that the second time God appeared to Jacob is because it was on the soil of the Holy Land as opposed to the angel he wrestled, so “yet again” refers to the dream about the angels in Genesis 28:13 that also took place on the soil of the Holy land (see David Kimchi on Genesis 35:9).  Rashi teaches “that the second time at this spot: once when he set out on his journey, once when he returned” was about the beginning and the end of Jacob’s travels from home and back (see Rashi on Genesis 35:9).  Nachum Sarna, in the JPS commentary on Genesis, posits that the first time was about the character of Jacob that was “unsavory” so he became Israel, which means being “straight with God,” reflecting for me the words of Pirkei Avot 2:1 that says “which is the straight path that a person should choose for oneself?”  The first time asked Jacob to make a choice about what type of man he wanted to be whereas the second time reminded Jacob that his name change was about a bigger national promise that was first uttered to his grandfather, Abraham.
     Jacob’s name change, his journey and return, all have something in common.  When Jacob left his father’s home he ultimately returned to his father’s land, beginning his journey in one place and coming back to another, departing with one name and returning with a new one.  Last week I suggested, based on the teaching of Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, that one of the ways God would protect Jacob was by bestowing upon him wisdom as he walked through life.  Wisdom is a funny thing because it cannot be bought or hijacked.  There is a Buddhist saying, “Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good,” meaning that wisdom is a process that is garnished with time, effort, and patience.  In this parsha Jacob learned wisdom out of his own fear with Esau, a wisdom that echoes the words of Isaiah28:19 that says, “and in that day … the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.”  Rav Abraham Isaac Kook calls fear “a “mystery of life,” teaching that the wisdom of Torah illuminates the “supernatural light” of God, which like a seed “needs considerable watering from the fountain of higher knowledge.”  It was through his learned wisdom that Jacob was able to say to Esau, “I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God,”  meaning that on the other side of his fear he saw his brother just like himself, a son of Isaac, a family man, a man who is B’zelem Elohim, fashioned in the likeness of the Divine, and therefore worthy of respect (See Targum Jonathan on Genesis33:10).
     How then did Jacob differ upon his return to his father’s land as opposed to when he left?  In Genesis 31:3 Jacob is told to return home after he left at his mother’s command to escape his brother, unlike his Grandfather who was told by God to “go forth” (Genesis 12:1).  Rabbi Jeffrey Rubenstein, a Jewish Chaplain at Yale University, makes a most astute evaluation about Jacob’s return as a time to “disrupt the patterns in which he was raised,” unhealthy models of behavior that required change.  After playing his mother and father against each other, running away from home, the deception by his uncle Laban that cost him years of life, the fear that enveloped him regarding his brother Esau, and of course, the pain of a father who has to come to terms with two of his sons murdering all the men of the Hivvites because one man, Shechem, violated Dinah their sister; life’s challenges became the means of Jacob’s growth.  Upon the return home Jacob showed respect to his father who he had once deceived by joining together with his brother in an act of Kavod HaMet, “honor to the deceased,” by giving his father a proper burial.
     You see, albeit tomorrow, next week, annually or in 20 years, we always come back to where we were yesterday, always changing for the better or we simply stand still going no where.  This parsha, amongst many things, teaches that when we go out it’s not how we leave but how we return.

Shabbat Shalom