Rashi on Parshas Vayishlach – Insights
Rashi’s commentary on Vayishlach offers a textured portrait of Yaakov’s return to the Land, shaped by fear, strategy, providence, and the maturing of the twelve tribes. His insights highlight the spiritual subtext beneath the narrative, illuminating how Divine promises unfold through human action, hesitation, and devotion.
1. Yaakov’s Fear and the Threefold Strategy
When the messengers report that Esav approaches with 400 men, Rashi explains Yaakov’s fear in dual terms:
- “וירא” — fear of being killed;
- “ויצר לו” — distress at possibly needing to kill others.
His response is the classical triad: preparation, prayer, and appeasement, each grounded in Rashi’s close textual reading. Yaakov’s elaborate gift is not flattery but deliberate strategy — wave after wave to soften Esav’s heart.
2. The Wrestling at Yabok — Esav’s Angel
Rashi identifies the mysterious assailant as שרו של עשו, Esav’s guardian angel.
This turns the episode into a spiritual struggle representing the entirety of Jewish-Edomite history.
Key Rashi points:
- The angel wounds Yaakov at the gid ha-nasheh, establishing a permanent reminder of Jewish vulnerability amid spiritual conflict.
- The new name Yisrael signals authority and moral elevation — no longer “יעקב,” the one who must take by the heel, but one who prevails openly and justly.
3. The Encounter With Esav — Ambiguous Affection
Rashi’s famous note on “וישקהו” emphasizes the Midrashic uncertainty: the unusual dots above the word invite the reading that Esav’s kiss may have been insincere — yet there’s also a tradition that in that moment his compassion was genuine.
Yaakov bows seven times, not out of fear but as calculated humility, allowing reconciliation to occur without surrendering moral ground.
4. The Sin of Shechem — Justice and Jacob’s Displeasure
Rashi frames Dinah’s abduction as a violation that demands retribution — yet he highlights Jacob’s critique of Shimon and Levi.
Jacob feared reprisals, but Rashi stresses:
- Divine protection (“חתת אלקים”—a G-d-sent terror) safeguards Yaakov’s camp.
- The sons’ moral zeal is not dismissed; the Torah preserves both Jacob’s prudence and the brothers’ fierce defense of family dignity.
5. Deborah’s Death and Hidden Mourning
Rashi pauses on the unexpected appearance of Deborah, Rivkah’s nurse.
Her death hints at another unspoken tragedy — the death of Rivkah, which Scripture conceals to spare her from public shame due to Esav.
This is a classic example of Rashi’s sensitivity to narrative silence and ethical subtext.
6. The Renaming to Israel & the Blessing Renewed
At Beit-El, Rashi notes that G-d appears “עוד” — again at the same site — sealing the promise originally made when Yaakov fled.
The blessing includes:
- Benjamin, not yet born
- Kings destined from his descendants
- Nations emerging from Joseph through Ephraim and Menashe
Rashi reads these as future-oriented confirmations of covenantal destiny.
7. Reuben and Bilhah — “Disturbing the Couch”
On the troubling verse of Reuven “lying” with Bilhah, Rashi insists on a non-literal interpretation:
Reuven moved Yaakov’s bed as a protest against Rachel’s maidservant displacing Leah.
For this symbolic act, Scripture treats him “as if” he sinned — underscoring how even slight breaches of covenantal dignity matter for the forefathers.
8. Esav’s Genealogy — Legitimacy, Guilt, and Departure
Rashi’s analysis of Esav’s wives and line reveals a web of deception, idolatry, and illegitimate unions.
Especially striking:
- Esav renames his Hittite wife “יהודית” to trick Yitzchak.
- Timna’s unusual story demonstrates the prestige of Avraham’s lineage — even noble families sought attachment to it.
- Esav leaves Canaan “מפני יעקב אחיו” partly out of shame for selling the birthright and partly to avoid the future exile decreed on Isaac’s descendants.
9. Rachel’s Death and Benjamin’s Naming
Rashi offers linguistic and geographic explanations for Binyamin — “son of the south,” born in Canaan — while also preserving the pathos of Rachel’s passing.
Her burial on the road foreshadows her role as the eternal intercessor for Israel, implied though not explicit here.
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Ramban on Parshas Vayishlach – Insights
Ramban reads Vayishlach as one of the Torah’s foundational templates for understanding Jewish life in exile — especially under the power of Edom. Every narrative detail becomes both history and prophecy, both personal drama and national pattern.
1. Yaakov’s Encounter with Esav — A Blueprint for Exile
For Ramban, Yaakov’s preparations for Esav are not merely tactical; they are paradigmatic. The threefold strategy — tefillah, doron, and hachanah l’milchamah — becomes the constant posture of Israel before the children of Esav. “Everything that happened to our father with Esav will happen to us with Esav’s descendants,” Ramban writes. Even Yaakov’s error in initiating contact hints at a future historical mistake: alliances with Rome during the Second Temple that ultimately led to destruction.
Yet Ramban emphasizes Yaakov’s humility: katonti expresses not fear of losing merit but profound awareness of being unworthy of so much chesed and emet. Yaakov trusts the promises but refuses to presume upon them.
2. The Mysterious Wrestler — A Symbol of Every Generation’s Trial
The nocturnal struggle is literal, but also symbolic. The “ish” is Esav’s guardian angel, and his inability to defeat Yaakov hints that Israel will never be uprooted — though, like the disjointed thigh, there will be generations maimed by persecution. Ramban ties this to the Roman decrees of the Mishnaic period and to every era in which Edom nearly crushes Israel but fails.
Receiving the name Yisrael at dawn expresses the emergence of clarity and sovereignty after a night of struggle.
3. Dinah and Shechem — Justice, Morality, and the Borders of Force
Ramban sharply critiques Rambam’s view that the men of Shechem deserved death solely for failing to enforce Noachide law. Instead, he develops a broader theory: dinim include the entire civil-moral legal system — theft, abuse, injury, seduction, damages — and the requirement to appoint just courts. But Jacob and his sons were not authorized to enforce these laws upon another nation.
The brothers acted from zeal for justice and honor, but they overreached; Yaakov’s condemnation (“You have troubled me…”) reflects both the political danger and the moral excess of destroying an entire city. Still, Ramban acknowledges that they saw the inhabitants as deeply wicked, and the aftermath — the fear of surrounding nations — was a hidden miracle.
4. Bet El, Purification, and the Reaffirmation of the Covenant
Ramban reads the command “Go up to Bet El and abide there” as a directive for spiritual purification — removing idols, cleansing the camp, preparing for a new revelation. The Divine appearance here parallels Avraham’s revelation and marks a renewal of the covenant under the name Yisrael. Every detail, including the mysterious insertion of Devorah’s death, signals the transition from sorrow to divine comfort.
5. Rachel’s Death and Benjamin’s Naming — A Window into Prophetic Sensitivity
Ramban offers a moving, halachically precise account of Rachel’s burial by the road: Yaakov foresaw prophetically that her place would serve future exiles, and thus he insisted on burying her within Binyamin’s territory. Her cry in Yirmiyahu (“A voice is heard in Ramah…”) is rhetorical, not geographical — a description of her grief echoing across the land.
Benjamin’s name becomes a grammatical and theological reflection: Rachel names him ben-oni (“son of my sorrow”), but Yaakov reframes it as ben-yamin (“son of strength”), transforming tragedy into destiny.
6. Esav’s Genealogies — A Map of the Fourth Kingdom
Ramban sees deep significance in the lengthy list of Edomite chiefs and kings. It confirms Yitzchak’s blessing (“Al-charbecha tichyeh”), shows the rise of Edom through conquest of the Horites, and most importantly, encodes a prophetic structure: the ten chieftains parallel the ten kings of the fourth kingdom in Daniel, culminating in Magdiel, whom Ramban identifies (following Midrash) as the archetype of Rome — the empire that magnifies itself above all power.
Here too, the personal story unfolds as global history: Esav’s descendants become the forces with which Israel struggles across millennia.
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Rambam's application to Vayishlach
For Rambam, Vayishlach is not primarily a story of fear, danger, or reconciliation — it is the drama of human perfection unfolding through intellect, discipline, and moral clarity. Each episode reveals a layer of Rambam’s worldview: Divine governance is ordered, intelligible, and responsive to human choice, and spiritual greatness emerges when the mind and character align with emet.
1. Providence and Human Preparation
Yaakov’s threefold strategy — tefillah, diplomatic gifts, and strategic readiness — reflects the Rambamian principle that trust in Hashem never cancels human responsibility. Providence (hashgachah) does not replace action; rather, it flows through it.
- In Moreh III:17–18, Rambam teaches that hashgachah increases in proportion to one’s intellectual and ethical refinement.
Yaakov, though promised protection, refuses fatalism. He acts with full effort, humility, and strategic intelligence — the model of what Rambam calls hishtadlut ha-meshubachat, “excellent human effort.”
2. Wrestling With the Angel — The Soul’s Encounter With Truth
For Rambam, encounters with angels are prophetic visions, not physical wrestling matches (Moreh II:6, II:42). The struggle becomes an allegory:
- Yaakov grapples with the forces governing the world, the “malach” representing the structured metaphysical order through which Hashem’s will operates.
- The injury to the thigh symbolizes the limits of human power; the endurance until dawn symbolizes intellectual victory — the persistence of the perfected mind through darkness.
The name Yisrael (“one who prevails with Elokim”) reflects the triumph of the human intellect seeking truth within the lawful structure of creation (Yesodei HaTorah 7–10).
3. Ethical Conduct in a Corrupt World: Dinah and Shechem
While Rambam holds that the men of Shechem violated the Noachide command to establish just courts (Hilchot Melachim 9:14), Yaakov’s reaction reflects a broader Rambamian concern:
- Justice must be lawful, measured, and rational, not the product of uncontrolled zeal.
- Violence, even in the pursuit of right, corrupts when it exceeds legal authority.
The episode becomes, in Rambam’s framework, a lesson in the danger of unregulated justice and the necessity of disciplined legal structures (Moreh III:32).
4. Rachel’s Death and the Limits of Human Knowledge
Rambam often stresses that Divine providence operates within natural law (Moreh II:29–30). Rachel’s death in childbirth is not framed as a miracle or punishment, but as part of the human condition in a world governed by stable laws.
Yaakov’s decision to bury her on the road — later associated with consolation of future exiles — aligns with Rambam’s belief in prophetic foresight as a rational, elevated perception, not mystical symbolism (Yesodei HaTorah 7:1–2).
5. The Genealogies of Esav — History Under Divine Governance
Rambam emphasizes that history unfolds through natural political processes guided by providence proportional to national virtue (Moreh III:23–24).
- The kings of Edom represent the rise and fall of nations under universal law.
- Their instability contrasts with the covenantal destiny of Israel, whose endurance flows from adherence to truth and mitzvot, not from power.
The parsha’s final chapter thus becomes a philosophical meditation on political history, national character, and human freedom.
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Moreh Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed)
- I:49–50 — Divine simplicity; rejection of corporeality
- II:6, II:42, II:45 — Prophecy; angelic visions as intellectual perception
- II:29–30 — Providence operating through natural law
- III:17–18 — Hashgachah pratit proportional to intellectual and ethical perfection
- III:23–24 — National providence and political history
- III:32 — Purpose of mitzvot; channeling human impulse through law
Mishneh Torah
Ralbag on Vayishlach
For Ralbag, Vayishlach is a living laboratory in how Providence, human planning, prophecy, and ethics intertwine. Yaakov is not a passive saint carried by miracles, but a thinking, fearing, calculating servant of Hashem whose greatness is shown precisely in his rational, morally-driven choices.
1. Conditional Promises and Fear of Sin
Ralbag reads Yaakov’s fear of Esav as deeply philosophical, not a lack of bitachon:
- Even though Hashem promised to guard him, every promise of good or bad can be reversed when the recipient changes. Ralbag quotes Yirmiyahu 18 (“רגע אדבר על גוי…”) to show that both good and bad decrees are conditional on the moral state of the recipient.
- When promised ongoing or constant good, that very continuity implies a built-in condition: the person must remain worthy of intense hashgachah.
- Yaakov therefore fears “שמא יגרום החטא” – perhaps he has become unworthy of that elevated providence; perhaps the promise will be fulfilled through a different seed and not through the children presently with him.
This is Ralbag’s broader doctrine (developed in Milchemet Hashem, part VI): hashgachah and promises are always bound up with the changing state of the human recipient, not mechanical guarantees.
2. Rational Prudence and Choosing the Lesser Evil
Vayishlach becomes, for Ralbag, a treatise in practical rationality:
- A person must always assume the most dangerous realistic scenario and plan accordingly, even if a more benign reading is possible. Yaakov could have hoped that Esav was coming in peace, but he treats 400 men as a potential war force and prepares.
- When evil seems unavoidable, reason demands choosing the lesser evil to avoid the greater. Dividing the camp, spacing the children, and placing the most beloved last is, for Ralbag, a model:
one should accept a smaller risk or loss to avert a more catastrophic one.
- Similarly, Yaakov’s extreme conciliation and extravagant gift to Esav is not cowardice but rational self-preservation: you humble yourself to a lesser man not for him, but to save your own life and mission.
Ralbag’s to‘alot here teach that strategic fear, sober pessimism, and choosing the lesser harm are part of avodat Hashem, not signs of weak faith.
3. The Wrestling With the Angel – How Prophecy Works
Ralbag gives a classic rationalist reading of the night struggle:
- The “wrestling” is a prophetic dream-vision, not a physical night fight with a corporeal angel. We never show an angel interacting through crude bodily exertion.
- The content of the vision is shaped by Yaakov’s waking preoccupations (his anxiety about Esav and thoughts of self-defense) and by physical sensations during sleep (pain or strain in the thigh from the day’s exertion).
- Because the imagination and body interact, dream-events can leave real physical traces – like nocturnal emission or jerking awake when dreaming of falling. So Yaakov awakes literally limping from a thigh injury precipitated during his sleep, in harmony with what he “saw.”
This leads into two key philosophical points:
- All prophecy (except Moshe’s) is via dream/vision; Tanach sometimes omits “in a dream” because it’s structurally obvious (Ralbag cites Rambam’s point and aligns with it).
- The mitzvah of גיד הנשה is, for Ralbag, a perpetual sign of the truth and centrality of prophecy:
- We avoid that specific tendon “אשר על כף הירך” only in kosher species – precisely because the prohibition presupposes the meat is otherwise edible.
- Chazal extended the prohibition to the whole sciatic nerve as a fence, but mi-de’oraita the core is the portion on the joint.
- The mitzvah publicizes this wondrous prophetic event, and prophecy itself is “פנה מפנות התורה” – a foundation stone of Torah. If prophecy collapses, the entire Torah collapses.
4. Providence Through Fitting Natural Causes
Ralbag insists that even when Hashem saves His beloved, He does so through the most fitting, natural-looking causes:
- Hashem tells Yaakov to leave Shechem and go to Beit-El, not to depend on a miracle in a place where locals may seek vengeance for the massacre.
- The rescue is via “חתת אלקים,” a divinely-induced terror that prevents surrounding cities from pursuing Yaakov’s family – a subtle providential intervention consistent with the natural order.
- Similarly, the command to purify the camp, bury idols, change garments, and build a mizbeach is not ritual for its own sake but a way to make themselves fitting for hashgachah.
This reflects Ralbag’s system (again, Milchemet Hashem VI): Hashem prefers to work through ordered secondary causes; overt miracles are rare and, whenever possible, “minimized” in their deviation from nature.
5. Character, Society, and Political Wisdom
Ralbag’s to‘alot from the rest of the parsha weave ethics and social philosophy:
- Human relations: If you want to turn an enemy into a friend, open your life to him. People share personal details only with those they love, so Yaakov’s detailed report to Esav (“עם לבן גרתי…”) is a psychological tactic to melt hatred.
- Restraint of speech and truthfulness: He sharply criticizes the deception of Shimon and Levi. Even when pursuing a just outcome, one should not easily put falsehood in one’s mouth; Jacob himself avoids directly uttering the deceptive condition about circumcision.
- Against social mixing with corruption: Their refusal to genuinely merge with Shechem, even via circumcision, is rooted in fear of absorbing idolatrous beliefs and losing distinct identity. Political union with a morally corrupt society is itself a philosophical danger.
- Respecting property and modesty: Yaakov buys land rather than exploiting others’ fields; Dinah’s going out “לראות בבנות הארץ” becomes a cautionary tale against unnecessary exposure to morally unsafe environments.
- Measured parenting: Yaakov doesn’t explode at Reuven immediately for the Bilhah episode; he waits, and later expresses consequences at the time of the blessings. Ralbag frames this as a model of non-alienating discipline.
6. History, Nations, and the Place of Edom
In Ralbag’s reading of Esav’s genealogy and Edom’s early kings:
- The long list of chiefs and kings shows how much honor and political weight the Avot carried – even Esav’s line becomes full of princes and rulers.
- It also serves a halachic-philosophical purpose: to map out the distinct identity of Edom and the boundaries of the future command “לא תתעב אדומי,” while distinguishing Edom from the Horites.
- The rise and fall of kings before any king in Israel underlines a theme: political power is transient, while covenantal destiny is stable.
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Vayishlach — Fear, Reconciliation, and the Transformation of Inner Conflict
Vayishlach opens with Yaakov preparing to meet Esav — a moment of danger, dread, and unresolved history. Chassidic masters read this encounter not only as a geopolitical threat, but as a profound map of avodah: the work of integrating the rejected parts of the self, redeeming old fears, and elevating even the darkest places. In this parsha, Yaakov becomes Yisrael precisely through struggle — revealing that holiness is forged in the tension between vulnerability and courage.
The Baal Shem Tov teaches that Yaakov’s wrestling with the “man” is the archetype of the soul’s battle with its own shadow. Every person has an “Esav” — the raw, untamed impulses and fears that frighten us. The angel’s blow to Yaakov’s thigh symbolizes that spiritual growth leaves a mark; true transformation demands effort, honesty, and sometimes pain. Yet dawn breaks only after the struggle. The blessing comes through the confrontation, not its avoidance.
The Kedushat Levi explains that Yaakov’s approach to Esav — bowing seven times, speaking gently, offering gifts — demonstrates a deep principle of hachna’ah, humble self-nullification. When confronting one’s inner Esav, the first step is not battle but softening: releasing ego, reducing defensiveness, and creating inner space for rectification. Levi Yitzchak adds that Yaakov’s words “כִּי־עַל־כֵּן רָאִיתִי פָנֶיךָ כִּרְאֹת פְּנֵי אֱלֹקִים” reveal a higher secret: when one encounters a former threat with purity, even the face of Esav can shine with a spark of the Divine.
The Sfas Emes teaches that the angel Yaakov wrestles with is not external but the spiritual “minister” of Esav — the force of confusion, distraction, and ego that one meets on the path of avodah. The Sfas Emes emphasizes that Yaakov’s victory lies not in overpowering, but in holding on until dawn — the perseverance to cling to truth even when clarity is obscured. His limp symbolizes that the remaining imperfection itself becomes part of avodah: the very place of weakness becomes the opening for a deeper encounter with Hashem.
In Vayishlach, the Chassidic vision reveals conflict as catalyst: fear becomes prayer, struggle becomes blessing, and reconciliation becomes revelation. Through Yaakov’s journey, we learn that the holiest name — Yisrael — emerges only through wrestling honestly with the difficult, the painful, and the unfinished corners of the soul.
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Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Vayishlach
Parshas Vayishlach is the parsha of becoming: a confrontation with fear, identity, moral complexity, responsibility, and the kind of courage that shapes a people. Across six essays, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks returns again and again to Jacob’s lifelong struggle — not only with Esau, not only with the mysterious angel, but with himself. In Jacob’s vulnerability and transformation, Rabbi Sacks sees the blueprint of Jewish destiny.
1. The Courage to Face Fear
Jacob is “very afraid and distressed” because he is confronting not only Esau, but an inner voice of unworthiness. Rabbi Sacks, drawing on Rashbam, suggests that Jacob may even have tried to flee — as did Moses and Yonah when overwhelmed by their missions. Their fear was not cowardice, but the trembling of those who grasp the magnitude of spiritual responsibility.
Courage, teaches Rabbi Sacks, is not the absence of fear but the refusal to let fear define you. The angel wrestles Jacob into remaining in the mission he wished to escape. Greatness is often thrust upon those who feel least ready to bear it. In wresting a blessing from the struggle, Jacob discovers a deeper truth: G-d believes in us even when we struggle to believe in ourselves.
2. Becoming Israel: Identity Without Imitation
Why does Jacob receive a new name — twice — and yet the Torah continues to call him Jacob? Rabbi Sacks reads G-d’s words not as a prediction, but as a challenge:
“Let your name no longer be Jacob, but Israel.”
Become the person who walks upright, not the one clutching his brother’s heel, longing to be someone else.
Jacob’s rivalry with Esau reflects a universal danger: the temptation to imitate cultures more powerful or alluring than our own. Whether in the Babylonian exile, the Greek period, Rome, the Enlightenment, or the present day, Jews have often oscillated between the call of Israel and the insecurity of Jacob. The Torah preserves both names because both remain possibilities.
To be Israel is to stand tall in Jewish identity, without embarrassment or imitation — a message as urgent now as ever.
3. The Moral Distress of Necessary Action
In approaching Esau, Jacob prepares for war, yet he prays not to kill. Rabbi Sacks notes that Jacob fears two things: the danger of being killed and the danger of becoming a killer. Jewish ethics demands not only survival but moral vigilance — minimizing harm, avoiding unnecessary force, and guarding the sanctity of human life even in moments of self-defense.
Jacob’s inner anguish becomes the earliest biblical articulation of the “moral dilemma”: situations where every option carries a measure of wrong. Rabbi Sacks connects this to Abraham’s fear after battling the four kings, to the self-scrutiny of Israeli soldiers after the Six Day War, and to every moment when Jews must defend themselves without losing their moral compass.
Jewish greatness lies in feeling this tension — because those who can feel both fear and distress are those who protect the body without damaging the soul.
4. Violence, Society, and the Parable of the Tribes
The story of Dina confronts us with a terrifying truth: sometimes every option is tragic. Rabbi Sacks brings Andrew Schmookler’s “parable of the tribes”: even one violent actor can destabilize an entire region, forcing peaceful groups to choose between destruction, subjugation, withdrawal, or imitation.
The Torah’s brilliance is its refusal to offer easy judgments. Shechem is wicked, yet capable of love; Shimon and Levi act protectively, yet brutally; Jacob’s passivity reflects prudence but also paralysis. Violence spreads contamination through all the actors — a sobering portrait of what happens when moral norms collapse.
5. Collective Responsibility — But Not Collective Punishment
In the same episode, Rabbi Sacks highlights the debate between Rambam and Ramban about the guilt of Shechem’s townspeople. Maimonides sees a universal principle: societies must uphold justice, and bystanders who tolerate crime share moral responsibility. Ramban insists on nuance: failure to intervene does not justify mass execution.
Rabbi Sacks draws on Talmud, philosophy, and history (including Karl Jaspers’ reflections after WWII) to distinguish between responsibility and punishment. We may be answerable for what we allow, but that does not grant us license to become the executioner. Jacob curses his sons not because their outrage was wrong, but because their response crossed a moral threshold from justice into fury.
6. The Jewish Journey as Jacob’s Legacy
Finally, Rabbi Sacks turns to the defining metaphor of Jewish existence: the journey.
Abraham’s journey is heroic obedience.
Isaac’s is inner stillness.
Jacob’s is stumbling, wrestling, fearing, persevering.
Jacob becomes the father of Israel precisely because he is human: uncertain, flawed, burdened, yearning, yet unexpectedly lifted into moments of encounter with G-d. His visions — of the ladder and of the angel — emerge not in serenity but in dislocation. He is “surprised by G-d,” discovering that even in the darkest night, we are accompanied, guided, and held.
This becomes the Jewish story for millennia: a people forever travelling, rarely at rest, yet repeatedly discovering resilience, faith, and Divine presence in the hardest passages of their journey.
In Summary
Across all six essays, Rabbi Sacks paints Jacob as the archetype of the modern Jewish experience:
- wrestling with identity,
- confronting fear,
- navigating moral ambiguity,
- carrying responsibility for others,
- and finding G-d in the unpredictable, unplanned moments of the journey.
Jacob’s transformation into Israel is not a single event but a lifelong process — and one that continues within the Jewish people to this day.
📖 Sources
- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “The Jewish Journey”, Covenant & Conversation: Vayishlach
- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “Collective Responsibility”, Covenant & Conversation: Vayishlach
- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “Feeling the Fear”, Covenant & Conversation: Vayishlach
- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “No Longer Shall You Be Called Jacob”, Covenant & Conversation: Vayishlach
- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “Moral Dilemmas”, Covenant & Conversation: Vayishlach
- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “The Parable of the Tribes”, Covenant & Conversation: Vayishlach
Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook on Vayishlach
Wholeness, Struggle, and the Harmonizing Light of Israel
In Vayishlach, Rav Kook sees Jacob not merely as a patriarch in crisis but as the prototype of a nation struggling toward a higher harmony — uniting spirit and matter, holiness and everyday life, universal responsibility and covenantal identity. Across ten teachings, Rav Kook threads a single idea: Israel’s calling is to transform conflict into creativity, fear into growth, and fractured human drives into a single ascent toward the Divine.
1. Israel: The Name of Integration, Not Escape
Jacob’s renaming is not the erasure of “Jacob” but its elevation.
- Jacob (עקֵב)— holding the heel — symbolizes restraint, boundary, the mitzvot that preserve Israel from dissolving into the surrounding world.
- Israel (ישׂראל)— from sar, to lead — is the future radiance in which Israel influences humanity rather than being shaped by it.
Even in the future redemption, both names remain, for even the highest light must be anchored by the practical discipline of mitzvot. This dual identity is Jacob’s greatness: he learns to balance universality and distinctiveness, influence and integrity, embrace and boundary.
2. Wrestling With Esau: The Battle Over What Holiness Means
Jacob’s struggle with Esau’s angel represents the deeper world-debate:
Is sanctity compatible with ordinary human life — work, family, nature — or must holiness withdraw from the world?
Esau’s worldview says holiness is escapist and incompatible with material existence.
The angel’s blow to Jacob’s thigh — the source of progeny — symbolizes the claim that a spiritual life cannot sustain family, continuity, or realism.
Jacob’s victory proclaims the opposite:
holiness is meant to be lived in the world.
His Torah is the Torah of angels present within creation — not above it.
The enduring mitzvah of not eating the gid ha-nasheh becomes Israel’s perpetual protest against the worldview of domination, violence, and survival-by-strength that Esau represents. It affirms that holy life is moral life, refusing to sanctify power for its own sake.
3. Pillars and Altars: From Individual Greatness to National Purpose
Jacob’s return to Beit El marks a shift from the Avot to the emerging nation.
- Pillar (matzeivah) = one great light, one stone, one spiritual path — fitting for the patriarchal era.
- Altar (mizbei’ach) = many stones joined together — the era of the klal, where each tribe and individual brings a unique path into a shared service.
Jacob instructs his family to remove “foreign gods” and change their clothes — meaning: remove the ego and jealousy that make other Jews feel foreign. Externals divide, but the inner soul of Israel is one.
This altar of many stones becomes the blueprint for the Jewish people: unity through diversity, harmony through difference, one nation made of many spiritual colors.
4. Ox and Donkey: The Two Forces that Bring Redemption
Jacob’s message to Esau — “I have an ox and a donkey” — is code for the two Messiahs:
- Mashiach ben Yosef (the ox) — building the material foundations of Israel: security, economy, national structure.
- Mashiach ben David (the donkey) — bringing the final spiritual light.
Humanity is built of body and soul; so is the nation.
Israel falters when these forces despise each other — religious and secular, spirit and matter.
The national eulogy over the fall of Mashiach ben Yosef (Sukkah 52a) reveals the tragedy of this division.
Rav Kook insists:
Redemption only comes when body and soul work together.
Material strength prepares the vessel; spiritual greatness fills it.
5. Reliance on Miracles and the Path of Mature Faith
Jacob says, “I am unworthy of all the kindness…” — because miracles, while real, reduce one’s merits.
Rav Kook explains:
- Miracles make us passive, receivers rather than builders.
- Nature makes us active, creators of merit, participants in Divine work.
Even the most spiritual figures must not live in a world of constant miracles; to do so undermines human growth. Jacob’s fear reflects mature faith — trusting G-d without abandoning responsibility.
6. Jacob Arrives “Shalem”: The Harmony of Life’s Three Forces
“Jacob arrived whole (shalem)” — whole in body, wealth, and Torah.
Rav Kook reads this not quantitatively but holistically:
Jacob’s greatness was his ability to let each realm — health, livelihood, and spirituality — reinforce the others.
Instead of competing drives, Jacob uncovered the underlying unity behind them:
- the body supports the mind,
- wealth supports learning,
- spirituality elevates both.
Jacob is the ish tam, the complete human being, whose wholeness teaches that the true Torah path is integration, not ascetic fragmentation.
7. Ancient Agronomists: Why Canaan Needed to Be There First
Why were the morally corrupt Canaanites the first inhabitants of the Land?
Because, says Rav Kook, the land itself had to be prepared.
Their entire culture — earthy, rooted, agrarian — allowed them to develop profound expertise in cultivating olives, grapes, figs.
- Olive — beauty and radiance
- Grape — joy
- Fig — physical sweetness
Though spiritually primitive, their agricultural mastery created the economic foundation for the future nation who would elevate these gifts through Torah.
Their removal was inevitable: a coarse culture cannot hold the land forever. But their labors prepared the soil for Israel’s higher destiny.
8. Reuben’s Sin: Why the Torah Uses Such Strong Language
Rav Kook explains why the Torah states Reuben “lay with Bilhah” when he merely moved Jacob’s bed:
The Torah intentionally clothes the story in morally jarring language so later generations will feel the seriousness of even subtle disruptions to holiness and family harmony.
The Written Torah gives emotional impact;
the Oral Torah gives exact truth.
Together they reveal the spiritual sensitivity of Jacob’s home — where even slight disturbances echo as distant moral tremors throughout Jewish history.
Rav Kook's Vision of Vayishlach
Across these teachings, a single Rav Kook worldview emerges:
- Holiness belongs inside life, not outside it.
- Israel must harmonize diversity into a single service.
- Strength and gentleness, material and spiritual, Jacob and Israel — all must unite.
- Violence, ego, and domination are rejected in favor of moral courage.
- History is purposeful: even the Canaanites prepare the land for holiness.
- Redemption is a partnership: body and soul, Yosef and David, nature and miracle.
Jacob becomes Israel not by escaping struggle but by transforming it — turning conflict into clarity, fear into depth, and fragmentation into a higher wholeness.
This is the light Rav Kook finds in Vayishlach:
the emergence of a people who can live in this world without losing the next, and elevate the world precisely by dwelling within it.
📖 Sources
Vayishlach — Lessons for Life
Vayishlach is not just a story of ancient fear, angels, and brothers in conflict — it’s a mirror for our lives now. Yaakov’s journey back home becomes a guide for how to face anxiety, power, identity, family tension, and the messy work of growth. These are some of the ways the parsha can walk with you into real decisions, real relationships, and real avodah today.
1. When You’re Afraid, Do Three Things
Yaakov’s template never gets old:
- Prepare practically
- Pray honestly
- Soften the other side where you can
Rashi, Rambam, and Ralbag together say: bitachon doesn’t cancel hishtadlut. If you’re facing a hard conversation, a health scare, financial pressure, or communal conflict:
- Make a sober plan (divide the “camp,” think through scenarios).
- Daven from a place of “katonti” — humbled by past kindness, not entitled to future miracles.
- Add a “doron”: a gesture of generosity: a kind email, a small gift, a soft opening line.
Faith is not “it’ll be fine”; faith is “I’ll act fully, and Hashem is with me in this.”
2. Stop Trying to Be Esav
Ramban, Rabbi Sacks, and Rav Kook all circle one danger: Jacob wanting to be Esav.
Today that might sound like:
- “If only I didn’t stand out so much as a Jew.”
- “If only I could just melt into the culture around me.”
But “Yisrael” means: walk upright as yourself.
This doesn’t mean rejecting the world; it means:
- Learn from the best of general culture without imitating its gods.
- Be professionally excellent, but don’t mortgage your neshama for success.
- Wear your Jewishness openly — in schedule, values, speech, boundaries.
A simple litmus test: Is this choice bringing me closer to my mission as a Jew, or just making me feel less awkward in front of Esav?
3. Power, Defense, and the Pain of Being Right
From Yaakov’s distress about killing, to Shimon and Levi’s rage, to Dina and Shechem — the parsha refuses to romanticize violence.
Taken together, Rambam, Ramban, Ralbag, Rabbi Sacks, and Rav Kook teach:
- Self-defense is necessary and halachically mandated.
- But necessary does not mean morally neutral.
- A Jew should never enjoy another’s downfall, even when justified.
- Collective responsibility ≠ collective punishment.
Applied:
- When Israel fights, we daven not only for victory but for clean hands and minimal harm.
- In personal life, when you “win” an argument, check if you also damaged someone unnecessarily.
- Any time you say, “I had no choice,” ask: Was there really no way to reduce the damage?
A Jewish neshama should feel both fear of being hurt and distress at possibly hurting others. That tension is a feature, not a bug.
4. Wrestling With Your Own Esav
Chassidus, Ralbag, and Rabbi Sacks all turn the wrestling match inward: everyone has an Esav.
In practice:
- Notice which parts of you you’d rather exile — anger, jealousy, laziness, desire, doubt.
- Instead of pretending they’re not there, wrestle them: journal, learn, speak to someone wise, bring them into davening.
- Accept that real growth leaves a limp. You may carry scars, habits, history — and still be “Yisrael.”
5. Build an Integrated Life — Not a Split One
Rav Kook’s “shalem” and Jacob as ish tam dismantle the idea that you must choose: either money or Torah, health or kedushah.
Application for today:
- See your work as part of avodas Hashem — with integrity, kindness, and a sense of service.
- Protect your body (sleep, food, movement) as a kli for Torah and mitzvos.
- Let your Torah learning shape how you email, invoice, parent, and speak — not just how you daven.
When you feel torn between roles — parent, earner, learner, community member — ask:
“What is the bigger truth these pieces are trying to serve?”
That question itself is walking as “Yisrael.”
6. Unity Without Sameness: Many Stones, One Mizbei’ach
From Rashi and Ramban, to Rav Kook’s altar of many stones, to Rabbi Sacks’ modern tensions — we get a hard truth: Klal Yisrael is diverse by design.
Practically:
- Stop treating “my flavor of Yiddishkeit” as the only legitimate one.
- Assume that other Jews — with different hashkafos, dress, politics, learning styles — are also genuinely serving Hashem from their place.
- Fight the yetzer hara that turns “different” into “foreign.”
A simple move:
- In any Jewish space, find one thing you genuinely admire about a group not like you, and say it out loud (or at least to yourself).
7. Don’t Live on Miracles — Live With Them
From Rambam, Ralbag, and Rav Kook:
- Don’t put yourself in reckless situations and call it bitachon.
- Don’t expect your parnassah, shidduch, or ruchniyus to arrive via lightning bolt.
- Let miracles be the exception; let consistent effort in a G-d–suffused world be the norm.
Application:
- Make realistic budgets and say Tehillim.
- Go to the doctor and ask for a brachah.
- Improve your middos and ask Hashem for heavenly help.
We’re not meant to be spiritual adrenaline-addicts. We’re meant to be steady builders whom Hashem occasionally lifts in visible ways.
8. Read Your Life Like Torah
Rav Kook’s approach to Reuven, Rashi’s sensitivity to Deborah, Ramban and Rabbi Sacks on genealogies — all train us to take small narrative details seriously.
In your life:
- If a small event stings more than seems “rational,” ask what deeper theme it’s touching.
- If the same pattern repeats (in work, dating, community), don’t just say “bad luck”; read it like a parsha. What is Hashem underlining?
- Treat your story as text with commentary: pshat (what happened), drash (what it might mean), and halachah (what I need to do now).
In short:
Vayishlach invites us to live as Yisrael:
- planning like Ralbag,
- trusting like Rambam,
- feeling moral tension like Ramban and Rabbi Sacks,
- integrating life like Rav Kook,
- and wrestling honestly like the Baal Shem Tov and Sfas Emes.
Not perfect, not painless — but whole enough to say:
“I wrestled, I limped, I grew — and I’m still walking with Hashem.”
Rashi on Parshas Vayishlach — Commentary
Rashi’s commentary on Vayishlach opens the inner world beneath one of the Torah’s most emotionally charged narratives. With his signature blend of precision and midrashic depth, Rashi uncovers the fears, strategies, spiritual struggles, and family dynamics shaping Yaakov’s return to the Land. He explains why Yaakov sends angels, what truly happens in the night-long wrestling, how to understand the moral tension of the Shechem episode, and why moments of loss — Rachel, Deborah, Rivkah — appear quietly between the lines. Rashi also illuminates the complex genealogy of Esav, showing how spiritual identities ripple outward into nations and empires. Through his lens, Vayishlach becomes not just a story of conflict and reconciliation, but a profound study of identity, destiny, and the hidden movements of Divine providence within human choices.
I. YA’AKOV PREPARES TO MEET ESAV (32:4–21)
Themes: Fear & strategy, prayer and vulnerability, humility, diplomacy, repentance, the psychology of confrontation.
וַיִּשְׁלַח יַעֲקֹב מַלְאָכִים לְפָנָיו
“Yaakov sent messengers ahead of him…” (32:4)
- Rashi: “Mal’achim” = actual angels, not human messengers.
- Concept: Yaakov’s fear is real — but he mobilizes spiritual resources. He confronts danger directly.
עִם לָבָן גַּרְתִּי
“I lived with Lavan…” (32:5)
- Rashi: “Garti” (גרתי) = “I lived as a stranger,” not a prince — hint of humility.
- Also gematria of 613 — Yaakov kept all mitzvos even under Lavan.
- Concept: Integrity in exile; righteousness in hostile environments.
וַיִּירָא יַעֲקֹב מְאֹד
“Yaakov was very afraid…” (32:8)
- Rashi: Afraid he might be killed; distressed he might have to kill.
- Concept: A tzaddik fears moral compromise more than physical harm.
וַיַּחַץ אֶת הָעָם… לִשְׁנֵי מַחֲנוֹת
“He divided the camp into two…” (32:8–9)
- Rashi: Tactical preparation — if one is struck, the other escapes.
- Concept: Realistic hishtadlus alongside prayer.
קָטֹנְתִּי מִכָּל הַחֲסָדִים
“I am unworthy of all the kindnesses…” (32:11)
- Rashi: Yaakov fears sin might have diminished his merit.
- Concept: Humility before Hashem’s chesed; gratitude.
וַיִּקַּח… מִנְחָה לְעֵשָׂו
“He took a gift for Esav…” (32:14–22)
- Rashi:
- A massive, carefully staged diplomatic gift.
- Staggered groups to “impress and soften” Esav.
- Concept: Appeasement as wisdom; peacemaking without capitulating.
II. THE WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL (32:22–33)
Themes: Identity, struggle, spiritual ascent, the birth of “Israel,” wounding and growth.
וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ
“Yaakov remained alone…” (32:25)
- Rashi: Returned for “small vessels.”
- Concept: Even small possessions matter when honestly earned; tzaddikim value integrity.
וַיֵּאָבֵק אִישׁ עִמּוֹ
“A man wrestled with him…” (32:25)
- Rashi: The “man” = Esav’s angel (Sar shel Esav).
- Wrestling = spiritual conflict between good & evil, Israel & Edom.
- Concept (expanded):
- Night symbolizes exile.
- The angel cannot defeat Yaakov — Jewish eternity.
- The struggle precedes dawn: redemption emerges from adversity.
וַיִּגַּע בְּכַף יֶרֶךְ יַעֲקֹב
“He touched the socket of his thigh…” (32:26)
- Rashi: Angel injures the sciatic nerve — origin of Gid HaNasheh.
- Concept: Even victorious struggle leaves scars; suffering shapes identity.
לֹא אֲשַׁלֵּחֲךָ כִּי אִם־בֵּרַכְתָּנִי
“I will not let you go unless you bless me…” (32:27)
- Rashi: Forcing the angel to acknowledge Yaakov’s legitimacy — correcting Esav’s slander.
- Concept: Truth must be affirmed even by one’s adversary.
שִׂמְךָ… יִשְׂרָאֵל
“Your name shall be Israel…” (32:29)
- Rashi: “Yaakov” = one who comes from behind; “Israel” = prince, noble.
- Concept: Transformation through struggle; earned identity.
III. THE REUNION WITH ESAV (33:1–20)
Themes: Reconciliation, cautious peace, humility, peace diplomacy.
וַיִּשָּׂא עֵשָׂו עֵינָיו… וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתוֹ
“Esav ran to meet him…” (33:4)
- Rashi: There is a debate:
- Some say Esav embraced sincerely.
- Others say he bit him — but Yaakov’s neck miraculously hardened.
- Concept: The paradox of Esav — affection mixed with hostility.
לָמָּה אֶמְצָא־חֵן בְּעֵינֵי אֲדֹנִי?
“Why have I found favor…?” (33:8–11)
- Rashi: Yaakov insists Esav accept the gift — proof of good will.
- Concept: Peace requires concrete gestures, not words alone.
עַד אֲשֶׁר אָבוֹא אֶל אֲדֹנִי שֵׂעִירָה
“Until I come to my lord, to Seir.” (33:14)
- Rashi: Yaakov never actually went; the verse refers to the future — the Messianic era (Ovadiah 1:21).
- Concept: Full reconciliation is eschatological.
וַיִּחַן אֶת־פְּנֵי הָעִיר
“He encamped before the city.” (33:18)
- Rashi: He improved the city — established coinage, markets.
- Concept: The tzaddik elevates civic life.
IV. DINAH, SHECHEM, AND THE REVENGE (34:1–31)
Themes: Sanctity, justice, national survival, moral outrage, the cost of violence, covenantal identity.
וַתֵּצֵא דִינָה
“Dinah went out…” (34:1)
- Rashi: She inherited a tendency to “go out” from Leah (29:17).
- Concept: Exposure carries risk; choices have generational echoes.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב אֹתָהּ וַיְעַנֶּהָ
“He violated her…” (34:2)
- Rashi: “He humbled her” — degrading act.
- Concept: Torah speaks bluntly about moral wrong.
וַיִּתְעַצְּבוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים
“The men were grieved…” (34:7)
- Rashi: Because “an abomination was committed in Israel.”
- Concept: Violating daughters of Israel is a national defilement.
הִתְנוּ אִתָּם בְּהִמּוֹל לָכֶם כָּל זָכָר
“Only on this condition…” (34:15)
- Rashi: The brothers’ demand for circumcision was tactical, not religious.
- Concept: They exploit covenantal language against exploiters.
שִׁמְעוֹן וְלֵוִי… וַיַּהַרְגוּ כָּל־זָכָר
“Shimon and Levi slew all the males…” (34:25)
- Rashi: Their act was strategically possible because all men were weak after the circumcision.
- Concept: Justice vs. excessive vengeance — a major moral tension.
עֲכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי
“You have troubled me…” (34:30)
- Rashi: Yaakov fears national reprisals.
- Concept: Sometimes moral zeal outpaces prudence.
הַכְּזוֹנָה יַעֲשֶׂה אֶת־אֲחוֹתֵנוּ?!
“Shall he treat our sister like a harlot?!”
- Rashi: They defend their honor; no explicit rebuttal by Yaakov.
- Concept: The Torah leaves moral ambiguity unresolved.
V. RETURN TO BET EL; RACHEL’S DEATH; REUVEN (35:1–29)
Themes: Vows and delay, purification, national destiny, mourning, continuity, leadership.
קוּם עֲלֵה בֵּית־אֵל
“Arise, go up to Bet El…” (35:1)
- Rashi: Yaakov delayed fulfilling his vow; Dinah’s tragedy was punishment.
- Concept: Delay in spiritual commitments carries consequences.
הָסִירוּ אֶת אֱלֹהֵי הַנֵּכָר
“Remove the strange gods…” (35:2)
- Rashi: These were idols taken from Shechem’s spoil; also change garments.
- Concept: Purification before encountering holiness.
אֵל בֵּית־אֵל
“El-Bet El” (35:7)
- Rashi: Hashem revealed His Presence there; examples of omitted prefix “בּ”.
- Concept: Divine presence sanctifies spaces.
וַתָּמָת דְּבוֹרָה
“Deborah died…” (35:8)
- Rashi: She had been sent by Rivkah to summon Yaakov; second mourning refers to Rivkah’s death.
- Concept: Hidden griefs in the Avos narrative.
שִׁמְךָ… יִשְׂרָאֵל (again)
Second renaming — reaffirmation (35:10)
- Rashi: Confirms nobility; not a trickster.
- Concept: Identity solidified.
פְּרֵה וּרְבֵה… גּוֹי וּקְהַל גּוֹיִם
“Be fruitful… a nation and assemblage of nations…” (35:11)
- Rashi:
- Nation = Binyamin
- Nations = Menashe & Ephraim (tribes counted as nations)
- Kings yet to come
- Concept: Future political destiny.
וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן… בֶּן־אוֹנִי / בִּנְיָמִין
Rachel dies → names her son (35:16–20)
- Rashi:
- “Ben-Oni” = son of my sorrow.
- “Binyamin” = son of the South, or son of my days.
- Concept: Death and birth intertwined; loss becomes legacy.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב רְאוּבֵן
Reuven interferes with the bed (35:22)
- Rashi:
- He did not commit a sexual sin; he moved Yaakov’s bed out of protest for his mother.
- Scripture counts it as if he sinned because he disturbed the order.
- Concept: Motives vs. actions; moral nuance.
וַיִּגְוַע יִצְחָק
“Isaac died…” (35:29)
- Rashi: Torah not in chronological order — Yitzchak actually died after Joseph was sold.
- Concept: Torah arranges narratives by theme, not time.
VI. GENERATIONS & KINGS OF ESAU (36:1–43)
Themes: Identity of nations, spiritual lineage, the meaning of Edom, the greatness of Avraham, destiny of Seir.
אֲדָה / בָּשְׂמַת / אָהֳלִיבָמָה
Esav’s wives (36:2–3)
- Rashi:
- Names changed; Basemath from “incensing idols.”
- Oholibamah originally “Judith,” changed to deceive Yitzchak.
- Concept: Identity manipulation; spiritual dissonance in Esav’s house.
תִּמְנָע הָיְתָה פִילֶגֶשׁ
“Timna was a concubine…” (36:12)
- Rashi (expanded):
- She sought to attach herself to Avraham’s descendants — greatness of Avraham.
- Also a case of complex lineage (Seir’s wife + Eliphaz).
- Concept: Desire to cling to holiness even among outsiders.
הַמְּלָכִים… לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
Kings of Edom before Israel had kings (36:31)
- Rashi: 8 kings; paralleled by the 8 kings in early Israel who nullified Edom’s rule.
- Concept: Historical interplay of Israel–Edom destinies.
מַגְדִּיאֵל — זוֹ רוֹמִי
“Magdiel is Rome” (36:43)
- Rashi: Rome grows from Edom.
- Concept: Edom → Rome → Exile; long arc of Jewish history.
📖 Source
Ramban on Parshas Vayishlach — Commentary
Ramban’s commentary to Parshas Vayishlach reads the encounter with Esav, the struggle with the mysterious “ish,” the Dinah episode, and the Edomite genealogies not as isolated stories but as a map of Jewish history in exile. He is consistently attentive to peshat, but almost always layers it with historical, halachic, and mystical implications: Yaakov’s threefold strategy of prayer, gifts, and war becomes a paradigm for how Am Yisrael must navigate Edom; the nocturnal wrestling becomes both a concrete event and a remez to generations of persecution; the Dinah–Shechem story forces a careful re-examination of bnei Noach law, justice, and moral responsibility; the move to Bet El, the deaths of Rivkah and Devorah, and the renaming to Yisrael deepen the portrait of Yaakov as the bearer of the covenant; and even the long list of Esav’s descendants and Edomite kings is read as a theological key to the rise of Rome and the fourth kingdom. The following Master Notes outline Ramban’s major comments, step by step through the parsha, highlighting his language, his debates with Rashi and Rambam, and his larger vision of Vayishlach as a blueprint for Jewish destiny under Esav.
I. 32:4–32:30 – Yaakov’s Preparation and the Night Struggle
32:4 – Purpose of the Esav Episode
- Ramban opens by saying this whole parsha is written to show:
- How Hashem saved Yaakov (“He sent an angel and rescued him from someone stronger than him”).
- How Yaakov did not rely on his own tzidkut, but used every natural means as well.
- Model for Jewish history:
- “What happened to Yaakov with Esav” is a template for what happens to us with “bnei Esav”.
- We must prepare in three ways:
- Tefillah
- Dorons / gifts
- Hatzalah b’milchamah – tactical escape, war preparedness.
- Chazal already say this in Midrash; Ramban expands it as ongoing galus-Edom strategy.
32:4 – “אֶל־עֵשָׂו אָחִיו אַרְצָה שֵׂעִיר”
- Peshat: Since Yaakov is coming from the south (where Yitzchak lives) and must pass near Edom, he fears Esav will hear and come out, so he initiates contact.
- Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah): Hashem “complains” that Yaakov woke up a sleeping dog – Esav was “going his own way,” and Yaakov went and stirred him.
- Ramban’s historical parallel:
- This hints to later history: Chashmonaim made alliances with Rome, went to seek their help – and that led to us falling into Roman hands.
32:5 – “כֹּה תֹאמְרוּן לַאדֹנִי לְעֵשָׂו… עִם לָבָן גַּרְתִּי”
- Yaakov orders the messengers to say “לַאדֹנִי עֵשָׂו” and “עַבְדְּךָ יַעֲקֹב”:
- Either: “We belong to my lord Esav,” or “we were sent to him.”
- Emphasis: always refer to Esav respectfully, even when he’s not there.
- Why such deference?
- Cultural norm: younger brother honors the firstborn like a father.
- Yaakov had taken the bechorah and berachah, but now acts as if he still sees Esav as bechor, calling him “my lord” to disarm Esav’s hatred.
32:6 – “וָאֶשְׁלְחָה לְהַגִּיד לַאדֹנִי”
- Rashi (quoted then adjusted by Ramban):
- Rashi: “I have sent to tell my lord that I am coming to find favor in your eyes.”
- Ramban’s peshat:
- It refers back to “וַיְהִי לִי שׁוֹר וַחֲמוֹר…”:
- “I have sent to tell my lord that I have wealth and precious things, to dispose of according to your will.”
- Hints that he will send Esav a gift or let Esav take whatever he wants.
- Later, when Esav asks, “מִי לְךָ כׇּל הַמַּחֲנֶה הַזֶּה” Yaakov says, “לִמְצֹא חֵן.”
32:7–8 – The Messengers Return; Yaakov Fears
- The Torah skips over the actual delivery speech; Ramban notes that’s because it adds nothing.
- “וְגַם הֹלֵךְ לִקְרָאתֶךָ”:
- “Just as you go toward him, he is coming toward you; you will meet soon.”
- Why is Yaakov very afraid?
- They report Esav is coming with 400 men.
- Ramban suggests Esav didn’t even receive the messengers properly:
- Likely they never got an actual audience.
- No greetings, no questions about Yaakov’s welfare.
- They only see the camp mobilizing and deduce he’s coming to meet – in hostility.
- Midrash they echo: “We came to your brother… to Esav” – you treat him like a brother, he acts like Esav the rasha.
- In the end, Esav’s heart is softened when he sees Yaakov’s extraordinary respect and repeated bowing — Hashem “turns hearts”.
32:9 – “וְהָיָה הַמַּחֲנֶה הַנִּשְׁאָר לִפְלֵיטָה”
- Peshat: A tactical calculation:
- While one camp is attacked, the other can flee; maybe Esav’s anger will cool or Hashem will save some.
- Chazal: A lesson in prudent risk management – don’t leave all your assets in one place.
- Deeper layer: Yaakov knows Esav will not annihilate all his descendants:
- There will always be some “camp that escapes.”
- Historical hint: Esav’s children (Edom) will never succeed in total destruction:
- One kingdom will persecute Jews in one region, another will give refuge elsewhere.
32:11 – “קָטֹנְתִּי מִכׇּל הַחֲסָדִים…”
- Rashi: “My merits have been diminished by the kindnesses You’ve already done; perhaps sin made me lose protection.”
- Ramban: pushes back:
- Hard to read the word “קָטֹנְתִּי” as “I have become diminished” in merit.
- Also, Yaakov later leans explicitly on Hashem’s promises – which wouldn’t make sense if he assumed sins had totally cancelled them.
- Ramban’s reading:
- “קָטֹנְתִּי” = “I am too small / unworthy of all these chasadim and emet.”
- חֲסָדִים = unpromised kindnesses (extra gifts).
- אֱמֶת = kindnesses tied to His promises, faithfully fulfilled.
- He confesses unworthiness for both: the promised good and the “bonus” kindnesses.
- Onkelos rendering (“all the mercies and all the good”):
- Ramban suggests Onkelos may be linking “mercies” with rescue, and “good” with lasting blessings like children, wealth, honor.
32:13 – “וְאַתָּה אָמַרְתָּ הֵיטֵב אֵיטִיב עִמָּךְ”
- Even though Yaakov fears that sin could cause him to lose protection, he still invokes the promises:
- Hashem already did great kindnesses when Yaakov was not deserving.
- So He can surely uphold this promise now as well.
- The original promise wasn’t based on Yaakov’s merits, but on Hashem’s mercy; therefore, sin can’t fully cancel it.
32:14 – “וַיִּקַּח מִן הַבָּא בְיָדוֹ מִנְחָה”
- The gift is drawn from what he has on hand, mostly flocks and herds (he is on the road, not in a city with silver/gold stock).
- He’s not sending jewelry or “klei kesef u’klei zahav,” but animals – what he actually owns in that moment.
32:17 – Spacing Between Droves
- “וְרֶוַח תָּשִׂימוּ בֵּין עֵדֶר וּבֵין עֵדֶר”
- Tactical: to maximize psychological impact – Esav will be impressed by the size and repeatedness of the gift.
- Midrashic hint:
- Yaakov prays that if troubles come on his children, they come with intervals, not all at once.
- Ramban: this hints that taxes and tributes Edom will impose on us will have breaks and pauses.
32:21 – “אֲכַפְּרָה פָנָיו בַּמִּנְחָה” – What is Kapparah?
- Root כפר tagged to:
- Sin → “atonement.”
- Anger → “appeasing.”
- Rashi/Onkelos: “I will calm his anger.”
- Ramban: concept of כפרה is fundamentally removal / erasure or ransom:
- Linked to כופר נפש – ransom for the soul.
- Peshat here:
- Yaakov’s messengers are meant to say: the gift is a ransom for Yaakov’s life, to gain the right to see Esav’s “kingly face.”
- This frames Esav as a “king”, elevating his status in speech to soothe him.
32:22–23 – Yaakov Lodges in the Camp
- “וְהוּא לָן בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא בַּמַּחֲנֶה”:
- He doesn’t sleep in a private tent but stays with the camp, armed and arrayed like a man of war, expecting a possible night attack.
- 32:23–24:
- Ramban explains the crossing logistics: he ferries everyone, then returns and stays behind, which sets up “וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ.”
32:25 – “וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ… וַיֵּאָבֵק אִישׁ עִמּוֹ”
- Rashi’s Midrash: he went back for small jars.
- Ramban’s peshat:
- “וַיַּעֲבֵר אֵת אֲשֶׁר לוֹ” – he sends everyone across via his command and remains alone on the near side.
- On the word “וַיֵּאָבֵק”:
- Menachem: from עפר / אבק – they stir up dust.
- Ramban: possibly from חיבוק (embracing/grappling), or Aramaic אביקה = binding/loops, with letters א/ח interchanging.
- Connection to “אבוקה” (torch) as bound twigs.
- Onkelos uses “וְאִשְׁתַּדֵּל” – effort/struggle.
- Chazal (Bereshit Rabbah): “Who became full of dust? The man with him” ↔ supports Menachem’s dust reading.
- Ramban: that midrash is ikar peshat – physical grappling, raising dust.
32:26 – “וַיַּרְא כִּי לֹא יָכֹל לוֹ”
- Angels are “גיבּוֹרֵי כֹחַ” who loyally do Hashem’s word; he literally cannot harm Yaakov beyond what he is commanded – dislocating the thigh.
- Midrash: he “touched all the tzadikim” of future generations:
- Especially a generation in which Esav (Rome) nearly uproots Torah Jewry → shmad under Rome.
- Ramban connects this to the persecutions of Chazal’s era (Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava etc.) and similar later persecutions.
- The key: we are struck, but survive, hinted in “וַיָּבֹא יַעֲקֹב שָׁלֵם.”
32:30 – “לָמָּה זֶּה תִּשְׁאַל לִשְׁמִי”
- Angel: knowing my name does nothing; only Hashem can be called upon for rescue.
- He blesses Yaakov because he is commanded to.
- Ramban: Torah doesn’t record content of the berachah; Midrash says he conceded the legitimacy of the earlier brachot given by Yitzchak.
II. 33:5–20 – Meeting Esav, Succoth, and Shechem
33:5 – “מִי אֵלֶּה לָּךְ”
- Esav asks about the women and children.
- Yaakov modestly answers: “הַיְלָדִים אֲשֶׁר חָנַן אֱלֹקים אֶת עַבְדֶּךָ” – he doesn’t say explicitly “my wives.”
- Esav infers they are the mothers.
33:8 – “מִי לְךָ כׇּל הַמַּחֲנֶה הַזֶּה”
- The servants followed Yaakov’s instructions, but Esav apparently didn’t speak with them.
- Maybe arrogance; maybe they feared approaching him.
- Esav sees the animals and asks “what is all this?”
- He already assumes they belong to Yaakov (from the first report).
- Yaakov’s reply: it’s “לִמְצֹא חֵן” – acknowledging Esav as “my lord,” reinforcing the humility.
33:10–11 – “כִּי עַל כֵּן רָאִיתִי פָנֶיךָ כִּרְאֹת פְּנֵי אֱלֹקים”
- Yaakov: take the gift because:
- Seeing your face is like seeing the face of an angel, since you accepted me and my gift.
- “וַתִּרְצֵנִי” – you have taken pleasure in me, parallel to Hashem accepting offerings:
- “וְנִרְצָה לוֹ,” “עֹלוֹתֵיכֶם לְרָצוֹן.”
- Rashi: “You’ve pardoned my sin.”
- Ramban: Yaakov shouldn’t mention guilt; better to frame it as favor and pleasure, not atonement.
33:11 – “קַח נָא אֶת בִּרְכָתִי”
- “Birchati” here = gift, not brachah in the spiritual sense.
- Parallel: “עֲשֵׂה עִמִּי בְּרָכָה” (bring me a gift), “קַח בְּרָכָה מֵאֵת עַבְדֶּךָ.”
- Why “berachah”?
- A voluntary gift from one’s own wealth, acknowledging “אֲשֶׁר בֵּרַכְךָ ה’.”
- Obligatory tribute is called “מַס”, not “berachah.”
33:13–14 – Children and Flocks
- “וּצֹאן וּבָקָר עָלוֹת עָלָי” – Yaakov speaks compassionately:
- He avoids saying “they will all die”; he doesn’t want that phrase hanging over his children.
- Could mean: the small livestock (צאן) would die if overdriven; big cattle (בקר) would be harmed but not die.
- “עַד אֲשֶׁר אָבוֹא אֶל אֲדֹנִי שֵׂעִיר”:
- Not a vow; either:
- He might pass that way later and Esav could accompany him, or
- He says it just to get distance.
- Midrash: promise will be fulfilled only in days of Mashiach – “וְעָלוּ מוֹשִׁעִים בְּהַר צִיּוֹן לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת הַר עֵשָׂו.”
33:15 – Refusing Esav’s Escort
- “לָמָּה זֶּה” – Why this favor that I don’t need?
- Yaakov wants no escort, since he is planning a different route and doesn’t want dependence on Esav.
- Chazal in Bereshit Rabbah:
- Rabbi Yanai would study this parsha before going to Rome and never accepted Roman escort on the way back.
- Once he forgot, did accept them, and ended up selling his cloak as bribe.
- Yaakov’s behavior is a model for handling Edom/Rome politically.
33:17 – Succoth: House and Booths
- Either:
- There was no city; he had to build a house and booths for his animals.
- Or he built a fortified home, a defensive tower against Esav.
33:18 – “וַיָּבֹא יַעֲקֹב שָׁלֵם…”
- Not just “came safely” but:
- He’s finally at peace from Lavan and Esav.
- Ramban notes:
- Until entering Eretz Canaan he did not feel secure.
- Succoth (perhaps east of the Jordan) is still within range of Esav.
- Only once in Chevron’s region (land of Yitzchak’s sojourning) does he feel that local merit and presence protect him.
- Midrash: For months in Succoth he kept sending presents similar to the original gift – ongoing appeasement of Esav.
33:18–19 – Encamping Before the City
- “וַיִּחַן אֶת פְּנֵי הָעִיר”:
- He doesn’t want to enter as a temporary lodger; first he wants his own property.
- Buys field → hint that this place will later be conquered first by his descendants (parallel to Avraham’s purchases).
- Midrash: he arrived Erev Shabbat, set techumei Shabbat → shows he kept Shabbat before Sinai.
33:20 – “וַיִּקְרָא לוֹ אֵל אֱלֹקי יִשְׂרָאֵל”
- Not naming the altar “Elokei Yisrael” – he is naming it in honor of Hashem:
- “He Who is Kel is the G-d of me, Yisrael.”
- Parallel: Moshe’s altar “ה’ נִסִּי”.
- Chazal: Hashem Himself calls Yaakov “el” (a mighty one).
- Ramban: Names in Israel often embed praise of Hashem (Zuriel, Immanuel, etc.); so too angels (Gavriel, Michael).
- Onkelos: “And he worshipped on it before Kel, the G-d of Israel.”
- Sod: Yaakov is part of the Merkavah; “the G-d of Israel called him el.”
III. 34 – Dinah and Shechem
34:1 – “בַּת לֵאָה… אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה לְיַעֲקֹב”
- “Bat Leah” → to show she is sister of Shimon and Levi, who will avenge her.
- “Asher yaldah l’Yaakov” → all the brothers are involved; she is daughter of Yaakov, not just Leah.
34:2 – “וַיִּשְׁכַּב אֹתָהּ וַיְעַנֶּהָ”
- Rashi: natural vs. unnatural relations.
- Ramban: any forced relation is “affliction”:
- Examples: “תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר עִנָּהּ,” “וַיְעַנְּעוּהָ וַתָּמׇת.”
- Torah emphasizes: Dinah was forced and did not consent, even though he was the local prince.
34:7 – “וְכֵן לֹא יֵעָשֶׂה”
- Rashi (via Midrash): nations had “fenced themselves” against immorality after the Flood.
- Ramban: that’s not accurate historically – Canaan was steeped in arayot, bestiality, etc.
- Better reading: “בְיִשְׂרָאֵל”:
- It’s a base act in Israel, not necessarily among Canaanites.
- Onkelos: “It is forbidden to do this” – hence it is particularly vile for Israel.
34:12 – “מוֹהַר וּמַתָּן”
- Mohar: the bridal price normally given for a virgin.
- Matan: gifts (clothing, silver, gold) to her father and brothers.
- Goal: convince them willingly to give Dinah as wife – Shechem knows she doesn’t consent, so he tries to buy goodwill.
- Dinah’s beauty:
- Ramban: Torah doesn’t describe her beauty explicitly (unlike Sarah/Rivkah/Rachel) to avoid “blaming” her or highlighting the “stumbling block.”
- Her later life is left unelaborated; Ramban surveys midrashim (e.g., Shimon “took her,” she died in Egypt and was buried in Eretz Yisrael).
34:13 – “בְּמִרְמָה” – With Subtlety
- Yaakov does not answer Hamor/Shechem; sons speak in his place (out of respect, given the shame).
- Problem: They answer in his presence – does that mean he agreed?
- Ramban: Yes, the crafty plan (demanding circumcision) seems to have his consent:
- They assume the people won’t agree to circumcise.
- Backup plan: if they do circumcise, brothers will rescue Dinah on day 3.
- All the brothers agree to the ruse; Shimon and Levi go beyond it to mass-killing.
- Why is Yaakov angry and later curses only Shimon and Levi?
- Because they killed all the men; most were innocent of the actual act.
- They should have killed Shechem alone (or maybe Hamor too), not wipe out the city.
Ramban vs. Rambam on Bnei Noach / Shechem’s Liability
- Rambam (Hil. Melachim): Bnei Noach must appoint judges; failure to prosecute a violator is itself a capital offense.
- People of Shechem deserved death because they did not try Shechem for robbery.
- Ramban’s critique:
- If so, Yaakov should have taken the initiative; if he feared them, why later rebuke his sons?
- And why curse their anger if they had fulfilled a mitzvah?
- Ramban’s view of “Dinim”:
- Not just a positive mitzvah of appointing judges.
- It includes the whole civil/criminal code: theft, damage, wages, arayot, etc.
- Violating a prohibition gets death; failing a positive like appointing judges doesn’t.
- So what about Shechem?
- The city was wicked in general (idolatry, arayot, etc.), but Yaakov isn’t obligated to punish them.
- Shimon and Levi, though, saw them as guilty and took vengeance.
- Yaakov’s anger is about:
- Endangering the family (neighbors could attack).
- Killing men who, after hearing “we will dwell and be one people,” might have eventually converted or repented.
- Hidden war:
- Some midrashim (and “Milchamot Bnei Yaakov”) describe wars with locals afterward.
- Ramban: Torah alludes via “חִתַּת אֱלֹקים” – surrounding cities fear them and don’t unite to destroy them.
34:21–23 – Political Sales Pitch & Mikneh
- “הָאֲנָשִׁים הָאֵלֶּה שְׁלֵמִים הֵם אִתָּנוּ”:
- Locals probably viewed Yaakov’s camp as threatening; Hamor reassures them.
- “מִקְנֵהֶם… וְכׇל בְּהֶמְתָּם”:
- Mikneh = herd animals in the field (main economic base).
- “Kol behemtam” may either:
- Be a general emphasis (“all their animals”), or
- Refer to non-herd livestock.
IV. 35 – Bet El, Idols, Deaths, Reuven, and Yitzchak
35:1 – “קוּם עֲלֵה בֵית־אֵל… וְשֵׁב שָׁם”
- “Shev sham” – Ramban wonders what it adds:
- Possibly: stay there initially for purification from:
- Idols taken from Shechem.
- Tumah from contact with corpses.
- Compare: “חֲנוּ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים.”
- Yaakov actually preempts this by purifying before going up:
- Removing foreign gods, washing, changing garments.
35:4 – Burying the Idols
- Halachah: idolatry must be destroyed, not simply buried.
- Ramban resolves:
- Sons likely nullified the idols first; once nullified, they are only ritually undesirable, not assur b’hana’ah.
- For sanctity before worship, Yaakov has them removed and buried in a place where land isn’t tilled.
- This suffices as “hid them” spiritually, since the goal is purity before G-d, not halachic destruction as such.
35:8 – Deborah’s Death & Rebekah’s Death (Hinted)
- Question: Why is Deborah’s death inserted between building the altar and Hashem’s appearance?
- Midrashic answer:
- It hints to Rivkah’s death:
- “Alon bachut” – double weeping: for Deborah and for Rivkah.
- Rebekah died with no proper honor:
- Yaakov away, Esav hostile, Yitzchak blind.
- Buried at night; not mentioned explicitly to avoid public shame (“mother of Esav”).
- Hashem appears afterward to bless/console Yaakov (like He did for Yitzchak after Avraham’s death).
- Deborah’s presence:
- Might be Rebekah’s original nurse who returned later to serve Yaakov’s children; or a different nurse from Lavan’s house.
- Either way, her death triggers the hint at Rivkah’s passing.
35:10 – “שִׁמְךָ יַעֲקֹב… לֹא יִקָּרֵא שִׁמְךָ עוֹד יַעֲקֹב”
- Angel had already named him Yisrael; Hashem clarifies:
- The angel was not authorized to change his name; now Hashem formally confirms.
- “Lo yikarei od Yaakov” doesn’t mean it is forbidden to call him Yaakov; rather:
- Yisrael becomes his primary covenantal name, added on top of Yaakov.
35:12 – The Land Promise and the Oath
- “וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ… לְךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה”:
- Parallel with Avraham & Yitzchak: land given with an oath so sin won’t fully cancel it.
- Until now, Yaakov had the promise without explicit oath; this re-statement may add that level.
- Elsewhere Tanach refers consistently to “the land I swore to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov” – this moment solidifies that.
35:13 – “וַיַּעַל מֵעָלָיו אֱלֹקים”
- Same language as with Avraham.
- Shows this was not just a dream but a manifestation of Shechinah.
- Sod: Hashem “rises from this place” → allusion to “Baruch kevod Hashem mimkomo” and the Avot as merkavah.
35:14–15 – Pillar and Naming Bet El Again
- Ibn Ezra: he had already set up a pillar earlier; now he pours nesekh and oil on it.
- Re-naming Bet El:
- Repeating the name shows it is truly Bet El – a place where Shechinah consistently rests (not a one-time event).
- Like re-affirming “Be’er Sheva” by both Avraham and Yitzchak.
35:16 – “כִּבְרַת הָאָרֶץ”
- Ramban eventually rejects the “long distance” or “morning to meal” measure after seeing the actual geography near Beit Lechem.
- He concludes:
- “Kivrat” is some small measured unit of land, like a “bath” or modern mile.
- The kaf may be part of the root, not comparative.
- Geography and “Ramah”:
- Rachel’s grave is not in Ramah; the pasuk “Kol beramah nishma” is metaphor:
- Her weeping is heard in Ramah, high in Binyamin’s portion.
35:18 – “בֵּן־אוֹנִי… בִּנְיָמִין”
- Rachel: “Ben-oni” = “son of my mourning”, like “lechem oni.”
- Yaakov reinterprets “oni” as strength:
- “Reishit oni,” “ein lehem koach.”
- So “Binyamin” = “son of the right hand” → strength, success (right hand symbol).
- He wants to retain her naming but recast it for tov, not sorrow.
- Ramban rejects Rashi’s “south” explanation based on geography.
35:22 – Reuven and Bilhah, and “Bnei Yaakov Shneim Asar”
- Torah juxtaposes Reuven’s sin with the count of twelve sons:
- Shows Yaakov does not disown Reuven or strip him of sonship, even though the bechorah is later removed.
- He doesn’t expel him from the house or inheritance.
- Peshat motivation:
- Possibly fear of Bilhah bearing more children and affecting Reuven’s double portion.
- Measure-for-measure: he loses the bekhorah because of that.
35:28 – Isaac’s Death Placement
- Torah is not chronological:
- Yitzchak’s death occurs after the sale of Yosef.
- Stylistically:
- Torah tends to finish one generation (children + death) before moving on, even if events overlap.
- Here, delaying Yitzchak’s death narrative allows us to see he died:
- “B’seivah tovah,”
- After Yaakov returned,
- And that Esav and Yaakov together bury him.
V. 36 – Esav’s Wives, Edom’s Genealogies, and Future Edom
36:2–3 – Esav’s Wives and Name Variants
- Adah = Basmath? Oholibamah = Judith?
- Rashi: yes, Esav changes names to look more presentable to Yitzchak.
- Ramban raises issues:
- Different fathers named (Be’eri vs. Anah).
- “Basmath” used both as a name and as a descriptor (incense burner).
- Ramban’s possible resolution:
- Earlier wives (Judith, Basmath) may have died childless.
- Esav then marries her sister Adah and additionally Oholibamah.
- Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath’s name may have been changed to “Basmath” because:
- “Mahalath” sounds like “illness;”
- “Basmath” (from besamim) sounds more pleasant.
- Midrash: Mahalath = mechilah; Esav’s sins are “pardoned” upon this marriage, as part of his attempt at teshuvah.
36:6–7 – Esav Moves Away
- This move happens after Yaakov returns from Haran and settles.
- Esav had been in Seir already earlier (“Eretz Seir, sedai Edom”), but:
- At that stage, his family still remained in Canaan.
- Once Yaakov is back:
- Esav voluntarily vacates Canaan, recognizing it as his brother’s inherited land via the brachah.
- He gathers his household and settles firmly in Seir, fighting the Horites and eventually becoming dominant.
- “Vayelech el eretz” – Ramban: should be read “el ha’aretz,” i.e., the already-mentioned Eretz Seir; Torah sometimes omits the definite article like this.
- “Eretz megureihem”:
- Refers specifically to their city of sojourning (Chevron), not the entire Canaan which could support many more people.
36:9 – “Eleh toldot Esav avi Edom b’har Seir”
- These genealogies refer to the generations after Esav’s final move to Seir.
- Esav himself had already fathered sons (Eliphaz, Re’uel) earlier; now the Torah tracks the grandsons and their positions in Seir.
- Oholibamah’s sons – though born in Canaan – are included because they become chiefs in Seir as well.
36:12 – Timna, Eliphaz, and Amalek
- Torah uniquely tells us Timna’s name:
- Chazal: she was a noblewoman (sister of chief Lotan).
- She wanted to attach herself to Avraham’s family so badly that she was willing to be only a concubine to Eliphaz.
- Ramban’s structural point:
- Torah is not listing mothers for all sons.
- It highlights Timna because Amalek is not counted among Esav’s legitimate “zera” in Seir:
- He’s from a concubine.
- He doesn’t dwell as part of the regular “children of Esav” in Seir.
- Halachic implications:
- “Lo tetav Edomi” applies to all known Edomites in Seir, not to Amalek.
- Amalek, son of the concubine, is the exception whom we’re commanded to hate and wipe out.
- Long technical discussion:
- Chronicles listing Timna among sons of Eliphaz, and Korach’s double attributions.
- Ramban offers that:
- Timna in Chronicles may be the son, renamed Korach when he becomes a chief.
- Or Chronicles compresses “Timna v’Amalek” as “to Timna – Amalek.”
- His preferred reading: Eliphaz had 7 sons + Amalek, and name shifts reflect illegitimacy / foster-raising and editorial conventions.
36:20–26 – Seir the Horite, Timna, and Anah
- “Seir ha’Chori”:
- Original nation named after their ancestor Chori.
- Named “Seir” because of the land (possibly tied to Esav’s “hairiness”), but the text differentiates Seir the Horite from Seir the Edomite.
- “Lotan’s sister was Timna”:
- Scriptural pattern: we sometimes give sisters’ names (Na’amah, Serach, Tamar).
- She’s highlighted because of her connection to Amalek.
- “Anah who found the yeimim in the desert”:
- Talmudic view: yeimim = mules; he discovers cross-breeding of donkey and mare.
- Onkelos: translates yeimim as strong men/warriors:
- Anah heroically rescues his father’s asses from bandits.
- Ramban mentions an alternative midrash about incest (Zibeon and his mother) and double listing of Anah, but says that’s not peshat.
36:26 – Dishan vs. Dishon
- Torah tweaks spelling “Dishan” vs. “Dishon” to distinguish:
- Dishon son of Anah vs. Dishon/Dishan son of Seir.
- Like “Hiram / Hirom” – same basic name, slightly variant.
36:31–39 – Kings of Edom Before Israel’s Kings
- Purpose: demonstrate that Yitzchak’s brachah “וְעַל חַרְבְּךָ תִחְיֶה” is fulfilled:
- Esav’s descendants conquer Seir and have kings over regions like Bozrah, Teman, etc.
- “Before any king reigned in Israel”:
- Means long before the monarchy.
- Ramban rejects the idea that this is a long-range prophecy listing future kings.
- Likely all these Edomite kings existed and died before Matan Torah.
- Non-dynastic:
- Kings do not come from father to son.
- Some reigns are short: “Shnei r’sha’im yikatzru” – the years of the wicked are short.
36:35 – Hadad Who Smote Midian
- “Who smote Midian in the field of Moav”:
- Ramban: this verse highlights his prowess – Midian came to attack Moav, Hadad defeats them.
- Ba’al-Hanan:
- His name may mean “lord of Hanan” (a place), or he’s from the same region as Sha’ul of Rechovot haNahar.
36:40–43 – The Later Chiefs and Magdiel → Rome
- At first: descendants are chiefs; later kings; then the monarchy ends, and they go back to chiefs.
- “According to their families, after their places, by their names”:
- Earlier chiefs: several brothers might share one city.
- Later chiefs: each chief rules his own family and area like a regional king (but without royal trappings).
- Some say this list is prophetic; Ramban disagrees – all happened pre-Sinai.
- Magdiel:
- Rashi: “This is Rome.” Ramban questions how a single “chief” could equal the vast Roman empire.
- Draws from Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer and Daniel:
- The ten chiefs hint to ten kings of Edom in the fourth kingdom.
- “Magdiel” (מגד-אל) = exalting himself above all power → the overreaching Roman/Esavian ruler.
- “Iram” – “heaping up” wealth that will one day go to Melech HaMashiach.
📖 Source
R. Ovadiah Sforno on Parshas Vayishlach — Commentary
Sforno’s reading of Vayishlach is strikingly coherent: the parsha becomes a map of Jewish survival — political, moral, spiritual, and eschatological. He sees Yaakov’s encounters with Esav, the mysterious angel, Shechem, Beis-El, Rachel’s death, Reuven’s sin, and Esav’s kings as interconnected signals of what will happen to Israel from ancient times through the end of days.His commentary weaves together shrewd political insight, deep theology, and a pronounced concern for national destiny.
1. Yaakov’s Strategy and Prayer — A Template for Survival
Sforno reads Yaakov’s fear and preparation as an act of political intelligence paired with spiritual realism.
Yaakov’s message to Esav
- He sends angels to gauge Esav’s intentions; this is reconnaissance, not courtesy.
- Yaakov emphasizes his delay (“אחר עד עתה”) to avoid appearing triumphant or arrogant.
- He highlights his wealth because, says Sforno, he assumes Esav will rejoice at his brother’s success — a charitable reading that proves false.
The report of 400 men
- The messengers say Esav “is coming toward you with 400 men” — a phrase Sforno notes always implies hostility (cf. Edom in Bamidbar 20:20).
Dividing the camp
- Not merely a tactical split:
- Camp 1 will delay Esav as he “gorges on the loot.”
- Camp 2 will either escape or fight.
The prayer
Sforno sees in Yaakov’s tefillah the original template for the Shemoneh Esrei:
- Praise (אלקי אבי אברהם…)
- Humility (קטונתי מכל החסדים)
- Argument from Hashem’s promises —
- If Esav kills Yaakov’s family, Hashem’s promise of countless offspring collapses.
- If Yaakov escapes but loses his children, “הכני אם על בנים” — devastation.
Yaakov argues that Hashem must save them for the sake of His Name, even if they do not deserve it — the source of the liturgy “עשה למען שמך.”
2. The Gifts and Messaging — Psychological Diplomacy
Sforno highlights Yaakov’s extraordinary mastery of diplomatic optics:
The gift is crafted to impress
- Every herd is balanced with proper male/female ratios
→ signaling sustainable blessing, not just a one-time gift.
Spacing between herds
- To create an aura of magnitude and strategic beauty.
Coordinated messaging
- Each shepherd gives the same answer:
- “These are Yaakov’s, a gift to my lord Esav.”
- “Yaakov is behind us.”
This gives Esav the impression Yaakov is literally coming to greet him in Seir, not avoid him.
Sforno sees this as deliberate self-humbling to defuse Esav’s hatred — a strategy he explicitly says Israel must use in every generation under Edom.
3. The Mysterious Angel — Prophecy of Jewish History
Sforno’s reading here is profound and allegorical:
The wrestling was an angel’s mission
- Hashem sent the angel to teach Yaakov that salvation comes after struggle, with suffering in the interim.
Why does the angel wound him?
- Yaakov momentarily “digressed” from focusing on Hashem, troubled by future sins of his descendants.
- This lapse allows the angel to strike — symbolizing:
Many future generations of Israel will sin and suffer injury.
The blessing at daybreak
- Daybreak signifies redemption.
- The angel’s blessing is a summary of Jewish history:
- struggle,
- injury,
- endurance,
- ultimate triumph.
The name Israel
- “לא יעקב יאמר עוד שמך” refers to the end of days —
when Israel survives the destruction of all other nations. - At that time the name “Yaakov,” which connotes “heel,” i.e. final survivor, becomes obsolete — because the prophecy is fulfilled.
4. Dawn and Gid Ha-Nasheh — National Wounds and Memory
Sunrise heals him
- Symbolic of the final redemption (Malachi 3:20: “שמש צדקה ומרפא”).
- After the struggle — healing.
Why the mitzvah to avoid the gid ha-nasheh?
Two reasons:
- A reminder of future national suffering — keeping the damage minimal through remembrance.
- Its tastelessness teaches:
- do not dismiss a mitzvah as trivial;
- even small commandments protect spiritual continuity.
5. The Encounter With Esav — Political Realism
Sforno reads the reconciliation scene as a model for Jewish life under Esav (Rome/Christianity).
“וירץ עשו” — a sudden change of heart
Why did Esav soften?
Because Yaakov humbled himself.
Sforno connects this to the destruction of the Second Temple:
- Had the “בריונים” (extremists) acted like Yaakov — bending like a reed — the Temple would not have been destroyed.
Yaakov declines Esav’s escort
He politely refuses because:
- the children are tender
- the livestock will die from overexertion
- he does not trust Esav’s company, though he couches it in honorable language.
6. Shechem — Outrage, Punishment, and Moral Complexity
Sforno navigates the Dinah–Shechem episode with nuance.
Dinah’s abduction
- Sforno notes this was heinous even by Canaanite standards for daughters of prominent families.
- The brothers’ grief is moral, not personal.
Negotiations
Sforno exposes:
- Shechem wants Dinah partially because she is “בת יעקב”— a prestigious family.
- Chamor promises economic gain from Israelite settlement: a political merger.
Shimon and Levi’s deception
- “במרמה” — they demanded circumcision expecting refusal.
- They viewed Shechem’s offer as “אתנן זונה,” a bribe after defilement.
Why the entire city?
Shechem’s rape could only occur if:
- the city already normalized abduction and rape of women
→ “ויראו בני האלהים את בנות האדם…ויקחו להם נשים” — a society like the pre-Flood generation.
Thus Sforno argues the city was guilty of accepted wickedness.
Yaakov’s critique
Two concerns:
- Political danger:
The nations will view Israel as oath-breakers (“להבאישני”) because the men circumcised themselves in trust. - Shimon and Levi’s counterargument:
- Not to avenge Dinah would make her appear a harlot.
- In a land where honor is paramount, Israel would be morally degraded.
Sforno lets both voices stand — teaching the complexity of justice when living among corrupt nations.
7. Return to Beis-El — Purification, Vows, and Revelation
Spiritual preparation
- “ושב שם” — before building the altar, Yaakov must compose his mind, like the early pious men who “waited an hour” before prayer.
Removal of idolatry
- Even though the idols of Shechem were technically voided and permitted, Yaakov demands total inner and outer cleansing.
Mourning Deborah
- Sforno emphasizes: the Shechinah departs during sorrow.
- Only after “אלון בכות” does G-d reappear.
Renewal of the name Israel
This moment initiates the beginning of Israel’s authority even outside the land:
“כל מקום שהלכו נעשו שרים לאדוניהם” —
wherever Yaakov goes, he becomes a prince.
Global Kingship
- “לזרעך אחריך אתן את הארץ” —
Sforno reads this as the entire earth, at the end of days. - He cross-references Bilam:
- “וקרקר כל בני שת” — Israel will uproot all remnants of humanity’s corrupt ideologies.
8. Rachel’s Death and Binyamin’s Birth
Fear of a female birth
- Sforno brings the Talmud: birth pangs of females are greater.
- The midwife reassures Rachel that the child is a son.
The monument
- Built because the grave is on a public road, susceptible to desecration.
9. Reuven and Bilhah — Sin, Teshuvah, and Heavenly Judgment
- Sforno insists: Reuven did not lose his spiritual status before Heaven.
He repented immediately. - He lost the physical firstborn rights only when Yaakov formally removed them at the end of his life.
- This parallels laws of excommunication: punishment only takes effect when enacted by authority.
10. Esav’s Kings and Chiefs — The Rise and Fall of Edom
Sforno reads Chapter 36 as a political prophecy.
Why repeat “Esav is Edom”?
- To reveal his lifelong addiction to base desires — symbolized by “red, red stuff.”
Esav’s marriage to Oholivamah
- Through her, Esav gains access to Seir.
- His descendants ultimately exterminate the original Horites — fulfilling Deut. 2:22.
Edomite kingship
- They repeatedly import foreign kings because:
- None of their own are worthy,
- None produce heirs suited for rulership.
Contrast with Israel
- Hashem promises Yaakov:
- “מלכים מחלציך יצאו” —
Israel will always produce its own legitimate kings.
Why list the Horite chiefs and heroes?
- To show that despite their strength, they fell to Esav —
proof of Divine orchestration.
Why identify chiefs by location?
- Their personal names lacked dignity; what mattered was their territory.
Sforno’s Vision of Vayishlach — In Summary
Sforno’s commentary creates a sweeping picture of Jewish destiny:
- Political humility and strategic intelligence are essential for surviving Esav.
- Suffering and injury are part of a long arc that ends in healing and redemption.
- The name Israel signals a future in which Israel alone remains among nations.
- Moral outrage and political prudence must be balanced in a corrupt world.
- Purity, preparation, and gratitude enable Divine revelation.
- Teshuvah restores spiritual standing, even if earthly consequences remain.
- Edom’s rise and fall foreshadows the eventual collapse of all nations before Israel’s eternal destiny.
Sforno reads Vayishlach as the blueprint of Jewish survival from exile to redemption, from Yaakov’s limp to the dawn of the end of days.
📖 Source
Abarbanel on Parshas Vayishlach — Commentary
Abarbanel reads Vayishlach as a master-class in fear vs. faith, political strategy, honor, and long-range Jewish destiny.
He frames the parsha through questions: Why does Yaakov act as he does? How much is diplomacy, how much is bitachon, and how much is “signs” for future generations living under Esav/Edom?
1. Yaakov Sends Messengers to Esav (32:4)
Abarbanel’s Core Questions
- Who are the “angels” that meet Yaakov (32:2–3)?
- Why does Yaakov send messengers to Esav at all?
- Why such extreme humility: “לאדוני לעשו… עבדך יעקב… עם לבן גרתי”?
- Why does the Torah not record Esav’s verbal reply—only that he is coming with 400 men?
- How can Yaakov fear Esav after explicit promises of protection?
- If he is afraid, why doesn’t G-d now say “אל תירא יעקב,” as He did to Avraham and Yitzchak?
Angels & “Two Camps”
Two readings of “מלאכי אלקים”:
- Real angels in a prophetic vision
- They surround him as a sign that danger lies ahead and Heaven is sending protection.
- Human messengers / caravans arranged by Providence
- Travelers he “bumps into” who inform him Esav is on his route; they are “messengers of G-d” in the sense that G-d orchestrates the encounter.
“מחנה אלקים זה… מחנים” – Yaakov realizes he now travels with two camps:
his own household, and a “camp of G-d” assigned to shield him from Esav.
Why Send Messengers At All?
a. Honor and image management
- Yaakov fears Esav will see him arrive suddenly as a ragged refugee and be ashamed of such a brother.
- So he explains in advance:
- “עם לבן גרתי” – I lived under the protection of our powerful uncle, not as a vagrant.
- “ויהי לי שור וחמור…” – I am not coming empty-handed to beg.
b. Reconnaissance
- If Esav stays quietly in Seir, danger is lower.
- If the messengers find him leaving his land and marching directly toward Yaakov, that signals hostility.
- The emissaries are therefore also a military probe.
Alternative Motive: Softening the Brachah/B’chorah Grievance
- By calling Esav “אדוני” and himself “עבדך יעקב,” Yaakov signals:
- He does not claim the blessings to threaten Esav’s status.
- He left to fulfill his parents’ command to marry, not to flee justice.
- His wealth is hard-earned, natural wealth, not miraculous bounty stolen via the blessings.
Why No Recorded Answer from Esav?
- The only “answer” the Torah cares about is the movement of troops:
- “וגם הולך לקראתך וארבע מאות איש עמו.”
- For Abarbanel, actions here speak louder than words; the military movement is the real reply.
Fear vs. Promise
- Yaakov’s fear does not mean he doubts the prophecy.
- It shows the tension between:
- Natural, bodily fear, and
- Rational / spiritual trust in G-d.
- Because Yaakov’s inner bitachon remains intact, there is no need for a fresh “אל תירא יעקב”; the earlier promises still govern.
2. Yaakov’s Fear, Strategy, and Tefillah (32:8, 18)
Core Questions
- How can “ויירא יעקב מאוד” coexist with total trust in G-d?
- What is the point of splitting into two camps?
- What is the logic of the tefillah’s wording and order?
- Why is there still no new reassurance from G-d at this moment?
Fear vs. Faith – Abarbanel’s Psychology
- Yaakov is the model gibbor:
- The body fears danger (that is the “necessity of matter”).
- The intellect and emunah choose to walk into danger because G-d commanded him home.
- Like a soldier afraid of death but still going to battle, or someone tempted by sin whose mind overrules desire:
- Fear is the human response.
- Bitachon is the spiritual decision to proceed anyway.
Because the promise is not doubted, G-d does not need to repeat “אל תירא”; the first nevuah suffices.
The Two Camps and the Yabok Plan
- Abarbanel reads the division tactically:
- There are two “property camps”; wives and children are primarily in one.
- Yaakov moves the family across the Yabok to the side he thinks Esav is less likely to approach.
- The other camp, mainly flocks, stays on the side he expects Esav to hit first.
Strategy:
- If Esav meets that front camp:
- He may think this is all Yaakov owns and focus on plunder or battle.
- Meanwhile, the family camp gains time and cover.
- Hence the prayer’s focus:
“פן יבוא והכני אם על בנים” – his deepest fear is for the children.
In Providence, G-d brings Esav straight to the family camp, forcing reconciliation rather than escape; both camps survive intact.
Structure of the Tefillah
- Zechut Avot – “אלקי אבי אברהם ואלקי אבי יצחק”
He appeals first to his fathers’ merit. - Reminder of the promise – “ה' האומר אלי שוב לארצך… ואיטיבה עמך”
Shifting from pure din to rachamim. - “קטונתי מכל החסדים…” – Abarbanel’s read
- Not “my merits have shrunk,” and not simply “I am unworthy of what You’ve done.”
- Rather:
- The promise “ואיטיבה עמך” cannot primarily be material; he already has more than fits a man like him:
“כי במקלי עברתי… ועתה הייתי לשני מחנות.” - So the deeper “good” must be protection of life and seed.
- Therefore the heart of the request:
- “הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד עשו…” – This is the “היטב איטיב” You pledged.
- Second appeal to the promise –
“ואתה אמרת היטב איטיב עמך ושמתי את זרעך כחול הים…”- If countless descendants are promised, G-d is “obligated,” so to speak, to guard the present camp from annihilation.
Why Sleep There? Why No Vision That Night?
- “וילן שם בלילה ההוא”:
- He sleeps in the open, near Esav – a sign of trust.
- He hopes for prophetic clarification, but none comes.
- Abarbanel suggests:
- Over-humbling himself to Esav (“עבדך יעקב,” excessive dependence on diplomacy)
- and/or splitting the camp in a way that looks like doubting protection
may have made him less fit in that moment for fresh nevuah.
- Guidance instead comes through the wrestling episode the next night.
3. The Doron Strategy & Messenger Scripts (32:18)
Questions
- Why the elaborate scripted Q&A: “למי אתה… ואנה תלך… ולמי אלה לפניך”?
- What if Esav doesn’t ask—do they still hand over the gift?
- What does “אכפרה פניו במנחה” mean?
Conditional Gift, Hidden Test
- Yaakov is not simply sending presents; he’s testing Esav’s stance.
If Esav asks:
- “למי אתה… ולמי אלה לפניך?” – that shows some openness to relationship.
- Then they answer:
- “לעבדך ליעקב, מנחה היא שלוחה לאדוני לעשו והנה גם הוא אחרינו”
- and they give the gift.
If Esav rides past without a word:
- That indicates a closed, hostile posture.
- In that case they do not hand over the doron; the gift is reserved and Yaakov prepares for war.
Repeated instructions to the “second, third, and all who follow” ensure:
- Consistent messaging (“כדבר הזה תדברון”), and
- A constant reminder that “גם הנה עבדך יעקב אחרינו” – Yaakov is not fleeing; he is willing to meet Esav face-to-face.
“אכפרה פניו במנחה…”
Two ways Abarbanel frames it:
- Torah’s narration of Yaakov’s calculation
- If Esav desires the gift, accepting it will soften his anger.
- If he spurns it, that rejection itself exposes his hostility; the gift can be withheld, and Heaven will decide whose “face is lifted.”
- Yaakov’s own inner language
- The doron is like a korban for a social wrong:
- He wronged Esav by not seeing him for twenty years.
- “אחרי כן אראה פניו, אולי ישא פני” –
Maybe then Esav will be willing to see me; without pre-appeasement my arrival would only inflame him.
4. Wrestling with the Malach (32:25)
Core Questions
- Was this a dream vision or a waking event?
- Who is the “man” and why does he want to leave at dawn?
- Why demand a blessing and receive a new name—again?
- What is the meaning of the wound and of gid ha-nasheh?
Peshat: Real, Physical Struggle
- Yaakov remains alone to finish moving belongings.
- A “man” attacks and wrestles with him all night:
- Real physical grappling; when he fails to overpower Yaakov by strength, he resorts to a precise strike to the hip.
- Even wounded, Yaakov does not let go.
- The attacker urges: “שלחני כי עלה השחר”:
- On peshat: You must go now to meet Esav; prolonging this will only harm you.
Yaakov refuses to release him without a “blessing”:
- Abarbanel: this is a demand for acknowledgment of victory.
- The blessing is the name change to Yisrael – no longer merely “עקב” (outwitting), but a noble prince who triumphs by strength and spiritual stature.
Not Just a Dream
Abarbanel rejects the “it was only a dream” approach:
- The Torah stresses his physical limp afterward; the injury is too concrete.
- He names a place Peni-el; we don’t rename geography over private dreams.
- “כי ראיתי אלקים פנים אל פנים ותנצל נפשי” refers both to:
- Encounter with a divine emissary,
- And being saved from a real attempt on his life.
Symbolic: Sar Shel Esav and Jewish History
- The “man” is the guardian angel of Esav/Edom (parallel to the “princes” of Persia/Yavan in Daniel).
- The drama encodes the entire future of Edom vs. Yisrael:
- The malach cannot defeat Yaakov →
Edom can never annihilate Israel. - He does injure the hip →
He wounds the “extension” of Yaakov—future generations, especially the tzaddikim (“כף הירך”). - Night = long exile; Dawn = geulah.
At “dawn,” Edom will beg release from Israel’s dominance.
- Yaakov’s insistence on a blessing means:
- In the end of days, Esav/Edom will be forced to acknowledge that the brachot of Yitzchak were rightly Yaakov’s.
Gid Ha-Nasheh
- The later prohibition commemorates this vision:
- We bodily mark the message that Esav may wound but never destroy, and that the limp is temporary — “ויזרח לו השמש” — the sun rises to heal.
5. The Meeting with Esav (33:1)
Family Arrangement & Bowing
- Yaakov trusts G-d’s promise and the wrestling message: he does not arm for war now.
- He arranges the family:
- Maidservants and their children first,
- Then Leah and her children,
- Rachel and Yosef last – “אחרון אחרון חביב.”
- He himself goes ahead of everyone, bowing seven times like a servant before a king.
This display of humility melts Esav’s anger:
He runs, embraces, kisses, weeps—old brotherly emotion briefly overwhelms hatred.
“הילדים אשר חנן אלקים את עבדך”
- When Esav asks about the entourage, Yaakov answers only about the children, not the wives:
- Out of embarrassment at having four; he fears a mocking, “You, the tzaddik, needed four, while I, Esav, took only three?”
- Let Esav assume some are nurses or relatives.
Dialogue Over the Gift
Esav: “מי לך כל המחנה הזה אשר פגשתי?”
- He has seen only the doron and thinks it might be all Yaakov owns.
- He wonders why Yaakov would give away so much.
Yaakov: “למצוא חן בעיני אדני.”
- The gift is not because Esav needs it; it is for Yaakov’s own spiritual benefit.
Esav’s reply: “יש לי רב אחי, יהי לך אשר לך.”
Two possibilities:
- Straightforward: “I’m wealthy; keep your own wealth.”
- Almost joking: “I already have a great brother (רב אחי); why would I also take his money?”
Yaakov’s response (two layers):
- Korban model
- “על כן ראיתי פניך כראות פני אלקים” –
Just as a korban is offered for the offerer’s sake, not because G-d “needs” it,
so this gift is for my spiritual repair. - “קח נא את ברכתי אשר הובאת לך… כי חנני אלקים וכי יש לי כל.”
- He calls it “ברכתי” to downplay it as a small “blessing,” not a fortune.
- Since it was brought from afar for you, refusing it now would be embarrassing for both of us.
- I am not losing; G-d has made me whole.
- Allusion to the brachot
- Esav hinted: “יש לי רב אחי.”
- Yaakov answers:
- “קח נא את ברכתי אשר הובאת לך” –
Take, symbolically, the blessing you felt was yours; I already “have everything” from G-d regardless.
Under gentle insistence, Esav accepts: “ויפצר בו ויקח.”
“עד אשר אבוא אל אדני שעירה”
- Abarbanel: the verse is “mesuras” (rearranged) in meaning:
- “יעבור נא אדני לפני עבדו שעירה –
let my master go on ahead to Seir.” - “ואני אתנהלה לאיטי לרגל המלאכה… עד אשר אבוא אל אדני” –
“Adoni” here refers to Yitzchak, not Esav.
- Reason:
- Father and elder brother share the title “אדני.”
- Yaakov never promises to visit Esav in Seir; he pledges only to move slowly until he reaches his true “master,” Yitzchak.
Guards from Esav?
- Esav offers: “אציגה נא עמך מן העם אשר אתי” – let me leave men with you.
- Yaakov replies: “למה זה אמצא חן בעיני אדני”:
- If I really have your favor, I need no guards.
- Your goodwill itself is my protection; escorts would only signal ongoing danger and subservience.
Maaseh Avot Siman L’Banim
- Abarbanel expands the episode into a template for Jewish history under Edom:
- Yaakov’s dread of Esav ↔ Israel’s dread of Christian/Western powers.
- Triple response – tefillah, doron, and readiness for milchamah – becomes the survival strategy of every generation.
- Early attempts to “make treaties” with Edom (like sending messengers and forming covenants) foreshadow later alliances with Rome that eventually backfire.
- Esav never destroys Israel, but repeatedly wounds the “hip” – the Torah leadership and Beit HaMikdash generation.
- Esav’s kings rule first (“אלה המלכים אשר מלכו בארץ אדום לפני מלך מלך לבני ישראל”), while Yaakov “moves slowly” through exile until the final day when:
- “ועלו מושיעים בהר ציון לשפט את הר עשו והיתה לה' המלוכה.”
6. Yaakov in Shechem & the Dina Episode (33:18, 34:6)
- Geography: “Shechem” = a whole district; Dina is attacked in Shalem, one edge of it, while Yosef later goes to a different section nearer Chevron.
- “ויחן את פני העיר”: camping right by the city is one of the divinely arranged circumstances that make the story possible.
- Buying the field from Chamor:
- First he merely camps; then, after protest, he insists on buying.
- Chamor’s sons visit the camp to negotiate, see Dina, and become obsessed.
- “אל אלקי ישראל”:
- Yaakov does not call the stones “G-d.”
- He proclaims on that altar that the unique, direct G-d of Israel (without a star or angel intermediary) is the true El.
- Defending Dina & Leah:
- Leah is modest; Dina’s going out is innocent curiosity about the local girls’ clothing, not promiscuity.
- “בנות הארץ,” not “בני העיר.”
- Shechem’s triple crime: “ויקח… וישכב… ויענה” = kidnapping, violation, and total coercion.
- Why the entire city is liable; what “במרמה” really means; how Shimon and Levi carry out the attack;
Yaakov’s political critique vs. the brothers’ honor argument;
and why Hashem’s “terror on the cities” shows partial approval – all of that you have in the previously structured Dina section.
7. Command to Go to Beit-El and the Second Naming (35:1)
- Why leave Shechem?
- It is dangerous; one must not rely on miracles.
- Beit-El is the correct place to fulfill the vow from the ladder dream.
- Removing foreign gods and purifying – no spoils of idolatry can accompany worship.
- D’vora’s death signals also Rivka’s passing and is mourned with “double weeping.”
- Hashem appears “again” in Beit-El to:
- Confirm the name “Yisrael” (without erasing “Yaakov”).
- Promise more children, kings, and full national share in the land.
- Re-validate the original ladder vision as true prophecy.
- “ויעל מעליו אלקים” – G-d ends the nevuah abruptly, perhaps to withhold details of future Edomite oppression hinted by the hip wound.
- Yaakov repeats his earlier acts (matzeivah, oil, naming Beit-El) now with certainty, thereby fully discharging his neder.
8. The Generations of Esav (36:1)
- Why this long genealogy?
- To define who “Edom” is for “לא תתעב אדומי כי אחיך הוא.”
- To mark Amalek as a separate, uniquely cursed line.
- To contrast Esav’s worldly success with Yaakov’s spiritual purity.
- Why Esav leaves Canaan:
- Originally he hunted in Seir alone.
- After Yitzchak’s death and the growth of both herds, the land cannot support both; Esav moves permanently to Seir, effectively conceding Canaan to Yaakov.
- Mamzerut and boundary-breaking:
- Several lines (Oholivama, Timna, etc.) are marked in Chazal as morally corrupted; even their animals are cross-bred improperly.
- Opposite of Israel’s “כלו זרע אמת.”
- Dukes and kings:
- Esav’s line rises quickly—אלופים, then מלכים.
- Their kingship is unstable, non-hereditary, sometimes importing foreign rulers (“שם עירו…”).
- Chazal link the eight Edomite kings to stages of Israel’s monarchy and Edom’s subjugation.
- Final takeaway:
- Esav receives real, impressive blessing—power, land, titles—fulfilling “על חרבך תחיה.”
- But it is morally compromised and unstable.
- Yaakov’s descendants, fewer in titles but “זרע אמת,” are the true carriers of the covenant, land, and enduring kingship of G-d.
Abarbanel's commentary reads Vayishlach as a study in strategy, psychology, and providence—showing how Yaakov’s dilemmas become Israel’s enduring pattern: human vulnerability operating within a divinely guided destiny.
📖 Source
Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshas Vayishlach — Commentary
War, Fear, Gifts, and the Great Inner Battle: Yaakov’s Strategy for Life
For Rav Avigdor Miller, Vayishlach is not only the story of a fraught reunion between two brothers. It is a blueprint — a Torah guidebook — for how the Jew faces conflict, danger, temptation, fear, and the unpredictable forces of the outside world.
Through seven different Toras Avigdor discourses, a unified picture emerges: Yaakov Avinu is the model of the Jew who fights the right war, gives the right gifts, fears the right fear, and prays the right tefillah. His battle with Eisav, his wrestling with the angel, his retrieving of “pachim ketanim,” and his three-pronged preparation strategy form the foundation of a lifelong avodah.
1. Wrestling the Yetzer: The Night-Battle That Never Ends
The mysterious being who attacks Yaakov at night is more than a supernatural adversary. Chazal identify him as the sar shel Eisav — but Rav Miller reframes the malach as the eternal yetzer hara of every Jew.
The wrestling is total:
- No letting go, no matter how many times he knocks you down.
- The gid hanasheh becomes a national symbol of lifelong vigilance — a reminder that the yetzer returns again and again from different angles.
- Hashem’s message echoes the warning to Kayin: You will fall — but you must rise. You must not loosen your grip.
The result is the paradox of Jewish greatness:
The tzaddik is the one who falls and fights again.
Defeat is not the fall — defeat is refusing to resume the struggle.
2. Esav the Disturbed: Calmness as the Foundation of Avodas Hashem
Why does Eisav leave Eretz Canaan? Rav Miller says the answer is psychological: Eisav cannot tolerate calm. Holiness terrifies him because holiness requires quiet, self-control, reflection, and moral consistency.
From here emerges a central Rav Miller theme:
Menuchas hanefesh is the gateway to avodah.
Chovos HaLevavos teaches that tranquility is the first condition for serving Hashem. Anxiety, rushing, tension, and constant irritation are the tools of Eisav.
A Jew must instead cultivate:
- A composed walk through life.
- Unshaken self-control in the face of provocation.
- The habit of stepping away from inner noise.
For Rav Miller, the entire parsha contrasts the man of calm (Yaakov) and the man of ra’ash (Eisav). Avodas Hashem begins in the mind — in the quiet place where one can think.
3. Pachim Ketanim: Time, Money, and the Preciousness of Life
Why does Yaakov return alone at night for small jugs? Rav Miller explains that tzaddikim cherish their possessions not out of material attachment, but because possessions represent life-energy.
Money equals time.
Time equals life.
Every wasted dollar is a piece of irretrievable life.
From here, Rav Miller weaves a sweeping Torah ethic:
- Don’t waste food — waste is contempt for Hashem’s gifts.
- Don’t throw away coins — they represent the minutes of your existence.
- Don’t waste time — it is the most sacred currency.
Reish Lakish crying over a pot of spilled saffron, the Gra weeping over five lost minutes, Rav Yisroel Salanter building five-minute sedarim — all become extensions of Yaakov’s nighttime retrieval of “pachim ketanim.”
No act is small when one understands how precious life is.
4. Two Camps: Safety, Strategy, and Torah-Guided Hishtadlus
“Vayichatz es ha’am” — Yaakov splits his camp into two. Not because he doubts Hashem, but because Torah demands responsible strategy.
Rav Miller builds a full doctrine of milchamah from this moment:
- Prepare weapons — then prepare retreats.
- Avoid danger whenever possible — crossing the street is sometimes a mitzvah.
- De-escalate hostility — respond with respect, not bravado.
- Be humble with dangerous people — politeness is a shield.
- Run away when necessary — “the best hero,” says the Chinese proverb Rav Miller loved to quote, “is the man who stays alive.”
This is not cowardice; it is Torah seichel.
Milchamah in Jewish thought includes every tool of avoidance, evasion, planning, and calm retreat that preserves life.
Yaakov’s escape tactics become a guide for Brooklyn streets, European politics, and Jewish survival across centuries.
5. The Gift Strategy: Softening Hearts and Saving Lives
The second prong of Yaakov’s plan — doron, gifts — is perhaps the most surprising.
Why gifts to a mortal enemy?
Why humility toward a warrior with four hundred men?
Because, Rav Miller says, diplomacy is Torah.
“Matan adam yarchiv lo” — a gift opens locked doors.
Not flattery — strategy. Not bribery for personal gain — appeasement that saves Jewish lives.
Yaakov employs:
- Waves of gifts arriving in sequence.
- Servants addressing Eisav as adoni.
- Seven bows.
- Refusing to let Eisav decline the gift — “vayiftzar bo”.
Rav Miller applies it broadly:
- Bribing the tough kid on the corner with a “lost” dollar.
- Quiet money behind the scenes.
- Back-channel negotiations with hostile governments.
- Torah leaders using subtle influence to avert decrees.
The Torah ideal is to win without fighting — to dissolve hostility before it ignites.
6. Yaakov’s Fear: The Shock That Produces Tefillah
If Yaakov is the ultimate baal bitachon, why does the Torah say:
“Vayira Yaakov me’od vayetzer lo” — Yaakov was very afraid and distressed?
Rav Miller answers:
Fear is part of bitachon.
A person who truly believes Hashem controls everything also believes that the fear itself — the stress, the crisis — is intentional, designed to push him toward tefillah.
Fear is the spark that electrifies action:
- Hishtadlus (milchamah).
- Diplomacy (doron).
- And above all: crying out to Hashem.
Yaakov’s tefillah — “Hatzileini na miyad achi, miyad Eisav” — becomes the moment of greatest success.
Not success on the battlefield.
Not success in appeasing Eisav.
The real victory is the deepened daas Hashem achieved through desperate prayer.
For Rav Miller, the greater the fear, the greater the opportunity for closeness.
7. The Three-Pronged Torah Strategy: War, Gifts, Tefillah
Rav Miller’s culminating treatment of the parsha is sweeping:
Yaakov’s strategy is the eternal Torah of crisis management.
- Milchamah — Intelligent, humble, risk-aware hishtadlus
- Plan, avoid danger, prepare escape routes, act with seichel, don’t provoke, don’t walk into trouble, don’t fight unless forced.
- Doron — Gifts and appeasement
- Quiet influence, respectful speech, material generosity, avoiding machlokes, and strategic softening — the way Jews have survived in exile.
- Tefillah — The inner purpose of crisis
- To transform moments of fear into moments of daas Hashem; to turn contingency into closeness.
And the ultimate message:
We are not in this world to conquer Eisavs — we are here to achieve shleimus. Every crisis is a tailor-made opportunity to come closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Integrated Avodah: Living Vayishlach Every Day
Put together, Rav Miller’s seven Vayishlach shiurim form a single program of life:
1. Fight the Real War
- Identify your yetzer, your blind spots, your nightly wrestling matches, and refuse to let go.
2. Live with Menuchas HaNefesh
- Quiet your mind. Move calmly. Resist the spirit of Eisav, which thrives on noise and speed.
3. Guard Your Time, Money, and Mind
- Treat every minute and every dollar as Yaakov treated his pachim ketanim — as holy.
4. Use Torah Seichel for Safety
- Avoid danger. Stay humble. Use your head before your fists.
5. Use Diplomatic Power Wisely
- Gifts, respect, charm, and humility can avert countless evils.
6. Turn Fear into Tefillah
- Fear is Hashem sending you a message: “Come closer.”
7. See Every Crisis as Perfection
- The battle with Eisav, the dread of confrontation, the wrestling at night — all are designed to sculpt shleimus.
Live this way, and Vayishlach stops being a story.
It becomes your personal operating system for life in Hashem’s world.
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