The opening section of our Sidra has been highlighted for special note by our
Rabbis. According to them, the entire episode of Jacob and Esau as related here
is the prototype for all such future confrontations. For this reason Rabbi Judah
Hanasi, whenever he was summoned to the palace of the Roman Consul, would
firstly study this Parshah. Likewise, the author of Shnei Luchot Habrit, Rabbi
Isaiah Horowitz [1565-1630] advises that a Jew, preparing for the week ahead,
should read this Sidra immediately following Havdalah.
As Jacob hears of Esau’s approach we are told “then Jacob was greatly afraid and
was distressed.” [Bereshit 32:7]. What two possibilities are there which account
for this double expression? According to the Or Hachaim Hakodesh, [Rabbi Chaim
Ibn Attar 1696-1740], the explanation is as follows: If Jacob does not arm
himself and Easu plans an attack, then one fears for such an eventuality. If on
the other hand, Jacob arms himself and Esau has no attack in mind, then he
[Esau] will turn to the world and say “see how Jacob greets an overture of
peace.”
This is indeed what Jacob means when he prays “deliver me, I pray You, from the
hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau.” “I fear him when he comes as a
brother and I fear him when he comes upon me as Esau.” It is because he cannot
fathom the true intentions of Esau that he cannot afford to relax his vigilance
for one moment.
A golden opportunity seems to present itself when Esau’s guardian angel wrestles
with Jacob. Now is the moment to ask who and what Esau is: “Tell me I pray you,
your name.” [Bereshit 32:29] – namely, let me know what you are. But the angel
replies: “Why is it that you ask after my name?” This is interpreted by Rashi to
mean “We angels have no set name, we are fickle as the wind. We change according
to how best we can achieve our objectives.”
But surely, one would ask, our Sidra gives us a clear indication of Esau’s
intentions when it writes: “And he fell on his neck and kissed him.” [Bereshit
33:4]. But yet again, Rashi, quoting our Rabbis, brings a difference of opinion
as to whether he kissed him or sought to sever his jugular vein as if to say
this is the only kiss Jacob will receive. When the verse concludes: “and he
kissed him”, it is Jacob who cries from his injury and Esau who cries in
frustration, thwarted in an attempt which he will never have the opportunity to
repeat.
But our Sidra offers us further food for thought. When Rabbis, alarmed by the
rise of Hitler, approached the Chafetz Chaim as to how he foresaw the future, he
replied “If Esau comes to the one camp and smites it, then the camp which is
left shall escape as a remnant.” So they asked him: “Where will this remnant
be?” He replied with a verse from Obadiah 1:17: “But upon Mount Zion shall be
deliverance, and it shall be holy: and the House of Jacob shall again possess
their inheritances.” We are the remnants of the Holocaust, a period of darkness
the like of which the world has never seen. If caution has to be exercised, it
is only in such a way as to safeguard Jewish lives, never to expose them to
danger.
When Shimon and Levi attacked the city of Shechem, that had kidnapped their
sister Dinah, the Torah records that they did so “confidently” [“betach”]. It is
instructive to examine the comment of the Kli Yakar [Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim
Lunshitz 1550-1619]. Their confidence was derived from the fact that since the
city of Shechem had associated with the Jews by circumcising themselves, Shimon
and Levi felt secure that no neighbouring town would pursue them to exact
vengeance.
No non-Jewish nation has ever risen up to avenge the slaughter of the Jews. When
Weizman asked Chamberlain to intervene against Germany he dismissed it by saying
“They are only destroying Jewish synagogues”. This world has lived to witness
the truth of Weizman’s reply: “Yes, now theyare burning Jewish synagogues - but
soon they will be bombing British cathedrals.”
If there is one message which emerges from our Sidra, it is “Vayivater Yaacov
Levado – the Jew stands alone.”
