Vayishlach

We are beginning the study of the weekly portion Vayishlach. This portion begins with verse 4 of chapter 32 of the book of Bereshit, but, in order to understand it better, we will begin reading a little earlier – from verse 2 of the same chapter.

Such an unexpected meeting took place. We remember that when Yaakov set out on his way at the beginning of the weekly portion Vayetze, he saw a dream with a ladder and angels, and, according to some versions, the angels escorted him to the border of the land. In any case, at the beginning of his journey Yaakov saw angels, and now, on his return, he again sees angels. There are many commentaries on the subject of angels. At first we do not see any communication between the angels and Yaakov, as if Yaakov is passing by and sees: oh, angels! Exactly the way we might look at horses grazing in a meadow. The commentators say that perhaps the angels were sent simply as a delegation welcoming Yaakov – a kind of honor parade that meets presidents at the airplane steps. Others say, and this is closer and more understandable to me, that Yaakov, leaving the land of Israel and setting out on his way, saw a ladder (in which he himself is a prototype of Mashiach, a prototype of the people of Israel) – a ladder on which angels go down and go up. In other words, angels go up, like the desires, plans, intentions and prayers of a righteous person (when we, of course, are righteous), and in response to our prayers angels come down and carry out some action in this world. That is why Yaakov, as a ladder-man, sees angels here. Further we read:

A camp is not a small town, not a permanent settlement. A camp is a tent city, a temporary place of residence where people live who have gone out to war or to farm work. There are also Pioneer camps and Scout camps. And he said: “The camp of God this is.”

And he called this place machanáyim (two camps).

Why two camps? Perhaps because the camp was on earth and in the heavens. The ladder grew to the level of a camp. In this there is both a prototype of Mashiach, who connects the heavenly and the earthly, and a prototype of the temple, which exists on earth in the likeness of the heavenly one. And the angels interact between these two temples the same way they interact between the heavenly and the earthly. This is what Yaakov saw. So far we do not see any communication between him and the angels. And now we can begin reading the weekly portion Vayishlach.

 The word malách, which is used here, can be understood as angel or as messenger. That is, a simple person who has been sent somewhere with some mission can also be called malách. We come across this in Scripture. Therefore what Yaakov does can be understood both as “Yaakov sent angels before his face,” and as “Yaakov sent a delegation before his face to his brother Esav.” In the first case this may mean that Yaakov knows how to communicate with angels and has a certain authority to command them, and he sends angels so that they would prepare everything necessary for a diplomatic meeting of the two brothers on neutral territory. Another version: Yaakov sends ordinary people – envoys. Yaakov’s fears are understandable, his worries: he has not seen his brother for several decades and does not know whether his anger has subsided, how he is now, in what state… And although the Most High gave Yaakov a promise that he would be saved, that everything would be fine, gave him incredible promises in terms of protection and safety (we understand that any promises the Most High gives us do not mean that we should not do anything: the promises of the Most High are a promise that our actions will succeed), Yaakov decides to act in several ways. As we will see later, the first way is negotiations, appeasement, an attempt to find common ground. Most likely, it is not for nothing that the word malachím is used here: Yaakov sends simple earthly people, but his merits, his prayers, his concerns prompt the angels from this same camp to join in as well, and each of them on its own level solves certain tasks. We often say that an angel, each of the angels, is sent for only one task. In Jewish tradition, as far as we know, angels never have a “multitask” mode, a multitasking mode. But when the angels have many tasks, then many different angels can be sent, each with its own task. So, we see that Yaakov sends messengers to Esav, his brother.

...to the land of Se'ir, to the field of Edom.

This is the shore of the Dead Sea opposite modern Israel, the area south of Jericho, and it is not part of the land of Israel. It is a neutral border territory. Yaakov is very concerned, worried about what is going on with Esav, Yaakov is afraid of this meeting: he has people with him, children, he is full of anxiety, and a meeting on neutral territory is the most convenient for him. Yaakov gives the messengers very detailed instructions, and from these instructions one can assume that, most likely, these are ordinary people after all. And here is what we read:

The word tzav means to order, to command, but to command while hurrying someone on. The word mitzvá (commandment) means, of course, a command, but a command that hurries us on, urges us to fulfill it. Here the root יְצַו (yetzáv) comes from the same root as the word mitzvá (commandment).

“So say to my lord Esav: So said your servant Yaakov: ‘I lived with Lavan, and I have stayed until now.

That is, the first thing Yaakov does, his first actions before the meeting with Esav – is appeasement. Commentators, rabbis say: “In these actions of Yaakov we must see a textbook, a short self-study guide ‘Three Stages of Negotiating with Those in Power, with the Mighty of This World.’” Everything begins with appeasement.

We do not read the conversation the angels had with Esav. Since the Torah concentrates on Yaakov’s experiences, we look at all the events (this is both a literary and an educational device) the way they are seen through Yaakov’s eyes. We do not know what Esav said to the angels.

When we read the midrashim, read the commentaries on this matter, we need to understand (I will repeat once more that some midrashim characterize Yaakov, and others – Esav) that in times of polemics, when one had to be an apologist (a defender of Judaism), when sweeping accusations were made against the Jews on the subject of the brother who stole the birthright, and when some negative qualities were attributed to our Patriarchs in order to blacken the people, a counter-reaction was often born. Therefore a great many midrashim appeared that blacken Esav. And here, in verse 7, we read that the angels said: “We went to your brother Esav.” Some commentaries say: “We thought that he was your brother, we came to him thinking that he had made peace, that he is your brother after all, but he is still Esav. He still hates you.” Here there is a reading into the text, into what, most likely, (in my view, at any rate) is not in the text. They say: “We came to your brother.”

...and he too is coming to meet you, and with him 400 men.”

From the angels’ answer, from the angels’ account it is not at all clear for what purpose Esav is coming. At first glance, they say: “Here is Esav, he is your brother”…, without mentioning any threat. The phrase holéch likratechá occurs in Scripture 14 times. 11 times it occurs in the meaning comes out to meet you with good intentions and 3 times when it is specifically about war. In general, when we ask a person to meet us halfway, in the sense of “doing us a favor,” we use the very same word in modern Hebrew. And it can be understood that the angels are saying: “Here, Esav is advancing against you with 400 warriors” (400 men is not the kind of delegation a brother would bring along just like that), or it can be understood as “and he too is coming to meet you with the same intentions as you have.” Yaakov, at any rate, remains without understanding, and this lack of understanding gives him unease, and he begins to prepare for war. Perhaps not even a lack of understanding, but a slightly wrong understanding – we will come back to this when we analyze their meeting. What, then, actually is Esav’s intention? What did Esav himself intend to do?

Vayáchatz comes from the root half. And he “halved” the people.

That is, the second action that Yaakov takes is arranging lines of retreat, backup options. We are saying that this is also an instruction on how to negotiate with those in power: there is also a backup option, you should not fully trust those in power. After this Yaakov takes up the third task. The third important task is prayer. One may ask: but why did Yaakov not start praying right away, why does he not rely on the promises of the Most High at all? If we remember, in the previous portion we read how Yaakov speaks with his wives, speaks about his life with their father – Lavan, about his relations with Lavan, says that Lavan changed his attitude toward him and his sons treat him badly, and only then does Yaakov mention that the Most High told him to leave and return home. Why does Yaakov not do it the other way around? And the commentators say: “If you are explaining something to someone, if you want to prompt someone to some actions, then do not say ‘thus said God,’ ‘God commanded so.’ First explain to the person some common sense that there is in these actions, and then say that the LORD said so.” A person must first grasp the common sense that there is in an action. We have read this in the book of Bereshit more than once already: when Eliezer retells how Avraham sent him, he too retells it in such a way that people would first see the common sense and the hand of God in these events, and only then understand that this is directly from God, so that the word of God would not be an element of some manipulation, etc.

And, on the other hand, you cannot say to the Most High: “You promised me, so You do it!” The Most High, when promising to bless us, says: “I will bless you in all your actions.” That is, in order to receive a blessing, we must perform some action. Including prayer. That is, even if the Most High promised us something, even if something has been prepared for us, even if the Most High has already commanded it to be, prayer is still an important means. At the very beginning of the book of Bereshit we read: “At that time there was no plant and no shrub on the earth.” But earlier we read that the Most High commanded the grass to grow. A dilemma arises: why was there none – because the mist did not rise. The grass was already ready, it was under the ground, and the shrubs too: everything was ready to come out, all that was needed was to pray. A person’s prayer is what switched on, you could say, the earth that was ready for use. And here Yaakov prays so that this blessing would switch on, so that it would work.

And after Yaakov has already sent the messengers, and after he has prepared the camp, he begins the prayer. It is completely natural that over the many years of commenting on Scripture not everyone thought this way, and many say: “If you called Esav your lord eight times in this portion, there will be eight kings of Edom who will rule before the kings of Israel. Since you pray last, and first do deeds, there will be such and such, and something else...” And still the general conclusion that the sages draw is this: the Most High blesses deeds, and the deed can often be put ahead of prayer – to do it and to pray for the success of this deed. Although this, of course, does not mean that you cannot pray before the deed itself, and during the deed. In general you can always pray.

In verse 10 we read Yaakov’s prayer itself:

The word lehetív, here with the root tov – with the very same root as in the word tov (good). Ve'etív – this is to make better. I will make it better and better for you, I will improve you.

In chapter 22 of the book of Devarim there is the commandment about sending the bird away from the nest: “When you find a nest, take the nest, but send the mother away. Do not take the mother and the sons together.” And Hoshea has a saying about mother and sons having perished. Mother and sons who perish – this is complete destruction, this is the collapse of everything. And the Most High commands not to take the mother and the sons in the nest, not to destroy the whole world completely, even among birds. And Yaakov prays: “I do not want Esav to be able to catch me and destroy simply my whole line, the mothers and the sons – all of them, root and all. I fear this very much.” It is not so much that he fears Esav as that he fears, worries for his loved ones and appeals to the mercy of the Most High, paints for Him this picture, when mother and son are destroyed together. It is interesting that, once again, for the commentators who see in Esav a typology of Edom, and after that – of Rome, and later – of Catholic Christianity and the constant enemies of Israel (a kind of center of antisemitism), it is difficult to comment on and explain why Yaakov calls Esav his brother. And Midrash Zuta says: “The word achí (save me from my brother) means that, when Yaakov went to Charan, Esav sent after him a scout by the name of Achi.” And Yaakov prays about this. Why am I bringing this midrash, this commentary? We are in danger of reading Scripture the way we want to, of accepting what we want to. Here we see that Yaakov several times, behind his back, calls Esav brother and lord. This is not self-abasement, this is what Yaakov himself thinks, this is his own speech. Even though Yaakov feels Esav to be his brother, and can call him lord, and is ready to make peace with him, he is very afraid. He heard that Esav is bringing 400 men with him. He does not want to take risks and, after all his actions, in his prayer he asks the One Who can give salvation to save him from his brother. So it is said about a person who wants wisdom: “Let him study and ask the Most High for wisdom”; about a person who wants children: “Let him go in to his wife and ask the Giver of children that he may have children.” And here Yaakov outlines a certain plan for delivering himself from Esav and asks the Most High that not only earthly but also heavenly messengers would act, that the Most High would save him from the hand of his brother, Esav, and that the mother with the children would not perish, that his whole line would not be destroyed.

This is the end of Yaakov’s prayer. In essence he says: “LORD, You have done so much for me all this time!” The beginning of any prayer, the beginning of a conversation with the Creator – is gratitude. We do not come to Him with a demand, first of all we acknowledge that He does quite a lot for us. Our request to Him is not a demand for what is due to us. Yaakov says: “I am small compared to all the mercies that You have done. But how will I multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, if Esav comes now and kills me, and the mother, and the children? Save me from him.” “Because I fear him” – a very honest admission. If a child comes to us at night and says: “I am afraid to sleep,” what do we answer him? “Boy, you are already big, there is no need to be afraid.” He goes away crushed, with his fear. We all do roughly this.

Our prayer is also, among other things, the expression of our inner feelings, which we do not want to keep inside ourselves. Yaakov was not told from above: “Yaakov, I did promise you, you are a righteous man, you are, after all, the Patriarch of the Jewish people, you are an example for many believers! How can you not believe and be afraid?” No one tells him this, because God is one who hears and listens, and not one who would like to go on sleeping, who just does not want his comfort to be disturbed, as happens with us when we respond to our children’s fears.

Yaakov begins to prepare the appeasement of Esav, prepares a backup option and turns to the Most High with prayer, saying that, despite the promises, he is unworthy of all the mercy that the Most High has shown him.

The word minchá is today better known as the afternoon prayer and the name of the afternoon offering – the offering of appeasement. The root of the word minchá is the word nóach, exactly the same as the name of the Patriarch – to give rest, to calm, to comfort, to pacify. So, what does Yaakov do? In addition to the three points that he carried out – which we read about earlier – he prepares a gift of appeasement for his brother Esav.

Ewes and rams are animals that do not work on the farm at all. Nobody makes either the billy goats or the ewes work. These are animals that graze and only eat. Their job is to become meat. Therefore, as the freest fellows, the most idle animals, they are inclined toward romance, and one billy goat can cover ten she-goats, one ram – ten ewes, and Yaakov sends them in exactly this proportion.

Pairs are not needed here, because the she-camel is already with her calf. This is already a future family.

...40 cows and 10 bulls.

A proportion of one to four. Why? Because the bull works more, and he can no longer cover ten cows. Four is just right for him.

...She-donkeys 20 and donkeys 10.

With donkeys the proportion is already one to two. You understand for yourselves. That is, the harder an animal works, the fewer females it can cover. The male is less temperamental or less romantic. The sages drew a conclusion from this regarding people as well. Since husbands have certain obligations toward their wives, the sages say: “If you lead an idle way of life, you have more obligations toward your wife than a man who is busy with hard labor.” We will not go deeper into this question, but there is a logic of its own in it.

Éder, éder (herd after herd). That is, he divided all this livestock into 7 different herds, so that the herds would reach Esav at intervals of an hour, an hour and a half or two. That was the plan.

That is, if my brother meets you and starts questioning you.

Yaakov has started yet another program: he sends Esav 7 herds at intervals of, say, an hour or an hour and a half – a program for a whole day – and each of the shepherds will say: “Yaakov will come soon, he is sending you a gift of appeasement.” What is Yaakov doing in the meantime?

At night unexpected events begin to happen:

The river Yabok flows from east to west, that is, Yaakov brought his wives and children across to the side from which Esav was to come. Why is it written: “11 children”? Because little Dina goes together with her mom. There is another version, which says that Yaakov hid Dina in a chest so that Esav would not see the two-year-old Dina and would not be inflamed with love for her… But let us read the plain meaning: a little seven-year-old girl will cross the river, most likely, in her mother’s arms. So, Yaakov brings his wives and children across to Esav’s side.

Yaakov moves his whole camp across: the livestock, and the tents, and the property – he carries everything across the Yabok to the side from which Esav will come. And moreover he does all this in the middle of the night. Can you imagine what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night, get up four women, 11 children, the eldest of whom is not yet twelve, and together with them start crossing a river at night, with no lighting, no bridges and no sufficiently warm clothing, and probably also without making much noise, and then haul all your property for half the night? That is, it was no simple undertaking that Yaakov started, and it would be interesting to understand why…

The commentators say different things on this matter. Rashbam gives a very interesting version: “This whole scheme of Yaakov’s with the delegations to Esav is a feint.” 7 shepherds will come one after another and say: “Yaakov, here, is coming right behind us, and this is a gift for you.” And Yaakov will get up at night and go by another road and will not meet Esav now, later somehow, when circumstances come together, when the intelligence reports some other situation, and not about 400 fighters, maybe then Yaakov will meet him, but for now he wants to run away. Despite the fact that he has already sent angels, split the campiThe Russian phrase here usually means “pitched camp”, but it can also mean “split the camp”. Since the author is listing what Yaakov had already done, including dividing his people into two camps, it is translated as “split the camp”., prayed and reminded the Most High of all the blessings, promises that the Most High had given him, fear wins, and Yaakov wants to escape. So, Yaakov moved the whole camp across and, apparently, came back, as the commentators say, “to gather up all sorts of odds and ends,” after he had already carried, brought everyone across.

We read in the previous portion that Yaakov began to be called ish when he became important. Ish is some important person. Literally it is man, but very often it is also used in the meaning angel. And, judging by our context, here it is about an angel. The word laye'avék (to wrestle, here vaye'avék) comes from the word avák (dust, to roll in the dust). But although the word wrestling comes from the word to roll in the dust, of course, this does not always mean that one necessarily has to roll in the dust. So, someone wrestled with him.

...until dawn.

We are reading one of the most mysterious stories of the Pentateuch. Here, people often ask: “At whom were they looking, who went in to the daughters of men, and what was going on there?” But much more complicated and more interesting – is our story: who, then, and why, unexpectedly made a bandit attack on Yaakov? All the more so, not on his camp, which was left without him, which could be plundered, but precisely on him himself, when he was left alone. Who is this one who wrestled with him?

Many commentators, such as Rashi or Kanati, say that this is the angel of Esav. The angel of Esav, who wanted to knock Yaakov down, to beat Yaakov, to weaken Yaakov and to intimidate Yaakov. Others say that the Most High made the angel of Esav go to Yaakov, so that Yaakov would win such a training victory over the angel, over the one who governs Esav, with his heavenly guardian angel, and then it could be said: “Both in the heavens and on earth you have defeated Esav.”

The ancient targum Yonatan says that the angel who wrestled with Yaakov is the archangel Michael, who came in order, in essence, not to give Yaakov the opportunity to run away, to hold him back for the whole night (at dawn it is no longer so easy to run away) and, if possible, as we will see, to injure his leg. Let us stop on this. One way or another, this whole angelic mission was so that Yaakov would understand that he did not need to run away. It was precisely for this that he was attacked.

Do you know how an animal is acquired? When a person has paid money for a cow, for a bull, for a camel, this animal has not yet become his purchase: the beginning of ownership is considered to be the moment when the person pulled the animal after him, called it or struck it from behind with a switch, and it went, moved a step. Sometimes it happens that the Most High, when He wants to acquire us, wants to take us to Himself, also may first either call us (and if we take a step – we are His), or strike us with a switch from behind, if we do not go: then it will be the option of the whip. And here Yaakov is being warned, being shown that he does not need to run from Esav. The Most High says: “I have blessed you, I promised to keep you, I promised also to raise you.” All whom He receives, He punishes. That is, it is such a special mercy toward Yaakov, that an angel is sent to him to wrestle with him.

We know that, despite the fact that Yaakov is being taught, the angel has limited rights (as in his time the LORD gave satan access to Job), the angel did not receive the right to destroy Yaakov.

...and touched (if translated literally) the palm of the thigh.

He touched the thigh – the nerve that runs along the thigh. This is a very important nerve, and if it is struck (a nerve or a sinew), then a person begins to limp.

...and twisted (wrenched) Yaakov’s thigh, when he wrestled with him.

That is, Yaakov received an injury and a limp. A lame person can no longer run away. In this, by and large, lay the angel’s task.

Why is it so important to the angel that dawn has come? It is one thing – to hold Yaakov back until dawn, that is understandable, because in the light it is harder to run away, but why did he himself need to go home so urgently? The commentators say: “In the morning the angels begin a song to the Most High, and this is just the time for the angel to get free.” One can object: “But our earth is arranged in such a way that it is always morning somewhere. Even when it is evening for me, somewhere it is morning for someone. It is always morning somewhere and always evening somewhere.” And there are several different views on this. Some say: “Well, yes, the angels of every country, of every, let us say, time zone constantly sing the morning song, and the evening one, and the midday one, and so the praise for the Most High sounds in eternity.” Others say that the capital – the heavenly Jerusalem – lives by earthly Jerusalem time, and the sunrises and sunsets there are also by Jerusalem time. But probably we will not get a single answer to the question: why was it so important for the angel to get free at sunrise, at daybreak. One can, of course, suppose a great many things, and it is always good to suppose, that is what the Torah is for, so that we would reflect on it, but we will not get a single answer.

...AND (YAAKOV) ANSWERED (HIM): “I WILL NOT LET YOU GO IF YOU DO NOT BLESS ME.”

Here a strangeness arises: did the angel really not receive an exact assignment order from above? Was he not told: “Go, here is a photograph for you, attack this person, his name is Yaakov Yitzchakovich, he is a Jew? Attack precisely him, watch out, do not confuse him with anyone else, do not attack someone else. Here is the passport number, place of residence, surname, first name, tax number – you have been given everything...”? Why does the angel suddenly ask? Sometimes, when we say a name, when we ask for a name for prayers, when we ask for prayer, it is important to pronounce the name well, as a transfer of authority. Who are you? Who is it that you are? What is your name now? And a name can be an instrument for blessing. We see how Yeshua says in response to names: “Your name is such-and-such, I will do...”, that is, starting from a name, one can also bless.

The verb saríta is difficult to translate. Greek texts translate it as held power with God or ruled as a prince with God. Jewish and Aramaic texts and commentators also interpret it from the word shrerá (power) – to rule with God. And then the name Yisrael means “the one who will establish on earth the authority and power of God”. When, then, did Yaakov rule with God? Well, strictly speaking, that is what the blessing of Avraham was given to him for: “you can bind both on earth and in the heavens; both on earth and in the heavens a certain authority is given to you.” Yaakov, we remember, began his path with the ladder from heaven to earth, on which angels go up and come down, and here one can say that the angel informs Yaakov that he has climbed this ladder, that he has become that very instrument of governing. On the other hand, in Hoshea we read that Yaakov “wrestled with the angel,” and Hoshea uses the very same word, but there it is more obvious that this word means wrestled. And then it can be translated as “one who wrestles with God”. How is this to be understood? A God-fighting people... Such an expression does not seem to sound very good. But we remember how, for example, Moshe interceded for his people and said: “If You do not forgive them, blot me out of the book into which You have written me.” A people that is an intercessor and one who stands before God for the whole world, for people (in the heavens) – is a people that in part wrestles with God. An advocate, a representative of humanity in the heavens, a priest who stands before God, also, one could say, to some degree wrestles with God. Being in incredible fear and trembling before Him, Moshe nevertheless stands up for the people, asks for the forgiveness of the people, wrestles, appeases the wrath of God. And here one can see a parallel to what we started with: Yaakov can appease God’s wrath, he does not need to appease Esav, and that is why he got himself a wrestler, because he was appeasing the wrong one.

And why did he ask? Is it not clear? Here one can say: “You should not bless me, I am only an instrument here, you know whom to bless, you know whose blessing will be my blessing.”

...And he blessed him there.

“Yaakov blessed the angel there” and “the angel blessed Yaakov there” – here this can be understood in different ways, but most likely the angel blessed Yaakov with a new name, and Yisrael blessed the angel, blessed the Most High, Who did something through the angel. Of course, always, when you comment on some episode like this, about which there are many commentaries, reflections and opinions, – it is always debatable and it is always difficult. One must not forget that yes, indeed, the Torah that we read reveals us: our commentaries speak about us, and not about the heroes of the Torah, and the Torah is meant to change us, and not we – the heroes of the Torah. If there are some reflections, disagreements, arguments, if someone sees it differently, well, so be it, that is because someone is – different, not like me. This is quite normal, it is quite normal to disagree, not to accept, to argue, to be indignant, to see something different, to see a completely different Yaakov and a completely different angel. The main thing is that the Torah should change us and grow us, and not that we demand something of the heroes, condemn or justify the heroes. That is not what it was written for. The Torah is a book about them, but it should be read about us. This is my personal opinion.

So, we left Yaakov on the bank of the stream Yabok, and now we continue reading from verse 31:

If we look at the name, then pni is face or my face, and el is God. It can be read both as “the face of God”, and as “my face – God.” Why did Yaakov name it so?

because I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved.

We know that the word elohím (God) is often used to refer to angels. Hoshea, retelling the story of Yaakov’s night struggle, also says that Yaakov struggled precisely with an angel. There, in Hoshea, the word malách stands, and this is already completely clear. Nevertheless, we know that the word malách means messenger. A messenger of God is a likeness of God. Therefore it can be said that God appears to us in the form of angels, God sends angels in order to manifest some essence of His. And Yaakov could well have said that he saw God face to face. When we talked about Yaakov’s ladder, we mentioned a midrash-interpretation saying that the face that is on the throne of the Most High resembles the face of Yaakov. The angels saw, compared and said: “We have seen the one whose countenance is a bas-relief on the throne of God.” As we saw a prototype of Mashiach. Here it can be said that, struggling with the angel, Yaakov revealed his face, Yaakov saw in himself the face of the Most High. We will see later how this is connected with the fact that presumably Esav’s angel struggled with him, when Yaakov says to Esav: “I saw in you the face of the Most High.” After all, in the end, although they differ greatly in appearance, they are still alike, these two brothers.

So, peni'el is a vision of God in some way. Perhaps it was revealed to Yaakov that as Israel – so he will be called later – he carries within himself Divine power, and the potential of this (as Mashiach will later say: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”) has already now been partly revealed to Yaakov, and therefore the place is called Peni'el.

Lo means for him. Why for him? Did it not rise for others? There are different commentaries on this. Most commentators say: “The sun rose for him – a healing sun (we know that in Malachi it is said: ‘Behold, the day comes, and it is like a burning oven for the wicked’ – the sun can be a terrible scorching heat, and for the righteous there is shémesh tzdaká – sun of righteousness), and the Divine light through the sun and sunlight was sent to Yaakov for healing.” But it is even more interesting if we go back to the beginning of the story – to the story in the portion Vayetze, when Yaakov sets out on his way. We said that he stayed the night in a certain place because the Most High set the sun early for him, in order to keep him in a certain place. Here the sun rises in exactly the same way for Yaakov, so that dawn would come. And further we read:

...when he was passing through Penu'el. And he is limping on his thigh.

The word tzoléa (lame) means one side, a facet, a rib, but in this case tzoléa unambiguously is leans to one side. The result of the wound that Yaakov received is lameness.

Naturally, there are midrashim that say: “...the sun rose and healed him...” Some say that it healed him immediately, other versions say that Yaakov remained lame. The lameness, we said, is perhaps a consequence of the desire of the angel sent by the Most High to detain Yaakov, to stop him from fleeing. On the other hand, we see that Yaakov, despite the abundance of blessings that the Most High gives him, limps, he is afraid to step unambiguously onto the path of following the promises, he constantly reinforces himself, constantly takes precautions somewhere and over-insures himself. And, on the one hand, this is good – it is good to doubt yourself, good to doubt that you are worthy of something (in general, self-analysis, self-criticism is a good quality of a person, modesty is a good quality of a person), but here it already turns into lameness. And this is shown to Yaakov, and through Yaakov it is an example for all of us. His lameness in the spiritual world, his unreadiness to say “I am a son of the promise” and, perhaps, his unreadiness to appear boldly before Esav as the owner of the blessing, results in the end in lameness. Yaakov does not come as the owner of the promise. And, on the other hand, we can say that this is also an example for us.

Vené Yisraél here is not after the name of Yaakov, but as the name of the people (that is, after the name in the future), for this is written when Israel already exists.

...that very sinew (the thigh sinew, which the angel touched), which is in the thigh, to this day, because the angel touched this sinew in the thigh of Yaakov.

What, one would think, is the connection? Why is our task precisely not to eat this sinew? Why don’t we make, in memory of that event, some one day on which we would all limp? Inconvenient, but quite memorable. We have many such signs that are not very convenient. Why not, on the contrary, eat this sinew? Why not mark this memory in some other way? And here there are two different approaches. Some say that Yaakov was strong, able to stand against the angel in everything, that is, he had enough strength, a sufficient level of holiness, but, since in his family life, since with his wives he has a certain mess, I’m not afraid of that word, it is precisely this place of the thigh that is vulnerable, it was injured, and we do not eat it, because it is imperfect for us – we cannot, are not able to raise the Divine sparks that are in it. Others, on the contrary, say that, since the angel touched the thigh, an interaction of the Most High took place with it, and it was sanctified. The Most High, it is said, touched the mountains, and they smoked – an enormous transformation took place in this. There is one more view: in this case we, as it were, correct what the angel did; we, defeating the animal (after all, really, what relation does this sinew in animals have to the sinew in a person?), win a victory over it, but do not strike it below the belt, we do not touch this sinew, because we do not act like the angel. There is also such an approach. Here we again linger long on this topic, but the topic is interesting. Of course, you may ask: did the angel defeat Yaakov? There is also such a version, the text can also be read this way, there is no getting away from it, for it is Yaakov who is in a hurry with the dawn, it is Yaakov who has a family on the other bank of the river, he needs to get there, he urgently needs to get to his family, which Esav is about to attack, while the angel... Well, the story with the singing of the song is good and fitting, but the angel may be in no hurry at all. In Hoshea it is said that Yaakov wept and begged the angel to let him go, that is, here Yaakov simply held his ground in the struggle with the angel, but the angel used a forbidden blow below the belt, and therefore we do not eat this sinew.

After all, the whole story of the struggle of Yaakov and the angel is extremely complex, multifaceted, and there are very many versions on the theme “why this happened.” One can, for example, say that, just as a person is given poisons in a small dose so that he gets used to them and gains an antidote to a large dose of poison, or as a person is given weakened polio so that he can cope with polio (I don’t want to open the topic of vaccinations here), in exactly the same way Yaakov was given a weakened angel of Esav so that he could defeat Esav himself. Again, every commentator over the whole Jewish history of commentary opened slightly the doors into his own heart, speaking about those very events, and if you see some other picture, then look not only at what it says about Yaakov, but also at what it says about you, about us and about everything that is with us. With this we will finish the story of Yaakov’s struggle with the angel and finish chapter 32. Let us begin reading from verse 1 of chapter 33.

Just as the intelligence had accurately reported, Esav approaches, and with him 400 men. Of course, Yaakov did not count everyone, but he made sure that yes, about 400 men are here. In general, when we read some estimative judgments like “I saw a crowd, and there were 10,000 people or 12,000 people there,” we need to remember that, of course, there are no exact arithmetic calculations here.

...And he divided the children of Rachel and Lea on one side, and the children of the concubines on the other side.

So, behind himself he placed the camp, at the front of which are the concubines with children (or the slave women with children), behind them – Lea with children, and at the very back – Rachel with children – her children are the youngest. But we remember that her children are Yosef. She has only one son, Yosef, he is perhaps a year old at that moment. So, what does Yaakov do? As in the previous case, before crossing the river, Yaakov makes two camps. Remember, we said: Yaakov was passing by angels, saw two camps of angels and named this place “Machanayim”? Yaakov is still limping in the sense that he does not put his hope in heaven, in the heavenly: his camps are divided not vertically – into above and below – but horizontally. He does, yes, use some idea, it is not for nothing that here there are 2 camps and there 2 camps (the word camp is not mentioned here so often for nothing), Yaakov sets up 2 camps and relies on his trick. Many say that Yaakov (for some reason it is customary among Christians to say so) is a coward and a weakling and put the women out in front. He arranged his wives. One may ask: but what, did he not treat the children of the slave women equally too? No, he did not. Yaakov had a rigid social division in the family: the children of the slave women could do harder work, could be more ready for battle, could simply be fighters, and yes, Yaakov has a hierarchy with regard to his children, with regard to his family, this does not do him credit, but it is so. But still he, with those he can (he apparently does not have that many people), takes his place in front of this host. We remember that Avraham with an army of a little more than 300 men did quite a lot in his time, and Esav comes with 400 people – by the standards of those times a very strong gathering, and Yaakov, despite all the promises, despite the preparatory fight with the angel, is still afraid, and that is why he divided his rear and arranged it in the order of how much he loves whom.

In the case of David and Yonatan, we remember, there were 3 bows, here 7 bows. Yaakov first sent 7 offerings, now he bows 7 times. And this is not for nothing: 7 is the number of the peopleiThe Russian literally says “the number of the people” (singular), although the context is about the nations other than Israel. It is translated literally., 7 is connected with what does not belong to the people of Israel, it is such a very important number. Everything connected with the people of Israel is characterized by the number 12. 70 nations, 7 nations of the land, 12 apostles, 7 deacons over the Hellenist widows and orphans – this is a slightly separate story. And of the baskets that were left over there were 12 and 7, and much else is connected with 12 and 7. Yaakov approaches and bows 7 times, sends 7 gifts and seemingly thereby confirms Esav’s blessing on the holy land. On the other hand, Yaakov has a blessing with which the Most High blessed him. Yaakov returned with a blessing, he does not need the blessing taken by cunning, therefore, once again, according to the version of those who say that it was Yaakov who asked the angel to let him go, and the angel asked him to bless him, Yaakov returns to the angel the bracha that he received, the blessing that he received, because he has his own blessing. More than that, he himself is already a source of blessings. All this Yaakov has gone through, all this Yaakov knows, but the fear of Esav remains in Yaakov, and he behaves here truly like a slave: slowly, bowing 7 times, with enormous fear he goes to meet Esav. Esav behaves completely differently. We read:

First we read verbs. Remember, we talked about the fact that when quick actions are described, Scripture speaks in verbs: ran to meet him, and embraced, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and together they wept. Only when Esav kissed Yaakov, only then did they weep together. You remember, when Yaakov leaves, both Yitzchak weeps and Esav weeps, and Yaakov kisses his father. Here the kiss and the weeping came together, and this circle closed too. I want to draw attention to the word tzavár (neck). This is just for those studying Hebrew. In the Torah, if we read the text, it is written tzavaráv with the letters yud and vav at the end, as if he had necks (many necks). Here there is a correction of the scribes in which the letter yud is absent. The point is that the word tzavár means one side of the neck. It turns out like a paired organ. As a person has shoulders, ears, cheeks… So he also has necks. And on one of the necks Esav fell and wept. But since the time Hebrew changed, neck became a single word, and so the spelling tzavaráv came about. And we read further (the one acting, as we said, is Esav):

Yaakov begins to present his camp to Esav.

Here the daily cycle of the Torah ends. When on the Sabbath we read the whole weekly portion, 7 people are called up to the Torah, and accordingly we divide the weekly portion into 7 parts by 7 readings. Every day I read one of the readings that everyone will read on the Sabbath. If it sometimes seems that the rabbis argue with each other, this is not an argument, this is a difference of opinions. Here it is not said: “you are wrong, and you are right” – this in general happens very rarely with us – we understand that we are different and the Torah has many faces, and only together can we create a single understanding. The Torah was given on a mountain, and a mountain is made in such a way that you cannot see all of it at once. The people stood encamped around it, therefore to get a panoramic picture one needs to look as a whole people. Well, this is another such non-lyrical digression.

So, we left our heroes at that dramatic moment when, contrary to Yaakov’s expectations, Esav did not attack him, but, on the contrary, ran to him, embraced him, kissed him, and they, deeply moved, wept together. When they had wept their fill and embraced their fill, Esav looked at all these people who are with Yaakov and asked him: “Who are all these people who are with you?” And Yaakov answers him: “These are my children, whom the LORD has given me.” And the most fitting moment comes to present the children. In the description of this presentation there are several linguistic subtleties, to which we will try to pay attention with God’s help.

When we say “came near here,” we mean “came near to the place” where Yaakov and Esav stood, and before that they had stood at a distance.

...and their children and they bowed down.

Let us read once more: “And the maidservants came near here and their children and they bowed down.” A strange linguistic construction. Stranger still is that ishtachavín – this is the feminine gender. By the etiquette of that time the children of maidservants do not bow down together with the maidservants. Only the maidservants bow down, and the children are considered a part of them, a part of the master’s property. The children are not an independent unit, only the maidservants bowed down. These are particularities of the etiquette that Yaakov observes.

A slightly different verb: Yosef as if draws near, walks ahead of his mom. And mom looks as if she is following him. The commentators say an amazing thing: “Yosef feared that his beautiful mom would tempt Esav to some unkind thoughts, would awaken some unkind thoughts in him, or that Esav would put the evil eye on her, or would want to take her away.” In a word, Yosef, who is a little boy at that moment, worries and covers mom with himself, so that no one would see her beauty. When we read this, it seems to us: well, what nonsense, can a little boy really cover a grown woman? We know that Rachel is a woman beautiful in figure and in appearance, which means tall and slender. Clearly not a dwarf. Have you ever seen how children, meeting strangers, hide behind mom’s skirt and peek out from behind it, too shy to show themselves? And for a long time you have to coax them out from behind mom, from behind mom’s skirt. Yosef behaves in exactly the opposite way, also like a child, but exactly the opposite way. Like a sort of boy hero, he stands in front of Rachel and with his whole appearance conveys: “don’t touch my mom.” Is this childish? Very childish. Is this naive? Very naive. But at the same time Yosef shows his character as a child, children, after all, also come in different kinds. Therefore, yes, Yosef thought: “My mom is too beautiful, my mom is too delicate, mom has to be protected from this evil, strange fellow,” and went out in front of Rachel. That is how this can be understood. After all, we are reading a book about people, not quite a magical book, although there was much that was wondrous in the lives of these people. So, everyone has presented themselves.

We remember that Yaakov sends 7 herds, 7 groups, one after another. And he insistently tells all of them to say that this is a gift, that this is a present and that by this he wants to appease Esav. And here suddenly Esav asks: mi lechá kol-hamachané hazé (what are these camps that I met?) If we look at the literal meaning of the text, Esav says: mi lecha (who to you, to whom are you sending all this, what you were sending me?). One can also understand it differently: “who gave you all this that you were trying to give me here?” From this we can draw the conclusion that Esav did not accept Yaakov’s gifts, they came back and began to wait for Esav on the spot. From this we can also understand that Esav did not intend to fight from the start. It would have been possible not to let go the first messengers who came to speak with him, and not to report information about in what numbers he stands. It would have been possible to accept all the gifts, but Esav does not behave like that, from the start he goes to meet Yaakov with completely different aims. And here he asks with a certain irony: mi lechá kol-hamachané hazé? (what are these camps that you were sending me?)

And (YAAKOV) answers him: “to find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

Pay attention to the subtleties of the relationship. Yaakov says: “To find favor in the eyes of my lord,” while Esav says: “Brother, I have everything.” Yaakov still cannot squeeze the word “brother” out of himself, and Esav nowhere addresses him as a servant.

There are commentators who say that in this whole phrase of Yaakov’s there is a kind of hidden hint: “You know what, Esav? The other day I wrestled here with God, with an Angel of God, and held out, so you had better not argue and take the gift.” Yaakov, according to these commentaries, is still baring his teeth, still snapping at Esav. On the other hand, one can say that in the Angel of God who came to him (and we said that this was possibly Esav’s angel and that this was possibly the angel who after all did not send Esav’s people), behind Esav, behind the necessity of giving him this gift, Yaakov sees the face of the Most High. “It was the Most High who arranged for me to give you this gift.” We again speak about the fact that Yaakov is a man who is not very decisive, not very brave, and his struggle around the blessing is the struggle of his whole life, therefore further on he says:

Yaakov sees in this returning of the gift, in this presenting of the gift, the return of the blessing to Esav: “Here is what you could have received, here is what you could have earned, I am giving it to you. I no longer need your blessing.” And let us remember that the dispute was not about the blessing of Avraham, Yaakov is not renouncing that one, Yaakov renounces the blessing for prosperity, for rule. And if Yaakov received the blessing in which Yitzchak said “your brothers will bow down to you,” then here, we see, he demonstrates that it is precisely he himself who bows down to Esav. Yaakov in this case is trying to return to Esav his blessing.

...Because the LORD has had mercy on me, I have everything.” And he urged him for a long time, and Esav took it.

Every time Scripture uses the verb liovtzír (to urge), it is not etiquette, it is really a situation where one wants to give, and the other does not want to accept. Both people are sincere. It is not that somewhere it is customary to refuse if you are offered something to eat or offered a gift. It is not a question of politeness. Esav really does not want to take anything. He came with completely different intentions. We remember that the angel proclaimed to Yaakov that he would be renamed Yisrael, that he would be called Yisrael. We, on the other hand, know that Yaakov died as Yaakov all the same. When his death is described, he is still named Yaakov. Yaakov is a name that became a nickname, a byname, in the meaning wily, nimble, cunning, dishonest. And Yaakov tries to get rid of this, so that people would not say that he received the blessing by deception. This is not a question of prophecy, not a question of calling, but a question of reputation. Yaakov – Ishar El – the one who is straight before God, the one who honestly receives from God what he receives, walks before God honestly. This is one of the understandings of the name Yisrael, we have also already spoken about this. And, so that people would not say about Yaakov that he wrongfully takes other people’s blessings (swindles with blessings), he urges Esav to take his gifts. This is a necessary formality.

That is, Esav says: “Well, that’s it, I have met you, now I will escort you, come, go with me, we will go together at your speed.” What will happen here if Yaakov listens? Yaakov will follow Esav to Se'ir, Yaakov will end up under Esav’s patronage and will go to the place Esav came from, and not at all to the land of Canaan. This is what does not suit Yaakov at all, at all.

Again, pay attention: “lord, not brother.” Little children – these are not tender children (just so we understand, later we will see how tender children Shimon and Levi are). Yakov says: “I have weak little children with me, with me are small children.”

...And the small livestock, and the large livestock (if I switch on high-speed mode, then all the livestock will die, even if they are driven for just one day’s march).

And what does Yakov propose?

Again Yaakov says: “Let my lord go before his servant.”

That is, “you go on ahead, and we, with God’s help, will unhurriedly catch up with you.” But Esav continues to show care. Here one must remember that Esav is the receiving side, and by etiquette he really must take care of Yakov.

These words of Esav also open up his intentions a little. If Esav had been going with a group of armed thugs, then, having seen Yaakov and having changed his mind about attacking him, he would have been embarrassed to show them. As if a person were going at someone with a knife and suddenly abruptly changed his mind, he would hide the knife, would not show it and would not hint at it in any way. Esav speaks about his people openly. That means he did not have the intention from the start to attack Yaakov.

...And he said, what is this for (why do I need this)? The main thing for me is that you be happy, The main thing is for me to find favor in the eyes of my lord.

It would seem a very simple verse. Every time we read bayom hahú (on that day) in Scripture, it speaks about some historical, important events. There is even such a song: “Bayom hahu, bayom hahu – on that day it will be such-and-such, or on that day it was this-and-that”… Of this there are very many examples in Scripture. What is this about? It is about the fact that on that day the separation between Yaakov and Esav unambiguously, officially and finally took place, which later will archetypally fall out into the separation between Israel and Edom and will turn into a global separation in the spirit, which exists to this day. Therefore, when we read bayom hahú, it is high time to be on the alert.

Why does the Torah suddenly, unexpectedly speak about a stopping place that Yaakov made on the way? Surely Yaakov stopped many times with his livestock. Such long journeys. We said that from Padan-Aram to the land of Israel, to Chevron, it is about 20 days' walk for Yaakov, if you walk at a good pace. If you go with a family, with livestock, then this journey may take more than one month. Why does the Torah mention this stopping place? Because Sukkot is the gate of the land of Israel. This place has been found, we know well where it is. Yaakov as it were does a reflashing, a reprogramming, a resetting of himself: he stops at the entrance to the land of Israel and as it were makes the first stop, as soon as he enters, one could say, in order to adapt to the special spiritual climate of this land. And he calls this place Sukkot (Booths).

Where did Yaakov not go? First of all, Yaakov did not go to Chevron, where his dad still lives. Yaakov did not go to Beit-El, where he had promised his Heavenly Dad to bring a sacrifice. Yaakov goes to Sh'chem, to his old places.

Chamór is donkey, but it is also a person's name. And this Chamor is the father of Sh'chem, we are simply told about this, because Sh'chem Chamorovich will still show himself. Sh'chem is shoulder, Chamor is donkey, such are the names. And what do we read next? He bought it for 100 kesit. 100 kesit is 100 silver coins, a small sum of money, let us say, for land – roughly a four-month wage of a day laborer back then. So, with this the great exile ends, the first great exile of our Forefather Yaakov. From Padan-Aram Yaakov returns to Israel, returns to the land of Israel, but he still has not returned to the altar, he has not gone to see his father.

There are commentators who say that he did go to see his father,

the Torah simply did not tell about it, because the Torah is not a biographical book, and, well, of course, Yaakov went to see his father. And I can agree that the Torah is indeed not a biographical book, that is certain, but to compose the text in such a way that we would think that Yaakov did not go to see his father – that is surprising for the Torah. And therefore, most likely, Yaakov does not go to his father, does not go to his mother, who at that moment is still alive. And these are all questions that will still arise before us. He did not go to the altar, did not go to his father – he went straight to Sh'chem, and in Sh'chem he settled down. This will become the cause of many unpleasant events in Yaakov's further life, which we will still talk about with you. And the last verse of our chapter says:

He did not build an altar, but simply set up some stone. Why is this important? Because later we will talk about the altar in Beit-El.

...And on this altar he gave a name that means “God is the God of Israel.”

God is the God Who gave him the name Yisrael. He did not name God in his own honor, but God is the God Who blesses with a deserved blessing, Who abides with a person both in his poverty and in his misfortunes, and in this too gives blessing. And this is the God about Whom no one can say that His blessing was stolen. This is such a proclamation with which, in essence, Yaakov's return from galut (from exile) ends.

And now we will read one of the saddest stories in Yaakov's life and, perhaps, in the whole book of Bereshit – the story of Dina. The story of Dina is told in chapter 34 of the book of Bereshit, but we will begin a little earlier, we will go back to what we have already read, and begin reading from verse 18 of chapter 33.

Let us pay attention to the word shalém (whole). The commentators say: “This hints to us that Yaakov was healed of his limp, came whole, alive and well, as he had asked in his oath before the Most High. This is the Most High's answer to the oath.” And nevertheless this expression has certain strangenesses.

In Hebrew, in the Tanach, the name of a city never stands after the word “city.” That is, ir sh'chem is a not very convenient expression for Hebrew. And next to Sh'chem there is to this day a place called Shalem. Therefore it is quite possible to translate it like this: “And Yaakov came to Shalem, near the city of Sh'chem, which is in the land of Canaan.”

...In his return from Padan-Aram.

Vayichán can be translated as stopped at the face of the city, that is, stopped opposite the city. It can also be translated from the word chen (embellished the city). That is what the midrashim do, speaking in a language contemporary to the one who listens to them. So, the midrashim say that Yaakov introduced his own currency, set up his own baths, built his own theaters and, in a word, set up his own cultural infrastructure, without joining Sh'chem. Yaakov's place becomes such a beautiful, cozy cultural quarter next to Sh'chem. And, moreover, Yaakov does what no one else before him had done:

If we remember, Avraham insisted that the object of the purchase be not a field but a burial place. Avraham did not acquire agricultural land in the land of Israel. But Yaakov does this. Yaakov establishes himself, “settles himself in” near Sh'chem. And from whom did he buy this land?

…From the hands of the sons of Chamor – the father of Sh'chem.

Very interesting, right? The sons of Chamor – the father of Sh'chem. That is, he bought it from Sh'chem and from his brothers. And he bought it for 100 kesit – last time we explained this question. Yaakov buys land for himself, settles in territorially. And purchased land is a marked territory.

And he set up an altar there. We also talked about the peculiarities of this word. He did not build an altar (an altar is usually built), but set it up, like a matzeva, like a stele, as it was in Beit-El in its time.

...And he called this altar “God – the God of Israel.”

In essence, an altar is the central square of a city or its gate, depending on how the city is arranged. In the south it is rather the gate. In the gate of the city Yaakov set up an altar. He acquires such a place for himself. In essence, Yaakov is building the state of Israel. The first state of Israel. Having only just received the name Yisrael, he builds the state of Israel, which will affirm (we have already talked about this) that blessing is not given for free, that everyone sees how blessing is obtained, that the Most High blesses labor, the Most High blesses righteousness in any situation, in any behavior. We said, this is a broad topic.

Yaakov does not have that much population in his little state. One should not think that Sh'chem is big either. In Sh'chem there were 40–50 men. To put it in modern Israeli language, Sh'chem is a chamula or a machala – a place where a family lives, where a clan lives: a small farmstead, a village and so on. City sounds too grand for Sh'chem. Yaakov's population is not that large. Among them… Let us get acquainted with one of the main heroines of chapter 34 of the book of Bereshit.

She is not called here Dina bat Yaakov (Dina daughter of Yaakov). Remember, we talked about how children are born who were not originally destined to be born to Lea? And that is why it is written “whom she bore to Yaakov.” So, Dina, the daughter of Lea, went out to see the daughters of Sh'chem. Dina was born about a year or perhaps two before Yaakov agreed to work another 6 years, 6 years after that he worked for Lavan. Dina is 8 years old at the moment Yaakov leaves Padan-Aram, and so here, in our story, we are dealing with an 8-9, well, at most 10-year-old girl who went out to see the daughters of that land. Imagine Dina's life. She is the only daughter, who has 11 brothers. She is not the eldest, on whom a lot of housework would have fallen. She is the youngest, and there are also the children of the slave women, there are slave women in this house. Perhaps she is doted on, she is caressed with brotherly affection, but she has no girlfriends, she has no one to be friends with, no one to play with. She is, so to speak, homeschooled, she is taught at home.

When my daughter was in 3rd-4th grade, homeschooled, she once came to me and asked: “Dad, from what age can I work?” I said: “Well, in Israel, with certain restrictions, you can work from 12-13 years old. Why do you ask?” She answered: “I would very much like to work.” “And what would you like to work as?” “I would like to clean apartments.” And I asked: “What kind of strange wish is that for a girl – to go and clean apartments? It is not entertainment.” She answered: “Then I would meet children there, I would get to know them and would start playing with them.” The longing characteristic of a person who, because of certain particular circumstances, cannot interact with those around them. An 8-10-year-old girl wants girlfriends. She wants to see how the girls dress, how they adorn themselves, how they play jump rope and hopscotch or whatever else it is they play. A curious little girl went out and went to Sh'chem. Maybe she clutched a little money in her fist for some costume jewelry… In a word, this is a rather naive outing, not even of a teenager, but of a girl. Naturally, the commentators see it differently. Each has his own Dina. Some say: “Here, it is written: vattetzé Dina (and Dina went out), so Dina is yatz'anít – one who goes out or the Hebrew equivalent of the word loose woman. Well, and similar thoughts. We will nevertheless try to cling to the pshat. She went out from Yaakov's territory.

Sh'chem ben Chamor – Sh'chem son of Chamor. The name Chamor, let me remind you, is translated as donkey. There is no need to be surprised at this, it is a perfectly decent name for those times.

...He is a representative of the Hivite people (a glorious son of the Hivite people), He is the son of the prince of the land. And he took her, And lay with her, and raped her.

And here the word y'anné needs to be analyzed separately. Many words have to be analyzed separately. The word la'anót means to torment, to cause pain. But this same word also means marital cohabitation. When the Torah commands a man not to deprive his wife of marital cohabitation, it uses the word uná. The commandment for a man on the Sabbath night to give the woman pleasure in the sexual sense is also called uná. That is, one can say both “tormented her,” and “caused her certain feelings”. The commentators say that there was no torment here, there was no intention here to cause pain. But, since this is a little girl, naturally, intimacy with an adult man or even with a teenager (we do not know the age of this fellow) is very painful. It is evident that this person was driven by some unhealthy, impure impulse. We say that when the Torah lists verbs, this signifies an impulse, but not thoughts. And if it had been with her consent, it would have been written vayishkáv immá, but here it is written vayishkáv otá (laid her down). And caused her pain. And this is what happens with him on impulse, and this impulse is clearly vile and impure. But further on we read:

This is that very word tidabék, which Adam pronounces when he says: “A man will leave his father and his mother, and will cling to his wife.” Here tidabék means his soul clung to Dina. Here Dina is called bat Yaakov (daughter of Yaakov). And, note, if in the previous verse it says “took her, slept with her, tormented her,” then here she is already called by name. That is, he suddenly discerned that this is not just a girl, not some sexual object, he saw something greater in her.

...And he loved this young woman, And he spoke to the heart of the young woman

If someone reads Hebrew, he will notice that it is written there without the little letter ה at the end. There are different commentaries on this. Most likely, this is an ancient way of writing. But the commentators say: “So, she has not even grown up yet, she is a girl not yet developed, therefore she is na'ará, but it is written as ná'ar (young man).” He spoke according to the heart of the young woman. From the last phrase it is clear (it is usually used exactly this way) that he found words to the heart of the young woman. That is, after this dubious rape, and at this age the consent or non-consent of the young woman plays no role at all (this can be regarded as rape), he comforts her, speaks to her heart. And this expression “spoke to her according to her heart” means that he gained a certain favor from her. Again we are speaking of a 10-year-old girl. We are speaking of a 10-year-old girl who has only brothers. She is surrounded by love, she has no experience of interacting with men. And let us look at what actually happened here.

In the East there is a tradition, a terrible tradition, but it has survived to this day – this is the tradition of stealing wives. All this looks far from always like in Gaidai's well-known film “The Adventures of Shurik.” A young woman is stolen against her will, this happens, and she is held in their house. Sometimes raped. And in an Eastern community, if a young woman has been raped, if she has been defiled, then her own parents say: “Who needs you now? Stay here now. And where will you go now?” This happens even in the 21st century.

But we see this in Scripture too, in another case, when Amnon rapes Tamar and drives her away. And Amnon says to her: “Get up, go away.” And she said to him: “No, for this evil of driving me away is greater than the one you did to me before.” That is, for Tamar this rapist Amnon will be a savior if he becomes her husband. It is an evil that he drives her away. From the standpoint of the 21st century it is hard for us to understand this. We read in the book of Devarim: “If someone meets a young maiden who is not betrothed, and seizes her, and lies with her, and they are found, then let the man who lay with her give the father of this maiden 50 pieces of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he took possession of her, he will not be able to divorce her all the days of his life.” That is, these rules were meant to protect the young woman. A raped young woman found herself dependent on the rapist, and the Torah compels the rapist to marry. When Amnon refuses this, Tamar says to him: “This is the most terrible thing you could have done to me.” This is more terrible than the rape itself. This is what happens between Dina and Sh'chem. After he went in to her, after what happened happened, he clung to her, speaks to her according to her heart. It is easy to speak to her according to her heart, because she understands that she is defiled, that she has nowhere to go, she is completely dependent on him. He spoke to her according to her heart and could very well have said: “I will give a good bride-price for you, a good kalym, and everything will be fine, we will come to an agreement with your parents.” And this, strictly speaking, is what he is going to do.

It is interesting that the midrash compares the love of the Most High for Israel with the love of Sh'chem for Dina. The midrash says that about Israel, about the Most High, it is said that “his soul longed in Him” – this is what Sh'chem's father will later say – “desired him, and loved him, and spoke with him” – all the love epithets that Sh'chem and his father apply to Dina. Thus the sages interpret the love of the Most High for Israel and say: “All this we learn from the case of that very villain.” Sh'chem is a villain, but certain human feelings are not foreign to him. Having committed a villainy, he wants to be with this young woman. Maybe his motives are purely selfish – “here, I want this young woman” – nevertheless he acts responsibly, he does not keep her with him, he talks with the father.

The word yaldá clearly indicates that Dina is still just a little girl. “Take for me this girl as a wife.”

In this chapter we see two important changes at once. From this moment on, the role of Yaakov as the father of the family, as the main acting figure, will move to the side, will diminish. And on the stage there will appear bnei Yisrael, bnei Yaakov (the sons of Yaakov). The sons begin to act. There is also a second important detail, which we cannot fail to talk about. Long ago a very similar event took place: Avraham built an altar in Sh'chem, was going to go to Beit-El (where Yaakov too is not yet going, but must go), but on the way famine overtook him. He goes down to Egypt, and in Egypt his wife is taken from him. In the historical interval between Sh'chem and Beit-El, Yitzchak’s wife is also taken from him. Well, of course, a wife is a married woman, not a betrothed daughter, but still the situation is similar. In that case we see the intervention of the Most High. And there the one who took the wife is overtaken by a blow. And there Avraham receives livestock and becomes rich through it. Here this happens too, but here the Most High does not intervene.

The commentators see in this the fact that the Most High hands over more and more responsibilities, more and more actions into the hands of man. Society, the people of Israel, is a people in which people will act, in which God lets people act, gives them authority to perform certain deeds, to make certain decisions. Even if at first they will be fundamentally wrong. The reader who remembers all the previous events should expect that in the middle of this story Sh'chem Chamorovich will be struck by some heavy fit of apoplexy and fall ill and will not be able to do anything with Dina. But this does not happen. Not because the Most High has abandoned this people, but because the Most High supports and strengthens this people in doing His will on earth. And meanwhile...

The first time we read it was when Esav came from the field: he had a certain weakness, and Yaakov had what Esav needed. We remember what happened. The second time we read about the mandrake apples, when Yaakov came from the field, and here Lea to some extent already acted in Yaakov’s role… In general, there are certain parallels. Here the sons of Yaakov come from the field and find out that someone has taken their beloved sister from them.

...And they grew very, very sad, and this made them very angry, because a vileness has been committed in Israel – to lie with the daughter of Yaakov, and that is not done.

The word navál is connected with dead flesh, with carrion. The word chen can be translated as truth, verity. Then the translation will be: “And justice has not been done.” That is, Yaakov found out earlier and kept silent. The sons came and became angry that their sister had been ruined, and justice has not been done. And Sh'chem’s father speaks with him.

Chamor is now speaking not with the father, but with the brothers. While he was walking, the brothers joined, and Chamor speaks with them. He did go to speak with the father, but he speaks with the brothers. And why “your daughter”? Of course, older brothers can also call their little sister a daughter.

Chamor, in essence, proposes a certain path of assimilation. In the book of Devarim we read: “Do not become related to them, do not give your daughter to his son, and do not take his daughter for your son.” In the Book of Shoftim we read a condemnation of such a bond: “And they took their daughters to themselves as wives, and their own daughters they approved for their sonsiIn this quote from Shoftim the Russian says the daughters were “approved” for their sons, probably a slip for “given”. It is translated literally., and they served their gods.” And in the book of Ezra we read: “And now do not give your daughters to their sons, do not take their daughters for your sons, and forever seek their peace and their good, so that you may become strong, and you will eat the best that there is in this land, and pass it on as an inheritance to your sons forever.” One of the rules of inheriting the land: not to mix with foreign peoples. But, of course, neither Chamor nor Sh'chem had read the book of Ezra, and they do not really understand the principles by which the sons of Yaakov live. And Chamor develops his thought and says:

...and you will live with us (that is, we will give you our citizenship), and our land will be before you, Live in it, buy in it and hold on to it.

That is, Chamor offers full civil rights to Yaakov and his family. But he, Chamor, did not come alone, Sh'chem, his son, came with him too.

We said that the Torah reports the average market price for a girl in this case. Forgive me, this sounds very cynical, but indeed, such were the relations: a bride price was established, a payment for a girl in such a situation was established. On the one hand, this was done so that it would not become a cause for blackmail, when the father can demand huge money and the daughter will remain in such a suspended state. On the other hand, so that the rapist could not say: “I do not have that kind of money, and therefore I will not marry her.” All this looks cynical, all this looks vile, terrible from our 21st century. But back then it was not the 21st century at all.

So, Chamor offered civil and political rights, and Sh'chem for his part asked: “Give me any payment, and I will pay.” It would seem that, given that Dina at this moment is in Sh'chem’s palace (if he has a palace), this becomes an offer that is hard to refuse.

Note: cunning within cunning. At first they seem to say: “We cannot give our daughter to an uncircumcised man.” It would seem that the demand to be circumcised is at first presented as a demand on Sh'chem himself only. But on the other hand, “we will agree with you only if you will all be like us.” Why? Because you are the ones proposing that we take your daughters and give our daughters to you. That is, you must circumcise every person of the male sex.

Note, there are very many subtleties in the wording here: we will give you daughters – not you will take, but we will give you our daughters, whichever we want and whichever we agree on.

… And we will take your daughters, And we will live with you, and we will be one people with you (again, “we will take your daughters, whichever we want”).

That is the plan they have. It would seem there is an option to settle everything peacefully, one way or the other. We will still talk about what the brothers’ cunning consisted in. And if Yaakov was present and heard about this cunning, then why did he not like what they did afterwards? What was the cunning? But here we read an unexpected turn of the situation:

Both the dad and the son liked their words. So the negotiations ended.

So, he is the most respected, and he was the first to get circumcised, as a model for all to see. Well and, of course, we expect that after him the whole house will get circumcised.

So, Chamor together with his father went to conduct negotiations with the sons of Yaakov about taking Dina as a wife. His father made a proposal of, by and large, a commercial nature. He said: “We will grant you all kinds of civil rights here, conclude a treaty of friendship and of mutually beneficial economic cooperation, and in every way we will advance your economic position.” His son, in love with the girl whom he had raped, said: “Set whatever bride price you like, I am ready to pay as much as you like, I need nothing at all, if only I may find favor in your eyes.” Two such proposals, and probably the father looked very unkindly at the son, who is keeping him from doing economics and offers any money whatsoever. That is not how negotiations are conducted.

The sons of Yaakov, hurt, insulted and sensing something bad, answer the proposal of the father and the son at the same time and, as the Torah says, answer with cunning. What the cunning is – for now the reader does not understand. They say: “It is not our custom to give a daughter to an uncircumcised man. Let the man be circumcised and let everyone among you be circumcised, then we will cooperate and in general become one people.” These words please both the father and the son, they do not yet understand what the treachery here is, and we too do not yet understand what the treachery here is. The father and the son return to their native Sh'chem, the son is immediately circumcised, and we read the story further.

Pay attention, in the speech of the father and the son that they deliver in Sh'chem, all you hear is “look, we have a family nearby, it is already a given.” No one says anything about having to grant them citizenship or somehow make them equal in rights. “They are already here.”

...And they live in this land, AND THEY TRADE IN IT. AND HERE, BEFORE THEM THERE IS MUCH LAND. WE WILL TAKE FROM THEM DAUGHTERS WHOM WE CHOOSE, AND THOSE DAUGHTERS WHOM WE WANT, WE WILL GIVE TO THEM.

The father and the son come with a commercial proposal, they say: “This family already lives next to us, look here, how they have adorned our city, what a great blessing this is for us! Let us for economic purposes do such-and-such… How can we enter into economic cooperation with them?”

Here there is not a word about Sh'chem being in love with Dina, not a word at all about any matrimonial plans. Here they say: “Look, see, there is a family nearby, and, if we get circumcised, we can really take off economically.”

The idea is this: these neighbors are rich, look how much joy they bring to our little kids, how much blessing they bring into our city, they are already a given, they live here, let us, in order to keep them here, so that we can little by little fleece them and milk everything they have, let us get circumcised. Not at all what the brothers spoke about, not at all what the brothers proposed, and not at all what Chamor himself proposed to the brothers. A purely economic alliance is intended. That is, what does Chamor want? Chamor wants, on the basis of what happened, on this tragedy, to take off, to rise economically, to raise his people, well, and his own status.

I remind you, they circumcised everyone because they expected economic profit from it. Here there is neither repentance for what was done nor a desire to make peace. No conflict at all is mentioned that took place between Yaakov and Chamor, between the sons of Yaakov and Sh'chem. There is nothing at all, there is some – presto! – economic idea. And all the more there is no circumcision here for the sake of Heaven and by God’s commandment. Simply “let us do as they do, so that they will not be too disgusted with us.”

Such an action takes place. What then after this? Gradually all the inhabitants of the city get circumcised. Dina remains with Sh'chem in the palace or in the house (it is unclear where she is there). In Yaakov’s camp they most likely did not expect at all that Chamor and company would agree to be circumcised. Perhaps the treachery lay in this. They expected that Chamor would not want to be circumcised, the city would not want to be circumcised, they would get up and leave. In any case, we see that not on the advice of the brothers, not as a collective mind, the brothers Shimon and Levi begin to act.

A terrible, horrific genocide. Now imagine: Dina has been raped, the rapists come, conduct negotiations, the sons try somehow to get Dina out of there, but their plan of treachery perhaps fails, and they do not get what they wanted. A day passes, a second, a third. No one in Yaakov’s house does anything at all. And then Shimon and Levi, two brothers, about whom it is said ache Dina (the brothers of Dina)… Why is it said so? On the father’s side, of course, Dina has more brothers, and on the mother’s side Re'uven is the eldest brother, but Re'uven, as we will see further on, is a man of a somewhat different character. So, remember the story when Lavan caught up with Yaakov’s camp? We read there that Lavan went in turn into Rachel’s tent, into Lea’s tent, into Yaakov’s tent and into the tent of each of the slave women. From this we conclude that they live separately and each mom lives with her children. The children are not all that grown up: Shimon is 14, Levi 13, that is, many children are still beside their moms, each grows up in his own tent, and therefore Shimon and Levi wait three days. They assume that now Yaakov will come up with something, what the others will do, what the other brothers will do. But Yaakov is silent.

A few chapters later we will hear about how Yosef perished, and there it is said that Yaakov tore his clothes and sat in mourning. Here, though, Yaakov is completely silent, waits until the sons return. And perhaps Dina’s brothers have such a feeling that no one is even worried about their little sister. They (“our hands rushed to the swords”) attack the city, the clan of Chamor, kill them all, kill all the men, thereby clearing the way to the palace (or to the house).

No one except the two beloved little brothers stood up for Dina. If we listen to the voice, listen to the melody of the Torah, we will hear that here the Torah itself does not speak with condemnation about these verses. Let us continue reading.

Here it is not entirely clear from the text whether it is about the very same brothers, about Shimon and Levi, or whether, having learned that the brothers had got Dina back, the other brothers also swooped in to plunder the city: why let the property go to waste. And what did they take?

One can be indignant and say: “What looting! Well, all right, Shimon and Levi defended their sister, defended the violated honor. But what about the others (or is it these same ones)? Why plunder the city?” We read a similar story in the book of Bemidbar, the story of the war with the Midyanites, when Israel (also, by the way, in a case of private debauchery) waged war with the Midyanites, and there the Most High Himself blessed it, and part of the vengeance was the plundering of Midyan. We will read there exactly the same, a very similar one, in any case, list of the plunder (this is in the book of Bemidbar), except perhaps the donkeys. In general, when trophies are listed, donkeys are rarely listed, but here, apparently, there is such a mockery, such a barb aimed at the local king, whose name is Chamor (or Donkey). That is, the brothers dragged off the donkeys too. So, we saw that Shimon and Levi carried out a certain raid as an operation to free their sister. They themselves (or someone else) went and plundered the city.

One fine day, on the third day, the Patriarch Yaakov learns about this after the fact. We talked about how now the time is coming when Yaakov as an acting figure moves into the background. Yaakov very much dislikes what is happening. And, strictly speaking, the Torah perhaps dislikes the fact that Yaakov dislikes this. We will read about this further on.

Who was Yaakov speaking with just now? Yaakov was speaking with his children: with his second son Shimon, with his third son Levi – with those whom Lea bore him, a not very beloved, but still a wife. Why then does Yaakov speak as if separating them from himself? We will see this further on as well. Because for Yaakov his house is, to a greater degree, the sons of Rachel. That is Binyamin and Yosef. These are the ones who will be his sons. We will see this throughout the whole story of Yaakov. Yaakov will yet say to his ten sons: “You know that I have only two sons.” This is the complexity of Yaakov’s relationship with his children. We said that Dina and her brothers grow up in Lea’s tent. Yaakov lives in Rachel’s tent. It is quite possible that dad is somewhat distant for them. In the family there are very complicated, difficult relationships. In the children’s eyes Yaakov is trying, at the expense of their sister, to build some kind of economic relations. All this looks rather bad. And it was precisely Yaakov’s sons who answered with cunning. Yaakov himself, quite possibly, was willing to resolve the situation so that Dina would remain married to Sh'chem. It is very hard for us now to guess what he was thinking. There are different midrashim. The midrashim want to teach us. The midrashim always teach us that these people are an example for us, and very often teachers say that their example is in their good deeds. For me it is clear that these are living people who live like living people, with their complexities. And for us the example is their good deeds and their not quite good deeds. All that varied behavior of theirs is an example for us. Yaakov has complicated relationships in his family, and this is expressed in the relationships between his sons.

How did Shimon and Levi feel? Apparently they felt slighted, felt that at the expense of their mother, by disregard for their sister, someone was trying to settle certain questions. And the Torah’s attitude toward the freeing of Dina is unequivocally good. Here the brothers are nowhere condemned. Yaakov, however, will not accept their deed to the end of his life.

One can relate to the plundering of the city in different ways. There are many commentators who said: “It was good to free Dina – it was not good to plunder the city.” Some said: “But look, in the war with the Midyanites they plundered the city! That is the blessing of the Most High.” Again, we drew a parallel, when Sara ends up with Pharaoh and Avraham through this comes out with great property. And here, one can say, the children do the same thing, only God has already endowed them with a certain authority to act, has given them strength to act.

So, Yaakov comes down on them with a terrible reproach and says: “Well, that’s it, now everyone here will kill me.” The scene could have ended right on this reproach, but the will of the author of the Torah – the Most High – was that the last word should remain with one of the brothers, who said:

A very coarse word is used here. That is: “our sister is not the one at whose expense you will solve some economic problems, some state problems. We are standing up for the honor of our sister.” Dina returns to her family home and almost completely disappears from the horizon. I do not know how Yaakov related to her before all this, but Dina no longer exists for anyone. She is mentioned in the list of people who went down to Egypt. That is, she lived for some time more, was a member of the family. Not all commentators are glad that she remained in Jewish history, therefore there are midrashim that say she became the wife of Job. There are those who say that Dina conceived from Sh'chem (yes, yes, at such a young age) and gave birth to a girl named Asnat, whom Yaakov sent to Egypt and who in the future would become the wife of Yosef. In short, it is hard for the commentators to put Dina somewhere. Some say that she became the wife of Shimon. And, on the whole, the story of Dina often becomes a litmus test for understanding what a person is, depending on what he thinks about Dina. So, they say that Shimon took her, but a woman who was once with an uncircumcised man will no longer be able to get pleasure from a circumcised one. And many, many, many similar stories. Everyone speaks about Dina out of the abundance of his heart, and it is wonderful that we are so different and can say different things.

Right after this the Torah says that those events (the commentators also note this) which happen in Yaakov’s life happen because he is delaying with his promise. Right after this the Most High turns to Yaakov and says to him:

Interesting, God does not say: “Make Me an altar,” but says: “Look, you promised, after all, fulfill your promise to that God, to that idea of God that you had, to what it has turned into. Put all your knowledge of the Most High into this.” The Most High still teaches Yaakov to make use of his blessings in the land of Israel.

And we, you and I, thought that Yakov and his family were all monotheists, so where would they get little gods from at all? The commentators say that Yaakov simply made the laws stricter. Now every little tray with a little sun painted on it, every little jug with a moon painted on it, has to be removed. It is quite possible that in the plundering of Sh'chem the Jews got a lot of gold, various other ornaments that were connected with idols, a lot of idolatrous vessels and so on. Yaakov says: “Let us check our property once more, let us once more sort out and go through the things that should not be taken with us.”

Almost a pirate map, right? This is done, as the commentators say, so that if someone under the oak suddenly finds ornaments, finds some stores of gold items, he would understand that it is better not to touch this, that it is under a curse and it is better not to touch it at all.

The word elohím in such combinations is sometimes understood as something great. Sometimes rúach elohím is not the Spirit of God, but a strong wind. Eymát elohím is not fear before God, but a strong fear, the word rash elohím is a great noise. One can say: “...and there was great fear.”

...on all the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Yaakov.

This is the conclusion of the story, which to some degree answers the fears of Yaakov, who was afraid that now they would rise up and kill him. No. Either this is the fear of God, which stops everyone, or this is a great fear, which seized everyone. One can understand it one way or the other, but no one pursues Yaakov. And it turns out that his fears, his doubts are unfounded. Does this confirm that the sons acted rightly? For me this is a good sign in favor of the Torah approving the actions of Shimon and Levi. One more point is interesting: we read that the brothers “took Dina and brought her out, carried her out of Sh'chem’s house” – this is the reverse of the action with which everything began, when Dina went out and Sh'chem took her. That is, they restored the status quo, returned the situation to its normal, original state.

With this the Torah ends the story of Dina. A sad story, from which everyone will draw conclusions according to his own understanding. Every time I reread this story, every time I give a lesson, upon my word, there are tears in my eyes from all this. I love my dear Dina so much, and I feel so sorry for her and for everything that happened to her. I myself have curious and beloved daughters…

So, we left Yaakov at the moment when, having received a revelation from the Most High, he is finally about to fulfill his promise and sets out from Sh'chem to Beit-El. Contrary to the fears he had, no one pursues his family. He calmly leaves the area, because, as the Torah testifies, fear fell precisely on all those around, on all the neighbors. Before we continue reading about Yaakov, there is time to ask why he, to put it in modern terms, was waiting for a special invitation. After all, it was his promise: to come to Beit-El, to set up an altar to the Most High, to give Him the tithe… In a word, he said all this himself. And so, he lives in Sh'chem and does not seem to be planning to go to Beit-El, until the Most High addressed him. There are many different commentaries that say that Yaakov simply forgot, Yaakov is simply ungrateful. They say that the Most High sends Yaakov trial after trial: now Esav's angel, now Esav himself, now the story with Dina, so that Yaakov would finally remember. And finally the Most High says: “How long can one keep hitting him? I will go and say directly what I want from him.” But let us remember Yaakov's ladder. The Most High promises Yaakov that He will keep him and bring him back to this land, and Yaakov in response makes an oath and says: “If I return to my father's house in peace, then I will go and bring a sacrifice in Beit-El.” Here he has not yet returned to his father's house, which means the circle is not yet closed, and he is waiting for when it will be time to fulfill the promise, for when he will actually come to his father's house. Why does he not go to his father's house? That is a completely different conversation. So, Yaakov interprets it his own way, the Most High – his own way. The Most High is revealed to Yaakov and says: “Here, in case of a dispute, we decide My way, the way I formulated it. My formulation, My interpretation of the law is the one that applies. And although, yes, you have been given freedom, your name is Yisrael, and you have been given the power to bring much into being, you will carry out My laws, My rules, and you will act My way.” And from this point we will continue reading.

His whole clan finally came to Beit-El. Yaakov, who once walked alone, a fugitive who hid from everyone, now comes to Beit-El with all his numerous people.

Some proponents of mystical theories will see a plural in the word niglú. If we read it directly and literally, we get “there gods were revealed to him when he fled from Esav.” The word elohím, indeed, can be conjugated with verbs in the plural, but in no way does it point to a plurality of gods; rather, it points to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar.

I have already had occasion to give lessons about Rivka, about Devora, Rivka's nurse, and about where Rivka got her wisdom, understanding and certain manners characteristic of Avraham's house. I discussed in detail what kind of person this is, and why the Torah mentions her name here, and where Rivka's nurse came from at all in the family of Yaakov, who has not yet returned home. There are different opinions on this. Rivka, when she sent Yaakov off, said: “The time will come, and I will send for you.” And one can say that Devora is the one whom she sent. There are many different versions. Apparently, this woman was close not only to Rivka; perhaps she was the nanny, the nurse of Yaakov too. So, she is singled out here in this special way. And perhaps that is why Yaakov mourns her and buries her.

After this the Most High is again revealed to Yaakov. And the question arises: is there any connection at all between these chains, between these events, between the links of this chain? So, Yaakov came to Beit-El, built an altar, the nurse died, the Most High is revealed to him. Is there some logic here, or only chronology? If we remember that Rivka sends Yaakov to her country with a specific purpose and Yaakov is now returning, then one can conclude that in a certain sense Yaakov's mission is finished.

We do not know whether Rivka is alive at that moment. Most likely, Rivka is no longer alive. Some say that Rivka's death coincided with the death of the nurse. The nurse heard of the death of her ward and also died. In any case, this is a closing, the end of Yaakov's journey, and those people who have fulfilled their mission, those people whose work is finished, also leave the stage. And why (one of the possible lines of thought) does Rivka die early – because at the time she took Yaakov's curse upon herself.

When Yaakov had already fulfilled his promise, the Most High fulfilled His promise, He appears to him and says:

This is already the second renaming. One can say that the angel who wrestled with him also renamed him, or gave him such insider, inside information: “Look what news I know: you will soon be renamed Yisrael.” One way or another, the name “Yaakov” accompanies Yaakov to the end of his days; he never became Yisrael in everything. Scripture calls him now Yisrael, now Yaakov, and it will be so all his life. And that is why we spoke about the fact that Yaakov is not just a name, it is a name that spoils one's reputation, in a certain sense because of such a connotation as a trickster, a crafty person. And here the Most High says: “I am cleansing you of this reputation, no one will say that you earned something by cunning.” This dilemma, by the way, is still relevant today with regard to Israel and the nations of the world, and one could talk about this separately and at length.

Shaddai is God, the guardian of borders; it is a peculiar feminine name of God, because the word shad means breast. I am the “stout,” “full-breasted” God, God Who is able to nurse those who rely on Him. This is one of the meanings of the name. Of course, God has neither hands, nor feet, nor head, and even less a breast. These are images in which God is revealed to people.

One can say that this was an entering of God into Yaakov or a descent (like the tongues of fire). From this verse it is evident that God rested, as it were, upon Yaakov while speaking with him, and then rose up from him.

That is, Beit-El unambiguously appears on the map, now before the whole people of Israel. Already, one can say, all of Israel, the whole clan of Yaakov, everyone calls this place Beit-El. This place, by the way, is called Beit-El to this very day. Tourists are taken there and shown where Yaakov saw the dream; a very beautiful panorama opens up from there.

Yaakov sets out, he has to walk about 70 kilometers, probably, over rough terrain. Rachel goes into labor, maybe unforeseen, maybe early, because otherwise Yaakov would simply have stayed until she gave birth. Rachel gives birth, her labor becomes complicated, her labor is not easy.

Apparently, she has difficult contractions. She is suffering and is afraid of dying. How many commentators have tried to understand this phrase of the midwife! Some say that with Yosef as many as two girls were born. Rachel suffered because, here, she was giving birth to triplets, two girls, and giving birth to girls – for some reason the rabbis and all the Eastern peoples have this certainty – is more painful than giving birth to boys. I myself have not given birth, of course, I have only delivered babies, I delivered both boys and girls, and it seems, from my observations, it is equally painful for a woman to give birth to a boy and to a girl. But that is what they believed then. And so it is said: “Do not worry, the third will be a boy, it will be easier for you.” Others say that she was giving birth and the midwife was calming her: “Look how God loves you, He heard your prayers, and here, a boy has been born to you.” There are different views, different commentaries, and it is evident that far from all our teachers, may their memory be blessed, were present at births.

It seems to me that when the midwife saw that it was a boy, this meant that the boy had already come out, the birth was already over. How do you find out the sex of the child? Back then there was no ultrasound, there was no equipment of any kind. First the head appears, then the little body, then that by which, strictly speaking, one can recognize the sex: whether it is a boy or a girl. And so, if it is visible that it is a boy, that means the boy has already been born. And the midwife says to Rachel: “Do not be afraid, here he is, a boy, here he is, born to you.” And in this way she comforts her. Naturally, any woman is moved to tenderness when she sees a child. While suffering during labor, women say all sorts of things, like: “I will never give birth again,” “as if I would ever again,” “next time let him give birth,” but when they see the child, they are deeply moved. And most likely, this is how the midwife calmed Rachel.

Rachel did die after all, she did not survive this birth, she is 36, this is her second birth, a difficult birth, and she named the boy Ben-Oni (son of my mourning). But the father named him Binyamin. Also, at first glance, a very strange story, because this is, in essence, the last request of Rachel, who so wanted to become a mother, her last will – to name her son Son of mourning, although probably it would have been hard for the boy to live with such a name. The name Ben-Oni can be understood as son of mourning, but the word on has, surprisingly, another meaning – strength. One can say Son of my mourning, and one can say Son of my strength. Yaakov names him Binyamin (son of my right hand), which can also mean Son of strength. The word yamin means strength. And one can understand it this way, that Yaakov does not rename Ben-Oni, but gives a peculiar commentary on his name, gives an explanation of this name, says that it is about Rachel's strength. Despite the fact that Rachel's fate is so tragic and sad, she was able to give birth to only two children and died in childbirth. In Jewish tradition it is precisely Rachel who is considered the mother of the Jewish people. We have already talked about this. The prophet Yirmeyahu describes precisely Rachel as weeping for the children of Israel. It is precisely Rachel who became the symbol of the mother, although Lea is also called mother.

Why did Rachel die precisely now and here? And the commentators say: “There is truth in this: Yaakov himself cursed Rachel when he said to Lavan: ‘Whoever stole these terafim, if you find them with anyone, let him die.’ But, in fact, Lavan did not find them with anyone. The curse of a righteous man has power, and it is quite possible that this became the cause of death. It is quite possible that the cause was also Rachel's light attitude toward her own death, when she said: “Give me children or I will die.” But must one always search out a person's sin when he dies? If Yaakov had not cursed Rachel, if Rachel had not spoken about her death, would she have lived longer? We would still be talking about why she died.

Yaakov goes out to Charan in order to find himself a wife. It so happens that he falls in love with Rachel, wants to marry Rachel, but in the future it is Lea who becomes the mother of the whole family, the mother of the people, and Yaakov is buried with Lea. And therefore one can assume that it was precisely Lea who was supposedly destined for him. Rachel is Yaakov's companion in his flight, in his exile, but upon his return she can no longer be with him. Just as Moshe could not enter the land of Israel, so too Rachel cannot remain a mother in the land of Israel, and she will weep for the sons going out into galut. Of course, it is hard to grasp that Rachel did not live in the Bible, she is a living woman, and Yaakov is a living person, and he has the fate of a living person. When he lived in exile, two wives were some kind of compromise, but in the land of Israel it does not work like that. In exactly the same way as Yehoshua bin Nun and Moshe could not both be leaders in the land of Israel. One can draw such a parallel.

What is missing for us here? What is missing for us here is mourning. Yaakov loved Rachel very much, but he did not tear his clothes, did not weep, did not cry out, did not roll in the dust, neither he nor his son. Somehow all this happened in a businesslike way: he buried her quickly, put her in the ground. I think that there was a tragedy in Yaakov's soul, and it was a strong one. Right now, simply in the course of the story, it is not the time to talk about it. Yaakov will realize everything, will understand everything, everything will become clear when he blesses his children. For now, though, he is on the road, his wife has died and left a little boy named Binyamin, who now needs to be taken care of.

The commentators say, trying in every way to justify Re'uven: “He came and only twisted up the bedding on Bilha's bed, so that it would look as if he were sleeping with her. In fact, he did not dare to sleep with her.” Others say, as the Or HaChaim says: “The commentators have put it well, it is good to conceal a sin, but we do understand that they say this in order to cover up Re'uven's wickedness.” So, Re'uven comes and sleeps with Bilha, his father's concubine.

…and Israel heard about this (that is all, nothing more is said about it). Israel had 12 children.

Of course, one needs to try to understand what kind of story this is at all. We said last time that Yaakov's family is not very close-knit: each woman lives in her own tent: Rachel lives in her own tent, Bilha – in her own tent, Zilpa – in her own, Lea – in her own, Yaakov – in his own. And each of the children lived with his mother. When Rachel was alive, one could say that she and Lea were “co-wives.” In Hebrew two wives of one man are called, in relation to each other, tzará. This is a kind of kinship. Lea's children could say about Rachel: “All right, she is my mother's sister. Now her slave woman is going to be the favorite over my mother? That will not happen!” Yaakov, after Rachel's death, most likely moved to live in Bilha's tent, because it is clear that as Rachel's slave woman she will take care of her children, it is clear that it is good for Yaakov to be where his little children are: Binyamin and the very little Yosef. And if the other children expected that, widowed of Rachel, Yaakov would somehow pay attention to his unloved but fruitful wife Lea, that did not happen. And Re'uven does a brazen, terrible thing: he goes in and rapes Bilha. A similar story happened many centuries later with King David and his son Avshalom. David flees from Avshalom, leaving 10 concubines at his home to look after the house. Avshalom, on the advice of Achitofel, sets up a tent on the roof of the royal house, in full view of all the people brings David's concubines in there and rapes them. And when David returns home, reigns again, restores the status quo, he sends his wives, these concubines of his, away to be provided for. It is written: “And he did not go in to them until the day of their death.” A concubine defiled by someone is forbidden to her husband. Re'uven makes it so that now it will be impossible for Yaakov to sleep with Bilha, and maybe at last he will remember that he actually has another wife, the mother of his children – Lea, Re'uven's mother, and he will move to Lea. We do not know Yaakov's reaction, the immediate one at any rate, just as with Rachel's death. Yaakov is silent, but right there it is written: “And the sons of Yaakov 12.” That is, here Yaakov remembered that “dad, mom and I – a close-knit family,” and here they begin to speak about the fact that Yaakov has 12 sons altogether. And here (if we remember, earlier we talked about how Rachel was always mentioned first, despite the fact that she is the younger sister) Lea is mentioned first:

Six children of Lea.

The names of the sons of Rachel, the sons of Bilha, are listed.

Pay attention: who was not born in Padan-Aram? Binyamin was not born in Padan-Aram. And here one can say that the Torah is either not precise, or it speaks in figurative language: “Well, most of the children were born in Padan-Aram, so that is what we will say,” or Yaakov’s exile did not end until he came to the house of Yitzchak. And even when he lived in Sh'chem and went to Beit-El, he, until he returned to Yitzchak, is still in Padan-Aram. So, this can be understood in different ways.

The word vayig'á is often used in the meaning died, but leagía – that is to grow tired, to reach. That is, Yitzchak reached the age when his service was finished. Often they say about a righteous man that he did not die, he reached. Seemingly a good ending in this story: Yitzchak died in satiety, in old age, having seen Yaakov and his sons before his death. We do not know about his reaction, we do not know about what was happening. Apparently, having rejoiced and having lived to see it – probably Yitzchak was waiting only for this – he immediately dies, having blessed Esav, Yaakov and his sons. And they bury him together. Perhaps here is the difference from the burial of Sara, where Yitzchak was not present. Although Esav and Yaakov live separately, they went off in different directions, still they came to pay the last respects to their father.

In this weekly portion we read about the meeting of Yaakov and Esav and about the preparation for this meeting. The Torah opens up a little for us the inner world of Yaakov, tells about what is happening inside him. In chapter 32, in verse 8, we read:

The word yetzer is from the root tzar (narrow), but from this same root comes also the word tzara (trouble): it became bitter for him, he sensed trouble. And many commentators ask the questions: how and why is such a pillar of faith, the Patriarch, the Father of the twelve tribes, afraid; and why does the Torah tell us about this? Further on we read about Yaakov’s prayer, which also opens a window into his inner world. We will read from verse 10 of chapter 32.

Pay attention to the tense of the verb: not the LORD, who said to me, but the LORD, who says to me. That is, while Yaakov goes and does this, the LORD tells him to do this. Yaakov is moved by the word of God, by the providence of God, therefore God did not say to him go to your land, but says to him here and now: “Go to your land.” In verse 11 Yaakov says an amazing thing:

What does this phrase mean: I am small? In most translations it says here: “I am unworthy”; “Your mercies are greater than I.” This is an astonishing translation. In fact, a person is unworthy of any mercy. Mercy is what is done for us out of mercy, not by right, not as something earned, but when mercy was shown to us and we were given what we are unworthy to receive. Therefore, whatever we receive by mercy, wherever the word chesed (mercy) sounds, there is something that we receive undeservedly.

What, then, is Yaakov talking about? One of the ways of understanding it: katonti mikol hachasadim – I have become small thanks to all Your mercies. It happens that the Most High shows some mercy to a person, bestows something on a person, and this person may become proud, may feel: “Look how cool I am. Since the Most High has done such-and-such for me, it means I am important in His eyes. Look what He has made me, look what He has given me, what talents He has endowed me with.” A great temptation for all of us, a great temptation to become proud of some of our gifts or of some mercies. Yaakov says here that besides these mercies there was also Your mercy, in all Your mercies, that this mercy taught me to understand how small I am, how unworthy I am of all that You do, and how much of a difference there is between what You give me and what I am. How great this difference is. By Your mercy I received Your mercies as mercy. I did not become proud of Your mercy.

Other commentators say: “I now feel fear (katonti). I have fallen from that level of, perhaps, the fearless super-Yaakov whom everyone feared and who feared no one.” In Scripture we find very many verses saying that whoever relies on, trusts in God, a believing person, must not be afraid. “Blessed is the man who relies on the LORD and whose support will be the LORD.” “Happy is the man who places his trust in the LORD and does not turn for help to the arrogant and the deceitful.” “Many are the sores of the wicked, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be surrounded with favor.” And there are a great many more such quotations. And there is a well-known, somewhat pop song, “Whoever believes is not afraid.” These are very beautiful words. At the level of a believing person, in holiness and righteousness, a person is not afraid. Yaakov feels fear, and he feels, perhaps, that this is a fall for him, that this is for him a descent to a level on which he should not be. But he says: “Both the fact that I have descended to this level, and the fact that I am afraid, the fact that I have diminished, have become small (katonti) – this is Your mercy. Your mercy, which gives me the opportunity to feel the sweetness of Your presence, to feel the sweetness of fearlessness, as if You leave me in this fear so that I would feel how much You, how much Your protection, how much trust in You matter to me.” This too is a possible understanding of this phrase of Yaakov’s.

The third understanding of the word katonti – I have diminished, I cannot contain, I cannot contain all Your mercies, I am little, and Your mercies do not fit into me. You know how it happens? A newborn child in the first months of life quickly accumulates fat from the mother’s milk. When he is about 3 months old, 25-30% of his weight is fat. For an adult this would be deadly. Most of his energy reserves go into growth, he grows, grows, grows, grows, and suddenly at one year it is no longer most of the energy that goes into growth, but only a little, only 4%. He is full of energy, full of strength. When I look at my children, at children in general, I think: if I run around for half an hour the way he runs all day, I will lie down and lie there for 3 days afterwards without any strength. The child is full of strength, full of energy. The energy that he has does not fit inside him. In the past, energy went into maintaining body temperature. Today we dress the child, so he usually does not get cold, he has nowhere to go with it, and he just runs, jumps, leaps, plus a child weighs less. And to run somewhere, to jump up onto something, a twenty-kilogram child of course spends much less energy than an eighty-kilogram adult. A child has a lot of energy, he wants to run, to jump, and accordingly he does not want to occupy himself with certain things. In this childlike joy of his he says: “I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to, I’m bored with that, I’m bored with the other thing, I don’t want to. I don’t want to come out of my state of running, playing and so on.” What does this mean for Yaakov? Yaakov, as it were, says: “I am full of energy, I am up there, I am in a relationship with the Most High, even when I toil, when I work, when I do something, I am constantly standing before the Most High, I am constantly bustling before Him, like a child, in fulfilling the commandments, in serving Him. And from this joy of communion with the Most High I do not want to be distracted by war.” Galich once wrote in the poem “Kaddish”: “I have received everything, O God, in full. Where, on which list, am I to sign? I ask one thing: save me from hatred. It is not owed to me.” Yaakov, who received everything in full and truly is small compared with all the chesed, compared with all that mercy which he received, here, like a child, says: “I don’t want, I don’t want to fight, I don’t want to be distracted from these blessings. I don’t want to be distracted by war with Esav, I don’t want to be distracted by hatred.”

One can understand his phrase this way too. As I have already said, commentaries say more about the commentator than about Yaakov. And when we look at different opinions, we see the diversity of people in the people of Israel. This is not so that we would say, we agree with this one and we disagree with that one, although that too is good. This is so that, listening to different opinions, we would form our own opinion of what this katonti means for us.

There is also another explanation of the word katonti. In fact, if we read the promise that Yaakov received during the dream in which he saw the ladder, this is what is said there: “I am the LORD, the God of Avraham, Your father, and the God of Yitzchak. The land on which you are lying, I will give it to you and to your offspring. And your offspring will be like the sand of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, to the south, and in you and in your offspring all the tribes of the earth will be blessed. And behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have told you.” This is the promise that Yaakov received on the way to Charan. Later, when the Most High commands him to return home, the Most High says this: “And the LORD said to Yaakov: ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your homeland, and I will be with you.’” Yaakov says: “Perhaps my promises have diminished? Perhaps because of some sins of mine, because of some mistakes of mine, the promises I have now are not the ones I had before? Have the promises become fewer? And besides, the promises were about me. You said: ‘I will be with you.’ And yes, although You spoke about multiplying my seed and all that, You did not promise me that You would save my children and my wives. They are not necessarily in the promise at all, and I am worried about them. I am afraid: what if I am unworthy of preserving my family, my children.” And this too is characteristic of a human being, for we condemn Yaakov rather easily. Many commentators say: “How could Yaakov have been afraid? How could Yaakov have become frightened?” After all, if we put ourselves in his place, it is so easy to understand: Yaakov is walking with his wives, with his children, with his livestock, he is so defenseless, and toward him comes Esav with four hundred warriors. And even if he does not destroy everything, even if he kills two sons out of twelve, or a daughter, or Rachel, or Lea, or one of the slave women, is that not something to fear? Is that not frightening? Yaakov is afraid, because perhaps someone is not under this promise, not under this protection. Did Yaakov need to trust in the Most High? Yes, of course. May one be afraid in such a situation? Yes, of course, one may.

We continue to talk about that prayer which Yaakov prayed before the meeting with his brother Esav. In the previous talk we reflected on Yaakov’s words: “I am small in comparison with all the mercies that You have shown me.” We analyzed this phrase, the ways of understanding it and those lessons that we can draw from it. Today we will talk about the next phrase from this prayer:

The very first understanding that suggests itself here – Yaakov thanks the Most High for everything that the Most High has done for him. This is not as banal as it seems. Before this we do not see a prayer of thanksgiving by the fathers. We see a sacrifice in thanksgiving, but not so much a prayer of thanksgiving. The feeling of gratitude is a feeling that has to be learned. Any feeling that a person has stays with him for some time. A son is born to a person, and the person rejoices for a week, well, rejoices for ten days. And then life takes its course, routine begins. Exactly the same happens if a person has some grief. A person grieved and was comforted. How do you preserve a feeling? The feeling of joy, the feeling of sadness, the feeling of gratitude? One can tie peculiar little knots for remembering.

How this was done in Yaakov’s house we can see from Lea. About Lea it is written: “And she conceived again and bore a son. And she said: ‘This time I will give thanks to the LORD (I will thank the LORD).’ Therefore she called his name Yehuda (he will thank the LORD)”. Lea names her son Yehuda, in essence, in gratitude to the LORD. Now every time this name is pronounced, even if unconsciously, even if somewhere there, at the edge of consciousness, it will sound: “We thank the LORD. We remember to whom we must be grateful.” It is symbolic that our people is also called yehudim – those who thank the Most High, those who see the Most High behind everything that happens and understand that He must be thanked, and thank Him. 

And here in Yaakov’s prayer we also see that gratitude to the Most High is revealed. Commenting on the Shma prayer, the sages said: “It is written:

The sages said that bechol-levavechá (with all your heart) is Avraham. About Avraham it is written in the prophet Yeshayahu (41:8): “But you, Yisrael, my servant, Yaakov, whom I have chosen, seed of Avraham, who loved Me.” The Most High Himself testifies that Avraham loved him. Uvchol-nafshechá (with all your soul) – is written about Yitzchak. Why is it written so? Because Yitzchak was ready to lay down his soul on the altars for his love for the Most High. Uvchol-me'odécha (the last phrase) – and the sages connect it with the word hod (gratitude). And they say: “This is what is connected with Yaakov, because Yaakov says: ‘For with my staff I crossed this Jordan and now I have two camps.’” This is exactly our verse. That is, the simplest understanding of this verse is Yaakov’s gratitude. 

Gratitude helps very much in prayer. When we pray for someone or for something and we have some difficulty, some delay in our prayer, it is very good to stop, to stop asking. Or not only to ask, but also to thank. To thank the Most High for what already exists, for what we can already see, for what he has already done for us. If we pray for some relative and want his recovery, or his correction, or reconciliation with him, to begin to thank for the fact that he is in our life. To see something good that God did through him or that God did in him, and to thank for it. Gratitude is certainly very important in relationships between people. And, certainly, in the relationship between a person and the Most High. Therefore this is a very important quality and it is very important to learn it. 

And returning to our midrash about ve'ahavta (love the Most High), as we see, this verse from the book of Devarim about love for the Most High is laid out as if according to the Forefathers, as if in the Forefathers we see the root of what we are obliged to do, what we are obliged to keep. We are their descendants, and in their actions, in their way of life are both our commandments and our way of life too. And often, when something happens to our Forefathers, it is a prototype of what will happen to us. About this the teachers say that the Most High does not tell us tall tales, does not tell us stories. That is, the Torah is not a book of Herodotus about history or of Strabo about geography. The Torah does not tell us history for the sake of history. The Torah tells us the past so that we would better understand the present. And if this past, if these stories teach us nothing in the present, then we are reading wrongly. 

There is an interesting story that is told in the midrash Bereshit Rabbati. (Do not confuse them, there are two midrashim with similar names – Bereshit Raba and Bereshit Rabbati, I am speaking about the second.) This midrash says this: “With my staff…” (we have already spoken about the preposition be) one can say by my staff I crossed over the Jordan. And the midrash says that Yaakov touched the Jordan with his staff in order to cross over it. As it is written in the prophet Amos: “For three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not turn away anger from him. Because he pursued his brother with the sword.” The Most High has a reason not to forgive Esav, not to forgive Edom, for pursuing his brother with the sword. And the midrash says: “Esav did indeed chase after Yaakov, when Yaakov was fleeing from him, when Yaakov was going to Charan. Yaakov reached the Jordan (here the scene is very similar to what we see at the splitting of the sea). Yaakov reached the Jordan and saw that he had nowhere to flee, and he cried out to the Most High. The Most High spoke to him, and Yaakov with his staff split the river Jordan and crossed, as on dry land, with the staff through this river. Esav ran up to the river Jordan and understood that Yaakov had somehow crossed (maybe swum across), and Esav had to get across himself. Well, of course, he managed, he was no little boy, and the Jordan is not too insurmountable an obstacle either. At this time Yaakov went into a cave in which there were hot springs. He went in, because it was cold, because he wanted to warm himself, because he wanted, maybe, to wash in these springs. Esav saw this and blocked the entrance of the cave with a stone, rubbed his hands, saying: ‘Well, that’s it, it’s the end of Yaakov. He won’t get out of there.’ And with a sense of duty fulfilled he went home. The Most High sent an angel, and the angel threw off this stone. According to other versions, the Most High gave Yaakov another way out of the cave. Of course, this is a midrash, and someone will say, just folklore. But look how many prototypes there are in this story. This is both the splitting of the sea, and the way out of the cave, and much else besides. Why do the midrashim tell this? Because the midrashim constantly try to trace the connection between the Forefathers and us. When Yaakov does something, he is called Israel. And we – Israel in Yaakov – do something. Therefore the midrashim tell such a story. One need not necessarily consider it historically reliable. And the authors of the midrashim, perhaps, did not mean to tell us that it was so. But with these images they convey to us the idea of the unity of history. 

One more midrash, which has a similar nature, speaks of the unity of history. It says this: “ki vemaklí (with my staff) – this staff was with Yehuda (after Yaakov it was with Yehuda). As it is written: ‘What pledge shall I give you?’ (this is when Yehuda speaks with Tamar). She said: ‘Your seal, and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.’ And the midrash says: ‘This is the very same staff.’ And it was also with Moshe, as it is written: ‘And take this staff in your hand. With it you will perform signs.’ It was also in the hands of Aharon, as it is written: ‘Aharon threw down his staff before Pharaoh, before his servants, and it became a serpent.’ It was also with King David, as it is written: ‘And he took his staff in his hand.’ It was with every king up to the destruction of the Temple. And it will again be in the hand of King Mashiach.

What is this midrash about? This midrash does not necessarily say that, well, there was such a magic staff that passed from father to son, from king to king. It is about the fact that there is a staff that plays a certain role in Jewish history. It will also often be mentioned in the prophets. The staff as an image, as an object through which the Most High reveals his power and which symbolizes authority and appears in every generation. It is like a hint at the peculiar handwriting of the Most High, at a peculiar genre in which the Most High acts. The midrash says that it is one and the same staff, and thereby says: “The One who stands behind the staff is one and the Same.” 

There are also completely different attempts to understand the phrase ki vemaklí (with my staff). For example, the thought is this: “After all, I took nothing from Esav. That is, if I had taken from my father’s house some money, some savings, some livestock and had expanded (the reason, by the way, is in the money), Esav could have said: ‘Well, give back what you took, with interest. Everything you took is mine, because you took it from father’s house and stole my blessing.’ But I left with a staff, I had nothing. Everything I had is not at Esav’s expense, therefore save me from Esav. He has no grounds to make claims against me.”

They also return to the understanding we have already spoken about, that Yaakov is afraid. Yaakov is afraid and says: “When I went this way, I was promised safekeeping.” What safekeeping? Of me and of this staff. “Maybe I was not promised the safekeeping of wives and children and livestock.” This is also an understandable fear, and we have already spoken about it. 

Other commentators say that vemaklí (with my staff) is a memory of hard times. When a person experiences a heyday, experiences a state of prosperity, when he has two camps, he must remember that also in sorrow, when he was with a staff, the Most High was with him too. It often happens that I am asked: “Why did an illness happen to me? Why did some misfortune happen to me? Why did I get into an accident? Why did something so bad happen to me?” No one comes and asks: “Why did I win the lottery? Why was I given a car as a gift? Why was I given a bonus? Why are good healthy children born to me? And why are my wife’s pregnancies easy?” To see God in the fact that he was with you when you were with a staff, to remember that God was with you when you were with a staff – this is a very important quality for a person. And many say: “Yaakov says here: ‘You were with me there, You are with me here, You are always with me, and I remember Your presence. Therefore You can save me from Esav.’” 

In the 15th century there lived a teacher whose name was Yaakov ben Asher; he is better known by the name Baal haTurim (among us it is customary to call people by the name of the book they wrote). Yaakov ben Asher was a great teacher of the Law. He wrote very many books about the Law, about halacha, about the subtleties of legal halachic rulings and so on. A legend says that his father-in-law once laughed at him and said: “You, Yaakov, write only about the Law and about the Law. But a simple text, the plain Torah, can you analyze that?” And, stirred by this challenge, Yaakov ben Asher wrote a commentary on the Torah in one night, without using any sources, without going on the internet (because the internet was still 500 years away), without using libraries, simply from memory, from his knowledge. And in his commentary there is very much mathematics, very much gematria, he notices very many subtleties. And in his commentary he writes: “…vemaklí (with this staff) – this is by gematria Yaakov. ‘When I was passing through, I was simply Yaakov, Yaakov and nothing more. There was nothing there except Yaakov.’” 

Other commentators say: “Yaakov here says: ‘You gave me all this, after all. And since You gave me all this, is it proper for a king to take away what He gave?’” As the wife of Manoach said (remember, the wife of Manoach is the mother of Shimshon), when Manoach says: “We will die, because we have seen God,” the wife says to him: “If the LORD had wanted to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain gift from our hand, and would not have shown us all this, and would not have let us hear such a thing now.” That is, if God gives some promises, if God begins to build something, it is not in order to destroy it. Yaakov says: “You gave me all this, after all. You gave me all this, therefore you will not take all this away from me.” 

If it sometimes seems to us that our life is destroyed or some undertaking of ours is destroyed, perhaps we too will be able to understand that the Most High took part in this undertaking, helped us build it, and He will not destroy it. So it only seems so to us, perhaps. This too can be taken as a means for working on oneself, for understanding what is happening around us. 

Another understanding says that vemaklí is I was firm as a cane, I was firm, “unbreakable”. And now I have two camps.” It really is surprising that Yaakov speaks of two camps. Why? Because Yaakov divided all his people into two camps not because they did not fit into one camp. And if Yaakov had wanted, if it had been strategically important to him, he would have divided his people into 15 camps, and into 10. It was he who decided into how many camps to divide them. The number of camps, according to this understanding, does not speak of property, of the size of the property. Why does Yaakov speak of two camps? Because he says: “But now I am not so steady, but now I am forced to take safety measures. Before, I fearlessly rushed into battle and could walk into the Jordan with a staff. But now, you see, I am so afraid that I divide my camp in two. I am already being overcautious.” Again we return to the word katonti – I am small, therefore You help, You save me. 

One more understanding says: “I once did what was required of me, what was needed. I crossed the Jordan with a staff. I was with Lavan and was there as long as was needed. And here I have two camps. But I do not appeal to my merits. I do not want a reward for my deeds. I appeal to Your mercy. I want – show me mercy and deal with me according to mercy, so that You would not give me a reward for some deeds of mine, so that it would not be counted that, God forbid, I received a reward for my deeds. For then the action of judgment will also be complete, and I will not stand. I did this, yes. I crossed over the Jordan. Yes, I divided into two camps. Yes, I did everything. But You deal with me as though I had done nothing. Deal with me according to mercy. Not as merit for something. Only according to Your mercy.” 

Such an understanding and such an approach is also possible, also needed. It is very important that a person, coming to the Most High, does not say: “I serve you. For 20 years I have been a rabbi. For 30 years I have been a pastor. I have a huge community. I do this, and this, and this.” You come with a list of your deeds. And Yaakov says: “I want it to be by mercy.” And those who bring such an understanding teach us not to get fixated on some achievements of ours, to thank the Most High for them and to say: “Yes, this exists, but I ask for mercy. Deal with me according to mercy, not according to reward, not as merit for my deeds.” 

And there are commentators who say: “I want everything to be above nature, for this is supernatural.” It is supernatural that a man who went out with a staff and had nothing but a staff became so rich. Everything that I did – these are not some natural affairs, I did not become rich because I am a cool businessman, because I am a manager, because I know how to manage. Everything I received in a supernatural way. And therefore I can do nothing myself, therefore I pray and turn to You: “You come, and You do it, and You help me to be saved from my brother Esav.”

Look how differently the commentators interpret one and the same word, what different conclusions, what different lessons they draw from it. Each for his own time, for himself, for his own community, for those whom he teaches, for those from whom he learns. And why am I telling all this variety of opinions? Not so that someone would choose the correct one. It is like a shop of musical instruments that a person comes into, and one will buy himself a guitar, another – a harp, and a third – a drum. What is correct to buy? Each buys what he plays on, what is in tune with him, what he can play music on. And among these commentaries one can choose, find one that will be in tune with you. Or maybe this will give you the opportunity to make some discovery of your own, to open up some depth of understanding of your own in this prayer. Therefore do not look for what is correct. Even less look for what is incorrect. This is in general a rather important principle in the study of Scripture. I will repeat once more (I have spoken about this many times already): one must get used to the fact that there are people who are no more foolish than you and I, who are no less honest, no less sincere than you and I, who love God no less than we do, but understand something differently from us. One must learn to accept these people, to accept these opinions and, if possible, if there is something to learn, to learn all this from them. These are a few words about the staff with which Yaakov crossed over the Jordan.

You and I continue to talk about the prayer that Yaakov prayed before the meeting with Esav. Today we will talk about the words of Yaakov that we read in the portion Vayishlach (32:12):

First of all, the commentators draw attention to a certain repetition. מִיַּד אָחִי מִיַּד עֵשָׂו (miyád achí miyád Esáv) from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav. Yaakov could have said: “Save me from the hand of my brother,” for he has no other brother except Esav. Yaakov could have said: “Save me from Esav,” and it is clear that this is his brother. Why such a repetition? Of course, this may simply be the language of prayer. Yaakov is a human being, he speaks as a human being, and sometimes he may express himself in a way that is not checked down to the letter. Of course, that is so. But when we see some repetition in the Torah, we understand that it is not there for nothing. And even if Yaakov did not check something down to the letter, the Most High, who gave us the Torah, did check it. Therefore we take such repetitions seriously. And many commentators try to understand something for themselves about us or about Yaakov, based on this repetition. And here are the understandings that have come to different people over the whole time of studying the Torah.

Some say that מִיַּד אָחִי מִיַּד עֵשָׂו (miyád achí miyád esáv) from the hands of my brother, from the hands of Esav – this is about those who look like a brother, but in fact are Esav. There are people who seem to us to be brothers, close friends, whom we consider our own, but at some moment they will want to destroy us, and perhaps somewhere they want to destroy us all the time. This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Save me from such people.

Other commentators say that Yaakov here is not simply Yaakov, he is the Forefather of a people that will be called both by the name Yaakov and by the name Yisrael. And Esav is not simply Esav, Esav is also the Forefather of a people. And therefore Yaakov prays not only for himself. He says: “Save me from my brother. Now save me from my brother, and save my descendants from Esav, from the descendants of Esav, from enmity with his descendants.”

Others say: “Here Yaakov asks: ‘Save meמִיַּד אָחִי (miyád achí) from closeness, from brotherhood with Esav, from brotherhood with the one with whom I must not be a brother, brotherhood with whom, kinship with whom will spoil me. And save me מִיַּד עֵשָׂו (miyád esáv) from Esav, save me from Esav, as an enemy. And do not let me be at enmity with him either.’” Because sometimes enmity can be just as dangerous as friendship. Enmity with a villain can be just as dangerous as friendship with a villain, because enmity can eat a person up. Therefore Yaakov says here: “Save me both from friendship with him and from enmity with him.” Let us put up a fence and live peacefully across the fence.

The Hasidic commentator Rabbi Yaakov-Yosef ha-Kohen, one of the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, translates these words of Yaakov into the inner work of a person. Of course, this is not literally what Yaakov says, it is a certain lesson that Rabbi Yaakov teaches us. He says that in our body there are organs that we can call אָחִי (achí) my brother. These are organs that work independently of our consciousness. The heart, the lungs, the kidneys – they work. We do not have to command the heart each time to pump blood and each time try to command the lungs to take a breath. Moreover, we cannot even stop them, we cannot stop blinking, stop breathing, stop our heart. But there are organs that we must subdue, conquer: our naughty little hands, our curious little eyes, our curious ears, our unrestrained tongue – these are organs that we must subject to ourselves, so that they do not tempt us. And if we look at this from such an angle, we can say: “Yaakov asks here to make it so that my body is healthy, so that everything that must work works, let us say, in normal operating mode. And everything that I must subdue, everything that must not tempt me, let it not tempt me. Help me make it so that my tempters – hands, eyes, ears, tongue – do not tempt me.”

There is a midrash that brings a parable about how a cart with axes, with axe blades, was driving through a forest. And the trees trembled, thinking: “Now with this number of axes they will cut down the whole forest.” But a sage who was in the forest said: “Trees, if no brother of yours is found among these axe blades, if not one tree gives it an axe handle, if some brother of yours does not end up in the camp of these axes, without a handle that is made of wood these blades are good for nothing.” If your brother does not end up in Esav’s camp, then Esav will not be able to do anything to you. And Yaakov, if we look through the prism of this parable, prays not to give Esav any strength of his own, any pretexts of his own.

“We know,” say other commentators, “that a person has two inclinations: yetzer hatov (the good inclination) and yetzer hara (the evil inclination, the tempter). The yetzer hara comes to simple people and can simply incite a simple person to an unkind deed: ‘Ah, come on, buy a bottle of vodka and drink it,’ for example. To a person who considers himself wise, who is learned in the Torah, who tries to walk toward righteousness, this same yetzer hara comes in the image of a sage and says: ‘Why, this is permitted, actually, why, there is no such prohibition, why, this is actually some kind of Middle Ages. This is not Torah. God is not like that. Did the LORD really say so?’ And here Yaakov asks: ‘Save me from the evil inclination that comes in the guise of the good inclination. Save me from those who want to incite me to evil, passing this evil off as good.’”

Kedushat Levi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, says: “Save me from brotherhood with Esav, save me from our having one root, make me wondrous, as if born anew, a new creation, so that my spiritual connection with Esav at the level of the root of our souls would cease.”

And I will cite one more commentary in closing. There are interpreters who say that אָחִי (achí) is quality. Esav is Yaakov’s brother. As Yaakov’s brother he was brought up in the house of Yitzchak, he has certain merits, certain knowledge, certain teachings, and he has some qualitative criteria that allow him to stand against Yaakov, that is, a qualitative closeness. And מִיַּד עֵשָׂו (miyád esáv) is quantitatively from his army, from these four hundred people who are coming with him. That is, save me both from his spirit and from his strength.

These are the understandings there are regarding what Yaakov asks for. And Yaakov explains his request:

…because I am afraid of him

This phrase is in fact astonishing. Although, it would seem, there are only 4 words here. The thing is that the verb לְפַחֵד (lefachéd) to fear is used with two prepositions. There is a preposition that is used to show fear before someone. For example, fear before some people, events or something else. There is a preposition that speaks of fear before God. That is, one can say: -מִ מִפוֹחֵד אֲנִי (aní mifochéd mi) – I am afraid of someone, for example, מִזְאֵב מִפוֹחֵד אֲנִי (aní mifochéd mize'év) – I am afraid of the wolf. When we say: “-אֶת מִפוֹחֵד אֲנִי )aní mifochéd et) – this means I fear God.” One can give several examples of this. For example, in the book of Devarim (7:19).

… So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples whom you fear.

-יָרֵא מִ (yare mi) with the preposition “mi” – you fear the peoples. Or, for example, in the book of Shemot (9:30):

But you and your servants, I know, again will not fear the LORD

This is Moshe speaking to Pharaoh. Here it is not you will tremble before the LORD, but precisely you will fear him. About Sha'ul it is said that he feared David. וַיֹּאסֶף שָׁאוּל לֵרֹא מִפְּנֵי דָוִד (ve yoséf sha'úl lerá mifnéy davíd) and Sha'ul feared David more and more (1 Shmuel (18:29)). These are examples of how the verb לְיִרְאָה (leyir'á) is used with the preposition -מִ (mi).

But Yaakov uses it with the preposition -אֶת (et). Let us look at how it is used with the preposition -אֶת (et). We read in the book of Devarim (6:24):

And the LORD commanded us to perform all these statutes, to fear the LORD

To fear the LORD לְיִרְאָה אֶת-יְהוָה (leira et Adonai).

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD God require of you? That you fear the LORD.” This is chapter 10 of the book of Devarim. And, finally, Yosef answers his brothers: “כִּי יְהוָהָ אֲנִי יָרֵא (ki Adonai ani yare) I fear God.” That is, there is a certain rule for using the verb לְיִרְאָה (leyir'a) to fear. And Yaakov here speaks as if he fears Esav the way one is supposed to fear the Most High, the way one is supposed to fear someone who possesses a certain holiness.

There is an amazing story where this preposition takes part in a diplomatic game. This is the story with Adoniyahu. Adoniyahu tries to take the kingdom after David. He is already feasting, he has already almost felt himself king. And here is what we read: “Then all the invited guests who were with Adoniyahu were frightened and rose up, and each went his own way.” His whole company, his whole retinue scattered. “And Adoniyahu, being afraid of Shlomo (that is, here מִ (mi) from), rose, and went, and caught hold of the horns of the altar. And it was reported to Shlomo and said: “Here, Adoniyahu fears King Shlomo.” Here the king is told that Adoniyahu fears -אֶת (et), not מִ (mi), but -אֶת (et), as something worthy, the way one fears the anointed of God. And so he caught hold of the horns of the altar. That is, King Shlomo is told in diplomatic form what is actually happening with Adoniyahu. He does not fear the king the way one fears a wild beast. But the king is told that he fears the king out of respect. He has a certain respectful awe before the king.

Evidently, the difference between -אֶת (et) and מִ (mi) is very important and very great. Why does Yaakov say -אֶת (et), and not מִ (mi)? Some say that this is connected with Esav’s merits. After all, Esav lives in the holy land. Esav, all this time while Yaakov was with Lavan, was fulfilling the commandment of honoring parents. He has some merits. And Yaakov says: “I am afraid, I am afraid of a contest with Esav in the area of merits, therefore I ask, for me, please, not according to merits, but according to mercy. I am afraid that some merits of his... I am, of course, a Patriarch, I am Yaakov, and everything that is written about me in the book of Bereshit, although I have not read it yet, but I lived it. And still I am afraid, what if Esav has some merits. We will not measure ourselves by this. I ask according to mercy.” This is how it can be understood. “I am afraid of him, even those merits that he has, I am afraid of them.”

We, as believing people, very often rely on God protecting us, on the fact that He is on our side. Even if we argue with someone, we can allow, we must allow the thought that the one we argue with is also loved and supported by God, and possibly God will not abandon him either. This is what happens with Yaakov. He does not want, according to this understanding, to judge that he is unambiguously good and Esav is unambiguously bad. We are people, and all are loved by God, and all are led by God.

But the commentators try to understand further where this fear of Yaakov’s comes from at all. And if we remember, Yaakov, when he was going to Charan, gave an oath to the Most High that, when he returns and “the LORD will be my God, – this stone, which I have set up, will be a monument, a house of God; and of all that You give me, I will give You a tenth part” (Bereshit 28:20). When the Most High addresses Yaakov in Charan, He says: “I am the God to whom in Beit El you anointed a monument and made a vow there. Now arise, go out of this land and return to your native land.” The Most High does not simply tell Yaakov to return to his native land, but tells him: “I am the God to whom you made a vow, you anointed a monument.” That is, “you still have a debt, you are not simply returning to the holy land, but you must give Me maaser (the tithe) of everything.” Here let us remember one more detail. This happened when Yaakov was giving the oath. Yaakov sees the Most High, sees his famous dream with the ladder, and the Most High says: “I will return you to the land, I will give you this land, to you and to your seed.” When Yaakov gives the oath, this oath is almost symmetrical to the promise that the Most High gives him. The only difference – Yaakov says nothing about the country, about the land, about the inheritance. He says: “I will return to the house of my father.” When the Most High gives the command: “Return to the land, I will give you the land,” – He speaks on a national, on a global scale. Yaakov is still only learning this, and he says: “If only I could return to the house of my father.” Therefore Yaakov crosses the border, he has already parted with Lavan, they have already set up the mound, he has already seen the angels, and angels, as we said elsewhere, – are often a border outpost. Yaakov has returned to the country, and from this moment he ought to go there, to Beit El, first of all, and bring a sacrifice there, and give the tithe there, as Yaakov promised. But Yaakov remembers what he said. And he said (and there lies that very small difference): “…when I return to my parents’ house.” To his parents’ house he is not returning yet. And the very difference between what the Most High required and what he made a vow about, he has not yet realized. He is still Yaakov and has not yet come into his own as Yisrael, that is, he has not yet realized the national nature of his task, himself as a Patriarch, as the master of this future land. Therefore the return to the land is not yet important for him, what will be important to him is the return to his parents’ house. He is Yaakov, Yaakov Yitzchakovich, and for now does not think of himself as anything more.

The midrashim, the sages take this delay of Yaakov’s very seriously. For example, in the collection Bereshit Rabba we read: “Rabbi Aba said: “In a time of calamity – vows, and in a time of pleasure – forgetting.” That is, when you went with a staff across the Jordan, you handed out a whole pile of vows. When you go with two camps, you have forgotten about it. “Rabbi Levi said: “Your harrow got clogged – knock on it.” That is, when something doesn’t work for you, you knock on it. At one time people even knocked on soda water machines or on pay phones. An example is given that the Most High will later address Yaakov and say: “Arise, go up to Beit-El.” That is, the Most High Himself already directly demanded the fulfillment of the vow. Not because he needs these tithes of Yaakov’s. This is done for Yaakov. This is the demand of the Most High. Not the demand: “And where are my tithes? Where are my rams? Where is my meat? Where is my money?” This is the demand: “And where is your entering into service as a Patriarch? Where is that Yaakov, that Yisrael, to whom I promised this land and country? Why are you not fulfilling this vow? Why have you not realized this mission of yours?” Here the midrash says, if you do not fulfill vows, then you are like Esav. Esav does not fulfill vows, and you do not fulfill vows. Here again there is a return and a certain play on words: “Save me from being Esav. From not fulfilling vows, the way Esav does not fulfill vows.” This, as I already said, is the collection of midrashim Bereshit Rabba.

In the collection Vayikra Rabba there are harsher words regarding Yaakov: “Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: “Everyone who makes a vow and delays fulfilling the vow will in the end come to idolatry, debauchery and bloodshed.” The three most terrible crimes, about which it is said: “He shall die and not transgress.” How do we know that these three consequences follow from breaking or from delaying the fulfillment of a vow? “From the story with Yaakov,” says the midrash. About idolatry it is said, when Yaakov is getting ready to go to Beit-El, he says: “Put away the idols.” About debauchery – this is the story with Dina, a horrible story that happened in Yaakov’s house. And bloodshed – this is what Shimon and Levi did.” This same midrash adds, and the sages add to this and say: “Everyone who delays fulfilling an oath buries a wife.” And this too, naturally, is a story that will happen to Yaakov.

Yaakov has returned to the country, Yaakov is already on the threshold of receiving a new name, and he still does not realize the extent of his mission. He still sees himself simply as a member of Yitzchak’s family who has not yet returned home. There is still a long way, and he does not realize his return to the country that will be called the land of Israel.

Moreover, let us pay attention to what Yaakov does when he enters the country, and from the moment when he is supposed to give the tithe to the Most High. We read in chapter 32 of the book of Bereshit: “And he spent that night there. And he took from what he had, as a gift for Esav.” Here the word is mincha. Mincha is also the name of an offering to the Most High. “And he took as a gift for Esav, his brother, two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, milking camels with their young, cows, oxen, she-donkeys” (Bereshit 32:13–15). The Torah lists in detail everything that Yaakov does. Yaakov is very good at mathematics, but this looks very much as if Yaakov, instead of giving the mincha (an offering of maaser) to the Most High, gives it to Esav. This delay in realizing his mission and, accordingly, in fulfilling the vow confuses Yaakov’s mind, and what is due to the Most High he sends to Esav. This is an attempt to settle relations with Esav instead of giving the Most High what is due. And we read further, Yaakov says: “If I have found favor in your eyes, then accept the gift from my hand, for I have seen your face as I saw the face of God.” What Yaakov says to Esav is: “I have seen your face as I saw the face of God, therefore I bring you a mincha, I give you a present like an offering.” And further he says: “Accept, then, my gift which has been brought to you, because God has granted it to me, and I have everything.” Remember, Yaakov said: “Of everything I will give the tithe to You.” Here he says: “I have everything, therefore accept the gift.” But he says this not to the Most High, but to Esav.

Non-acceptance, a temporary rejection of his mission as Patriarch, delay in fulfilling the vow – all this distances Yaakov from the Most High. Yes, the Most High loves Yaakov, the Most High promised to take care of him, the Most High promised to watch over him constantly, and this happens, but here Yaakov is only learning to be Yisrael. Yaakov will receive the name Yisrael, a very important change of name. Yaakov is the one who goes by roundabout ways. Yisrael is from the word יָּשָׁר (yashar) straight. Yaakov is the heel, the heels are the base of the word Yisrael. One can understand לִ רֹאשׁ )li rosh) I have a head – this is also the head. Yaakov is only preparing to acquire a head. In part the attack of the angel is an answer to his prayer, it is an attempt to shake him up, an attempt to set him on a new understanding of the relationship with the Most High. And Yaakov will still be learning this, but for now he fears his brother Esav, fears him and uses for this the very verb that is used in relation to the Most High.

What does this fear of Yaakov’s teach us? Probably that walking with the Most High is not walking with the Most High as with glasses in your breast pocket, or even as with glasses on your nose. It is a constant looking to the Most High, attentive listening to what He requires of us, constant hearing of His voice. And if a false note arises in this hearing of the Most High, then the Most High leaves us and fear comes. And this can happen even to such a great righteous man, whom we may criticize only with great caution, and not even him himself, Yaakov, the Patriarch, but that part of him, that “Yaakov-ness,” which is in us ourselves. To find it in ourselves and to correct precisely that. This is not so that we point a finger at Yaakov.

So this is the angle from which we looked at Yaakov’s prayer today. Of course, there are other views, other approaches, there is an endless multitude of them, and everyone has their own. And perhaps next time we will look at this from another angle.

Very often lately I am asked about changing one’s name. It has become topical for people to look for, to pick out a Hebrew name for themselves, to change their name. And people ask me questions: “May one do this? Should one do this? Will it give anything? And if it gives something, then what will it give? And if one does it, then how should one do it?” And our weekly portion, since it speaks about how the Most High changed Yaakov’s name to Yisrael – is a good occasion to answer some questions connected with changing a name.

First of all, the answer to the question: “May one change a name?” We see in Scripture that the Most High changes people’s names. We see in Scripture that a father may change his son’s name. So, for example, when Binyamin was born, his mother gave him the name בֶּן-אוֹנִי (ben-‘oní) son of my sorrow. What did Yaakov do? Yaakov took the word אוֹנִי (‘oni) my sorrow and saw in it another meaning – my strength. And so that there would not be this double meaning, Yaakov called him בִּנְיָמִין (Binyamín) son of my strength, now interpreting the word אוֹן (‘on) unambiguously. That is, we see that a father too can change his son’s name. We see that Pharaoh gives Yosef a new name. Moshe gives his assistant a new name, calls him by the name Yehoshua. We see that the Most High sends a prophet, through the prophet gives Shlomo the name Yedidya. We see that, for example, Paro-Nechu, the Egyptian ruler, changed the name of Elyakim to the name Eoyakim. We see that the Babylonian king changed the name of Matani to Atzitkiyahu. We see that the Prophet Yirmeyahu changed the name of Pashchor, who released him from the pit, and said to him: “Your name will be Mogor Mesaviv”: “And it was on the next day, Pashchor released Yirmeyahu from the pit, and Yirmeyahu said to him: ‘Not Pashchor has the LORD called your name, but Mogor Mesaviv.’” We see that a person can change his name himself. Naomi from the book of Rut says: “Do not call me Naomi anymore, but Mara will be my name.” Naomi means pleasant, sweet, and Mara – bitter, the one who experiences bitterness. Why would she take such a name? If everyone says about her: “Poor wretch,” – and calls her that, perhaps she will suffer it out through this, and the Most High will have mercy on her, on the wretched one.

We see that a name can be changed. And the question arises, of course: “But why?” And let us try to understand to whom and why names were changed. Let us begin, of course, with אַבְרָם (‘Avrám), whom the Most High called אַבְרָהָם (‘Avrahám), added the little letter ה (hei) to his name. The letter ה (hei) is not just an extra letter. The Most High says: “You will be called the father of many nations, you are no longer here, not in Canaan, you are becoming a personality of global scale.” This is not just the letter ה (hei) – this is a change of Avraham’s purpose.

The same with שָׂרַי (Saráy). שָׂרַי (Saráy) is no longer a little princess, this is שָׂרָה (Sará), the one who possesses power. And, by the way, we spoke about the fact that Sarai is not quite a change of name, she is already Sara, this essence is already in her, therefore the Most High said: “Do not call Sarai Sarai, but Sara is her name.” Not her name will be, but her name already is.

Yaakov receives the name Yisrael. On this matter there are many different reflections, and some say (and I too have spoken about this) that Yaakov is that which goes around, it is that which takes by cunning. יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisra’él) from the word יָשָׁר (yashár) – that which is straight, that which moves straight. That is, the Most High says: “You will no longer have the reputation of a cunning man and a trickster, everyone will know that what you did, you earned honestly, you received honestly.” In Yaakov’s case both of his names work, because it is not even so much about the name as about reputation, and therefore even the Most High further on calls Yaakov sometimes Yaakov, sometimes Yisrael. Another understanding says that Yaakov is the heel, the heel, the base, the foundation on which a person stands. From the letters of the name Yisrael one can compose the phraseרֹאשׁ לִי (rosh li) – I have a head. That is, the word, the name Yisrael adds a head to Yaakov. This is no longer just some pouring of a foundation, this is already a house with an attic, windows and a weathervane.

About Ben-Oni, who is Binyamin, we have already spoken.

In Yosef’s case Pharaoh changes his name (we spoke about this), gives a new purpose, a new name.

In the case of יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshúa) Moshe prays that the LORD would protect הוֹשֵׁעַ (Hoshéa) and adds to his name the little letter י (yud), the initial letter of the Divine Name, so that the LORD would be more manifest in his life.

The case of Shlomo is astonishing, because the Most High sent a prophet to say that with the Most High, in his phone, let’s put it this way, Shlomo is saved as Yedidya, as beloved by the LORD. No one else ever called Shlomo Yedidya.

Further on we read about the case when rulers gave their vassals or servants new names – these are Elekim, Matanya, Pashchur. We spoke about the prophets: Daniel, Chananya, Misha’el, Azarya – they all received new names in Babylonia.

And Naomi, who said: “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara.”

And Peter, to whom it was said: “You are a stone, and on this stone…” Probably we have now described most of the cases.

So, a name can be changed, we see this. Now the question: what, actually, is a name? I cannot change my leg, I cannot change my eye, it is part of me. A name is like some kind of briefcase that I carry with me all the time, because I am constantly in service. If a person is a plumber, he walks around with one set of tools. If a person is a dentist, he has a different set of tools. What is our name? It is our daily planner, in which all our plans, all our tasks are written down. It is our uniform, our work clothes, and it is our tools – that which the name gives us. That is, when we are born, our parents (this is such a mystery) receive – if they are in a healthy relationship with the Most High – a kind of prophecy about the tasks that will stand before their son or daughter. And in accordance with this prophecy, the revelation of the Spirit, which they may receive, they name their child. This is how it should have been ideally, but unfortunately it does not work out that way. Therefore we come across names that long, long ago lost their original meanings. When we meet a Dmitry, we do not think that he is dedicated to the goddess Demeter, and yet she is the goddess of agriculture. And Dmitry (that is what farmers were called) is a convenient name: “You will cultivate the land well, you will be a good peasant,” – if you are dedicated to the goddess of fertility Demeter. A profitable business. If you are dedicated to Artemis and your name is Artyom, that is also a profitable business, because it is eternal youth, beauty, health. Well, and as you know: “Blessed is Artemis of Ephesus!” Of course, these names have already lost some of their original meanings.

There are names that follow events. For example, 1961, the Soviet Union, the breakthrough into space, and hundreds of thousands of boys were named Yura in honor of Yuri Gagarin. Not to mention all sorts of Vladlens, named in honor of Vladimir Lenin, and the like. People give their children names in accordance with some ideology of theirs, in accordance with some understandings of theirs, in honor of some relatives. Simply a name they liked, or the name of someone they heard in a film, or the name of some famous soccer player, hockey player, some idol of theirs.

And before the child, when he grows up, becomes an adult, the question arises: “Do I want to live with this? Do I need to live with this? And maybe I should exchange this little box with my tools. Maybe I keep going to the conservatory with a plumber’s tools and thinking: ‘Why isn’t anything working out in my life?’” And a person can stop and think: “Do I want to be with such a name?” If the parents were on another channel, if their head was stuffed with ideology, or with the convictions of relatives, or with the sweetness of the sound of some name, and they did not listen to that voice of prophecy that could have sounded for them, that was being sent to them, then now, after all, one can stop and think: “Let me listen. Maybe I will hear this voice.” But carefully, because here one can fall into the same trap and hear the voice of personal interests that are more pleasant to you, and not switch from your own channel to the channel of holiness.

One can try to fill a name with new meaning. Let us take, for example, the name Aida. One can understand it as אָעִידָה (‘a’ida) – I will testify. One can also interpret the name Galina in a biblical key: גְּאַלִי-נָא (g’ali-ná) – redeem me, then, save me, then. That is, some names can, without being changed, be somehow reworked, rethought in a Hebrew key. But here, for example, is the name Natalia. Originally this name comes from the Latin Natalia (Natalia) – native, close. But Natalia can also be נֶטַע לַאדֹנָי (néta ladonáy) a sprout for the Most High. Or perhaps נָטָה לִי יָהּ (natá lí yáh) the Most High inclined to me, the Most High intercedes for me. On the other hand, Natasha, the shortened name, is נְטוּשָׁה (ntushá) abandoned, forsaken. And if a woman feels this and it really bothers her, then the name must be changed. If it does not bother her, then no, it is not necessary. If there is no such understanding in her heart, then it is not necessary. There are loads of Dmitrys living who do not think about Demeter at all. And if you ask them who she is, they will not necessarily tell you who this goddess is.

And yet one must approach a change of name carefully, because every name is, all the same, some kind of set of tools and some kind of notebook, some kind of planner, a Google calendar, or Any.do, or some other program that gets loaded into our task list. And we must think: “Do we want to accept this? What are these heroes like whose name we want to take, what qualities did they have?” Therefore people approach a change of name rather carefully. It happens that a person is ill or everything goes terribly badly for him, and he is called by a normal, simple name, already some Jewish name. Then a name is added to his name. This is also an option. One can add a Jewish name to one’s own name. People add the name Rafael – God is my healer, or Chaim – life. It is believed that this will add health to the person. By this we put health as well into his vessel, into his little toolbox. What is bad about that? It is a good thing.

How is a name changed? First of all, people think for a long time and make a decision. Do I want this? Am I ready, am I ready for all the consequences that will be connected with it? After you have thought it over well, the very best option is to gather 10 people at some family gathering or in a community and announce it. Why in a community? Because, on the one hand, a name is our own property, on the other hand, it is mostly others who use it. Therefore it would be good to inform those who use it. If it is possible for this to be done by some respected, God-fearing person, some minister whom you trust, whom you respect and who can not only announce it but also bless, then that is a quite wonderful option. If it is not possible to gather 10 people, not possible to gather a community in the broad sense of the word, then we remember that by two or three witnesses every matter shall stand. Therefore one can in fact gather two or three witnesses, and in the presence of two or three witnesses announce it and say: “From now on my name will not be Polina but Sara. From now on my name will not be Vasily but Mordechai.” Each one as he wants to do it. Well, and it is important that this name really be used. One can keep this name for family use. That too, of course, is possible. It is worth thinking through all the options, seeing how this name will sound as a diminutive, how this name will sound as a term of endearment, how this name will sound in full, and so on. After all, if in the Mea Shearim neighborhood a man named Yisrael is affectionately called Srulik, then for Mea Shearim that sounds very good, but it will not be so in all parts of the world. That is what one needs to think about. And only after thinking it over well, after doing all this, will you become a person with a new name. And no, not with a new destiny. With a new set of tools, with a new planner, with new tasks. But learning this will take a long time.

Well, and I want to end this short conversation of ours with this tale. Once upon a time the heads of yeshivas (a yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution) used to travel to America or to Europe to collect money for their educational institutions. And one of these people was the head of a yeshiva whose name was Gad. And so it happened that he came to America, got to a very, very rich man, came to him and said: “Give me money for the yeshiva.” The man said to him: “What is your name?” He said: “My name is Gad.” The millionaire said to him: “Well, here are 7 dollars for you. Thank you for coming.” Gad was very surprised at this, well, he stood off to the side to wait in the little corridor: “And what about the others there?” The next petitioner comes out from this millionaire, and Gad asks him: “How much did this rich man give you?” He answers: “He gave me 453 dollars.” Gad says in surprise: “Well, how can that be? I have a yeshiva, you have a yeshiva, why do you get 453 and I get 7?” The man says: “You see, this man, this rich man, he is a great eccentric, and he calculates the gematria of the petitioner’s name. Take you, for example: the little letter ג (gimel) is 3 in gematria, the little letter ד (dalet) is 4 in gematria, here are your 7 dollars. But my name is Avram Yitzchak, so I received, accordingly, 453 dollars.” “Well, all right,” said Gad, “I will draw the appropriate conclusions.” And some time later this man appears again at the rich man’s, and the rich man, as is his custom, again asks him: “What is your name?” The man says: “And my name is Artachshasta.” Artachshasta, he had learned to pronounce it in that time. The rich man says: “Oh, come on, there is no such name, give it up.” Well, the man opens the book of Ezra and shows him: “Here, look, there is such a name.” And the rich man first wrote this name down, then began to calculate the gematria, and it comes to 971 dollars. And this, I will tell you, is the name with the greatest numerical value in the whole Tanach. And the rich man began to count out the dollars, suddenly stopped, looked: “Listen, your face looks familiar to me somehow. Wasn’t it you who came to me a few days ago? Only, as I recall, back then your name was Gad.” The man says: “Well, yes, it happened, I came, yes, my name was Gad. But, you know, in the book of Devarim, when Moshe blesses, he says: ‘Blessed is the one who gave room to Gad.’ And so, the LORD gave me room, and I was Gad, and now I have become Artachshasta.” They say that the rich man decided that this joke was worth 970 dollars, and he gave Gad the donation.

This is simply a humorous example of changing names. And we will stop here with the hope that we have answered most of the questions.

I would like to begin our conversation today with a kind of confession. Although I certainly believe that the whole Torah is sweet, useful, important for instruction, it so happened, and I can do nothing about it, that some chapters of the Torah I like more than others. I very much like following the life of the Patriarchs, living through all the vicissitudes of their life, being with them in joy and sorrow, sharing their tragedies, doubts, victories. I very much love the stories of the Torah, the history of the people of Israel and everything connected with it. But there are chapters that are extremely hard for me to read. You read this chapter and think, first, why is it here, and second, when will it finally end. And, on the one hand, you understand, yes, of course, these are the words of God that are spoken to you, they are important for you, on the other hand, there is this lack of understanding, why this digging into some names, genealogies that have no end. A very hard occupation, and it is hard to get pleasure from it. One of these chapters for me, one could say, from my earliest youth, was chapter 36 of the book of Bereshit.

The Torah contains very many genealogies. From the very beginning we read: “This is the genealogy of the Earth and the Heaven on the day of their creation; this is the genealogy of Adam אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת אָדָם (éle toledót adám), this is the genealogy of Noach אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ (éle toledót nóach).” There are many genealogies. And there is only one person in all of Scripture to whom two genealogies are devoted in the Tanach, about whom it is said twice: אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (éle toledót) of so-and-so. Who is this person? This person is Esav. And it is very surprising why it is precisely Esav who earned such an honor that the Torah says twice: אֵלֶּה תֹּלְדוֹת עֵשָׂו (éle toledót esáv). I, of course, would with much greater pleasure have read the genealogy of Yitzchak or Avraham three times, but here, there you go, Esav. All this is in a single chapter 36, which contains, besides that, 7 different genealogies in all. Some of them are the genealogy of Se'ir, of those who lived in the land before Esav. And when you read it, the question arises: well, what for? This same question, according to tradition, was asked also by the wicked king Menashe, who mocked the Torah and said: “So it was important for the LORD to inform us what Esav’s concubine was called and what Esav’s wife was called.”

Today I nevertheless want to read chapter 36 of the book of Bereshit together with you, to talk about Esav, about one of his wives, and to try to understand what this chapter was written for us for. I will read in Russian, because this is not quite a traditional study of the Torah, but a free conversation.

This is the genealogy of Esav, who is Edom. Esav took his wives from the Canaanite daughters: Ada, the daughter of Eilon the Chittite, and Oholivama, the daughter of Ana, the granddaughter of Tziv'on the Chivite, and Bosmat, the daughter of Yishmael, the sister of Nevayot. And Ada bore Elifaz to Esav, and Bosmat bore Re'u'el, and Oholivama bore Ye'ush, Yalam and Korach. These are the sons of Esav who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

Although at first glance this is a simple, boring genealogy, there are several interesting details in it. Speaking of the three wives of Esav (Ada, Oholivama and Bosmat), the Torah mentions the name of the father and the name of the grandfather only for Oholivama. Let us highlight this and come back to it later.

If in the first list, where the wives whom Esav took are listed, Oholivama is in second place, then in the list of the wives who bore children, Oholivama unexpectedly turns out to be in third place. Although, it would seem, she bore the most. Let us set this aside too, remember it, and, in general, put a magnifying glass over Oholivama, who is the daughter of Ana, the granddaughter of Tziv'on the Chivite. We will come back to her.

This short passage ends in the fifth verse with the words:

These are the sons of Esav who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

If we turn to the text above, to the end of chapter 35, we will read a similar story about Yaakov, Esav’s own brother. Let us note, they are twin brothers, it is always interesting to observe twins, how some historical, biographical events are copied, repeated in the lives of twins. About Yaakov we read:

The sons of Lea: Yaakov’s firstborn Re'uven, and Shimon, and Levi, and Yehuda, and Yissachar, and Zevulun, the sons of Rachel: Yosef and Binyamin, the sons of Bilha…

And we read at the end:

These are the sons of Yaakov who were born to him in Padan-Aram.

So, two twins. “These are the sons of Yaakov who were born to him in Padan-Aram.” “These are the sons of Esav who were born to him in the land of Canaan.” Well, it seems similar, but it is not similar, because the whole family of Esav was born in the promised land of Canaan, while practically the whole family of Yaakov was born in Padan-Aram, outside the land of Israel. Two brothers with such different destinies.

Further on we read:

And Esav took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his herds, and all his cattle, and all his possessions that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another country, away from the face of Yaakov, his brother.

 And about Yaakov we read:

And Yaakov rose up, and lifted his children and his wives onto camels, and led away his cattle, and all his property that he had acquired, his cattle, actually, which he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to Yitzchak, his father, to the land of Canaan.

So, one of the brothers, who fathered almost his whole family outside the promised land, grabs, gathers into a heap his whole family and sets out for the promised land. How does the other brother react to this, the one who lived all the time in that very promised land? He sets out from the promised land to Se'ir.

In the book of Devarim (2:12) we read:

And in Se'ir the Chorites lived formerly, but the sons of Esav drove them out from before them, and destroyed them, and settled in their place, as Yisrael did with the land of his inheritance, which the LORD gave them.

The Chorites had shortly before this, relatively shortly before this, been battered by Avraham during Avraham’s war with several kings, they took quite a beating there too, this is a somewhat weakened people, and Esav comes and conquers it there on Mount Se'ir.

Continuing to read chapter 36, let us pay attention to a certain interconnection between verses 8 and 9:

And Esav settled on Mount Se'ir, Esav, he is Edom.

This is the conclusion of the genealogy that begins in verse 1: “This is the genealogy of Esav, he is Edom.” In verse 9 we read:

This is the genealogy of Esav, father of the Edumeans, who are on Mount Se'ir.

Here he is no longer Edom, not a man who is called by the name Edom, not a man with the nickname Edom, but the father of a people that is called the Edumeans. That is, Esav assimilates, Esav dissolves in another people, and this people becomes the Edumeans.

The second genealogy is not yet another genealogy of Esav. It is the story of how a man named Esav, he is Edom, son of Yitzchak, led his family away from the promised land and made it a different people. The story of how Esav became the father of another people. Not quite one and the same genealogy that is repeated twice.

You haven’t forgotten about Oholivama yet? Pay attention to verse 10.

These are the names of the sons of Esav: Elifaz, son of Ada, wife of Esav, Re'u'el, son of Bosmat, wife of Esav.

And then come the listings of the grandsons. Who is not mentioned here, who has gone missing here? Oholivama has gone missing here. First she appeared in the genealogy of Esav in second place, then she, having already borne three children (more than all the other wives, by the way), moved to third place. Now she, still having borne more children than all the other wives, has at this point disappeared from the list altogether. Why? After all, it is not said that she is unloved, despised, that she died. Nothing is known about why she disappeared from verse 10. In verse 14 the Torah as if remembers: “Ah, yes, there was also Oholivama.”

And these are the sons of Oholivama, daughter of Ana, daughter of Tzivon, wife of Esav. She bore to Esav Ye'ush, and Yalam, and Korach.” Let us stop here for now.

Let us return again to verse 9:

This is the genealogy of Esav, father of the Edumeans, who are on Mount Se'ir.

If we are talking about the parallels between the twins, then in chapter 37 we will see: “This is the genealogy of Yaakov, Yosef was 18 years old, and this and this and this happened with him.” And there too it is not clear, yes, how can this be the genealogy of Yaakov, when here is Yosef. But in parallel with this chapter we see that the genealogy of Yaakov will in essence begin with Yosef: he will go down to Egypt and the Egyptian captivity will begin, from which the Israelite people will come to be, and go forth, and be built. The genealogy of Esav begins with his turning into the Edumeans, that is, in the continuation of his path he becomes part of the Edumean people through all his wives.

Let us read further, in verse 20:

These are the sons of Se'ir the Chorite, who lived in that land.

That is, the Torah suddenly not only tells us about the genealogy of Esav himself, who came and, as we read in the book of Devarim, drove out the Chorites and settled in their place, but also for some reason (we will understand why in a moment) retells to us the genealogy of the Chorite.

These are the sons of Se'ir the Chorite, who lived in that land: Lotan and Shoval, Tzivon and Ana. (we have already heard about Tzivon). And Dishon, Etzer and Dishan – these are the elders of the Chorites, the sons of Se'ir in the land of Edom.

The word elder that is used here, אַלּוּף (alúf) – is a purely Chorite term, it will come up later, many, many centuries afterward, in the book of Zecharya, but at that time in the region it is the Chorite term for an elder. It is clear that their elders were called by their own term. In verse 24 we read:

And these are the sons of Tzivon: Aya and Ana (and then something astonishing), “This is that Ana who found the mules in the desert when he was pasturing the donkeys of Tzivon his father.”

If anyone was tormented by the question of who found the mules when pasturing the cattle of Tzivon his father, now we see the answer – it is Ana. By the way, in the text itself it is not at all clear what exactly he found. Perhaps they were mules, according to some versions they are giants, according to other versions they are hot thermal waters, according to third versions they are some kind of heaps of gold. In general, there are different versions and different views, and what he found is not as important as the fact that the Torah wants to inform us that he found it. Why does the Torah unexpectedly give us such information? We can already understand this from the next verse:

These are the children of Ana: Dishon and Oholivama, daughter of Ana.

The Torah tells us: “Look, look, this is that very Oholivama.” The Torah even repeats twice in one verse that she is the daughter of Ana, although this was also said before. As if the Torah shows us by every means: “Look, this is Oholivama, she is a descendant of Se'ir the Chorite, she is one of the locals, she is from a family about which legends have even already been composed.” For example, about Ana we know – this is that very Ana who once found something very important, the legendary Ana. This is a local legend, a local tradition. Esav merges into the people of Se'ir. On the one hand, we read that Esav really conquered this people and drove out a large part of it, on the other hand, he became related to it so closely that even the legends and traditions became shared. Remember, when Rut turns to Naomi, she first of all says: “Your people is my people, your God is my God.” First we accept the people with its tradition, even with its oral tradition, and only then does the worship of God follow. This is how giyur happens in Israel. In exactly the same way, unfortunately, the descendants of Avraham could also turn away. First we enter into a connection with some legendary personality together with its legends, and then the worship of other gods will follow as well. That is how the path of Esav goes, of a small family, perhaps of 400 people, which is nevertheless frightening for the weakened Chorites, and they conquered them, perhaps drove out a part, but as a people the Chorites are stronger and able to assimilate Esav, and this assimilation takes place. From this the Edumean people is born.

At this time the parallel of the genealogy of Yaakov is Yosef, it is the descent into Egypt. That is, the genealogy of Esav, father of the Edumeans, and the genealogy of Yaakov, father of Yosef, who will go down to Egypt. Such a rather intricate parallel. When Yaakov passes through Egypt, he returns as a mighty people that can conquer the land and, indeed, drive out all the peoples and no longer dissolve in them, not assimilate with them, whereas Esav conquers the land of a slightly weakened enemy and gradually assimilates in this land. And this is the difference between the two twins. One stays in the land to which he moved, that is, he moved from Canaan to Se'ir and established himself there. Established himself so firmly that he became related, built ties with this people, became part of it.

Later, in verse 40, we read another list of names, the names אַלּוּפֵי עֵשָׂו (alufé esav). I said that the word אַלּוּף (alúf) relates to the clan name of the Chorites, that is, the Esavites, his descendants, already took these names for themselves. And, if we read, elder Oholivam, elder Eila, Pinon – these are already Chorite names. That is, the descendants of Esav really became Edumeans, from there went forth such a people, the Edumeans. These are no longer descendants or, more precisely, not the spiritual heirs of Yitzchak, if we translate it into practical language. Perhaps Esav still circumcised the first three sons of Oholivama, most likely he did circumcise them, but their descendants were already uncircumcised and became part of another people.

The descendants of Yaakov, on the other hand, went down to Egypt, formed there as a people, and then went up to the land of Israel already as a whole, united people. If you look at this from the outside, it would seem that for Esav everything turns out blessed: he grew up in Canaan, and conquered everything, and everything works out quickly for him, while the deliverance of the Most High happens, as they say in Hebrew, קמעא קמעא (kima kima – step by step, with little, little tiny steps). And Yaakov is in no hurry to establish himself in the land, that is, perhaps he himself is in a hurry, but there is the guidance of the Most High, that one must build on a solid foundation. And God brings the people of Israel down to Egypt.

The whole difference in behavior is, in fact, due to the fact that one is under God’s guidance, and the other not quite. And the stages they go through are similar stages. So what is this chapter, in essence, devoted to? To how one people is built up and another people is destroyed. How a people that, it would seem, had established itself in Canaan went down into exile. How in that very same exile it could not preserve itself as a people, but turned into another people, into the Idumeans. On the other hand, the descendants of Yaakov, who fathered all his sons outside Canaan, returned to Canaan, but did not establish themselves in Canaan right away, did not assimilate among the Canaanite peoples. They went down to Egypt by the providence of the Most High, therefore יוֹסֵף תֹּלְדוֹת יַעֲקֹב (toledót yaakóv yosef) the genealogy of Yaakov – is Yosef. And through Yosef the creation and formation of the Jewish people will take place. It will not establish itself in Canaan right away, because had it come to Canaan right away, all kinds of Oholivamas would appear, and there would be no number to them. And the children would no longer be descendants of Avraham, would be torn from their roots, would assimilate, would dissolve, and somewhere, somehow, perhaps, some old names would slip through, and some people would soon begin to look for their Jewish roots. As the wise teachers say, a Jew is one whose grandchildren will be Jews. With Esav it did not work out with the grandchildren, as we see from Oholivama. One can, of course, object that he does have grandchildren from the two other wives, but in fact Oholivama simply shows the tendency, which is why she is mentioned so carefully several times, in completely different forms, in this chapter. But the Most High provided different destinies for the twins. Yes, they are parallel, and we see there are many parallels in the destinies of the twins Yaakov and Esav. But these different genealogies, which are scattered like a mosaic in chapter 36, contain a comparison, parallels with the life of Yaakov, which show how differently the twins go through the same stages of life. Parallel in time, but perpendicular, one could say, in spiritual space.

The Torah tells more about Yaakov than about our other Patriarchs. More than about Avraham and Yitzchak. And this means that the One who gave the Torah wants us to look more closely at his eventful life. And our portion Vayishlach is also full of many interesting events. And one of the most key events, and probably the key event in Yaakov’s life, is that Yaakov’s name was changed. Moreover, this renaming happens as many as two times. First the angel who wrestled with him says to him:

Not Yaakov shall your name be uttered any more, but Yisrael, for you have striven with God, with the Angel of God, and with men, and have prevailed.

And further on, in our same portion, the Most High says to him:

Your name is Yaakov, you shall not be called any more by the name Yaakov. Your name is Yaakov, but you shall not be called any more by the name Yaakov, but Yisrael shall be your name. And he called his name Yisrael.

And questions arise. First, what for and why was the name changed two times? Second, why does the Most High say such an astonishing phrase: “Your name is Yaakov, and you will no longer be called Yaakov?” And further on we can see that Yaakov, right up to his very death, went on being called by the name Yaakov; thus in Bereshit (49:33) we read:

And Yaakov finished commanding his sons, and he gathered up his feet onto the bed, and he expired, and was joined to his people

If we compare this with the other cases when someone in the Torah changed his name, we will see a strange thing. This is how Avraham changed his name. The Most High said to him:

And you shall not be called Avram, but your name shall be Avraham, for I will make you become a father of a multitude of nations.

That is, Avram was Avram, became Avraham, because the Most High changed his purpose (or revealed to him the purpose for which he had been prepared). And, since he will become a father of a multitude of nations, his name was changed.

Another case is Yehoshua Ben-Nun. His name was Hoshea. And we read:

And Moshe called Hoshea the son of Nun Yehoshua.

The commentators say: “What did he do this for?” It was a kind of prayer. “Yehoshua – He will save you. The LORD will save you. May the Most High save you from the virus, from the conspiracy of the scouts. May the Most High separate you from the scouts.” That is, it is either a blessing of a certain kind, a prayer for the person (and we often say that the name with which parents name a child is a prayer for him); or it is what changes he will bring into the family; or it is the announcement of a purpose that the Most High reveals.

In the case of Yisrael we see neither the one nor the other. And the question arises: what kind of renaming is this, after all? If we look at Yaakov’s life from the very beginning of his life, it is a life of struggle. Yes, even before the beginning of his life, while he was still in the womb with Esav, we see that already then: “וַיִּתְרֹצֲצוּ (vayitrotzetzú) and the infants jostled in Rivka’s womb.” Already then Yaakov did not get along with the world around him. Already then it was not easy for him. When Yaakov was born, we know that he received the name Yaakov. And this name itself had a not very good connotation. Not for nothing does Esav say: “That is why he is called Yaakov. Because he deceived me.” Yaakov means sly, crafty, a trickster, one who gets everything not by his own labor. And such a reputation took shape for Yaakov. He really, one could say, if one looks at him not very kindly, went and took the birthright away from his brother, taking advantage of the fact that he was hungry and tired. Then he deceived his father, obtained the blessing by deception. He fled. And he fled, moreover, to quite a trickster too, and a not very good man, who also forced him into not very simple actions. His life was anything but sweet, as he himself will later tell Pharaoh. Then the return to Canaan, the death of his beloved wife (one of the greatest tragedies, probably, in Yaakov’s life), the rape of Dina, the sale of Yosef and many, many other misfortunes. One could say, starting with the fact that Yaakov was the son his father did not love, Yaakov was a stranger in Lavan’s house, Yaakov lost the woman he loved and lived with a woman who, as the Torah says, was hated by him. Well, this is the Torah’s exaggeration, this is a metaphor of the Torah. Not a very simple life for a person. And this name Yaakov, and the constant accusation that he had stolen something from someone: from Esav the birthright, from Lavan the livestock, and, go figure, what else and from whom. And then an angel appears who wrestles with him, and he says: “They will no longer say that you received your blessings in an unclean, false way. From now on everything you receive in your life, all the blessings you will receive, people will see that they were earned honestly. There will be no freebies, it will not be easy, but there will be a blessing that you will earn with your life.”

Yaakov symbolizes a kind of struggle of Yaakov and Israel. Whom does God favor, with whom is the Most High? Can we say that a person who was born successful, lives successful, knows no grief, knows no troubles – is a person with whom God is? Or, on the contrary, a person who earns everything by his own labor? As it is said, the righteous suffer in their youth and are at peace, satisfied, in old age. Perhaps God is with this person? How are we to determine it? Yaakov, Israel – this is an example of that dilemma which stands before every person, both when he assesses his own situation, and before a person when he looks at others.

Yaakov’s beloved son is Yosef. And Yaakov, who himself suffered from the fact that he was not the beloved son, singles out Yosef and by this already sets him up. Yosef ends up in Egypt as a half-naked slave. He is dragged through slave markets, half-naked at best, or even naked. He is pitiful, exhausted. He is put up for sale. Potifar buys him and sees that God is with him. And Yosef makes a career, as a slave, in Potifar’s house, because Potifar sees that God is with him, and trusts him more and more. And on a false accusation Yosef ends up in prison. It would seem: a stolen slave, falsely accused (it is unclear whether the warden of the prison knew that he was falsely accused), has ended up in prison. The warden sees that God is with him, and again promotes him, now in prison. This man, who outwardly is pitiful, unhappy, and what could be worse than a slave who has ended up in prison? Of whom, to a greater degree, can one say that God has abandoned him? But it is evident that God is with him. It is evident that he carries the Light of God, and through him God is seen, despite all his difficulties. And if we compare this with the life of Yaakov, we will see that it is a repetition of the life of Yaakov.

Yaakov goes through a heap of troubles. His life can in no way be called comfortable. We have already said: in all his misfortunes, in all his troubles, when Yaakov makes mistakes, and when Yaakov makes terrible mistakes, and when Yaakov fears Esav, and when Yaakov fears what his own children did in the case of Dina – in all situations, the right Yaakov, the erring Yaakov, the grieving Yaakov, the cowering Yaakov, the scheming Yaakov – the Most High reveals that He is with him. This is the main testimony. No one will say any more that something came to you for free, and nothing more will come to you for free. This is a blessing that not very many will reach for, because one wants to live easily and comfortably. But it is precisely this that Yaakov receives when he is renamed. This is what will later be reflected in the life of Yosef. This is what we receive when we are called bnei Yisrael. We struggle with reality, we struggle with those obstacles, with those challenges that the Most High sets before us. Everything that happens to us – is what the Most High wants to teach us.

Any obstacle of ours, any hindrance in our life – is a lesson from the Most High. And the Most High says: “I will teach you, you are in my school, as my students. Nothing will be in vain for you. What you receive, you will earn.” This does not mean that there is no mercy, that the Most High does not endow the righteous one endlessly. This does not mean: if you don’t earn it, you won’t receive it. The point is that drawing near to the Most High, building a relationship with Him – this is the labor of entering into His mercy. This too is labor. And this is what will be visible to all. And this is what the name Yisrael means. The one who receives a blessing through showing that God is with him in overcoming difficulties, in overcoming a life situation, in overcoming his own shortcomings, certain events in his own life, certain problems of his own. This renaming is key in the life of Yaakov and very important in Jewish history.

In our portion there are, again, several important historical testimonies. The first testimony we can speak about – is the meeting of Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov returns home to Canaan. He had not been there for many years. His whole stay outside Canaan symbolizes exile. Accordingly, Yaakov’s return to Canaan symbolizes a return to Jewishness. Even a day before he is to meet Esav, someone attacks him. Someone wrestles with him at night until dawn. The commentators argue on the topic: “Who could this have been?” Some say that it was the guardian angel of Esav. Others say that it was some man from among Lavan’s people.

But there is also another commentary. And according to this commentary, it was an angel-messenger of the Most High who wrestled with Yaakov. All the time that Yaakov was in exile, he lived the life of a simple secular person. There was very little of anything Godly in his life. And therefore before the return to Canaan, before the return to the land destined for him, an angel is sent to wake him, to prepare him for the mission, to awaken the spiritual principle in him. And together with this awakening Yaakov receives a new name – Yisrael. This name Yisrael is not yet a new personality, it is not yet a renewed Yaakov. It is still only a seed, the embryo of a new personality. We can see that after Avram became Avraham, after the Most High gave him a new name, He never addresses him by the old name. In exactly the same way Sarai, who began to be called Sara, is no longer called Sarai. But the Most High addresses Yaakov in different ways. Sometimes Yaakov, sometimes Yisrael. According to the opinion of the sages, this depends on the spiritual state in which Yaakov finds himself. It turns out that after this morning wrestling Yaakov has yet only to become Yisrael.

We can see what happens when Yaakov meets his brother Esav. We must remember that Yaakov, having received Yitzchak’s blessing, received the priesthood. Between Yaakov and Esav there is not only a brotherly relationship, but also the relationship of priest and people. Yaakov, in the conversation with Esav when he meets him, calls himself a servant eight times. Eight times he says to Esav: “You are the master.” And this despite the fact that Esav is called to serve Yaakov. We see in the conversation that Esav has forgiven Yaakov. We see that Esav is glad to see him. Jewish commentators say that when Esav saw Yaakov, his heart softened. But Yaakov for his part did not trust Esav completely. Esav volunteers to escort Yaakov. He even promises to go slowly, so that it would be comfortable for Yaakov. But Yaakov gets away from Esav by deception. He does not trust Esav and all the more is not ready to serve him. One can see in this deed of the fathers a sign for the descendants: the return of the people of Israel to the land of Israel, according to the plan of the Most High, was to be connected with serving the nations of the world, the descendants of Esav. We should have expected that Yisrael would return for the priesthood. But having returned, Yaakov did not agree to serve Esav. Yaakov did not take up the priesthood. Therefore today’s return of Israel to the land is still a return according to the flesh, and not according to the spirit. Just as Yaakov could not become Yisrael as soon as he entered the land, in exactly the same way his descendants are entering the land for now only as Yaakov, not as Yisrael. And we must expect, pray for and in every way bring nearer the spiritual return of Israel. For the world to be set right, for the kingdom of Mashiach to come, it is necessary that Israel take up the priestly position. Israel itself does not want this. The nations of the world are not ready for this. But this is the plan of the Most High, as it is revealed in the Torah.

I would like to talk with you about three words that are important, in my view, words that describe the form, the manner of interaction between man and the Most High. These words occur in our book Bereshit, beginning with the weekly portion Vayera and ending with the weekly portion Miketz. The first word we will talk about – is the word hineni, which translated into the Russian language means here I am. For the first time in the mouth of a man this word sounds when Avraham pronounces it. In chapter 22 of the book of Bereshit we read:

“Here I am.” What does this phrase mean? It seems clear enough: “Me, here I am. Here I am, right here. I am ready to carry out your assignment. I have arrived at your disposal. I am entirely at your disposal.” On the one hand, this phrase includes a certain modesty: “Here I am, I am before You, I am ready to carry out Your will.” On the other hand, this phrase also means that I have a certain potential, I have certain strengths with which I am ready to carry out this will. One can say that the phrase hineni sounds in the mouth of a man when the man encounters the Divine presence in one form or another, even when it is a dialogue of a father and a son. We read further, when Yitzchak and Avraham are already going to the place of sacrifice. A very dramatic scene takes place.

Vayomer yitzchák el-avraham avív (and Yitzchak said to Avraham, his father) vayomer (and said). Apparently, a double repetition. There was silence, and then: “And Yitzchak said to Avraham, his father, and said…” These words come hard to Yitzchak. “And he said to him: ‘Avi (Dad)! Vayomer hineni (and he said: ‘Here I am’). When almost everything had already become clear, when they had already set out for the place of sacrifice, the father sees in the dialogue with Yitzchak a dialogue with the Most High. This is a man carrying out the will of the Most High, and here the father serves him, as one presents oneself before the Shechina, as if the divine presence were revealed in Yitzchak’s words. And the father answers him: “Hineni vení (here I am, my son).” And Yitzchak asks his famous question: “Hine ha'esh veha'etzím (here are the fire and the wood), ve'ayé hasé le'olá (but where is the lamb for the sacrifice)?” Here again Avraham says to Yitzchak: “I am entirely at your disposal, I am entirely ready to help you.” Then we hear this hineni a third time, when the angel calls out to Avraham and tells him not to touch the youth. And here Avraham says: “I am entirely ready to stop, I am not clinging to the fulfillment of this commandment, I do not need to go down in history as a father who sacrificed his son, to become famous for this. Here I am, all my potential, all my strengths are again ready to serve the Most High at any moment.”

Esav comes to Yitzchak, his father, for the blessing, we read in chapter 27:

Esav is distinguished by the fact that he very carefully fulfills the commandment of honoring father and mother. We read about this further on, that Rivka even takes out the special garments in which Esav would go in to his father. Esav knows what to prepare for his father. Esav loves his father, takes care of him. And when Yitzchak calls him, Esav perceives this as standing before the Divine Shechina. Again: “I am entirely at your disposal.” It is interesting that when Yaakov comes to Yitzchak for the blessing, Yitzchak says to him: “Hinneni (here I am).” He does not say this to Esav, who came afterwards. Yaakov, who came by deception, hears from his father this very hinneni (here I am). Here I am – this means, I am ready to put all my strength, my whole self at your disposal. I am next to you, and all of me is at your service. All of me is ready to serve you with all my strength. This is the first word I wanted to talk about. Our frequent response to the call of the Most High, when we say to him: “Hinneni (here I am).” “Here I am, send me,” as Yeshayahu said. – Here I am, I am ready. All my strength, my instruments, my talents, my abilities – all of it so that I may serve You.”

The second word used in our weekly portion is the word that Yaakov says when he turns in prayer to the Most High. This is the word katónti (I have become small). “I have become small from all the mercies that You have done for your servant, for with a staff I crossed over the Jordan, and now I have become like two camps (katónti mikól hachasadim (I have become small from all the mercies) (Bereshit 32:10). Seeing all those mercies that have happened in my life, I see that You act not only through my strength, not only through hinneni, not only through the fact that I am ready to give all my strength, my whole self to You, but You act also through my weakness, through katónti, through the fact that I am not there. I followed You after seeing a dream, after seeing a dream of blessing, when the Most High stood by the ladder. With only a staff I crossed over the Jordan, set out after You in my smallness. I kept becoming smaller all the time, smaller... Only Your mercies increased my strength and my wealth, my prosperity. I am strong only thanks to the fact that I have become small from Your mercies. Therefore now I will not act much. I have no strength to act much, to act with full strength. I cannot say: “Hinneni, here is all my strength, all my potential at Your disposal. You protect me from my brother, from Esav. Again I rely on You in this, that I am small, and You will save me. And I thank You for the mercies. And I am rich with Your mercies. May Your mercies go on protecting me.”

We are not always able, and we do not always have the strength to act. The situation is not always such that we are strong. And we cannot always say: “You promised, after all, You are behind me, I will act with all my strength.” No, here one can say: “By Your promise, by Your mercy… And I will be here only as a small part of myself. I am not here, I am not up to saying this very hinneni right now, all my potential belongs to You.”

The third word I want to talk about is the word bil'adáy. Yosef uses it when he answers Pharaoh. In chapter 41 of the book of Bereshit, already in the weekly portion Miketz, Yosef answers Pharaoh and says to him:

That is, Yosef says: “I am not even small in this story, it is not that there is just a tiny bit of me here, but I am not here at all. And now God will act apart from me, without me. I am a speaker here, a loudspeaker, a relay. I will only pass on what God says. I will in no way, not even as a tiny, tiny part, take part in what God does. Only God will speak, only God will reveal. My task is to switch off, to become entirely a conduit of what God does, of what God will say.”

This is the highest mastery in the relationship with the Most High. It may seem that hinneni, when I am fully ready, and when I am strong, and when all my instruments – that this is very strong, that this gives me the opportunity to take part in the process of the creation of the world, in the repair of the world. But bil'adáy is a very high level, when I am ready for God to act through me, and for me not to act in it at all: neither with my thought, nor with my dreams, nor with my plans, not directing the Most High, perhaps not even with prayer: “Do not do it this way, and do not do it this way.” But simply to let the Most High act through oneself, without inventing scenarios and solutions for Him and without fantasizing about prospects for the future. This is the level on which Yosef says this very word: “Bil'adáy (without me God will act). I am not here at all. Not only not hinneni, I am not even katónti”.

This, in brief, is three levels of interaction between man and the Most High. Each of them is wonderful, each of them is fitting. For each of them there is its own place under the sun, its own place at the right time. It is like three notes, three ID cards that we can take out of our pocket. And at the right moment to take out the right ID card and not mix them up – that is very important.

To the weekly portion Vayishlach there corresponds, as the prophetic passage, not a passage at all, but a whole book – the book of the prophet Ovadyahu, the shortest book in the Tanach. It has only 21 verses. And it is this very book that we will read.

About the prophet Ovadyahu himself we know almost nothing, except his name. Some commentators say that this is the very same Ovadyahu who saved the prophets in the time of their persecution. We read about this in the first book of Melachim (18:4):

And it was, when Izevel was destroying the prophets of the LORD, Ovadyahu took 100 prophets and hid them, 50 to a cave, and fed them with bread and water.

Here Scripture tells us that the steward of Achav’s household, named Ovadyahu, in the time of the persecutions of the prophets, organized a whole operation to rescue them and supply them with bread and water. This is, without doubt, a great feat. And he, of course, exposed himself to mortal danger. The commentators say: “It is as a reward for this ardor, for this zeal for the prophets, that Ovadyahu himself received prophecy.” Other commentators say: “But it does not necessarily follow that if someone is called Ovadyahu, it is the very same Ovadyahu.” Ovadyahu is a very common name. And perhaps it was a different Ovadyahu altogether.

There are also commentators who say that perhaps this man was not called Ovadyahu at all. After all, the word ovadiyahu means servant of the LORD. Some modest person could have signed this way, as a pseudonym, one who says: “I am only a prophet, I only carry the word of God.” And so we remain in ignorance as to who the prophet Ovadyahu actually is. But you and I will read his book.

Whenever I come across this expression – ADONAI HASHEM (in Russian it can be translated as Master LORD, in the Synodal translation it usually says Sovereign LORD), I am somewhat at a loss, because the Russian language is much less tolerant of tautologies than Hebrew. Well, let’s translate it here as the LORD.

…We have heard a hearing from the LORD (we have heard a message from the LORD), and an envoy has been sent to the pagans…

צִיר (tzir) – is a certain envoy who makes shuttle runs, that is, an envoy who carries out his mission constantly. That person who is a constant channel of action in relation to another person, or a constant envoy of the Most High to other peoples. What mission does this envoy have? As far as we can understand from this book and from the book of Yirmeyahu, this angel conveys thoughts, puts certain ideas into the heads of kings and rulers. In this case he says:

…“let us rise and go up against her (that is, against Edom) in war.”

This is the message from the Most High that the prophet Ovadyahu heard. We will come back to this a little later.

Size is not what is meant here. There are small states – Monaco and Andorra, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. And they are not despised in the least. Somalia, which is much larger in territory and population, enjoys much less respect, a much worse reputation. What is meant here is precisely reputation: “I have made you small, you are very despised.”

Now let us turn to another prophet – the prophet Yirmeyahu, who also addresses Edom, in chapter 49:

I have heard a message from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent to the nations: “Gather yourselves and go against her and rise up for war.” And behold, I have made you small among the nations and despised.

This is almost word for word the same. One could say that either Yirmeyahu retells the words of Ovadyahu in his own words, or Ovadyahu retells the words of Yirmeyahu in his own words. But in fact it is neither the one nor the other. What is happening? Indeed, in the upper world, in some higher world, the Most High sends his envoys to the nations and says to them: “Rise up in war against Edom.” Both prophets see this and describe one and the same vision. That is why Ovadyahu says: שְׁמוּעָה שָׁמַעְנוּ (shmu’á shamá’nu)we have heard a message. Not I heard, but we heard. Those who see the higher worlds see what is happening, and the prophet Ovadyahu is one of them.

He explains why such a disaster befell Esav:

As Chava says about the serpent: הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי (hanachásh hishi'áni) – the serpent beguiled me. What, then, was Esav saying in his heart?

… “I live in the clefts of the rocks” …

Esav believed (and it was logical to believe so) that he lived in mountainous, hard-to-reach terrain, on a mountain height, behind impassable rocks, and he felt sufficiently safe.

…and his heart, from the sense of the height at which it lives, reasoned: “who will throw me down to the ground?”

Well, really, who will go to war against Edom through these hard-to-pass rocks, through these impassable mountains, to fight and throw him down? Edom had set himself up very safely, very comfortably.

The Most High says:

The LORD says: “What is out of reach for people is within reach for Me. I will bring you down. Nowhere can you feel safe.”

Again let us turn and compare with what the prophet Yirmeyahu says:

“You were a terror to all. The insolence of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell among the clefts of the rocks, on the summit of the hills. Even if you build your nest as high as an eagle, then even from there I will cast you down” – the word of the LORD.

Again two prophets say almost the same thought in almost the same words, because they see and observe one and the same heavenly phenomenon.

Further on, the prophet presents how one can assess the extent of the damage that will be done to Edom:

That is, no night robbers, no thieves can plunder you like this. How does a thief rob? He carries off all the most valuable things, puts them in bags and carries as much as he can carry.

…IF PLUNDERERS OF THE VINEYARD HAVE COME, SURELY THEY WILL LEAVE THE SMALL, STILL UNRIPE GRAPES.

There were such people (they still exist today) who climb into other people’s vineyards and steal other people’s grapes – plunderers of the vineyard. But even thieves do not take the last of it.

And again we see a parallel with the prophet Yirmeyahu:

If grape gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some grapes ungathered? If thieves had come by night, they would have stolen only as much as they need. But I have stripped Esav bare, I have uncovered his secret hiding place. And he will not be able to hide. His offspring is destroyed, and his brothers and his neighbors, and he will be no more.

Here the Most High says: “If anyone looks at you, he will think this: ‘What happened here? Thieves? No, thieves would not have stolen so much. Some kind of robbers? Robbers would not have carried off so much either. This is only the hand of the Most High, only the Most High could strip Esav like this.’” And the Most High himself says: “Yes, it is I who have stripped you bare.”

Esav had allies. He was actually a respected fellow in his time in his region and did not become so disgraced right away. The prophet says:

This can be understood in different ways. The verse is indeed not very clear. One can understand it like this: “They went with you, fought with you up to the borders of their kingdoms. When they had freed their kingdoms, they stopped fighting.” One can also understand it differently: “They simply escorted you to the borders when you came to them. They saw you off to the doorstep, patted you on the shoulder and said: ‘Esav, old pal, God be your help, all the best to you.’”

…all your companions will dupe you and get the better of you. and those who ate your bread began to set a stumbling block for you, saying: “there is no understanding in him at all. He has apparently lost his mind.”

Or: “Something happened to you such that you lost the respect of your allies, that they no longer want to have anything to do with you. Somehow you stopped being respected in the international arena.”

In verse 8 the prophet gives the answer to the question of how this happened:

Some researchers, commentators say that perhaps Esav, the Edomite kingdom in general, had some special technologies or a special philosophy, wisdom. Some consider Yov and his guests to be Edomites and say that they had this kind of philosophical knowledge. One can understand this simply: the common sense that Esav had, that his rulers had, vanished, the common sense that allowed them to govern the state, and moreover in such a way that other kings and rulers saw the necessity or the profit in entering into some agreements with Esav. And here again we can see a parallel in the prophet Yirmeyahu, in chapter 49:

Concerning Edom thus said the LORD Tzva'ot: “Is there no more wisdom in Teman? The counsel of the prudent has vanished. Their wisdom has grown dull.

Here again we see that different prophets speak very much in harmony.

Teyman is the second capital, one could say the economic capital of Edom, like, for example, Sydney in Australia.

“Shame will cover you,” “shame will become your garment” – that is, “And outwardly you will look shameful”; this is a kind of nakedness that cannot be covered by anything.

…and you will be cut off forever.

What, then, was the problem? At that time Edom was an ally of Israel. When Israel found itself in trouble, Edom betrayed its ally, went over to the other side and took an active part in plundering Israel. Moreover, those Israelite fugitives who ended up on the territory of Edom, the Edomites handed over to Nevuchadnetzar.

From verse 11 on, the prophet begins to list, article by article, the violations that Esav committed.

Edom plotted to seize the weakened Israel and Yehuda and take these lands for itself. To spread out on them, the way an occupier spreads out on captured lands. The prophet Yechezkel speaks of this:

Because you had an everlasting enmity and delivered the house of Yisrael to the sword in the time of calamity and in the time of the final sin. Because you said: “These two peoples, these two countries will be mine, and we will take possession of them.”

Something similar had already happened in the south of Israel: after the death of Shlomo its influence in the area of Eilat weakened, and the Edomites took the ports of Eilat away from the Jews. That is, the root of the sin of Edom (Esav) is his hostility toward his brother Yaakov. And this hostility was not born yesterday, it is old and hidden.

Some translate these commands, which begin with וְאַל- (ve'al-), as you should not have, but in fact אַל- ('al-) is a warning for the future do not do so, do not do what is listed here. And apparently this command is not only for Esav, because further on it will speak about all the peoples.

…and do not open your mouth wide (that is, do not laugh at the top of your voice) on the day of distress.

And again we can turn to another prophet, to Amos:

Thus said the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not turn away the wrath from him. Because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off his pity, and his anger raged, and he kept his fury forever, and I will send fire upon Teyman, and it will devour the palaces of Botzra.

This is from the first chapter of the prophet Amos. And again we see that the prophets in unison tell Esav about his past, and about his present, and about his future.

Once again, only a few words, but how vile is what the prophet mentions here. Indeed, the Edomites went out to the crossroads, to some roads along which the refugees were fleeing, and did not let them escape, killed them and robbed them.

…and do not hand over his refugees in the time of calamity.

Not handing over refugees to their enemy was, by the standards of those times, a normal human rule. In the first chapter of the book of the prophet Amos, the Most High says that the inhabitants of Tzor and the inhabitants of Gaza will not be forgiven for handing over refugees to their enemies. This is a very immoral act, whatever advantage it might hide behind. And Ovadyahu ends with a warning that this judgment is drawing near, that it is coming soon.

What you did, how you acted toward your brother Israel, so it will be with you.

They will get so drunk that they will remain in this drunkenness of theirs forever, as if they had never existed at all. In the book of Eicha we read similar words about Esav: “Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Utz, the cup will reach you too. You will drink yourself drunk and spew it out.” The image is a little different, but the thought is similar.

Here we see not only the idea of the punishment of Esav, but also a new facet of deliverance, of the return and reunification of the house of Yosef and the house of Yaakov, that is, of the reunification of Israel and Yehuda. Here is what we read in the prophet Yechezkel in chapter 37:

And the word of the LORD was spoken to me: “And you, son of man, take yourself one staff and write on it: ‘For Yehuda and for the sons of Yisrael who have joined with him.’ And take another staff and write on it: ‘For Yosef, the staff of Efrayim and of all the sons of Israel who have joined with him.’ And bring them near one to the other, as if you had one staff, and they will become one in your hand.”

Here the LORD, through the prophet Yechezkel, says the same thing that He says not directly, but as it were completely in passing, through the prophet Ovadyahu: the people of Israel will be joined into one people. The prophet Amos also speaks of the burning up of the people of Edom, let us read this once more:

And I will send fire upon Teman, and it will devour the palaces.

That is, once again the prophets with one voice prophesy one and the same future to Edom.

And the prophet Ovadyahu goes on speaking about Israel:

One can say that this is a prototype of the Nuremberg trials, that is, on the side of Esav war criminals will be judged. This will be a real court, which will be established in the land of Israel. Of course, a person often wants to act at the call of the flesh. There are many people whom one would like to kill, strangle, break their neck and give them various other “pleasantries.” The Torah was given to us so that we judge people by the Torah, so that we hold back this animal nature of ours. And here there is the promise of the prophet that there will be no reprisals, there will be no genocide, nothing of the kind will happen. There will be a judgment according to the Torah, and through this the kingdom of God is established.

…the kingdom and the dominion will belong to the LORD.

The LORD will show his dominion openly through the people of Israel returning to its land. And those who oppressed it, even those who gloated over the oppression of the people of Israel, those who rejoiced at its misfortune – they all will stand before the court. It is precisely the judgment that is carried out on criminals, even on war criminals – this is the establishment of the kingdom of the Most High. Through this the whole world comes to know that the Most High is King and Judge.

So we have finished reading the book of the prophet Ovadyahu.

Well, to end on a good note, I will tell you a tale about Esav and Israel. Rabbi Eleazar ben Shimon was taking a walk along the seashore in Jaffa and saw a ship which literally sank before his eyes. One Roman, who had saved himself from the shipwreck on a piece of the ship, swam to the shore. But, being completely naked, he was forced to hide in the sea. At that time many from Israel were going to worship in Yerushalayim, as they are obligated to three times a year (well, literally the story of the good Samaritan). The Roman began calling out to them, saying: “I am of the sons of your elder brother Esav. Give me the least of the garments, so that I can cover my nakedness, for I am worn out by the sea, I have nothing left.” The Israelites answered him: “So may all the sons of your people be worn out.” Seeing Rabbi Eleazar, the Roman said to him: “I see that you are an elder among your people, apparently taught in respect for the creatures. Give me a garment, so that I can cover my shame.” Rabbi Eleazar had seven garments on. He took off one garment and gave it to the Roman, brought him into his house, fed him, gave him drink, saw him off with honors and gave him two hundred denarii for the road.

Many years later the villainous caesar died in Rome, and in his place they appointed that very Roman who had been drowning off the shores of Jaffa. And he issued a decree concerning Israel: all the men to be sentenced to death, and the women – to slavery. The sages began urging Rabbi Eleazar: “Go to the caesar and obtain a reconciliation with him, you are a clever man, after all.” He said: “You know this people, it does nothing just like that.” They said: “Here are 4 thousand denarii for you, go and make peace with him.”

The rabbi took this money and went to Rome to save the Jews. He stood in the royal gates and said: “Go and report to the king that a Judean has arrived and wants to speak.” They reported it. The king said: “Bring him.” Seeing him, the caesar came down from the throne, fell on his face, saying: “What is the master doing here? And what made the master travel such a long way?” Rabbi Eleazar answered: “I have come to ask you to have mercy on the people and to cancel the sentence.” The caesar answered him: “Is there a lie in the Torah?” “No,” answered Rabbi Eleazar. The caesar said: “Is it not written in the Torah: ‘An Emorite and a Moavite shall not enter the assembly of God?’ For what? For not meeting you with bread and water. And it is written: ‘Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother.’ Am I not of the sons of Esav, your brother? But they did not show me mercy when I was drowning there. And whoever transgresses the Torah deserves death.” Rabbi Eleazar ben Shimon said: “Even if they sinned against you, have mercy on them.” The caesar said: “Well, rabbi, you are a grown man. You know, with us nothing gets done just like that.” Rabbi Eleazar said: “Well, of course, I know. Here are 4 thousand denarii for you.” The caesar said: “Let these 4 thousand dinarii be your reward for the 200 that you gave me. And your people will be saved for your sake. Go into the treasury and take seven garments for the one garment that you gave me. Go in peace to your people. I will have mercy on it for your sake.” And the sages said about Rabbi Eleazar: “About him it is said: send your bread upon the water.” This story is told in the collection of midrashim on the book of Kohelet. It is just a tale. You can believe it, you can – and it is even better – not believe it, but the story is instructive, whichever way you turn it.

Read also: Vayetze, Vayeshev, prayer and the weekly portions of the Torah.