Vayishlach

"The house of Jacob shall be a fire.” Prophet Ovadya 1:18

Angels seem to appear at pivotal moments of Jacob’s life.  When heaven feels like it is about to collide with the earth under Jacob’s feet, he is met.

Imagine.  A mother advising her child to take a blessing using subterfuge.  The young man obliges by donning fur to deceive his aged father. It is a highly emotionally charged moment.  Jacob is caught in a tight web where, if he fails the rest of his life will be a misery.  If Jacob succeeds, phantasms or demons will crowd and trail him until he dies.  It is an impossible situation.  Almost blindly, mechanically, Jacob walks toward the inevitable. 

Imagine. A throaty howl of anguish rises from his father’s bedside when Esau understands that his brother has collected the birthright prize.  Wild and uncontrolled, Jacob knew that the target of the howl was him.   Echoing through the valleys, the screeches of Esav reverberate through the universe.  The anguish fills Jacob’s ears.  Jacob hears, understands, and believes the death threat against him by his twin, Esav.  

Imagine an interminable exile.

 

As Jacob fled from his home he dreamt of a ladder bridging heaven and earth.  He named the place Bayt El, the House of God.  As Jacob felt the hollows of his stomach expanding the vision could not have come at a better time. Shorn of love and protection; deprived of his home; alone and empty; Jacob is reassured by the heavenly angels that his exile is part of a greater plan.

Was there a deeper meaning to this vision of Jacob?  Was it only to assuage the awful feelings of betrayal and loneliness?  Or was there something more?  Midrash 1 tells that the angels ascending and descending the heavenly ladder represent history. Throughout the coming epochs powerful nations would rise to great heights.  Ultimately each nation would falter and then disappear into the vast abyss of time.  Jacob and his progeny, however, were issued a promise that they would live throughout all the tumultuous times and survive beyond each nation.

Jacob received a promise that his exile was purposeful.

Question: Do we get what we need?  Does God provide for us?  Looking over past years has there been a  guiding hand gently charting our course through life?

 

Days roll into years as Jacob ages and negotiates a long series of painful deceptions.  Finally, the tortured past catches up with the painful present.  It is time, Jacob decides.  Determined to recover the fragments of his past life, Jacob makes the choice he had carefully avoided for too long: he will return and confront  the reason for the years of exile.  .  A decision has been reached: the years have not dulled the ache. Putting off the inevitable does nothing to deaden the pain.  Jacob has already tried that for more than two decades.   If Jacob is ever going to be whole again he will have to face his nemesis- and the other part of his soul-  Esau.  That is not all.  Once again, Jacob finds that he must run from the clutches of another who seeks to destroy him.  Nothing is linear or easy for the patriarch.  Through God’s intervention is Jacob’s life spared.

On the eve of meeting his brother Jacob has a second encounter with angels.  In a camp called Machanyim, angels come to Jacob.  Jacob converses with them and asks they guide him towards the ultimate confrontation.  

The angels assure Jacob that he is not alone. In fact, they have been with Jacob all through his journey.  They have provided guidance and advice with the flocks of his father-in-law.  They watched over Jacob as he worked for Laban.  They were responsible for his financial success as well as his survival  The angels guided him through the last treacherous encounter with Laban.  Time and again, the angels appear to indicate to the patriarch that he has never been entirely alone.  It is not incidental or trivial that the angels have now appeared to Jacob. They reassure him that his actions and his life matter.  

 

Question: 

Is it possible that you are never truly alone?  Could it be that our lives are criss-crossed with the footprints of heavenly beings?  With enough insight would he be able to see them like Father Jacob?

 

Finally, for the last recorded time, Jacob encounters another angel.  This time it is significantly different.  The angel does not come to Jacob with comfort or support.  He offers death.

Jacob wrestles the angel until dawn.  When the sun rises Jacob gains a blessing from the heavenly messenger.  The blessing?  A name change.  Now Jacob has become Israel.

What was this apparition that attacked Jacob?  Was it really an angel?  Rashi reveals that it was the protecting angel of Esau.  Stealing across the river in the blank starless night, Esau’s angel stealthily crept up on Jacob, hoping to destroy him.  The Talmud records that the fight was so ferocious that the dust kicked up by their engagement covered the land and traveled up to heaven.  2

Jacob refused defeat despite his injury. He clung to both life and hope throughout the long night.  Giving up would have cost Jacob his life.  Or perhaps it would have meant that his life was a tragic mistake.  Either choice he had to make led to a dismal end.  Jacob refused either option.  He grasped the destructive angel, tenaciously clinging to him and demanding that he be blessed.  It is the blessing that he coveted so long ago at his father’s bedside.

Alternative ending: Jacob endured the darkest moment of his life.  That unlit night revealed Jacob’s truest self.  In a remote land, naked and vulnerable, Jacob encountered his yetser hara, the darkest part of himself.  It was now unavoidable: Jacob had to face segments of his past that were guilty of connivance and duplicity towards evil.  If was ever going to become whole Jacob had to confront his soul.

 

Question: 

The question sits at the door of our psyche and will not go away.  The incessant demands can be ignored for so long, and no longer.  When we ultimately open the door who wins?  He who is reday for the dark night of reckoning? But there is more to this interchange than man's struggle with the forces of evil. Why does Yaakov say to the angel (Bereshit 32:27): "I will not let you go unless you bless me"? And why does the angel answer Yaakov with the question, "What is your name?" Is it possible that the angel does not know Yaakov's name? 
Rabbi Kalonymos Kalman Shapira (the Piaseczner Rebbe), who perished in the Shoah was Rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto, uses this story to communicate a valuable lesson. We know that the lives of our forefathers are living lessons for us. Yaakov had just battled the angel and damaged his sciatic nerve. The angel prepares to leave, and Yaakov stops him and asks, "Is that it? Is this the fate of B'nei Yaakov that they are to suffer, to endure damage and pain, with their reward simply being their own survival? Is their post-suffering time to be identical to the period before? I will not let this happen!" Yaakov demands a beracha of this angel who has wounded him. Yaakov was not only seeking the survival of his people and a respite from their enemies; he was also demanding that Hashem grant them salvation. It is not enough to endure and emerge from suffering; we are to gain spiritually and connect on an even deeper and more profound level to Hashem. 
Why did the angel ask Yaakov for his name following Yaakov's demand for a beracha? The name "Yaakov" means "he that holds onto the heel of." Yaakov was given this name because he entered the world holding on to the heel of his twin brother, Esav. This position had been characteristic of Yaakov throughout his life. Yaakov's victories came on the heels of having been trodden on by Esav. Now, however, the angel of Esav says to Yaakov that this will no longer be true. This communication takes the form of a simple question: "What is your name?" Embedded in this question is the notion that one's identity is defined by one's name. We say of an individual, "Kishmo, Ken Hu," which means, "He is as his name". An individual's name encapsulates his qualities. The angel says to Yaakov, "There is no need for me to bless you, for your name shall no longer be Yaakov, but Yisrael." Bereshit 32:29 states: "No longer will it be said that your name is Yaakov, but Yisrael, for you have striven with the Divine and with man and you have overcome." This name change denotes a sea change in Yaakov's relationship with his brother Esav and the world. He is no longer the hanger-on, the downtrodden one. Instead, the angel communicates to Yaakov that his victory is assured and that he will persevere against his enemies, emerging not only alive but stronger and closer to Hashem. He will be a "Sar", which means both "struggle" and "lord." Even before Yaakov's struggle with Esav's angel, he was a lord over himself, having struggled with his own impulses and desires. Now, having waged and won the physical battle he was ready for whatever life held in front of him.

 

1 Midrash Tanchuma (Vayetze 2)

2 Hullin 91