It did not say at the beginning of this parsha who the messengers were that Jacob sent to meet his brother Esau before travelling further. My first thought was that they were angels, since that was how the previous parsha ended, but they acted in a very human manner, returning to say that Esau was heading their way with 400 men. They did not tell Jacob he had no reason to fear, so of course he was afraid and divided his camp into two, thinking that if Esau attacked one camp, the other might escape. Then he prayed to God, praising him for his steadfast kindness and protection in the past and asking for it again when Esau arrived. He reminded God of the promise to make his progeny too numerous to count!" (This reminding God of His promise in times of trouble seems to be a family trait.)
In Torah study, we discussed the repeated use of the word face in Hebrew; we're not entirely sure of the exact definition. An Israeli in attendance said it was not used like the English losing face. Rabbi Yitz said it was inner essence. There are a couple places where the Hebrew is used to indicate the face or faces of God (Panim = faces) and indicates turning.
Jacob selected a huge number of livestock to give to Esau as a gift and sent them ahead in droves to meet Esau. He intended each time for Esau to be pleased with his gift and think it was the last, then encounter another (and finer) gift. He waited out part of the night, then sent his wives, servants and eleven children plus all his possessions across a stream and remained alone.
A "man," interpreted to be an angel, wrestled with Jacob the rest of the night, leaving Jacob's hip wrenched out of his socket, but undefeated. This is, after all, the same Jacob who rolled the rock apparently several other men usually rolled off the well. The angel actually begged him to let him go at daybreak, but Jacob insisted on a blessing first. The angel said Jacob would be renamed Israel because he fought both human and divine and prevailed. Jacob asked the angel's name, but the angel refused and left. In Israeli society (and also American Indian) one can find out a lot about others by the names they are given. Unlike modern day Americans, who are often named after celebrities or ancestors, or just because the names sound good, Israeli names included a description of the individual. Talmud has two opinions, which are both considered true, that both a man and a god fought with Jacob. The sense is there is a blurred line between man and divine. My fiance and I talked about whether the wrestling is to deal with Esau or to wrestle with himself and that he had to end up crippled because his ego was so tied up in physical strength.
Thereafter, Jacob/Israel limped and therefore, the Bible says we Jews are not to eat the thigh muscle that attaches to the hip socket. (The Rabbis extend this prohibition.)
In Torah study, someone reminded us that God wanted to destroy Moses, too and Zipporah saved the family by circumcising the boys in a hurry. We still struggle with worry over whether God wants to destroy us or let others destroy us. We are not always as quick and bright as Zipporah.
Jacob (the text still calls him so here) divided his children and wives according to their dearness to him; he put the maids and their children first, then Leah and her children, then Rachel and Joseph. He went ahead and bowed low seven times as he approached his brother. When he and Esau met, they embraced and wept. (David said that wrestling with the angel prepared him for this meeting with Esau, since wrestling and embracing are related!) Esau was astonished by the number of wives and children Jacob had and protested about all the gifts Jacob had sent ahead. Esau said he had enough possessions of his own. But Jacob insisted.
From JewishJournal.com:
Esau's response is surprising. He embraces his brother. Kisses him. They weep together. Is 20 years enough time to erase the pain of a stolen birthright? Could a fleet of animals have warmed Esau's heart? To be sure, Esau is overwhelmed. “Looking about, Esau saw the women and the children. ‘Who,’ he asked, ‘are these with you?’ “ (Genesis 33:5). As it turns out, Esau has become a brother-in-law and uncle many times over. “And what do you mean by all this company which I have met?” (Genesis 33:8). He is perplexed by the number of animals representing Yaakov's wealth and prosperity. He might even be stunned by Yaakov's generosity, amazed by all that has transpired since Yaakov ran away.
And in the midst of animals, wives and children, two brothers acknowledge a new reality:
Yesh li rav, Esav says. “I have enough. Let what you have remain yours.”
Yesh li kol, Ya’akov says. “I have plenty. Please accept.”
And suddenly, where once there was only enough for one, it seems there is enough for everyone. Twenty years earlier, a perceived scarcity was the source of great fear and anger, dividing the family. Twenty years later, surrounded by family and livestock, both brothers proclaim, “I have what I need,” and they embrace.
There is something magical about this declaration, “Yesh li kol.” I have enough. I have everything I need. In Parashat Vayishlach, it transforms a scene between brothers.
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It appeared that Jacob may have deceived his brother again when he asked that Esau go on home and Jacob would travel at the pace of his children and livestock and meet Esau at his home. JPS says " But Jacob journeyed on to Succoth and built a house for himself and made stalls for his cattle."
In this home, Dinah, Leah's daughter, "went out to visit the daughters of the land." (Rabbi Yitz says dinah/din means judgment.) The Talmudic Rabbis saw this as very unwomanly behavior; no wonder she was raped by Shechem! Rabbi Yitz and the Israeli in Torah study said it was unclear in Hebrew. The same word is used in the relationship between Sarah and Hagar. It might be all of the following: oppressed, responded, humbled, humiliated and defiled, purposely allowing multiple meanings.
Likewise, we don't know what to think about the fact that Shechem wanted his father to get him Dinah as a wife. Was he repentant or just a control freak? So the father, Hamor, went to speak with Jacob. Here Jacob acts like Abraham; he knew what happened, but kept silent until his sons came home. Hamor intended to speak with Jacob, but the sons met him first.
Jacob's sons were very angry and were not impressed by Hamor's entreaties for them to intermarry with his city's daughters in return. Hamor promised them that they could settle in the land. Shechem offered to pay whatever bride price and to ply them with gifts if he could have Dinah for a wife.
Jacob's sons tricked the men by saying they could not agree to let any of their women marry uncircumcised men. But if they and the others in their town would be circumcised, they could settle in peace, intermarry and become like kin. Shechem and Hamor went into town and pleaded with the townspeople to be circumcised so they may live as kindred. The men did so. (There is no record if they knew that Shechem had actually raped Dinah or just wanted her for his wife.) On the third day Simeon and Levi went into town with swords and slew all the men, who were in too much pain to fight. They took Dinah back home. The other sons plundered the town, seizing not only goods and livestock, but also all the women.
In Torah study, my fiance brought up that the men of the town were circumcised but not for religious reasons, but for profit. Rabbi Maurice says it was not done in repugnance of intermarrying because they took the women of the town. Rabbi Maurice also brought up the final blessing in a later parsha - in which the tribal head of the priesthood kills men when he is angry and maims cattle when he is not. This may serve as a warning for later.
Dinah is not treated as a human being here. I think since she is not a matriarch, Torah did not consider it important that she has a personality. Unlike the matriarchs, she was not shown to feel love, jealousy, hurt, anger or joy. She was an extra rather than a character actor; it was more important how Jacob and the sons react to what happened. (Nahmanides, in contrast to all the other sages, said that Dinah was not described, even though all the other women of the Bible are, because the Bible does not want to blame the victim by saying she was pretty, shapely, etc. The other sages assumed she did something to deserve what happened to her.)
Jacob chastised them, saying their actions would make them enemies of all the Canaanites and Perizzites, and that they could be destroyed. The sons answered, "Should our sister be treated like a whore?" This strikes me as harsh, to ruin a town and kill all the men because one behaved badly, especially since that one attempted to make amends. However, this behavior is still fairly common in the Middle East today.
Jacob heard a call from God to go to Bethel and build an altar "to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau." Are we to take it that God did not believe Himself adequately thanked? When Jacob dreamed of the stairway to heaven, he turned his pillow stone to become a pillar, poured oil on it, renamed it Bethel and promised that IF God stayed with, fed and clothed and protected him, God would be his God and that he would tithe, Torah records that he built an altar on the land he bought from Hamor in Canaan. It does not record a return to Bethel, tithing or any particular pattern of worship. In fact, Jacob told his people to rid themselves of their idols and the rings in their noses, so we can only assume they worshipped pagan gods rather than the Lord.
Jacob told his family to purify themselves, including changing their clothes and he buried the idols and earrings before they left. God sent a terror to all the cities surrounding them so that no one pursued them. Jacob took his family to the same place where he had laid his head on a stone, formerly called Luz but now renamed Bethel, meaning that God resided there. Jacob built and altar and named it El-bethel. El, again, is the name of the Canaanite God.
Again, the idols are treated in a manner that could almost be humorous: they are so small one can bury them along with earrings!
God appeared and told Jacob he was to be called Jacob no longer, but Israel. God told him "I am El Shaddai." El-Shaddai means God of the mountain. El is the name of the Canaanite highest god. More on this later. He repeated the commandment to be fertile and multiply, promised that nations would be born of him and kings would spring from his loins. Apparently when Jacob ran away from clear and present danger in Canaan and came to build an altar, God forgave him.
Israel and his family continued on their journey. Rachel went into difficult labor and the family had to stop. The midwife tried to comfort her, saying she had another boy, but Rachel died. She named the boy Ben-oni, son of my suffering. Israel called him Benjamin, which means either son of the south of son of the right hand. Rachel died and was buried on the road to what is now Bethlehem.
Reuben had sex with his father's concubine Bilhah and Jacob/Israel found out, but the text does not tell us if he punished Reuben in any way at this point. But Jacob/Israel did not forget, as we will later see.
Israel at last reached his father, Isaac, who made it to 180 years old before he died and was buried by both sons, Esau and Israel. Intereting he made it this long, because when he blessed the sons, he was already blind and weak. Since then at least 35 years have passed in my estimation, based on the sexuality of the children and the fact that Jacob said when he left Laban that he had promised to serve seven years but ended up serving twenty.
Esau took his large family and livestock and moved because Canaan was not fertile enough to support both his family's and Israel's. Esau's descendants were called Edomites. One of his grandchildren by Esau's son Eliphaz and a concubine was Amalek, who would fight with Israelis later.
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