Parsha Vayishlach 5766; Maintaining and Restoring Righteousness
By, Moshe Burt
As our Parsha begins, Yaakov sent melachim (angels), some render a translation of messengers, “… ahead of him to Eisev to the land of Seir, to the field of Edom… Thus shall you say … to Eisev, so said your servant Yaakov: ‘Im-Lavan garti’ (I have sojourned with Lavan) …” (Sefer Breish’t, Perek 32, posukim 4 & 5).
We learn that the Gematria (numerical value) of the word ‘garti’ is 613; that Yaakov “… sojourned with Lavan, but yet … kept all of the 613 commandments and … did not learn from his [Lavan’s] wicked deeds.” (Torah Gems, Aharon Greenberg, Parsha Vayishlach page 251)
We learn that in the run-up to the climactic reunion of the brothers, on the night before the meeting takes place, Yaakov has his all-night, life-and-death struggle with the Moloch of Eisev.
There is a message in the reunion between Yaakov and Eisev that seems both timely and crucial on the eve of the critical Likud Primary vote slated for this Monday.
This is the Parsha which is reminiscent of the old Four Tops record from the 1960’s, “if you bite my neck, I’ll turn to stone, turn to stone…”
We learn that upon their reunion, Yaakov and Eisev, embraced, wept and that Eisev kissed Yaakov on the neck.
Shem Mishmuel (Shem Mishmuel, Rabbi Zvi Belovski, Parsha Vayishlach, pages 61 – 63) cites a Midrash (Breish’t Rabbah 78.9) where Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar comments on the phrase “and he kissed him”, represented by the word “vayishakeihu” written in the Torah with a dot above each letter.
Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar comments; “Whenever there is more text than dots, one expounds on the text. Whenever there are more dots than text, one expounds on the dots. But here, there is an equal number of letters and dots. From this we learn that at that moment Eisev’s mercy was aroused, and he kissed Yaakov with all of his heart.”
Shem Mishmuel writes on this kiss;
“Eisev wanted to inject his poisonous philosophy into Yaakov, to draw him toward the evil life which Eisev personified. At this moment, Yaakov’s neck miraculously turned into marble. Vessels made from stone (…marble is an example) are not subject to the laws of tumah and taharah (ritual purity and impurity). Given this, we can understand why the Midrash chose to use the symbolism of marble, rather than the more usual hard materials of iron or brass. Yaakov’s neck was unable to contract any impurity from Eisev’s malicious advances! He was completely impervious to Eisev’s designs, and marble, which is unable to receive tumah, is a perfect metaphor for this.”
“Shem Mishmuel then suggests; “that Yaakov was able to resist Eisev’s attack in the way described purely because of his attitude toward the meeting. The very fact that he was more concerned for his spiritual rather than his physical well-being … protected him when the moment of truth arose. Indeed, we can be sure that Yaakov would rather have submitted to physical death rather than lose his integrity by associating with his vile brother.”
Returning to the Midrash stated above, Rabbi Yannai replied to Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar’s premise that Eisev kissed Yaakov with all of his heart, “If that’s the case, then why are there dots at all? (Shem Mishmuel footnote: “The simple meaning of the text implies that the kiss is genuine. Rabbi Yannai notes that the dots must change the simple meaning of the text, not confirm it.) “Yaakov’s neck turned to marble, and the wicked one blunted his teeth on it. Indeed, that is the meaning of ‘they wept’ — Yaakov cried because of his neck; Eisev because of his teeth.”
In this short election season, we’ve seen endless shameless wrinkles, we’ve seen abandonments of multiple parties with all of these loose cannons joining one certain party. We’ve seen all candidates for leadership of the Likud party espouse, for the benefit of Likud members, that they opposed the expulsion of their Jewish brothers and sisters from Gush Katif and the Shomron. But only one has been consistent, steadfast, unequivocal and without qualification in opposing the expulsions of last August and has stood solidly, consistently, and without equivocation over his entire life, for Jewishness and Eretz Yisrael. The others, like Eisev in our Midrash, blunt their teeth with their equivocation and qualification and try to infect us all with it.
May it be in this year and beyond, that our brethren; the refugee families from Gush Katif and the Shomron, as well as our dear brother, Jonathan Pollard be central in our thoughts, prayers, chassadim and actions.
B’Ezrat Hashem, may we soon know the day when Torah is the law of the land, when we see the day when our Brethren, expelled by the evil regime from Gush Katif and the Shomron towns, are restored to bigger and more beautiful homes and neighborhoods, Bati Knesset, Yeshivot in Gush Katif and the Shomron and only happiness and success for all time. May we soon see freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael for Jonathan Pollard and pray thanks to Hashem for the Ge’ula Shlaima and all of the above Barachot. May this abominable period of history called hitnatkut be as a bad dream.
May we be zocha in this coming year to take giant steps toward fulfilling Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations.”
May we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Meiyad, Etmol!!!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.