VAYISHLACH - THE MEETING BETWEEN YAAKOV AND EISAV

Yaakov Avinu had been forced to leave his parents home at the age of 63 after he had received the brochos from Yitzchok for which Eisav did not forgive him. In fact, the Torah tells us that Eisav hated Yaakov because of this and Yaakov then went into hiding for 14 years learning day and night in the Yeshiva of Eiver, the great grandson of Shem. He then made his way to Choron as instructed, but Elifaz, the son of Eisav, ambushed him and all the valuables that he had with him, given to him by his parents, were handed over as ransom for his life.

As the medrash tells us, Elifaz stated that he had been sent to kill Yaakov but Yaakov told him עני חשוב כמת a poor person is counted as dead.

Yaakov then spent 20 years with Lovon amassing a family and wealth.

On his way back to Eretz Yisroel, he was confronted by Lovon and successfully made a pact with his father-in-law.

As we are told by Rashi, quoting the medrash, Yaakov Avinu was still very apprehensive about this brother’s attitude to Yaakov. He, therefore, sent מלאכים ממש , namely angels who were with him, as mentioned right at the end of the sedra Vayeitzei, to find out whether Eisav had by now calmed down and whether his hatred had become diminished.

The sedra of Vayishlach commences with the story from that point onwards. We are told that the angels came back and reported to Yaakov that “We had come to your brother but he was still the same Eisav”, in a very nasty frame of mind. Not only that, but he is coming towards you and your family with 400 men. Yaakov Avinu was terribly afraid. He split his family and belongings into two separate camps and he prayed to Hashem. He also sent lots of presents to Eisav in the hope that this would satisfy him but he then had a further problem.

Overnight, after he had transferred his family and belongings to the other side of the small river יבק, Yabok, he was confronted by a man. Our חז''ל tell us that he was none less than the שרי של עשו, the angel who looked after and represented Eisav. Whilst it is true that Yaakov bested the angel, he, nevertheless, suffered a serious injury, ותקע כף ירך יעקב, and Yaakov’s hip became dislocated.

The next morning, before Yaakov could take precautions, when he was in a bad physical state, all of a sudden Eisav appeared. Yaakov tried to separate out the various wives and children into three separate groups and the stage was set for the two brothers to meet for the first time in 34 years.

Let us examine in detail what happened, Yaakov bowed down to the ground seven times when he reached Eisav. Eisav ran towards him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him and cried. He then proceeded to speak to Yaakov very civilly as the Torah continues to tell us.

Truly extraordinary!!

We are told only a day or two before this, that the malochim had reported back to Yaakov that Eisav was still in a terribly ugly mood and out for revenge. Surely the presents that Yaakov had given didn’t change the position so dramatically?

I think that the answer to the point raised lies in the fact that Yaakov bowed down to the ground seven times and got up again.

Remember Yaakov was limping badly, having a dislocated hip. I once asked my dear friend Dr A S Levy, whether it was possible for somebody with a dislocated hip to actually bow down flat onto the ground. After consideration, he said that he thought that it was possible. How about him then getting up onto his feet? I enquired. That would be a virtual impossibility unless he was an extremely strong person both physically and mentally, was the answer. I continued with my enquiries. To be able to do this seven times?, I asked. He just shook his head in disbelief.

I believe that the same thing happened when Eisav watched Yaakov coming towards him.

Eisav’s ethos was, כחי ועוצם ידי, my physical strength is what beings me all my greatness.

He watched in disbelief when his brother, תם ויושב אהלים, the simple man used to sitting in the houses of study suddenly turned out to be a very, very strong person physically. The one thing that Eisav respected was brute strength.

(The Torah revealed to us previously that Yaakov was very strong. This was when he removed the large stone from the well outside Choron. All the shepherds were needed each day to perform that task together. Yaakov did it himself with ease. Eisav, however, did not know about that incident.)

When he saw this display of strength and courage by Yaakov, Eisav’s resolve melted and he decided that discretion was the better part of valour. That is why, I would suggest, he ran towards Yaakov embraced him, kissed him and cried, because he was afraid that if he tried any strong arm tactics, he would be defeated.

No doubt, Yaakov’s tefillos to Hashem had a strong effect, but the crunch was seeing Yaakov bow down seven times and then him raise himself up without assistance.

יב כסלו תשס''ט