ON THE PARSHA Parshas VaYishlach by Dovid Lipman, Israel Year 3, No. 8 Introduction This parsha, which tells how our father Yaakov made a home in the land of Israel, has six parts: 1) Yaakov prepares to meet Eisav 2) Yaakov battles a stranger 3) Yaakov confronts Eisav 4) Dinah's Abduction 5) A Funeral and an Altar 6) The Family of Eisav 1. Yaakov prepares to meet Eisav -- 32:4 (Beg.) to 32:24 Messengers of Yaakov report that Eisav is to greet him with an army, and Yaakov prepares for the confrontation 3 ways: He prays to Hashem for help, he sends a gift to appease Eisav, and he divides his camp, to prevent the family from being killed all at once. Then he crosses the river with his family at night, to wait for Eisav. Worthy of Note (32:11) "...all the kindness: ...and now I have become two camps." Why should it add anything that there are two camps? It's the same people as before - he just split up for strategic purposes! This is an example of the principle (heard from R' N. Orlowek) that gratitude depend on attention to detail. The value of details is often diluted by lumping things together in the mind. So Yaakov says, now that I split my camp into two, I see I had two camps' worth all along - but I didn't realize it before! 2. Y. battles a stranger -- 32:25 to 32:33 (end, Chap. 32) Yaakov, alone by the river, battles a stranger until the morning, and Yaakov survives, sustaining only a wound in the thigh (source of the mitzvah not to eat the Gid HaNasheh). Defeated, the stranger blesses Yaakov and tells him the name Yisrael, and Yaakov lets him go free. Answers to Do You Remember -Parshas VaYeitzei 1. The name "Two Camps" refers to angels joining Yaakov's own fighters to prepare to meet Eisav in battle. 2. Yaakov blew Rachel a kiss - and cried because people would later think he really kissed her. 3. Yaakov says he never lost an "ayil" - so it must mean any age, or he'd be implying that young rams WERE lost. 4. Rachel was remembered on Rosh HaShanah. 5. Yaakov's the example for hired workers: "...with all my strength I worked..." 3. Yaakov confronts Eisav -- Chap. 33 Yaakov, his wives, and his sons all present themselves to Eisav who responds to Yaakov with love. Yaakov politely turns down Eisav's offers of help, and Eisav returns to his home, while Yaakov, after a short delay, settles near Sh'chem, buys a home, and gives thanks to Hashem. A Time to Laugh (33:1) "...between Leah, Rachel, and the two maid- servants." Why is Leah before Rachel? (It can't be as in the next pasuk, about them being presented in reverse order of importance, because the maidservants are last!) Maybe, since Leah had more than half the children, she picked out her kids first to make it easier for the others to separate out their own! 4. Dinah's Abduction -- Chap. 34 Dinah is taken by force by Sh'chem, president of the area, and he goes with his father to try to convince Yaakov to let him marry her. Shimon and Levi tell the two to have all the town's males circumcise, and then they'll even join families. When the people comply, Shimon and Levi, on the third and most painful day, wipe out the city and take Dinah back, satisfied, but Yaakov feels the act uncautious. The Principles of Shabbos (34:25) "And on the third day, when they were in pain..." The gemara proves from here that two days after a Milah, a baby is in danger of his life, and may therefore be washed with hot water even if it's Shabbos (Shab. 86a). However, nowadays this danger no longer exists (O.C. 331:9). According to one opinion (followed by Sephardim), a late Milah may not be done on Thursday. Two reasons are given: (1) To avoid directly causing Shabbos desecration (Shach, end of Y.D. 266) [this reason may not apply these days], (2) Even if we aren't concerned over causing this permitted type of "work" on Shabbos, we must avoid the baby being in especial pain on Shabbos (Taz, Y.D. 262:3). 5. A Funeral and an Altar -- Chap. 35 Hashem reminds Yaakov to go to Beis-El to make an altar, and the family prepares and goes. Rivkah's nurse Devorah dies and is buried there, and they hold her funeral. Then Hashem appears to Yaakov with approval and blessings, and Yaakov renews the Beis-El altar. While the family travels from there, Rachel dies in childbirth, and Yaakov names her son Binyamin, so he now has twelve sons. He joins his father in Chevron, and Yitzchak dies at age 180. Also Worthy of Note (35:17) "...don't be afraid, this one is also a son for you." 'Afraid' of what? If of dying, why does a son remove that fear? The Torah Temimah brings the gemara (Nid. 31a) that birth pains of a girl are stronger. So Rachel wanted another son (30:24), and when the birth was unusually difficult, she was afraid that meant it was a girl, so the midwife reassured her it was a son. 6. The Family of Eisav -- Chap. 36 Eisav's three wives bear him five sons, and they leave the land because he's too rich to share space with the also wealthy Yaakov. There he has grandsons, and each becomes a family leader within Edom, Eisav's nation, as the previous families in the land (Se'ir) had also done. Eight kings rule his land, and then the land divides into states, with a different set of leaders. Do You Remember? - from the files of On the Parsha 1. What exactly made Shimon and Levi sure they'd succeed? 2. May one have pleasure from the Gid HaNasheh? 3. Why do Jews alone have power over angels? 4. How do we know a 13-year-old boy is called a man?