YAAKOV WAS LEFT ALONE. AND A MAN WRESTLED

ME."

"AND A MAN

WRESTLED WITH HIM UNTIL THE BREAK OF DAWN." – THE TORAH'S DOCTRINE OF WARFARE AND ITS

ETHICS OF BATTLE

 "And a man wrestled with him"; not Yaakov,

but his antagonist, is the attacker; Yaakov fights a defensive battle. As

long as night covers the earth, as long as man's consciousness is dim, and

things are confused beyond recognition to the point where it is impossible to

ascertain their truth and their clarity, throughout all this time he may expect

struggle and opposition – this is the content of that nocturnal experience,

which is, in itself, but an answer to Yaakov's cry. He must wrestle with "the

Minister of Esav"… dressed in royal garb, his sword at his side, and

the struggle will continue until darkness departs from the face of the

earth.

 (Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch on

Bereishit 32:25)

"AS HE WRESTLED

WITH HIM" – is

superfluous, and Chazal, in Hullin (91) dealt with this. According to a plain

reading (peshat) the meaning of "as he wrestled with him"

is that until now, the angel wrestled with Yaakov, and now the angel desired to

withdraw, but Yaakov renewed the fight and wrestled with the angel, and as a

result he was punished, and his hip was sprained, and this is because Yaakov's

attribute is an abundance of love of peace, as we have explained above,

therefore he should have rested when the angel withdrew. But he betrayed his

character, and therefore he was punished in his hip, where walking

originates, and this [is symbolic] of man's customary behavior – and this is a

major rule, that when a person's behavior is marked by a good quality, it is

considered as though he took upon himself this quality with a vow, and

afterwards, should he behave otherwise, he is punished – and it may be further

said that this comes as a lesson for all generations, and the father's act is

an example for the sons… and it comes to instruct us how one should behave

with his adversaries, not to fight them excessively, and when the danger

recedes, it is proper to allow the assailant to go on his way, and this [the

wrenched hip] is to remind us of this.

("Haamek Davar" and "Harchev

Davar" of the Netziv of Volozhin, Bereishit 32:26,32)

ON GAPS IN POWER AND THE

USE OF POWER

IN OUR SOCIETY AND IN

OUR FAITH

Amos Yisrael-Flishauer

How

many buckets of ink have been poured dealing with the question "What kind

of state Israel should be?" Jewish-democratic? Democratic-Jewish? Jewish? Democratic?

A state of all its citizens? Few – too few – deal with the question of whether

this state (whatever be its definition) is just or unjust. I should like to

devote this study to examination of our attitude and that of Biblical sources

to power, to the use of power and to power gaps. At the outset of our parasha

is would seem that Yaakov's wealth has psychological effect on both Yaakov and

his brother Esav. Throughout the parasha, Yaakov's (and his family's) strength

is tested: against Esav, against the angel, against Schechem's behavior with

Dinah, and against the kings, sons of Esav.

POWER

AND ECONOMICS…

WHAT WERE THE OCCUPATIONS

OF OUR FATHERS?

Yaakov

supported himself as an employee (thank God, a successful one). Avraham was a

nomadic shepherd who amassed his wealth in part from reparations (Avimelech,

Pharaoh). Yitchak, in contrast to his passive image, was a successful,

independent farmer. Wealth marks the social rank of the patriarchs as compared

with that of their personal and ideological competitors. For example, the

awarding of compensation to Avraham and Yitchak for the jeopardizing of their

wives is seen as affirmation of their being in the right. As a rule, Avraham is

wealthy – ergo, he is right; Yitzchak is successful – it is a sign that God is

with him. Yaakov's success despite Lavan's deceitful efforts – signifies God's

support, as in the words of Kohellet "And God seeks the pursued" (3:16).

According to this approach, wealth in itself, and relative wealth (a

large economic gap) in particular, is a fact which has political and spiritual

significance.

Wealth

– in the Bible – has another aspect, well expressed in the Haftara which

we read last Shabbat: "When they grazed they were sated; when they were

sated, they grew haughty; and so they forgot Me" (Hoshea 13:6). Wealth – absolute and relative – appears here

as a destructive force. Wealth, like all authority and power, brings

callousness, pride, a sense of omnipotence, and consequently leads to personal,

religious and social sin (a separate discussion should be devoted to the

influence of this analysis on the middle class). We have not found in the Bible

condemnation of wealth per se. We have found censure of the sinning and

apathetic affluent, and there is the call for concern for the indigent. Gaps of

power, resources and opportunities are part of the Biblical world, and

therefore, perhaps, one should not wonder that the religious parties carry no

egalitarian social message, but rather one of tzedakah – charity – which

creates and perpetuates dependence.

Also

in the forthcoming unfortunate state budget, the path of charity – tzedakah

– is a struggle against cutting this or that allotment. This is the

course which supports differential salaries, power and strength, which

obligates the prosperous to support the poor but not to change systems, because

these systems have a function – psychological, social, political and perhaps

even religious – in the world of the decision-makers.

The

path of justice – tzedek

– demands a reorganization of systems, a restructuring of priorities –

diminishing of the wage gap, modesty in the consumption by the wealthy,

equality of opportunity.

Rawls,

in his book "A Theory of Justice", proposes the following

intellectual exercise: Let us assume that in budget deliberations or in

discussions of an economic package, it is clear that upon reaching agreement,

there will be a lottery for opportunities in the work market; every citizen

will be assigned by chance to a job, to intellectual and economic position, in

keeping with the division of the cake as proposed in the new arrangement. In

other words, every citizen would have equal opportunity to be a university

lecturer, or to be the unemployed father of a twelve year old, illiterate girl

who cleans up the lecture halls at night. The probability of each placement

would be in proportion to the relative size of each level of the population; the

Minister of the Treasury would have more than a 40% chance of being in need of

salary supplements, and the Chairman of the Workers' Committee of a powerful

government company would have more than a 100% chance of earning minimum wage

or less working for a manpower organization than of retaining his present

position. Such a mechanism would insure that persons of power at the time of

decision would really be concerned with minimum conditions of opportunity for

every citizen; they would, in all probability, be less concerned with charity.

The

semantic distinction we have made is a product of modern Hebrew. Maimonides,

who ruled that "we are charged with the mitzvah of tsedakah more

than any other positive commandment… and the throne of Israel cannot be firm

and the true faith cannot stand… and Israel can be redeemed only through tsedakah"

(Gifts

to the Needy 10:1 and see also 10:7)

explains, saying that "the word "tsedakah" is derived

from tzedek – justice… which means that every man receives that which

is due him. (Guide

for the Perplexed, III, 53).

Our

blindness to the proportions and uses of power are expressed by the fact that

in this country it is almost impossible to consume products which have not been

befouled by the odor of exploitation, servitude, and oppression. Should we then

consume these products? There are stores that are under the kashruth

supervision of the Badatz, and there is the rabbinate, and there are stores for

veggies and vegans; but what about a garage that carries certification that it

pays fair wages and provides social benefits? A marketplace which does not

employ children? A store that sells produce without exploitation of foreign

workers who work in conditions of indenture? (See Maimonides, "Laws of Slavery, 9).

POWER AND PERSONAL

SECURITY

Rashi

faults Dinah for her 'going out'. It would seem that one should remain at home

if he wants security. It's dangerous outside. But in many other places in the

Bible, we find that supposedly safe places are not free of dangers – in Sodom

and in Geva Binyamin the outside dangers menacing visitors are augmented by the

decisions of the men to expose the women who are inside with them (the

concubine or the daughters) to these dangers. In the stories of Avshalom and

Tamar, Yosef and his brothers, Esav and Yaakov, the danger lurks inside the

house. Our commentators were not apathetic to the violence revealed in Avraham's

tent. Well-known is the Ramban's position that our mother, Sarah, sinned

through her affliction of Hagar, (Ramban, 16:6) Radak writes: "And this story was recorded in the Torah

in order that man learn from it positive qualities and how to avoid bad ones."

But we are quite blind to this violence. Similar things occur in our society.

Much is said about terror from without, and perhaps even about road accidents,

but the "safe" places are not safe – 25,000 files pertaining to

violence in the family are opened yearly. This is the basis for the estimate of

200,000 families suffering from violence [usually by the male]. Between 10-25%

of schoolchildren are exposed to sexual attack and harassment in school, a

place which, by law, they are required to attend. Here, too, the question is

whether we are dealing with the consequences of the unchanging ratios of

power (e.g., shelters for beaten women) or whether we deal with the ratios of

power themselves (in all Israel there is only one "Bet Noam" where

violent males learn to modify their behavior)? Are we prepared to lessen the

very need for power gaps? The ratios of power and strength between men and

women, between adults and children, between family members, between them and

strangers – these and the exploitation of power within the framework of these

relationships are basic facts in the narratives of the Book of Bereishit. These

stories shape our thought, our culture, and our religion, and they limit the

horizon of our opportunities as we attempt to consider the cost of our shaping

of our world and possible alternatives – both partial and system-wide alike.

The understanding of these formative influences is one of the main

contributions of feminist thinking, and it seems to lie at the heart of

prophecies of geula (e.g., Isaiah 11; Ezekiel 11, 34, 36) in which the

redemption is described in terms of change of relationships between human

beings and in the entire world.

Davka Esav, furious Esav, who plans to kill

his brother (Bereishit

27:31) undergoes

transformation at the end of our parasha: "And Esav took his wives and

them because of their livestock" (Ibid., 36:6-7). This chapter

parallels the Avraham-Lot relationship. But Esav, unlike Avraham, does not wait

for the shepherds to clash; Esav concedes. (Despite Esav's ability to

conquer his anger and concede, the Haftara of this week judges him harshly for

not being able to take the extra step and support Israel).

Common

to all the subjects dealt with is the acceptance of power relations as a weltanshaunung,

as the way of the world. Must the order of events always follow the Prayer for

the State of Israel – first "Crown them with a crown of victory", and

only after that "Bring peace to the land" – or might it be possible

to imagine peace without power? Are we called Israel only because "You

have wrestled with God and with men and you have prevailed" – or is it

because of God's presence, and as testimony to His honesty via our following in

His ways (The word "Yisrael" can also be read "Yashar

El" – "God is straight" , or "Straight before God".

This, as against "Yaakov", which has a connotation of crookedness.).

The basis for this outlook is concern not only for the weak, but for society as

a whole. Following the prophets and Maimonides, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin

Luther King also taught that the struggle for justice is not only for the sake

of saving the oppressed from oppression, but (also) in order to save the

oppressor from the role of the oppressor. Salvation will come not from tsedakah

– charity, but from tzedek – justice, from the freeing of the master

from his mastery. This is a theological, political, communal, economic and

personal choice. Everything depends upon our conception of God (= power…) for

our conception of God's relationships with our people is shaped, in the Bible,

in terms of power relationships. An alternative is also to be found there – in

more intimate relationships, in more love than fear, and there, too, is there

need for the geulah.

Amos

Yisrael is a middle-class Israeli Jew with western background who lives in

Yerushalayim. He is a volunteer in centers for help to victims (male and

female) of violence and rape.

"YAAKOV BECAME EXCEEDINGLY AFRAID

AND WAS DISTRESSED" – IN WAR THERE ARE NO VICTORS, ONLY VICTIMS AND PAIN.

"Yaakov became

exceedingly afraid and was distressed" – said Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai: This

was neither fear nor distress, but "he became exceedingly afraid"

– lest he kill; "and was distressed" – should he be

killed. He said: if he overcomes me, he will kill me, and if I win, I will kill

him. This is the meaning of the double phrase "exceedingly afraid"

lest he kill, "distressed" should he be killed.

 (Midrash Rabba, Bereishit, Parasha 66)

Yaakov's

attitude to his brother Esav weighs heavily upon his conscience. His gloom is

so deep that he cannot lift his face to look his brother in the eye, certainly

he cannot raise his hand against him, even in order to save his life and those

of his household. Yaakov feels the need to receive Esav's forgiveness. His

behavior in his meeting with Esav does not indicate a flaw in his personality;

on the contrary, we have before us the beginning of Yaakov's reformation; he

moves from that which was signified in his life by the derogatory name Yaakov

towards that which will be symbolized in the future by the noble name Yisrael.

It is not by accident that the parasha of his name change and the parasha

of his reconciliation with Esav are juxtaposed.

(Y. Leibowitz: Seven

Years of Discussion of the Weekly Parasha, p. 135)

'SHIMON

AND LEVI ARE BROTHERS –

YOU

HAVE BROUGHT TROUBLE ON ME"

COLLECTIVE

PUNISHMENT IS UNACCEPTABLE

"You have brought trouble upon me": by shedding

blood for no reason. He employs the term "reek" ["causing me

to reek"] as a person causes wine to reek because of its lees, so have

you made me reek among the inhabitants of the land, damaging my reputation, for

they will say that we did evil to those who were peaceful with us.

(Rabeinu Bahayeh, Bereishit 34:30).

…Now

begins the shame, and we do not intend to hide it. Had they killed Schechem and

Chamor alone, they would have been justified. But they had no pity on

defenseless people, powerless in their hands. Yet more, they plundered,

punishing the citizens of the town for the sins of their leaders. For this

there was no justification. Therefore Yaakov admonishes them; "You

have brought trouble upon me!" Our reputation and our honor were

as pure as crystal, and you sullied them. "Making me reek" among

the Canaanite and the Perizi; and just as you acted without justice, so you

acted without wisdom, for we are few…

 (Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Bereishit

34:25-31)

The

act of Shimon and Levi can, of course, be grounded and rationalized on the

basis of moral principles subject to deliberation and rational consideration.

But it seems that there are also moral postulates, among them the great issue

of murder, which are not subject to consideration and deliberation; such

transgressions impose a curse, irrespective of all considerations and

deliberations that might seem to be justified and correct.

This

is one of the great and terrible conflicts in human reality, both in the life

of the individual and in the collective realities between nations. Granted,

there are acts that are unavoidable, such as war, murder, and bloodshed, and

whoever executes them does so out of recognition of the circumstances and for

the sake of collective and personal security. But even so, he is stained with

the stain of an immoral act that sticks to him; such an act is in the category

of "has no atonement", it cannot be removed or cleaned.

The

story of Shechem and Father Yaakov's curse upon the perpetrators during his

final hours as he presents his sons with his vision of the end of days, offers

an example of the terrifying moral dilemmas which, as already pointed out,

repeat themselves not only in private life, but even more in the life of the

nation; there may be instances of bloodshed which can be explained and

rationalized and perhaps are even justified, but even so the act remains

accursed. These thoughts are relevant especially in these crazy times, and we

should record them in our hearts and should consider them carefully.

 (Y. Leibowitz, Seven Years of

Discussions on the Weekly Parasha, p. 137)

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator),Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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