THE MESSENGERS RETURNED TO JACOB, SAYING, "WE CAME TO YOUR BROTHER

ESAU; AND MOREOVER HE HIMSELF IS COMING TO MEET YOU, AND THERE ARE FOUR HUNDRED

MEN WITH HIM."

(Bereishit 32:7)

It

appears to me in this matter that Esau did not receive the messengers properly

and paid them no heed. Perhaps they did not even come before him for he did not

at all give permission for them to come before him and speak to him for

otherwise, Scripture would have related that Esau questioned them concerning

his brother's welfare and about his circumstances and those of his household

and children. [Scripture further would have told how Esau requested] that they

convey greetings to Jacob and tell him that he is proceeding towards him to see

him, and they would have told it thus to Jacob. Scripture, however, does not

narrate that the messengers transmitted a word in Esau's name. Instead, he [Esau] kept his wrath in his

heart, and he came with his army for the purpose of doing Jacob evil. Now

the messengers had investigated the matter in the camp, and they knew that he

was going to meet Jacob. This is the meaning of the word vegam

(and moreover) [in the verse, and moreover he himself is coming to

meet you], for they said, "We came to your brother Esau, but he

did not answer us a word, and he sent you no greeting, and moreover he

himself is coming to meet you with might and an army." This was why he

added fear to his fear, as Scripture says, And

Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed. And so our Rabbis said that

the messengers recognized hatred in him [Esau]. Thus they said: "We

came to your brother Esau. You behave towards him like a brother, but he

behaves towards you like Esau the villain" (Bereishit

Rabbah 75:7). However, in the end, when Esau saw

the great honor that Jacob bestowed upon him and how he prostrated himself

before him, bowing to the ground seven times from the distance until he

approached him, his mercy was aroused, and he thought that Jacob was

recognizing his birthright and his pre-eminence, as I have explained (above,

verse 5).

And with this he was comforted, for the hearts belong to God, Who turns them

whither He will.

(RaMBaN on Bereishit

32:8, Chavel translation)

We came to your

brother Esau – and you found favor in his eyes, as you had spoken. And

out of joy at your arrival and his love for you, he himself is coming to

you, and there are four hundred men with him, in your honor. That is the essence of the plain meaning of the

verse. And so, too, Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see you (Shemot

4: 14).

(RaShBaM 32:7)

and he will be happy to see you – not as you

think, that he will be harsh with you for having risen to greatness.

(Rashi Shemot

4:14)

And Jacob was

greatly afraid – in his heart, for even though he [Esau] had demonstrated

to the messengers that he intended to honor him [Jacob], he did not believe

that Esau's thinking was for the good, but rather that it was for evil.

(RaShBaM Bereishit

32:8)

I saw your face as the face of an angel

Ronen Ahituv

While awaiting the encounter with his brother Esau, our

father Jacob sent him an offering. It is explained with these words:

For he

ahead, while he remained in the camp that night. (Bereishit 32:20-21)

The expression propitiate [akhaprah

panav] appears here in Scripture for the

first time. The commentators disagreed about its meaning. Rashi

writes: "propitiate – I will end his anger,…

it seems to me that the word kaparah when

conjoined with avon [transgression] and het [sin], and panim

language also refers to the holy fountains as kipurei

zahav, since the priest cleans his hands in them,

in the lip of the fountain." Rashi explains kaparah as wiping out anger. The gift is intended to

wipe out Esau's anger.

Ibn Ezra

interprets it differently: "The meaning of akhaprah

panav is I will cover-up and hide." It

is not a matter of ending the anger permanently, but rather of temporarily

hiding it, and especially, canceling its destructive outcome. Esau's anger and

enmity are not cancelled; instead, they will be temporarily held off by the

gift, saving the lives of Jacob and his household for the time being.

The RaMBaN takes pains to reopen

the discussion of the meaning of kaparah and

disagrees with Rashi:

The connotation

of "wiping away" attached to forgiveness [kipur]

is not valid in the Sacred Language but rather in the Aramaic tongue… for the

word kaparah is never used in association with

sin [het], meaning wipe away,

but instead Scripture says: lekhapeir [to

make atonement] for your souls (Shemot

30:15);

lekhapeir for him, and he shall be forgiven

(Bamidbar 15:28), i.e., for his soul. And Scripture

also says: akhaprah [I shall make

atonement] for your sin (Shemot 32:30). All of them

are related to the expression, Then shall they give every man kofer for his soul (Shemot 32:12), which means a ransom. (Chavel translation)

According to the RaMBaN, the

Hebrew language does not contain the concept of kaparah

for a sin, but rather only kaparah for a soul.

Kaparah is ransom for a soul, a replacement

for death. Jacob is saying that he himself deserves to die upon seeing Esau,

and the gift is being given in exchange for his life.

The commentators' great efforts to research the philology of

the verb-root kpr are not for naught. A

weighty theological problem lies barely hidden behind the debate: of what value

are ritual acts, and how do they atone for us? The immediate contexts that come

to mind here is the rite of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, which atones for the

sins of all Israel, and the

atonement gained from guilt and sin offerings. What is the meaning of this

atonement [kaparah]?

The three commentators suggest three different contexts for kaparah. According to Rashi,

kaparah works at the level of a person's moral

standing, wiping out his sins. Ibn Ezra says that it

acts upon God, hiding His anger, while the RaMBaN

thinks that it acts upon the person who offers a sacrifice, saving his life. The

differences between these views are very significant for the way we are to

understand how the commandments between man and God work, and for the question

of the ability of a person to influence his standing before God.

Let us now return to the parasha's

concerns. The deep discussion of the role of kaparah

in human/God relationship seems wholly out of place in the context of Jacob's

meeting with his brother Esau. The gift is a kind of offering of atonement made

by Jacob, and the most amazing fact is that the kaparah

is not made before God, but rather before the wicked Esau!

Scripture's use of the term kaparah

here is not accidental. It directs us to recognize the existence of a

theological dimension behind the meeting of Jacob with Esau. Scripture hints at

this dimension in two additional ways:

1) During their encounter, Jacob says to Esau: "No,

your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably"

(33:10). Jacob himself

says that Esau's face is like God's face to him.

If we do not want to explain all of this away as empty

flattery on Jacob's part (as do the RaMBaN

and several earlier sages as quoted in Bereishit Rabbah), we will be forced to notice the theological dimension of

the brothers' meeting. This is not merely a fraught meeting between brothers;

God Himself is involved in the matter, and even more than that – Jacob places

God on Esau's side.

2) Jacob's struggle with the mysterious man is

described as you have striven with God (32:29). Jacob is

portrayed a kind of Jewish Prometheus in this story, fighting against the

Divine will. Identifying the man with Esau's angel again raises the

question of the relationship between Esau, his angel, and God. Which of the two

brothers is favored by God: Jacob, the younger brother who fights for his

status using methods which are not always proper, but who demonstrates

determination and gets results – or Esau, the older brother who stayed to care

for his parents, even though he had been cheated and deprived?

There are two ways to answer this question. Closer to the

plain meaning of the text [and contradicting many midrashim

of the Sages], we can say that at the time of the encounter, God supported

Esau, but it could be that Jacob's struggling and determination again won out

over strict justice – as had occurred several times in the past. Justice was

with Esau, and Jacob was aware of that fact. However, once again, Jacob's

special powers managed to overturn the Divine decree and the claims of justice,

finding victory over them both. In this, he outdid the Hellenistic hero,

Prometheus, who suffered punishment at the hands of the gods.

According to this interpretation, the story before us

contradicts the promises God gave to Jacob at Beit El

and Haran. In any case,

this is not the only contradiction between the stories: the midrash already asked why Jacob was afraid despite

the promises he had received, concluding that "there is no promise to the

righteous man in this world" (Bereishit Rabbah 76:2).

On this interpretation, the gift is not intended to

propitiate the human Esau. Rather, it is really a kind of sacrifice to God,

offered in order to atone for his soul and for his problematic struggles with

his fate.

The second way of explaining the strange pairing of God with

Esau is to look at them through Jacob's eyes. Jacob is the one who identifies

Esau with God. There is no ontological claim here that God really supported

Esau; it is all about Jacob's subjective perception of the situation. When

Jacob meets Esau, his twin and veteran adversary, he chooses to grant him

honors worthy of the gods, because he recognizes a different person in Esau,

one whose stance is different from Jacob's, and which possess its own inner

legitimacy. Jacob recognizes Esau's own special truth, thereby admitting that

it has a power just as great as Jacob's own subjective truth.

Of course, Jacob received Divine revelations and support in

his dreams, but who can say that Esau was not also favored with such dreams? The

Torah tells us almost nothing about Esau's inner world, but Jacob knows that

such a world exists, and he admits that Esau's feelings and personality remain

an unsolved mystery for him. It was not Esau's army and physical power that

worried Jacob, but rather the intuition of justice and the emotional world of

his betrayed twin. Just as the High Priest stands before the absolute God the

Yom Kippur, helplessly awaiting judgment, so stands Jacob before Esau's

personality. Jacob tries to penetrate Esau's inner world using methods that are

similar to those used by the High Priest: offerings, obeisance, and

respectfulness.

These two lines of interpretation lead us towards two

educationally different conclusions. According to the first interpretation, the

story teaches us about the great power of the will, which is capable of

overcoming even what would seem to be a Divine decree, as Rabbi Yitzhak said, "It

is good for a person to cry out [in prayer], whether before judgment is decreed

or after judgment is decreed" (Rosh HaShanah

18a).

According to the second line of interpretation, the story teaches us about our

limitations when encountering the other, and of our duty to treat him with

infinite respect, since the very image of God is revealed in the features of

his face.

Dr. Ronen Ahituv

hails from Mitzpeh Netufah

and teaches at Bar Ilan University, at Oranim College, and

at the Jordan Valley College.

Therefore the Children of Israel do not eat the

sinew that is on the socket of the thigh

This

is to say that it is right that the Children of Israel be fined and punished by

the prohibition against eating that sinew, for they left their father alone, as

is written And Jacob was left alone. They

were brave men, and they should have waited for their father to help him if

necessary, yet they did not accompany him and because of them he was

injured, and from here on this will be a remembrance and they will be

diligent in the mitzvah of levaya – accompaniment

– and therefore Joseph accompanied Jacob.

(Hizkuni, Bereishit

32:33)

And

Esau ran to meet him… and kissed him: Do not read and he kissed him

(vayishakehu) but and he bit him (vayinshakhehu). Then his neck became a column, your

neck is like an ivory tower (Shir HaShirim 7:5). It set the teeth of that wicked man

on edge. When he saw that he did not succeed in accomplishing his desire, he

became angry and grinded his teeth, as it says: The wicked man shall see it

and be vexed; he shall gnash his teeth; his courage shall fail (Psalms

112:10).

(Pirkei DeRabbi

Eliezer 36)

And

kissed him

– the word has dots above it. Should one suppose that this was a kiss of love?

R. Shimon ben Elazar said:

But were not all Esau's acts acts of hate at first? –

Except for this one, this was an act of love.

 (Avot

DerRabbi Natan 2)

And they wept – Both of them

wept. This teaches us that, at that moment, love for Esau stirred in Jacob too.

And so it is down the generations: when the descendants of Esau are inspired by

a pure spirit to recognize the descendants of Israel and their

qualities, then we too are stimulated to recognize Esau, for he is our brother.

Thus Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi

truly loved the Emperor Antoninus – and there are

many more such examples.

 (Ha'Amek Davar on Bereishit 33:4)

Witness

to this is the single word they wept. Fawning can result in a kiss, but

not in tears which burst forth at the moment. The word bakha [cried] is related to the words baka [broke, burst]

and pakah [opened]; the

tears burst forth from the depths of the human soul. This kiss and these tears

show Esau, too, to be a son of Abraham. It cannot be that Esau was no more than

a wild hunter; were he such, how could he have succeeded in controlling all

development of civilization? The naked sword, brute force alone, cannot qualify

him for this. Gradually Esau will put away his sword, making ever more room for

his humanity. In regard to Jacob, in particular, will he have the opportunity

to demonstrate to what degree his humanity has prevailed.

Respect for the rights of the powerful by the powerful is a matter of

pragmatism. But when the stronger falls upon the neck of the weaker – as does

Esau – throwing away the sword of aggression – only then can we see that justice

and humanity have triumphed in his heart.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, Bereishit

33:4)

They cried – both of them, out of love and

remembrance of the many years they had not seen each other.

(Rabbi Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio)

Cowardice or Pursuit of Peace?

Jacob

destroyed."

(Bereishit 34:30)

Making me odious – [literally:] to

make me stink. The meaning is: You brought it about that they would hate me and

be disgusted with me as a person is disgusted by something that stinks. He did

not say this because he feared war, because that is mentioned later – so if

they unite against me and attack me. The [Cantillation

mark] etnahata [that designates the major

division of the verse] marks the word Perizzites

because there are two separate ideas here. The first is that he is very troubled

to be hated by the nations, even if he does not need them and they will not go

to war against him. This was because it was his nature to pursue peace and he

wanted to be loved by the nations, so that they could learn the ways of honesty

and justice from him. That is why he said making me odious. The second

idea was that he was also afraid that they might join together to attack him

when he had few men [to fight by his side].

(Rabbi Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio ad loc)

The sons of Lotan were Hori andHemam; and Lotan's

sister was Timna (Bereishit 36:22)

and Lotan's

sister was Timna – Who was she?

Timna was the daughter of kings, as it is written, the aluf [chief] of Lotan, the aluf of Timna (Bereishit

36),

and every aluf was an uncrowned king.

She asked to

convert.

She went to

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they would not accept her.

[So] she went

and became a concubine to Esau's son, Elifaz.

She said: "It

is better for me to be a maidservant to this people than to be a matron of

another nation."

Amalek, which caused

trouble to Israel, descended

from her.

What was the

reason? Because they should not have rebuffed her.

(Sanhedrin

99b)

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