Shabbos Parashas Vayishlach - 5779

Shabbos Parashas Vayishlach - 5779

Rabbi Hal Miller

Then Yaakov sent angels ahead of him to Esav his brother to the land of Seir, the field of

Edom. [Bereishit 32:4]

Last week's portion ended with Yaakov encountering some angels, and declaring the place to

be holy, naming it Machanayim, or Two Camps, referring to the two camps of angels he saw

there. One camp was made up of angels that would protect him within the land of Israel,

and the other of angels that protect him outside the land.

The very next verse is the beginning of this week's portion, our verse. Most commentators

interpret the word 'malachim' here as "messengers", the same word as in last week's verse where

they referred to it as 'angels'. Four verses after ours, Yaakov divides his family into two camps.

There has to be some connection between these events.

Rashi explained last week's event as the changeout of guardian angels from the outside ones to

the inside ones as Yaakov approached the land. He also explains this week's malachim as angels.

Ramban is "perplexed" about this, since Yaakov was not yet anywhere near the land, thus the

word must have meant human messengers. But the text does not indicate what those angels/

messengers were doing. Ramban posulates that one of the two camps last week was Yaakov's

and the other that of the angels, who were sent to show Yaakov that he had Divine support in the

upcoming confrontation with Esav. He does not tie the two instances of the word malachim, thus

seems to think they are two separate sets of messengers, the first with a message for Yaakov,

and the second with Yaakov's message to Esav.

Rambam thinks that last week's two camps of angels was a vision, but that this week Yaakov is

actually sending human messengers, not experiencing a vision. He has a lot of heavy hitters in

support, such as Onkelos, Saadiah Gaon, Ibn Ezra, Radak, and Ibn Kaspi, among others. Malbim

takes a middle position, explaining that Yaakov has advanced spiritually from his vision in the

ladder episode, and last week he was actually able to see angels with his eyes, but this does not

reconcile the different views of the use of the same word in consecutive verses. Midrash Rabbah

[74:17] is clear that last week they were angels, but this week [75:4] is a difference of opinion,

humans or angels.

Rav Moshe Feinstein asks our question directly, as to whether this week Yaakov sent men or

angels. Starting from the point that the word usually connotes angels, he asks who Yaakov would

have sent, saying it was unlikely he would have sent angels when he could have sent mortals,

"since one who benefits from a miracle pays for it by losing merits that would otherwise have

increased his reward in the world to come." But if they were in fact humans, Rav Moshe asks

why the Torah would call them malachim. He writes, "someone whose faith in God is complete,

as Yaakov's was, is no more impressed by a miracle than by a natural occurrence." He goes on

to note that this implies that one who is impressed by miracles lacks faith and will be punished.

It seems strange that the Torah would go out of its way to use the same word here when so

many other words could have been used instead. All but Ramban translate last week's usage

as angels, and there is a split regarding this week's usage. Rav Moshe specifically notes the

common usage implying that they were in fact angels this week too. If we accept this, then we

can also understand the two camp issue. Whether we accept Rashi's view that last weeks

camps both consisted of angels, or Ramban's that one was Yaakov's, once we reach this week's

split of camps, what we see is Yaakov emulating what last week were referred to as "God's

angels." The military reasons given for Yaakov's split are fine, but that is merely the material

"hishtadlus". What Yaakov was really doing was spiritual, raising himself and his family to the

level of angels.