Shabbos Parashas Vayishlach - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Vayishlach - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

And Yaakov sent malachim before him to Esau his brother, to the land

of Seir, the field of Edom. [Bereishis 32:4]

Who were these malachim that Yaakov sent to Esau? The word is usually

used to refer to angels, but sometimes the Torah refers to human messengers

by this word as well, even though shlichim would be an appropriate word. The

commentators seem to line up, half on one side and half on the other.

Rashi, for example says, "literally angels". Rav Soloveitchik concurs, but gives

a little explanation. He notes that there is only one notable difference in the

wording here from what is written where Moshe sends human messengers

from Kadesh to the king of Edom, that our verse says "before him". He explains

that here these malachim served as Yaakov's guide, as opposed to Moshe's

case where they were merely carrying a message. One must wonder, though,

in that case why didn't the Torah call them shlichim for Moshe?

Onkelos leads the charge for the other side. He understands that even though

the Torah just spoke in verse 2 about actual angels, from our verse on, it tells

not of a vision, but of a true episode with Yaakov sending someone to Esau.

Ramban follows and notes that Esau was actually going on his own way at

the time, and Yaakov took it upon himself to upset the status quo by sending

the delegation to his brother. Had he left well enough alone, he would not have

run into the difficulties he feared. Thus, it was Yaakov, not God, who sent these

malachim, and if God did not send angels, neither could Yaakov. They had to

be human messengers. Bereishis Rabbah concurs: "These were none but

human messengers." [75:4]

Rav Moshe Feinstein addresses the question. He says that "Yaakov would

not have sent angels when he could just as well 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 further,

if Yaakov sent humans, Rav Moshe asks, why did the Torah call them

malachim? He explains that Yaakov was at a level where he would be no

more impressed by a miracle, the angels, than by a natural occurrence,

human messengers. At the same time, Yaakov would think that the

humans were just as miraculous as angels. The Torah is telling us that to

Yaakov, it made no difference who these malachim were, and that it should

not make a difference to us either.