Shabbat Parashas Vayishlach - 5784

Shabbat Parashas Vayishlach - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller Rescue me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Eisav, for I fear him lest he come and strike me, mother and children. [Bereishit 32:12] Four times in quick succession, the Torah refers to Yaakov's brother in double language, "And Yaakov sent angels before him to Eisav his brother" [32:4], "To my lord, to Eisav," [32:5], "We came to your brother, to Eisav," [32:7], and our verse. Beis HaLevi asks the obvious question, why did Yaakov need to refer to Eisav in duplicate? Do we not know who this is about? "After all, he had no other brothers besides Eisav." The Torah does not toss in words just to increase the word count, so there must be things here for us to learn. Ramban simplifies things, using 32:5 as his example, that the "to my lord" part is the angels referring to Eisav on their own behalf, and the "to Eisav" as words from Yaakov. But this approach does not explain the other verses. Rav Hirsch explains our verse by separating 'Eisav' and 'brother' for two separate purposes: "Save me from my brother, who perhaps has some claim against me, from Eisav who in accordance with his character perhaps plans revenge." While this approach makes sense in our verse and perhaps in verse 32:4, it still does not explain the doubled use in either verse 5 or especially 7. But Rashi takes a similar approach to explain 7. There the angels use the doubled phrase in speaking to Yaakov on their return, "you would say, he is my brother, but he acts toward you like Eisav the evil one". Rashi gives the same view on our verse, "from the hand of my brother who does not treat me like a brother, but like Eisav the evil one." Beis HaLevi answers his question that Yaakov was afraid of two things, that Eisav might kill him directly, or that he would act as a brother and want to make peace to live together. The first is obvious, but why would Yaakov fear the second aspect? Beis HaLevi explains that Yaakov knew such a close relationship would be disastrous for him spiritually through intimidation and assimilation. From this we learn that while there is always a danger to us from pogroms and the like, there is an even greater danger when the nations begin to act friendly but want us to adopt their ways. This applies to all future generations of his seed. Yaakov here prayed that God would protect him and us from both the nice Eisav and the wicked one.