Torah Tidbits: Parshat Vayishlach

32:4-7 - Interesting.  The English translation here is "And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom."  The Hebrew, though, is mal'achim, which I would think is better translated as angels.  This sets up a curious scene in which Jacob commands these angels to bring a message to Esau.  The angels return with their reports of Esau's advance with 400 men.  This is a very different encounter than we saw earlier, where angels speak to Abraham here, Jacob is telling the angels what to do, and they obey (although not exactly -- it's not clear whether they delivered Jacob's message as commanded: "Thus saith thy servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now.  And I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and men-servants and maid-servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight").  Is there any other precedent for ordering around angels?!?

32:25-30 - Jacob wrestles with an angel...  Or did he?  Unlike the previous passage, where Jacob orders the malachim to bring his message to Esau, here the text refers to an ish, i.e., a man.  Clearly this is no regular man, because at the conclusion of their encounter, this being gives Jacob the name of yisrael because he has "striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed."  You would think it would be the other way around:  send anashim to meet Esau, wrestle with a mal'ach to get the name of yisrael.  The text is nicely ambiguous here, especially when the amgen/man refuses to give its name, and Jacob calls the place P'niel "'for [he had] seen God face to face, and [his] life [was] preserved."  Did he see God "face to face" because the man was an angel, or was the face of God revealed in some other, mysterious way through the act of struggle?

[This is one of those passages into which much could be read and understood, but the text itself says so little it's hard to say.  All that happens here according to the Hebrew text is that Jacob wrestles with a "man" who basically blesses him and refuses to tell his name.  To me, the notion that Jacob becomes Israel by wrestling with God...this is such a powerful image in contrast with Abraham leading Isaac to the mizbeach because God told him to do so.  Here, Jacob is rewarded for struggling against God (stealing the birthright?), as if struggling is a higher form of interaction than obeying or following.  I like this image, that the people Israel are who we are because of struggle rather than obeying.]

32:33 - Now I know where the prohibition from eating the sciatic nerve comes from:  "Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the thigh-vein which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, even in the sinew of the thigh-vein."  That's pretty strong, beautiful stuff.  Crap, this is a pretty good reason to observe kashrut when it comes to eating meat!  The symbolism is pretty powerful here...and pretty straightforward!

34:2-3 - I know I shouldn't apply modern-day notions of sexuality and sexual propriety to the Torah, but really, the text itself here is a bit, um, weird.  In verse 2, Shechem takes, rapes and "humbles" (abuses?) Dinah.  In verse 3, we then learn that "he loved the damsel, and spoke comfortingly unto the damsel."  So he raped her, but loved her?  Or he loved her after he raped her?  I'm trying to understand this...

34:24-31 - From a Biblical perspective, I understand why Dinah's brothers would want to kill Shechem, then plunder the Hivite's possessions.  Indeed, Jacob's reaction is pretty mild:  he's not upset that his sons basically slaughtered all the men of the city and plundered it...he's upset because their behavior will make him "odious unto the inhabitants of the land, even unto the Canaanites and the Perizzites" and, in turn, will make his life less secure in the future.  But to Simeon and Levi's question -- "Should one deal with our sister as with a harlot?" -- Jacob never responds.  Is this to imply that killing everyone in the city to avenge Dinah's honor was not sufficient reason?  Is Jacob trying to bring considerations of politics into the picture?

35:1-4 - After God tells Jacob to go to Bethel, Jacob says to the members of his household: "'Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments..."  In response, "they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears."  Earrings?!?  I imagine they were symbols of the strange gods (elohai ha-nechar) they were supposed to get rid of.  I was under the impression that Jews weren't supposed to have pierced ears because it was a descration of one's body...but this passage suggests they're a sign/mark of avodah zarah.  Which is it?

35:20-21 - An interesting juxtaposition of verses here.  The first, immediately after Racheh has died, relates "And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; the same is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day."  The next verse immediately says "And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond Migdal-eder."  Why the switch here?  Is there something about Rachel's death that somehow changes Jacob?  On the other hand, the verses that follow revert back to calling him Jacob rather than Israel.  What's going on here?