Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Jacob returning home to the land of Canaan after a 20-year stay in Haran. He sends angels ahead of him to meet his brother Esau in hope of a reconciliation, but they return to report that Esau is on the warpath with 400 armed men. Jacob prepares for battle, but also sends Esau a large gift (consisting of hundreds of heads of livestock) to appease him, and then intensely prays for salvation. That night, Jacob sends his family and possessions across the Jabbok River, while he remains behind and encounters a mysterious being with whom he wrestles until daybreak. Jacob suffers a dislocated hip but vanquishes the supernal creature, who bestows upon him the name Yisrael, Israel. When Jacob and Esau finally meet, they break down crying and make peace, hugging and kissing, and then part ways. Jacob purchases a plot of land near Sh’khem, whose crown prince—also called Sh’khem—abducts and violates Jacob’s daughter Dinah. Dinah’s brothers Shimon and Levi avenge the crime by killing all male inhabitants of the city, after rendering them vulnerable by convincing them to circumcise themselves in order to intermarry with them. Jacob admonishes his sons for their violence, and again fearing for his life after what they have done, Jacob and his family flee. Rachel dies while giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, and is buried in a roadside grave near Bethlehem. Jacob arrives in Hebron, to his father Isaac, who later dies at age 180.
Torah of Awakening
:וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַֽעֲקֹב֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל He said, “No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with God and with humans and you have prevailed!” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 32:4, Parshat Vayikhlakh
Once, when Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua of Apt came to visit a certain town to teach, two men competed to have the rabbi stay with them. Both homes were equally roomy and comfortable, and in both households, all the halakhot – the rules of conduct around kashrut and Shabbat – were observed with meticulous exactness. The only difference was that one of the men had a bad reputation for his many love affairs and other self-indulgent habits. Because of this, he thought of himself as a weak and flawed being. But in contrast, the other fellow was perfect in his conduct, and he knew it. He walked around proudly, thoroughly aware of his spotless purity.
The rabbi chose the house of the man with the bad reputation. When asked the reason for his choice, he answered that in the Talmud [Sotah 5a:14], it says: Rabbi Hisda said… “Every person in whom there is arrogance of spirit, the Holy Blessed One says, ‘I and he cannot both dwell in the world.’” “And,” continued the rabbi, “if the Holy Blessed One can’t share space with an arrogant person, then how could I? We read in the Torah, on the other hand, that Hashem: הַשֹּׁכֵ֣ן אִתָּ֔ם בְּת֖וֹךְ טֻמְאֹתָֽם – dwells with them in the midst of their impurity. [Lev. 16:16] And if Hashem takes lodgings there, why shouldn’t I?” The Divine cannot “dwell” with the arrogant person, because their spirituality has become “spoiled.” Like food that has been left out of the fridge, the dangerous “bacteria” of ego has “fed” upon the experience of the spirit and assimilated it into itself. When spirituality is “fresh” – meaning, it is grounded in an attitude of openness and humility, then it serves as nourishment for the soul. If we wish to keep it “fresh,” we must remember: thinking of oneself as “spiritual” and therefore special or superior is a source of arrogance; that’s how spirituality becomes “rotten.” To prevent this tragedy, we need some kind of “preservative.” What is the preservative? Sin! An amazing, radical teaching: Yes, “sin” is, by definition, wrong action. It is not in any way nourishing, just like preservatives in food are not nourishing for the body. And yet, it can actually prevent “rottenness” of the spirit, by helping us to conquer arrogance. After all, what is arrogance really? Arrogance is not merely a positive self-image; it is, rather, entitled expectation. Meditation, on the deepest level, is about dropping all expectation. When we’re successful in that, there can be a genuine coming into the moment, an arrival into the sacred space of the Present. And yet, in that experience, there also can then arise a very subtle form of expectation that creeps in without our even knowing it; this is spiritualized arrogance, the expectation that others should see us as special. And even more importantly, it is the expectation that we are somehow entitled to the spiritual bliss, that now it is ours for good. But if we reflect on our own imperfections, bringing to mind that we have made many errors and aren’t entitled to anything in particular, then we can paradoxically remain connected to the root, even when our branches falter. :וַיִּירָ֧א יַֽעֲקֹ֛ב מְאֹ֖ד וַיֵּ֣צֶר ל֑וֹ וַיַּ֜חַץ אֶת־הָעָ֣ם ...לִשְׁנֵ֥י מַֽחֲנֽוֹת Jacob became very frightened and distressed, so he divided the people who were with him… into two camps. On a metaphorical level, יַּחַץ – dividing – means separating his two different attitudes toward his predicament: part of his wants to simply trust in God, but part of him isn’t sure; he feels insecure. Furthermore, his insecurity is actually the deepest nature of existence: all things, all beings, are completely insecure. Nothing is guaranteed. There may be a deep desire to trust, to believe that we have some kind of Divine protection, but this kind of trust is arrogance; if we’re honest, we must admit that insecurity is the Truth. How can we reconcile the fact of insecurity with the spiritual quality of Trust? :וַיִּוָּתֵ֥ר יַֽעֲקֹ֖ב לְבַדּ֑וֹ וַיֵּֽאָבֵ֥ק אִישׁ֙ עִמּ֔וֹ עַ֖ד עֲל֥וֹת הַשָּֽׁחַר And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the rising of dawn. These two sides of his being wrestled, until the “arising of the dawn” – that is, until illumination occurred. He had done everything he could – he sent gifts to his brother, he split up his camp, he prayed for safety – now it was time to surrender, and in that surrender, to conquer: :וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַֽעֲקֹב֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל He said, “No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with (your) Divine (nature) and (your) human (nature), and you have prevailed!” Through his human nature, through his profound insecurity, he reached the true kind of trust – not trust in a particular outcome, but trust in Reality Itself, trust in the moment is as it is, and as it will be. Thus, through his human nature, he reached his Divine nature. This is our potential as well: first, to do everything we can to secure the outcome we want – pray, send gifts, work hard, all of it. But then, let go and trust. Embrace and relax into the insecurity, into the unknown, and into the true and actual security that isn’t about what we want; it’s about connecting with the truth of this moment, beautiful and fragile and tragic and miraculous. And in doing so, faith and uncertainty become one, and there is true peace with What Is; this is the Path of י Yud, of Trust and Simplicity: :וַיָּ֨רָץ עֵשָׂ֤ו לִקְרָאתוֹ֙ וַיְחַבְּקֵ֔הוּ וַיִּפֹּ֥ל עַל־צַוָּארָ֖יו וַֹיִֹשָֹׁקֵֹ֑הֹוֹּ וַיִּבְכּֽוּ And Esau ran to greet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept…
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