(א) ויותר יעקב. שכח פכים קטנים וחזר עליהם:
(1) "And Jacob remained". He had forgotten [some] small vessels, and returned for them.
(בראשית לב, כה) "ויותר יעקב לבדו"
אמר רבי אלעזר שנשתייר על פכין קטנים מכאן לצדיקים שחביב עליהם ממונם יותר מגופם
(Genesis 32, 25) "And Jacob remained alone"
Rabbi Elazar said 'that (he) remained (returned) for small jars'. From this we learn that the money (belongings of the righteous are more dear to them than (even) their physical bodies!!
Ecological/Sustainable Approach: Rabbi Yonatan Neril
Jacob’s example of valuing his possessions presents a particular challenge to us living in a modern, “disposable” age. Recognizing this trend, in 1955, the retailing analyst Victor Lebow highlighted a trend in consumer society, away from greater mindfulness regarding possessions and toward a more short-term view. He wrote:
Our enormously productive economy…demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption…We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate.
Today we live in a society with a very different orientation to material objects than Jacob—a society that throws away useable items because they are a few years old and maybe outdated by new products; discards clothing and appliances and buy new ones instead of repairing them; and buys goods usually wrapped in disposable packaging.
Physical = Spiritual Approach
Rabbi Zadok HaKohen Rabinowitz of Lublin (Kreisburg, 1823- Lublin, Poland, 1900)
"do not take that which is not destined for them from Hashem… That which is not created for this specific person is like stolen property when they are in possession of it, and thus [the righteous are careful] not to take possession of it. Because of this, property that is assigned to and created for them is very precious to them—so much so that our patriarch Jacob risked his life for his property. Thus …it was said in the name of the Yehudi Hakadosh: a righteous person is obligated to enjoy an object which is fitting for him even if it means risking his life. That is why Jacob– who knew that the small vessels were his, appropriate to his soul, and created for him—risked his life to save them.”
מאי חנוכה דתנו רבנן בכ"ה בכסליו יומי דחנוכה תמניא אינון דלא למספד בהון ודלא להתענות בהון שכשנכנסו יוונים להיכל טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל וכשגברה מלכות בית חשמונאי ונצחום בדקו ולא מצאו אלא פך אחד של שמן שהיה מונח בחותמו של כהן גדול ולא היה בו אלא להדליק יום אחד נעשה בו נס והדליקו ממנו שמונה ימים
Chanukah and the Small Jars
What is Chanukkah? ... for when the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was in it only [enough] to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days.
Rabbi Shlomo Luria (the MaHarshal, Poland, 16th century)
“the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Yaakov, ‘you risked your life for a small vessel for My sake, and therefore I Myself will repay your descendents through a small vessel for the children of Hasmonians, who made a miracle through a small vessel.’”
Kabbalah and Chassidut, adopt a mystical approach, explaining that the numerical value of the Hebrew phrase for “small vessels” is 359. The Hebrew word for “Satan” is also 359; and the numerical value of the word “nachash” (the primordial snake in the Garden of Eden) is 358. The Kabbalah teaches that in tabulating the numerical value of a word, the number one may be added to represent the entire word. Therefore “Satan” and “Nachash,” both equaling 359, may be viewed as alternate names for the same evil energy. Fittingly, the spiritual counterbalance to the primordial snake and Satan is the Mashiach, whose name also equals 358 (without adding a one). But what does this have to do with Jacob and Esau?
Jacob’s crossing back over the Yabbok represents, as we explained above, his need to come to terms with himself before confronting Esau. He was unsettled and agitated, unprepared for his meeting with destiny. We noted that the wrestling match he had with the “man” he met there, on the one hand, reflects his internal struggle but, on the other hand, also reflects his wrestling with the dark and difficult relationship he had with Esau. This, however, is merely the tip of the iceberg, as Rashi hints to an even more profound struggle going on. Rashi proposes that the “man” Jacob wrestled with was Esau’s angel; according to tradition, this angel is none other than Satan himself. Thus, this wrestling match is merely a reflection of the real battle going on between Jacob, representing the forces of good, and Esau and his angel, representing the forces of evil. Jacob’s very name alludes to this battle for he was born holding onto Esau’s heel. The word “heel” was first mentioned in the Torah after the snake had convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and Adam ate as well. God cursed the snake and concluded by describing the eternal battle between humankind and the evil inclination (the snake): “He will pound your head and you will bite his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
The archetypal image of Satan biting at humanity’s heel comes to life in Jacob holding onto Esau’s heel, determined to prevent Esau from “biting his heel.” The wrestling match that Jacob waged on that auspicious night was indeed a fight to the eschatological end: Satan versus the Messianic spark in Jacob, that spark of potential which had been waiting Jacob’s entire life to be awakened. Jacob’s crossing the stream to retrieve his “small vessels” was in fact his engaging in the struggle to awaken the Messianic spark in him to combat Satan. This entire spiritual equation is alluded to by the numbers 358 and 359.
There is a teaching that the numerical value of the two words “Jacob” (182) and “Satan” (359) equals that of “Israel” (541)!! The wrestling match between them actually allowed a new dimension of Jacob to be revealed, allowing him to become Israel.
The phrase “small vessels” – which could have been translated as “small jars” or “small flasks” – was translated this way to stress another mystical explanation for Jacob going to get them. The Kabbalah explains that the first seven kings descended from Esau (who rule and die) represent the primordial World of Chaos, where the initial immature vessels shattered when they could not hold the primordial light of creation. In Kabbalah, humanity is charged with rectifying the world and repairing the broken vessels. (See “Transcendence” at the beginning of this portion.) In order to prepare for his confrontation Jacob needed to cross over the Yabbok and return to his essential self, to gather up his own “broken vessels,” all those places within himself that needed repair.