Food for Our Souls: Parashat HaShavua in Our Lives Vol. 1, Episode 7: Vayishlach, Genesis 32:4−36:43 (Copy)

(4) Yaakov sent messengers ahead to his brother Esav in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, (5) and instructed them as follows, “Thus shall you say, ‘To my lord Esav, thus says your servant Yaakov: I have sojourned with Laban and remained until now; (6) I have acquired cattle, asses, sheep, and male and female slaves; and I send this message to my lord in the hope of gaining your favor.’” (7) The messengers returned to Yaakov, saying, “We came to your brother Esav; but he is already coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”

(8) Yaakov was greatly frightened; in his anxiety, he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, (9) thinking, “If Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, the other camp may yet escape.” (10) Then Yaakov said, “O God of my father Avraham and God of my father Yitzhak, O YHVH, who said to me, ‘Return to your native land and I will deal bountifully with you’! (11) I am unworthy of all the kindness that You have so steadfastly shown Your servant: with my staff alone I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. (12) Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; else, I fear, he may come and strike me down, mothers and children alike. (13) Yet You have said, ‘I will deal bountifully with you and make your offspring as the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’”

(22) And so the gift crossed over ahead of his face, but he spent the night on that night in the camp. (23) That same night he arose, and taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children, he crossed the ford of the Jabbok. (24) After taking them across the stream, he sent across all his possessions.

(14) After spending the night there, he selected from what was at hand these presents for his brother Esav: (15) 200 she-goats and 20 he-goats; 200 ewes and 20 rams; (16) 30 milch camels with their colts; 40 cows and 10 bulls; 20 she-asses and 10 he-asses. (17) These he put in the charge of his servants, drove by drove, and he told his servants, “Go on ahead, and keep a distance between droves.” (18) He instructed the one in front as follows, “When my brother Esav meets you and asks you, ‘Whose man are you? Where are you going? And whose [animals] are these ahead of you?’ (19) you shall answer, ‘Your servant Yaakov’s; they are a gift sent to my lord Esav; and [Yaakov] himself is right behind us.’” (20) He gave similar instructions to the second one, and the third, and all the others who followed the droves, namely, “Thus and so shall you say to Esav when you reach him. (21) And you shall add, ‘And your servant Yaakov himself is right behind us.’” For he said to himself: I will wipe (the anger from) his face with the gift that goes ahead of my face; afterward, when I see his face, perhaps he will lift up my face!

(25) Yaakov was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. (26) When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Yaakov’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him. (27) Then he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” (28) Said the other, “What is your name?” He replied, “Yaakov.” (29) Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Yaakov, but Yisrael, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” (30) Yaakov asked, “Pray tell me your name.” But he said, “You must not ask my name!” And he took leave of him there. (31) So Yaakov named the place Peniel, meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” (32) The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping on his hip. (33) That is why the children of Israel to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Yaakov’s hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle.

(1) Looking up, Yaakov saw Esav coming, accompanied by four hundred men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids, (2) putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Yoseph last. (3) He himself went on ahead and bowed low to the ground seven times until he was near his brother.

(4) Esav ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept.

(5) Looking about, he saw the women and the children. “Who,” he asked, “are these to you?” He answered, “The children with whom God has favored your servant.” (6) Then the maids, with their children, came forward and bowed low; (7) next Leah, with her children, came forward and bowed low; and last, Yoseph and Rachel came forward and bowed low; (8) And he asked, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” He answered, “To gain my lord’s favor.” (9) Esav said, “I have enough, my brother; let what you have remain yours.” (10) But Yaakov said, “No, I pray you; if I have found favor in your eyes, accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably. (11) Please accept my present which has been brought to you, for God has favored me and I have everything.” And when he urged him, he accepted.

12) And [Esav] said, “Let us start on our journey, and I will go at your side.” (13) But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me; if they are driven hard a single day, all the flocks will die. (14) Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I travel slowly, at the pace of the cattle before me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.” (15) Then Esav said, “Let me assign to you some of the men who are with me.” But he said, “May I only find favor in my lord's eyes!” (16) So Esav started back that day on his way to Seir.

(18) Yaakov came home in peace to the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan—having come thus from Paddan-aram—and he encamped before the city. (19) And he acquired the piece of territory where he had spread out his tent, from the Sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred lambs' worth. (20) He set up an altar there, and called it El-Elohe-Yisrael.

(1) Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Yaakov, went out to visit the daughters of the land. (2) Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, chief of the country, saw her, and took her and lay with her by force. (3) Being strongly drawn to Dinah daughter of Yaakov, and in love with the maiden, he spoke to the maiden tenderly. (4) So Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

(5) Yaakov heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Yaakov kept silent until they came home. (6) Then Shechem’s father Hamor came out to Yaakov to speak to him. (7) Meanwhile Yaakov’s sons, having heard the news, came in from the field. The men were distressed and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Yaakov’s daughter—a thing not to be done. (8) And Hamor spoke with them, saying, “My son Shechem - his emotions are so attached to your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage. (9) Intermarry with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves: (10) You will dwell among us, and the land will be open before you; settle, move about, and acquire holdings in it.” (11) Then Shechem said to her father and brothers, “May I only find favor in your eyes! However much you say to me, I will give in payment. (12) Ask of me a bride-price ever so high, as well as gifts, and I will pay what you tell me; only give me the maiden for a wife.”

(13) Yaakov’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor—speaking with guile because he had defiled their sister Dinah— (14) and said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace among us. (15) Only on this condition will we agree with you; that you will become like us in that every male among you is circumcised. (16) Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to ourselves; and we will dwell among you and become as one kindred. (17) But if you will not listen to us and become circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.”

(18) Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. (19) And the youth lost no time in doing the thing, for he wanted Yaakov’s daughter. Now he was the most respected in his father’s house. (20) So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public place of their town and spoke to their fellow townsmen, saying, (21) “These people are our friends; let them settle in the land and move about in it, for the land is large enough for them; we will take their daughters to ourselves as wives and give our daughters to them. (22) But only on this condition will the men agree with us to dwell among us and be as one kindred: that all our males become circumcised as they are circumcised. (23) Their cattle and substance and all their beasts will be ours, if we only agree to their terms, so that they will settle among us.” (24) All who went out of the gate of his town heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and all males, all those who went out of the gate of his town, were circumcised.

(25) On the third day, when they were in pain, Shimon and Levi, two of Yaakov’s sons, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword, came upon the city unmolested, and slew all the males. (26) They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. (27) The other sons of Yaakov came upon the slain and plundered the town, because their sister had been defiled. (28) They seized their flocks and herds and asses, all that was inside the town and outside; (29) all their wealth, all their children, and their wives, all that was in the houses, they took as captives and booty. (30) Yaakov said to Shimon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my men are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed.” (31) But they answered, “Should our sister be treated like a whore?”

(7) There he built an altar and named the site El-Beit El, for it was there that God had revealed Godself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. (8) Devorah, Rivkah’s nurse, died, and was buried under the oak below Beit El; so it was named Allon-bacuth/Oak of Weeping. (9) God appeared again to Yaakov on his arrival from Paddan-aram, and God blessed him. (10) God said to him, “You whose name is Yaakov, You shall be called Yaakov no more, But Yisrael shall be your name.” Thus God named him Yisrael. (11) And God said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Be fertile and increase; A nation, yea an assembly of nations, Shall descend from you. Kings shall issue from your loins. (12) The land that I assigned to Avraham and Yitzchak I assign to you; And to your offspring to come I assign the land.” (13) God parted from him at the spot where God had spoken to him; (14) and Yaakov set up a pillar at the site where God had spoken to him, a pillar of stone, and he offered a libation on it and poured oil upon it. (15) Yaakov gave the site, where God had spoken to him, the name of Beit El.

(16) They set out from Beit El; but when they were still some distance short of Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. (17) When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Have no fear, for it is another boy for you.” (18) But as she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni/Son of My Woe; but his father called him Benyamin/Son of the Right Hand. (19) Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath—now Beit Lechem. (20) Over her grave Yaakov set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day.

(27) And Yaakov came to his father Yitzchak at Mamre, at the city of Arba—now Hevron—where Avraham and Yitzchak had sojourned. (28) Yitzchak was a hundred and eighty years old (29) when he breathed his last and died. He was gathered to his kin in ripe old age; and he was buried by his sons Esav and Yaakov.

(6) Esav took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle and all his livestock, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land because of his brother Yaakov. (7) For their possessions were too many for them to dwell together, and the land where they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock.