Ilustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
Yaakov’s messengers let him know that Esav is coming to meet him with 400 people. The Torah tells us how this makes Yaakov feel:
וַיִּירָא יַעֲקֹב מְאֹד וַיֵּצֶר לוֹ
Yaakov was very frightened, he was distressed
Why does the Torah use two different words to describe Yaakov’s fear: יִרְאָה (yir’ah, fright) and צָרָה (tzarah, distress)?
אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בְּרַבִּי עִילְאָי לֹא הִיא יִרְאָה לֹא הִיא צָרָה, אֶלָּא וַיִּירָא שֶׁלֹא יַהֲרֹג, וַיֵּצֶר לוֹ שֶׁלֹא יֵהָרֵג. אָמַר אִם הוּא מִתְגַּבֵּר עָלַי, הוֹרְגֵנִי, וְאִם אֲנִי מִתְגַּבֵּר עָלָיו, אֲנִי הוֹרְגוֹ.
R. Yehudah son of R. Ilai said: Yir’ah and tzarah are not the same. The yir’ah was fear that he might kill someone else, and the tzarah was distress that he might be killed.
Yaakov said: If Esav overpowers me, he’ll kill me. And if I overpower him, I’ll kill him. (And he was afraid of both.)
- The possibility of getting killed is obviously scary. But what’s scary about the possibility of killing, or hurting, another person?
- How does it affect us when we’re violent?
- How do you think this midrash wants us to think about violence? What about when there’s no choice (like Yaakov needing to defend himself)–how should we view that?
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