Vayishlach
Vayishlach or Vayishlah (וַיִּשְׁלַח — Hebrew for "he sent,” the first word of the parshah) is the eighth weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 32:4–36:43. Jews in the Diaspora read it the eighth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in late November or December.
In the parshah, Jacob reconciles with Esau after wrestling with a "man," the prince Shechem rapes Dinah and her brothers sack the city of Shechem in revenge, and in the family’s subsequent flight Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth.
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[edit] Summary
[edit] Jacob’s reunion with Esau
Jacob sent a message to Esau in Edom that he had stayed with Laban until then, had oxen, donkeys, flocks, and servants, and hoped to find favor in Esau’s sight. (Genesis 32:4–6.) The messengers returned and greatly frightened Jacob with the report that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. (Genesis 32:7–8.) Jacob divided his camp in two, reasoning that if Esau destroyed one of the two, then the other camp could escape. (Genesis 32:8–9.) Jacob prayed to God, recalling that God had promised to return him whole to his country, noting his unworthiness for God’s transformation of him from a poor man with just a staff to the leader of two camps, and prayed God to deliver him from Esau, as God had promised Jacob good and to make his descendants as numerous as the sand of the sea. (Genesis 32:10–13.) Jacob assembled a present of hundreds of goats, sheep, camels, cattle, and donkeys to appease Esau, and instructed his servants to deliver them to Esau in successive droves with the message that they were a present from his servant Jacob, who followed behind. (Genesis 32:14–21.)
As the presents went before him, Jacob took his wives, handmaids, children, and belongings over the Jabbok River, and then remained behind that night alone. (Genesis 32:22–25.) Jacob wrestled with a "man" until dawn, and when the “man” saw that he was not prevailing, he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh and strained it. (Genesis 32:25–26.) The man asked Jacob to let him go, for the day was breaking, but Jacob would not let him go without a blessing. (Genesis 32:27.) The man asked Jacob his name, and when Jacob replied “Jacob,” the man told him that his name would no more be Jacob, but Israel, for he had striven with God and with men and prevailed. (Genesis 32:28–29.) Jacob asked the “man” his name, but the “man” asked him why, and then blessed him. (Genesis 32:30.) Jacob named the place Peniel, saying that he had seen God face to face and lived. (Genesis 32:31.) And at sunrise, Jacob limped from the injury to his thigh. (Genesis 32:32.) Because of this, the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the vein that is the hollow of the thigh, because the man touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh. (Genesis 32:33.)
When Jacob saw Esau coming with 400 men, he divided his family, putting the handmaids and their children foremost, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the back. (Genesis 33:1–2.) Jacob went before them, and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. (Genesis 33:3.) Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, and kissed him, and they wept. (Genesis 33:4.) Esau asked who women and the children were, Jacob told him that they were his, and they all came to Esau and bowed down. (Genesis 33:5–7.) Esau asked what Jacob meant by all the livestock, and Jacob told him that he sought Esau’s favor. (Genesis 33:8.) Esau said that he had enough, but Jacob pressed him to accept his present saying that seeing Esau’s face was like seeing the face of God, and Esau took the gifts. (Genesis 33:9–11.) Esau suggested that Jacob and he travel together, but Jacob asked that Esau allow Jacob’s party to travel more slowly, so as not to tax the young children and the flocks, until they came to Esau in Seir. (Genesis 33:12–14.) Esau offered to leave some of his men behind with Jacob, but Jacob declined. (Genesis 33:15.) So Esau left for Seir, and Jacob left for Sukkot (meaning “booths”), where he built a house and made booths for his cattle, thus explaining the place’s name. (Genesis 33:16–17.)
[edit] The rape of Dinah
Jacob came to Shechem, where he bought a parcel of ground outside the city from the children of Hamor for a hundred pieces of money. (Genesis 33:18–19.) Jacob erected an altar there, and called the place El-elohe-Israel.
When Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land, the prince of the land, Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, saw her and lay with her by force. (Genesis 34:1–2.) Shechem loved Dinah and asked Hamor to arrange that he might marry her. (Genesis 34:3–4.) Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled Dinah while Jacob’s sons were in the field, and Jacob held his peace until they returned. (Genesis 34:5.) When Jacob’s sons heard, they came in from the field, and were grieved and very angry. (Genesis 34:7.)
Hamor went out to Jacob and told him that Shechem longed for Dinah, and asked Jacob to give her to him for a wife, and to agree that their two people might intermarry and live and trade together. (Genesis 34:6–10.) And Shechem offered to give Jacob and his sons whatever they wanted as a bride price. (Genesis 34:11–12.) Jacob’s sons answered with guile, saying that they could not give their sister to one not circumcised, and said that they would consent only on the condition that every man of the town became circumcised, and then the two people might intermarry and live together; otherwise they would leave. (Genesis 34:13–17.) Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, and Shechem did so without delay, out of delight with Dinah. (Genesis 34:18–19.)
Hamor and Shechem spoke to the men of the city in the city gate, saying that Jacob’s family were peaceable, and advocated letting them dwell in the land, trade, and intermarry. (Genesis 34:20–21.) Hamor and Shechem reported that Jacob’s people would only do so on the condition that every man of the town was circumcised, and they argued that the men do so, for Jacob’s animals and wealth would add to the city’s wealth. (Genesis 34:22–23.) And the men heeded Hamor and Shechem, and every man of the city underwent circumcision. (Genesis 34:24.)
On the third day, when the men of the city were in pain, Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi each took his sword, came upon the city with stealth, and killed all the men, including Hamor and Shechem, and took Dinah out of the city. (Genesis 34:25–26.) Jacob’s sons looted the city, taking as booty their animals, their wealth, their wives, and their children. (Genesis 34:27–29.) Jacob told Simeon and Levi that they had made him odious to the inhabitants of the land, who would gather together against him and destroyed their family. (Genesis 34:30.) Simeon and Levi asked whether they were to allow someone to treat their sister as a prostitute. (Genesis 34:31.)
[edit] Jacob’s flight
God told Jacob to move to Bethel, and make an altar there to God, who had appeared to him there when he fled from Esau. (Genesis 35:1.) Jacob told his household to put away their idols, change their garments, and purify themselves for the trip to Bethel, and they gave Jacob all their idols and earrings and Jacob buried them under the terebinth by Shechem. (Genesis 35:2–4.) A terror of God fell upon the nearby cities so that the people did not pursue Jacob, and they journeyed to Luz, built an altar, and called the place El-beth-el. (Genesis 35:5–7.)
Rebekah's nurse Deborah died, and they buried her below Beth-el under an oak they called Allon-bacuth. (Genesis 35:8.)
And God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him, saying to him that his name would not be Jacob anymore, but Israel. (Genesis 35:9–10.) And God told him to be fruitful and multiply, for nations and kings would descend from him, and God would give Jacob and his descendants the land that God gave to Abraham and Isaac. (Genesis 35:11–12.) And Jacob set up a pillar of stone in the place, poured a drink-offering and oil on it, and called the place Bethel. (Genesis 35:14–15.)
They left Bethel, and before they had come to Ephrath, Rachel went into a difficult labor. (Genesis 35:16.) The midwife told her not to fear not, for this child would also be a son for her. (Genesis 35:17.) And just before Rachel died, she named her son Ben-oni, but Jacob called him Benjamin. (Genesis 35:18.) They buried Rachel on the road to Ephrath at Bethlehem, and Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. (Genesis 35:19–20.) And Israel journeyed beyond Migdal-eder. (Genesis 35:21.)
While Israel dwelt in that land, Reuben lay with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. (Genesis 35:21.)
The text then recounts Jacob’s children born to him in Padan-aram. (Genesis 35:22–26.)
Jacob came to Isaac at Hebron, Isaac died at the old age of 180, and Esau and Jacob buried him. (Genesis 35:27–29.)
The text then recounts Esau’s children. (Genesis 36:1–5.) Esau took his household, animals, and all his possessions that he had gathered in Canaan and went to a land apart from Jacob, in Edom, for their substance was too great for them to dwell together. (Genesis 36:6–8.) The text then recounts Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, among whom were Amalek. (Genesis 36:9–43.)
[edit] In inner-Biblical interpretation
[edit] Genesis chapter 32
The force of 400 men that Esau brought with him to meet Jacob in Genesis 32:7 exceeded the 318 men with whom Abraham defeated four kings and rescued Lot in Genesis 14:14–15.
Hosea 12:4–5, part of the haftarah for the parshah, interpreted Jacob’s encounter with the angel. Hosea 12:4 says that Jacob by his strength strove with a godlike being. Hosea 12:5 says that Jacob strove with an angel and prevailed, and that the angel wept and made supplication to Jacob. And Hosea 12:5 further says that at Bethel Jacob found the angel, and spoke with him there.
[edit] Genesis chapter 33
The 100 pieces of silver that Jacob paid the children of Hamor for the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent outside the city of Shechem in Genesis 33:18–19 compares with the 400 shekels of silver that Abraham paid Ephron the Hittite to buy the cave of Machpelah and adjoining land in Genesis 23:14–16; the 50 shekels of silver that King David paid Araunah the Jebusite for Araunah’s threshing floor, oxen, and wood in 2 Samuel 24:18–24 (but 1 Chronicles 21:24 reports cost 600 shekels of gold); and the 17 shekels of silver that Jeremiah paid his cousin Hanamel for his field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin in Jeremiah 23:7–9.
[edit] Genesis chapter 35
The report of Genesis 35:22 that Reuben lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it, is echoed in Genesis 49:4, when Jacob recalled the incident and deprived Reuben of the blessing of the firstborn, because he went up on Jacob’s bed and defiled it.
[edit] In classical rabbinic interpretation
[edit] Genesis chapter 32
The Rabbis of the Midrash questioned the wisdom of Jacob’s decision to contact Esau in Genesis 32:4. Nahman ben Samuel compared the decision to waking a robber sleeping on a path to tell him of danger. The Rabbis envisioned that God asked Jacob: “Esau was going his own way, yet you sent to him?” (Genesis Rabbah 75:1–3.)
The Rabbis of the Midrash deduced that the “messengers” of Genesis 32:4 were angels. The Rabbis reasoned that if (as Genesis Rabbah 59:10 taught) an angel escorted Eliezer, who was just a servant of the house, how much the more would angels have accompanied Jacob, who was the beloved of the house. Rabbi Hama ben Hanina reasoned that if five angels appeared to Hagar, who was just Sarah's handmaid, how much more would angels appear to Jacob. And Rabbi Jannai reasoned that if three angels met Joseph (counting the three uses of “man” in Genesis 37:15–17), and he was the youngest of the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel, how much more would angels meet Jacob, who was the father of all 12. (Genesis Rabbah 75:4.)
Judah haNasi once directed Rabbi Afes to write a letter in Judah’s name to Emperor Antoninus. Rabbi Afes wrote: “From Judah the Prince to our Sovereign the Emperor Antoninus.” Judah read the letter, tore it up, and wrote: “From your servant Judah to our Sovereign the Emperor Antoninus.” Rabbi Afes remonstrated that Judah treated his honor too lightly. Judah replied that he was not better than his ancestor, who in Genesis 32:5 sent a message saying: “Thus says your servant Jacob.” (Genesis Rabbah 75:5.)
Rabbi Jacob bar Idi pointed out a contradiction between God’s promise to protect Jacob in Genesis 28:15 and Jacob’s fear in Genesis 32:8; Rabbi Jacob explained that Jacob feared that some sin might cause him to lose the protection of God's promise. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 4a, Sanhedrin 98b.)
Rabbi Eleazar taught that Obadiah hid 50 of 100 prophets of God in a cave in 1 Kings 18:4 because he learned the lesson of dividing his camp from Jacob’s actions in Genesis 32:8–9. Rabbi Abbahu, however, said that it was because the cave could hold only 50. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 39b, Taanit 20b.)
Rabbi Yannai taught that when people expose themselves to danger and are saved by miracles, it is deducted from their merits and so they end up with less merit to their credit. Rabbi Hanin cited Genesis 32:11 to prove this, reading Jacob to say to God: “I am become diminished [that is, I have less merit to my credit] by reason of all the deeds of kindness and all the truth that You have shown to your servant.” (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 32a.)
Rabbi Hama ben Hanina taught that the “man” who wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32:25 was Esau’s guardian angel, and that Jacob alluded to this when he told Esau in Genesis 33:10, “Forasmuch as I have seen your face, as one sees the face of Elohim, and you were pleased with me.” (Genesis Rabbah 78:3.)
Chapter 7 of Tractate Chullin in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the prohibition of the sinew of the hip (the sciatic nerve, gid ha-nasheh) in Genesis 32:33. (Mishnah Chullin 7:1–6; Tosefta Chullin 7:1–8; Babylonian Talmud Chullin 89b–103b.) The Mishnah taught that the prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve in Genesis 32:33 is in force both within the Land of Israel and outside it, both during the existence of the Temple and after it, and with respect to both consecrated and unconsecrated animals. It applies to both domesticated and wild animals, and to both the right and the left hip. But it does not apply to birds, because they have no spoon-shaped hip as the muscles upon the hip bone (femur) of a bird lie flat and are not raised and convex like those of cattle. It also applies to a live fetus found in a slaughtered animal, although Rabbi Judah said that it does not apply to a fetus. And the live fetus’ fat is permitted. Rabbi Meir taught that one should not trust butchers to remove the sciatic nerve, but the Sages taught that one may trust butchers to remove the sciatic nerve as well as the fat that Leviticus 3:17 and 7:23 forbids. (Mishnah Chullin 7:1; Babylonian Talmud Chullin 89b.)
The Mishnah taught that one may send a thigh that still contains the sciatic nerve to a Gentile. (Mishnah Chullin 7:2; Babylonian Talmud Chullin 93b.) But Abahu taught that the Mishnah allowed a Jew to benefit only from the sciatic nerve of an animal that was not slaughtered according to the procedure prescribed by the Torah. (Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 13a.)
[edit] Genesis chapter 33
A Midrash noted that dots appear above the word “and kissed him” (וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ, vayishakeihu) in Genesis 33:4. Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar taught that wherever one finds the plain writing exceeding the dotted letters, one must interpret the plain writing. But if the dotted letters exceed the plain writing, one must interpret the dotted letters. In Genesis 33:4, the plain writing equals in number the dotted letters, so Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar taught that Genesis 33:4 conveys that Esau kissed Jacob with all his heart. Rabbi Jannai replied that if this were so, there would be no reason for dots to appear over the word. Rabbi Jannai taught that the dots mean that Esau wished to bite Jacob, but that Jacob's neck turned to marble and Esau's teeth were blunted and loosened. Hence the words “and they wept” in Genesis 33:4 reflect that Jacob wept because of his neck and Esau wept because of his teeth. Rabbi Abbahu in Rabbi Johanan's name adduced support for that conclusion from Song of Songs 7:5, which says: “Your neck is as a tower of ivory.” (Genesis Rabbah 78:9.)
Rabbi Haninah taught that Esau paid great attention to his parent (horo), his father, whom he supplied with meals, as Genesis 25:28 reports, “Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his venison.” Rabbi Samuel the son of Rabbi Gedaliah concluded that God decided to reward Esau for this. When Jacob offered Esau gifts, Esau answered Jacob in Genesis 33:9, “I have enough (רָב, rav); do not trouble yourself.” So God declared that with the same expression that Esau thus paid respect to Jacob, God would command Jacob’s descendants not to trouble Esau’s descendants, and thus God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 2:3, “You have circled this mountain (הָר, har) long enough (רַב, rav).” (Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:17.)
A Baraita taught that if an idol worshiper asks a Jew where the Jew is going, the Jew should tell the idolater that the Jew is heading towards a place beyond the Jew’s actual destination, as Jacob told the wicked Esau. For in Genesis 33:14, Jacob told Esau, “Until I come to my lord to Seir,” while Genesis 33:17 records, “And Jacob journeyed to Succot.” (Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 25b.) Reading the account in Genesis 33:14, Rabbi Abbahu said that he searched the whole Scriptures and did not find that Jacob ever went to Esau at Seir. Rabbi Abbahu asked whether it was then possible that Jacob, the truthful, could have deceived Esau. Rabbi Abbahu concluded that Jacob would indeed come to Esau, in the Messianic era, as Obadiah 1:21 reports, “And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau.” (Genesis Rabbah 78:14.)
[edit] Genesis chapter 34
The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer expounded on “the daughters of the land” whom Genesis 34:1 reports Dinah went out to see. The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer taught that because Dinah abode in the tents and did not go into the street, Shechem brought dancing girls playing on pipes into the streets (to entice Dinah out). When Dinah went to see why the girls were making merry, Shechem seized her. (Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer 38.)
A Tanna taught in Rabbi Jose’s name that Shechem was a place predestined for evil, for in Shechem Dinah was raped (as reported in Genesis 34:2), Joseph’s brothers sold him (as reported in Genesis 37:17, Dothan being near Shechem), and the united kingdom of Israel and Judah was divided (as reported in 1 Kings 12:1). (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 102a.)
In Genesis 34:3, the heart is enticed. A Midrash catalogued the wide range of additional capabilities of the heart reported in the Hebrew Bible. The heart speaks (Ecclesiastes 1:16), sees (Ecclesiastes 1:16), hears (1 Kings 3:9), walks (2 Kings 5:26), falls (1 Samuel 17:32), stands (Ezekiel 22:14), rejoices (Psalm 16:9), cries (Lamentations 2:18), is comforted (Isaiah 40:2), is troubled (Deuteronomy 15:10), becomes hardened (Exodus 9:12.), grows faint (Deuteronomy 20:3), grieves (Genesis 6:6), fears (Deuteronomy 28:67), can be broken (Psalm 51:19), becomes proud (Deuteronomy 8:14), rebels (Jeremiah 5:23), invents (1 Kings 12:33), cavils (Deuteronomy 29:18), overflows (Psalm 45:2), devises (Proverbs 19:21), desires (Psalm 21:3), goes astray (Proverbs 7:25), lusts (Numbers 15:39), is refreshed (Genesis 18:5), can be stolen (Genesis 31:20), is humbled (Leviticus 26:41), errs (Isaiah 21:4), trembles (1 Samuel 4:13), is awakened (Song 5:2), loves (Deuteronomy 6:5), hates (Leviticus 19:17), envies (Proverbs 23:17), is searched (Jeremiah 17:10), is rent (Joel 2:13), meditates (Psalm 49:4), is like a fire (Jeremiah 20:9), is like a stone (Ezekiel 36:26), turns in repentance (2 Kings 23:25), becomes hot (Deuteronomy 19:6), dies (1 Samuel 25:37), melts (Joshua 7:5), takes in words (Deuteronomy 6:6), is susceptible to fear (Jeremiah 32:40), gives thanks (Psalm 111:1), covets (Proverbs 6:25), becomes hard (Proverbs 28:14), makes merry (Judges 16:25), acts deceitfully (Proverbs 12:20), speaks from out of itself (1 Samuel 1:13), loves bribes (Jeremiah 22:17), writes words (Proverbs 3:3), plans (Proverbs 6:18), receives commandments (Proverbs 10:8), acts with pride (Obadiah 1:3), makes arrangements (Proverbs 16:1), and aggrandizes itself (2 Chronicles 25:19). (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:36.)
A Baraita reported that some said that Job lived in the time of Jacob and married Dinah, finding the connection in the use of the same word with regard to Job’s wife in Job 2:10, “You speak as one of the impious women (נְּבָלוֹת, nebalot) speaks,” and with regard to Dinah in Genesis 34:7, “Because he had committed a vile deed (נְבָלָה, nebalah) in Israel.” (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 15b.)
The Mishnah deduced from Genesis 34:25 that the wound from a circumcision is still serious enough on the third day that one bathes a circumcised baby on that day even if it is the Sabbath. (Mishnah Shabbat 9:3, 19:3; Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 86a, 134b.)
Reading the words of Genesis 34:30, “And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: ‘You have troubled (עֲכַרְתֶּם, achartem) me,’” the Rabbis paraphrased: “The vat was clear, and you have muddied (עֲכַרְתֶּם, achartem) it.” (Genesis Rabbah 80:12.)
[edit] Genesis chapter 35
Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman interpreted the report of Genesis 35:8 that “Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (אַלּוֹן בָּכוּת).” Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman taught that the name Allon-bacuth was Greek, in which allon means “another” (and thus the phrase could be read, “The name of it was called ‘another weeping’”). Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman deduced from this that while Jacob was mourning for Deborah, word reached him that his mother Rebekah had died. And thus Genesis 35:9 reports, “and God appeared to Jacob again . . . and blessed him.” Rabbi Aha taught in Rabbi Jonathan’s name that the blessing with which God blessed Jacob in Genesis 35:9 was the mourners’ blessing of consolation and comfort. (Genesis Rabbah 81:5.)
Similarly, the Rabbis taught that when Rebekah died, her bier was not taken out in public because of Esau. When Rebekah died, the people asked who would go out in front of her body, for Abraham had died, Isaac sat at home unable to see, Jacob had gone to Paddan Aram, and if Esau went out in front of her, people would curse her for raising such a person as Esau. So they took her bier out at night. Rabbi Jose bar Hanina taught that because they took her bier out at night, Scripture does not openly describe her death, but only alludes to it in Genesis 35:8. Rabbi Jose bar Hanina read Genesis 35:8 to say, “Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse died, . . . and he called it the Weeping Oak,” for they wept twice, for while Jacob was mourning for Deborah, the news of Rebekah’s death reached him. And thus Genesis 35:9 reports, “and God appeared to Jacob again . . . and blessed him,” because God blessed Jacob with the mourners’ blessing. (Midrash Tanhuma Ki Teitzei 4.)
Resh Lakish taught that the words "I am God Almighty" (אֵל שַׁדַּי, El Shaddai) in Genesis 35:11 mean, "I am He Who said to the world: ‘Enough!’" (דַּי, Dai). Resh Lakish taught that when God created the sea, it went on expanding, until God rebuked it and caused it to dry up, as Nahum 1:4 says, "He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers." (Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 12a.)
A Midrash taught that of four who made vows, two vowed and profited, and two vowed and lost. The Israelites vowed and profited in Numbers 21:2–3, and Hannah vowed and profited in 1 Samuel 1:11–20. Jephthah vowed and lost in Judges 11:30–40, and Jacob vowed in Genesis 28:20 and lost (some say in the loss of Rachel in Genesis 35:18 and some say in the disgrace of Dinah in Genesis 34:2, for Jacob’s vow in Genesis 28:20 was superfluous, as Jacob had already received God's promise, and therefore Jacob lost because of it). (Genesis Rabbah 70:3.)
Considering the consequences of Reuben’s infidelity with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah in Genesis 35:22, Rabbi Eleazar contrasted Reuben’s magnanimity with Esau’s jealousy. As Genesis 25:33 reports, Esau voluntarily sold his birthright, but as Genesis 27:41 says, “Esau hated Jacob,” and as Genesis 27:36 says, “And he said, ‘Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times.’” In Reuben’s case, Joseph took Reuben’s birthright from him against his will, as 1 Chronicles 5:1 reports, “for as much as he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph.” Nonetheless, Reuben was not jealous of Joseph, as Genesis 37:21 reports, “And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand.” (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 7b.)
The Rabbis taught that Reuben reasoned that Joseph had included Reuben with his brethren in Joseph’s dream of the sun and the moon and the eleven stars in Genesis 37:9, when Reuben thought that he had been expelled from the company of his brothers on account of the incident of Genesis 35:22. Because Joseph counted Reuben as a brother, Reuben felt motivated to rescue Joseph. And since Reuben was the first to engage in life saving, God decreed that the Cities of Refuge would be set up first within the borders of the Tribe of Reuben in Deuteronomy 4:43. (Genesis Rabbah 84:15.)
The Mishnah taught that the story of Reuben’s infidelity with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah in Genesis 35:22 is read in the synagogue but not translated. (Mishnah Megillah 4:10; Babylonian Talmud Megillah 25a.)
[edit] Genesis chapter 36
The Gemara taught that the use of the pronoun “he” (הוּא, hu) in an introduction, as in the words “this is (הוּא, hu) Esau” in Genesis 36:43, signifies that he was the same in his wickedness from the beginning to the end. Similar uses appear in Numbers 26:9 to teach Dathan and Abiram’s enduring wickedness, in 2 Chronicles 28:22 to teach Ahaz’s enduring wickedness, in Esther 1:1 to teach Ahasuerus’s enduring wickedness, in 1 Chronicles 1:27 to teach Abraham’s enduring righteousness, in Exodus 6:26 to teach Moses and Aaron’s enduring righteousness, and in 1 Samuel 17:14 to teach David’s enduring humility. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 11a.)
[edit] Commandment
According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there is one negative commandment in the parshah:
- Not to eat the sinew of the thigh (gid ha-nasheh). (Genesis 32:33.)
(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Negative Commandment 183. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2:180–81. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:89–90. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)
[edit] Haftarah
The haftarah for the parshah is:
[edit] In the liturgy
The Passover Haggadah, in the concluding nirtzah section of the Seder, in a reference to Genesis 32:23–30, recounts how Israel struggled with an angel and overcame him at night. (Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 108. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9. Joseph Tabory. JPS Commentary on the Haggadah: Historical Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, 123. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8276-0858-0.)
In the Blessing after Meals (Birkat Hamazon), at the close of the fourth blessing (of thanks for God’s goodness), Jews allude to God’s blessing of the Patriarchs described in Genesis 24:1, 27:33, and 33:11. (Menachem Davis. The Schottenstein Edition Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals with an Interlinear Translation, 172. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57819-697-3. Reuven Hammer. Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 342. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0-916219-20-8.)
In the morning blessings (Birkot hashachar), before the first recitation of the Shema, Jews refer to God’s changing of Jacob’s name to Israel in Genesis 35:10. (Davis, Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals, at 212. Hammer, at 66.)
[edit] Further reading
[edit] Biblical
- Genesis 1:28 (be fruitful and multiply); 9:1, 7; (be fruitful and multiply); 48:7 (Rachel’s death).
- Deuteronomy 2:4–5.
- Jeremiah 31:14 (31:15 in NJPS) (site of Rachel’s death).
[edit] Classical rabbinic
- Mishnah: Shabbat 9:3, 19:3; Megillah 4:10; Chullin 7:1–6. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 190, 202, 323, 778–80. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
- Tosefta: Berakhot 1:10, 4:16; Bikkurim 2:2; Megillah 3:35; Avodah Zarah 3:4; Chullin 7:1–8. Land of Israel, circa 300 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:6, 26, 348, 652; 2:1269, 1393–95. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 2002. ISBN 1-56563-642-2.
- Jerusalem Talmud: Berakhot 17b, 83a, 84b; Sheviit 72a; Orlah 34a; Pesachim 13a. Land of Israel, circa 400 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 1–2, 6b, 12, 18. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005–2011.
- Genesis Rabbah 75:1–83:5. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
- Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot 4a, 12b; Shabbat 32a, 33b, 55b, 85a, 86a, 134b; Eruvin 53a; Pesachim 7b, 22a, 47b, 54a, 83b, 118b, 119b; Yoma 77b; Sukkah 5b, 39a; Beitzah 12a; Rosh Hashanah 26a; Taanit 20b, 27b; Megillah 11a, 17a, 18a, 21b, 25a–b; Chagigah 5b; Yevamot 65b; Nedarim 31b; Nazir 23a; Sotah 22b, 36b, 41b; Kiddushin 21b, 55a; Bava Kamma 41a, 92a; Bava Metzia 86b; Bava Batra 15b, 74b, 115b–16a, 123b; Sanhedrin 39b, 56a, 59a, 82b, 94a, 98b, 99b, 102a; Makkot 7b, 11a–b, 21b; Avodah Zarah 8b, 11b, 25b; Horayot 10b, 12a; Chullin 7b, 69a, 89b–103b, 134b, 137b; Keritot 21a; Niddah 63a. Babylonia, 6th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
[edit] Medieval
- Solomon ibn Gabirol. A Crown for the King, 36:488–89. Spain, 11th Century. Translated by David R. Slavitt, 66–67. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-511962-2.
- Rashi. Commentary. Genesis 32–36. Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 1:359–407. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-89906-026-9.
- Zohar 1:165b–79a. Spain, late 13th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., The Zohar. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
- Joshua ibn Shueib. “Sermon on Wa-Yishlah.” Aragon, First half of 14th century. In Marc Saperstein. Jewish Preaching, 1200–1800: An Anthology, 137–55. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-300-04355-4.
[edit] Modern
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Letter to Sara von Grothuss. 1812. Quoted in Solomon Goldman. In the Beginning, 634. Harper, 1949. (“This foolish Dinah who runs about in the land.”)
- Rumpelstiltskin. (power of a true name). In Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm. Children's and Household Tales. Germany, 1812. Reprinted in, e.g., The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. Edited by Lily Owens, 203-06. New York: Gramercy Books, 2006. ISBN 0-517-09293-X.
- Emily Dickinson. Poem 59 (A little East of Jordan,). Circa 1859. In The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Thomas H. Johnson, 31. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1960. ISBN 0-316-18414-4.
- Abraham Isaac Kook. The Lights of Penitence, 14:40. 1925. Reprinted in Abraham Isaac Kook: the Lights of Penitence, the Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems. Translated by Ben Zion Bokser, 111. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press 1978. ISBN 0-8091-2159-X.
- Irving Fineman. Jacob, An Autobiograhical Novel. New York: Random House, 1941.
- Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, 51–53, 64–65, 69–73, 77, 84–85, 100–03, 112–51, 155–56, 239, 294, 303–14, 326, 335, 399–400, 402–04, 426–27, 429, 432, 438, 446, 454, 491, 500–01, 507, 515, 563, 805, 917, 978–79. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
- Elie Wiesel. “And Jacob Fought the Angel.” In Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits & Legends, 103–38. New York: Random House, 1976. ISBN 0-394-49740-6.
- Pat Schneider Welcoming Angels. In Long Way Home: Poems, 90. Amherst, Mass.: Amherst Writers and Artists Press, 1993. ISBN 0-941895-11-4.
- Aaron Wildavsky. Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel, 6, 27–28. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-56000-081-3.
- Anita Diamant. The Red Tent. St. Martin's Press, 1997. ISBN 0-312-16978-7.
- Adele Reinhartz. “Why Ask My Name?” Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-509970-2.
- Victor Hurowitz. “Whose Earrings Did Jacob Bury?” Bible Review 17 (4) (Aug. 2001): 31–33, 54.
- William H.C. Propp. “Exorcising Demons.” Bible Review 20 (5) (Oct. 2004): 14–21, 47.
- Suzanne A. Brody. “Deborah” and “Encountering Dinah.” In Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems, 69–70. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. ISBN 1-60047-112-9.
- Esther Jungreis. Life Is a Test, 80–81. Brooklyn: Shaar Press, 2007. ISBN 1-4226-0609-0.
- Edward M. Kennedy. True Compass, 58. New York: Twelve, 2009. ISBN 978-0-446-53925-8. (“Dad took precautions in booking several of us on two different ships, not wishing to lose all of us in a torpedo attack by one of the U-boats that now prowled the North Atlantic’s depths.”)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Texts
[edit] Commentaries
- Academy for Jewish Religion, California
- Academy for Jewish Religion, New York
- Aish.com
- American Jewish University
- Anshe Emes Synagogue, Los Angeles
- Bar-Ilan University
- Chabad.org
- eparsha.com
- G-dcast
- The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash
- Jewish Agency for Israel
- Jewish Theological Seminary
- Miriam Aflalo
- MyJewishLearning.com
- Ohr Sameach
- Orthodox Union
- OzTorah, Torah from Australia
- Oz Ve Shalom — Netivot Shalom
- Pardes from Jerusalem
- Parshah Parts
- Rabbi Dov Linzer
- RabbiShimon.com
- Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
- Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
- Reconstructionist Judaism
- Sephardic Institute
- Shiur.com
- 613.org Jewish Torah Audio
- Tanach Study Center
- Teach613.org, Torah Education at Cherry Hill
- Torah from Dixie
- Torah.org
- TorahVort.com
- Union for Reform Judaism
- United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
- What’s Bothering Rashi?
- Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
- Yeshiva University
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