Our Parshah opens with Jacob sending a message to Esau his brother. Knowing that they didn’t exactly part best friends, and concerned over his brother’s future attitude towards him, he decides to pre-empt matters. His message is extremely conciliatory, even referring to himself as ‘your servant Jacob’ and he sends his brother numerous expensive gifts. This attitude seems to have had the desired effect and the brothers seemingly reconcile. This episode has divided opinion among the commentators. Many see Jacob’s actions in a positive light, correctly seeking to reconcile with his brother, put the past behind them and create a better relationship in the future. They also see Esau’s improved attitude towards his sibling as genuine, at least temporarily. Other commentators, notably Nachmanidies, take a different view. They heavily criticise Jacob for his actions, seeing great danger in opening up old wounds out of an unsubstantiated fear for the future. Esau was going about his business and Jacob sends to him a message entitled ‘your servant Jacob’. This was merely stirring the pot and asking for trouble and only through the grace of G-d was Jacob saved from serious damage. Nachmanidies famously goes further and sees this dangerous behaviour as occurring throughout Jewish history, using the example of the Maccabees initiating a relationship with Rome that would eventually lead to disaster. This argument might sound familiar. We face such dilemmas today. Do you talk to people who have extremist views or does this dialogue merely give them legitimacy? When engaging in interfaith or cross communal dialogue, do we merely talk about the things that ‘unite us’ or are we prepared to raise the issues on which we, often violently, disagree? Is the danger in dialogue on these issues greater than the consequences of simply ignoring our differences and letting things fester? These were the questions faced by Jacob and he chose to confront the problem head on. In doing so he, at least temporarily, took the heat out of the troubled relationship with his brother and enabled a workable arrangement to emerge. This, I believe, is the best way to deal with these issues. It is obvious that in many cases we cannot ‘unite on what we have in common’ because what divides us gets in the way. Like Jacob, we have to take risk of confronting these issues head on..

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

 

Rishon	Jacob hears Esau is coming to meet him, is afraid and prays.
Sheni	He sends presents, wrestles with an angel in the middle of the night and has his name changed to Israel.
Shelishi	Esau arrives, is friendly and is introduced to the family .
Revi’i	Jacob politely declines an invitation to visit Esau at home and buys some land outside Shechem.
Chamishi	Dinah is raped by the local prince’s son and Simon and Levy use deception to massacre the whole town.
Shishi	Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Efrat. Isaac dies. The descendants of Esau.
Shevi’i	The chiefs and monarchs of Edom.
Haftorah	Hosea: 11;7-12;12: The sins of the Northern Kingdom.

 Sidra Statistics

Parshat Vayishlach

·         has 154 verses ;

·         is the 8th in Genesis, 8th in the Torah

·         longest in Genesis, 6th longest in the Torah

·         has one pos mitzvah.