Parshat Va’Yishlach (And He Sent)
CARLSBAD, California — This week we read of the brotherly reunion of Yaakov and Esav after their long separation. As a brief reminder Yaakov (Jacob) hurriedly left the house of his righteous parents Yitzchak (Isaac) and Rivka (Rebecca) due to the homicidal rage of his (evil) twin Esav who wanted to murder him. Why did Esav want to murder his twin brother? He was enraged that Yaakov, through stealthy means, acquired his father’s blessing instead of him. Ultimately, everyone agreed-including Esav himself-with Rivka’s assessment that the potent blessing would find an appropriate vessel within Yaakov rather than Esav.
Yaakov stayed for 20 years with his uncle Lavan, which is where he built his family and made his fortune. The fact that Yaakov was able to accomplish all of this is really quite miraculous, as his uncle kept cheating him in their interpersonal and business dealings. Lavan tried to undermine the spiritual legacy found within Yaakov and his family and to replace it with his idol worshipping ways. Nonetheless, the Holy One kept Yaakov and his interests safe and secure.
Upon his return, when Yaakov and his family approached, Esav prepared a ‘warm’ welcome for his brother. The Torah tells us that he was accompanied by 400 men. This vast ‘welcoming committee’ was actually an army that planned to decimate Yaakov and his family. However, Yaakov acted decisively by praying to G-d for help, dividing his camp in case of war, offering an extremely generous gift (aka peace offering), and showing deference to Esav.
Yaakov’s plan worked! They ultimately met and even gave each other a hug and kiss, not to mention blessings, and ultimately plans to fully reunite by living together.
Why would Yaakov appease the evil Esav? Do we pay off evil? Do we bow to those who are ‘conscientious’ in their sinfulness like Esav was?
The answer is deep and profound. Yaakov was appealing to that which his father saw within Esav; tremendous spiritual potential. Regrettably Esav never harnessed the energy and creativity found within himself turning them to serve G-d. Instead he allowed his animalistic nature to run amok and dictate his behaviors according to his base appetites. Yaakov was hopeful that upon his return perhaps Esav had reformed his ways and had done Teshuva (repented).
When Yaakov sent his lavish gift with his emissaries (called Melachim in Hebrew, which means angels) he told them to tell Esav that your brother Yaakov is coming. They should then say, in Yaakov’s words, “With Lavan have I sojourned and remained until now…” The Hebrew word for sojourned is ‘Garti’. Our great commentator Rashi explains that the word has the numerical value Taryag-613. Rashi explains that Yaakov was telling Esav that he had kept the 613 commandments while living with his uncle Lavan. We can now appreciate why Yaakov would tell the evil Esav this seemingly unimportant, at least unimportant to Esav, piece of information.
What Yaakov was saying was that the evil Lavan did not influence him even one iota to stop practicing the commandments. Furthermore, he was showing a vast and prosperous camp that came into being because of his adherence to the commandments! Furthermore, Yaakov willingly shared the accrued wealth with his brother, the one with the tremendous spiritual potential.
Did this message influence Esav? The answer is, to a degree, yes. His rage turned into something different and instead of offering the sword he offered a kiss.
Yaakov perceived that the time was still not ripe for them to live together. That would come in the future. First, Esav must undergo an even more dramatic transformation. But Yaakov is the one who got the process started.
We are Yaakov’s children. We look at Yaakov’s extraordinary life, filled with challenges and triumphs, and we come to understand that we all have a spark of Yaakov within us, which enables us to also be able to transform the wicked into something different. How can we effectuate such an enormous transformation? We do so by staying true to who we are – to remain steadfast in our connection and observance of the Divine commandments!
Wishing everyone a happy and HEALTHY Shabbos!
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Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort is Director of Coastal Chabads and Chabad at La Costa. Rabbi Eilfort welcomes readers’ comments and questions and may be reached at RabbiE@ChabadatLaCosta.com.