Parashat Vayishlach: The shock, the lameness and the state Israel today

On his way home, Yaakov crosses the Yabuk Pass.

The stream that separates the two banks becomes a landmark that crosses the path of Yaakov in two - Harran behind him, Eretz Yisrael in front of him.

At the crossing point, the struggle between Jacob and the angel takes place.

Here Jacob gets a new name - Israel.

Where the stream passes, his life is divided into two - Jacob and Israel.

Jacob got his name Israel due to the power he demonstrated in his struggle with the angel.

The name Israel, for its uprightness on the floor, highlights the curvature that is expressed in the name of Jacob.

And in the face of the struggle with the angel, Jacob's life is so far unfolded as a life without glory, a life of denial, laxity and slipperiness.

The observer of the verses wonders what is the meaning of the poor figure of our father Jacob, why was the heel, the crookedness so prominent?

A story that the Midrash tells about R. Yehuda the President can allow a point of view on the painting of the figure of Yaakov in the Scriptures. The Midrash tells of Rabbi Yehuda the President who asked Rabbi Zero to write a letter from him to the Roman emperor Antoninus. R. Zero wrote at the beginning of the letter - "From Judea the President to King Antoninus". Rabbi Yehuda read the words and tore up the letter. He ordered a new letter to be written in which "your servant Judah to King Antoninus" will be written. When R. Zero wondered about the weaknesses shown by the president, R. Yehuda replied: "What please my grandfather, did not say so: Thus said your servant Jacob!" (Genesis Rabbah).

Rabbi Yehuda the President quotes Yaakov Avinu who commands his emissaries to bow before Esau and say to him - "Thus says your servant Yaakov." From the path of Yaakov, Rabbi Yehuda the President learns the way in which the weak must act before the strong. He learns from him the ways of survival of a minority.

Through the eyes of Rabbi Yehuda the President, Yaakov's story becomes a story that comes to equip the nation with the tools of dealing with the long exile, with Israel's low status in the nations, a story that glorifies the mind at the expense of power.

In other words, Yaakov is the figure of the Jew in exile, a figure whom Zionism sought to erase from the pages of history, to completely convert "Yaakov" into "Israel."

But when Nathan Alterman wrote the epic "City of the Dove" depicting the rebirth of the state, he sought to reflect once more on the utter negation of the exile, of Jacob.

As a kind of will, he offers the established nation, which stands upright, not to completely forget the same blow that the angel gave Jacob in his struggle with him, the same lameness that remained in Israel.

Vocabulary 

A soft child

"And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender."

Soft children are small children.

And when Abraham hosts the angels he gives them "soft and good" flesh.

And despite the different context, the word is interpreted similarly.

The small children have soft and delicate flesh.

And this softness is a sister of sweetness, and all sorts of other expressions that express excitement at the sight of a child, like at the sight of a donut. 

Daniel Shereshevsky teaches Bible and Midrash

in various settings, member of the 929 editorial board

In collaboration with 929 - an Israeli cultural project led by Rabbi Bnei Lau, which makes the Bible accessible in open discourse www.929.org.il