Vayishlach: He Kissed Him

All ten times when a kiss occurs in the book of Genesis/Bereishit, a man is kissing one of his family members (but not his wife). The person kissed may embrace the kisser, and sometimes they both weep, but the Torah does not say that he or she kisses him back.

It is not unusual in the Hebrew Bible for someone to kiss a family member at a significant reunion (such as when Aharon kisses his brother Moshe after a long separation in Exodus 4:27), or at a formal final separation (such as when Naomi kisses her two daughters-in-law goodbye before she leaves Moab in Ruth 1:9).

The Meeting of Jacob and Esau, by James Tissot, circa 1900

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43), twin brothers Yaakov (“Jacob” in English) and Eisav (“Esau” in English) meet again after 20 years apart. Eisav kisses Yaakov, and both brothers weep.

Then Eisav ran to meet him, and he embraced him, and he fell on his neck, vayishakeihu, and they wept. (Genesis 33:4)

vayishakeihu (וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ) = and he kissed him; or “and he was putting on armor”. (A form of nashak (נָשַׁק), the root of two different verbs that are homonyms. The root meaning “kiss” is the one that makes sense in context, since Eisav has just embraced his brother and fallen on his neck. Someone falls on someone else’s neck three times in Genesis, always at a tearful reunion between two male relatives.¹ I imagine an embrace so close that the heads of the two men are pressed together and their cheeks touch.)

Yet even though it is a reunion between brothers, Yaakov does not expect the kiss.

Yaakov fled from Canaan 20 years earlier because Eisav, enraged because Yaakov had cheated him out of both an inheritance and a blessing,² was planning to murder him as soon as their father died. During the years since then, Eisav left Canaan and founded his own kingdom, Edom, southeast of Canaan. And Yaakov acquired significant wealth in livestock while he lived in Charan, northeast of Canaan. Now that both men have been blessed with wealth, they no longer need an inheritance from their father.

Maybe Eisav no longer wants to kill his brother. But Yaakov is not so sure of that when he finally leaves Charan and heads back toward Canaan.

When he reaches the Yabok River with his large family, servants, herds, and flocks, Yaakov sends a message to Edom. His messenger returns with the news that Eisav is coming north to meet him, with 400 men—the standard size for a troop of soldiers. So Yaakov sends several generous gifts of livestock ahead to Eisav on the road, along with appeasing messages. (See my posts Vayishlach: A Partial Reconciliation and Vayishlach: Message Failure.) Finally Eisav and his men reach the Yabok River.

Yaakov raised his eyes and he saw—hey!—Eisav coming, and 400 men with him! (Genesis 33:1)

He organizes his wives and children so that his favorites are in the rear, where they will be the most likely to escape if Eisav’s men attack.

And he himself crossed over in front of them, and he bowed down to the earth seven times, until he came close to his brother. Then Eisav ran to meet him, and he embraced him, and he fell on his neck, vayishakeihu, and they wept. (Genesis 33:3-4)

What does Eisav’s kiss mean?

Extra dots

In Torah scrolls (which preserve every detail of how the words of Genesis through Deuteronomy have been written in scrolls since 500 C.E. or earlier) the word vayishakeihu looks like this:

By the 10^th century C.E., the Masoretic system of “pointing” (nikudot)—putting various dots and short lines above, below, and inside Hebrew letters—had been universally adopted. These “points” add vowels, modify pronunciation, and indicate a few other distinctions that the letters alone do not reveal.³ Nikudot are still used for the complete Hebrew Bible when it is printed in book form, as well as some other Hebrew texts (but rarely in Modern Hebrew works).

In the Masoretic text, the word vayishakeihu in Genesis 33:4 appears with all the usual nikudot as well as the more ancient dots, sometimes called “extraordinary pointing”, above every letter:

This is the only place in the Hebrew Bible where any form of the verb nashak is written withdots that are not vowel points above the letters.

In fact, only fifteen verses in the whole Hebrew Bible contain a word with an extra dot above one or more letters.⁴ This “extraordinary pointing” was originally added by scribes who pre-dated the Masoretes, going back at least as far as the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls (115-408 C.E.). The most common theory is that scribes used these dots indicate a problem with a word.

When I examined the verses with extraordinary pointing, I found three possible quibbles about grammar, two cases in which a repeated word might seem superfluous, and one weirdly spelled hapax legomenon. Seven other verses with extra dots use ordinary words with correct spelling and grammar, and no alternative meanings. Medieval midrash writers really stretched to come up with fanciful explanations for extraordinary pointing in these verses.⁵

That leaves two words with extra dots that may have a problem regarding the meaning of the word: lulei (לוּלֵא) in Psalm 27:13, and vayishakeihu (וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ) in Genesis 33:4.

I will save Psalm 27:13 for a future post. Now let’s look again at Eisav’s kiss.

Is Eisav’s kiss a problem?

Then Eisav ran to meet him, and he embraced him, and he fell on his neck, vayishakeihu, and they wept. (Genesis 33:4)

Perhaps some ancient scribes doubted that Eisav would kiss Yaakov, so they put extra dots over vayishakeihu to indicate that maybe the word should be erased from the verse altogether.

Alternatively, they might have put in the extra dots to indicate that vayishakeihu (וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ) is a misspelling, and the word should be vayishacheihu (וַיִּשָּׁכֵהוּ) = and he bit him; or “and he borrowed at interest”. (From nashakh (נָשַׁך), the root of two other verbs that are homonyms. It is at least possible for Eisav to bite his brother while they are embracing. No commentator would suggest that in between embracing Yaakov and bursting into tears, Eisav took time out to borrow money.)

Jewish commentary is divided among three opinions about Eisav’s kiss: that it is an expression of love or compassion; that it happens, but it is cold and grudging; and that it is really a bite.

Bereishit Rabbah, an early collection of midrash, includes two of these opinions:

“Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: … it teaches that at that moment he was overcome with mercy and he kissed him with all his heart. Rabbi Yannai said to him: If so, why is it dotted over it? Rather, it teaches that he did not come to kiss him, but rather to bite him, and Jacob’s neck was transformed into marble and the teeth of that wicked one were blunted. Why does the verse state: ‘And they wept’? It is, rather, that this one wept over his neck, and that one wept over his teeth.”⁶

Bachya ben Asher was one of the classic commentators who wrote that Eisav did kiss Yaakov, but it was not a loving kiss. “Here the reason they placed these dots was to let us know that this kiss was not whole-hearted. It was a kiss which originated in anger.”⁷

Eisav’s character

I think that the scribes who originally placed the extra dots over vayishkeihu accepted the symbolism that became widespread among rabbinic commentators around the 5^th century C.E.: that Yaakov represents the Jews, and Eisav represents Rome and the Christians.⁸ These opposing symbols led to commentary painting Yaakov as all good, and Eisav as all evil.

The Torah itself uses wordplay to make Eisav a symbol for a long-standing enemy of the Israelites: the kingdom of Edom.⁹ Yet the stories about Eisav and Yaakov in Genesis are more nuanced. Before this week’s Torah portion, Yaakov has the admirable traits of intelligence, self-control, and adaptability; but he cheats his brother twice, first out of a selfish desire for more of the inheritance, then to please his domineering mother. Eisav is impulsive, over-emotional, and easily duped; but he goes to some trouble to cook treats for his blind father, and he does not make threats regarding his brother until after the second time Yaakov cheats him.

Twenty years after Yaakov fled to Charan, he is no longer concerned about inheriting from his father or pleasing his mother. He wants nothing from his brother except safe passage to Canaan for himself and his own people.

And Eisav? The way the Torah portrays him, I doubt he could maintain his rage over the stolen blessing for more than a week. He throws his energies into founding a new kingdom instead. I bet he is thrilled by the idea that he will be at the head of 400 men when he meets his sneaky, uppity brother again.

Of course he wants to be ready if Yaakov tries to pull any tricks on him. But when his brother showers him with gifts and compliments instead, Eisav is flattered. And when he sees Yaakov bowing down to him the way a subject bows to a king, his heart melts completely. Suddenly he loves Yaakov the way he probably did when they were children—when Yaakov, who was born only a minute after his twin, seemed much younger because he was smaller, less physically mature,¹⁰ and handicapped by the lower status of the second-born son.

Then Eisav ran to meet him, and he embraced him, and he fell on his neck, and he kissed him, and they wept. (Genesis 33:4)

Genesis 33:4, 45:14, and 46:29.
Genesis 25:29-34; Genesis 27:1-33. See my post Toledot: To Bless Someone.
Many printed texts of the Hebrew Bible also include the trope marks invented by 10^th-century Tiberian Masoretes to indicate how the words should be chanted. Here I exclude the trope for clarity.
Genesis 16:5, 18:9, 19:33, 33:4, and 37:12; Numbers 3:39, 9:10, 21:30, and 29:15; Deuteronomy 29:28; 2 Samuel 19:20; Isaiah 44:9; Ezekiel 41:20 and 46:22; and Psalm 27:13.
Midrash is a type of commentary that adds backstories and/or mystical meanings to the original text.
Bereishit Rabbah 78:9, circa 300-500 C.E., translation in www.sefaria.org.
Rabbeinu Bachya ben Asher, 1255–1340 C.E., www.sefaria.org.
See Malka Z. Simkovitch, “Esau the Ancestor of Rome”, https://www.thetorah.com/article/esau-the-ancestor-of-rome.
Genesis 25:26 (in which Eisav is born red—admoni, reminiscent of Edom, and hairy—sei-ar, like Mount Sei-ir in Edom); and Genesis 36:8 (which says “Eisav, he is Edom”).
Eisav is born hairy (Genesis 25:26). When the twins are at least 40 years old, Yaakov reminds his mother: “My brother Eisav is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.” (Genesis 27:11)

Vayechi: Death and Inheritance

The book of Genesis/Bereishit begins with the creation of the world, then narrows in on one paternal line headed by Abraham. It ends with the death of Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph.

A name after death

The characters in the Torah do not hope for life after death.¹ What men in the patriarchal society of the Ancient Near East seem to want most is male descendants to inherit their names and their land. (Names were inherited because instead of a modern last name, a man with the given name Aaron was called Aaron ben (father’s given name). If he had an illustrious grandfather, he was called Aaron ben (father’s given name) ben (grandfather’s given name).²)

Key blessings in the book of Genesis include:

“And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great …” (Genesis 12:2, God to Abraham)

“Please look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able count them.” And [God] said to him: “So your zera will be!” (Genesis 15:5, God to Abraham)

zera (זֶרַע) = your seed, your offspring, your descendants.

“I will make your zera abundant as the stars of the heavens, and I will give to your zera all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will bless themselves by your zera.” (Genesis 26:4, God to Isaac)

“May God bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, and may you become an assembly of peoples.” (Genesis 28:3, Isaac to Jacob)

“Your zera will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.” (Genesis 28:14, God to Jacob)

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi (“And he lived”, Genesis 47:28-50:26, the last portion in the book of Genesis), Jacob concludes his deathbed blessing of two of his grandsons by saying:

“May [God] bless the boys, and may my name be called through them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac!”

Since descendants are so important, when the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are approaching death they all leave something to their sons. But what they give their sons differs according to the personality of the father.

Abraham’s gifts

When Abraham is in his early 100’s, his behavior toward both his sons appalls me. He obeys when God tells him to disinherit and cast out his son Ishmael, along with the boy’s mother—and he sends them off into the desert with only some bread and a single skin of water. Since God has promised to make a nation out of Ishmael, he can assume his older son will survive, but why make him start a new life with so little? (See my post: Vayeira: Failure of Empathy.)

Some years later, Abraham hears God tell him to slaughter his son Isaac as a burnt offering. He neither argues with God, nor asks a single question. Isaac, a grown man, trusts his father and lets himself be bound on the altar. (Therefore Jews call this story the Akedah, the binding.) Only when Abraham’s knife is at his son’s throat does God call it off.³ But after God sends a ram as a substitute sacrifice, Isaac disappears from the story, and we never see him in the same place as his father again, not even at the funeral of Sarah, Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother. And although God blesses Abraham once more while the ram is burning, God does not speak to Abraham again after that.

During the remainder of his life, Abraham devises his own plans for the future, including buying a burial cave for the family after his wife Sarah dies,⁴ and arranging a marriage for Isaac. He is over 137 when he takes a new wife and sires six more sons. He then does some careful estate planning:

And Abraham gave everything that was his to Isaac. But to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away from his son Isaac while he was still alive, eastward, to the land of the East. (Genesis 25:5-6)

He dies at age 175.

Then he expired. And Abraham died at a good old age, old and saveia; and he was gathered to his people. (Genesis 25:8)

saveia (שָׂבֵעַ) = full, satisfied, sated, satiated. (From the root verb sava, שָׂבַע = was satisfied, was satiated, had enough.)

He has a right to be satisfied; he has done his part to further God’s plan for Isaac’s descendants to inherit the land of Canaan, and he has also provided for his other children.

Isaac’s blessing

Like his father Abraham, Isaac does not own any land except for the burial cave, but he is wealthy in livestock and other movable property. He has two sons, the twins Esau and Jacob. By default, two-thirds of his property would go to his son Esau, who is older by a few seconds, while one-third would go to his son Jacob. Isaac does not makes any other arrangement for his estate.

Isaac is more interested in God than property. He takes care of his flocks, but unlike Abraham he makes no effort to increase them. He willingly lets Abraham tie him up as a sacrificial offering to God in the Akedah. And unlike Abraham, he pleads with God to let his long-childless wife conceive.⁵

At age 123, Isaac is blind and cannot stand up. He believes he will die soon, and he wants to deliver a formal deathbed blessing to at least one of his sons. Perhaps he views a blessing as a prayer, since the first of the three blessings he delivers begins “May God give you”, and the third begins “May God bless you”.⁶ What Isaac most wants his sons to inherit is God’s blessings.

Isaac Blessing Jacob, by Jusepe de Ribera, 17th c.

Alas, his wife Rebecca does not trust him to give the right blessing to the right son, so she cooks up a deception that results in Jacob leaving home. Later Esau also leaves. But Isaac lingers on, presumably still blind and bedridden, until he finally dies at age 180.

Then Isaac expired. And he died, and he was gathered to his people, old useva in days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. (Genesis 35:29)

useva (וּשְׂבַע) = and he was satisfied, and he was satiated, and he had had enough. (From the perfect form of the verb sava.) Although Isaac lives even longer than his father, the phrase “at a good old age” is not included in the description of his death. My best translation for the word useva in this verse is: “and he had had enough”. Isaac has spent more than enough time waiting for death.

Jacob’s blessings

Abraham focused on leaving his sons property. Isaac focused on leaving his sons blessings from God. Isaac’s son Jacob assigns both property and blessings at the end of his life, as well a prophecies and directions for his own burial.

He has twelve children, but he only cares about the two youngest, Joseph and Benjamin. His ten older sons sell Joseph as a slave bound for Egypt, then trick their father into believing that Joseph was killed by a wild beast. Jacob mourns for years. He is 130 years old when he finds out that Joseph is still alive and has become the viceroy of Egypt. He exclaims:

“Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die!” (Genesis 45:28)

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi, Jacob lives for another 17 years in Egypt as Joseph’s dependent. It is unclear whether he has an estate to leave; does he still have some claim over the herds and flocks his other sons are tending? And could he still claim the land he purchased long ago at Shekhem, the town that his older sons destroyed?⁷

Although it is not clear what Jacob’s estate consists of, he gives Joseph the equivalent of a double portion of it by formally adopting Joseph’s two sons, Menasheh and Efrayim.⁸

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, by Owen Jones, 1865

Then, perhaps in imitation of his own father, Isaac, Jacob gives Menasheh and Efrayim blessings. In the first blessing he asks God to give them lots of descendants, and in the second he predicts that their descendants will bless their own children in their names.⁹

In the next scene, Jacob calls all his sons to his deathbed. To each one he delivers not a blessing, but a prophecy. Some of the prophecies refer to stories in Genesis about Jacob’s sons. Others have nothing to do with the characters in Genesis, but may refer to their eponymous tribes.¹⁰

Before arranging his estate, giving blessings, and delivering prophecies, Jacob makes Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan, in the family burial cave. After he finishes his prophecies, he repeats these burial instructions to all his sons before he dies at age 147.¹¹

Then Jacob finished directing his sons, and he gathered his feet into the mitah, and he expired, and he was gathered to his people. (Genesis 49:33)

mitah (מִטָּה) = bed of blankets. (From the same root as mateh, מַטֶּה = staff, stick, tribe.)

The text does not say that Jacob is satisfied or has had enough. But the sentence describing his death may imply that he gathered himself into the tribes he had created, before he was gathered by death. After Jacob dies, all twelve of his sons take his embalmed body up to the family burial cave in Canaan.

Although Jacob was selfish as a young man, cheating his brother out of his firstborn rights, at the end of his life he is absorbed with details concerning the future of the sons and grandsons he is leaving behind.

Joseph’s reminder

Twice Joseph tells his brothers that they should not feel guilty about selling him as a slave bound for Egypt because that was part of God’s master plan for bringing Jacob’s whole clan down to Egypt.¹² (See my post: Vayigash & Vayechi: Forgiving?) On his deathbed, Jacob is still thinking about God’s master plan.

Burying the body of Joseph, the 1890 Holman Bible

And Joseph said to his kinsmen: “I am dying, but God will definitely take account of you, and bring you up from this land to the land that [God] swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying: “God will definitely take account of you; then bring up my bones from here!” And Joseph died, 110 years old. And they embalmed him and they put him in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50:24-26)

Thus ends the book of Genesis. Joseph is not described as satisfied, or even as being gathered to his ancestors. He is focused not on his immediate family, but on the distant future of his whole clan. His only deathbed act is to make all the men in his family swear to pass on the information that someday his bones must be buried in Canaan. This promise will serve as a reminder that someday the descendants of Jacob, a.k.a. Israel, must return to the land that God promised to them.

I think Abraham believes his estate is important because he is wealthy, and he wants peace between his sons. Isaac believes his blessings are important because he wants God to help his sons. Jacob believes his estate and his blessings are important because he has a history of cheating and being cheated, and he does not want to leave anything to chance. And Joseph believes God’s master plan for the whole clan of Israel is the most important thing, so he only wants the clan to remember to bury him in Canaan.

I suspect that when I am close to death, I will believe the most important thing is to let the remaining members of my family know that I loved them. It might not make much practical difference, but I remember the reports of all those phone calls when the Twin Towers fell in New York City, and those who were about to die spent their last minutes saying “I love you”. When no inheritance is at stake, and God does not interact directly in the world, we have only our personal words of blessing to leave.

The Torah says people’s souls go down to Sheol when their bodies die, but does not imagine any life for those souls, only a sort of endless cold storage.
Ben (בֶּן) = son of. Bat (בַּת) = daughter of.
Genesis 22:1-19. See my post: Vayeira: On Speaking Terms.
Genesis 25:12-18 describes Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpeilah near Mamrei, where Sarah died.
Genesis 25:21.
Genesis 27:28 and 28:4.
Genesis 33:18-19 and 33:25-30.
See my post: Vayechi & 1 Kings: Deathbed Prophecies.
Genesis 48:13-20. The blessing “May God make you like Efrayim and Menasheh” is still in use among Jews.
See my posts: Vayechi: First Versus Favorite, and Vayechi: Three Tribes Repudiated.
Genesis 47:29-31 and 49:29-30.
Genesis 45:5-8 and 50:18-20.

Mikeitz & Vayigash: Yisrael Versus Ya-akov, Part 2

Jacob is the only character in the book of Genesis who gets a new name and still keeps the old one. His parents name him Ya-akov (יַעֲקֺב, “He grasps by the heel”) at birth, because he comes out clutching his twin brother Esau’s heel. As he grows up, he tries twice to usurp Esau’s place in the family. He is crafty, and willing to cheat to get what he wants.

Jacob goes to live with his uncle Lavan for twenty years, where he learns long-term planning and patience. As he is returning to Canaan with his own large family, he wrestles all night with an unnamed being—a divine messenger, but perhaps also his own alter ego—who blesses him with a new name: Yisrael (יִשְׂרָאֵל, “He strives with God”).

Yet in the remainder of the book of Genesis, he is referred to as Ya-akov more often than as Yisrael.

When does the text call him Yisrael?

According to the 19^th-century commentary Ha-amek Davar, Genesis calls Jacob Yisrael when it is ”indicating a return to a more elevated spiritual state”.¹ But there are several examples when Yisrael’s state does not seem at all elevated.

In the two previous Torah portions, Vayishlach and Vayeishev, the narrative refers to Jacob as Yisrael in four scenes (See my post: Vayishlach & Vayeishev: Yisrael Versus Ya-akov, Part 1):

Ya-akov is overcome with grief whenhis favorite wife, Rachel, dies. But Yisrael pulls himself together and considerately moves his household and flocks from the roadside to good pastureland.
When he finds out that his son Reuben lay with Bilhah, one of Jacob’s concubines, Yisrael refrains from taking any action. Perhaps he simply has no emotional energy left after Rachel’s death.
Jacob’s favorite son is Joseph, Rachel’s older child. Yisrael gives a fancy tunic to Joseph but does not give anything to his other sons. Here he makes the same mistake his parents made when he was growing up as Ya-akov: playing favorites, which promotes jealousy.
Yisrael sends Joseph alone to a dangerous place to report on his ten older brothers who hate him. Here he is not thinking things through as well as Ya-akov did when he was younger.

In these four references, Yisrael seems like an old man who can see the need and handle the logistics to get his people and flocks to their next destination, but cannot figure out what to do about complex family relationships. The name Yisrael does not seem to indicate a more elevated spiritual state.

So far, the most consistent difference between the two names is that while Yisrael is always relatively calm, Ya-akov fluctuates between being calm and being at the mercy of strong emotions. He is overcome when Rachel dies, and again the end of the Torah portion Vayeishev when he believes Joseph has died. He jumps to that conclusion when his ten older sons bring home Joseph’s fancy tunic covered with goat’s blood. Ya-akov mourns extravagantly.

Joseph’s older brothers have actually disposed of him by selling him as a slave bound for Egypt. After some years in Egypt, Joseph gets a reputation as a dream interpreter.

Mikeitz: The famine

At the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Mikeitz (Genesis 41:1-44:7), Joseph is summoned to interpret two of the pharaoh’s dreams. He explains that both dreams predict seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. The pharaoh makes him the viceroy in charge of agriculture, and Joseph stockpiles grain during the next seven years. (See my post: Mikeitz: An Unlikely Ascent.) When the famine begins, it affects not only Egypt, but also Canaan, where Joseph’s father and brothers live.

Ya-akov sends his ten older sons down to Egypt to buy grain. But he keeps his youngest son, Benjamin, at home. Benjamin is his only other son by his beloved deceased wife, Rachel. Now that Joseph is gone, Benjamin has become Jacob’s favorite.

And Ya-akov would not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers. For he said: “Lest harm happens to him!” (Genesis 42: 4)

Ya-akov does not mind so much if harm happens to any of his sons by his other wives or concubines.

When Jacob’s ten older sons arrive in Egypt, they do not recognize the viceroy as Joseph, but he recognizes them. He accuses them of being spies, and they babble that they are all brothers, all the sons of one man except for the youngest, who stayed at home. Joseph imprisons one of them, Shimon, and sells the rest of them grain on the condition that they return to Egypt with their youngest brother.

Joseph’s Brothers Find Money in their Sacks, Aunt Louisa’s Sunday Picture Book, ca. 1870

When they return to their father and empty their sacks of grain, they find the pouches of silver that they had handed over as payment. Why is the silver back in their bags? Everyone becomes frightened, including Jacob. As usual, when he is overcome by emotion, he can think only of himself.

And Ya-akov, their father, said to them: “Me you have bereaved of children! Joseph is not, and Shimon is not, and Benjamin you would take away. To me everything happens!” (Genesis 42:36)

Jacob has never been more self-centered. When his extended family has eaten all the grain, he tells his older sons to return to Egypt. One of them, Judah, reminds him that the viceroy will not sell to them again unless they bring Benjamin.

Then Yisrael said: “Why did you do evil to me, by telling the man you have another brother?” (Genesis 43:6)

Although the text calls him Yisrael now, Jacob still sounds self-centered (and not at all spiritually elevated). One would think his wrestling match with the unnamed being had never occurred. His sons dodge his accusation by saying that the viceroy had asked about their family.

Then Judah said to Yisrael, his father: “Send the youth with me, and we will get up and go, and we will live and not die: we, you, and our little children!” (Genesis 43:8)

Judah, addressing Yisrael, reminds his father that everyone’s lives are at stake, including his grandchildren. Then he personally pledges to bring Benjamin back. And Yisrael pulls himself together.

Then Yisrael, their father, said to them: “In that case, do this: Take some choice products of the land in your containers, and bring them down to the man as a gift: a little balsam, a little honey … And take twice the silver … Perhaps it was a mistake. And take your brother! Get up, return to the man. And may Eil Shaddai [i.e. God] give you mercy before the man, so he will release to you your other brother, and Benjamin. And I, if I am bereaved of children, I am bereaved of children!” (Genesis 32:11-24)

Here Jacob combines the best features of Ya-akov and Yisrael. Like Ya-akov in his youth and middle age, he is crafty and plans ahead. But unlike Ya-akov, he overcomes his selfishness. Yisrael even remembers that one of his least favorite sons, “your other brother” Shimon, is still imprisoned in Egypt, and he hopes for everyone’s return to Canaan. Having ordered the best arrangements he can devise, Yisrael is now willing to accept whatever happens.

Vayigash: Reunion with Joseph

The next time Jacob is referred to as Yisrael is in next week’s Torah portion, Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27). Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, then sends them with back to Canaan with twenty loaded donkeys and instructions to bring Jacob and his whole extended family down to Egypt.

And they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Ya-akov, their father. And they told him, saying: “Joseph is still alive! And indeed, he is the ruler of all of Egypt!” Then his heart grew numb, because he did not believe them. But they spoke to him all Joseph’s words he had spoken to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and their father Ya-akov’s spirit came back to life. (Genesis 43:25-28)

Again Jacob is called Ya-akov when he is seized by emotion. But then when he accepts the new reality, he changes from Ya-akov to Yisrael.

Then Yisrael said: “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die!” (Genesis 43:28)

Some classic commentators claimed that it is enough for Yisrael that Joseph is alive, and he does not care whether Joseph has become a powerful man. But according to Abraham ibn Ezra, Yisrael means: “This happiness is enough for me.”²

As Yisrael, Jacob can stop grasping for more. He accepts reality and understands limits. Like many old men, he also thinks about his own death—not in the melodramatic way Ya-akov reacted to Joseph’s bloody tunic and talked about going down to join Joseph in Sheol, but in the way mature people who have retired from their active lives consider what is left for them to do during their remaining years.

Joseph and Jacobs Reunited, by Owen Jones, 1865

Joseph meets the caravan in Goshen and embraces his father.

And Yisrael said to Joseph: “I can die now that I have seen your face, because you are still alive.” (Genesis 46:30)

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz wrote that Jacob means: “I traveled here to see you, and now that we have reunited, I have received all that I could wish for and I lack nothing in life.”³

As Yisrael, Jacob is finally able to feel contentment. Jealousy and greed no longer motivate him.

At least in that moment. Humans can change, but there are always moments of backsliding. When Joseph introduces his father to the pharaoh, Jacob has slipped back into being Ya-akov. When the pharaoh asks him how old he is, Jacob answers like a grumpy self-centered old man complaining that his life is a waste.

Then Ya-akov said to Pharaoh: “The days and years of my sojourn are 130. The days and years of my life have been few and bad, and they have not attained the days and years of my fathers’ lives.” (Genesis 47:9)

When Jacob was young and had only one name, Ya-akov, he was calculating and selfish, but able to control his emotions better than his twin brother, Esau. When Jacob is old and has two names, Ya-akov and Yisrael, he remains calculating (when he has the energy) and often selfish. But he is not overcome by needy emotions, as his Ya-akov side is. Yisrael he accepts life as it is, does what he can, and is content.

Jacob’s two names indicate two models of old age. Now that I live in a retirement community, I have met a few fellow old people who complain often about the vicissitudes of old age: the aches and pains, the disabilities, the inefficiencies of the medical system, how their children have disappointed them. They are like Ya-akov, caught up in their own negative emotions.

I have also met many old people who are cheerful and grateful for what they do have: safe homes with heating and air-conditioning, a number of readily available services, and the company of fellow residents who delight in learning and in instigating and attending a wide variety of activities. They embody the Yisrael model of old age.

I hope I can spend most of the rest of my life being a Yisrael, doing what I can and enjoying what I do—while accepting that life is always uncertain and impermanent.

Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, Ha-amek Davar,commentary on Genesis 43:28, translation by www.sefaria.org.
12^th-century rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, translation by www.sefaria.org.
Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, The Steinsaltz Tanakh, Koren Publishers, Jerusalem, 2019, quoted in www.sefaria.org.

Vayishlach & Vayeishev: Yisrael Versus Ya-akov, Part 1

Jacob was born hanging onto the heel of his twin brother, Esau.

After that his brother emerged, and his hand was grasping the akeiv of his brother; so they called his name Ya-akov. (Genesis 23:26)

akeiv (עָקֵב) = heel.

Ya-akov (יַעֲקֺב) = “Jacob” in English. (From ya-ekov, יַעְקֺב = he grasps by the heel; he cheats.)

The book of Genesis implies that from the beginning, Ya-akov wanted to be the firstborn son. In the Torah portion Toledot he tried to replace his brother twice, first by trading a bowl of stew for Esau’s inheritance as the firstborn, and then by impersonating Esau to steal their blind father Isaac’s blessing.

And Isaac loved Esau, because [Esau brought] hunted-game for his mouth. But Rebecca loved Ya-akov. (Genesis 25:28)

Their mother, Rebecca, arranged Jacob’s impersonation. Then when Esau vowed to kill his brother for cheating him twice, she arranged for Ya-akov to flee to her brother’s house in Padan-Aram. Twenty years later, Jacob returned with a large family of his own. On the eve of his reunion with Esau in last week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43), Ya-akov receives a second name.

Vayishlach: A new name

And Ya-akov was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until dawn rose. (Genesis 32:25)

Jacob Wrestles, by Ephraim Moses Lillien, 1923

The Hebrew Bible often calls a divine messenger (or angel) a “man” at first. Other theories are that Jacob’s wrestling partner is a demon, or his own alter ego or subconscious.¹ They wrestle all night, and neither prevails. Then the mysterious “man” dislocates Jacob’s hip and said:

“Let me go, because dawn has risen!” But Ya-akov said: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Then [the “man”] said to him: “What is your name?” And he said: “Ya-akov.” (Genesis 32:27-28)

Twenty years before, when Jacob impersonated Esau to steal their father’s blessing, Isaac had asked him to identify himself. At that time, Jacob had answered: “I am Esau.” (Genesis 27:19) But when Jacob asks the unnamed wrestler to bless him, he answers: “Ya-akov.” (Genesis 32:28)

And [the “man”] said: “It will no longer be said that Ya-akov is your name, but instead Yisrael, because sarita with God and with men and you have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:29)

Yisrael (יִשְׂרָאֵל) = “Israel” in English. (Possibly yisar, יִשַׂר = he strives, contends, perseveres + Eil, אֵל = God, a god. This combination could mean either “God strives” or “He strives with God”.)

sarita (שָׂרִיתָ) = you strove, you persevered.

A much shorter, dryer story about Jacob’s new name appears later in the portion Vayishlach:

And God appeared to Ya-akov again when he came from Padan-Aram, and [God] blessed him. And God said to him: “Your name is Ya-akov. Your name will not be called Ya-akov again, because your name will be Yisrael.” (Genesis 35:9-10)

Modern scholars attribute the two versions of the naming story to two different sources; the story about wrestling probably comes from a non-P author, while the less colorful renaming by God comes from a P author.² Both versions give Ya-akov the additional name Yisrael, so this is not a case of two traditions using two different names.

In subsequent biblical books, Yisrael is also the name of a people, Jacob’s descendants. And in biblical poetry, some couplets call the people both Ya-akov and Yisrael, treating the two names as mere synonyms.³

In the rest of the book of Genesis, Jacob son of Isaac is referred to as Ya-akov most often, but occasionally the text calls him Yisrael. Does the switch to Jacob’s new name mean anything?

Vayishlach: Equanimity?

The first time the narrative uses the name Yisrael is right after the household stops on the road so Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, can give birth. She dies right after Jacob’s twelfth and final son, Benjamin, is born.

Ya-akov set up a standing-stone over her grave … And Yisrael moved on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eider. (Genesis 35:20-21)

Ya-akov grieves over the death of his favorite wife. But Yisrael moves on; he is responsible for getting his flocks to good pastureland.

And it happened when Yisrael was residing in that land: Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. And Yisrael paid attention. (Genesis 35:22)

Yisrael pays attention, but he does not act. He does not even bring up the episode until he is on his deathbed. The old Ya-akov might have been overcome with outrage that his eldest son usurped him, taking possession of a woman who belongs to him. But the new Yisrael is either too tired to react, or willing to accept whatever happens.

Vayeishev: Playing favorites

This week’s Torah portion, Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1-40:23), begins with Jacob under his old name.

And Ya-akov settled in the land of his father’s sojournings, the land of Canaan. And these are the histories of Ya-akov: Joseph, seventeen years old, shepherded a flock along with his brothers, and he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, wives⁴ of his father. And Joseph brought bad gossip to their father. (Genesis 37:1-2)

Joseph is Rachel’s first son, so Jacob loves him more than the sons of his other three wives.

And Yisrael loved Joseph more than all his sons, since he was a son of old age to him. And he made him a fancy tunic. And his brothers saw that it was he whom their father loved more than his brothers, so they hated him, and they could not speak to him in peace. (Genesis 37:3-4)

Jacob Blesses Joseph and Gives him the Coat,
by Owen Jones, 1865

Transparent favoritism is not surprising from someone who grew up with parents who favored one son over the other. But why did the author or redactor attribute this favoritism to Yisrael rather than to Ya-akov? After all the striving that Jacob did while wrestling with God’s messenger (and/or himself), we might expect Yisrael to choose peace in the family, and treat his sons more fairly, perhaps giving each one a different gift.⁵

Shortly after that, all ten of Joseph’s older brothers take the family flocks to Shekhem, a journey of about 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) from their home in Hebron.

And Yisrael said to Joseph: “Aren’t your brothers shepherding in Shekhem? Go, and I will send you to them!” (Genesis 37:13)

Rashbam wrote: “The wording reflects Ya-akov’s surprise that Joseph’s brothers chose to tend their sheep in a dangerous location such as Shekhem, where they had killed the local inhabitants not so long ago.”⁶

At least Joseph’s brothers are ten strong young men traveling together. But why does Yisrael risk sending the teenage Joseph to Shekhem alone? What if someone who remembered the massacre identifies him as a member of the notorious family of killers?

Maybe Jacob is in denial, having forgotten the atrocities his older sons committed in Shekhem. In that case, the name Yisrael here might indicate Jacob’s old age and his desire for peace, but not increased wisdom.

And [Joseph] said to him: “Here I am.” And [Jacob] said to him: “Please go and look into the well-being of your brothers and the well-being of the flocks, and bring back word to me.” (Genesis 37: 14)

Jacob deliberately sends out his favorite son to report on his brothers. Yet he does not seem to worry about the safety of the seventeen-year-old boy when he is far from home, surrounded by brothers who hate him (and may well assume he intends to bring back to their father more “bad gossip” about them).

Classic commentators⁷ maintained that Jacob assumed his older sons would never attack Joseph. Yet Jacob himself once had to flee to another country because his own brother had vowed to kill him. Perhaps in old age, Jacob was losing his ability to connect the past with the present.

On the other hand, Yisrael might realize that he has pampered Joseph too long. He might even realize that giving only Joseph an expensive gift had contributed to his favorite son’s feeling of entitlement, which then led to Joseph telling his jealous brothers his two dreams in which they bowed down to him.⁸ Perhaps Yisrael, the man who wrestled with himself, sees Joseph’s psychological problem and takes the risk of sending him to Shekhem so he can learn self-reliance and grow up. He might even comfort himself with the thought that surely God would look after Joseph, and he would come home as a wiser young man.

Vayeishev: Mourning

Joseph finds no one in the vicinity of Shekhem except a man who tells him his brothers traveled on to Dotan. When he arrives in Dotan, his brothers seize him, throw him in an empty cistern, threaten to kill him, and finally sell him as a slave to a caravan bound for Egypt. Then they come up with a plan for fooling their father.

And they took Joseph’s tunic, and they slaughtered a hairy goat and dipped the tunic in the blood … and they brought it to their father and said: “We found this. Please recognize whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” (Genesis 37:31-32)

Jacob Weeps over Joseph’s Tunic,
by Marc Chagall 1931

Jacob falls for the deception; he assumes Joseph was eaten by a wild beast. He grieves as Ya-akov.

And Ya-akov tore his clothes, and he put sackcloth around his hips, and he mourned over his son a long time. And all his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said: “If [only] I would go down to my son mourning, to Sheol!” And his father wept for him. (Genesis 37:34-35)

Jacob is entitled to grieve a long time over the death of his favorite son. But Ya-akov’s reaction is almost selfishly extravagant, consistent with his self-absorption while he was growing up: he rejects his children and grandchildren, and declares that he wants to die. His alter ego, Yisrael, does not have a chance to emerge.

The Torah does not refer to Jacob as Yisrael again until next week’s Torah portion, Mikeitz. Stay tuned for my next post, Mikeitz: Yisrael versus Ya-akov, Part 2.

See my post Toledot & Vayishlach: Wrestlers.
The documentary hypothesis discerns four traditions braided into the Pentateuch, named J, E, P, and D by Julius Wellhausen in the 19^th century. In the 21^st century the scholarly consensus is that there were more than four writers, and the story lines previously identified as J and E should all be called “non-P”. “P” is the “priestly” tradition, which was more interested in priestcraft than in narrative.
Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 2004, p. 181.
Genesis always calls Leah and Rachel Jacob’s wives. Bilhah and Zilpah are their slaves, but after they become Jacob’s concubines, they are sometimes called his wives.
This is what Jacob’s grandfather Abraham did in Genesis 25:5-6.
Rashbam (12^th-century Rabbi Shmuel ben Meier) translated in www.sefaria.org. In Genesis 34:1-31, Jacob’s older sons tricked all the men of the town of Shekhem into circumcising themselves, then slaughtered them and took their women and children as booty.
Including Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, ca. 1200), Chizkuni (editor Chizkiah ben Manoach, 13^th century), and Or HaChayim (Rabbi Chayim ibn Attar, 18th century).
See my post: Vayeishev: Favoritism.

Haftarat Vayishlach—Obadiah: Pulled Down

This week’s haftarah is the entire book of Obadiah, which is one chapter long! Obadiah protests that when the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 587-586 B.C.E., the small kingdom of Edom took advantage of the chaos to prey on their Israelite neighbors.

Didn’t you come into the gate of my people
      on its day of calamity?
Didn’t you, too, look at its misery
      on its day of calamity?
And didn’t you reach out for its wealth
      on its day of calamity? (Obadiah 1:13)
And didn’t you stand at the crossroads
      to cut down its fugitives?
And didn’t you deliver up its survivors
      on the day of distress? (Obadiah 1:14)
When the Day of God draws near 
      against all the nations
As you did, it will be done to you.
      Your dealings will come back on your head! (Obadiah 1: 15)

The rest of the book predicts that God will take revenge by utterly destroying the Edomites. I have not written about this haftarah before because revenge fantasies turn me off. But there is more than one way to interpret the Hebrew Bible.

How to interpret the bible

Back in the 1^st century C.E., before the Romans destroyed the second temple in Jerusalem, Philo of Alexandria interpreted some passages in Genesis as allegories of Stoic philosophical concepts, identifying the characters with universal human aspects. (For example, Adam is the mind, Eve is the senses, and Noah is the state of tranquility.)

An allegorical tale in the 5^th-century Babylonian Talmud tractate Chagigah features four actual Jewish scholars from the first century C.E., each with a different approach to biblical interpretation.¹ They all enter pardeis (פַּרְדֵּס, the Persian word for “orchard”, a metaphor for deep Torah study which eventually became the English word “paradise”), but only one of them comes out whole. Rabbi Elisha ben Avuya, a.k.a. Acheir (אַחֵר, “Other”), was a literalist who found contradictions in the bible; Chagigah says he became a heretic. Tanna Shimon Ben Zoma found metaphorical meanings, and tried to reconcile different texts that employed the same uncommon Hebrew words; Chagigah says he lost his mind. Tanna Shimon Ben Azzai was a mystic; Chagigah says he died beholding God’s presence. Only Rabbi Akiva, who used reason to determine which biblical phrases should be taken literally and which metaphorically, left pardeis in the same condition as when he entered.

In the 13^th century, the Spanish kabbalist Moshe de León pioneered the use of the word pardeis as an acronym for four types of exegesis, which Jews still use:

Peshat (פְּשַׁט, “stripped down”) is the plain, literal meaning of a text.

Remez (רֶמֶשׂ, “swarming creatures”) expands the literal meaning to cover similar situations, and transforms texts into allegories.

Derash (דְּררַשׁ, “inquiry”) adds to a text by drawing moral lessons from it, and/or inventing additional details to enhance a story’s meaning.

Sod (סוֹד, “secret”) uses words to point at an esoteric mystery that cannot be expressed in words.

Applying PaRDeiS to the haftarah

Before indicating what crimes the Edomites committed against the Israelites in Jerusalem, Obadiah quotes God as telling Edom:

The arrogance of your heart deceived you,
	Dwellers in the clefts of the cliffs.
High in your dwellings, saying in your heart:
	“Who could pull me down to earth?” (Obadiah 1:3)
If you were lofty as an eagle,
	Or if you put your nest between the stars,
From there I will pull you down,
	Declares God. (Obadiah 1:4)

A peshat reading of these two verses would point out that the ancient kingdom of Edom (located in the south of what we now call Jordan) was mountainous and rocky, poor for agriculture but easy to hide in and difficult to invade. The plain meaning is that the Edomites mistakenly believe they are invulnerable—even from God.

A Talmudic remez reading is that “the stars” means “the just”.² Edomites believe they are among the just, but the book of Genesis says they are descended from Esau, Jacob’s undesirable brother. Midrash Tanchuma cited God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars in the heavens, and concluded that Obadiah’s reference to stars “can only mean Israel”.³

Vayikra Rabbah combined Obadiah 1:4 with Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:12, then added to the story with the following derash:

“It teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Jacob the guardian angel of Babylon ascending and descending, of Media ascending and descending, of Greece ascending and descending, and of Edom ascending and descending. The Holy One blessed be He said to Jacob: ‘You, too, will ascend.’ At that moment, Jacob our patriarch grew fearful and said: ‘Perhaps, God forbid, just as there was descent for these, so it will be for me.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: ‘You, have no fear; if you ascend, there will be no descent for you forever.’ He did not believe, and he did not ascend. … The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Had you believed and ascended, you would never have descended. Now that you did not believe and did not ascend, your descendants will be subjugated by the four kingdoms in this world with land taxes, produce taxes, animal taxes, and head taxes.’”⁴

My own derash interpretations tend toward drawing moral lessons.⁵ What strikes me about Obadiah’s two verses on Edom’s arrogance is the idea that arrogant people believe they occupy high positions because they are superior. But their high positions are both barren (rocky) and precarious (cliffs).

The arrogant are afraid of being pulled down to earth. They spend so much time and energy defending their status and egos that they accomplish less than humble, hard-working people—from down-to-earth farmers to the rabbis and other religious leaders who care more about their work than about self-glorification.

But when the arrogant are successful, they question whether anything could pull them down. Obadiah points out that they are wrong. These exalted narcissists are not eagles, but human beings. Even autocrats and superstars are vulnerable, because they live in the complex world of human interactions. Millions of people may look up to them now, but anyone can fall off the cliff. Anyone can be pulled down.

It is better to do good work on the ground than to “put your nest between the stars”.

That is my derash. I am not a mystic, although I know a little about kabbalah, so a sod reading is beyond me; it might as well be between the stars.

Talmud Bavli, Chagigah 14b.
Talmud Yerushalmi, Nedarim 3:8:2.
Midrash Tanchuma, 500-800 C.E., translated in www.sefaria.org, citing Genesis 15:5.
Vayikra Rabbah 29:2:, circa 500 C.E., translated in www.sefaria.org.
I reserve fleshing out biblical stories with additional narrative for my Torah monologues.

Vayechi, Chayei Sarah, & Vayishlach: A Touching Oath

This week’s Torah portion, Vayechi (Genesis 47:28-50:26), begins:

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and the years of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. The time for Israel to die approached, and he called for his son, for Joseph … (Genesis/Bereishit 47:28-29)

Jacob acquired a second name, Israel, in an earlier portion of the book of Genesis, Vayishlach, when he wrestled with a mysterious “man” all night before his reunion with Esau, the brother whom Jacob had cheated twenty years before.

Becoming Israel

In Vayishlach, Esau was approaching with 400 men, and Jacob was terrified that his brother would attack his camp for revenge. He prayed, he sent generous gifts ahead on the road, and he moved his whole household and all his possessions across the Yabok River. Then Jacob spent the night on the other side.

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until dawn rose. And he saw that he had not prevailed against [Jacob], so he touched the socket of his yareikh, and the socket of Jacob’s yareikh was dislocated when he wrestled with him. (Genesis 32:25-26)

yareikh (יָרֵךְ) = loin, i.e. hip, buttocks, upper thigh, or genitals (depending on the context).

One cannot actually touch the socket inside a human hip—unless, perhaps, one is a supernatural creature. Even with the pain of a dislocated hip, Jacob hangs onto his opponent. The mysterious wrestler is the first to speak.

Jacob Wrestles, by Ephraim Moses LIlien, 1923

Then he said: “Let me go, because dawn is rising.”

But [Jacob] said: “I will not let you go unless you bless me!”

And he said to [Jacob]: “What is your name?”

And he said: “Jacob.”

Then he said: “It will no longer be said that Jacob is your name, but Yisrael. Because sarita with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

And Jacob inquired and said: “Please tell your name.”

And he said: “What is this, that you ask for my name!” (Genesis 32:27-29)

Yisrael (יִשְׂרָאֵל) = “Israel” in English. Possibly he strives with God, he contends with God. (Yisar,יִשַׂר = he strives with, he contends with + Eil, אֵל = God, a god.) On the other hand, the subject usually follows the verb in Biblical Hebrew, so Yisrael could mean “God contends”.)

sarita (שָׂרִיתָ) = you have striven with, you have contended. (From the same root as yisar.)

Gradually the “man” who wrestles with Jacob is revealed as a divine messenger. “Jacob was left alone”—away from any other human beings. “A man wrestled with him”—messengers from God often look like men at first, and can do physical things in our world.¹ “You have striven with God and with men”—striving with God’s messenger is the equivalent of striving with God. And protesting that “you ask for my name!”—God’s messengers do not reveal their names in the Torah.²

The two wrestlers in this passage also serve as a metaphor for a narrow human frame of reference wrestling with a broad divine frame of reference—both within Jacob’s psyche. The divine perspective touches an intimate spot, and Jacob emerges from the experience with a new name, and a limp to remind him of what happened.

And the sun rose for him as he passed Penueil, and he, he was limping on his yareikh. (Genesis 32:32)

After this story, the Torah continues to use the name Jacob, but sometimes switches to Jacob’s new name, Israel. Why does it switch from “Jacob” to “Israel” at the beginning of this week’s portion, Vayechi?

Requesting an oath

The time for Israel to die approached, and he called for his son, for Joseph, and he said to him: “If, please, I have found favor in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh. And do with me loyal-kindness and faithfulness: do not, please, bury me in Egypt! [When] I lie down with my fathers, then carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial site!” (Genesis 47:29-30)

This is Jacob/Israel’s first deathbed speech. As the self-centered Jacob, he might want to be buried in Bethlehem beside Rachel, the wife who died in childbirth, the wife he loved and mourned for the rest of his life. Or he might even want his sons to bury him in Egypt, where his entire surviving family has emigrated. His beloved son Joseph is a viceroy, so he could buy a deluxe burial site there.

But Jacob does not mention either possibility. As Israel, he knows it will be best for his future descendants if he is buried in the cave of Machpelah, which his grandfather Abraham purchased for a family burial site. This is where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and (we learn later in this Torah portion) Jacob’s first wife, Leah, are buried. Reinforcing the importance of that site, the only land in Canaan that his family inherits through the generations, will help Israel’s descendants in Egypt remember that someday they must return to Canaan to fulfill God’s prophecies.

Israel begins his speech to Joseph with extreme formality and politeness, addressing him in his role as the viceroy. The consensus among commentators is that the pharaoh does not want his invaluable viceroy to leave Egypt for even a short visit to Canaan, his homeland. What if Joseph did not return? So Israel decides to give Pharaoh an extra reason to let Joseph go to Machpelah. If Joseph has sworn the most solemn oath possible, how could Pharoah make his viceroy dishonor himself by violating it?

Precedent for the oath

So Israel requests the kind of oath that Abraham made his steward swear regarding a bride for his son Isaac. Jacob/Israel knows he will be powerless over his own burial; Abraham, at age 137, was afraid he would not live long enough to make sure his son married one of his relatives from Aram instead of a Canaanite. In both cases, the aged father relies on the most serious oath possible. Abraham told his steward:

“Please place your hand under my yareikh, and I will make you swear by God, god of the heavens and god of the earth, that you do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites amidst whom I am dwelling. Because you must go to my [former] land and to my relatives, and [there] you must take a wife for my son, for Isaac.” (Genesis 24:2-4)

Abraham’s Solemn Charge, by Pedro Orrente, 17th century, detail

Abraham’s steward asked a clarifying question to make sure he understood his mission. Then he complied at once with his master’s request:

And the servant placed his hand under the yareikh of Abraham, his master, and he swore to him on this matter. (Genesis 24:9)

Since the word yareikh could mean any of several locations on the lower body, we can only guess where Abraham’s steward placed his hand. But commentators have noted that the Latin root “testis” appears in words whose English versions are testify, testimony, and testicles, and claim that this may reflect a Roman practice of taking an oath on the genitals. And for at least two millennia, oaths administered by a court have required the person swearing the oath to hold a sacred item in the hand. Before the holy objects were made for the sanctuary, before the Torah was written down, a circumcised penis was the only sacred object available.³

The actual oath

In the portion Vayechi, Joseph listens to his father’s request, then tells him:

“I will do as you have spoken.” (Genesis 47:30)

Instead of immediately placing his hand under his father’s yareikh, Joseph makes a simple verbal promise. Is placing his hand under his father’s whatever-it-is beneath the dignity of a viceroy of Egypt?

Or does Joseph remember Jacob’s famous limp, and feel reluctant to touch the spot that the unnamed being touched?

Jacob does not accept Joseph’s unsupported promise as a bona fide oath.

He said: “Swear to me!” And he swore to him. Vayishtachu, Israel, at the head of the bed. (Genesis 47:31)

vayishtachu (וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ) = and he prostrated himself, and he bowed as deeply as possible. (This verb is used for bowing to a king or to God.)

It sounds as though Joseph brings himself to place his hand under the spot and swear. His father, Israel, accepts Joseph’s response as a duly sworn oath, one that even the Pharaoh could not quibble about. And he bows as deeply as possible for an invalid in bed.

When Jacob limped toward Esau the morning after the wrestling match, he prostrated himself seven times—honoring his brother’s power over his life. Now Jacob prostrates himself as best he can, at age 147, to his Joseph—honoring his son the viceroy’s power.

Pharaoh’s permission

After that Israel rearranges his inheritance by adopting Joseph’s two sons as his own⁴ and makes two deathbed prophecies, one short⁵ and one lengthy.⁶ Then he repeats the instructions for his burial in the cave of Machpelah, and dies.⁷

Joseph has his father embalmed like an Egyptian nobleman, and then informs Pharaoh:

“My father made me swear, saying: ‘Here, I am dying. In my burial side that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan there you must bury me.’ And now please let me go up, and I will bury my father, and I will return.” And Pharaoh said: “Go up and bury your father as he made you swear.” (Genesis 50:5-6)

So Israel’s plan works.

A speculation

Yet Pharaoh gives Joseph permission to go even though Joseph does not mention the hand position he used for his oath to his father. Why is the placement of Joseph’s hand so important to his father?

I wonder if Israel wants Joseph to touch the same place the divine being touched. He might recognize himself in his favorite son. The first two times Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, Joseph disguised himself and lied to them in order to get the information he wanted. When Jacob was a young man, he disguised himself and lied to his father in order to steal his brother’s blessing.

How can Israel get Joseph to recognize the manipulative side of his personality, and wrestle with it? Maybe if Joseph touches the spot that the divine being touched, it will shock him into the awareness that he is not as grand and impartial as he thinks. Joseph is the supreme judge of Egypt’s agricultural system, but he is not divine.

Would Jacob/Israel think in those terms? He is not a psychologist, but he is a clever thinker. And humans have always used symbolic acts to make connections between the known and the unknown. There is always more going on inside us than we know. Some people tend to act intuitively, and need to practice thinking and planning. Others are like Jacob, Joseph, and myself: thinking and planning are default behavior for us. We need to step back, take a breath, and take the long view. We need a touch of the divine.

For example, divine messengers wash their feet and eat in front of Abraham in Genesis 18:1-8.
See my posts Toledot & Vayishlach: Wrestlers, and Haftarat Naso—Judges: Spot the Angel.
Talmud Bavli, Shevuot 38b; Rashi (11th-century Rabbi Shlomoh Yitzchaki); Rabbi Elie Munk, The Call of the Torah: Bereishis, Mesorah Publications, 1994, p. 626. See my post Chayei Sarah: A Peculiar Oath.
Genesis 48:3-11, 48:22.
The prophecy about Efrayim and Menasheh is in Genesis 48:12-20.
The prophecy about the twelve tribes of Israel is in Genesis 49:1-28.
Genesis 49:29-33.

Vayeishev: Question at Shekhem

His brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shekhem. And Israel said to Joseph: “Aren’t your brothers pasturing at Shekhem? Go, and I will send you to them.” And [Joseph] said to him: “Here I am.” And he said to him: “Go, please, see the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring back word to me.” (Genesis 37:12-14)

This passage in the Torah portion Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1-40:23) sounds pleasant—as if there were nothing ominous about Shekhem, or dangerous about sending Joseph to report on his brothers. But someone who reads the book of Genesis up to this point knows that something dire is about to happen.

At Shekhem: Rape and murder

The Seduction of Dinah, by James Tissot, ca. 1900

When Joseph and his half-sister Dinah were about twelve or thirteen years old, their father Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) brought his whole family to Shekhem¹ and pitched camp next to the town. Jacob even purchased the land they were camping on, as if he intended to stay. Then one day Dinah walked into town alone “to see the daughters of the land”.² Instead of making some female friends, she is abducted and raped by the son of the town’s ruler.

Jacob delayed taking action until his older sons came home from pasturing the flocks. By that time the ruler’s son, also named Shekhem, had fallen in love with Dinah and talked her into changing her mind about him.³ Shekhem and his father came to Jacob’s camp to arrange a marriage. The son offered to pay Jacob any bride-price he asked for. The father upped the ante, proposing that his people and Jacob’s people would intermarry and become one people.⁴

Jacob said nothing. His sons pretended to agree to intermarriage if all the men of the town circumcised themselves first. After the men of Shekhem had done so, and were disabled by pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simon and Levi, came into town and killed every male. They took their sister and left. Then “the sons of Jacob” (which sons are not specified) plundered the town, seizing its women and girls as slaves, and its goods and livestock as booty.⁵

Then Jacob said to Simon and Levi: “You have stirred up trouble, making me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and Perizites! And I am few in number, and they will gather together against me, and they will strike me and I will be destroyed, I and my household!” (Genesis 34:30)

To escape vengeance from neighboring towns, Jacob makes his whole household pack up and move south to Hebron.

Joseph was probably too young to participate in the massacre or the looting of Shekhem. His mother, Rachel, was protective of her only son; and when Jacob introduced his family to Esau and his soldiers, he placed Rachel and Joseph in back, the safest position.⁶

But Joseph saw his half-brothers Simon and Levi arm themselves with swords, go into Shekhem, and return covered with other men’s blood. Later that day Joseph saw his older brothers herding their new female slaves. And when the whole household packed up and took down the tents, Joseph knew that they were moving again to escape a possible counter-attack.

Now, only four or five years later, Joseph’s ten older brothers have taken the family flocks to
Shekhem, of all places. And his father wants him to go there and check up on them.

At Hebron: Joseph’s negative reports

Joseph is seventeen when Jacob sends him from their home in Hebron back to Shekhem. By this time Joseph’s ten older brothers hate him—partly because their father demonstrated blatant favoritism by giving only Joseph a garment fit for royalty; partly because Joseph told them two of his dreams, in which his brothers were bowing down to him; and partly because he maligns them when he reports to their father.⁷

Joseph, at age seventeen, was tending the flock with his brothers, and he was an assistant to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s women.⁸ And Joseph brought bad slander about them to their father.⁹ (Genesis 37:2)

Jacob may believe everything his favorite son says, and trust him to bring an honest report back from Shekhem. He may also be concerned that his ten older sons decided to take the flocks to Shekhem. (I assume that Jacob’s older sons are still making independent decisions without consulting their father, as they did several years before at Shekhem.) What if someone from a neighboring town recognized them from the time before the massacre?

On the other hand, what if someone in the vicinity of Shekhem recognizes Joseph? This possibility does not seem to occur to Jacob.

Perhaps he does not think logically where his favorite son is concerned, especially now that Joseph’s mother, Rachel, has died. It also does not occur to Jacob that his older sons might hate Joseph so much that they are a greater danger to him than any neighbors of the former Shekhemites.

At Shekhem: The question

Joseph answers his father, “Here I am!” With the blitheness of a spoiled adolescent, he heads off alone for Shekhem.

And [Jacob] sent [Joseph] away from the valley of Hebron. And he came to Shekhem. And a man found him, and hey! He was wandering in the fields. And the man asked him: “What tevakeish?” (Genesis 37:14-15)

tevakeish (תְּבַקֵּשׁ) = do you seek, will you seek, are you looking for. (A conjugation of the piel verb bikeish, בִּקֵּשׁ = seek, look for, try to get.)

Joseph probably wandered off the road and through the fields looking for his brothers and the flocks. The Torah never identifies the “man” who questions Joseph. It might be an ordinary man, or it might be a “man” like the “man” who wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32:25 and turned out to be a divine being. Most classic commentators said it was an angel, i.e. a divine messenger who looked like a man,¹⁰ though Ibn Ezra wrote that the man was simply someone passing by.¹¹

At Shekhem: Joseph’s answer

And he said: “My brothers I am mevakeish. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing.” (Genesis 37:16)

mevakeish (מְבַקֵּשׁ) = seeking. (Another piel form of bikeish.)

Why does Joseph assume that a man who happens to be crossing a field near the former town of Shekhem would know who his brothers are, or where they went?

Perhaps Joseph’s polite request implies “if you happen to know”.¹² Perhaps Joseph intuitively senses that the “man” is actually a divine messenger from God.¹³ Or perhaps he simply figures he might as well ask, just in case the man has seen them.

Growing up with his family’s religion and stories, Joseph would know that God’s divine messengers sometimes look like men—until they disappear. So the question “What do you seek?” might be an inquiry from God. In that case, Joseph could take the opportunity to give a different answer, and receive a different response.

1) He could say: “I am seeking to find out what my brothers are doing wrong this time, so I can report back our father.”

He knows his father loves him more than any of his brothers, but he is old enough to wonder if it will last. Perhaps Joseph thinks that slandering his brothers helps to keep him in first place.

2) He could say: “I am seeking to find out what really happened when my family lived here in Shekhem.”

If Joseph had asked his mother and other adults in the household about Shekhem, their reactions combined with his own vivid but incomplete memories would give him a morbid fascination with the subject.

3) He could say: “I am seeking an interpretation of those two dreams I had in which my brothers were bowing down to me.”

His father and his brothers thought that Joseph was fantasizing that he would become a king and rule over them all.¹⁴ But what if the dreams were true prophecies from God? Was there something else he should know?

4) But he would not say: “I am seeking to know why my father sent me all the way to an abandoned city to check up on my brothers who hate me enough to kill me.”

If he had been more aware of his family’s psychology, Joseph would have been afraid of finding his brothers. Readers today might suspect Jacob of the psychological blindness of narcissism. (See my post: Mikeitz: Forgetting a Father.) We might also wonder about the Joseph’s older brothers, who were brought up in a family where two of their mothers were openly jealous of one another,¹⁵ where their father and grandfather were cheating one another,¹⁶ and where they literally got away with murder at Shekhem. Would these young men feel any ethical qualms about harming the little brother they hated?

Joseph has an excuse for giving up and going home, since he could not find his brothers near Shekhem. But he is determined to complete the mission his father sent him on. So instead of giving a more response, he merely tells the stranger that he is looking for his brothers.

Does Joseph feel some inner calling in the presence of God’s angel? Or does he simply believe, with the naivety of a spoiled seventeen-year-old, that he will return safely to his father in Hebron?

And the man said: “They pulled out from here, for I heard them saying: Let’s go to Dotan.” So Joseph went after his brothers and he found them at Dotan. (Genesis 37:17)

When the brothers at Dotan see Joseph approaching, some of them want to kill him right away and throw him into a nearby dry cistern. Reuben, the oldest, says they should throw him into the pit alive. So the brothers seize Joseph, strip off his royal clothing, and throw him in. Then a caravan headed for Egypt passes by, and the brothers sell him to the traders as a slave.¹⁷

They think they will never see him again. But the rest of the book of Genesis is a story about the complicated reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, and how all the children of Israel ended up living in Egypt.

History haunts the story of Joseph and his brothers. They leave Shekhem with their father to make a fresh start; but then they return, and Shekhem becomes the place where Joseph makes the fateful decision to follow his brothers instead of going home. Jacob gives Joseph a royal tunic and Joseph blabs about his dreams and his brothers’ faults; and these relatively small errors in judgment lead to attempted murder, slavery, redemption, and four hundred years of exile in Egypt.

Everything is connected in the Joseph story. Everything he does matters.

I suspect this is true in our own lives as well. Before we act, before we speak, we might ask ourselves: What are we looking for?

Shekhem was about 30 miles (50 km) north of Jerusalem, between two round hills, Mt. Gezerim and Mt. Eyval. (The common noun shekhem, שְׁכֶם, means “shoulders”.) The site is now part of the city of Nablus.
Genesis 34:1.
Genesis 34:2-4. See my post Vayishlach: Change of Heart, Part 1.
Genesis 34:4-12
Genesis 34:13-29.
Genesis 33:1-2.
Genesis 37:3-4. See my post Vayeishev: Favoritism.
Jacob’s two wives, Rachel and Leah, gave him their slaves Bilhah and Zilpah as concubines in Genesis 30:3-9.
The Hebrew word is dibatam (דִּבָּתָם), which could mean slander or negative gossip about them, reports of their own slander, or their bad reputation. See my post Vayeishev: What Drove Them Crazy.
C.f. Aggadat Bereshit 73:3, Bereshit Rabbah 84:14, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Rashi, Kli Yakar, Siftei Chakhamim.
12^th-century rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra.
C.f. Ibn Ezra, Radak.
C.f. Haamek Davar by 19^th-century Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin.
Genesis 37:5-11.
Leah and Rachel in Genesis 29:31-30:24. Leah’s son Reuben, at least, knows about their competition for Jacob’s love when he gives his mother mandrake roots in Genesis 30:14.
Lavan cheats his son-in-law Jacob in Genesis 29:18-27. Lavan and Jacob both try to cheat one another regarding Jacob’s wages in Genesis 30:31-30:2.
Genesis 37:18-28.

Vayechi: When Jacob Bows

The prophecy

Joseph has two prophetic dreams when is seventeen, according to the Torah portion Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1-40:23). After the second dream, he tells his brothers:

“Hey, I dreamed a dream again! And hey! The sun and the moon and eleven stars mishtachavim to me!” And he reported [it] to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him: “What is this dream that you dreamed? Will we actually come, I and your mother and your brothers, lehishtachot to the ground to you?” And his brothers were jealous of him, and his father observed the matter. (Genesis/Bereishit 37:9-11)

mishtachavim (מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים) = were bowing down, were prostrating themselves. (From the root verb sh–ch–h, שׁחה = bow down deeply in humility, do homage.)

lehishtachot (לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺת) = to bow down. (Also from the root sh-ch-h.)

Joseph’s Second Dream, by Owen Jones, 1865

Joseph’s father, Jacob (a.k.a. Israel), is over 100 years old at this time, and so far the Torah has not mentioned him bowing down to anyone except his brother, Esau.

The previous prostration

That happened in the Torah portion Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43), when the two brothers met again after a twenty-year estrangement. Esau had vowed to kill his brother after Jacob had cheated him out of both his birthright and the blessing he expected from their father. Jacob had fled to his uncle’s house in Charan. When he finally headed home again, after acquiring a large family and his own fortune, he learned that Esau was coming down the road with 400 men to intercept him. Jacob did everything he could think of to prevent disaster: sending his brother generous gifts ahead of time, praying to God, and finally, as Esau came into view with his troop,

He himself went across to face him, vayishtachu to the ground seven times, until he came up to his brother. (Genesis 33:3)

vayishtachu (וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ) = and he bowed down, and he prostrated himself. (Also from the root sh-ch-h.)

In the Hebrew Bible, prostrations are a way to demonstrate humility and deference to a superior—usually to a king or to God. By bowing down to Esau seven times, Jacob is symbolically renouncing any advantage he tried to get over Esau in his youth, and demonstrating as graphically as possible that he considers Esau his superior. His prostrations are the equivalent of a puppy rolling over and exposing its throat to an older dog.

Inferior to nobody

After Jacob and his family and servants depart from Esau in peace, he does not bow to anyone for over forty years. Why should he? Jacob, jealous of his twin brother’s extra rights as the firstborn, has always been self-conscious about his position in life. After he failed to secure the rights of a firstborn son by fraud, he labored in Charan for twenty years until he had earned them. Now Jacob is a chieftain with twelve sons, many slaves and employees, and a great wealth of livestock. The chieftain of the town of Shekhem treats Jacob as an equal, and when he makes an offer to Jacob he goes out to his camp instead of summoning him to his own residence in town.¹

Jacob does not bow down to God, either. He first encounters God in the dream with angels on a stairway, and when he wakes up he treats God as someone to bargain with, vowing to give God a tithe of his wealth if God protects him and brings him safely back home.² When Jacob worships God, he does so by pouring oil on a stone or burning animal offerings on an altar.³

Jacob and his people settle somewhere near Hebron/Chevron in Canaan.⁴ After Jacob’s older sons come home from the field without their younger brother and show their father Joseph’s bloody tunic, Jacob thinks his favorite son is dead. He mourns Joseph for 22 years. During that time Joseph is actually living in Egypt, where he rises from slave to viceroy. Finally Joseph sends for his father and his whole extended family in last week’s Torah portion, Vayigash (Genesis 4:18-47:27).

And Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet Israel [a.k.a. Jacob], his father. And he appeared to him, and he fell on his neck and he wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph: “I can die now, after seeing your face, that you are still alive.” (Genesis 46:29-30)

But the prophetic dream Joseph had when he was seventeen is not fulfilled. Jacob’s brothers have already bowed down to him many times, but his father has not.

Jacob does not bow down to Pharaoh, either, when Joseph presents him at court. He greets the king of Egypt with a blessing, and answers Pharaoh’s inquiry about how old he is by saying he is 130, and his life has been hard and short.⁵ Then Jacob blesses the king again, and leaves.

The prophecy fulfilled

Jacob finally bows down for the second time of his life on his deathbed, in this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi (Genesis 47:28-50:26).

Then the time approached for Israel [a.k.a. Jacob] to die, and he called for his son, for Joseph, and said to him: “If, na, I find favor in your eyes, place, na, your hand under my thigh and do a loyal and faithful deed for me: don’t, na, bury me in Egypt. When I lie down with my forefathers, then bring me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial place!” (Genesis 47:29-30)

na (נָא) = please, pray, I beg you.

Joseph gives his word, but Jacob wants the formal hand gesture of an oath as well.⁶

And he [Israel/Jacob] said: “Swear to me!” And he swore to him. Vayishtachu, Israel, upon head of the bed. (Genesis 47:31)

vayishtachu (וַיֱִשְׁתַּחוּ) = and he bowed. (Also from the root sh-ch-h.)

Many classic commentators wrote that Jacob bowed toward the head of his bed, because the presence of God is at the head of the bed of a sick person (and prepositions are ambiguous). But that interpretation implies he was standing up. The Torah has already told us that Jacob is 147, and his death is approaching. I have been at the beside of four people near death, and I believe even Jacob would be too feeble to stand up during his final days.⁷ Perhaps he is seated on his bed, resting against a cushion, and he manages to bow at the waist.

In that case, he is not bowing toward the head of his bed; he is probably bowing to Joseph. This was the opinion of 12^th-century rabbi Shmuel ben Meir, known as Rashbam, who wrote: “ ‘And Israel bowed low’: To Joseph, from the place where he was at [the top of] the bed.”⁸

Rabbi Bachya ben Asher (1255-1340 C.E.), known as Rabbeinu Bachya, added: “Seeing that Joseph had agreed to honour his father by undertaking to fulfill his wishes, Yaakov in turn prostrated himself before him to show that he respected the position Joseph occupied as effective ruler of the country.”⁸

Jacob spent the first hundred years of his life struggling to be the one on top, the one in charge. But during his final years in Egypt, he accepts that his son Joseph is his superior. He knows he is dependent on Joseph to carry out his final request, so he uses the language of an inferior, using the subservient phrase “if I find favor in your eyes” and repeating he word na. Then he uses the gesture of a humble inferior, coming as close as he can to a prostration.

This is the moment when Jacob fulfills the prophecy of the dream his son Joseph had when he was seventeen.

After that, Jacob lives long enough to do the equivalent of rewriting his will, adopting Joseph’s two sons as his own so they will receive shares of the inheritance equal to those of Joseph’s brothers. Jacob also delivers his own prophecies to all his sons, predicting what will happen to the tribes that descend from them. Finally he orders all twelve of his sons to bury him with his deceased family members in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan.

And Jacob completed commanding his sons, and he drew back his feet in the bed, and he expired, and he was gathered to his people. (Genesis 49:33)

One prostration to Joseph before he died was enough for Jacob.

“Honor your father and your mother,” says the fifth of the Ten Commandments in the book of Exodus. In my post Yitro, Mishpatim, & Va-etchanan: Relative or Relevant? Part 1, I suggest that parents should also honor their children. But should they show humble submission to them, as Jacob did by bowing to Joseph on his deathbed?

Nobody would advise submission to a callow seventeen-year-old. But what about when the child is middle-aged, and the parent’s ability to deal with the world is declining in old age? If the adult child is competent and kind, then it would be better to humbly submit to that child’s arrangements than to insist on complete autonomy. I hope that is what I will do when I am considerably older—though I do not expect to live to age 147!

Genesis 34:6-24.
Genesis 28:20-22.
Jacob’s journey south from Shekhem ends at the home of his father, Isaac, in Hebron/Chevron (Genesis 35:27). After that, the Torah only says Jacob lives “in the land of Canaan”, without specifying the location. His first stop on the way to Egypt is Beir-sheva, which is south of Chevron.
Genesis 28:16-19, 33:19-20, 35:6, 35:13-14, 46:1.
Genesis 47:7-10.
Biblical Hebrew sometimes uses the word for “thigh”, yareich (יָרֵךְ) as a euphemism for the genitals. According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, midrash written between 630 and 1030 C.E., Jacob said: “O my son! Swear to me by the covenant of circumcision that thou wilt take me up to the burial-place of my fathers in the land of Canaan to the Cave of Machpelah.” (translation of Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 39:13 by sefaria.org)
This is the first of Jacob’s three deathbed scenes. In the second, he has to summon his strength (vayitchaek, וַיִּתחַזֵּק) to sit up in bed.
Both quotations are from sefaria.org.

Toledot & Vayishlach: Wrestlers

(This week’s Torah portion is Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1-40:23), the beginning of Joseph’s story. But before I write about Jacob’s favorite son, I have more to say about Jacob, a.k.a. Israel, and whom he wrestles with—both face to face and alone—in last week’s portion, Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43).)

Jacob spends the first sixty years of his life wrestling—with his brother, with his uncle, with God, and with himself—always maneuvering to steal the privileges that he is, or feels, unentitled to.

Wrestling over a birthright

Twins wrestle in Rebecca’s womb at the beginning of the Torah portion Toledot (Genesis 25:19-28:10). Esau is born first, so in the world of the ancient Israelites he is entitled to inherit twice as much of their father Isaac’s wealth as his brother. He is also slated to become the head of the extended family and to serve as its priest.

And after that his brother came out and his hand was hanging on to Esau’s akeiv, so they called his name Ya-akov. And Isaac was sixty years old when they were born. (Genesis 25:26)

akeiv (עָקֵב) = heel.

Ya-akov (ֺיַעֲקֺב‎) = “Jacob” in English. (From ya-ekov, יַעְקֺב = he grasps by the heel, he cheats; from the same root as akeiv.)

The Birth of Esau and Jacob, by Master of Jean de Mandeville,
Bible Historiale, 1360’s

Even at birth, Jacob did not want to be left behind. Judging by his later attempts to cheat Esau out of his firstborn rights, this detail about his birth might even mean that Jacob was trying to pull Esau back so he could come out first.

Jacob gets his foolish brother to agree to swap his rights for a bowl of lentil stew.¹ But there are no witnesses to that transaction, so he is still insecure. When their blind father, Isaac, summons Esau to receive a deathbed blessing, Jacob follows instructions from their mother, Rebecca, to impersonate Esau and appropriate the blessing.² Then he flees to his uncle’s house in Charan so Esau will not murder him.

Wrestling with an uncle and a guilty conscience

Jacob spends twenty years in Charan in the Torah portion Vayeitzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3), wrestling verbally with his uncle Lavan, who also becomes his employer and father-in-law. Jacob’s first goal is to marry Lavan’s younger daughter, Rachel, but he arrives without any goods he can offer as a bride-price, and instead of bargaining with Lavan he generously offers to work for him as a shepherd for seven years. I believe Jacob handicaps himself because he feels guilty about impersonating Esau and lying to his father. (See my post Vayishlach: Message Failure.)

Lavan turns out to be no more honorable than Jacob was when he stole Esau’s blessing. In a surprise move, he switches brides on Jacob’s first wedding day, then gets him to agree to serve another seven years of unpaid labor so he can marry the daughter he wanted in the first place.³ Jacob’s guilt still prevents him from trying to make a better bargain.

But after fourteen years of service, Jacob wins the next round of bargaining by claiming the black sheep and spotted goats as his wages henceforth. Lavan agrees, then tries to cheat him by removing all the animals of that description from the flock ahead of time. But Jacob breeds more of them, and in six years he is richer than his uncle.⁴ Lavan and his kinsmen simmer with resentment.

Once again Jacob has to flee, this time heading back to Canaan with his large household and his flocks. His route skirts the land of Edom, where Esau has become the chieftain. In the Torah portion Vayishlach, he sends a propitiating message to his twin brother, and his messengers return with the news that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men. Hastily Jacob assigns some of flocks to his servants to bring to Esau as gifts. Then he transports his whole family and the rest of his servants and flocks across the Yabok River, and returns to the other side alone.⁵

Wrestling the wrestler

Jacob Wrestling with an Angel, by James J.J. Tissot, ca. 1900

And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn rose. (Genesis 32:25)

At night this “man” apparently looks and feels like a human being, and even injures Jacob’s hip.⁶ But at dawn it becomes apparent that the wrestler is not human.

Then he [the “man”]said: “Let me go, because the dawn is rising.” And he [Jacob] said: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Genesis 32:27)

Desperate to protect himself and his family from Esau, Jacob has already sent his brother lavish gifts, and reminded God of their deal twenty years before.⁷ Now he tries to extract a blessing from the mysterious wrestler. What he gets is a second name.

And he [the “man”] said: “It will no longer be said [that] Ya-akov is your name, but instead Yisrael, because sarita with gods and with men and you have hung on.” (Genesis 32:29)

Yisrael (יִשְׂרָאֵל) = “Israel” in English. (Possibly yisar, יִשַׂר = he strives with, contends with (a form of the verb sarah, שׂרָה = strive; contend) + Eil, אֵל = God, a god; therefore: he strives with God. On the other hand, a subject usually follows a verb in Biblical Hebrew, so Yisrael could mean “God strives” or “God contends”.)

sarita (שָׂרִיתָ) = you have striven with, contended with. (Another form of the verb sarah.)

The wrestler knows that Jacob has already striven with humans; he was born hanging onto his brother’s heel, and he maneuvered against Esau in Canaan, and Lavan in Charan. Now he has striven with a being that might be God, or at least one of God’s messengers.

And Jacob inquired and said: “Please tell me your name.” But he [the “man”] said: “Why do you ask for my name?!” And he blessed him there. (Genesis 32:30)

Perhaps the mysterious wrestler says “Why do you ask for my name?” because God’s angelic messengers have no names.⁸

Blessings are usually spelled out verbally in the book of Genesis,⁹ like prophecies and promises. But the statement that someone blessed someone else may follow or precede the actual blessing; the text does not bother about the exact chronological order. In this case, the unnamed messenger’s blessing is: “It will no longer be said [that] Ya-akov is your name, but instead Yisrael”.

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniyeil, “Because I have seen God panim to panim yet my life was saved.” (Genesis 32:31)

Peniyeil (פְּנִיאֵל) = Face of God (penei,פְּמֵי= face of + Eil).

panim (פָּנִים) = face, faces.

Jacob is now convinced that he wrestled until dawn with a manifestation of God.

But it also makes sense to say that Jacob wrestled with himself, as one aspect (or face, or camp¹⁰) of his psyche strove against another. Among the many commentators who have reached this conclusion are Shmuel Klitsner, who wrote that Jacob’s conscious mind wrestles with his unconscious;¹¹ Jonathan Sacks, who wrote that the person he wants to be wrestles with the person he really is;¹² and David Kasher, who wrote that his instinct to use guile in order to achieve control wrestles with his underdeveloped faith in God.¹³

Perhaps the question “Why do you ask for my name?” arises because one side of Jacob already knows he is wrestling with himself.

Ya-akov and Yisrael meet face to face at dawn. Neither side wins the wrestling match. The stalemate at dawn could be a triumphant integration. But it does not last. After Jacob/Israel settles at Shekhem in the land of Canaan, his sons begin taking control over the family away from him.

For the rest of his life, he alternates between complaining about being cheated by his sons, and calmly doing what he must while leaving outcome to God.

It is hard to walk your own path in life instead of trying to get what someone else has. And it is hard to find peace and clarity when you have a pair of camps facing one another inside you.

I spent the first sixty years of my own life wrestling with myself. On one side, I want to do all the right things for other people; on the other side, I want to succeed at my calling. Age has refined my ethics and softened my desire for public success. I am still a pair of camps confronting one another. But now when I face my other self, I smile in recognition.

Genesis 25:29-34. See my 2011 post Bereishit & Toledot: Seeing Red.
Genesis 27:1-30. See my 2012 post Toledot: Rebecca Gets It Wrong.
Genesis 29:15-30. See my post Toledot: Unrequited Love.
Genesis 30:25-43.
Genesis 32:4-24. See last week’s post, Vayeitzei & Vayishlach: Pair of Camps, and my 2021 post, Vayishlach: Message Failure.
Genesis 32:26 implies that the wrestler dislocates Jacob’s hip, but Genesis 32:33 implies an attack of sciatica.
Genesis 32:10-13, in reference to Genesis 28:10-22.
According to Judges 13:16-18 and Genesis Rabbah 78:4.
See Genesis 9:1-7, 12:2-3, 14:19-20, 16:10-12, 22:15-18, 24:60, 26:2-4, 27:28-29, 27:39-40, 28:1-4, 35:9-12, 48:10-16, 48:20, and 49:1-28. Exceptions are Genesis 32:1 and 47:7.
See last week’s post, Vayeitzei & Vayishlach: Pair of Camps.
Shmuel Klitsner, Wrestling Jacob: Deception, Identity, and Freudian Slips in Genesis, Urim Publications, Jerusalem, 2006, pp. 126-127.
Jonathan Sacks, Covenant & Conversation, “Be Thyself: Vayishlach 5781”.
David Kasher, ParshaNut, “The Man in the Midrash”, Parshat Vayishlach.

Vayeitzei & Vayishlach: Pair of Camps

A man’s firstborn son gets extra rights, according to the Torah. After his father dies, the firstborn inherits twice as much wealth as any of his brothers, becomes the head of his extended family, and (until the Israelites receive other instructions in the book of Numbers/Bemidbar) serves as the family’s priest¹.

Jacob covets the rights of the firstborn so much that he tries to steal them from Esau twice: first by trading a bowl of lentil pottage for the rights,² later by impersonating Esau to get their blind father’s blessing.³

The Mess of Pottage, by James Tissot, ca. 1900 (Esau is suitably hirsute, but why does Jacob have a full beard?)

The first time, Esau is so famished he hardly notices he has lost anything. But the second time, Esau is beside himself with rage, and Jacob flees to his uncle Lavan’s house in Charan, bringing nothing but what he can carry on foot.

Divine Camp

One night along the way, at the beginning of the Torah portion Vayeitzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3), he falls asleep outdoors with a stone for a pillow, and he sees God’s messengers—i.e. angels.

And he dreamed, and hey! A ramp was set on the ground, and its top was reaching to the heavens. And hey! God’s messengers went up and down on it. (Genesis/Bereishit 28:12)

Then God speaks to him in his dream and promises to guard him and return him to the land of Canaan, which his myriad descendants (not Esau’s) will eventually possess.

Jacob Pouring Oil on the Stone,
Cassell’s Illustrated Family Bible, ca. 1880

Is Jacob relieved and grateful when he wakes up? No. He does not trust God to keep a promise. So he sets his stone pillow upright and pours oil on it, then vows that if God really does protect him and return him safely, he will give God a tenth of whatever wealth he acquires.

Jacob acquires no wealth at all during first fourteen years in Charan, only wives and children. He works for his uncle Lavan for seven years in order to marry Lavan’s younger daughter Rachel. When Lavan switches daughters at the wedding, Jacob meekly agrees to work another seven years so he can have both Rachel and Leah. Only after he has served Lavan for fourteen years does he ask for a shepherd’s regular wages: a share of animals from the flock. During his final six years in Charan, Jacob gets rich through clever livestock breeding. When he finally leaves and sets off for Canaan, he is the owner of a great wealth of livestock, and the head and priest of a household.⁴ Through his own hard work and intelligence, he has attained everything a firstborn son would inherit.

One night along the way back to Canaan, at the end of the Torah portion Vayeitzei, Jacob sees God’s messengers again.

Jacob went on his way, and God’s messengers confronted him. And Jacob said as he saw them: “This is a machaneh of God!” And he called the name of that place Machanayim. (Genesis 32:2-3)

machaneh (מַחֲנֶה) = camp, group of temporary shelters erected in a defensive circle.

machanayim (מַחֲנָיִם) = pair of camps, double camp. (Machaneh + dual suffix -ayim, ־ָיתם.)

This is the first time the word machaneh appears in the Torah. Repeating the word in the dual form is unusual; the Torah often refers to a pair of eyes, for example, but camps do not usually come in pairs. What Jacob observes is that the same place holds two camps: his earthly camp of people and animals, and God’s heavenly “camp” of angelic messengers.

Or does the heavenly camp also belong to Jacob? He is the one who sees angels, whether they stay in the background going up and down between heaven and earth, or they confront him at a campsite. Perhaps the word machanayim also refers to a pair of camps, or roles, within the same person: Jacob as a clan leader focused on wealth and progeny, and Jacob as a priest who sees angels and carries his grandfather Abraham’s blessing and connection with God. Jacob’s two roles are not in conflict yet. His return to Canaan liberates him from the man who took advantage of him for twenty years. At last he is an independent head of household! But his return is also a step toward fulfilling his promise to God.

Two human camps

With both sides of his life going well, Jacob feels confident enough to send his own, human messengers to his estranged brother Esau at the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43).

Jacob, by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, ca. 1510

The messengers return with the news that Esau is coming to meet him, accompanied by 400 men—the right size for a fighting unit. Jacob’s new confidence collapses.

Jacob was very afraid, and shaped by distress; so he divided the people who were with him, and the flock and the herd and the camels, into two machanot. And he said: “If Esau comes to the first machaneh and strikes it down, the remaining machaneh might survive.” (Genesis 32:8-9)

machanot (מַחֲנוֹת) = camps. (The plural of machaneh, rather than the dual form.)

Why does he call his two camps simply “camps” (machanot), rather than “a pair of camps” (machanayim)? The two camps at the place he named Machanayim had two different owners: himself and God (or perhaps his materialistic side and his spiritual side). They faced one another like nonidentical twins, like impulsive Esau versus scheming Jacob.

But the two camps at the Yabok River are both Jacob’s property. One group consists of the animals he designates as gifts to Esau, along with the servants in charge of each drove. He sends them ahead to meet Esau and his 400 men on the road.⁵

The other group consists of the animals, servants, and other belongings he plans to keep for himself, along his own family: his two wives, two concubines, eleven sons, and one daughter. He leads this “camp” across the Yabok River, then returns to the other side to spend the rest of the night alone.⁶

But before sending his two camps in different directions, Jacob prays, begging God to rescue him and his family from Esau. He introduces his prayer by saying:

“I am too insignificant for all the loyal-kindnesses and all the fidelity that you have done for your servant; for I crossed this Jordan with [only] my staff, and now I have become two machanot.” (Genesis 32:11)

He uses the word machanot again because he is thinking about his two camps of people and animals. But at the beginning of the sentence, he uses the word for “insignificant”⁷ for two different purposes. On one level, Jacob is thanking God for his fertility and prosperity, enough for two camps of actual people and animals. Saying that he himself is insignificant gives more credit to God for his material success. On another level, Jacob still feels insignificant, not only because he was born second, but also because he knows he is guilty of tricking Esau twice, and his brother’s enmity is justified. Thus Jacob’s language is two-sided, coming from two internal camps.

And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn rose. (Genesis 32:25)

If Jacob is alone, are Jacob and the “man” two psychological camps inside one person? If so, does the wrestling match make Jacob whole? See next week’s post: Toledot & Vayishlach: Face to Face.

We are all like Jacob in some way. I was the older child in my family, and one of my parents’ favorite stories was about when they brought home two treats and let my younger sister choose hers first. She said, “I want Melissa’s!”

Many years later, after my sister published a novel, I wanted the same success. Neither of us would have changed places with the other; we only wanted the same advantages—like Jacob, who wanted all the advantages of the firstborn without being rash and slow on the uptake like Esau.

It is hard to walk your own path in life instead of trying to get what someone else has. And if you try, you might find yourself face to face with a person you did not know was there.

The Levites replace the firstborn sons of all other tribes in Numbers 3:5-13 and 3:44, when religious worship is professionalized.
Genesis 25:29-34.
Genesis 27:1-38.
Jacob’s wealth and household are described in Genesis 31:17-18, 32:6, and 32:23. He acts as a priest by setting up an altar at Shekhem in Genesis 33:20 and at Beit-Eil in Genesis 35:7.
Genesis 32:14-22.
Genesis 32:23-25.
The Hebrew word is katonti, קָטֺנתִּי = I am small, young, trifling, insignificant.