Torah Stories By Hannah Parasha Vayishlach

This week’s story starts where Ya’akov sent messengers ahead to his brother Esav, in the land of Seir, country of Edom, and instructed them as follows, “Thus shall you say: ‘to my lord Esav, thus says your servant Ya’akov: I stayed with Laban and remained until now; I have acquired cattle, donkeys, sheep, and male and female slaves; and I send this message to my lord in the hope of gaining your favour.’” The messengers returned to Ya’akov saying, “We came to your brother Esav, he himself is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with them.” Ya’akov was greatly frightened; in his anxiety, he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps, thinking, “If Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, the other camp may yet escape.

Then Ya’akov said: “Oh G-d of my father Abraham, and G-d of my father Yitzchak, Oh Lord who said to me, ‘return to your native land, and I will deal bountifully with you!’ I am unworthy of all the kindness that you have so steadfastly shown your servant: With my staff alone I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav; else I fear he may come and strike me down, mothers and children alike. Yet you have said, ‘I will deal bountifully with you and make your offspring as the sands of the sea which are too numerous to count.’”

After spending the night there, he selected from what was at hand these presents for his brother Esav: 200 she goats, and 20 he goats; 200 ewes, and 20 rams, 30 milch camels with their colts; 40 cows and 10 bulls; 20 she donkeys and 10 he donkeys. These he put in the charge of his servants, drove by drove, and he told his servants: “go on ahead, and keep a distance between droves.” He instructed the one in front as follows, “When my brother Esav meets you, and asks you, ‘whose man are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you?” you shall answer, “your servant Ya’akov’s; they are gifts sent to my lord Esav; and Ya’akov himself is right behind us.’” He gave similar instructions to the second one, and the third, and all the others who followed the droves namely, “Thus and so shall you say to Esav when you reach him, and you shall add, ‘And your servant Ya’akov himself is right behind us’” for he reasoned, “if I propitiate him with presents in advance and then face him, perhaps he will show me favour.” And so the gift went on ahead, while he remained in camp that night.

That same night he arose and, taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his 11 children, he crossed the ford of the Jabbok after taking them across the stream, he sent across all his possessions. Ya’akov was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Ya’akov’s hip at its socket so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Said the other, “What is your name?” He replied, “Ya’akov.” Said he, “your name shall no longer be Ya’akov, but Yisrael, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” Ya’akov asked, “Pray tell me your name.” But he said, “You must not ask my name!” And he took leave of him there. So Ya’akov named the place Peniel, meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face yet my life has been preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping on his hip. That is why the children of Yisrael to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Ya’akov’s hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle.

Looking up, Ya’akov saw Esav coming, accompanied by 400 men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maids, putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Yosef last. He himself went on ahead and bowed low to the ground seven times until he was near his brother. Esav ran to greet him, he embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept. Looking about, he saw the women and the children. “Who,” he asked, “are these with you?” He answered, “The children with whom G-d has favoured your servant.” Then the maids with their children came forward and bowed low. Next, Leah with her children came forward and bowed low. And last, Yosef and Rachel came forward and bowed low. And he asked, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” He answered, “To gain my lord’s favour.” Esav said, I have enough, my brother; let what you have remain yours.” But Ya’akov said, “No, I pray you, if you will do me this favour, accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of G-d, and you have received me favourably. Please accept my present which has been brought to you, for G-d has favoured me and I have plenty.” And when he urged him, he accepted.

And Esav said, “Let us start on our journey, and I will proceed at your pace.” But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing are a care to me; if they are driven hard a single day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I travel slowly, at the pace of the cattle before me and at the pace of my children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

Then Esav said, “Let me assign to you some of the men who are with me,” But he said, “Oh no, my lord is too kind to me!” So Esav started back that day on his way to Seir. But Ya’akov journeyed on to Succoth and built a house for himself and made stalls for his cattle; that is why the place was called Succoth.

Ya’akov arrived safe in the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan – having come thus form Paddan-aram – and he encamped before the city. The parcel of land where he pitched his tent he purchased from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred kesitahs. He set up an altar there and called it El-elohe-yisrael.

Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Ya’akov, went out to visit the daughters of the land. Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, chief of the country, saw her and took her and lay with her by force. Being strongly drawn to Dinah, daughter of Ya’akov, and in love with the maiden, he spoke to the maiden tenderly, so Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

Ya’akov heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Ya’akov kept silent until they came home. Then Shechem’s father Hamor came out to Ya’akov to speak to him. Meanwhile, Ya’akov’s sons, having heard the news, came in from the field. The men were distressed and very angry because he had committed an outrage in Yisrael by lying with Ya’akov’s daughter – a thing not to be done. And Hamor spoke with them saying, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage. Intermarry with us, give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves: You will dwell among us, and the land will be open before you; settle, move about, and acquire holdings in it.” Then Shechem said to her father and brothers, “Do me this favour and I will pay whatever you tell me. Ask of me a bride price ever so high as well as gifts and I will pay what you tell me: only give me the maiden for a wife.”

Ya’akov’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor – speaking with guile because he had defiled their sister Dinah – and said to them, “We cannot do this thing. To give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace among us. Only on this condition will we agree with you; that you will become like us in that every male among you is circumcised. Then we will give our daughters to you, and take your daughters to ourselves; and we will dwell among you, and become as one family. But if you will not listen to us and become circumcised, we will our daughter and go.”

Their words pleased Hamor’s son Shechem, and the youth lost no time in doing the thing. For he wanted Ya’akov’s daughter. Now he was most respected in his father’s house. So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public place of their town and spoke to their fellow townsmen saying, “These people are our friends; let them settle in the land and move about in it, for the land is large enough for them; we will take their daughters for ourselves as wives and give our daughters to them, but only on this condition will the men agree with us, to dwell among us and be as one family: Let all our males become circumcised as they are circumcised. Their cattle and substance and all their beasts will be ours if we only agree to their terms so that they will settle among us.” All who went out of the gate of his town heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and all males; all those who went out of the gate of his town were circumcised.

On the third day, when they were in pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Ya’akov’s sons, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword, came upon the city unmolested, and slew all the males. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. The other sons of Ya’akov came upon the slain and plundered the town, because their sister had become defiled. They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys. All that was inside the town and outside; all their wealth all their children and their wives, all that was in the houses they took as captives and booty. Ya’akov said to Simeon and Levi, “you have brought trouble on me, making me abhorrent among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my men are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed.” But they answered, “Should our sister be treated like a whore?”

G-d said to Ya’akov, “Arise, go up to Bethel and remain there; and build an altar there to the G-d who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esav.” So Ya’akov said to his household to all who were with him, “Rid yourselves of the alien gods in your midst, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. Come let us go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the G-d who answered me when I was in distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” They gave to Ya’akov all the alien gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears, and Ya’akov buried them under the terebinth that was near Shechem. As they set out, a terror from G-d fell on the cities round about so that they did not pursue the sons of Ya’akov.

Thus Ya’akov came to Luz – that is, Bethel – in the land of Canaan. He and all the people who were with him. There he built an altar, and named the site El-bethel, for it was there that G-d had revealed himself from him as he was fleeing from his brother.

Devorah, Rivkah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon-bacuth.

G-d appeared again to Ya’akov on his arrival from Paddan-aram and He blessed him, G-d said to him,

“You whose name is Ya’akov,

You shall be called Ya’akov no more.

But Yisrael shall be your name.”

Thus He named him Yisrael.

And G-d said to him,

“I am El Shaddai.

Be fertile and increase;

A nation, yeah an assembly of nations,

Shall descend from you.

Kings shall issue from your loins.

The land that I assigned to Abraham and Yitzchak

I assign to you;

And to your offspring to come

Will I assign the land.”

G-d parted from him at the spot where He has spoken to him; and Ya’akov set a pillar at the site where He had spoken to Him, a pillar of stone, and he offered a drink offering on it and poured oil upon it. Ya’akov gave the site where G-d had spoken to him the name of Bethel.

They set out from Bethel; but when they were still some distance short of Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labour. When her labour was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Have no fear for it is another boy for you.” But as she breathed her last – for she was dying – she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath – now Bethlehem. Over her grave Ya’akov set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day. Yisrael journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder. Picture from www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

While Yisrael stayed in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Yisrael found out.

Now the sons of Ya’akov were twelve in number, the sons of Leah: Reuben – Ya’akov’s firstborn – Simeon, Levi, Yehudah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Yosef and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan, and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Ya’akov who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

And Ya’akov came to his father Yitzchak at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba – now Hebron – where Abraham and Yitzchak had sojourned. Yitzchak was 180 years old when he breathed his last and died. He was gathered to his kin in ripe old age. And he was buried by his sons. Esav and Ya’akov.

Isaac’s tomb: picture from www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

This is the line of Esav – that is Edom.

Esav took his wives from among the Canaanite women – Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite – and also Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. Adah gave birth to Esav Eliphaz; Basemath gave birth to Reuel; and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam and Korah. Those were the sons of Esav who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

Esav took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle, and all his livestock, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land because of his brother Ya’akov, for their possessions were too many for them to dwell together. And the land where they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock. So Esav settled in the hill country of Seir – Esav being Edom.

This then is the line of Esav, the ancestors of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

These are the names of Esav’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esav’s wife, Adah; Reuel, the son of Esav’s wife Basemath. The sons of Eliphaz were: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. Timnah was a concubine of Esav’s son Eliphaz. She gave birth to Amalek to Eliphaz. Those were the descendants of Esav’s wife Adah. And these were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. Those were descendants of Esav’s wife, Basemath. And these were the sons of Esav’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon: She gave birth to Esav Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

These are the clans of the children of Esav. The descendants of Esav’s firstborn Eliphaz: The clans Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kennaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the clans of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. Those are the descendants of Adah. And these are the descendants of Esav’s son Reuel: The clans Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom. Those are the descendants of Esav’s wife, Basemath. And these are the descendants of Esav’s wife Oholibamah: The clans Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the clans of Esav’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. Those were the sons of Esav – that is, Edom – and those are their clans. These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were settled in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. Those are the clans of the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.

The sons of Lotan were Hori, and Hemam; And Lotan’s sister was Timna. The sons of Shobal were these: Aiah and Anah – that was the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the wilderness while pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. The children of Anah were these: Dishon, and Anah’s daughter Oholibamah. The sons of Dishon were these: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Cheran. The sons of Ezer were these: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. And the sons of Dishan were these: Uz and Arran.

These were the clans of the Horites: The clans Lothan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. Those are the clans of the Horites, clan by clan in the land of Seir.

These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Yisraelites. Belah, son of Beor reigned in Edom and the name of his city was Dinhabah. When Belah died, Jobab, son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king. When Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad who defeated the Mideanites in the country of Moab succeeded him as king. The name of his city was Avith. When Hadad died Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him as king. When Samlah died, Saul of Rehoboth-on-the-river succeeded him as king. When Saul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor succeeded him as king. When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab.

These are the clans of Esav, each with its families and locality, name by name: The clans Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. Those are the clans of Edam – that is of Esav, father of the Edomites – by their settlements in the land which they hold.