Vayishlach

Shabbat Shalom! How was your Thanksgiving? This week's torah portion is Vayishlach, or in English He Sent. Here, we get the next installment of Jacob's story. Though it doesn't have any baby mama drama in it, Vayishlach is full of exciting events. Jacob hears that his brother Esau is coming after him with 400 men (yikes!) so he tries to redeem himself by sending presents to Esau. Esau is one big, hairy, and scary-looking dude but Jacob sends his family away so he can face Esau himself. As he is sleeping alone in the desert, a man attacks him and they wrestle all night. Wait, hold up, I thought we learned in Hebrew School that he wrestled an angel? No, Past Me, I'm pretty sure it was a man. In fact, the torah goes out of its way to say that Jacob wrestled a man. Last week, Jacob had dreams specifically about angels so the torah seems to be specific about what kind of creatures Jacob interacts with. Why a man? Why not an angel? Who even is this guy? Good questions! There are a few theories about where this man came from:

1. He is really Jacob's sub conscience and this is a metaphor for Jacob feeling conflicted about facing Esau,
2. OR the man is Esau and he is finishing the wrestling match he started in Rebecca's womb.

I like both explanations, but the only problem is that Jacob's hip was dislocated during the fight so that takes out option 1. Not only does this man physically change Jacob, he changes Jacob's name. Jacob is winning the wrestling match so the man asks to be let go, but Jacob refuses to let him go with out a blessing. Instead of blessing him, he changes Jacob's name to Israel or Wrestles with God. So the question is now, did Jacob wrestle with a man or with God? The answer is up for interpretation. Jacob names the place where he changed P'niel or The Face of God. If God has a desert for a face, His face must be pretty smooth. Does anyone know what face wash She uses? Kidding, kidding :). Jacob says he sees the face of God when he finally sees Esau after all those years and apologizes for being a bad brother. This shows that the way we see God on earth is by facing people we have wronged, looking into their eyes and knowing that we can change. This week, think about what you wrestle with or regret and face it head on. You might be scared, but seeing God in someone's eyes is worth it.