Perush on Parsha Vayishlakh (Bereshit/Genesis 32:4-36:4) – The “man” Jacob grappled with, and Martial Arts in the Encounter

Question and Comments from Jeremy ben-Daniel:

Who was the man who wrestled with Ya`qov? Was it indeed a man (ish)?`Esav? Melkhitzedeq (Shem)? Was it an angel?Was it, as the Talmud indicates, `Esav’s ‘angel’? Why did `Esav have an angel assigned to begin with? Or was it a fallen angel/exile/nephil? Did Ya`qov wrestle against gods (elohim) or for God (Elohim), or both? When he saw the face of God, was this a spiritual experience, or the sight of a physical being, or both?

Rashi notes the following: 32:5. And he commanded them, saying, “So shall you say to my master to Esau, ‘Thus said your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and I have tarried until now.

I have sojourned: Heb. גַּרְתִּי. I did not become an officer or a dignitary, but a stranger (גֵּר) . It is not worthwhile for you to hate me on account of your father’s blessing, [with] which he blessed me (27:29):“You shall be a master over your brothers,” for it was not fulfilled in me (Tanchuma Buber Vayishlach 5). Another explanation: גַּרְתִּי has the numerical value of 613. That is to say: I lived with the wicked Laban, but I kept the 613 commandments, and I did not learn from his evil deeds.

Interesting that this word that derives from Ger, for sojourn, or to be a stranger (in this case he was a stranger/Ger/convert for God even among his idolatrous and wicked blood relative). That this term, apparently Gerati. Here, just before Jacob becomes Israel, the father of our people, he speaks of being a convert/stranger, which just so happens to have the numerical value of 613, representing the Torah’s 613 mitzvot.

Reply from Micah ben-David Naziri:

These are excellent questions achi Jeremy. Im yirtzeh ha’Shem you will find the following response a good answer to your questions. In addition to what you have noted achi, i also like Rashi’s interpretation of garti as meaning that Jacob kept the Torah and mitzvot even while living amongst the wickedness of Laban.

Another explanation: גַּרְתִּי has the numerical value of 613. That is to say: I lived with the wicked Laban, but I kept the 613 commandments, and I did not learn from his evil deeds.

 

דבר אחר גרתי בגימטריא תרי”ג, כלומר עם לבן הרשע גרתי ותרי”ג מצות שמרתי ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים:

Here we see another example of the path of the Torah existing before what Moses received – perhaps being actual Angelic traditions that were never formulated for any specific prophet, but were imitated by all who came in contact with them from the Angels. But we also see from garti that doing Yahadut – “Judaism”, the Praising of Yah – is being a stranger amongst the wicked and being out of step because of the mitzvot; which have been customs which have made the Jewish people seem strange and defiant of assimilation; thus provoking the antipathy of whatever dominant culture which took notice. Today Jews are more accepted and have more power in the West. Why? Because most Jews have assimilated. Those who have not have become caricatures more or less and can safely be laughed at by the dominant culture, so that they are no longer considered a real threat to assimilation.

Who was the man he wrestled with? This has posed a problem for people because it is said that he was a “man” or ish, but we read in Hosea 12.4 that “he struggled with an angel” (וַיָּשַׂר אֶל מַלְאָךְ), a play on words: yasar el malakh with Yisrael. While he struggled with a man, it was an angel who is called a man. Thus, ish (אש) is related to aish (איש) or fire, because the human being is not only animal, but also has the divine, angelic fire. Thus we see here the relationship between man and the angels, just as in the story of Abraham and Lot with the angels, and that the angels – the angel here regarded by Jacob as one of the elohim, who he saw “face to face” (אֱלֹהִים פָּנִים אֶל פָּנִים) – are in the form of man just as man is in the form of the Elohim (וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ).

So Rashi must assume that this was an angel who represented Esau, even though Rashi considers Esau wicked and does not explain why he would be so defended. It is clear that the divine being has intervened not on behalf of Esau but on behalf of Jacob – if only he knew – to prevent him from fleeing, from facing his brother and owning up to his responsibilities and karma, which he was a master at circumventing. That Hosea says it is one of the elohim and an angel makes his need to disappear at dawn make more sense to later tradition; as he would need to stop struggling so that he could make his dawn prayer. Thus we read Hosea says שָׂרָה אֶת-אֱלֹהִים (sarah et-elohim, a play on the name Sarah), followed by the aforementioned וַיָּשַׂר אֶל מַלְאָךְ (vayasar el malakh, a play on the nameYisrael).

When he instructs Israel that it is nearly dawn, it is clear that Jacob knows why this would matter. Thus, it is either that he understands this is why the angel is asking to leave, or that Jacob knew that he would need to leave at dawn nevertheless. Still, this would be a very easy place to have the story tell of them praying together, or even the angel instructing him that he needs to leave to pray. What this leaves us with is two possibilities:

The mode of Angelic prayer was not entirely the same as Jacob’s prayer – having stricter requirements – and thus Jacob could not be expected to know the method.

The Angel was understood to be visiting for the duration of the night only. He would have been understood to have to leave at dawn for whatever reason and whatever that reason was, it seems that Jacob is assumed to have known it; to know that this Angel could not stay for the day, but had to leave by dawn. We know this is not one of the Nefilim, because of the vantage point of his knowledge. It is for this reason too that we know he is not Esau.

The reality, as well, is that Jacob was very worried about being beaten up by his brother Esau and yet his is able to grapple with this divine being. Still this divine being is able to dislocate Jacob’s hip. What is the meaning of this?

Jacob lacked confidence, even though he had a great mastery of martial arts. Still, he was worried about Esau pummeling him and describes himself as a “mother with children” in the same way that the Torah tells us that Ishmael was a na`ar (נער), a young boy, when he was sent with his mother, even though he was an adult, that Joseph was a na`ar when he was 17 and Dinah was a pre-pubescent na`ar, rather than na`arah.

Now deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, lest he come and strike me, a mother with children. (32.12)

 

הַצִּילֵנִי נָא מִיַּד אָחִי מִיַּד עֵשָׂו כִּי יָרֵא אָנֹכִי אֹתוֹ פֶּן יָבוֹא וְהִכַּנִי אֵם עַל בָּנִים

Thus we read am al banim, with no preceding vav to indicate his fear for his wife and children. If we are to read this as Jacob fearing his wife and children be beaten by Esau, we see in this emphasis of his lack inability to stand up and defend his own wife and children. But we know that at this point in the story, Jacob already has all of his wives with him, and each with children; so a mother with children can only refer to him, a man acting like a vulnerable mother with children who needs someone else to protect him from a violent beast of a man like Esau.

Might the divine being thus have still been able to over power Jacob, but not without killing him? Perhaps the method of grappling of Jacob was superior and the angel knew this but had to let Jacob learn this for himself. The ability to dislocate his joint shows that the angel was both superior in power and also that he was superior in cunning, as it was in grappling that he was able to get close enough to perform this deed, and grappling which Jacob favored.

Thus we read “When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s hip became dislocated as he wrestled with him”, indicating that this dislocation was the purpose of their encounter, because after this we read “And he said, ‘Let me go, for dawn is breaking…” which would not be said if the dislocation had released the angel. This tells us that the nature of their grappling involved locks which did not necessitate brute force, and thus if he had needed to Jacob could have prevailed over Esau and need not fear. Yet the encounter had humbled Jacob, for even though he had learned he could defeat someone far more powerful than himself or even Esau, he learned that there was a limit to his understanding of human power, as this being merely touched his hip socket and dislocated his joint, without any application of force or physical mechanics. This showed him the limits of external martial arts.