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Yaakov's Struggle with the Angel of Adom

 

Yaakov and his household crossed the river Yabok and then Yaakov returned alone to see if he had forgotten anything. A tzadik values the smallest of his possessions and would not let it go to waste, because each of his belongings has been acquired honestly.

    

On the other side of the river, Yaakov met a man who seemed to be a shepherd. Like Yaakov, he had herds of sheep and camels. He suggested to Yaakov, "Let me help you carry your belongings across and then you will help me with mine!" In a flash of an instant, the stranger carried all of Yaakov's baggage over the river. Then Yaakov had to assist him. He shipped the man's camels across, but when he returned, he found still more. He crossed the shepherd's remaining sheep but, upon his return, again found new herds. Yaakov was going back and forth throughout the night, but his task was never-ending.

    

Finally he said, "You must be a magician to be able to perform this kind of trick!"

    

Yaakov took a piece of material with which to stuff the other's throat.

    

"Magician!" Yaakov called out. "Watch out!"

    

But his adversary was not a magician - he was an angel sent by Hashem. "I will show him with whom he is dealing!" said the angel. He stuck his finger into the earth and a volcano of flames erupted. Yaakov, however, was not afraid and said, "Do you think that this frightens me? I am all fire! The house of Yaakov is called a fire!"

    

The meaning of Yaakov's words was, "My descendant and I are a resting place for the shechina which is fire, since we occupy ourselves with the fiery law of Torah."

   

The angel, who was in reality the sar (protecting angel) of Edom, then attacked Yaakov, and attempted to destroy him. Yaakov fought back, and a struggle ensued. Yaakov and the angel wrestled all night long, and the dust which the fight whirled up reached the kisay hakavod (Divine Throne) itself. But the angel remained unable to overcome Yaakov.

    

Yaakov 's nightlong struggle was a forerunner of his descendants' future struggle in the long exile that is compared to night.

The nations attempt to seduce the Jewish people into abandoning the Torah and joining them, promising them greatness and honor. But just as the angel was unable to overpower Yaakov, so will the nations be unsuccessful in uprooting K'lal Yisrael from their Creator.

    

Nevertheless, the angel did succeed in some measure. He managed to dislocate Yaakov's thigh.

    

What is the significance of this act?

    

It points out that during certain periods of exile, Yaakov's descendants will be persecuted to such an extent that they will be near extinction.

     

This was the case in the times of sh'mad when the Jews were afflicted and executed for their faith in Hashem, times such as the generation of the tanna R. Yehuda Ben Bava who, with great self-sacrifice, gave his students s'micha in spite of the Roman ban on Torah-study.

 

One of the Sages stated, "I am willing to sacrifice my life for kiddush Hashem except during times of sh'mad when the tortures inflicted upon the dying Jews are unbearable!"

    

He was referring to the cruel practice of the Ramans who used to heat iron bullets and put them under the victims' elbows so that they should die a slow and painful death.

 

The injury Yaakov suffered at the hand of Aisav's angel was a forecast that Yaakov's descendants would be severely bruised by gentile barbarity but still would never be annihilated.

 

As morning dawned, the battle between Yaakov and Aisav ended, Yaakov emerging the victor. Similarly, the Jewish people will only free itself of gentile domination at the termination of the long exile.

    

At daybreak, the angel requested of Yaakov, "Let me leave, for morning has dawned!"

    

"Who are you to be afraid of the morning light?" Yaakov asked him. "Are you a thief?" Or are you a gambler who wishes to avoid facing his debtors?"

    

"No, I am an angel and this morning my turn has come to sing shira (song) to Hashem for the very first time."

    

"Let your companions say shira instead of you, and you will sing tomorrow in their stead."

    

"This is not allowed. If you will not release me so that I may sing now, I will have missed my turn forever."

    

Yaakov questioned, "What have I done wrong that you were allowed to injure me?"

    

"A talmid chacham (Torah scholar) who goes out at night unaccompanied is in danger of being attacked by mazikim (demons). Why did you not learn from Avraham who brought along his servants on his trip to Har Hamoria so that he would never found himself alone? Further-more, on your way to Lavan you vowed that you would give Hashem a tenth of all your earnings, and you sinned by delaying the fulfillment of your vow. You also did wrong by taking your father's blessing by deceit!"

    

"That is not so," Yaakov protested. "The blessing is mine by right, because I bought the first-born right from Aisav. I will not allow you to depart before you bless me, acknowledging that I have legal right to my father's blessings!"

    

"I cannot do that!"

    

"Why can you not bless me as the angels who came to Avraham blessed him? They only left after they related to him the news that he would have a son."

    

"They were sent for that purpose, but I may not do what was not commanded to me. By doing so, I would be overstepping my boundary and as a punishment would be expelled from my position in Heaven, just as happened to the angels who told Lot, 'We are destroying the city of S'dom,' instead of, 'Hashem is destryoing it.' They were subsequently banished from Hashem's throne for a hundred and thirty-eight years. Do you wish to see me banished from Hashem's throne also?"

    

"I will nevertheless still refuse to dismiss you unless you bless me!"

    

"What is your name?" the angel questioned him.

    

"Yaakov."

    

"Know then that your primary name shall no longer be Yaakov, which denotes, he who took the blessings by deceit, but Yisrael, which implies, you have fought against celestial beings (Aisav's angel), and against mortals (Lavan and Aisav with his chieftains) and you prevailed. You are worthy of your father's blessing!"

    

Yaakov then asked the angel, "What is your name?"

    

"Why do you ask me for my name?" replied the angel. "Angels have no permanent name. Their names change according to the mission they fulfill."

    

Morning had dawned and the angel began to sing shira from the earth even before he returned to Heaven. He raised his voice, lauding and praising Hashem. The Heavenly hosts heard it and exclaimed, "It is in honor of the tzadik that he is allowed to say shira on earth while his voice reaches the Heavens."

 

In memory of the struggle between Yaakov and the angel in which Yaakov's thigh was dislocated, the Torah prohibits eating the gid hana'she (sinew of the thigh-vein).

    

The mitzva of not eating the gid hana'she was observed by Yaakov's sons. When Yosaif ordered that an animal be slaughtered for his brothers, he commanded that the gid hana'she be removed first.

 

The mitzva of removing the gid hana'she from an animal is an assurance to the Jewish people that although they will undergo much suffering at the hands of the nations, they will never be totally eradicated. Just as the angel was unable to destroy Yaakov, and injured only his thigh, so will the nations never uproot K'lal Yisrael entirely, but inflict on them only wounds of a temporary nature. These will be cured in Mashiach's time just as Hashem healed Yaakov.

 

Yaakov was healed in the following manner: When the sun rose, Hashem intensified its light, bringing out for Yaakov that special blazing light which He had created on the first day of Creation and subsequently hidden from the world (to preserve it for the tzaddikim in the future). He now shone these radiant rays upon Yaakov to cure him of his limping.

    

In the future, Hashem will heal all the lame and blind with these very rays.

 

[Rabbi Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says, p.314-318]