The Sidra of Vayishlach begins with the story of Jacob’s return to the land of Canaan after 20 years of absence. He was extremely concerned about meeting Esau, and was determined to do all in his power to secure peaceful coexistence with him. Therefore, he sent messengers to speak to him as humbly as they possibly could. The messengers returned with the report that they came to Esau and saw that he was marching towards him with 400 men. It seems that the messengers did not speak to Esau at all and did not have any idea why he was being accompanied by 400 men. Jacob assumed that they were soldiers and his immediate response was that of extreme fear and worry. He still had guilty conscience about what had happened when he stole the blessing. He did not want to fight. He was a man of peace. He didn’t want any member of his family to be hurt and he had no interest hurting anyone in Esau’s camp.
Our rabbis of the Midrash explained all the stories about our Patriarchs on the basis of the principle of MA’ASEH AVOT SIMAN LABANIM. This means that the lives of the three patriarchs are to be regarded as a prophetic reflection of what was to happen to the Jewish people throughout history. Jacob was reluctant to go to war against Esau. In the same way, the Jewish people have always been reluctant to go out to war. Today, Israel is most anxious to make peace with its neighbours and only goes out to war in order to defend itself.
As part of his preparations, Jacob divided his camp into two or more camps. The hint to divide his camp into at least two camps had been given to him when angels appeared to him as he was returning to the Land of Canaan, as reported in the last verses of the previous Sidra of Vayetze. The last word of that Sidra is Machanayim, which means two camps. This explains why chapter 32 begins three verses before the end of the Sidra of VAYETZE, rather than in the beginning of our Sidra. Jacob’s strategy was that if Esau would attack, he would strike the first camp and then stop the fighting, not knowing that there existed another camp. Our commentators also say that Jacob placed his wives and children in yet another third camp which was located at a further distance. Another thought which Jacob had in mind was that once the first camp would be engaged in battle, the other camps would be able to escape. Nachmanides, the great mediaeval commentator, remarks that this, too, happened throughout Jewish history. However ferocious the attacks have been against us and however many Jews were murdered, some always managed to escape, so that the Jewish people survived.
Jacob also prepared himself for the meeting with a prayer. The prayer begins at chapter 32 verse 10 and is the first prayer in the Bible. We know exactly what Jacob said. It was a most moving prayer in which Jacob surveyed the past and thanked God for all his previous kind deeds. He then expressed the hope that the Almighty would give him the strength to overcome all the challenges of the future. He placed his confidence on the merits of his father and grandfather. He said to God that he had appeared to him twice. First, when he left home in Beer Sheva and, again, when he left Laban’s house. These two divine revelations encapsulated that 20 year period in Jacob’s early life. It is interesting that, in his reference to the promise that he would become a very large nation, he uses the imagery of the sand of the sea and not the image of the dust of the earth, which is mentioned in the vision of the ladder. The change in the imagery is due to the fact that when God revealed himself to Abraham at the end of the Binding of Isaac, he used the imagery of the sand of the sea. That revelation to Abraham was the most supreme revelation in patriarchal history and Jacob wanted to associate his prayer with that revelation as well.
This Sidra continues with the story of the mysterious fight that Jacob had with a man who met him at night. Jacob emerged victorious as we can gather from the fact that, in the morning, when the man wanted to be released, Jacob refused to do so until he received a blessing. From the fact that Jacob demanded a blessing from the man, we gather that Jacob realised, at least by the end, that he was not an ordinary man at all. According to our rabbis he was Esau’s angel, charged with his security. The Angel acceded to his demand and blessed him by giving him an additional name, Israel. This name comes from the root SRH which means to fight. Accordingly, the entire name means “A Fighter with a divine Angel”. Rashi explains the name as follows: “You will no longer be accused of being Yaakov, in the sense that you obtained the blessing by an act of deception. You will, from now on, possess the blessing by right. Everyone will recognise your status as SAR, the chief, the leader of the family, appointed by an Angel of God.”
In the next scene, beginning in chapter 33, we read of Jacob’s encounter with Esau. Jacob was still extremely apprehensive and again divided his children in different groups, with their mothers. Those whom he loved most, he placed at the furthest distance from the place of meeting. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, cites the well-known Hebrew maxim: ACHARON, ACHARON, CHAVIV. Literally it means: “The last, the last, is the most beloved.” We see that, in its original context, this maxim means that you always place the most precious that you have in the most secure location, as far as possible away from the place of danger. In Modern Hebrew usage the maxim is understood in the same sense as its equivalent English maxim: “Last but not least”.
What is the reason for the repetition of the word ACHARON? It originates from our story in which the word is used twice. In verse two we read: “Jacob placed the maidservants with their children in front. Behind them, he placed Leah, with her children and behind her he placed Rachel and Joseph.” On the basis of this verse, Nachmanides proved, during one of his disputations with Christian clerics, that, in the Bible, the word ACHARON means ‘the one after’. Only in Modern Hebrew it has taken on the meaning of last. When we call up a person to the Torah as an Acharon, we mean that he is the last man and that he is additional to the usual seven.