Audio Message & Outline Notes for Parashat Vayishlach

Bereshit (Genesis) 32:4-36:43

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I. Introduction

A. Outline *

1. Jacob returns to the Holy Land after a 20-year stay in Charan, and sends angel-emissaries to Esau in hope of reconciliation, but his messengers report that his brother is on the warpath with 400-armed men. Jacob prepares for war, prays, and sends Esau a large gift (consisting of hundreds of heads of sheep and cattle) to appease him. - Ber. 32:4-13
2. That night, Jacob ferries his family and possessions across the Yabbok River; he, however, remains behind and encounters the angel that embodies the spirit of Esau, with whom he wrestles until daybreak. Jacob suffers a dislocated hip but vanquishes the supernal creature, who bestows on him the name Israel, which means "He who prevails over the Divine." - Ber. 32:14- 33
3. Jacob and Esau meet, embrace and kiss, but part ways. Jacob purchases a plot of land near Shechem, whose crown prince -- also called Shechem -- abducts and rapes Jacob's daughter Dinah. Dinah's brothers Simon and Levi avenge the deed by killing all male inhabitants of the city after rendering them vulnerable by convincing them to circumcise themselves. - Ber. 33:1-34:31
4. Jacob journeys on. Rachel dies while giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, and is buried in a roadside grave near Bethlehem. Reuben loses the birthright because he interferes with his father's marital life. Jacob arrives in Hebron, to his father Isaac, who later dies at age 180 (Rebecca has passed away before Jacob's arrival)-. Ber. 35:1-29
5. The parshah concludes with a detailed account of Esau's wives, children and grandchildren, and the family histories of the people of Se'ir among whom Esau settled. - Ber. 36:1-43

B. The benefits of “Spiritual Struggle” – The Butterfly Effect -cp. Rom. 12:1-3

II. Parashat VaYishlach Bereshit 32:2-33:18 – The Butterfly Effect
A. Ya’akov expresses his fear of Esav - Ber 32: -9, cp. Ber 27:41
B. Ya ‘akov prays for God’s to rescue him – Ber.32: 10-12

1. Be careful what you pray for. You just might get it.
2. God’s ways are not our ways – Isa. 40: -14, cp. Rom. 11:33-34

C. Ya ‘akov tries to rescue himself through his own plan – Ber. 32: 14- 24
D. The Wrestling Match – Ber. 32:25- 33

1. Ya'akov was wrestling/ struggling within himself as to whether he would rely upon himself to figure out how to appease his brother Esav or allow God to provide him with a Divine solution for a devilish problem
2. The name of the river Yabbok is a play on words for the Hebrew יאבק - He will wrestle.
3. Who was Ya'akov's wrestling partner?
   
   a. The river demon
   b. The spirit / guardian angel of Esav
   c. Samael/ Satan sent by God to test Ya'akov – cp Job; Rev. 12:10
   d. Ya'akov's inward struggle
   e. The Angel of the Lord who speaks on God's behalf- Michael cp. Dan. 10:20
   f. God Himself
    
4. The Breaking of Ya'acov's will and his inward change.
   
   a. The two names represent the yester hara and the yester hatov
   b. The difference between them is this. The name “Jacob” implies that he acquired the blessings of Isaac "by supplanting and subtlety” (the name in Hebrew, Ya-akov, means he supplanted"). He used cunning to take the blessings, which had been intended, for Esau. "Israel," on the other hand, denotes the receiving of blessings through "noble conduct (Serarah, which is linguistically related to Yisrael, the Hebrew form of Israel), and in an open manner." *
    
5. The only way the 'man' could over power him was to wound him. Cp. Ber. 6:3; James 4:1-12
6. Ya'akov realizes that without the man's blessing he will  have to face Esav in his newly found diminished capacity Ber. 32:26
7. The essence of the change – Ber. 32: 27-28
8. The mystery wrestler revealed – Ber. 32:29- 30

a. A divine being – Hosea 12:3-4
b. God Himself – Ber. 35: 9- 14

E. Ya'acov meets his brother Esav as Yisrael – Ber. 33:1-4

III. Conclusion

A. Struggling to be HaShem's Butterfly
B. Crossing over the river

1. From death to life – John 5:24 – 25
2. From slavery to freedom – Galatians 5:1
3. From who you are to who God wants you to be – 1 Peter 3:9-10
   
   * indicates adapted from www.Chabad.org