Motivators – Parashat Vayishlach

Art is a great motivator to get less textually oriented students involved in class. Have students compare three renditions of Yaakov and Esav's reunion as an entrée to Chapter 33 and the questions it raises. For details, see Yaakov and Esav's Reunion in Art.

Introduce students to the story of Yaakov's wrestling with the "אִישׁ" in Chapter 32 by listening to Shlomo Carlebach's song, "וְנִשְׂגַּב ה' לְבַדּוֹ", available here. Afterwards, have them discuss (as a class, with a neighbor, or in journals) the following questions:

• What emotions does the song evoke? What might have motivated the composer to choose such a tune for this story? Does the tone of the tune match the tone of the event?
• Note which words in the song are part of the text of this chapter and which are from elsewhere. What might have led the composer to connect the two verses?

After students learn various approaches to the story (see Wrestling With Angels and Men for sources and analysis), have them vote which approach they think the composer had in mind when writing the song. As a follow-up activity, students can compose their own tune or attach the words to an already known song which they think captures the mood of the verse and present it to the class.

• Was Esav a good, bad or neutral character? See A Portrait of Esav for details.
• Were Shimon and Levi justified in killing Shekhem and the men of the city? See Sin and Slaughter in Shekhem for sources and discussion.