Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Vayishlach/0/en

Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Vayishlach

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Shimon and Levi on Trial

How do you evaluate Shimon and Levi's slaughter of the city of Shekhem?  Should their actions be justified as an appropriate avenging of their sister's honor or be condemned as overly harsh and cruel?

• With which of the above do you agree?  See Sin and Slaughter of Shekhem and debate the various possibilities at your Shabbat table.
• The story raises the question of the relative benefits of policies of restraint versus active deterrence, the morality of collective punishment versus targeted killings, and the appropriate response to the use of human shields. Discuss these issues with your family as they relate both to the actions of the brothers and to contemporary controversies.

Esav: Friend or Foe?

Parashat Vayishlach opens with Yaakov fearful that Esav is coming to attack with 400 men. When the two actually reunite, however, Esav greets him with a  hug and kiss.  Was the change of heart the result of Yaakov's efforts at appeasement, or is it possible that Yaakov's original evaluation of Esav's intent was erroneous and that Esav had already forgiven his brother?  What is it that enables people to forgive and forget?

• Compare RadakBereshit 33:4About R. David Kimchi and RashbamBereshit 32:7-8About R. Shemuel b. Meir's approaches.  With whom do you agree?
• Rashbam claims that not only was Yaakov's fear of his brother unwarranted, but that his attempts to flee were punished.  What textual support can you bring for such a position? See Wrestling With Angels and Men.
• Rashbam is consistent throughout his commentary on Bereshit in viewing Esav as a neutral, rather than wicked, figure. Do you agree with such a portrait, or do you find the evil Esav of the Midrash to be a more accurate depiction?  See A Portrait of Esav for elaboration.

Wrestling with Angels and Men

One of the highlights of Parashat Vayishlakh is Yaakov's wrestling match with the enigmatic "איש".  Was Yaakov's assailant a person or an angel? On one hand, he is called a "man" rather than a "מַלְאָךְ", suggesting that he was a mortal being.¹  Yet, both he and Yaakov refer to him using the term "אֱלֹהִים", implying that he was some sort of Divine being.  What other evidence can you bring to support either position? ²

• If the assailant was human, who sent him and for what purpose?  Did he accomplish his intended goal?
• If he was Divinely dispatched, why would Hashem desire that Yaakov be maimed?  Many answer that this was Esav's guardian angel, acting for Esav's benefit.  Does this imply that angels might have free will to act on their own? 
• Explore various understandings of the episode in Wrestling With Angels and Men. What you can glean from each commentator regarding their personal beliefs about angels?

Might There be a "Plan B"?

Often, readers of Tanakh assume that its characters always follow through on their original plans, forgetting the possibility that intervening  events might affect their decisions, leading them to a "plan b."  Conversely, often the omniscient reader, knowing the end of the story, forgets that this was not necessarily the only possible scenario, and that Biblical characters might be acting according to a different set of assumptions.  In both sets of cases, positing a change in plan might explain otherwise difficult aspects of the narrative.

• A case in point might be Yaakov's Dividing of his Camp.  He speaks about doing so in Chapter 32, yet in Chapter 33 there is no evidence of two distinct camps. To explain the apparent contradiction, R. Avraham b. HaRambam asserts that intervening events caused Yaakov to actively changed his mind, while Rashbam and Abarbanel suggests that changed circumstances prevented him from acting as he had hoped.
• Challenge your family to think of other cases in Tanakh in which positing a change in plan could answer some textual difficulties or shed new light on a story.³ 

¹ Note, though, that when referencing our story, Hoshea 12:4-5 calls Yaakov's attacker a "מַלְאָךְ". However, in Tanakh, the word "מַלְאָךְ" can connote both a human emissary  as well as a celestial angel.

² Rambam, and others in his wake, suggest a middle possibility, claiming that Yaakov saw an angel, but only in a prophetic dream. How do you think they might understand Yaakov's ensuing limp?  See Ralbag for two possible solutions.

³ Some suggestions:
a) The set-up of the camp in Bemidbar 1: Was this arrangement designed for the Wilderness or the co
b) Revelation - See Rashbam in regarding Hashem's original plane for revealing the 613 commandments.  He posits that had the nation not been afraid,they would have heard all 613 directly from Hashem.
c) See Evolving Plan for several examples throughout Sefer Yehoshua.