What is the weekly Torah portion for this week? Vayishlach — Hebrew for and he sent,” is the eighth weekly Torah portion (parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It is found in Genesis 32:4–36:43. The parashah tells us the following; Jacob returns to the Holy Land after a twenty year stay in Charan. Angel-emissaries are sent to Esau in hopes of reconciliation but his messengers report that his brother is on the warpath with four hundred armed men. Jacob prepares for war, prays, and sends Esau a large gift to appease him. That night, Jacob ferries his family and possessions across the Jabbok River. However, Jacob 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 supernatural creature, who bestows on him the name Israel, which means “he who prevails over the divine.” One of the most beautiful recent Hebrew songs is about Jacobs prayer to God before meeting his brother Esau, as mentioned in this parashah: And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good, I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. (Genesis 32: 9-13) Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem!
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 16:36:57 +0000
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