Vayishlach - 5773

In light of the principle Ma’aseh Avos Siman L’Banim – events in the lives of the patriarchs foretell events in the lives of their children – we look for specific parallels between our current Parshiyos and later Jewish history. The opening verses of Parshas Vayishlach point to one such intriguing connection.

Last week’s Parsha tells the story of Yaakov’s exile to the house of Lavan; this week’s Parsha relates the story of his return. We would have imagined that Yaakov’s homecoming would usher in a period of tranquility and peace akin to the anticipated Messianic Age. This was hardly the case. Considering Yaakov’s terrifying encounter with Aisav, along with his daughter’s abduction and his sons’ war of reprisal, we would not be faulted for applying the well-known metaphor, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire”!

In the Tochacha of Parshas Bechukosai (Vayikra 27:38-41) we read:

You will become lost among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you. And because of their iniquity, those of you who survive will rot away in the lands of your enemies; moreover, they will rot away because the iniquities of their fathers are still within them. They will then confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, their betrayal that they dealt Me, and that they also treated Me as happenstance. Then I too, will treat them as happenstance and bring them into the land of their enemies. If then, their clogged heart becomes humbled, then, [their sufferings] will gain appeasement for their iniquity.

The Ramban is perplexed by the verse that states that, after the Jews confess their sin in exile, Hashem will bring them into the “land of their enemies”. First of all, the Jews were already in exile. Secondly, why should further punishment be a consequence of their confession? The Ramban gives a surprising answer: The “land of their enemies” is a reference to Eretz Yisrael! We know that, when the Jews returned to Eretz Yisrael after the Babylonian Exile, the land was under foreign rule – Persians, Syrian and Egyptian Hellenists, and Romans – for an extended period. Because our repentance in exile was incomplete, we were not given the full gift of Eretz Yisrael.

This is perhaps the significance of our Parsha. Yaakov is returning to Eretz Yisrael, but it is still very much the “land of his enemies” where he must contend with Aisav and Shechem. The events in the lives of the patriarchs do foretell events in the lives of their children.

Let us consider – for a moment – whether this concept has a further application. Over the last century there has been a “gathering of the exiles” from all the lands of the Diaspora. (The Jews of North America may be the last holdouts!) The infrastructure of the land has been developed both in the spiritual and material realms. Is there unfinished work for Mashiach to do? Certainly! But the groundwork is clearly being laid for the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies albeit in natural ways.

And yet, the dangers facing the Jews of Eretz Yisrael today – a rising Palistinian state at our borders, an increased likelihood of a nuclear Iran serving as a main sponsor of terrorism, an Islamist regime in Egypt following the so-called Arab Spring – are greater then they have been for many years.

This is the Ramban’s message: The return from exile will not necessarily be utopian. As Jewish history moves into the final act, it will sometimes seem as if our own grasp of Eretz Yisrael is tenuous at best and that – Rachmana Litzlan – our enemies are in control. But this is only until the repentance of Klal Yisrael is complete. As previously cited:

“If then, their clogged heart becomes humbled, then, [their sufferings] will gain appeasement for their iniquity.”