page_title: Vayishlach
section_title: Genesis chapter 32
hierarchical_section_title: Vayishlach / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Genesis chapter 32
caption_attribution_description: العربية: 32 change me! الكتاب المقدس التوضيح من الكتاب من الفصل Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Біблійная ілюстрацыя да Кнігі Роду, разьдзел 32 Deutsch: Biblische Darstellung Buch change me! Kapitel 32 Ελληνικά: Βιβλική εικονογράφηση του βιβλίου της change me! Κεφάλαιο 32 English: Biblical illustration of Book of Genesis Chapter 32 Español: Ilustración bíblica de libro del change me!, capítulo 32 Français&#160;: Illustration biblique du livre de la Genèse chapitre 32 עברית: 32 האיור המקראי של change me! פרק हिन्दी: {{{hi}}} अध्याय change me! की पुस्तक की बाइबिल चित्रण Bahasa Indonesia: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Kejadian pasal 32 Italiano: Illustrazione biblica del libro della change me! Capitolo 32 日本語: change me!32章の本の聖書の実例 Jawa: Ilustrasi Alkitab saking Kitab Purwaning Dumadi pasal 32 한국어: change me! 32 장 장부의 성경 그림 Bahasa Melayu: Ilustrasi Alkitab dari Kitab Kejadian pasal 32 Nederlands: Bijbelse illustratie van change me! hoofdstuk 32 Português: Ilustração bíblica do Livro de change me!, capítulo 32 Русский: Библейские иллюстрации Книга Бытие Глава 32 中文: 圣经change me!第32章的书籍插图
context_page_description: Vayishlach or Vayishlah is the eighth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. In the parashah, Jacob reconciles with Esau after wrestling with a "man". The prince Shechem rapes Dinah, whose brothers sack the city of Shechem in revenge. In the family's subsequent flight, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth.
  The parashah constitutes Genesis 32:4–36:43. The parashah has the most verses of any weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis. It is made up of 7,458 Hebrew letters, 1,976 Hebrew words, 153 verses, and 237 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it the eighth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in November or December.
context_section_description: The Rabbis of the Midrash questioned the wisdom of Jacob's decision to contact Esau in Genesis 32:4. Nahman ben Samuel compared the decision to waking a robber sleeping on a path to tell him of danger. The Rabbis envisioned that God asked Jacob: "Esau was going his own way, yet you sent to him?"
  The Rabbis of the Midrash deduced that the "messengers" of Genesis 32:4 were angels. The Rabbis reasoned that if (as Genesis Rabbah 59:10 taught) an angel escorted Eliezer, who was just a servant of the house, how much the more would angels have accompanied Jacob, who was the beloved of the house. Rabbi Hama ben Hanina reasoned that if five angels appeared to Hagar, who was just Sarah's handmaid, how much more would angels appear to Jacob. And Rabbi Jannai reasoned that if three angels met Joseph (counting the three uses of "man" in Genesis 37:15–17), and he was the youngest of the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel, how much more would angels meet Jacob, who was the father of all 12.
  Judah haNasi once directed Rabbi Afes to write a letter in Judah's name to Emperor Antoninus. Rabbi Afes wrote: "From Judah the Prince to our Sovereign the Emperor Antoninus." Judah read the letter, tore it up, and wrote: "From your servant Judah to our Sovereign the Emperor Antoninus." Rabbi Afes remonstrated that Judah treated his honor too lightly. Judah replied that he was not better than his ancestor, who in Genesis 32:5 sent a message saying: "Thus says your servant Jacob."
  Rabbi Jacob bar Idi pointed out a contradiction between God's promise to protect Jacob in Genesis 28:15 and Jacob's fear in Genesis 32:8; Rabbi Jacob explained that Jacob feared that some sin might cause him to lose the protection of God's promise.
  Rabbi Eleazar taught that Obadiah hid 50 of 100 prophets of God in a cave in 1 Kings 18:4 because he learned the lesson of dividing his camp from Jacob's actions in Genesis 32:8–9. Rabbi Abbahu, however, said that it was because the cave could hold only 50.
  Reading Jacob's beseeching God in Genesis 32:10, "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac," a Midrash asked whether Esau (from whom Jacob sought God's protection) could not have made the same claim for God's favor. The Midrash taught that God affords God's protection to those who choose the Patriarchs' ways and act as they did, and not to those who do not. (Thus the Midrash implied that Esau would not have been able to appeal for God's protection for his father's sake, for Esau had not emulated his father's deeds.)
  Reading Genesis 32:11, "I am too small (קָטֹנְתִּי‎, katonti) for all the mercies, and of all the truth, that You have shown to Your servant," Rabbi Abba bar Kahana interpreted the word קָטֹנְתִּי‎, katonti, to mean "I do not deserve them" (the kindnesses that God had shown Jacob), for "I am too small." Rabbi Levi interpreted the word קָטֹנְתִּי‎, katonti, to mean that Jacob did indeed deserve those kindnesses, but now "I am too small" (for God had already rewarded the merit that Jacob once had, and thus diminished the favor to which his merit may have entitled him, so now he feared that he might have no right to appeal for God's further assistance).
  Rabbi Yannai taught that when people expose themselves to danger and are saved by miracles, it is deducted from their merits and so they end up with less merit to their credit. Rabbi Hanin cited Genesis 32:11 to prove this, reading Jacob to say to God: "I am become diminished [that is, I have less merit to my credit] by reason of all the deeds of kindness and all the truth that You have shown to your servant."
  Rabbi Eliezer taught that the five Hebrew letters of the Torah that alone among Hebrew letters have two separate shapes (depending whether they are in the middle or the end of a word) — צ פ נ מ כ‎ (Kh, M, N, P, Z) — all relate to the mystery of the redemption. With the letter kaph (כ‎), God redeemed Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, as in Genesis 12:1, God says, "Get you (לֶךְ-לְךָ‎, lekh lekha) out of your country, and from your kindred ... to the land that I will show you." With the letter mem (מ
caption: Jacob prayed. (1984 illustration by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing)
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