vayishlach: unifying the family

Throughout the action part of this parsha, Jacob is scared. Jacob, the model Jew, is doing what Jews do best: responding  to terror. The response is also characteristic : rescue the family. 

There is an important historical theme in the parsha: the interconnections  among  the perception of a shared threat,  national unification, and territorial claims.  In our parsha, Jacob's perceived threat that continuing  with Lavan in Haran would come to a bad end, drives him back to stake the claim that devolved from his purchase of the birthright from his brother Esau.  He felt forced to return to the Promised Land, but he knew that forced a confrontation of claims with Esau. 

Esau had not fathomed the consequences of  the sale of the birthright when he was an adolescent.  Now, when Jacob arrived with his family, would Esau yield to him?  Jacob had a right to worry. The last he had heard ( 20 years ago), Esau was giong planning on killing him. His scouts now report that he has an allied army of 400 at his side.  Jacob worried harder.  He had come to explore his status; things looked bad. The goal now becomes rescuing the family. 

Jacob considers the likely outcome of a battle with Esau and his army: decimation.  He divides the family into two groups ( Ashkenaz/ Sefard or Old World and New?) He hopes that a portion of the family will be saved.  Perhaps those ignored by the enemy will rescue the attacked- or at least try.

Jacob sends a "tribute" to Esau.   It is a gift, a bribe, a tax to the prevailing authority.  It is a demonstration that there is more to gain from letting these people live and taxing their wealth than there is from wiping them out.  The fortunate result of the gift is Esau's realization that his needs are met; he does not need to take Jacob's wealth, he does not need to take his life, he does not need this land.  The tribute is so enormous that Esau adjusts his perspective. 

The confrontation of the brothers is charged with allusions to the blessing that Isaac bestowed upon Jacob ( the blessing that included the Promised Land) under shady circumstances.  The tribute, the mincha, is the same word as the meal that Isaac desired from Esau, and was brought by Jacob.  Now Jacob asks Esau to accept his mincha (!). 

 Their interaction begins with falling on each others neck.  Esau's hairy neck touches Jacob's now, no longer covered with goat skin, smoothe neck.  

Ultimately, Jacob says to Esau: קַח־נָ֤א אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הֻבָ֣את לָ֔ךְ

Please accept my present  ( bracha/blessing) which has been brought to you,

Jacob says: Whomever the bracha, the entitlement of the birthright, belongs, you, Esau, just take it.  An exercise in frank  subtlety. 

The rape of Dinah by the prince of Shechem drives a decision by her brothers, Shimon and Levi, to decimate the tribe that tolerated this outrage. Jacob recognized that it could bring dangerous hostility from the other surrounding, ensconced tribes.  He could have appeased the situation by separating from these two violent brothers;  sacrificed these tribes  for the peace of the others.  But the unity of the family was overriding value, even when one  erred.  Regardless of the offense: וַיִּשְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵֽ֑ל (פ) וַיִּֽהְי֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יַעֲקֹ֖ב שְׁנֵ֥ים עָשָֽׂר   and Israel found out. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve in number.

The legacy of Jacob would not be primogeniture, the estate would be divided among all; the son of Bilha ( Rachel's maidservant; mother of Dan and Naftali) like the son of Rachel ( the woman he designated as his wife) 

The US State Department's  version of world history emphasizes the idea of the war of national unity. 

Germany was ultimately unified ( a resulted  that the Talmud ¹[rightly] dreaded)  by the  Franco-Prussian war.( The third and final act of German unification was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, orchestrated by Bismarck to draw the western German states into alliance with the North German Confederation. With the French defeat, the German Empire was proclaimed in January 1871 in the Palace at Versailles, France ).  Italy was unified  by the Austro-Prussian War  (In 1866 Italy joined Prussia in a campaign against Austria (the 1866 Austro-Prussian War) and thus won Venetia. In 1870, taking advantage of the fact that France (the country responsible at the time for guarding the Papal States) was distracted by involvement in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the Italian army entered Rome. That year, Rome and the Papal States were incorporated into Italy and the Risorgimento completed  ). 

The relationship between threat and a unified  national identity is evident in modern Jewish history.  Herzl's dream of a Jewish homeland is born out of the persecution of Jews in lands  that suddenly become not their home in times of trouble. Did he foresee Gremany, Poland, Iraq, Syria, etc.  The land of Israel ultimately unifies ( to a degree) the various camps  that were separated in the spirit of Jacob,  allowing  more to survive. 

Does unity require an enemy?

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אמר יעקב לפני הקב"ה רבונו של עולם אל תתן לעשו הרשע תאות לבו זממו אל תפק זו גרממיא של אדום שאלמלי הן יוצאין מחריבין כל העולם כולו

And Rabbi Yitzḥak also said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; further not his evil device, so that they not exalt themselves. Selah” (Psalms 140:9)? Jacob said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, grant not to the wicked Esau the desires of his heart, as he wishes to destroy us. Further not his evil device [zemamo]; do not remove the muzzle [zamam] that constrains him and prevents him from breaking out and gathering further strength. This is a reference to Germamya of Edom, i.e., Germany, which is near the land of Edom, i.e., Rome. As, if the Germans would go forth, they would destroy the entire world. (Megillah 6a/b