VaYishlach: Geopolitics

Why is there a Vayishlach? Why was this set of stories and historical details chosen for preservation through centuries?  For millennia it was hand written on parchment, before the invention of paper, before printing. Preserving this chapter, like all chapters of the Torah, was very difficult and expensive. Do we understand what it is saying?

The parsha could be seen as model for confronting fears. It opens with Jacob preparing for his confrontation with Esau.  Esau, his rival brother from birth, said that he would kill Jacob when Isaac died. Jacob fears that Esau may not wait for Isaac to die, rather Esau may treat Jacob and his family as  invaders into his territory  and destroy them when they enter the land.  Jacob prays: 

הַצִּילֵ֥נִי נָ֛א מִיַּ֥ד אָחִ֖י מִיַּ֣ד עֵשָׂ֑ו כִּֽי־יָרֵ֤א אָנֹכִי֙ אֹת֔וֹ פֶּן־יָב֣וֹא וְהִכַּ֔נִי אֵ֖ם עַל־בָּנִֽים׃ 

Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; else, I fear, he may come and strike me down, mothers and children alike.

Jacob fears for his life and his legacy. 

Jacob also recognizes that his claim to the land, obtained through an appropriation of Esau's identity, a process that Esau does not recognize as valid, may be challenged, or worse: The claim to the land will be seen as the basis for an invasion to take possession, and Jacob's party will be destroyed in battle. Jacob teaches the generations that follow to prepare in several ways. As Ramban summarizes: 

שֶׁנַּזְמִין עַצְמֵנוּ לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁהִזְמִין הוּא אֶת עַצְמוֹ, לִתְפִלָּה וּלְדוֹרוֹן וּלְהַצָּלָה בְּדֶרֶךְ מִלְחָמָה לִבְרֹחַ וּלְהִנָּצֵל.

 preparing ourselves in the three things for which he prepared himself: for prayer, for giving him a present, and for rescue by methods of warfare, to flee and to be saved. 

The chapter preserves this wisdom: treat dread with preparation and that preparation includes the self-examination of prayer, the generosity of gifting and the practicality of battle ... and an escape plan.

Jacob's prayer includes attributing to Gd Jacob's claim to the land.  Jacob states that Gd had instructed him to return to Canaan:

הָאֹמֵ֣ר אֵלַ֗י שׁ֧וּב לְאַרְצְךָ֛ וּלְמוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וְאֵיטִ֥יבָה עִמָּֽךְ׃

who said to me, ‘Return to your native land and I will deal bountifully with you’!

The force of will behind undertaking this confrontation with Esau is ambiguous: is it Gd or Jacob? In his prayer, Jacob is framing it as Gd's decision, and obedient  Jacob is carrying it out. 

To some extent, this is a continuation of the "joint decision" [Jacob and Gd] to flee from Laban at the end of the last chapter. The practical circumstances indicated that Jacob was now in danger if he stayed with Laban, so he decided to leave. In a dream, Gd told Jacob to leave. The interplay between these is left to the reader. 

Invoking Gd ties the claim to the land to the confrontation with Esau. We do not know how Esau saw the connection between the (cheating) brother and the (claim for the) land. The prayer is among the signals that tie Jacob's claim for the land to Esau's enmity. 

Jacob, by means of his words (and perhaps the gifts [tribute]) manages to escape from Esau. Esau seems to want to "accompany" Jacob's tribe.  There is ambiguity about the destination. But it is clear that Jacob did not want his tribe to be with Esau or his allies; and Jacob  managed to separate from them and go his own way. 

Jacob buys some land near Shechem. Shechem is a significant and recognizable place in Samaria, also called Nablus. When Jacob's daughter Dina is kidnapped and raped, her brothers launch a plot: the local males are convinced to undergo circumcision, ostensibly so that the local people and the Israelites can join into one people. When they are at the low point after the operation, Dina's brothers slaughter all the men, retrieve their sister,  and pillage the city. Thus  they establish a local reputation for Israelites... and, in Jacob's mind, a causus belli, a reason for war, among all the other local inhabitants. The war does not happen. 

Benjamin becomes the first Israelite born in the Promised land.  But his mother Rachel dies in childbirth. Rachel's burial and lasting monument has some similarity to Abraham burying Sarah, in terms of establishing a stake hold in the land. 

 Isaac dies at the end of the chapter. Esau and Jacob  bury Isaac together; like Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham together. Esau's death threat is not carried out. 

Finally Esau's genealogy and administrative organization,  and the pre-Joshua royal history of Seir/Edom are outlined. These are messages about the provenance of land and the historical bases of claims of possession. The references are obscure, as such things tend to be. 

The parsha conveys several  messages. There is a place for fear. There are ways to deal with it.  The worst outcome need not happen and you may not know why. All hereditary claims are not well understood, regardless of how emphatically they are made. 

Deal with it.