Parshas Vayishlach - the fight between Yaakov and the malach

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah

וַיֹּאמֶר שַׁלְּחֵנִי כִּי עָלָה הַשָּׁחַר וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא אֲשַׁלֵּחֲךָ כִּי אִם בֵּרַכְתָּנִי

And he said, “Send me, because the morning has dawned.” And he said, “I will not send you unless you give me a berachah.”

Rashi explains:

כי עלה השחר - וצריך אני לומר שירה ביום

Because the morning has dawned – and I need to say shirah by day.

ברכתני - הודה לי על הברכות שברכני אבי שעשו מערער עליהם

Unless you give me a berachah (the word ברכתני really means “unless you will have blessed me”, this is because Yaakov said to the malach) – Acknowledge that the berachos that Yitzchak gave me are rightfully mine, because Esav is complaining about them.

• Why did Yaakov insist that the malach should acknowledge that the berachos were his before allowing him to say shirah?

The passuk continues

וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ כִּי אִם יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי שָׂרִיתָ עִם אֱלֹהִים וְעִם אֲנָשִׁים וַתּוּכָל

And he said, “It will not be said anymore that you name is Yaakov, rather your name will be Yisrael. Because you struggled with malachim and with people and you overcame.”

Rashi explains:

לא יעקב - לא יאמר עוד שהברכות באו לך בעקבה ורמיה כי אם בשררה וגלוי פנים וסופך שהקב"ה נגלה עליך בבית אל ומחליף שמך ושם הוא מברכך ואני שם אהיה ואודה לך עליהן. וזהו שכתוב (הושע י"ב) וישר אל מלאך ויוכל בכה ויתחנן לו, בכה המלאך ויתחנן לו, ומה נתחנן לו בית אל ימצאנו ושם ידבר עמנו, המתן לי עד שידבר עמנו שם, ולא רצה יעקב ועל כרחו הודה לו עליהן, וזהו ויברך אותו שם שהיה מתחנן להמתין לו ולא רצה

“Your name will no longer be Yaakov” – It will not be said that the berachos came to you through trickery and deceit, rather it will be said that they came to you through uprightness and honesty. In the end Hashem will appear to you in Beis Keil and He will change your name and there He will give you a berachah, and I will be there and I will acknowledge that the berachos belong to you.

This is the meaning of the passuk (הושע י"ב ה')

וָיָּשַׂר אֶל מַלְאָךְ וַיֻּכָל בָּכָה וַיִּתְחַנֶּן לוֹ בֵּית אֵל יִמְצָאֶנּוּ וְשָׁם יְדַבֵּר עִמָּנוּ

And he conquered the malach and overcame him, he cried and pleaded to him, “He will find us in Beis Keil and there he will speak with us.”

The passuk means that the malach cried and pleaded to Yaakov to wait till Hashem would speak to them in Beis Keil. Yaakov did not want to wait and the malach was forced to acknowledge that the berachos were rightfully his, this is why the passuk says ויברך אותו שם – the malach gave him a beracha there where they had struggled, since Yaakov would not wait till later.

• Why did the malach want to wait to acknowledge that the berachos rightfully belonged to Yaakov till they would meet in Beis Keil?

The Medrash Rabbah says (77, 2)

אמר רב הונא בסוף אמר המלאך אני מודיעו עם מי הוא עוסק, מה עשה נתן אצבעו בארץ התחילה הארץ תוססת אש, אמר ליה יעקב מן דא את מדחיל לי אנא כוליה מינה הה"ד (עובדיה א') וְהָיָה בֵית יַעֲקֹב אֵשׁ וּבֵית יוֹסֵף לֶהָבָה וּבֵית עֵשָׂו לְקַשׁ וְדָלְקוּ בָהֶם וַאֲכָלוּם וְלֹא יִהְיֶה שָׂרִיד לְבֵית עֵשָׂו כִּי ה' דִּבֵּר

Rav Huna said, in the end, the malach said, “I’ll let him know who he is dealing with.”

What did he do? He placed his finger in the earth and fire poured out.

Yaakov said to him, “Is that how you are going to frighten me? I am made entirely from fire.”

As the passuk says, “And the House of Yaakov will be fire, and the House of Yosef will be flame and the House of Esav will be straw. And they shall burn among them and they shall eat them and there shall not be a remnant from the House of Esav, because Hashem has spoken.”

• Why was the conflict between the malach and Yaakov represent by fire?

The Ohr Gedalyahu explains as follows:

The conflict between the malach and Yaakov was whether Yaakov or Esav should have received the berachos. Yaakov claimed that he had a greater ability to lead the world in the service of Hashem, and therefore he should have taken the berachos. The malach on the other hand claimed that Esav’s worldly way of serving Hashem would result in a greater kiddush Hashem, and therefore Esav should receive the berachos.

Furthermore, the malach claimed that Yaakov had not taken the berachos le’shem shamayim, but that the trickery which he had employed to gain the berachos showed that he had taken the berachos for his own personal benefit.

Concerning the malach’s claim that Esav’s worldly way of serving Hashem would result in a greater kiddush Hashem, the malach showed Yaakov fire coming from the earth which indicated that Esav had the potential ability to uplift the most earthy things in the service of Hashem. However Yaakov responded by showing the malach that he had the ability to unify both the earthy and the spiritual aspects of creation in the service of Hashem, and that he was entirely made of fire.

Concerning the malach’s claim that Yaakov had not taken the berachos le’shem shamayim, Yaakov showed the malach that his heart was always and consistently unified in the service of Hashem. Subsequently even if there appeared to be something contradictory in the way that he acted, this apparent discrepancy could be explained by the end result of kiddush Hashem which he sought.

As acknowledgement that Yaakov was correct on both accounts, the malach changed Yaakov’s name to Yisrael, to denote that Yaakov ruled and was able to use both the yetzer ha’tov and also the yetzer ha’ra, le’shem shamayim. That is why the gematria of the name Yisrael (541) has the same gematria as Yaakov (182) + Satan (359).

Had the malach only acknowledged in Beis Keil that Yaakov deserved the berachos, then the malach would only have been admitting that Yaakov was able to serve Hashem with the kedushah of the beis ha’mikdash. Therefore Yaakov forced the malach to acknowledge that he was equally capable of serving Hashem and of creating a kiddush Hashem using worldly matters.

Therefore Yaakov only let the malach go and say shirah once he acknowledged that Yaakov would be able to use the berachos in the right way under all circumstances, and that he had taken the berachos le’shem shamayim.