Parshas Vayetze - healing Yaakov's limp

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah

וַיִּדַּר יַעֲקֹב נֶדֶר לֵאמֹר אִם יִהְיֶה אֱלֹקִים עִמָּדִי וּשְׁמָרַנִי בַּדֶּרֶךְ הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי הוֹלֵךְ וְנָתַן לִי לֶחֶם לֶאֱכֹל וּבֶגֶד לִלְבֹּשׁ. וְשַׁבְתִּי בְשָׁלוֹם אֶל בֵּית אָבִי וְהָיָה ה' לִי לֵאלֹקִים. וְהָאֶבֶן הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר שַׂמְתִּי מַצֵּבָה יִהְיֶה בֵּית אֱלֹקִים וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר תִּתֶּן לִי עַשֵּׂר אֲעַשְּׂרֶנּוּ לָךְ.

And Yaakov made a promise saying, “If Hashem will be with me and He will guard me on this way on which I go and He will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear. And I will return in peace to my father’s house then Hashem will be to me as a G-d. And this stone which I have set up as an altar will be the House of Hashem and all that He will give me, I will surely tithe to you.”

• Why did Yaakov start by saying אִם יִהְיֶה אֱלֹקִים עִמָּדִי and then conclude וְהָיָה ה' לִי לֵאלֹקִים?

The passuk says in Vayishlach (בראשית ל"ב ל"ב)

וַיִּזְרַח לוֹ הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָבַר אֶת פְּנוּאֵל וְהוּא צֹלֵעַ עַל יְרֵכוֹ

And the sun shone for him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.

Why does the passuk say, “and the sun shone for him”, surely the sun shone for everybody? Rashi explains

ויזרח לו השמש - לשון בני אדם הוא... זהו פשוטו ומדרש אגדה ויזרח לו לצרכו לרפאות את צלעתו כמה דתימא (מלאכי ג') שמש צדקה ומרפא בכנפיה ואותן שעות שמיהרה לשקוע בשבילו כשיצא מבאר שבע מיהרה לזרוח בשבילו

And the sun shone for him – this is how people speak, however the medrash says that the sun shone for Yaakov specifically, in order to heal him from his limp. Corresponding to those hours that the sun set early when he was on his way to Lavan’s house, the sun rose early for him [to heal him from his limp].

• Why was Yaakov’s limp healed with the hours of sunlight that he lost on the way to Lavan’s house?

The gemara says in Bava Basra (99a)

כיצד הן עומדין... ולמ"ד פניהם איש אל אחיו הא כתיב (דברי הימים ב' ג', י"ג) ופניהם לבית לא קשיא כאן בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום כאן בזמן שאין ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום

According to the opinion that the keruvim faced each other, does not the passuk say ופניהם לבית – that the keruvim faced the heichal? This is not a refutation, when the benei yisrael performed the will of Hashem then the keruvim faced each other (to show the affection of Hashem for the benei yisrael), however when the benei yisrael did not perform the will of Hashem then the benei yisrael faced away from each other.

However the gemara says in Yuma (54b)

אמר ריש לקיש בשעה שנכנסו נכרים להיכל ראו כרובים המעורין זה בזה הוציאון לשוק ואמרו ישראל הללו שברכתן ברכה וקללתן קללה יעסקו בדברים הללו מיד הזילום שנאמר (איכה א', ח') כל מכבדיה הזילוה כי ראו ערותה

Reish Lakish said, “When the goyim entered the heichal, they say the keruvim embracing each other. They brought them out to the marketplace and they said, ‘The benei yisrael, whose beracha is a beracha and whose kelalah is a kelalah, should be involved with these things?’ Immediately they debased them, as the passuk says כל מכבדיה הזילוה כי ראו ערותה.”

• At the time of the churban the benei yisrael were not עושין רצונו של מקום, if so the keruvim should have been facing away from each other and not מעורין זה בזה?

The Ma’asei Hashem explains as follows:

The gemara in Yuma (54a) says that one of the keruvim was in the form of a boy and one of the keruvim was in the form of a girl. The keruv that was in the form of a girl represented the מדת הדין and the keruv that was in the form a boy represented the מדת הרחמים. When the benei yisrael performed the will of Hashem then the keruvim faced each other because the mitzvos of the benei yisrael are מהפך מדת הדין למדת הרחמים, meaning that the מדת הדין agreed with the מדת הרחמים that the benei yisrael should be rewarded. However when the benei yisrael were not עושין רצונו של מקום then the keruvim faced away from each other because the מדת הדין was in disagreement with the מדת הרחמים.

However at the time of the churban there was also agreement between the מדת הדין and the מדת הרחמים. The מדת הרחמים agreed with the מדת הדין that the benei yisrael should go into galus because this would be fastest way for them to have a kapparah for their aveiros, after which they would return to Eretz Yisrael. The מדת הדין agreed with the מדת הרחמים that this would be the kapparah for the benei yisrael, but that meant that even the מדת הרחמים had to guarantee the survival of the benei yisrael, so that they would not be destroyed in galus. That is why at the time of the churban the keruvim were מעורין זה בזה.

When Yaakov went to Lavan’s house, this represented the galus of the benei yisrael, the sun setting early denoted that he would be deprived of the natural wherewithal that is normally provided to a person, in order so that he would be able to experience the קושי הגלות. Later, Esav’s malach thought that he had managed to damage Yaakov by dislocating his thigh, however Hashem showed Yaakov that Esav’s malach had only been able to damage him under the deprived circumstances that he was subject to in galus, but when the sun rose early and made up those hours that it had previously set early, it was revealed that Yaakov, in his full splendour, could never be damaged by the malach of Esav, and so his limp was healed.

That is why Yaakov said אִם יִהְיֶה אֱלֹקִים עִמָּדִי, if the מדת הדין will guarantee my survival in galus in my limited circumstances, then when I come back to Eretz Yisrael - וְהָיָה ה' לִי לֵאלֹקִים, the מדת הרחמים will restore my wholeness and my strength.