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PARACHAT VAYICHLAH -

14 DECEMBRE 2019/ 16 KISLEV5780

PETIHAT HAHEKHAL: SAAD COHEN

HAZKAROT:

SIMANTOB DARWICHE

SELIM (SHLOMO) COHEN

Dans ce bulletin / In this issue:

La Paracha en bref/ How many wives did Yaakov have/ Jacob devient Israel/ How many daughters did Yaakov have / Naissance de Benjamin / Vayshlah Quiz / Le cadeau, la prière et le combat / Proverbs with their meanings/ Le sourire du Chabbat

Vayichla'h - en bref

Genèse 32, 4 - 36, 43

Jacob retourne en Terre Sainte après 20 ans passés à ‘Haran. Il envoie des anges messagers vers Esaü dans l’espoir d’une réconciliation, mais les messagers lui rapportent que son frère vient dans sa direction accompagné de quatre cents hommes armés. Jacob se prépare au combat, prie, et adresse à son frère un important don de bétail dans l’espoir de l’apaiser.

Au cours de la nuit qui précède leur rencontre, Jacob fait traverser la rivière Yabbok à sa famille et à ses possessions. Lui, cependant, reste en arrière et rencontre un ange qui représente l’esprit de d’Esaü, avec lequel il lutte jusqu’à l’aube. Bien qu’atteint à la hanche, Jacob est vainqueur. L’ange lui donne alors le nom d’Israël, « Car, dit-il, tu as combattu contre des puissances célestes et des hommes et tu es resté fort ».

Jacob et Esaü se rencontrent enfin. Les deux frères jumeaux s’embrassent puis chacun reprend son chemin.

Jacob acquiert un terrain près de Sichem dont le prince (qui s’appelle également Sichem enlève et viole Dina, fille de Jacob. Ses frères, Simon et Lévi la vengent en passant tous les hommes du lieu au fil de l’épée après les avoir rendus vulnérables en les convainquant de se circoncire. Jacob leur en fait le reproche.

Jacob reprend son voyage. D.ieu lui apparaît à nouveau et le bénit. Il lui dit « ton nom désormais ne sera plus Jacob, ton nom sera Israël ».

Rachel meurt en donnant naissance à son second fils, Benjamin. Elle est inhumée au bord de la route, près de Bethléem. Reuben perd son droit d’aînesse pour avoir interféré dans la vie maritale de son père. Jacob rejoint son père Isaac à Hébron, qui décède plus tard à l’âge de 180 ans (Rebecca est décédée avant l’arrivée de Jacob).

La paracha s’achève par l’énonciation détaillée de la famille d’Esaü, ses femmes, ses enfants et petits-enfants, et les lignées familiales des habitants de Séïr parmi lesquels Esaü s’est installé.

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How many wives did Ya’akov have? 2 or 4? This question is not so clear from the text. From this week’s parasha we read: “And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok.” From this verse it seems that he has 2 wives: Rachel and Leah, and 2 handmaids: Bilhah and Zilpah. It is interesting that in this verse the Torah describes them this way even though they are the matriarchs of four of the tribes. In fact, they each had 2 of the Jacob’s sons, which is just as many as Rachel. One would think that they should be as much a matriarch as Rachel is. Many people today name their daughter Rachel and Leah, few name their daughter Bilhah and Zilpah. Traditionally we have 3 patriarchs and 4 matriarchs, Bilha and Zilpah not being included. I always wondered if a man or woman from the tribe of Naphtali for example at the Pesah seder would sing that we have 3 fathers and 4 mothers and not include their own mother in the 4. It should be noted however that in 37:2 it describes that Yosef was: “being still a lad even with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives” referring to them as full wives. It is also interesting to note that a document found with the Dead Sea scrolls, The Testament of Naftali (Dan and Naftali are Bilhah’s sons) describes that a man named Ahiyot was taken captive, but then freed by Lavan. Lavan gave Ahiyot a wife named Hannah who gave birth to Bilhah and Zilpah. The Midrash however teaches that Lavan was the father of Bilhah and Zilpah making them half-sisters (from another mother) with Rachel and Leah. It is also interesting to note that Bilhah and Zilpah don’t get to name their children, rather Rachel and Leah name the children that Bilhah and Zilpah give birth too. It seems that the children that Bilha and Zilpa bear in a way belong to Rachel and Leah.

JACOB DEVIENT ISRAEL

Jacob resta seul et un homme combattit avec lui jusqu'à l'aube. Il [l'homme] vit qu'il ne pouvait le vaincre et il le toucha à la hanche et la hanche de Jacob se luxa en combattant avec lui. Il [l'homme] dit : "Laisse-moi partir car le matin s'est levé". Il [Jacob] dit : "je ne te laisserai pas partir sauf si tu me bénis". Il [l'homme] lui dit : "Quel est ton nom"? Il dit : "Jacob". Il dit : "Ce n'est plus Jacob qu'on appellera encore ton nom mais Israël, car tu as combattu avec D.ieu, et avec les hommes tu as triomphé". Jacob demanda et dit : "Dis(-moi) je t'en prie, ton nom". Il dit : "Pourquoi donc demandes-tu mon nom"? Il le bénit là-bas. Jacob appela le nom de l'endroit Péniel [le visage de D.ieu], car j'ai vu D.ieu face à face et mon âme a été sauvée. Le soleil brilla pour lui alors qu'il passait par Péniel et il boitait à cause de sa hanche. C'est pourquoi les enfants d'Israël ne mangeront pas le nerf sciatique qui est sur l'articulation de la hanche jusqu'à ce jour, parce qu'il avait touché l'articulation de la hanche de Jacob, sur le nerf sciatique. [Genèse 32:25-33]

How many daughters did Ya’akob have? a) 1 b)13 c)14 d)none of the above e)all of the above The midrash tells us that Binyamin was born with two twin sisters and that the other sons were all born with one twin sister each. That would mean he had 12 sons and 13 or 14 daughters (and I thought I had it bad with 4 daughters). 11 of his sons each had a twin sister, the 12th son had 2 twin sisters, and he had Dina (it is not clear if she is one of the twins). Either way, this is midrashic and there is no indication of any daughter other than Dina in the Torah. It is possible that in reality Ya’akov did have several daughters and the Torah does not mention them as they are not necessary for the story. Dina, is necessary because it explains to us why Shimon and Levi are scolded and Shimon later loses his status as a full tribe. However, it also may be argued that Ya’akov did not have any other daughters other than Dina, since no other daughters are mentioned in the 70 people that go to Egypt with the entire family. If there were other daughters there is no mention of what happened to them, although it is possible that they simply married out and did not continue with the family, but it does seem to describe in the Torah that they took everyone with them including the female descendants. It is interesting that Abraham and Isaac both have no daughters and Yaakov only has 1 out of 13. We are also not told that Adam and Chava had any daughters and many others similarly. The question then becomes, did they have daughters that are not mentioned because they are not significant and were not part of the family. It is well known that in those days, the daughter would leave her father’s house and join the other family, while the son would marry and stay with the family. As an example, we are commanded not to mix with the other nations as it may lead us to give them our daughters and for us to take their daughters to us. This was Shechem’s proposal as well. So, it is possible that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. all had more daughters they are not mentioned as they are not significant to the story and do not continue with the family. The Midrash prefers the view that there were other sisters so that we avoid the issue of the brothers marrying Canaanite women. They therefore explain that the brothers married these half-sisters. Other commentaries read the text at face value that the brothers did marry Canaanite and Egyptian women, who become the ‘mothers’ of the twelve tribes. Ibn Ezra writes that Ya’akov only had one daughter, Dina, and the reason it says daughters is possibly because she had maidservants that were in the house with her and considers them his ‘daughters’ as well. What is interesting to note is that sometimes when the midrash is trying to solve one problem (such as who did the brothers marry, since the midrash prefers not to have the mother of the tribes being Canaanite women) it creates other problems or needs to rewrite and reinterpret the text in order to solve the issue. Another approach is to read the Torah as it is written and simply accept that it creates certain difficulties

NAISSANCE DE BENJAMIN

D’origine hébreu : Benyamîn ce qui se traduit comme fils de la droite (côté favorable) ou encore fils des vieux jours étant donné la souffrance endurée par la mère lors de son accouchement. Jacob nommera finalement son dernier fils Benjamin, fils de mes vieux jours, dans le verset suivant avant que Rachel ne décède suite à la naissance.

Genèse 35, 16. « Ils partirent de Béthel. Il restait un bout de chemin pour arriver à Éphrata quand Rachel accoucha. Ses couches furent pénibles. 17. et, comme elle accouchait difficilement, la sage-femme lui dit : « Rassure-toi, c’est encore un fils que tu as ! » 18. Au moment de rendre l’âme, car elle se mourait, elle le nomma Ben-Oni, mais son père l’appela Benjamin. 19. Rachel mourut et fut enterrée sur le chemin d’Éphrata - C’est Bethléem. 20. Jacob dressa une stèle sur son tombeau ; c’est la stèle du tombeau de Rachel, qui existe encore aujourd’hui. »

Genèse 48,7 « Lorsque je revenais de Paddân, ta mère Rachel est morte, pour mon malheur, au pays de Canaan, en route, encore un bout de chemin avant d’arriver à Éphrata, et je l’ai enterrée là, sur le chemin d’Éphrata - c’est Bethléem ».

La Tribu de Benjamin est également l’une des douze tribus d’Israël issue de ce fils de Jacob. Elle formera, avec la Tribu de Juda, le Royaume de Juda.

Ce nom est à l’origine du nom commun benjamin, qui désigne le dernier enfant d’une fratrie.

Dans la bénédiction de Jacob mourant à ses fils, Benjamin est associé au lou

Vayishlach Quiz

1) Q. Who were the messengers that Ya’akov sent to Esav? A. They were servants of Ya’akov. The Midrash teaches that they were angels, not human messengers. Maimonides explains that any messenger (whether animal, human, wind, fire, etc.) sent to perform a task is called a “mal’ach” which is sometimes mistranslated as angel.

2) Q. In 32:8 Ya’akov finds out that Esav is coming with 400 men. Why was Ya’akov both “afraid” and “distressed”? A. Literally, it is simply stating the extant of his emotions, however the midrash comments that he was afraid he would be killed and was distressed that he might have to kill others.

3) Q. With whom did Ya’akov wrestle? A. One Midrash explains that he wrestled with Esav’s guardian angel. Maimonides explains that he didn’t really wrestle with anyone and this entire story including the wrestling and speaking with the angel took place in a prophetic vision and never took place in actuality. After he sent his family and was left alone he had this prophetic vision and inner struggle with his conscience. During this inner struggle Ya’akov may have been worried about his actions that he had done in his life of tricking his father and Esav (possibly Lavan as well) and resolved to change his ways. After he completes his self-reflection he can become a new person and a new leader having his name changed to Yisrael.

4) Q. What injury did Ya’akov sustain, and what law comes from here? A. Sine his hip was injured, we do not eat that part of an animal called the Gid Ha’nashe.

5) Q. Why did the guardian angel of Esav dislocate Ya’akov’s hip? A. The Baal HaTurim explains that Ya’akov bought the birthright from Esav in order to serve as a Kohen and bring sacrifices to Hashem (initially first-borns functioned this way and only after het ha’egel was it changed ot the tribe of levi). There is a midrash that the angel was the guardian angel of Esav and Esav’s guardian angel wished to dislocate Ya’akov’s hip because this is one of the blemishes that disqualifies a Kohen from bringing sacrifices. He also points out that the Gematria (numerical value used as mnemonic to remember things) of “Bekaf yerecho” is equal to “Leposlo Mikehuna” - to disqualify him from the Kehuna.

Le cadeau, la prière et le combat

Leçon de stratégie

par Tali Loewenthal

Pour se préparer à la rencontre avec son frère Ésaü, Jacob employa plusieurs tactiques.¹ Il savait que son frère était bien plus puissant que lui. Ésaü avait avec lui quatre cents guerriers. Jacob, lui, n’était accompagné que de ses femmes et de ses enfants. À ce moment-là, son fils aîné n’avait que douze ans. Ces enfants devaient devenir les fondateurs du futur peuple juif. Mais survivraient-ils ?

Jacob tenta la conciliation, lui envoyant un imposant cadeau constitué de plusieurs espèces de bétail. Il réussit à convaincre Ésaü d’accepter ce présent. Cela impliquait une acceptation de la part d’Ésaü de l’existence de Jacob et le fait qu’il était dans son droit quand il avait reçu la bénédiction de leur père.² En même temps, Jacob pria D.ieu, dans une magnifique prière exprimant son humilité. Il ne se sentait pas méritant de tous les bienfaits que D.ieu lui avait déjà prodigués.³

Il était également prêt au combat. Sa tactique consistant à diviser son camp en deux faisait partie d’une stratégie militaire. Jacob était complètement dépassé en nombre, et il répugnait également à l’idée de porter atteinte à autrui.⁴ Malgré cela, pour protéger sa propre vie et la vie de ses femmes et de ses enfants, il était prêt à se battre.

Il existe différentes manières d’affronter Ésaü, les ennemis du peuple juif à travers les âges. Ces approches furent utilisées aux différentes époques de notre longue histoire pour assurer notre survie.

La prière, bien sûr, est une constante, qui est toujours nécessaire. Trouver le bon équilibre entre la conciliation et la disposition au combat est le moyen de sauver les vies de tous ceux qui sont concernés. Le but est la paix et la sécurité, et la rencontre entre Jacob et Ésaü donne un exemple d’une habile négociation qui rencontra un grand succès.

Proverbs with their meanings

Practice what you preach.

Behave the way you encourage other people to behave.

The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

People are never satisfied with their own situation; they always think others have it better.

Watch the doughnut, and not the hole.

Focus on what you have and not on what you don’t.

What goes around comes around.

If someone treats other people badly, he or she will eventually be treated badly by someone else.

Where one door shuts, another opens.

When you lose an opportunity to do one thing, an opportunity to do something else appears.

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

It’s easier to win people to your side by persuasion and politeness than by confrontation and threats.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

You can show people the way to do things, but you can’t force them to act.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

You can only judge the quality of something after you have tried, used, or experienced it.

LE SOURIRE DU CHABBAT

Un retraité rentre chez lui avec son sac de golf, un peu dépité.
– Ça n’a pas été ?, lui demande sa femme.
– Ben je n’ai pas de mal à frapper la balle, mais le problème c’est que je n’arrive pas à voir où elle tombe, même avec mes lunettes …
– T’as qu’à emmener mon frère Marcel !
– Mais il a 84 ans, Marcel. Et il ne sait pas jouer au golf.
– Oui mais il voit très bien. Tu joues, et lui te dit où la balle est tombée

Le jour suivant, notre golfeur emmène son beauf de 84 ans au golf et il tire son premier swing.
– T’as vu où elle est partie ? Marcel.
– Ouais !
– Alors ? Elle est où ? J’ai oublié
 

Le gendarme demande
– A combien rouliez-vous ?
– A deux seulement, mais si vous voulez monter, il reste de la place.

THE SHABBAT SMILE

A man approached old Mr Katz in a town he was visiting. "What's the quickest way to New York?"
Mr Katz scratched his head.
"Are you walking or driving?" he asked the stranger.
"I'm driving."
"That's the quickest way!"–

CHABBAT CHALOM / MAGHEN ABRAHAM

David Hasson