GENESIS XXXII:4-XXXVI:43
ASPECTS OF JACOB AND ESAU’S PERSONALITIES
These chapters narrate Yaakov’s reunion with Esav (Esau) after a 20-year separation. Because of this long period, it was to be hoped that Esav’s wrath would have ceased, or at least diminished, so that Yaakov’s life would not be in danger. That was the patriarch’s hope. On the other hand, Yaacov had prepared for a possible confrontation, as his brother came to meet him with 400 armed men and feared for his family’s safety.
The outcome is well known: the brothers hugged and cried, their faces resting on each other’s necks. Despite an invitation to do so, Yaakov refused to accompany Esav and took a different route. Yaakov felt that Esav’s grudge was still present. To ensure a good disposition on Esav’s part, Yaakov sent him gifts to appease his spirits and, in an act of humiliation, prostrated himself 7 times before his brother.
Exegetes predict that the Jewish people would therefore bow down to other nations in the future. Yaakov and Esav would represent the Diaspora: the encounter of the Jewish people with the nations that oppose them. Esav is identified with Rome and, therefore, the twins who disturbed the tranquility of their mother Rivka symbolize the conflict between Rome and Jerusalem: Antoninus and Rabbi Yehuda, mentioned in the Talmud. Yaakov’s conciliatory attitude towards his brother will serve as a paradigm for the Jewish people during their long exile of 2 millennia, in which they had to bow their heads and follow the commands of their hosts.
While preparing for his encounter with Esav, Yaakov battled an Ish, a guardian angel of Esav according to Rashi. With the coming of daylight, the struggle ended with Yaakov as the victor, but not before he obtained a blessing: Israel would be his name from that moment on. Yaakov limped out of the encounter.
If we stick to the interpretation that identifies this episode with the Diaspora, “limping” would be a characteristic of the Jewish people during the period of exile and humiliation. At the same time, exile would be an indelible experience, because it would have allowed Judaism to draw on other cultures and assimilate them through a membrane that would allow only those traits that were compatible with Judaism to pass through the barrier.
Why hadn’t Yitschak correctly identified Esav’s character, while his wife Rivka was right to think that the true heir to her father’s legacy would be Yaakov? Many argue that Yitschak had a passive personality, things happened to him, and he was not the one who starred in the events. It is also possible that Yitschakthought that Esav’s formidable energy and initiative could be directed toward greater spirituality, depending on whether the father achieved greater emotional closeness with the son. It’s not that Yitschak didn’t appreciate Yaakov’s personality: he didn‘t want to abandon Esav, nor did he want to stop helping him find his basic spiritual identity.
After the separation of the brothers, Yaakov went to the city ofShechem and from then on began the daily life of the family engendered by the patriarch with his 4 wives, with the hatred and envy between the brothers; the expatriation in Egypt, where they were enslaved. The experience that provoked the birth of a people who would always appreciate freedom in all its forms.
