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Parshah Vayishlach: The Exhilaration of Vengeance

November 23, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

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Despite its lack of productive application in our world, the concept of vengeance can seem sweet, satisfying and even righteous. When a wrong of great egregiousness has been perpetrated against the innocent, our initial response may be an anger-fueled compulsion towards retaliation. We may entertain thoughts of inflicting harm or even abject violence. We may even derive a sense of calm and balance from such visions.

When a friend of mine endured harassment that grew increasingly threatening, my first thoughts were of assembling a posse and in the dead of night, slashing the perpetrator’s tires and breaking his windows. The image of my friends and I as an indestructible force motivated by moral outrage still makes me chuckle. And while this scenario would have been relatively easy to realize, I instead accompanied my friend to the police station where she filed a report and initaited a peaceful resolution to the situation. Vegeance may prove momentarily exhilirating, but its long-term consequences can be diastrous.

In this week’s parshah, Simeon and Levi choose a path of violence breathtaking in scope. Their sister, Dinah, has engaged in sexual activity with Shechem, a Hivite Prince. They are not married, nor is Shechem a member of Dinah’s community. It is important to note that some commentators characterize this incident as rape. Some translations use the word “force.” However, the text conveys affection on the part of Shechem and seems to indicate mutual consent. “Being strongly drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and in love with the maiden, he spoke to the maiden tenderly” (Genesis 34:3).

Shechem’s father visits Jacob and requests Dinah be married to his son. Further, he invites the Israelites into his community to live as one people. However, Simeon and Levi remain outraged at what they consider an inexcusable violation. Two interpretations exist – Dinah engaged in pre-marital sex with someone from outside of the community or she was raped. Both of these scenarios would consitute profound violations among the Biblical Israelites.

Simeon and Levi’s response is to slaughter every man in Hamor’s community, plunder the town, and claim the women, children, and resources for the Israelites. Jacob is incensed. “You have brought trouble on me,” he tells his sons, “making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my men are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed” (Genesis 34:30). The vegeance perpetrated by the brothers has threatented the very survival of their own community. They have succeed only in ensuring that every member of their tribe lives in fear of the nations they may encounter, and fomenting a collective reputation as mercilessly violent. They have marked every Israelite as a danger that must be neutralized.

Evaluating all options, considering the consequences, and taking the long view requires patience, intention and suspension of judgment. Had I followed through with my own ideas of vandalism, I may have faced criminal charges. The harassment against my friend may have escalated into violence. Nothing productive or positive would have been accomplished. For Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s situation could have proved a catalyst for opening their hearts and extending support to their sister. They were granted the opportunity to think critically about the social conventions of their own community, their individual commitments to family, and the future of the Israelite people. They opted to reject such an opportunity, choosing monumental bloodshed instead.

This week’s parshah invites us to consider the parallels in our modern world. Mainstream news is rife with physical, verbal, and emotional violence. Vengeance can certainly be found in the actions of individuals, communities and entire nations. Through this lens, Jacob’s response to the violence committed by his sons proves a powerful lesson of timeless reverberation.

Akiva Yael is an enthusiastic participant in all that is holy, including Torah study, powerlifting, and the beauty of our world.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, online conversion, Parshah Vayishlach, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Vayishlach

Parsha Vayishlach and Wrestlemania (Torah Video Mashup)

November 12, 2013 by Patrick Beaulier

There are lots of different ways we wrestle. Some of us wrestle with difficult decisions. Some of us wrestle with the weight of our family and our friends, and some of us wrestle in other ways. In this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, Jacob wrestles with a mysterious figure. Some say it was an angel. Some say it was God. Others say it was his brother Esau. We do know that after this event, Jacob’s name becomes Israel. Struggling changes us; sometimes it changes our very identity, just like it did for Jacob.

We all wrestle. And we all change. The question is: are you changing for better, or worse?

Judaism: the real Wrestlemania.

Filed Under: Podcasts & Videos Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, jewish wrestling, judaism wrestling, online conversion, parsha vayishlach, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, torah video mashup, Vayishlach, wrestlemania

Steampunk Torah: Vayishlach & Vayeshev

August 16, 2012 by Patrick Beaulier

The steampunk drama continues with Rivkah Raven’s mixed media midrashim! Download the chapters Vayishlach and Vayeshev to follow Cora’s journey.

Not familiar with Steampunk Torah? Start from the beginning by clicking here.

Chapter 32: Vayishlach (And He Sent)
Cora had not been aware of her surroundings for – who knew how long? Time did not pass here as it did beyond the barrier, but as a human soul in a human body, a certain type of inherent time always existed. The need to eat, the need to sleep, the space during which actions took place, one breath to another – time in the Lost Kingdom was of an internal nature, rather than being marked by external changes of season or aging. Yet in the catacomb, she was in a space that was truly timeless. It had become just her and the manuscript she was reading- the book of her life. She did not feel [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Media Reviews Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, jewish steampunk, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, steampunk, steampunk torah, Vayeshev, Vayishlach

The Angel of The Other (Parshat Vayishlach)

November 15, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

This week’s Torah portion comes from our friend Matthew Zachary Gindin. If you’d like to submit your own d’var Torah, email questions@punktorah.org

All real living is meeting.- Martin Buber

In last week’s parsha, Vayeitze Ya’akov left Be’er Sheva in the Holy Land and went north to Haran. The Sfas Emes points out that this symbolizes the soul leaving behind the well (be’er) of Shabbat (sheva) to go into the materiality of the world- from the place of p’nimiyut (internal spirit) to the place of gashmiyut (mundane concern). Now he is returning to the Holy Land and therefore to the place of p’nimiyut, which besides internality can also paradoxically mean the Face (panim). As we shall see Ya’akov will be tested on the way with a meeting with the face of the Other, the face of his brother Esav.

Ya’akov has sent messengers and gifts along before him to his estranged brother and sent his family along ahead of him. He has prepared for possible battle with him and the men that accompany him. Ya’akov will stay alone for the night.

“Vayivater Ya’akov levado- And Ya’akov was left alone (levado)”(Bereishit 32:25). The Midrash says, “Ya’akov was left alone (levado)”- this is like the aloneness of the Holy One who pervades all the universe (Bereishit Rabbah, 77:1)”. How is Ya’akov’s aloneness like the aloneness of Hashem?

The Holy One’s aloneness is described as ein od milvado -there is nothing besides Him alone (Devarim 4:35). On one level Ya’akov is in a place of great aloneness where he must rely on his own resources only (R’ Tzvi Elimelech of Dynov, Igre de-Kala, quoted by Rav Itamar Eldar). This is one way in which his aloneness is like the Holy One’s- it is an aloneness of self-sufficiency.

Further R’ Tzvi Elimelech and others connect this verse to another one from Yeshaya: “And human haughtiness will be humbled and people’s pride be brought low, YHWH alone ( levado) will be exalted on that day (Yashaya 2:17)” Here Ya’akov lets go of pride and self and thus attains to an “aloneness with the alone”. Ya’akov’s aloneness is one where he comes into an unmediated meeting with the Divine presence, as taught by the Shem Mi-Shmuel (see Shem Mi-Shmuel Vayishlach 1878). This last type of aloneness is a segregation- a hitbodedut- even from ideas of self and other, past and future. Ya’akov enters into a deep stillness where he transcends stories about himself and his brother. Ya’akov is alone, but not in the sense of isolation.

We see here that Ya’akov attains an aloneness of self-reliance, humility, divine presence, and seclusion from his usual way of looking at things, even to the extent of transcending ideas of himself and his brother. Lastly in this aloneness his consciousness becomes unrestricted, and it is in this sense that his awareness “pervades all the universe like the Holy One”.

It is from this ultimate place that the Other can be met completely, free from the cage of concepts based on the past. Here transformation of our attitude to the other can really occur, even if we only glimpse this state briefly. Without it, change tends to be more superficial.

V’ya’vak ish imo ad alot hashachar. The next thing that happens is that Ya’akov is met by a “man” (ish)- in my reading, his own personification of the Other, with which he wrestles ad alot hashachar– until the dawn (Bereishit 32:25). Ya’akov’s journey is not complete and he must integrate his experience. Ya’akov wrestles with the man triumphantly and the next day when he meets Esav he is greeted by Esav with a kiss. However first he bows to Esav sheva pa’amim– seven times (Bereishit 33:3). Seven symbolizes completion- Ya’akov bows completely.

Esav embraces Ya’akov and tells him Esav bears him no enmity any longer- a result the Rabbis explicitly connect to Ya’akov’s wrestling the night before with Esav’s guardian angel, or in our reading, with Ya’akov’s projection of Esav as threatening Other. And how telling in this respect is Ya’akov’s reponse to Esav “I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God”. Ya’akov’s statement reveals that in his aloneness his vision has been reborn, remade, and now he recognizes that the unmediated face of reality, the unmediated face of his brother Esav, is the face of God.

The meeting of Ya’akov and Esav has been understood as having been potentially messianic. If Esav had been ready for union with Ya’akov, the messianic age would have dawned. But Esav was not ready, and so Ya’akov does not go with him but sends him on ahead, promising to catch up with him in Se’ir. The lesson here is spiritual and ethical.

Ya’akov, after his healing glimpse of Esav beyond objectification, falls again into self protection. He does not go with Esav out of fear. He has not emerged from his wrestling with his personification of the Other completely whole after all- rather he walks with a limp. Jews do not eat the gid hanasheh, the sciatic nerve, of an animal in remembrance of Ya’akov’s injured hip. The mitzvah not to eat the gid hanasheh is a remembrance of the hope of reconciliation between self and other. One day we hope Ya’akov will be completely reconciled to Esav, beyond fear, guilt, and anger, and thus a space will open for Esav to be reconciled to Ya’akov. The pyche will be beyond “what I have done to him or her, what I am doing to him or her, what I might do to him or her” and of course “what he or she has done to me, what he or she are doing to me, what he or she might do to me”. Ya’akov and Esav will embrace each other and travel together without fear. Until then perhaps Ya’akov is right to not travel with Esav- he senses not that Esav is not ready but that he himself is not ready.

By the end of the parsha we read “Ya’akov arrived whole – and he encamped before the city (of Shechem) (Bereishit 33:18).” And Esav? “And Esav took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had acquired in the land of Canaan; and went into another country away from his brother Yaakov (Bereishit 36:6).” The parsha then calls him “Esav, who is Edom (Bereishit 36:1).” He is now no longer identified with Avraham and his family; he is from now on identified as Edom. He has left the family and mission of Avraham. Even more ominously, Esav’s son Elifaz takes Timna, sister of a Horite chieftain, as a wife. Their son is Amalek, the archetypal anti-semite, ancestor of Haman of the Purim story (Bereishit 36:12)!

What would have happened if Ya’akov had gone with Esav and positively united their destinies? Yitzhak, certainly, did not desire Esav’s banishment from the family but rather favoured him. Traditional Jewish commentary has argued for Esav’s bad intentions at great length: Esav was feining forgiveness, or his forgiveness was short-lived; Esav did not really kiss Ya’akov- he bit him. Is this protesting too much? Are we straining to cover for our own lack of love?

Chazal have said that reconciliation between Ya’akov and Esav will happen in the messianic future. Whoever is Israel, awake and struggling: let’s not wait for the future with whoever in our life is Esav. By letting go of our pride and our attempts to rely on others, and going into a place of aloneness, segregated even from our concepts of self and other, us and them, we can renew our eyes and see again the face of God in the face of the other. Everytime the face of the Other appears to us- by an act of grace beyond our imagining or conception- then the messianic age may dawn in that moment.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, D'var Torah, darshan yeshiva, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, The Angel of The Other (Parshat Vayishlach), this week's torah portion, torah portion, torah portion of the week, Vayishlach

PARSHAT VAYISHLACH

December 27, 2009 by Patrick Beaulier

I know I’m not the only one who thinks that the original Power Rangers was awesome.

No, I’m not talking about this Turbo-Mega-Ultra-Version-Five-Point-O-Cybernetic-Power-Ranger stuff they spit out today. I’m talking Old School. I’m talking pre-Green Power Ranger with his dorky pony tail and his bad-boy looks. I’m talking Pink Power Ranger isn’t even on the show Felicity yet. That was good times. So I was happy that this week’s parshat reminded me of Power Rangers.

Jacob gathers his sons around and blesses them each with a role. This is the characteristic that their tribe will carry on, and combined together, will create a great nation. Joseph had beauty, Naphtali had swiftness, Asher was the next Food Network star and Judah would be the lion.

To me, Jacob isn’t saying, “OK, I’m old as dirt so let’s figure out something for you losers to be good at before I die.” Instead he’s saying, “I’m your dad, so I know what you are good and not good at. Here’s what I think is a good direction for you guys to go in.” Don’t believe me? Rashi says that Joseph as a teenager would “adorn his eyes”. Is that not beauty? Jacob didn’t bless Joseph with beauty. Rather, he told Joseph (like his brothers) where their talents lay and the blessing strengthened that skill set.

The Power Rangers were the same way. In the first episode when the Power Rangers are given their powers, the brainy kid (Billy) was given Wisdom, the Red Power Ranger, the Jock, was given Strength. The Pink Power Ranger…well…I don’t know what they gave her. Good fashion sense?

Regardless, the nerdy Power Ranger was already smart and the football player was already strong. But their Power Ranger Powers weren’t something new for them: it took what they already had going for them, to the next level.

The moral of the story? Be what you are. And let the blessings strengthen what you are already good at so that you can save the universe from evil, or at least create a dynasty in the Middle East.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, Counterculture, darshan yeshiva, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, Parsha, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, Power Rangers, Punk, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, Torah, Vayishlach

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