Two Minute Torah Podcast

Vayishlah 5772 by Rabbi Ed Romm

Shalom, my name is Rabbi Ed Romm, Director of Education and Campus Programs of the United Synagogue Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center For Conservative Judaism.

Welcome to KOACH's Two Minute Torah, a project of the College Dept of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

I would like to share some thoughts with you about Parshat Vayishlah.

Yaakov is finally returning to Eretz Yisrael and is fearful of encountering a vengeful Esau. So he sends messengers ahead to his brother Esau and instructs them as follows- "To my lord Esau, thus says your servant Yaakov".

He sends several waves of messengers loaded with gifts for his brother. When he is finally in sight of his brother, the Torah tells us he bowed low to the ground seven times.

The leaders of the time of the Mishna who were living under Roman rule were divided on how to understand the biblical story of Yaakov and his behavior towards Esau. There were those who saw Yaakov’s behavior as capitulation before the enemy. Quoting from Proverbs they described Jacob "as a righteous man who abases himself before the wicked".

On the other hand Rabbi Judah Hanassi, the leader of the Jewish community favored diplomacy. We read in Breshit Raba (chapter 55) that when writing a letter to the Roman emperor he started the letter with the salutation "From your servant Judah to our Sovereign the Emperor Antonius". When his scribe protested, my master- why do you treat your honor so lightly? Rabbi Judah responded am I then better than my ancestor who said "thus says your servant Yaakov"?

The same debate on how to deal with conflict and ones adversary follows us throughout the ages. Which approach is the correct one? I leave that judgment to history.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.