Tzipiyah.com

At the beginning of this week’s parshah, we learn about the confrontation between Jacob and Esau, his brother. To recall the history between them: Jacob had received blessings from his father, Isaac, when these blessings were originally meant for Esau. Esau, convinced that Jacob had stolen his rightfully earned blessings, became enraged and had it in his heart to kill Jacob. Because of this, Jacob ran away from Esau. They encounter eachother more than 30 years after Jacob fled; and it is in this week’s parshah that this event unfolds…

When Jacob hears that Esau is approaching him with an army of 400 men, he becomes very frightened. The Torah describes the words of prayer that Jacob expresses before the climactic meeting with Esau:

“And Jacob said ‘God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac…Rescue me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he come and strike me down…’ ” [Genesis: 32: 10 – 13]

Two questions may be asked regarding this prayer. Firstly, if one were read the next few verses, it would be noticed that God does not reply to Jacob’s request. We have already seen in previous verses that God is on speaking terms with Jacob, so why doesn’t He say anything here? Secondly, since Jacob is addressing God, it would’ve been appropriate for the verse to say: “And Jacob said to God…”! Why are these words left out? Although he does indeed say in his prayers “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac”, the verse nevertheless intimates that, in some way, God does not receive the prayer; why?

The words of the Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194 – 1270, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator) may shed some light on our problem. He explains that everything that occurred to our forefather (Jacob) with Esau would continually occur to us with the descendants of Esau. He further states that, throughout our dealings with Esau’s descendants, it is fitting for us to prepare ourselves in prayer the same way that Jacob did.

It is well known that that the Jewish nation is destined to experience four different exiles throughout our history. After undergoing the exiles of Babylon, Persia, and Greece, we presently find ourselves in the exile of Rome; the very descendants of Esau. Although the swords and shields of the Roman empire have been vanquished, their ideology lives on. It is this ideology that currently rules over us in the guise of assimilation, which leads us to conform to the corrupt and evil ways of the modern world. This spiritual exile has completely shattered us; the amount of Jewish souls that have fallen prey to the deceptions of Esau is countless. It is an absolute tragedy that the great majority of Jews out there aren’t familiar with the very fundamentals that define us as a nation.

Therefore, our confrontation with the descendants of Esau happens on a daily basis; in every aspect of our lives, we are faced with this ideological threat. It is throughout this exile that the Ramban teaches us to look to the story of Jacob and his encounter with Esau.

The present exile has led to a common misconception among a vast majority of Jews that God has left us; that He does not heed our prayers. Furthermore, the many distractions of the world keep us so occupied that we seem to have no time for God. Unfortunately, all of us are affected by this to some degree, and consequentially the relationship between the Jewish nation and God has indeed become tainted. Our generation has fallen to the lowest depths of religious connection, and because of this God distances Himself from us. Of course, God will forever have authority over the course of events in this world, but in our present time it is harder to see than ever. Because our connection to the divine has become so clouded, it is very easy to believe that God does not answer our prayers. How many of us truly feel that we have a genuine relationship with God? While standing in prayer, how many of us truly recognize that we’re standing before the King of the world?

The verses describing Jacob’s prayer allude to the future exile with Esau’s descendants, in which we find ourselves today. It will be a time where we may honestly feel that God does not answer our prayers. It will be a time where we may actually pray to God Himself, without feeling an inkling of His presence. The darkness of the exile undoubtedly makes it much harder for us to connect to God, but all that means is that we simply have to try harder. Even in those times where we cannot feel God by our side, we must push ourselves further. Because no matter how distanced we may find ourselves from God, He will always accept our prayers. And though we may not see it, He does answer us and only acts in our best interests.

Through hard effort and concentration in prayer and our religious service, may we be blessed to eventually acknowledge the presence of Whom we stand before.

Good Shabbos,

NZL