5785/2024

At the beginning of Parashat VaYishlach, Yaakov sends Malachim to greet his brother, Eisav, who wants to kill him. The Malachim soon return to inform Yaakov that Eisav wanted to meet him and that Eisav also had 400 men with him. Yaakov, understandably scared that Eisav has a mini-army with him, splits his camp into two parts. Finally, when the climactic moment arrives and Yaakov meets Eisav, nothing seems to happen, other than them embracing each other. 

Why was Eisav so calm? What could possibly be going on here? The Sforno writes that Eisav saw how humble Yaakov was and how much Yaakov honored him, and only because of this did nothing to him. He also writes that whenever we are amongst Eisav’s descendants, who are just as arrogant and plotting, we too have to lay low and give many gifts to maintain the peace.

The Sforno’s explanation seems to make sense considering the fact that the Sforno lived at the same time as the Spanish Inquisition. Once Jews in Spain started to gain power, they were kicked out. Nowadays, Baruch Hashem, we have our own country, and it is very hard to lay low. Nevertheless, we still see that one of the only way to come to terms with these Reshaim is the same way that Yaakov did. We prepare for war, which unfortunately we have had to do in recent years, and we give gifts. 

The only deal that Israel was able to reach with Hamas to get hostages back was when Israel gave up so many more terrorists than the civilians they were getting in return. Unfortunately, this imbalance also occurred at the time of Gilad Shalit’s release, when Gilad Shalit was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian terrorists. The Sforno, despite living 500 years ago, explained to us that the descendants of Eisav will not soon leave us alone and will continue to plot against us. May Yaakov Avinu’s merit and lessons guide us to peace.