Parshat Vayishlach
In this week’s parsha, Parshat Vayishlach, the Torah tells us about the famous story regarding Yaakov and the angel that he fought. One night, Yaakov went to sleep and in his dream, he finds himself fighting someone. The famous commentator Rashi states that this person that Yaakov fought was the angel of Esav, Yaakov’s brother. The fight lasts all night and ends with the angel tearing out Yaakov’s sciatic nerve and then blessing Yaakov, giving him the name Yisrael, because Yaakov struggled with both man and G-d and prevailed. At the end of this portion in the Torah, we are commanded not to eat the sciatic nerve, as a memory of Yaakov’s struggles.
The Sefer HaChinuch, a 13th century Jewish text that discusses the 613 mitzvot in depth, writes that the prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve is a commandment about Jewish survival. When we, as Jewish people, eat kosher food and refrain from eating the sciatic nerve, we are reminding ourselves of the struggles that Yaakov went through and despite all those struggles, he still survived. It is no coincidence that the Jewish people are called Bnei Yisrael, Children of Israel, which was the name that Yaakov was given after fighting with the angel throughout the night. We emulate Yaakov and use his name Yisrael to remind ourselves that despite any struggles, trials and tribulations, we will prevail and survive. Yaakov teaches us how to deal with struggles that we have with other people and with G-d and as long as we remember that we are the children of Israel, we should be blessed with a bright future!
Written by Ilan Shields
