The seven Aliyahs of Vayishlach
top right – What would you do when you are about to meet your brother after 20 years and he may still be angry with you? How about send him some gifts? And protect your family? And be prepared for a confrontation? So, Jacob considers his options. Lucky to have a guardian angel who heads out with the gifts from Jacob’s herds.
top left – Here is that famed night confrontation of Jacob and the man/angel. The sages offer who this might have been, but for me it is an extension of Jacob himself. and he grabs Jacob, inevitably wounding his sciatica, or godads. He also recovered jars which are the colors of the simultaneous worlds Kabbalists say we live in.
top center – Esau has come with a sizable army and Jacob prostrates himself before his brother, protecting his family, and in particular the daughter Dinah, who is hidden in a box so Esau won’t make a move on her.
bottom right – Jacob and Esau make an agreement to separate, and not at this time as hostile brothers.
bottom left – Dinah is raped by a prince of neighboring Shechem. He then asks his father, governor of the city, to arrange a marriage. Dinah’s brothers Simon and Levi set terms but will kill all the men later. Jacob is horrified by their behavior and though he has been addressed by Hashem, he is in distress.
bottom center – Jacob buries Rachel on the roadside where she dies. He sets up an altar there. His son Rueben is inappropriate with the hand maiden Bilpah. Jacob buries his father Isaac in Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah are buried. And Esau’s descendants are listed.
center center – And strangely this entire Aliyah lists all the rest of Esau’s descendants with 8 kings and leading to Edom, which is associated with Rome and with even the Nazis. Guess we need to know where the dangers come from.