TorahParsha

Israel is Born in Egypt

i
Jacob and his sons come down to Egypt. They are fleeing from famine. This flight begins the time of the Jewish people in that land.

And the verse says, And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen…and they took possession of it.

*
Note how the verse says they. They took possession of it.

Before, Israel was not a they. Israel was a man. Israel was the name that God gave to Jacob, the patriarch, God's angel telling him: Your name will no more be called Jacob, but Israel.

Now, in Egypt, Israel has become a they.

Israel has become a people.

ii
This happens in Egypt.

This happens, too, in Goshen: a land tucked within the land of Egypt.

iii
We are separate from the nations of the world (we were born in Goshen).

We are bound to the nations of the world (we were born in Egypt).

We are both of these things, from our birth.

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The Empathy of Israel

i
Jacob wrestles an angel, at night, before meeting with his brother Esau.

Jacob has not seen Esau for more than twenty years. Jacob fears that Esau may want to kill him.

*
The angel changes Jacob's name. The angel calls Jacob, Yisrael: Israel.

For, the angel says to Jacob, of Jacob, You have struggled (saritah) with God and with man, and you have prevailed.

ii
But struggle brings pain.

Wrestling Jacob, the angel touches the hollow of Jacob's thigh, by the place on the leg called the sinew of the vein.

That touch wounds Jacob and makes him limp.

*
This wound creates a Law.

The verse says: Because of this wound, when we eat meat, the Children of Israel do not eat of the sinew of the vein until this day.

iii
Thousands of years ago, Jacob was hurt in his thigh.

Now, as we enjoy food, we may not enjoy the meat of the place of Jacob's wound.

*
To be of the Children of Israel is to hold empathy for all that has happened to Israel, ever. 

That empathy is tied to the very roots of our name.

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Children of Isaac

i
Jacob and Esau are Isaac’s sons.

Esau is a hunter. But Jacob is a simple man, a dweller of tents.

Jacob’s offspring—and not Esau’s offspring—will carry the mantle of Isaac.

*
Once, Esau returns from the hunt and is hungry to the point of death. Jacob, meanwhile, cooks lentils.

Esau remains hungry, though he hunts: though he seeks to capture food from far and wide.

Meanwhile Jacob, a dweller of tents, makes a meal. A dweller of tents, he understands how to use what is near at hand.

ii
Torah is the study of the holiness of the close-by. In it you jump into questions like how to prepare meat, or what fire is, or what constitutes the act of sewing.

*
Torah will be the task of the family of Isaac, through the end of time. So the task of the family of Isaac is to grow nourishment from the-near-at hand. It is a task for dwellers of tents.

Jacob is a dweller of tents. It is no surprise, then, that Jacob would carry the mantle of his family.

*
We are that family.

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