"Towards the Final Conflict"

12 Kislev 5785

Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Parashat Vayishlach

(Excerpted from Parashat Vayishlach: Towards the Final Conflict by Daniel Pinner)

... The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 25a) makes it clear that though Jacob told his brother Esau that he would meet him in Seir, he never intended to go to there.

So why the apparent subterfuge?

In fact, Jacob was speaking absolute truth when he told Esau that “I will come to my lord, to Seir”.  The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 78:14 and Sechel Tov, Vayishlach 14) quotes Rabbi Abahu:  “We can search the entire Tanach, and we will never find that Jacob our father went to Esau in Mount Seir throughout his life ….  When, then, will he come to him? – In the future time, which is the meaning of ‘Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau’ (Obadiah 1:21)”. 

... Yes, Jacob was telling Esau the truth when he told him that he would one day meet him – indeed, confront him – in Mount Seir.  Not in his physical lifetime – but one day, Israel will yet confront Esau in Mount Seir.

Abram, Sarai, and Jacob all earned new names for themselves:  Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah – they both merited the extra letter heh, representing Hashem.  Jacob became Israel by his courage and determination.  Esau, too, earned a new name for himself: Edom, related to adom, red, because of his blood-lust (Genesis 25:30).

Esau – Edom – evolved into the nation of Rome – the nation which would destroy the Second Temple.  The subjugation and exile which began with Rome has lasted until today.  The Ba’al ha-Turim (Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher, Germany and Spain, c.1275-1343) notes that the final letters of the phrase avo el adoni se’ira (“I will come to my lord, to Seir “) spell the word eleiha (“to it”), and the gematria of the word avo (“I will come”) is four: “This is a veiled reference that after the four exiles [Egypt, Greece, Babylon/Persia, and Rome], they [Israel] will come to it [Mount Seir], ‘before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Hashem’ (Malachi 3:23), and then ‘Saviours will ascend Mount Zion, to judge Mount Esau’ (Obadiah 1:21)”.

We are today on the threshold of the sixth millennium, the time beyond which Mashiach and Israel’s final redemption cannot be delayed. Israel can delay no longer, and the final conflict between Israel and Esau is not far off.  We are both heading swiftly towards our long-awaited final confrontation on Mount Seir, the Mountain of Esau.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~