(Inspired by a teaching of R Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Torah Ohr) whose release from prison on the 19th of Kislev marks this Saturday Night a day of celebration.) (The author wishes to express special thanks to the Kabbalah Institute and the Berg family for coming to our neighborhood and distributing hundreds of free sets of Zohar.)
The parashah begins, "And Ya'akov sent malachim (angels, messengers) before him to Eisav his brother." The angels were to give Eisav the message that Ya'akov was on his way to meet him and to tell Eisav that Ya'akov's intention was to "find favor in his eyes." Rashi writes that Ya'akov wanted to tell Eisav that he is sholeim (complete or whole) with him and that he seeks his love.
The entire story of Ya'akov is a constant struggle to take on the role of Eisav: beginning in childbirth, when Ya'akov held onto the heal of Eisav and thus received the name Ya'akov (from Eikev heal); continuing into the brother's dramatic reunion, when they unite in embrace and only in this clasping finally actualize the blessing of their father Yitzchak.
The holy Zohar, the "book of splendor" begins: "'And Ya'akov sent malachim (messengers, angels) …' Rebbe Yehuda began the discussion with the verse (from Dovid ha-Melekh's Tehillim) 'For he commanded angels upon you to guard you in all your ways.' When man is born into this world the Evil Inclination enters with him and constantly denounces him as it says 'sin crouches at the door.' What is 'sin crouches'? This is the Evil Inclination. And David also called it (the evil inclination) 'sin' as it says 'my sin is before me always'…" The Zohar continues and explains that the angels which Ya'akov sent and the angels mentioned in the verse of tehillim are the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination. The Good Inclination is a constant desire to leave the body, rise above the physical world and reattach with its source in the Divine. The Evil Inclination is the opposite, it is constantly seeking after the pleasures of this world. These two inclinations are naturally in constant struggle with each other; and yet, they stand by man always, angels, one on each side, and the servitude of the Evil Inclination towards the Good Inclination creates a union that protects man 'in all his ways', in whichever path he's on.
Ya'akov who "dwells in the tents" is kabbalistically from the world of order, while Eisav who's involved with all worldly activities is from the world of chaos. Ya'akov is the strictly "religious" guy, living in the boundaries of the law and distancing himself from sin, while his brother the hunter is out in the world experiencing all its pleasures. Ya'akov knows that he needs some of the energy of Eisav, but Eisav doesn't want anything to do with Yaakov and wants to destroy the Ya'akov-conscience within himself.
When the brothers finally meet up with each other in this week's parashah, "Eisav ran towards him [Ya'akov], embraced him, fell upon his neck, kissed him, and they cried." There are dots above the word "and he kissed him", and they reveal that the meaning of the word is not as we would usually think. Rashi relates an opinion that the dotting reveals that the kiss wasn't with a full heart, but then he brings another opinion from Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (author of the Zohar). Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai teaches that it is a known fact that Eisav hates Ya'akov, and therefore, without the dots, one would think it was an illegitimate kiss; so the dots come to inform that at the moment they met, Eisav's love was aroused and they kissed with a full heart. The Netziv teaches further that at that moment they both truly loved each other and created the possibility for this love to arouse itself in future generations.
This uniting in love only came about after Yaakov crossed the river of Yabok. There he wrestled and bound himself up with the soul root of Eisav becoming one and receiving the new name of Yisroel. Rashi explains that the word translated as wrestle has a second meaning of "connecting", becoming one.
How did the sending of the angels bring about the success of the unification of Yaakov and Eisav?
Our mission as Yisroel (the Jewish people) is to unify the transcendent with the imminent, to bring together the godly with the mundane. We read in the Shema, "love Hashem with all your Heart." The Mishnah explains "all your heart [means] both of your inclinations, the good inclination and the evil inclination." However this seems to be a paradox. One is a desire to transcend the world and the other is a desire to be as much in the world as possible. Many times when we are involved with physical pleasures it lessens our spiritual pleasure, and in order to experience spiritual pleasure we need to lessen our physical pleasure. For a Buddhist to reach a high level of meditation he starves himself and puts himself through other sorts of physical afflictions in order to release himself from the confines of the physical world. However, in order to unify the spiritual with the physical a Jew is told to involve himself by elevating the physical onto a spiritual level, and realizing the spiritual on a physical level. For example, we arrive in the high spiritual day of Shabbas by having a glass of alcoholic beverage and sitting down to a huge meal. Any time a Jew eats s/he makes a blessing before and after, meditating on the source of the physical in the spiritual, and thereby unifying the two in the food eaten. The Good Inclination is satisfied in that it connects to its source, and the Evil inclination in allowing itself to be subservient to the Good inclination is thereby also fulfilled. This is what our Rabbi's mean when they say "the work of a Jew is to find the straight path, not leaning too much to the right or too much to the left." As Rebbe Nachman said, "A person must pass a very narrow bridge but the main thing is to have no fear at all."
In every endeavor, Ya'akov stood in the center of these two angels unifying them. In the spiritual, he connected to the physical; and in the physical, he connected to the spiritual. That is what it means to be "guarded in all your ways." In coming to meet Eisav he needed this protection. If Eisav would come to Ya'akov looking to fight, then Ya'akov would overcome him with the angel on his right side (the Good Inclination). If living by your basic animal instincts prevents you from maintaining a spiritual level, then you better be able to subdue your physical desires and leave worldly endeavor for spiritual pursuits. However, if Eisav would come in peace, then Ya'akov would be able to be "complete" with him. If worldly pursuits don't make you fall from your spiritual level, then indulge because every move you make is fixing the world. This is a constant back and forth battling/binding until Godliness is brought in to every aspect of creation.
Everything in the physical world is lifted up step by step until there is nothing left in existence that takes us away from our pleasure in being one with our source. Everything we come in contact with makes us a chariot for unifying the divine and the mundane. This is the world of Dovid Melekh Moshiach who, like Eisav is called edomi (the red one): in order to pass through the door of redemption, we must face the crouching "evil" that Dovid tells us is "before me always."
Yabok is the word used to describe the wrestling/unifying of Ya'akov with the ministering angel of Eisav. Kabalistically, the last step before the coming of Moshiach is the crossing of the Yabok river.
"And they wrestled/binded until the coming of dawn." May it come soon. Good Shabbas.