Parsha_Push Parshat Vayishlach

Amir Gilboa writes: “Suddenly a person wakes up in the morning and feels that he is a nation and begins to walk”. Poetry researchers believe he is referring to the generation after the Holocaust, who woke up, discovered there were still Jews in the world, and gathered together as a renewed nation in their homeland.

But it seems no one felt the power of this sentence like our nation’s forefathers, and certainly Abraham, who was born as an individual, but was promised that he would become a nation (“And I will make you a great nation”). Sarah was also promised that a nation or two would come from her (“And she shall become nations, kings of peoples shall come from her”), and even about Ishmael it was said that “he shall become a great nation”.

Rebecca begins her motherhood with the awareness that “two nations are in your womb and two peoples from your innards shall separate”. She understands from the beginning (what would be difficult for Abraham to accept) that not only will she become a nation, but two will emerge from her. One can wonder what Isaac thought. Did he know that two different nations were embedded in his sons, or did he think there could be cooperation within the developing nation? In any case, he blesses Jacob “And you shall be a congregation of peoples”, already containing in his blessing the possibility of different peoples creating one assembly.

God also speaks to Jacob (in this week’s Torah portion) and blesses or commands him: “Be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a congregation of nations shall be from you, and kings shall come from your loins”. This beautiful blessing again clarifies for Jacob that even if he wakes up as an individual in the morning, he must feel that he is a nation and begin to walk. However, this blessing was given after Jacob had already been fruitful and multiplied, after eleven sons were born to him, with another on the way. So what is the meaning of this statement by God?

It seems the blessing of fertility is expressed in situations where the world is being renewed – at creation, upon leaving the ark, and to Jacob as he is beginning to become a nation. And it appears that at this very moment, Jacob transforms from a private individual to one who already represents an entire nation. When God commands him, He is not commanding the private Jacob, but Israel the nation. Through fertility, the nation and the congregation of peoples that will emerge from him will grow and establish themselves, and even establish kings. From now on, the nation will be a nation, but it will also contain a ‘congregation of peoples’. Diversity and complexity can exist within the nation, and the “other” will not be excluded. From now on, means that were perhaps justified (and even this with difficulty, and at heavy prices) with the understanding that the struggle for birthright and blessing is a battle for chosenness, will no longer be legitimate. Everyone is chosen, and behavior must be accordingly. It may take time to understand this idea, but God willing, in the end there will be “twelve sons of Jacob”, and together they will be a congregation of peoples who will continue to be fruitful and multiply and be the nation of Israel.