{"id":38745,"date":"2018-08-26T22:35:12","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T19:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=38745"},"modified":"2022-03-22T08:04:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T06:04:14","slug":"facing-off-with-esau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/facing-off-with-esau\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing off with Esau"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[486,490,386],"acf":{"old_id":"38745","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"33","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Jacob offers Esau nothing less than\u2026 his blessing!","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After days of anxious preparation, Jacob and Esau were reunited. Jacob introduced his wives and children to his brother, and again offered him the gifts he had previously dispatched. Esau appeared to be impressed by the size of Jacob\u2019s family and the extent of his wealth, but declined the offer saying that he had plenty of his own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jacob\u2019s reply is worth considering in detail: \u201cTo the contrary. If you favor me, take the gift I am offering. I have seen that your face is divine (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elohim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and you are pleased with me\u201d (33:10). A glance at several verses in the previous chapter reveals that facial features (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">panim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) dominated both Jacob\u2019s conscious thoughts (see, particularly, 32:21) and unconscious dreams. He even named the site of his wrestling match Peni-el (divine face) saying, \u201cfor I have been face-to-face with an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elohim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and my life was spared\u201d (32:31).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Applying the axiom that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other, if the face of Jacob\u2019s nighttime opponent was that of an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elohim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (32:31) and Esau\u2019s face was that of an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elohim<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (33:10), then Jacob\u2019s challenger was none other than Esau himself. While the Sages made this equation and suggested that Jacob\u2019s adversary was Esau\u2019s ministering angel (Bereishit Rabba 77), I would venture a psychological interpretation: Jacob\u2019s anxiety over the impending reunion with the victim of his earlier ruse led to an inner struggle in which his conscience took on the form and features of Esau.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This interpretation gains support from a continuing verse, in which Jacob says to Esau: \u201cTake my blessing that has been brought to you\u201d (33:11). Previously, all references to the gifts used the word <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">minhah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (offering), suggesting that Jacob\u2019s spontaneous offer of a <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">berachah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (harking back to the blessing stolen from their father) is a Freudian slip.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63174,"id":63174,"title":"blessingorcurse","filename":"blessingorcurse.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ki-tavo-what-is-a-curse\/blessingorcurse\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"blessingorcurse","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":62814,"date":"2019-09-19 07:49:45","modified":"2022-10-12 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