Parshat Vayishlach
by Rabbi Sholem B. Hecht
Got Satan?
Human Disguise
In preparing himself to meet with his brother Eisav face to face with the conflict over the blessings given by Yitzchok, at issue Yaakov went back across the river to retrieve the small vessels. There he is confronted by a Quasi person who we are told is really the guardian angel of Eisav in the guise of a human being. Yaakov understands that in order to receive Eisav’s consent to the blessings he must first overpower the spiritual force of Eisav and receive his consent to the blessings, only then will Eisav be subdued and acquiesce.
Angel Warrior
He struggles with the spirit all night in a desperate wrestle. The angel is not able to overcome Yaakov and just before dawn, when he realizes that he has to give in to Yaakov’s superior strength, in the last effort, it dislocates Yaakov’s sciatic nerve. He then began to be dismissed! Yaakov says, you must first give me the blessing, referring of course to the consent to Yitzchok’s blessing. The angel asks Yaakov, “what is your name,” and he informs him that in the very near future the Al-mighty will add the name “Yisroel,” indicating that Yaakov had fought with angels and men and had been successful. This would broaden and deepen the impact that Yaakov would have on the future of the Jewish people. Yaakov then seeks to understand the essence of this angel in order to elicit the fullest measure of blessing and he asks the angel his name. The angel responds “Loma Zeh Tishal Lishmi - why do you ask my name”?
Satanic Facade
Our sages say that the spirit of Eisav was also the embodiment of the evil inclination and the Satan who was moonlighting. There was this common essence between the spirit of Eisav and the spirit of the Yetzer Hara/Satan. And so it was, when Yaakov asked his name and tried to find his essence that he responded and said: “My essence is a mirage”. This is the power of the Yetzer Hora, to present things as being real and beautiful when really they are empty and nothing. He said, why do you ask my name? When one only sees the superficial aspects of the mirage that the Yetzer Hora presents to a person then it appears that it has a name and some essential being. When one looks deeper, you’ll see that it is truly emptiness and nothingness that it really has no name, for it has no essence.
This was the response of the angel to Yaakov. My name is, “Loma Zeh Tishal Lishmi, why do you ask my name?”
Got Satan?
This lesson, is so important for the children of Yaakov to understand what the misinterpretation and the misinterpretations are of the Yetzer Hora – the Satan are, to realize it’s insignificance and emptiness, so that it may be overcome and overpowered, just as Yaakov overcame the power of the angel.