Commento su Genesi 32:12

הצילני נא מיד אחי, these words correspond to the words נושא עון in Exodus, meaning that the sin has not caused Yaakov’s downfall.

מיד אחי מיד עשו FROM THE HAND OF MY BROTHER, FROM THE HAND OF ESAU — from the hand of my brother who does not treat me as a brother should, but as Esau, the wicked.

AND HE SMITE ME, THE MOTHER WITH THE CHILDREN. Commentators³⁴Mentioned in Ibn Ezra. The verb “smite” thus applies to the beginning and end of the sentence. have explained it as meaning. “And he smite me and smite the mother with the children.” There are many similar verses.

פן יבא והכני, because I am not worthy of all the loving kindness G’d has already shown me, (as I explained on verse 10)

Mother and children alike. Literally, “he will strike me, mother with sons” — i.e. he would deal Yaakov a devastating blow by killing his family, even if he himself escaped.

הצילני נא, "Save me please!" He used the word נא, a combined form of "please" and "now." He pleaded with G'd not to allow Esau to cause him any losses instead of letting him recoup his losses later on.

הצילני...אם על בנים. The word על in this line substitutes for the word עם, “with.” It is used in a similar sense in Hoseah 10,14 אם על בנים רטשה, “mothers and children were dashed to pieces.”

Mother together with children - if we are going to explain that he was worried that he [Esav] would attack mothers along with children, as it is said at the end of his prayer "and You said, etc and I set your seed etc" it is difficult to do so, given that God said to Avram, after Lot separated from him "and you seed will be like the dust of the earth, that is a person can count etc", since what would the "like the sand of the sea", an expression also present in the blessing, add? And more, what proof is there that he [Esav] wouldn't kill some of the children but the blessing could still happen on the rest of them? Rather, he was not worried about the children, since the children are "like him", exactly. He only worried about the wives, because they would protect them so that he [Esav] would not harm them, like the way of the mothers, and he was worried that he would kill the mothers in front of the children, and since "his wife is like his body" he said "strike me down." And this is also true given that he was warned not to take new wives, even after their deaths [of Rachel and Leah] since Lavan said "more children after theirs" since he was worried that their inheritance would be diminished due to children of another wife, and this is why he made a pact not to take other wives over his daughters, even after their deaths. And the proof to this is that the mitzvah of [not taking for wives] "a woman and her sister" applies only "during her lifetime" (Leviticus 18:1), and so obviously Lavan meant even after their deaths.

והכני אם על בנים, “and he will smite me, mother and children.” He means “mothers and their children.”

“From the hand of my brother who does not act towards me as a brother...” Here too, Rashi deduced this because מיד is written twice. And Yaakov would not use an expression of honor [about Eisov] when speaking to Hashem. (Maharshal)

gleichwohl rette mich vor meinem Bruder, der vielleicht ein Recht gegen mich hat, vor Esau, der seinem Charakter nach vielleicht eine Rache im Schilde führt, die ich doch vielleicht nicht verdient; rette mich um meiner Kinder willen, auf die du doch den Bau einer so großen Zukunft verheißen.

כי ירא אנכי אותו, “for I am afraid of him.” How could Yaakov still be afraid of Esau after all the assurances of support he had received from G–d? One sage answered that the answer to this question is found immediately in the words uttered by Yaakov himself. He refers to how he had set out on his journey to Lavan with nothing but his walking stick, whereas in the interval he had become very wealthy. When G–d had given him His assurances they had applied to himself alone. He had never included the people who now comprised his two camps, his family and the servants. As a result, while he did not fear for his person, he did fear for the lives of his wives and children, who had become an integral part of him.

מיד אחי, מיד עשו, from (the hand of) my brother, from (the hand of) Esau.” If Yaakov had only referred to Esau as “my brother,” it could have referred to any blood relative. If he had referred to Esau only by his name, it could have been understood as referring to anyone named Esau. [Yaakov had used the same caution when spelling out for whom he would serve Lavan for his future wife, i.e. “your younger daughter, Rachel.” (29,18) Ed.]

מיד אחי, מיד עשו, from my brother's hand, from Esau's hand. Rashi understands the word אחי as a plea that Esau should not treat him like a brother but rather as befitted the wicked Esau. According to this explanation Jacob should only have said מיד אחי עשו, and we would have understood the Torah's meaning from the otherwise superfluous "my brother," seeing that Esau was his only brother.

Auf diesen Angstschrei wird Jakob keine Antwort; sie wird ihm erst durch ein Erlebnis, dem er mit allem diesem entgegenging.

פן יבא והכני אם על בנים, “lest he come and smite me both mother and children.” Yaakov implied that if this were to happen, G-d forbid, how could the promises G-d had made to him that his children would develop into numerous tribes (28,13) come true. A different exegesis of this phrase: Yaakov was not at all concerned about being killed himself because he had G-d’s assurances. He was only concerned about the lives of his wives and children, concerning whom he did not have G-d’s assurance. G-d had only promised him personally that He would bring him safely back to his home (even though it might entail many detours, i.e. בכל אשר תלך), “wherever you will go” (28,15). This is why he specifically spelled this out with the words: אם על בנים, “mother and children.” Use of the preposition על in the sense of “with,” also occurs in Numbers 28,10: על עולת התמיד, “with the daily burnt offering,” as well as in Numbers 19,5: על פרשה ישרף, “it is to be burned with its dung.”

Mothers and children together - There are two in the tradition, this one and "mother and children dashed." This is about Sanheriv, the king of Ashur, whi said to destroy Israel, and then Esav who came to make war against Yaakov, and so "do not take mother and children alike" is a hint regarding exile.

I believe therefore that the correct meaning is that Jacob prayed and addressed himself to the fact that there were two facets to Esau's character. On the one hand Esau was a son of Isaac and Isaac's merits would assist him. On the other hand, he was a person in his own right, a very powerful person at that; it would require great strength to be saved from attack by such a person. Jacob therefore prayed to G'd that Isaac's merit should not now assist him; this is what he meant by "save me please from the hands of my brother," i.e. although he is my brother. Concerning Esau's being a powerful adversary in his own right, Jacob prayed "please save me from Esau!"

Wie später in den Galuthjahrhunderten דורן ותפלה, nächst dem Hülferuf zu Gott in Beschwichtigung durch Spenden von seiner Habe das Jakobsvolk seine Rettung Esau gegenüber zu suchen hatte, also flüchtet schon der Stammvater in gleicher Lage zu dem gleichen Mittel. —

Jacob also had in mind that if Esau were to use the fact that he was his brother as a trick to attack him after feigning brotherliness, G'd should save him from such machinations. He also needed G'd's help, however, if Esau proclaimed his hostility openly.

Jacob also drew G'd's attention to the enormity of Esau's crime if he were to try and murder his own brother, מיד אחי; surely the mere thought of committing such a heinous crime should provide sufficient excuse for G'd to humble Esau; on the other hand, Esau's wickedness (without considering the fact that in this case he set out to murder a brother) was sufficient to warrant G'd's intervention on behalf of Jacob.