Комментарий о цитате к Берешит 32:15

You ought to appreciate that this paragraph contains an explanation of what exactly did happen to Yaakov as a result of his encounter with Esau. There is also a hint of what would be a correct form of relationship between the respective descendants of Esau and Yaakov during the long course of Jewish history. It is worth our while to consider Yaakov’s preparations for his fateful encounter with Esau as something to use as a model for ourselves in our dealings with the descendants of Esau. Basically, Yaakov used a three-pronged approach. 1) He prepared to wage war if it were forced upon him. 2) He prayed to G’d for deliverance. 3) He prepared gifts to soften the mood of his adversary. The first stage of his preparation, mobilising for war, is described in our paragraph in verse eight when the Torah writes that he divided the camp in two to give himself the maximum chance for at least one camp to escape unharmed. He then engaged in prayer when he appealed to G’d, saying (verse 12) “please save me from my brother, from Esau.” The third part of his preparation, i.e.. sending gifts (or bribes if you will), is found in verses 14-21. A great Jewish King, the King Chiskiyah learned from Yaakov when Jerusalem was under siege when he faced Sancheriv, [who during his time was the foremost conqueror of the world who had already liquidated the Northern Kingdom and exiled the Ten Tribes, Ed.]. We read in Kings II 18,15 that Chiskiyah gave all the silver that was in the treasury of the Temple and in his own vaults to Sancheriv in accordance with that King’s demands. He also readied what few forces remained at his disposal for war (Chronicles II 32,6). Finally, he prayed (Kings II 19,15) asking G’d to demonstrate His power to the world at large by saving the Kingdom of Yehudah. We have to act similarly whenever we find ourselves threatened by hostile Gentile forces. However, nowadays when G’d’s displeasure with us has become manifest seeing we are still in exile, we must not provoke war against our enemies as is evident from Song of Songs 2,7 השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים וגו', “I have made you take an oath o daughters of Jerusalem, etc.” One opinion in the Talmud Ketuvot 111 understands the oath as an undertaking by Jews in exile not to rebel against the local rulers and try and recapture the land of Israel by force of arms.

You will find that the number 400 is prominent in matters concerning the עין רע, “the evil eye.” The numerical value of the words עין רע is 400. The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter ת is equal to 400. As such it embodies all the letters in the alphabet. Similarly, עין רע is an all inclusive destructive concept. Seeing that the letter ה was added to Avram’s name (Avraham), a letter which represents the attribute of Justice, the evil eye gained power over him, and the attribute of Justice decreed exile on his descendants for four hundred years, corresponding to the עין רע, the eye of Satan. We may now understand the words ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך, “you must surely know that your descendants will be strangers” [they will be subject to a hitherto unknown attribute of G-d in their lives. Ed.], i.e. the ones who will be born as the result of the two letters ה which will be added to both your and Sarai’s name respectively, and which represent the attribute of Justice, will be subject to the evil eye. As a result of such a development ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה, they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. You will encounter this number again in connection with Efron, עפרן, whose name equals 400 and who demanded 400 shekel from Avraham before he allowed him to bury Sarah in the cave of Machpelah. What we learn from this is that עפרן also represented the “evil eye.” You will also find this in connection with עשו, who based his success in life on that of his father Yitzchak who represented the attribute of Justice. He too possessed עין רע, an evil eye. Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 76,8 claims that the reason Yaakov (Genesis 32,15) instructed the attendants of the herds and flocks he sent to his brother Esau as gifts to place a substantial distance between one flock and another was to satisfy Esau’s evil eye which could never get enough of anything. This may be the reason that Esau had taken precisely 400 men with him when he set out to meet (and maybe to kill) Yaakov.

the bat-hayya‘ana [feminine] Some people say that the male of the species is rarely seen, like the cony [:6]. The existence of a plural form with a masculine suffix [Lamentations 4:3] is no proof that a male form exists. Many female nouns — “ewe” and “nanny-goat”, for example — form their plural with a masculine suffix.