Standing Apart: The Merit That Brings Redemption

1“Rescue me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav.”¹ The wording raises two questions. First, why does Yaakov say “from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav”? The phrase seems redundant: he should have said “from the hand of Esav my brother.” The Ohr HaChaim, the Torah commentary of R' Chaim ibn Attar, raises a similar question. Second, what does the expression “from the hand of” mean here? Yaakov should have said simply, “Rescue me from my brother Esav.”

2It seems right to explain the verse through a teaching of the Midrash: “‘Rescue me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav’: rescue my children in the future from the hand of his grandchildren [Esav's], who will come against them by the power of Esav.”²

3Perhaps we can explain it this way. We know that in the time of exile Israel is, Heaven forbid, on a very low level. By what merit, then, will it be redeemed? Yet with all its strength it fences itself off to keep apart from the ways of the nations, and it clings to the tradition of its fathers. That is the merit that stands Israel in good stead in the darkness of exile, even if, Heaven forbid, it sinks very low and its merits dwindle. Through it Israel will earn the redemption.

4Through the power of Yaakov Avinu's prayer, “Rescue me, please …,” this merit protects Israel. As the Midrash we cited teaches, Yaakov was praying here for the generations to come. He looked ahead to the lowly generations and saw how far they would sink, so he pleaded fervently before the Holy One, blessed be He: “Rescue me, please.” As Chazal said, “Na, ‘please,’ is always an expression of request.”³ He was begging Hashem to rescue Israel and redeem it from the exile. This answers our first question, why he doubled his words, “from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav.” With “from the hand of my brother” he asked that he himself be rescued at that time; with “from the hand of Esav” he asked that the generations to come be rescued.

5As for our second question, we can explain that the word miyad, “from the hand of,” hints at this same theme. Miyad means “from the domain of,” as in the verse “and he took all his land from his hand,”⁴ that is, from his domain. So when Yaakov Avinu asked the Holy One, blessed be He, to rescue his descendants “from the hand” of Esav, he meant that Hashem should redeem them and take them out of the domain of the nations of the world. They were not to fall under the nations' power. For this is the very thing for which they are ready to give their lives in exile: not to mingle with the nations. With this we can also explain what the Midrash we cited means by “Rescue my children in the future …”: Yaakov Avinu prayed that the generations to come would be rescued from the hand and the domain of Esav's descendants. They would be rescued in the merit of this very thing, that they fence themselves off from the domain of the nations of the world.

6In the same way we can understand a teaching of the Midrash on the verse “And Yaakov was left alone.” It says: “Just as it is written of the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘And Hashem alone will be exalted,’ so too of Yaakov: ‘And Yaakov was left alone.’”⁵ The holy sefarim ask what connection or likeness there is between the verse “And Hashem alone will be exalted …” and “And Yaakov was left alone.” Among them are the Degel Machaneh Efraim of R' Moshe Chaim Efraim of Sudilkov and the Yismach Moshe of R' Moshe Teitelbaum. Following our approach, we may say this. Israel, which is called “Yaakov, the portion of His inheritance,”⁶ is “alone”: in exile it fences itself off from the ways of the nations and remains in its own hands, in its own domain. So even though it sinks very low, this merit will stand it in good stead, and through it Israel will earn the complete redemption. Then the verse will be fulfilled: “And Hashem alone will be exalted on that day.”

7May the Holy One, blessed be He, help us to earn the complete redemption speedily. Amen, may it be His will.