Parshas Vayishlach delivered on Parshav Vayeshev 20 Kislev 2010 11/27/10

Based in part on concepts found in Ohr Gedalyahu by Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr zt"l
As we do so often in the Book of Genesis we return once again to the concept of Maaseh Avos Siman Labanim /.  What the forefathers experience is a macro version of what their children will experience.  Not only do the children repeat the experience but as the forefathers find their way through events they create the ability for their descendants to similarly find their way through those same events on a national basis.

As a nation we have contended with four foreign powers Babylon who destroyed the first Temple and exiled us, Persia who defeated the Babylonians and brought us the the Purim story, the Greeks who under Alexander wrested control of the world from the Persians and brought us the Chanukah story and the Romans who exiled us from Israel to our present state here in Atlanta. Jacob whose name is Israel, experiences four struggles in his life.  The first stage of his life is preoccupied with his struggle agaisnt his brother Esav.   Then he has to deal with his wily Uncle Lavan.  Upon escaping Lavan and returning to Israel his daughter Dina is abducted and abused at the hands of Shechem the son of Chamor and lastly Joseph his dear son is sold into slavery which leaves Jacob mourning until the grave.  Those four challenges are the same ones that his children will face.  Which one parallels the Chanukah story?  Our sages tell us Chanukah is the Dina episode.  So to properly understand Chanukah we have to carefully examine the Dina episode.


Dina is abducted and raped by Shechem.  Shechem says "in truth I love her and want to marry her".  He so wants to marry her that he is willing to be circumcised and force his people to do likewise.  What is his goal?  Shechem and his Greek counterparts want to remove the sanctity that surrounds Israel particularly the daughter of Israel. They want her to to be cheap and accessible. They want to remove all differences between the peoples. "We will become circumcised as you are then we will freely intermarry.  The brothers see it differently.  "Shall our sister be turned into a @#!*% ? the brothers say to Jacob.

What action do the brothers take.  They pick up swords and kill those who defiled their sister.  So too the Chanukah story.  Antiochus the Syrian Greek decreed that any Jewish girl who is to be married must first spend the night with the Greek Governor.  What was the intention of such a decree?.  Not just for the pleasure of the Governor but the idea was nefarious.  Jewish women realizing they were to be defiled if they were to marry would just stop marrying.  Then since they couldn't be married they would have to engage in pre marital affairs.  Marriage as an institution would be breached and the sanctity of the Jewish family would be destroyed.  They outlawed circumcision to erase the differences between the Jews and other people.  How do the Jews react?  Not by trickery as with Lavan or submission as with Esav.  They picked up swords and went to war.  This is an assault on the sanctity of the Jewish home and it must be dealt with in the most forthright manner.  Our sister is not a @#!*% .


After the episode is resolved Hashem tells yaacov your name is Israel.  We already know his name is Israel because the angel named him that after they struggled as recounted in the previous parsha.  Now Hashem directly calls him Israel because now the family has acted like Israel.  Yaacov is tricky and devious which is at times necessary.  Yisrael is dominant and exalted as at times he must be.  Yaacov then heads for Beis El to bring offerings to Hashem.  Before he leaves he tells the family to throw out all foreign Gods that are in their midst.  Do we actually believe that Yaacov children had idols in their possession.  Rather there we items that were not idols but were associated with idolatry.  There were acceptable before but now that the family has stood up to confront defilement they are no longer acceptable.
The core of the Chanukah story is that there was only one jug of pure oil but it burned for eight days. The law is that under those circumstances with most of the country defiled by war and killing pure oil was not required. Yet Hahsem decreed that miracle because Chanukah is the holiday of purity.  We celebrate the exalted nature of Israel and the purity of the Jewish home.  This year as we light our menorah and ponder the purity that is symbolizes let's look around and see if there is any impurity that doesn't belong in a Jewish home that can be removed .  Stand up be a Maccabee be a Yisrael.
Good Shabbos.