[Avodah] RSRH on Gid Hanashe

[Yitzchok Levine]

Below is part of RSRH's commentary on Bereishis 
32: 33. I have left out the original Hebrew 
verses that appear in the text and only included 
the English translations given, because my email program cannot handle Hebrew.

33 Therefore, [even] to this day, the Children of 
Israel are not to eat the sinew of weakness which 
is on the upper joint of the thigh, for he 
gripped the sinew of weakness at the upper joint of Ya’akov’s thigh.

The memory of this incident has been preserved for all time for
Ya’akov’s descendants by the prohibition of gid hanashe. The prohibition
is surely not intended to inform Ya’akov’s descendants of the historical
fact that their forefather limped as a result of a wrestling match, just
as it is inconceivable that the prohibition of chametz  is intended only to
inform us of the kind of bread our ancestors ate when they left
Egypt. Both these facts — in and of themselves — are of little
importance, and their commemoration by means of a Divine commandment
can be explained only by the assumption that they bear
truths of deep significance to our destiny as a people. These truths
are given everlasting expression and renewal through the dietary restriction.

Our Sages attach such significance to this prohibition, in their
interpretation of Yeshayahu 9:7-12. The prophet says:
  “God sent a Word upon Ya’akov, and it found its place
in Yisrael. All the people shall learn to know it, Efrayim and the inhabitants
of Shomron, who in arrogance and haughtiness say: ‘Bricks
have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn stone; sycamores have been
cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.’ And though God has
set Rezin’s adversaries against him . . . the people still do not return
to the One who truly strikes them, and they do not seek God Tzeva’os.”
Our Sages (Chullin 91a) interpret: “‘God sent a Word upon Ya’akov refers to the
prohibition of gid hanashe (it was indeed a Word sent upon Ya’akov); ‘and
it found its place in Yisrael’ — the prohibition has spread throughout
Yisrael.”

In light of all this, there is no doubt about the meaning of the prohibition.
Throughout their long struggle, saro shel Esav was unable to defeat
Ya’akov, was unable to throw him down; but he was able to dislocate his
joint and prevent him from using his material power. Thus will Ya’akov
make his way through history: limping, unable to stand on both feet,
without a firm stand and a firm walk. This lack of stability is a necessary
condition for opening Esav’s eyes. If Ya’akov, too, had stood at the head
of his four hundred warriors, his invincible endurance would not have
revealed the finger of God in history. Therefore the descendants of
Ya’akov (who — precisely through his material weakness — will become
Yisrael, and will attest to God Whose power overwhelms everything else)
are not to eat the sinew of submission and material weakness.

Whenever Ya’akov’s descendants sit down to eat, they are to be confronted
by this admonition from the chronicle of their life’s wanderings:
They are to willingly forego this sinew, forego their physical strength,
which is given over to Esav. They must not think that their survival
depends on that kind of strength. Just because they are not armed with
the sword like Esav, and cannot even walk the earth with a firm stride,
they should not consider themselves unprotected, without security in
the vicissitudes of time. The strength of Ya’akov-Yisrael depends on
other, higher powers, against which the sword of Esav cannot prevail.

If Ya’akov falls, he falls not because of his limited physical power, but
because he fails to cultivate God’s protection. Conversely, if Yisrael stands
firm, it is not because of his physical and material strength, but because
God bears him aloft on the eagles’ wings of His almighty power.

This is the message that was conveyed to Ya’akov, to be borne forever
in the hearts of all Israel. This is the Word whose full meaning is to
penetrate the consciousness of the nation, when it attributes its fall and
calamity not to God’s Will, but to its own lack of military preparedness;
when, instead of ensuring its future by returning to God, it asserts in
futile arrogance: “Bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn stone;
sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”

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