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Below is <u>part</u> 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.<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>33
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>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.<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>The memory of this
incident has been preserved for all time for<br>
Ya’akov’s descendants by the prohibition of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>gid
hanashe</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>. The
prohibition<br>
is surely not intended to inform Ya’akov’s descendants of the
historical<br>
fact that their forefather limped as a result of a wrestling match,
just<br>
as it is inconceivable that the prohibition of <i>chametz
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>is intended only to<br>
inform us of the kind of bread our ancestors ate when they left<br>
Egypt. Both these facts — in and of themselves — are of little<br>
importance, and their commemoration by means of a Divine commandment<br>
can be explained only by the assumption that they bear<br>
truths of deep significance to our destiny as a people. These truths<br>
are given everlasting expression and renewal through the dietary
restriction.<br><br>
Our Sages attach such significance to this prohibition, in their<br>
interpretation of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yeshayahu
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>9:7-12. The prophet says:
<br>
“God sent a Word upon Ya’akov, and it found its place<br>
in Yisrael. All the people shall learn to know it, Efrayim and the
inhabitants<br>
of Shomron, who in arrogance and haughtiness say: ‘Bricks<br>
have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn stone; sycamores have
been<br>
cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.’ And though God has<br>
set Rezin’s adversaries against him . . . the people still do not
return<br>
to the One who truly strikes them, and they do not seek God
Tzeva’os.”<br>
Our Sages (</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Chullin
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>91a) interpret: “‘God
sent a Word upon Ya’akov refers to the<br>
prohibition of </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>gid
hanashe</i> </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(it was indeed a
Word sent </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>upon
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Ya’akov); ‘and<br>
it found its place in Yisrael’ — the prohibition has spread
throughout<br>
Yisrael.”<br><br>
In light of all this, there is no doubt about the meaning of the
prohibition.<br>
Throughout their long struggle,
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>saro shel Esav</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>was unable to defeat<br>
Ya’akov, was unable to throw him down; but he was able to dislocate
his<br>
joint and prevent him from using his material power. Thus will
Ya’akov<br>
make his way through history: limping, unable to stand on both feet,<br>
without a firm stand and a firm walk. This lack of stability is a
necessary<br>
condition for opening Esav’s eyes. If Ya’akov, too, had stood at the
head<br>
of his four hundred warriors, his invincible endurance would not
have<br>
revealed the finger of God in history. Therefore the descendants of<br>
Ya’akov (who — precisely through his material weakness — will become<br>
Yisrael, and will attest to God Whose power overwhelms everything
else)<br>
are not to eat the sinew of submission and material weakness.<br><br>
Whenever Ya’akov’s descendants sit down to eat, they are to be
confronted<br>
by this admonition from the chronicle of their life’s wanderings:<br>
They are to </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>willingly
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>forego this sinew, forego
their physical strength,<br>
which is given over to Esav. They must not think that their survival<br>
depends on that kind of strength. Just because they are not armed
with<br>
the sword like Esav, and cannot even walk the earth with a firm
stride,<br>
they should not consider themselves unprotected, without security in<br>
the vicissitudes of time. The strength of Ya’akov-Yisrael depends on<br>
other, higher powers, against which the sword of Esav cannot
prevail.<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>If Ya’akov falls, he falls
not because of his limited physical power, but<br>
because he fails to cultivate God’s protection. Conversely, if Yisrael
stands<br>
firm, it is not because of his physical and material strength, but
because<br>
God bears him aloft on the eagles’ wings of His almighty power.<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>This is the message that
was conveyed to Ya’akov, to be borne forever<br>
in the hearts of all Israel. This is the Word whose full meaning is
to<br>
penetrate the consciousness of the nation, when it attributes its fall
and<br>
calamity not to God’s Will, but to its own lack of military
preparedness;<br>
when, instead of ensuring its future by returning to God, it asserts
in<br>
futile arrogance: “Bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn
stone;<br>
sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with
cedars.”<br><br>
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