Parshat Vayishlach: From Belfast to Buenos Aires
Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of
dawn.
The distance between Belfast and Buenos Aires is just under seven thousand miles, yet, in the footballing world, it is around the corner.
He was born on 25th May 1946 in Cregagh, East Belfast as the oldest child of Anne and Richard and within a generation, he would be hailed as one of the finest footballers on the planet.
Fourteen years after his birth, on 30th October 1960, in Lanus, a province of Buenos Aires, Dalma and Chitoro welcomed their fifth child and first son to the world. He too would eventually become known throughout the world and venerated as the greatest footballer of his generation.
Both men would attain a place that is reserved for very few humans and tragically in both cases, would burn up when inevitably returning to earth.
And in a chilling coincidence, both men would pass away at nearly the same age on the very same day, fifteen years apart.
On 25th November 2005, having spent most of his adult life battling alcoholism, George Best died at the age of only fifty-nine years. On 25th November 2020, with his body wrecked through years of both alcohol and drug abuse, Diego Maradona left our world - a year older than his idol.
On the day after his hero had died, Maradona was quoted as saying:
"George inspired me when I was young. He was flamboyant and exciting and able to inspire his team-mates. I actually think we were very similar players - dribblers who were able to create moments of magic...and I can also relate to what George has been through because of his addiction to alcohol. I was also very sick and close to death in December last year - but I pulled out of it by a miracle."
In light
of his own passing, this quote from Samuel II (1.27) is particularly poignant.
"How have the mighty fallen."
This was King David's reaction to the news that Israel's first king, Saul and his sons had been killed in battle with the Philistines. Included in his lament was the loss he felt on losing his dearest friend Jonathan, the king's son.
We may
well ask why so many humans find themselves at war with their inner demons.
How footballers as gifted as George and Diego hit the 'self-destruct’ button and despite the deepest love and care of their family and friends, fight the most fearsome enemy they can ever face. In other words, themselves. Could they have prevailed if given the opportunity?
It is the dead of night and Jacob is alone and frightened.
At the start of this week's Parsha, we learn how he is preparing to meet his brother Esau after a gap of over twenty years. He sends messengers (some texts translate these as angels) with the express intention of letting his brother know that he will be receiving numerous human and animal gifts, in order to pacify his brother.
The
response he receives scares him witless.
Esau is coming to greet him, accompanied by four hundred men. In response, Jacob sends hundreds of goats
and ewes as well as tens of rams, camels, cows, bulls and donkeys. He divides his entourage into two camps,
leads his wives, handmaids and children to a safe destination over the Jabbok
River and returns to the camp alone. He
is now without the presence of a single soul.
Vulnerable. Scared. Deathly scared and it is at this point that
'a man wrestles with him until dawn'. As
if he didn't have enough to contend with!
The Hebrew seems to indicate that Jacob fought with a man. Rashi, quoting the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba), states that this in fact Esau's guardian angel. Rashi’s grandson, the Rashbam posits the notion that in fact Jacob was about to run away from his brother and this man tried to stop him from fleeing. After all, wasn't this the same Jacob who had fled for dear life to his uncle Laban following the incident where he fooled his father over the blessings of the firstborn son?
Following on from this, there is a view expressed in the Midrash which suggests that when it says "Jacob was left on his own and a man wrestled with him," the verse is actually suggesting that he was fighting with no-one else but himself. In other words, Jacob trying to discover his true self, was battling his inner demons. Perhaps he was frightened to meet his brother because he would be influenced negatively by the encounter. This is a highly charged moment in his life. Everything that he has managed to create might be dashed away the following morning by a twin brother who is hell-bent on exacting his long-awaited revenge.
Jacob
spends the night conducting a vicious battle between the Yetzer Tov and Yetzer
Harah (the good and evil inclination), to the point that the only way to
prevail over his opponent is by physically damaging himself:
When he saw that he had not
prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the
socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him.
Upon
which, he realises that the only way to prevail over his evil inclination is to
cement his legacy by receiving a blessing and having bestowed upon him the name
that will carry forth the promise that was given to both his father and
grandfather:
(27) Then he said, “Let me go, for
dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go, unless you bless
me.” (28) Said the other, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” (29) Said
he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with
beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”
I accept that all of the above supposes a different interpretation of the text but even if we follow the P’shat[1], as per Rashi, Jacob has spent the night fighting with either a human or divine adversary. He is ultimately successful and as a result, paves the way to the genesis (excuse the pun) of the nation that will evolve into the Jewish people. It is a battle that Jacob has to win because the stakes are so high.
We, the Jewish people are the result of his victory.
Sadly, George and Diego were unable to vanquish their own demons and their defeat is a painful lesson in the power of the human mind to turn against itself and oppose the body in which it resides. If their passing has served to deter a younger footballer from following the same path, then their sacrifice will not have been in vain.
We all face internal struggles, some which are more significant than others. However, when we are left alone at night, with the feeling that we have nowhere to go, let us try to muster our inner strength and do what we can to bring the sunshine back into our lives. It may need our having to reach out for help to others and if we are willing to accept their help, then a new dawn will greet us. Let us remember that after the bitterest of winters, spring is only around the corner, irrespective of whether you live in Belfast or Buenos Aires.
Shabbat
Shalom.
[1] From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
Peshat (also P'shat, פשט) is one of four classical
methods of Jewish biblical exegesis used by rabbis and Jewish bible scholars in
reading the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh. It is the first of the four
exegetical methods known together as PaRDeS. While Peshat is commonly defined as
referring to the surface or literal (direct) meaning of a text, numerous
scholars and rabbis have debated this for centuries, giving Peshat many uses
and definitions.
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