Vayishlach 5782/2021

ויאבק איש AND A MAN WRESTLED — Our Rabbis of blessed memory explained that he was Esau’s guardian angel (Genesis Rabbah 77:3).

It applies to [the gid] on the right thigh and that on the left thigh.6

According to Scriptural Law, only [the gid] on the hip socket is forbidden, as [Genesis 32:33] states: "which is on the hip-socket." The remainder of the gid which is above the socket or below the socket - and similarly, the fat which is on the gid - are forbidden only according to Rabbinic decree.7There are two giddim. The inner one next to the bone is forbidden according to Scriptural Law. The entire outer one is forbidden by Rabbinic decree.

על כן לא יאכלו, “therefore it is appropriate that the Israelites do not eat, etc.;” this construction is parallel to Isaiah 10,7: והוא לא כן ידמה, “but it does not seem like this to him;” in other words: it would be right and proper to punish the Israelites not to eat that particular sinew as they should not have allowed their founding father to be exposed to hostile forces at night. Yaakov’s sons were physically strong, and they should have been at hand to assist their father if the need arose to do so. Seeing that they failed to do this, the blame for the injury sustained by their father was theirs. From now on they would have learned their lesson and would practice the commandment to accompany their father, or for that matter, any older and wiser person, especially at night. Yaakov himself set an example when he accompanied his son Joseph part of the way on a mission which he had sent him on, and which was potentially dangerous. (Genesis 37,14)

"And he touched the hollow of his thigh" - he touched the righteous men and women, the prophets and prophetesses, which were to arise from him in the future. And which is this? The generation of persecution (shemad).

See! It is written: "It is for Your sake that we are slain all day long (Psalm 44:23)". Rabbi Chiyya son of Abba said: "If someone should say to me: "Give your soul for the sanctification of the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, I will give it, but only if he will kill me right away. But in the generation of the destruction I could not have endured. What were they doing in the generation of the destruction? They were bringing discs of iron and they were making them white-hot in fire and placing them beneath their armpits and removing their lives with them. And they brought splinters of reeds and placing them beneath their fingernails and removing their lives through them. It is as David said: " O Hashem, I lift up my soul (nafshi 'es'a) (Psalm 25:1)". "I give over ('asi') is written, because they were giving over their lives (masi'in nafsham) for the sanctification of the name of the Holy One, blessed be He".

§ When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Sages taught that one is permitted to transgress prohibitions in the face of mortal danger only when it is not a time of religious persecution. But in a time of religious persecution, when the gentile authorities are trying to force Jews to violate their religion, even if they issued a decree about a minor mitzva, one must be killed and not transgress. The Gemara asks: What is a minor mitzva for this purpose? Rava bar Yitzḥak says that Rav says: Even to change the strap of a sandal. There was a Jewish custom with regard to sandal straps. If the gentile authorities were to decree that Jews must change their practice and wear sandal straps like those worn by the gentiles, one would be obligated to give up his life rather than veer from the accepted custom.