D’var Torah Vayishlach

D’var Torah Vayishlach
Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; lest he come and attack me, the mothers, and their children. (Genesis 32:12)
My father commented that it is possible to understand Jacob's words "from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau" as referring to the two dangers which confront the Nation of Israel: assimilation and physical threat; if you will, the danger to our spiritual existence and the danger to our physical existence.
Therefore, Jacob beseeched and prayed that God save him from Esau, who behaves as a brother with the intention of causing him to abandon his beliefs, and to save him from Esau, his enemy who acts openly without hiding his hatred, and who threatens Jacob's children.
Our Sages [Breishit Rabba 76:6] teach that Jacob's prayer to God was not merely for his personal salvation, but for also for the salvation of "my future descendants from my brother's descendants who come against them with the influence of Esau."
It is significant that Jacob preceded his request/prayer for spiritual salvation to his request/prayer for protection from the physical threat. In the end, the spiritual threat is much greater than the physical one. God has promised that He will save His Chosen People from all adversaries, and that no enemy will be able to annihilate His nation. However, we have no promise that God will save us from ourselves. The sole danger to the existence of the Nation of Israel is internal, not external. God has not promised to save us from spiritual suicide, which is the existential threat to the Nation of Israel. (David Magence)
Shabbat Shalom!
The Va’ad