Parshat Vayishlach
Although this week’s parsha describes the long-awaited reunion and rapprochement between Eisav and Yaakov, it also indicates that there seems to have been very little subsequent relations between the two. Yes, they did part amicably … but they did part. And, except for the cooperative burial of their father Yitzchak, we read of no shared experience between the two. It is this very point that leads to the prophecy of Ovadya—the shortest book of nevuah in the Tanach and the one that makes up this week’s haftarah. By the time that Ovadya offered his prophetic message, Edom—the nation of Eisav—had no positive relations with Israel and exhibited no brotherly love toward Jacob’s descendants.
In fact, they had become an enemy of the Israelite people (as I have pointed out in previous articles) and the navi’s prediction of the harsh punishments that would befall Edom is—in no small part—due to the fact that Edom was a brother and, therefore, should have reflected that relationship in their behavior.
Indeed, the enmity they displayed to Yisrael was so intense that they were regarded as the “arch-enemy” of Israel, something to which Ovadya hints when—while speaking of Edom—he includes the punishments awaiting “all the nations” who opposed Hashem’s chosen people. Additionally, it is interesting to note that when we study the prophecies of Yirmiyahu, Amos and Yechezkel, we would find the name “Edom” often used as a general term for the foes of Israel—even those who, according to some commentaries, tormented Israel during the second Temple, when the nation of Edom no longer existed!
Perhaps this division between the nations should not have been unexpected, given that the blessing of Yitzchak to Eisav stated that the two future nations would never rule at the same time but would, rather, dominate or be dominated by the other. In light of this, we understand more fully why Edom became the symbol of all Israel’s enemies—for the success of Israel would only come with the weakening, and eventual destruction of “Edom.”
Ovadya, however, does not suffice in relaying a nevuah of the punishment that would be meted out to Edom. In the final pesukim of his sefer, he offers powerful words to all of the “Edoms” throughout history—to all of Israel’s enemies. “Ki karov yom Hashem al kol hagoyim—God’s day of reckoning of those nations is approaching,” Ovadya warns, when He will repay their wickedness by punishing them with the same evil that they visited upon Israel. But he then tells Israel these comforting words: “Uvehar Tziyon teheyeh pleita … —after all your suffering and persecution, know well that those who remain will find refuge on Har Tziyon, in Jerusalem.” These prophetic words have been realized in our very time. The remnants—the survivors of the worst of all evils—found refuge and built new lives in Tziyon! In “Zion!”
Many years ago, I heard a well-known story told about the great Chafetz Chayim, Rav Yisrael Meir Kagen, who passed away in 1933. In his final year, the Nazi party had grown in power and the Chafetz Chayim expressed his concern. One of his students asked what would happen to the Jews and the Chafetz Chayim responded with the words of Ovadya that we read this week (verse 17): “Uvehar Tziyon teheyeh pleita,” the future Jewish survival will be found in Tziyon.
As we face the many “Edoms” of today, we are reminded of how we have faced enemies in every generation. But we should also be aware that, in the coming weeks, we will be marking God’s victory over the Edom faced by the Chashmonaim. How fitting, therefore, that our annual readings has us hear Ovadya’s words only a week or two before Chanukah, so that we be reminded that “Vehayeta laShem hamelucha—that, ultimately, Hashem alone will judge all of the Edoms as He reigns over all of mankind … ” the very dream we hope to witness in our own days!
Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee, and now lives in Israel.
