​Parashat Vayishlach 5785, 2024: "I Will Raise My Eyes"

Rabbi David Etengoff


ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל, בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Our parasha contains one of the most dramatic moments in Tanach: the encounter of Ya’akov and Eisav. It begins with a well-known pasuk: “Ya’akov lifted his eyes and saw, and behold (vayisa Ya’akov ainav va’yare v’hena), Eisav was coming, and with him were four hundred men…” (Sefer Bereishit 33:1, this and all Tanach translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach). This is not the first time we have encountered the phrase “vayisa ainav va’yare v’hena.” Regarding Avraham Avinu, the second pasuk of Parashat Vayera states: “Vayisa ainav va’yare v’hena three men were standing beside him, and he saw, and he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and he prostrated himself to the ground.” (18:2)  In addition, one of the concluding verses of the Akeidah reads: “Vayisa Avraham et ainav va’yare v’hena there was a ram, [and] after [that] it was caught in a tree by its horns…” (22:13)  Perhaps no better example of the midrashically-inspired phrase, “ma’aseh avot siman l’banim—the actions of the fathers foreshadow those of their children,” can be found in Tanach.  
 
Midrash Tanchuma (Warsaw, Parashat Vayeshev 6) suggests that in addition to the Avot looking up and seeing the scenes before them, this action raised them to a higher level: “atah motzai sh’hatzaddikim mitrommanin b’ayneihem—you find that the righteous ones were raised up through their eyes.” (Translation my own)  In my estimation, this higher level refers to the pursuit of the holy; by looking upward, the Avot were able to connect to Hashem in a new and powerful manner. As such, vayisa ainav va’yare foreshadows Dovid HaMelech’s stirring words in Tehillim 121, 1-2: “Easa ainei el heharim ma’ayin yavo ezri--I shall raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come? My help is from Hashem, the Maker of heaven and earth.” In his Commentary on Sefer Tehillim, the Rashbam (1085-1158) explains that the phrase, “to the mountains,” connotes “heavenward,” that is toward, “the Maker of heaven and earth.”
 
May we ever join the Avot, Dovid HaMelech, and countless other tzaddikim in casting our eyes heavenward, for there, and there alone, will we find true salvation. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
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