וישא יעקב...ויחץ, he divided them between their respective mothers. Each mother would naturally have stronger concern for her own children and if it came to interceding for her own children would do so with more heart-rending pleas than she would for the children of someone else.

וישם, the most beloved he placed last, hoping that Esau’s anger had been blunted by the time he met them.

והוא עבר לפניהם, as a father who has compassion on his children. He offered himself as the butt of Esau’s anger hoping thereby to save the lives of his children. Either Esau would agree not to harm the children or he would engage Esau in battle to try and save his children if Esau refused his offer of reconciliation.

שבע פעמים. According to Bereshit Rabbah 78,8 the reason why he prostrated himself 7 times before Esau is based on Proverbs 24,16 שבע יפול צדיק, that the righteous fall down seven times before remaining upright after getting up.

וירץ, when Esau saw that Yaakov had humbled himself so much before him, he forgave what he had done to him and his sense of compassion was stirred.

וישקהו, the word has a dot on each of the letters. In Bereshit Rabbah 78,9 Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says that everywhere where you find the dots do not cover each letter of the word underneath we give preference to the meaning of the text as is, without the dots. When there are more dots than letters, we give emphasis in our interpretation to the dots. In this instance, there are as many dots as there are letters in the word וישקהו, so that we understand that Esau kissed Esau sincerely with all his heart. To this Rabbi Yannai countered by asking that if this is indeed so, why bother to put any dots on the word if they do not affect the meaning? We therefore must interpret that originally Esau had intended to bite Yaakov’s neck feigning an embrace. G’d made his teeth as soft as wax and Yaakov’s neck as hard as ivory. ויבכו, one on account of his neck, the other on account of his teeth.

וישא...מי אלה לך, these women and children whom I see, as well as all the numerous servants, who are they? Yaakov answered him concerning the children, and Esau deduced that the women next to them were their mothers.

נגש יוסף ורחל. He made Joseph approach Esau before Rachel, seeing that Rachel was so protective of him (her only child) that she made him walk in front of her where she could constantly keep her eye on him, literally keeping him between her hands. There is an aggadic explanation (quoted by Rashi) that Joseph walked in front of his mother on his own initiative because she was so attractive that he wanted to shield her from inquisitive eyes using his tall physique to shield her from such glances. The source of the Midrash cites the wordבן פורת יוסף בן פורת עלי עין, “Joseph is a noble and prominent son, a noble and prominent son already at the source (well) (Genesis 49,22)

?ויאמר מי לך, “to whom belong?” In other words, “to whom did you send this whole camp which is at your disposal, and to who did you send all these sheep and cattle?”

למצוא חן בעיניך אדוני I have sent it to you my lord in the hope that by accepting it you would do me a favour.

ויאמר עשו, “I do not need your gift for יש לי רב, I possess a great deal.” In Bereshit Rabbah 78,11 the words יש לי רב are understood as meaning: “keep what is yours.” Rabbi Eleazar paraphrased that the validity of a decree of divorce can be attested to only by the people who have signed it. You should not say that if our patriarch Yaakov had not fooled his father he would not have received the blessings. [Yaakov wanted to show Esau that none of these blessings had been fulfilled for him, and that his wealth was totally independent of what his father had assured him of instead of Esau. Ed.] After all these years, Esau finally acknowledged that he had not suffered as a result of Yaakov’s being blessed, so that he said “keep what is yours!”

ויאמר יעקב...כי על כן ראיתי, this is precisely why it is appropriate that you accept my gift for I give it to you wholeheartedly. When I looked at your face I recognised that it bears the same features as the angel whom I have encountered and who has blessed me. Yaakov alluded to that nocturnal encounter in order to make Esau afraid to harm him. Yaakov had learned from the effect an encounter with angel- albeit it in a nocturnal vision- had had upon Lavan, who had not dared to attack him (29.31) Esau was well aware that Yaakov was a righteous man ever since his youth and he did not hesitate to believe him when told that Yaakov had encounters with angels. When Yaakov flattered Esau that the latter’s features reminded him of the features of the angel he had had a dialogue with, this was an exaggeration, of course. We find a similar exaggeration in Samuel II 14,20 where the woman from Tekoah says to King David that “my lord is wise as an angel of G’d and he knows all that goes on in the land.”

ותרצני, it was a source of satisfaction for me. Alternatively, the word could mean: “after you have displayed your goodwill towards me.”

קח נא את ברכתי, the word ברכתי here means: “my gift.” It occurs in this sense in Kings II 5,15 קח נא ברכה מאת עבדך, “please accept a gift from your servant.”

אשר הובאת לך, by the servants who have been walking ahead of me behind those herds. Besides, I have all the wealth and honour I could wish for.

ויפצר בו, he pleaded with him insistently until he agreed to accept it.

ויאמר נסעה, it is possible that Esau’s “suggestion” was in the nature of a command. He was conscious that Yaakov’s progress would be slow due to the animals as well as the children some of whom were of tender age.

ואלכה לנגדך, I will go faster but will remain close by, נגדך,. Alternately, the word נסעה is suggestion in the plural mode, Esau suggesting that they proceed side by side.

ויאמר...עלות עלי, the word עלות is a term denoting mother animals that are still suckling their young. It is important for their well being that they not be hurried.

עלי, it us to me to take care of them by leading them at a leisurely pace.

ודפקום, if they were to be pushed (rushed), Yaakov explained that if his shepherds were to rush these animals even for a single day the sheep would all die from exhaustion. [the author understands Yaakov as telling Esau that “too much can be too little, sometimes.” This is why he quotes Isaiah 30,20. Ed.] In that verse the prophet explains that when G’d provides לחם צר ומים לחץ, “meager bread and scant water,” this is a promise and not a punishment. Too much of a good thing would be counterproductive, would ruin the health of recipient. Hence it is better for the sheep not to travel too fast.

ומתו, the prefix ו in this word is analogous to similar prefixes in the words ורכב וסוס in Psalms76,7, and other similar examples. [the point is that the Torah did not write umeytu, but vameytu. Ed.]

יעבר נא ...לרגל המלאכה, the cattle is referred to as מלאכה, because cattle are the instruments by means of which most basic agricultural work is performed. We find a similar usage of the word מלאכה in Samuel I 15,9 וכל המלאכה נמבזה ונמס, “and all the inferior cattle (those they killed).”

ויאמר למה זה אמצא חן בעיני אדוני, this is Yaakov speaking, saying to Esau that he need not bother to honour him so excessively. We find a similar verse in Ruth 2,10 מדוע מצאתי חן בעיניך להכירני, where Ruth expresses her disbelief about the kindly interest taken in her the alien, the widowed stranger, by Boaz.

ויעקב...ויבן לו בית, this teaches that it was during the rainy season. In Bereshit Rabbah 78,16 it is concluded from this detail that Yaakov stayed at Sukkot for several years. [other versions say that it was in Bet El where he stayed 18 months or longer. Ed.]

ויבא יעקב שלם, meaning that he had not incurred any damage or loss as a result of his encounter with Esau. He had not suffered any deterioration during his entire journey from Aram Naharayim. The matter is underlined to show that now that he had returned to the land of Canaan, his homeland, he suffered the indignity of his daughter Dinah being raped. Seeing that this happened at Shechem, the Torah mentions that town instead of telling us that he was 100% o.k. until he came to Sukkot and built himself a house. The Midrash understands the word שלם as a state of being, i.e. similar to when he had said יש לי כל,“I am blessed with everything,” in response to Esau having said יש לי רוב. “I have lots.”

את פני העיר; in front of the town. The expression is parallel to Proverbs 17,24 את פני מבין חכמה, “wisdom is in front of (available) any discerning person.” Perhaps the town was small so that there was not enough room to accommodate Yaakov whose entourage consisted of two camps. His presence inside the town might have cramped their quarters. He therefore erected his tent outside the borders of the town on the piece of land he had bought. According to our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 79,6 the words ויחן את פני העיר mean that seeing he arrived on Friday evening shortly before the onset of the Sabbath, he made an Eiruv Techumim, delineating the area he could walk within freely on the Sabbath. We would learn from here that Yaakov observed the Sabbath legislation down to Rabbinic decrees before such a legislation was given to his descendants at Mount Sinai.

ויקן ...מיד בני חמור, the Torah does not write “from Chamor,” but from “the sons of Chamor” who was the father of Shechem, as perhaps the land had belonged to the sons and not to him.

אבי שכם, seeing that the son was so distinguished the father is identified by reference to his son.

במאה קשיטה, silver coins. According to our sages in Rosh Hashanah 26 Rabbi Akiva once reported that while he walked in a place called Arabia he heard that the local people called a certain coin equivalent to a מעה in the land of Israel a קשיטה. According to Onkelos the meaning of קשיטה may be חורפן, “young lambs.” He translated it as such also in 21,28

ויצב שם, considering that the Torah used the word ויצב instead of ויבן, he built, it is probable that this altar consisted of only one large lab of stone. He placed this stone in the appropriate position to serve as an altar upon which to offer his sacrifice.

ויקרא לו א-ל אלו-הי ישראל, he named the altar thus in commemoration of the fact that G’d had saved him while he was en route, and had sent an angel to accomplish that, and had also changed his name to Yisrael. It is possible that he placed the stone at the site where he had the nocturnal encounter with the angel. We find a parallel to this in Exodus 17,15 where Moses called the altar he had built ה' נסי, “G’d is my miracle,” in commemoration of the miracle G’d had performed for the Israelites enabling them to defeat the Amalekites. Another similar example of the name of G’d being linked to the salvation He brings to the Jewish people, albeit in the future, is found in Jeremiah 23,6, זה שמו אשר יקראו ה' צדקנו. A similar verse occurs in Jeremiah 33,17, whereas in Ezekiel 48,35 we found a city (the new Jerusalem) being named after an event (the redemption), the new name meaning: “the Lord is there.”