Vayishlach — Gid HaNasheh and Personal Initiative
Parashas Vayishlach — Gid HaNasheh and Taking Personal Initiative
For the past two years, the Jewish people have been facing danger from every direction. Even now, after a fragile period of calm, the threat has not disappeared. We are still absorbing the wounds of war, and fear fills the hearts of our brothers and sisters. It is very easy to talk about the problems. To give speeches. To wish for solutions. But words alone do not protect us. Conversations alone do not bring security. Action is required. Each one of us must take initiative. Begin wherever he can. Do whatever he can.
The Torah teaches this principle in Parashas Vayishlach. On that night, Yaakov Avinu struggled with the angel. How do we remember this event? Not through a positive commandment, but specifically through a prohibition — Gid HaNasheh. Rav Moshe Feinstein explains: courage and endurance when facing a test are great virtues, but the highest virtue is not to enter the nisayon in the first place. Every morning we say: “שֶׁלֹּא נָבוֹא לִידֵי נִסָּיוֹן” — “that we should not come into the hands of a test.”
A positive commandment might have implied that one should seek out struggles; a prohibition teaches the opposite — that life should be arranged in a way that avoids unnecessary tests as much as possible. Yaakov stood in the struggle with strength, but Gid HaNasheh reminds us that the higher path is wisdom — to live in a way that prevents tests even before they arrive.
This principle is also true on the national level. When the Jewish people face conflict, the Torah commands:
“כִּי תִקְרַב אֶל־עִיר לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ וְקָרָאתָ אֵלֶיהָ לְשָׁלוֹם” — “When you draw near to a city to wage war against it, you must call out to it for peace” (Devarim 20:10).
The Rambam rules:
“אֵין עוֹשִׂין מִלְחָמָה… עַד שֶׁקוֹרְאִין לוֹ לְשָׁלוֹם” — “We do not wage war… until we have first called to them for peace” (Hilchos Melachim 6:1).
Meaning: even before the battle, the Torah obligates us to take the first step toward peace — to reach out, to offer terms, to attempt to prevent the conflict. Even if the enemy rejects peace, the initiative rests upon us. We do not glorify war. We do not seek confrontation. We seek understanding and compromise.
David HaMelech says:
“בַּקֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם וְרָדְפֵהוּ” — “Seek peace and pursue it” (Tehillim 34:15).
And Yeshayahu Ha Navi describes a perfected world where:
“וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבוֹתָם לְאִתִּים” — “They will beat their swords into ploughshares,”
“לֹא־יִשָּׂא גוֹי אֶל־גוֹי חֶרֶב” — “Nation will not lift up sword against nation” (Yeshayahu 2:4).
War is never the ideal. Only when there is no peace are we forced to face the tragic necessity of war.
And in our situation today — which is neither peace nor war, an extremely difficult in-between state — we must strengthen the peace among ourselves. Yaakov teaches this in his tefillah before meeting Esav. The Torah gives three metaphors for the Avos:
Avraham — “כּוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם” — “the stars of the heavens” (Bereishis 15:5).
Yitzchak — “כְּחוֹל אֲשֶׁר עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם” — “the sand on the seashore” (Bereishis 22:17).
Yaakov — “וְהָיָה זַרְעֲךָ כַּעֲפַר הָאָרֶץ” — “your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth” (Bereishis 28:14).
But Yaakov himself, when he davens for salvation from Esav, does not use the metaphor of “dust.” He says:
“וְשַׂמְתִּי אֶת זַרְעֲךָ כְּחוֹל הַיָּם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִסָּפֵר מֵרֹב” — “And I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their multitude” (Bereishis 32:13).
Why specifically “sand”?
A single grain of sand cannot accomplish anything. But when many grains cling together — they form a barrier that can stop even the mighty waves of the sea. Yaakov is saying to Hashem: “Our only strength against Esav is unity — like the sand of the sea. If we are united — we will survive. If not — we will scatter like individual grains of sand.”
And this is the meaning of internal peace. In Parashas Bechukosai, the Torah promises:
“וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ וּשְׁכַבְתֶּם וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד” — “I will place peace in the land, and you will lie down with none to frighten you” (Vayikra 26:6).
The Ibn Ezra comments on the fact that the Torah already said earlier “וִישַׁבְתֶּם לָבֶטַח בְּאַרְצְכֶם” — “you will dwell securely in your land”, why then does the Torah repeat the promise of peace?
The Ibn Ezra answers:
“ונתתי שלום בארץ — שָׁלוֹם בֵּינֵיכֶם.” — “I will place peace in the land — meaning peace among you.”
Only when there is peace among us can the promise “וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד” — “and none will cause fear” — be fulfilled. The promise of security is not complete unless there is internal peace. Unity is not a luxury — it is a condition of existence.
This principle is also true on the personal level. One of the Rebbes said in sharp simplicity: “I tried to change the world — I did not succeed. I tried to change my community — I did not succeed. I tried to change my family — that too I did not succeed. Then I understood: if I want to bring real change — I must begin with myself.”
We know the problems. We know how to talk about them. To give speeches. To express wishes. But this does not bring change. Real change begins when each person takes responsibility — to speak gently, to act with kindness, to take the small step that he truly can take.
We can talk, analyze, lecture. But action is what counts. Each person taking responsibility. Each person acting. And just as Gid HaNasheh reminds us of Yaakov’s struggle and teaches us the importance of avoiding unnecessary tests, so too taking personal responsibility, initiative, and action within the abilities each person has can prevent problems and create real change — in the family, in the community, and in Klal Yisrael.
