Parshat Vayishlach
There are certain cuts of meat, that as tasty as they may be, you just won't find them in a kosher market, i.e., cuts of meat from the hindquarters of the animal like sirloin, filet mignon, and porterhouse. The reason stems from this week's Torah portion.
When Yaakov was crossing the Yaabok river he was attacked. This attacker was none other that Sar Shel Esav (the guardian angel of Esau). They wrestled all night long and towards morning, "when he perceived that he could not overcome him, he struck the socket of his hip; so Yakov's hip-socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him" (Genesis 32:25-27). The story continues with Jacob being blessed by the attacker and being given the name Yisrael, as the verse states "no longer will it be said that your name is Jacob, but Yisrael, for you have striven with the Divine and with man and have overcome" (Genesis 32:29). The story concludes "Therefore, the children of Israel are not to eat the Gid Hanasheh (displaced sinew on the hip-socket) to this day, because he struck Jacob's hip-socket on the displaced sinew". This is the reason why the hindquarters of the animal that contain the sciatica (the hip-socket sinew) are not eaten, as it is too costly and complicated to properly remove the entire nerve/sinew.
This Biblical Mitzvah of Gid Hanashe (Rambam's Sefer Hamitzvos. Negative commandment 183, or Mitzvah 1 according to the Chafetz Chaim) leaves many questions of why this bizarre story is told to us and what life lesson is there for us to learn from it, beyond the simple understanding.
The Zohar (work of Kabbalah) explains that this encounter between Jacob and his attacker was symbolic of something much greater. The two forces of Light and Darkness (Yaakov and Esav) were battling for dominion over the world. While Yaakov was blessed by his father Yitzchak, his brother Esav resented the blessing and sought to kill him for it. This battle of Esav's guardian angel and Yaakov was about who would truly receive the blessings and ultimate dominion over the world. This is why Yaakov asked the angel to bless him and renounce Esav's claim, once and for all these special blessings. Indeed, after he is bested, the angel blesses him and calls him Yisrael (prince of G-d) and not Yaakov (which connotes trickery and deception).
Some of our commentaries explain that the hip-socket represents the area close to the reproductive organs; i.e. our offspring. When the angel of Esav saw that he could not shake Yaakov's resolve and could not beat him, he hit him with a "low blow", trying to affect his children. Esav's angel realized that the future of the Jewish people is only as strong as the children that represent the future. If he could weaken the commitment of Yaakov's children and their connection to Judaism and Torah, he would have been very successful in striking the ultimate blow.
This is the very reason why collectively as a Jewish people, we have always placed the first emphasis on our children and their Jewish education. This is because they represent the future and the very life source of our people.
To conclude with a beautiful statement by the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks OBM "The people who build and support Jewish schools-they are the heroes of the Jewish world, because they are the builders of the Jewish future... The very success of the Jewish people and surviving and thriving through all circumstances, some good, some not so good, was due to the fact that we put education as the first of our communal priorities".
Shabbat Shalom
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