(2) ...when you walk through fire,
You shall not be scorched;
Through flame,
It shall not burn you.

And he said to him, “Go and see how your brothers are and how the flocks are faring, and bring me back word.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. When he reached Shechem,

a man came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

THE STRANGER IN THE FIELD?

“Messengers [malakhim]” – these were flesh and blood messengers. The Rabbis say: Actual angels.

ANGELS OR HUMANS?

THREE ANGELS OR ONE?

וימצאהו איש AND A MAN FOUND HIM — This was the angel Gabriel (Genesis Rabbah 84:14) as it is said, (Daniel 9:21) and the man (והאיש) Gabriel” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayeshev 2:3).

IT'S ANGEL GABRIEL

איש, the same type of איש as in Joshua 5,13, i.e. an angel. This was the angel Gavriel, described as איש par excellence in Daniel 9,21. The reason why these angels are called איש is because they appear to the people with whom they converse in human guise. The types of angels who speak with man are referred to as איש, as they appear either in a vision or while the person to whom they appear is fully awake. G’d had sent this angel to Yaakov to strengthen his courage, not to fear Esau. If Yaakov could prevail over an angel, surely he had no reason to be afraid of an encounter with someone like Esau! The fact that the struggle lasted until daybreak was an allusion to Yaakov that after a period of night, i.e. problems, adversity, there would come a period of light, peace and prosperity coupled with security..

FYI BACK IN THE DAY GABRIEL FOUGHT WITH YAKOV

§ Rabbi Akiva taught: If a man [ish] and woman [isha] merit reward through a faithful marriage, the Divine Presence rests between them. The words ish and isha are almost identical; the difference between them is the middle letter yod in ish, and the final letter heh in isha. These two letters can be joined to form the name of God spelled yod, heh. But if due to licentiousness they do not merit reward, the Divine Presence departs, leaving in each word only the letters alef and shin, which spell esh, fire. Therefore, fire consumes them.

ISH V. ESH

What is the meaning of the verse (Ecclesiastes 7:14), "Also one opposite the other was made by God."? He created Desolation and placed it in Peace, and He created Chaos and placed it in Evil. Desolation is in Peace, as it is written (Job 25:2), "He makes peace in His high places." This teaches us that Michael, the prince to God's right, is water and hail, while Gabriel, the prince to God's left, is fire. The two are reconciled by the Prince of Peace. This is the meaning of the verse, "He makes peace in His high places."

GABRIEL REPRESENTS FIRE

Rabbi Jehudah said: When Nebuchadnezzar brought a false accusation against Israel to slay them, he set up an idol in the plain of Dura, and caused a herald to proclaim: Any one who does not bow down to this idol shall be burnt by fire. Israel did not trust in the shadow of their Creator, and came with their wives and sons and bowed down to the idolatrous image—except Daniel, whom they called by the name of their God, and it would have been a disgrace to them to burn him in fire, as it is said, "But at the last Daniel came in before me" (Dan. 4:8). And they took Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and put them into the fiery furnace, and the angel Gabriel descended and saved them from the fiery furnace.

GABRIEL GOES INTO A FURNACE AND SAVES ISRAEL FROM NEBUCHANEZER

Objects used on the fire, like skewers and gridirons and similar things, need to be made white-hot (libun). Libun is such that there are sparks on them. Rem"a: Some are lenient if it is hot such that straw burns on it from the outside (Mordechai the end of Avoda Zara and Hagahot Maimoni chapter 17 from the Laws of Forbidden Foods). We follow the first opinion for everything that requires libun, but for something that needs scouring but has cracks or we are stringent to make it white-hot, it is sufficient to do this lesser libun. A tripod needs libun (Mahari"l).

KASHERING THROUGH FIRE

We called this book, Holy Fire (Esh Kodesh), since it is a memorial monument to the holy ones thrown into the fire, and for the sake of the messenger that went up in fire. And he was entirely a holy flame that was written in black fire on white fire. And likewise is the name of our honorable holy rabbi, may his memory be blessed, hinted to in it, as is the name of his holy honorable father, the great rabbi, may the memory of the righteous one be blessed, and also the name of his son who died the death of the holy ones while it was still the early days of the war. May there memory be sanctified!

The House of Jacob shall be fire,And the House of Joseph flame,And the House of Esau shall be straw;They shall burn it and devour it,And no survivor shall be left of the House of Esau—for GOD has spoken.

LAST WEEK'S HAFTORAH

FIRES OF FINAL REDEMPTION/MASHIACH BEN YOSEF