But therein lies the danger, as even the strongest person still has moments of fundamental human need for support. They trust him and look to him for guidance and protection. Their father has taken care of them in many a difficult situation over the years, and always seemed to know best. The Torah bans the sciatic nerve for Jacob’s descendants in memory that those children left their father alone at this crucial and terrifying moment in his life. Thus he is struck in the thigh area, a region of the body that is Biblically symbolic of procreation and future generations. But he did have a vulnerability his weak spot was the absence of family support in his darkest hour. The angel may not have been able to overcome Jacob personally, as he was too strong for that. He paces the floor, desperate to do something - anything. How awful! Half his wives and children will die! Yet that is a possible reality for which he must prepare. He splits his camp so that if Esav destroys one part, the other will survive. He works on the diplomatic front, prays fervently for Divine assistance, and prepares for battle as well. The news is cause for great concern and confirmation of Jacob’s fears. More than twenty years later, he heads home and hears that Esav is approaching with 400 troops. All those years he knows that Esav is likely stewing and getting increasingly bitter. He travels many miles, and goes to live with his uncle Lavan. He was forced to run away from his brother so many years ago in fear for his life. The commentary of the Chizkuni suggests that the law of the sciatic nerve is indeed a reprimand, a chastisement not of Jacob but of his children. If so, how did he injure his leg so badly? If a person emerged from a fistfight with a black eye and claimed that their adversary “couldn’t touch them,” one might inconveniently point out that that was clearly not the case! The text suggests specifically that the angel was “unable to overcome” Jacob. Why put the sciatic nerve on the “no” list of kashrut?Ī closer look at the narrative raises a more subtle question. Yet the prohibition leaves me confused marking this event by putting something off-limits seems more like a punishment to the Children of Israel than a celebration of a great moment. I think of him when struggling with the powerful whirlwinds that life sends on occasion. He struggles with an angel, and successfully defends himself.
“Therefore the Children of Israel are not to eat the sciatic nerve to this day, because he struck Jacob’s leg on the sciatic nerve” (32:33).Īs a reader and descendant, I am proud of Jacob. When the angel sees that he cannot overcome Jacob, he strikes him in the thigh and sends him on his way limping. “Jacob was left alone (32:25)” in the dark, and an angel appears to wrestle with him until dawn.
Now returning to face him, he makes anxious last minute preparations, sending half his family across the nearby river to hide and moving his camp once again. More than two decades earlier, Jacob fled home as his sibling swore to kill him. In the dark of night, Jacob prepares in fear for a fateful meeting with his older brother Esav. And it all goes back to Jacob and the Angel. While the hindquarter meat of a cow could theoretically be prepared in a kosher manner, there are not very many kashrut professionals trained in proper removal of the gid hanasheh (sciatic nerve) to make it easily available to me. Friends tell me that filet mignon is delicious, but I’ve never tasted it myself.
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