This week’s parsha contains the prohibition of eating the gid ha’nashe (the sciatic nerve) of an animal as a result of the Angel of Eisav attacking Yaakov Avinu and wounding him in his thigh. We commemorate this by refraining from eating this sinew on the animal’s thigh. This law has major impact on halachic meat consumption. Because of this halacha, at least in America, we only eat the fore portion of an animal because the process of removing the gid ha’nashe from the hind quarter of an animal is too labor-intensive. The “good part of an animal”—the porterhouse steaks and the sirloin steaks—are from the hind quarter of the animal, which we have never eaten as observant Jews.
The Sefer HaChinuch writes that the reason for this mitzvah is to provide a hint to Bnai Yisroel that even though they experience many troubles in their exile at the hands of the non-Jewish nations, they should confidently remember that they will not be eradicated. The Jewish people will be around forever, and eventually a redeemer will come and rescue them from their oppressors. The hint is that this Angel that wrestled with Yaakov Avinu, who represented the Guardian Angel of Eisav, wished to eradicate Yaakov and remove the Jewish people from the world. However, he was unsuccessful. At most, he was able to wound him by touching his sciatic nerve. This is the way it is going to be throughout history. At the end, there will be salvation just as there was with Yaakov, as it says “the sun shone for him.”
I would like to tell a very interesting story I saw about Rav Matisyahu Solomon, which was written up by Rav Mordechai Finkel:
Rav Matisyahu learned in Gateshead (England) many years ago when it was still a very small Yeshiva. The Yeshiva was located in a small house, which was very crowded. It was so crowded, that there literally was not enough space for every student to put down his Gemara in front of him. Each student’s Gemara was lying on top of part of his neighbor’s Gemara. Since only one amud of Talmud was studied at a time, they were able to manage with “half a Gemara” spread out in front of each student. Today, Gateshead is the biggest Yeshiva in all of Europe.
Wallsend is a town in England about ten miles from Gateshead. The significance of the city and the source of its name are the fact that Hadrian conquered all of England when he was the emperor of Rome, but at that time Scotland was an independent country. In order to prevent the Scots from attacking, the Romans who had taken over England built a wall. This protective wall which Hadrian built to keep out the Scots ended in this city. That is why it was called Wallsend.
Today Wallsend is a tourist attraction because it is the last remnant of the wall that Hadrian built. Today, it is just a pile of moss-covered stones, but people go there to see the historically significant artifact of the Roman Empire.
A Jewish American journalist went to Wallsend to write a story. In the middle of the day, he realized that he had Yahrtzeit for his father that day. Although he was not observant, many non-observant Jews observe their parents’ Yahrtzeit (commemorating the anniversary of the death of a parent by reciting Kaddish with a minyan). He asked around, “Is there any place I can find a minyan in the middle of nowhere?” Gateshead is located in Northern England and it is quite isolated. He was told that a small Yeshiva existed about ten miles from Wallsend where he could find a minyan to say Kaddish.
He came into the Beis Medrash in Gateshead and saw—as is typical in a Yeshiva—that the Chavrusas were going at it with one another. One Chavrusa yelled to his study partner, “Rabbi Akiva holds just the opposite!” This American journalist recognized the name Rabbi Akiva. He knew that there was once such a person. Suddenly, it struck him: How did Rabbi Akiva die? He was put to death by the Romans. Which Romans? Hadrian! Hadrian was the Roman Emperor who killed Rabbi Akiva. What is left of Hadrian? A pile of stones that is nothing today. They are covered with moss. And what about Rabbi Akiva, who Hadrian put to death? Two thousand years later, people are still saying over Rabbi Akiva’s Torah, and still spending quality time analyzing his every statement and opinion.
When the journalist went back to America and wrote his article, he wrote “the mighty Hadrian, who led massive armies to great victories, has nothing remaining of all his triumphs and conquests other than a pile of stones that was once a wall. Conversely, the teachings of Rabbi Akiva, which Hadrian sought to eradicate, are being studied and debated almost two thousand years after Rabbi Akiva’s death.
This is the message of the gid ha’nashe. They will try to defeat us. They will try to eradicate us. But Netzach Yisrael lo Y’Shaker. The Jewish people are forever. We may suffer. We may limp. But at the end of the day, we will survive and they won’t.
