Returning home, Yaakov sends angelic messengers to appease his brother Esav. The messengers return, telling Yaakov that Esav is approaching with an army 400 strong. Yaakov takes the strategic precautions of dividing the camps, praying for assistance, and sending tribute to mollify Esav. Yaakov is left alone that night, wrestles - and defeats - the Angel of Esav, yet emerges with an injured sinew in his thigh, which is why the Torah prohibits eating the sciatic nerve of a kosher animal. The angel tells Yaakov that his future name will be Yisrael, signifying that he has prevailed against man (Lavan) and the supernatural (the angel). Yaakov and Esav meet and are reconciled; but still fearful of his brother, Yaakov rejects Esav’s offer to travel together.
Shechem, a Canaanite prince, abducts and violates Yaakov’s daughter Dina. In return for Dina’s hand in marriage, the prince and his father suggest that Yaakov and his family intermarry and enjoy the fruits of Canaanite prosperity. Yaakov’s sons feign agreement, yet they stipulate that all the males of the city must undergo brit milah. Two of Dina’s brothers, Shimon and Levi, enter the town and handily execute all the males, who were weakened by the circumcision. Their action is justified by the city’s tacit complicity in the abduction of their sister. G-d commands Yaakov to go to Beit-El and build an altar. His mother Rivka’s nurse, Devorah, dies and is buried below Beit-El. G-d appears again to Yaakov, blesses him and changes his name to Yisrael. While traveling, Rachel goes into labor and gives birth to Binyamin, the twelfth of the Tribes of Israel. She dies in childbirth and is buried on the road to Beit Lechem. Yaakov builds a monument to her. Yitzchak passes away at age 180 and is buried by his sons. The parsha concludes by listing Esav’s descendants.
