The time came for Yaakov to leave the pure, pristine environs of his “tents” and work in the “dusty,” undignified world of Lavan and Esav. We should never feel that we would be better off, that we would be purer and holier, if we never needed to struggle, if we never had to confront saro shel Esav. The “dirt” produced over the course of our struggles is itself pure and holy.
The Torah in Parashat Vayishlach tells of Yaakov’s famous struggle against a mysterious assailant, whom the Midrash (cited by Rashi to 32:25) identifies as saro shel Esav – the angelic representative of Esav. The word used in reference to this struggle is “va-yei’aveik,” which the Gemara (Chulin 91a) associates with the Hebrew word “avak” – “dust.” The Gemara explains, “They raised dust with their feet until it reached the Heavenly Throne.” Meaning, the fight between Yaakov and the angel is described with the term “va-yei’aveik” because over the course of wrestling their feet kicked dust up into the air.
The question arises, however, as to what Chazal sought to convey by adding that the dust rose to the Heavenly Throne. Did the dust kicked into the air by Yaakov and the angel truly reach the highest point in the heavens? And if it did, why might this be significant?
Yaakov’s struggle with saro shel Esav is commonly viewed as symbolic of the general struggle we must frequently wage against evil in all its forms, both our internal vices and our external foes. These struggles, almost invariably, produce “avak”; they tend to be “dirty,” unpleasant, and unseemly. We tend to associate “holiness” and “spirituality” with a kind of pristine existence where there is no need to concern oneself with the “dust” of Esav, with base human tendencies and the hostilities of devious foes.
The story of Yaakov, however, demonstrates that these struggles are part of the process of building God’s nation. Yaakov, the “simple man who dwelled in tents,” whom Chazal describe as a spiritually-focused scholar who lived simply and peacefully in the “tents” of study, was eventually forced to confront Lavan and Esav; to outmaneuver his wily uncle and then bribe his angry, vengeful brother. The time came for Yaakov to leave the pure, pristine environs of his “tents” and work in the “dusty,” undignified world of Lavan and Esav. Yaakov’s triumph over the angel is thus symbolic of his and his descendants’ triumph over the many forms of adversity that we confront, challenges that often leave us “dirty” and even lame, but ultimately help us build ourselves and our entire nation into what we are meant to become.
The Gemara teaches us that this “avak” rises to the Heavenly Throne. We should never feel that we would be better off, that we would be purer and holier, if we never needed to struggle, if we never had to confront saro shel Esav. The “dirt” produced over the course of our struggles is itself pure and holy. It rises to the Heavenly Throne along with our prayers and repentance. We must never be ashamed or resentful of the necessary difficult confrontations against our internal vices or external challenges, because they are all part of the process begun by Yaakov Avinu, the process of building God’s special nation which will work to improve the world and removing the unseemly “dust” that continues to cover it.