Jacob the Magician (Vayishlach)

"Jacob... slept there that night... prepared two hundred goats for his brother Esau... and was left alone to fight with Esau's angel."

The name of Esau's angel is Samael, with a gematria of 131. By giving his present to Esau, Jacob was effecting his ultimate removal from the world by connecting it to the magic number of 130, as we will see below. In addition, Jacob called what he sent a present "shai," with the gematria of 310. Combined with Amalek (240), the utmost hater of Israel, you get 550, which is how many animals Jacob sent. Jacob followed the Proverbs in giving a present to the enemy: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him, since with this you are pouring hot coals on his head, and God will repay you."

How was all this accomplished? Their argument was about the letter "yud." Jacob's real name was "Ekev" - heel. Still, Jacob took another letter, "yud," to signify that he was the one to correct Adam's error and became 'Yakov." When Jacob crosses the river "Yabok," he is left there alone. This letter was left out since this river has all the letters of Jacob's name except Ayin. Later, this letter will find its place in the blessing, "Israel will live alone just like (ayin) Jacob, securely." The gematria of this word "ayin" is 130, and this is what counteracts Esau's angel above (1 is added for the phrase, as is common in Kabbalah).

The 130 is also connected to the "Voice – the voice of Jacob and the hands – the hands of Esau," since "voice" – "Kol" is exactly 130 (k-l), since in the Torah it is spelled without the extra letter vav in between. It usually is written with the "vav" to indicate that the voice of Jacob, when it is present, conquers the hands of Esau. That means "the angel saw that he could not win over him (Jacob). "This word, "him," is spelled "lamed-vav," and it is this "vav" that the angel of Esau could not overcome. When the angel saw that he could not damage Jacob's body, represented by the letter vav, he touched his thigh, "kaf," the place where Evil forces had held. Jacob foresaw that too since he returned to collect small vessels with oil, "pach" – the same letters as "kaf," only reversed. Finally, the angel was forced to concede victory and told Jacob that he would not be called "Yakov," with yud contested, but "Yisrael," where the letter yud is connected to "Rosh" - head – and now stands uncontested. Jacob was thus acknowledged as the one who corrected Adam's mistake and everything else together with it.

Art: Michel I Corneille - Esau and Jacob