In this week's parsha we have the battle between Yaakov and the angel of Aisav. Yaakov took hold of the malach and would not let him go unless he gave Yaakov a beracha. The malach acquiesced and said לא יעקב יאמר עוד שמך כי אם ישראל כי שרית עם אלהים ועם אנשים ותוכל. Your name will no longer be Yaakov which suggests trickery but rather Yisrael. Because you have fought with an angel of Hashem, with Lavan and Aisav, and you have overcome them all.
At first sight it sounds like a nice beracha from a defeated and surrendered enemy. However the Panim Yafos explains just the opposite. When the Malach realized that he could not defeat Yaakov with his original plan, he strategized a new scheme to defeat him. We say in Maariv והסר שטן מלפנינו ומאחרינו we ask Hashem to remove the Satan from before us and from our backs. The Yetzer Harah can confront us openly and try to seduce us into transgressions that are explicitly forbidden. If that does not work he can come from behind with a scheme which is more subtle and unnoticeable.
For the Malach's second attempt to topple Yaakov he sought to make him into a baal gaavah full of haughtiness due to his incredible spiritual victories over evil. The Malach executed the plan by praising him "שרית" you defeated not only angels but the mighty warriors and infamous scammers. The Malach understood very well "Oh Vey" to the one who possesses conceit, Hashem refuses to dwell with him, even though with sinners of other sorts it is written השוכן אתם בתוך טומאתם.
It is unimaginable the lofty degree of success that Yaakov acquired in this battle with the defeat of the Malach. After the malach could not escape, it came time for him to sing shira in shamayim which only occurs when a malach completed his mission. No one before Yaakov ever attained this feat. The effect of this battle reached the Kisay Hakavod the highest of the high and it was therefore a must that Yaakov had to win and he did. So because of Yaakov's insane rare victories it was a tremendous test for him not to feel even the slightest experience of kovod.
To make things even more challenging with this new ploy, Yaakov was exceedingly humble in his character. His name יעקב means heel the lowest part of the body. Yaakov says when davening to Hashem to protect him from Aisav, קטנתי מכל החסדים which is interpreted by the Chozeh from Lublin to mean that the reason why I am so humble is because of Hashem's chesed to me, and not that I through my avodah became so. Even when it comes to Yaakov's humility he refuses to accept any responsibility for its success. According to this pshat we can interpret the Mishna in Pirkei Avos 4,4 מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח a person should be extremely humble. Why the double lashon of מאד? Not only is it requested from an individual to actually be humble, but the next madraigah is to be humble about your humbleness by saying that Hashem gave it to you as a gift.
We can add another example of Yaakov's humility. When Yaakov awoke from sleeping at the place of the Beis Hamikdosh he remarked (Bereishis 28,16) אכן יש הויה במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי. After realizing Hashem's Shechina was right there with him the entire night, he said ואנכי לא ידעתי the "I" and love of myself was not affected at all by this experience (Bereishis 18,19 Rashi ידעתיו love). I did not view myself more loved and greater self esteemed because of my achievements.
Rav Ahron Kotler ztl brings another example from Avraham Avinu after the Akaidah when Avraham returned to his lads Yishmael and Eliezer. The passuk says ויקומו וילכו יחדיו אל באר שבע what does it mean they went together to B'air Shevah. It is to convey that even after such an incredible ordeal which he passed and achieved a record score of בי נשבעתי from Hashem, he didn't feel any entitlement of reward, nor the key to the city, not even recognition with a Fifth Avenue Parade and kovod by receiving a medal of honor. The passuk portrays Avraham's humbleness with the words that all three Avraham, Yishmael, and Eliezer walked together. This is to be interpreted to mean that just as Avraham's entourage thought nothing of the Akaidah because they were totally unaware of it taking place, so too Avraham who was the spiritual hero of the event did not feel any extra pride and greatness owed to him because of his loyalty, righteousness, and mesiras nefesh to Hashem.
In a deeper understanding of what transpired between Yaakov and the Malach of Aisav we have to return to chait of Aitz Hadaas. Our sefarim tell us that the Nachash had riding on its back the סמאל which is the Malach of Aisav. The סמ possesses the middah of arrogance and it strives to hijack anything of kedusha from its closeness and relationship with Hashem. As the Avos D'rav Nasson 1 says that the tree of the Aitz Hadaas shouted to the Nachash רשע אל תגע בי evil one do not touch me. As the passuk says (Tehillim 32,12) אל תבואני רגל גאוה do not let feet of haughtiness come to me ויד רשעים אל תנידני and the hands of evil push me to move away. We see from this that whatever the Nachash touches he injects with gaavah. According to Chazal the Nachash shook the tree until one fruit fell to the ground.
The acronym of the passuk is אתרג which follows the opinion that the Aitz Hadaas was an Esrog Tree. Interesting that of the four species the esrog is the object of gaavah and excitingly displayed by its owner. I wonder where that came from? Also the English equivalent in pronouncing the Malach of Aisav סמאל small. He tries to attack anyone who is קטן and humble in his eyes because it would cause an attachment to kedusha and Hashem.
The Nachash tells Chava that by eating from the Tree of Knowledge you can be like Hashem. The motivation to sin was spurned by gaavah. Yet Chazal call conceit a תועבה an abomination (Mishlei 16,5). By eating from the Aitz Hadaas the poison of haughtiness entered their bodies. The only way to defeat the forces of evil is to have ענוה which is the same gematriah of סמאל the malach of Aisav and serves as its antidote.
The sefarim tell us that Yaakov purified and refined his seven middos towards Hashem connecting each one to another name of יהו'. They write that seven times the name יהו' adds up to יעקב. In this state Yaakov was an עניו of the purest form and the סמאל strove to break his madraigah by infusing him with the feelings of greatness in order to fall into gaavah. The סמאל was up to his old tricks back in Gan Eden. It was there that the סמאל and the Nachash ganged up together to seduce Adam to eat from the Aitz Hadaas and release in him the poison of conceit and entitlement and play an essential role in their lives distancing them and their avoda from Hashem.
When Yaakov in the parsha approached Aisav he bowed seven times. He was relating to Aisav that all his middos are perfected and subservient to Hashem. His bowing to Aisav is Yaakov's attempt that he should subjugate all of Aisav's seven bad middos to the righteous ones possessed by Yaakov.
When Hashem asked Chava why she transgressed the prohibition of eating from the Aitz Hadaas she used the expression הנחש השיאני . The sefarim write that the word השיאני is composed of two words יש and אין. The word יש symbolizes substance "there is" importance. In contrast the word אין means nothingness "there is not". By eating from the Aitz Hadaas I suddenly was transformed from a state of אין humility and bittul into a state of יש importance, gaavah, feelings of entitlement.
The sefarim write that in the Mishnah it states that Hashem will give to those who love me 310 worlds. Why this number specifically? The answer given is what a great tzadik Peri Haaretz condensed into the mission of life: Hashem created the world יש מאין and the end goal is to take the יש of this world and return it to אין its source - Hashem. The reward for transforming יש into serving spirituality is 310 worlds equal to its gematriah. When the malach Aisav praised Yaakov he said כי שרית עם אלהים ואנשים . The four letters of the word שרית are four letters in the first word of the Torah בראשית excluding the two letters of אב . Therefore it hints to Yaakov and the changing of his name which presents itself as the אב third father of Am Yisrael who achieved שרית you over powered the letters contained in the word בראשית. This that the Torah alludes to this episode in the first word, tells one that the fact that Yaakov overpowered the סמאל was not because he himself was able to do the job but rather that Hashem who בראשית ברא אלקים who created the world and sustains it from nothing also gave you the power to overcome and achieve all hurdles in life.
Likewise why Yisrael will also have a שארית a remainder of a nation and never become extinct like others, is because we are called ראשית the words of שרית א that you overpowered אלהים (malach) and אנשים (Lavan and Aisav). As the passuk in Michah says מי אל כמוך נושא עון ועובר על פשע לשארית נחלתו לא החזיק לעד אפו that the שארית will remain in existence. Yaakov Avinu did not lose his עניוות from the praises lauded upon him from the סמאל . He channeled all his praise to Hashem who created the ראשית of everything from complete nothingness. Yaakov with all his sensational victories finds nothing to be arrogant about since everything, including him, are recreated every second of existence. So what does Hashem actually owe you? Or better yet how much do you owe Him?