“Therefore, the children of Israel should not eat the displaced tendon/sinew (גיד הנשה)”. the Torah commands us to refrain from eating Gid Hanashe, not merely as a reminder of Yaakov Avinu’s fights with the Angel of Esav, who is the Yetser Hara, the evil inclination; but as a message for the future: the spiritual damage is transferred to the offspring, יוצאי ירך of Yaakov Avinu.

את גיד הנשה

אב תשעה=א ת – ninth of Av

ג תשרי =ג the third of Tishrei which is Tsom Gedalia

י טבת =י the 10th of Tevet

גיד = is 17, 17th of Tamuz

השנה=הנשה the year

The damage was for generations to come, and we still suffer from close contact with the impurity of Esav, which is prevalent throughout all media outlets in our days. That is the reason why the Torah directs us to remove everything that comes in contact with Esav.

נשה also means forgetfulness. this was (and is) the main goal of the angel of Esav: to hurt Yaakov and his descendants – יוצאי ירך coming out of his loins, by causing them to forget the Torah.

We have 365 sinews, corresponding to the 365 days of the year. The Ariz”al tells us that the sinew that was affected by the angel of Esav is the day of the 9th of Av. שכח which means forgot, has the numerical value of 328, corresponding to that day.

The descendants of Esav followed the footsteps of their forefather, and attacked the Jewish people in the same manner – by attacking the Torah. We say in על הנסים on Chanuka:  להשכיחם תורתך, they meant to cause forgetfulness of Torah.

We therefore light the menorah with olive oil, which symbolizes the Torah.

Our Spiritual healing will come in the same manner it came to Yaakov Avinu; at the crack of the future Dawn, with the coming of Redemption הגאולה. “And the Sun shone for him”[1].

“And Yaakov came complete”[2]. We shall all merit to rejoice this day, soon.

[1] בראשית לב, לב

[2] בראשית לג,יח