R. Solomon Ephraim Luntshitz, in his work Keli Yaqar, comments at length on the following verses regarding Jacob’s preparations for his encounter with Esav:

That same night he arose, and taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children, he crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After taking them across the stream, he sent across all his possessions. Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him… (Genesis 32:23-26).

Why was Jacob left alone? Hazal write that he went back over the river to retrieve some small vessels that he had inadvertently left on the other side. From various biblical commentators, one would not derive the impression that Jacob did anything wrong with this act of retrieval. Keli Yaqar, on the other hand, most definitely thinks that Jacob did act inappropriately by demonstrating an excessive concern with objects of monetary value.

Keli Yaqar identifies the mysterious “man” who wrestled with Jacob as Samael, the demonic celestial officer who is the overseer of Esav. That follows an established rabbinic tradition, but he weaves this identity in with his homiletical point that the entire episode shows the spiritual peril in caring too much about material wealth. Utilizing the similarity between the word Samael and the Hebrew word to blind (le-samei) he points out that Samael’s entire mission is to cause man to become intellectually blind. He identifies Samael with Satan, and further quotes the identification of Satan with the Angel of Death and with the Evil Inclination (Bava Batra 16a). Moreover, he compares his effects to those of wine. A drunk man loses his physical sight, and an intellectually blind mind loses his intellectual/spiritual sight. And one who loves material possessions too much becomes intellectually/ spiritually blind.

Keli Yaqar points out that like a flea; the Evil Inclination does not attack a man at his strong point, but at his weakest link. Samael knew that the strength of Jacob throughout the Jacob/Esau encounter would be the level of his observance of the Torah.  As long as Jacob did not sin, Samael could not attack him. When Jacob when out alone and he spiritually descended from his previous state, Samael trapped him. What did Jacob do that was terrible? He attempted to recover his pakhim qetanim, the small vessels, which were worth a bit of money.

Keli Yaqar continues that Jacob by his actions blinded himself, for “who is as blind as a lover of money?” Samael then exclaimed, “Now is my chance to defile him and to cause him to become even more impure!” Commenting upon the word levado (by himself) he commented, Jacob committed an act of foolishness that was uniquely his own, and that most (!) people would not have done. Who could be so foolish as to put himself in danger for a small sum of money!

Immediately Samael began to wrestle with Jacob. His goal was to cause Jacob to deny God, and he thought that he might be able to do so, for one blinded by love of money might be led to any sin at all! Thankfully, he was not able to succeed completely, but he still was able to cause Jacob to limp. That is, Keli Yaqar continues, that he was able to blind Jacob’s spiritual sight a little bit.

Keli Yaqar interprets the end of this biblical passage along the same lines.

So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved. The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping on his hip. That is why the children of Israel do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Jacob’s hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle (Genesis 32:31-33).

As Keli Yaqar explains, “The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel…” means that only the sunshine of spiritual clarity, which entails the rejection of the corrupting love of money, was able to save Jacob from totally falling into the clutches of Samael. But he was wounded, and he limped on his thigh, representing the fact that he did sin by turning lightly in the direction of inordinate love of money, by returning to fetch the pakhim qetanim. Consequently, his descendants would not eat the gid ha-nasheh.

Keli Yaqar understood that Jacob realized his error and did not repeat actions that expressed an inordinate love of money. That is the meaning of the verse

Jacob arrived safe (shalem) in the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan-having come thus from Paddan-aram- and he encamped before the city (Genesis 33:18).

Hazal homiletically interpreted: Shalem be-Torato. In light of Keli Yaqar’s interpretation, this means, he no longer expressed the defective value of excessive love of money and objects of monetary value.

Elsewhere, in his comments at the beginning of Parashat Va-Yetze, where Jacob asks for bread to eat and clothing to wear (Genesis 28:20) Keli Yaqar quotes:

Keep lies and false words from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches, but provide me with my daily bread (Proverbs 30:8).

The vice of excessive love of money does not mean that one should starve to death. One can (and should) certainly pray for his daily bread. Rather, one must realize that one’s goals in life should be spiritual in nature. Jacob’s mistake in attempting to retrieve his pakhim qetanim was in temporarily losing sight of that ultimate goal. His tikkun, as demonstrated by his returning shalem to Shechem, was in reestablishing his correct priorities in life.