“Vayishlach Ya’akov.” [The Merchant’s Prayer.] Biblical verses recited by traveling merchants as a prayer for safekeeping over the week’s sojourn.

Since the sixteenth century, trade was a major economic driving factor for the Jewish population of Eastern Europe. Barred from most professions and buoyed by a shared language and social network that stretched across borders, Jews were uniquely poised to fill this economic role. Many impoverished Jews found themselves peddling their wares from town to town all week long, returning home only for the Sabbath. At the Sabbath’s conclusion, they again set out for another week of traveling. Some peddlers developed the custom, as they were rising to again leave their homes for the week, to recite these verses describing Jacob’s preparations before meeting with his vengeful brother Esau. This includes Jacob’s short prayer, “Save me please from the hand of my brother, from Esau, for I am fearful of him, lest he smite me… and You have said ‘I will do good with you and increase your children like the sand of the sea’” (Gen. 32:12-13). Surely, these verses resonated deeply with the impoverished peddlers, who set out to wander through uncertain territory and faced crushing economic hardship. This brief prayer served to connect their own challenges and doubts with those of their ancient ancestor Jacob, as tradition says, ‘The Actions of the Forefathers are a Sign for the Children,’ especially as Esau came to be associated with Christendom in medieval Jewish thought. The tradition has roots that are quite old, see Genesis Rabbah 78:15. See also the commentary of the Be’er Heitev on the Shulchan Aruch, section 299.14.