The Mystery of the Gid Hanasheh

Parshat Vayishlach 5767
Genesis 32:4 - 36:43

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It is the night before Jacob’s fateful encounter with his brother, Esau. Having divided his family into two camps and having sent gifts to his brother, Jacob now awaits the most important meeting of his life. He knows that he cannot face himself or his future without confronting the man whose birthright he bought and whose blessing he managed to gain through a ruse. During a fitful night Jacob wrestles with a “man.” Just before dawn Jacob pins him down as the angelic visitor begs to be set free. Jacob agrees to do so only if he receives a blessing in return. The man/angel says: “Your name shall no longer be Jacob but Israel for you have striven with beings divine and human and have prevailed.” In the course of wrestling, the visitor grabs Jacob’s thigh and injures him. As the sun rises and Jacob goes off to his meeting he is limping but victorious. The Torah tells that this injury is the reason that we do not consume the Gid Hanasheh, the sciatic nerve in the hind quarter of animals.

Sefer HaChinuch Mitzvah # 3 (13th century Spain)
…the injunction “They shall not eat” is not stated as part of the story, that is, to tell us what happened to our forefather that prevents the children from eating the sciatic nerve. Rather it is a prohibition from God that we should not eat it. The reasons for the commandment: in order to serve as an allusion to Israel that even though we experienced many tribulations and suffering in exile from the nations and from the children of Esau, we can know with certainty that we will not be destroyed and that God will come to redeem us from any enemy. And we are reminded of this through this commandment Israel will remain firm in their faith and in their righteousness forever. For the angel which wrestled with our forefather was the guardian angel of Esau; he wanted to uproot Jacob from the world, both him and his offspring to come. He was not able to do so but he managed to cause him pain by grabbing his thigh. Thus the seed of Esau attempts to cause suffering to the seed of Jacob but in the end there will be salvation from them just as Jacob rose up with the dawn and was healed and was healed from pain. So too when the sunrise of the coming of the Messiah takes place we will be healed form our pain and redeemed speedily in our days.

Mishnah Hullin 7:1
The Gid Hanasheh is obligatory both in the land of Israel and outside the land of Israel, during the time of the Temple and when the Temple does not exist, for hullin (food, that is food not consecrated as a sacrificial offering) and for consecrated food. It applies to domesticated and undomesticated animals, to the right and the left thigh. It does not apply to birds since they have no hollow (Gid) …Butchers are not trustworthy concerning the Gid Hanasheh. So says Rabbi Meir. But the Sages say, “They are trustworthy concerning it and the helev fat.” (That is, they are trustworthy if they say they removed it
while Rabbi Meir says they cannot be trusted.)

Rabbi Allan Kensky, JTS Chancellors Parshah  Commentary, December, 1998
I see something different at work in the prohibition against eating the Gid Hanasheh. As a people we are commanded to remember our wounds. In recalling our history, we are enjoined not only to recount the miracle of our survival, but to remember the losses along the way. This teaching is presented here because it is in this portion that we are named Israel. Our survival, then as now, has come at a price. As we have marched through history, overcoming enemy after enemy, we have experienced great losses, and they are etched on our very side. Though we, Israel, have prevailed against those who have sought to destroy us, we, as our ancestor Jacob, have been wounded after each attempt to eradicate us. On another level I see the Gid Hanasheh as representing the wounded nature of Jacob. Clearly far from perfect, Jacob, as the other patriarchs, is a flawed hero. His physical wound gives concrete expression to his human frailties, which have been clearly evident in his life struggles. Acknowledging his frailties, Jacob can move on, and can be the father of his nation….The Gid Hanasheh speaks to all of us who are wounded, who carry scars and pains from the past. It reminds us that we can overcome these wounds and, as our ancestor Jacob did, march to a better tomorrow.

Rabbi Isaac Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practices
The Biblical prohibition of the Gid Hanasheh or the sciatic nerve (Gen. 32:33) applies to cattle sheep and beasts but not to fowl (Yoreh Deah 65:5). The removal of the sciatic nerve from the hindquarters is very difficult, requiring the skill of an expert porger. Since the average butcher does not have sufficient skill, it has become the custom in Jewish communities not to use the hindquarters at all, but to sell them to non Jews, thus making it unnecessary to porge these parts of the animal. This is important because much of the forbidden fat is found in the hindquarters including the fat on the flanks and loins.(Y.D. 64)  Among our Oriental brethren, the hindquarters have always been porged and used…today in Israel the question has come up in full force. Because of the general shortage of meat and because the disposal of the hindquarters to non-Jewish trade is not as feasible in Israel as is it was in the European Communities, it has become the practice to have the hindquarters porged by experts licensed to do so…. 
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Copyright 2006 Rabbi Mark B Greenspan