A strange mixture of the metaphysical and the corporal greets us at the end of the second portion of this week's parshah. Having crossed over the Yabbok River with his family, Jacob returns to recover some small articles that he had left on the other side of the river, when he encounters an angel. Not any angel, but the archangel of Esau, the spiritual nemesis of the Jewish people. The precursor of coliseums, crusades, Czars, concentration camps and thousands of years of anti-Semitism.

The Midrash tells us that Jacob's struggle with the angel has a profound effect to this very day. His struggle symbolised the challenges that Jews would face throughout exile. We are told that the dust that was raised by their feet as they struggled rose until the Supernal Throne of Glory. Jacob won the struggle, and demanded a blessing from the angel, symbolising that at the end of this dark and cruel galut (exile), we too will finally win through with our heads held up high. The victory was at a price though - the angel touched Jacob's thigh and tore a sinew out of place, an act we are told, that gave space for the slaughter of countless of righteous people over the bitter centuries of galut.

It is only fitting to commemorate such a momentous struggle with a mitzvah. Being that it was a spiritual war, fought and won with complete selflessness, we would expect it to be venerated by a spiritual commandment. Yet this is not the case. The resultant mitzvah of gid hanasheh - not eating the sciatic nerve with its accompanying nerves and sinews - is an extremely corporal mitzvah. Jacob's thigh is being paid tribute to on our kitchen tables and in kosher butcher shops around the world. Ever wondered why you cannot buy a kosher rump steak? Blame Esau's angel.

It seems incomprehensible that such an action should have such an effect. And yet that is Kosher. Kosher eating is not healthy, organic or ethical - although if it can be all those, all the better. Kosher is G-d commanded, and G-d decided. It is no more ludicrous to need two sets of dishes than it is to abstain from a rump steak because of an angelic encounter three and a half thousand years ago. The first kosher commandment in the Torah is so obscure to remind us of precisely that.

Kosher awareness is something we can all improve in. Whether it means looking more carefully at what kosher supervision we rely on, 'going kosher' or anything in-between, there is room for us all to grow.

The struggle between the forces of Yaakov and Esau, of light and darkness, started with kosher, let us be more scrupulous in our kosher to end all the darkness once and for all.