December 13th: Vayishlach
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
This week, we read the story of our name—Yisra’el / Israel.
After twenty-one years, Jacob is returning home from Padan Aram (Syria) and bringing with him his two wives, two concubines, eleven sons, one daughter, and a whole retinue of servants and employees. Afraid of a violent encounter with his brother Esau—who scouts report was “coming himself to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him” (Genesis 32.7-8), Jacob prays for God’s protection and deploys his tribe into two sections. Then he retreats back across the Jabbok stream. Here is where the story gets curious:
“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.
Then he said, ‘Let me go, for dawn is breaking.’
But he answered, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’
Said the other, ‘What is your name?’
He replied, ‘Jacob.’
Said he, ‘Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.’
Jacob asked, ‘Pray tell me your name.’
But he said, ‘You must not ask my name!’
And he took leave of him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, ‘I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.’” (Genesis 32.25-31)
There are many questions to ponder, but, for now, consider this tripartite lesson:
We Jews who are called “The Children of Israel” should always remember how we got the name. It was the name given to our grandfather Jacob—Jacob who wrestled the angel, Jacob who would not let go. “Israel” they called him for he was a wrestler. “Israel” they call us for we are wrestlers, too. We wrestle with God as we search for wisdom. We wrestle with people as we struggle for justice. And, we wrestle with ourselves as we make ourselves better and more holy. Yes, we Jews are the Children of Israel, the children and grandchildren of a man who wrestled an angel.