Transformation through Struggling

When we first met Jacob weeks ago, he was tugging at his brother’s heel, signaling that he was struggling to replace his twin as the first-born.  When we saw him as a young man, he appeared to be a manipulating deceiver.  With the help of his mother, he carried out a plan that was devised to trick his father into bestowing the birthright blessing upon him rather than upon Esav.  Jacob, known to us as Yaakov, was hardly the kind of individual that one would want to claim as a founder of one’s nation.  But in this week’s, parasha, we see a new side of Jacob.  Upon his journey to Canaan, he realized that he would have to face his brother.  Fearing the reaction he would get, he separated his children and wives into two camps, thinking that “if Esau were to come to the one camp and strike it down, then the remaining camp would survive.”  Jacob also sent his herdsman ahead with droves of flocks to offer as a tribute to his brother with the hopes that he would forgive him.  He used a strange phrase when sending them out on their mission.  “And you shall say, ‘Moreover- behold your servant Jacob is behind us.’”

At this point in the story, it is hard not to think that Jacob is posturing once again for his own benefit; that his gifts are merely an appeasement for the wrongs he has committed.  But then the story takes a dramatic shift.  Jacob alone on the far side of the river bank, wrestles with an unknown man until the break of dawn and prevails. In the course of the struggle, however, Jacob’s hip socket was injured, but Jacob did not give up his hold on the stranger until the man blessed him.  The man asks Jacob’s name and upon getting a response, he replied, “No longer will it be said that your name is Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with the Divine and with man and have overcome.” Then he blessed Jacob before departing.

This event transformed Jacob even though we cannot be sure with whom he fought.  Did he fight with a person or an angel or merely with his own inclinations?  Although the commentators have many suggestions, the one thing we can determine from this passage is that Jacob’s identity changed.  He was not afraid to meet the challenge, to continue to hold on even though he was injured.  He displayed a tenacity not based on self-aggrandizement, but definitely accompanied by humility.  It is only after his encounter with the divine that he is able to face his brother, and apologize for his former behaviors.    Yisrael becomes an example that change can occur on a very deep level.

Although this story is very familiar, I am left with many thoughts about what it means.  First, Judaism believes that individuals are capable of change.  We are not stagnant.  We can evaluate our past actions, take on a new path for ourselves, and remake ourselves so to speak.  Second, it is no surprise that it takes tenacity to hold onto Judaism and a life of Torah.  The very ancestor after whom we have been named, Yisrael, refused to let go even when he was injured in the wrestling match.  We have been injured time and time again, by various conquering empires who have tried to insist that we give up our adherence to the way of life promoted in Torah.  Yet we have known over the centuries that it is Torah that gives us life.  When we assimilate totally into the cultures that surround us, we do so by letting go of the values, customs, and traditions that have bound us together as a people for generations.  Third, it takes humility to face another individual and make amends for any wrong doings that have occurred.  When Yisrael finally met his brother Esav and made amends, Yisrael declared, “seeing your face is like seeing the face of a divine being.”  In other words, as Dara Horn, a Jewish educator wrote, “We see G-d by facing people we’ve wronged, looking into their faces and knowing that we too can change.”  Fourth, we are descendants of an individual whose name means to wrestle with G-d.  Judaism believes that struggling with G-d concepts is to be expected.  It is not a sign of not believing or of rejecting G-d in one’s life.  It is a sign of taking our relationship with G-d seriously.  And finally, perhaps this story can be taken as a sign that at times we have to “stand up and fight and there are times that we attempt appeasement. There are also times when we struggle and remain limping.”  (Menachem Leibtag).  But like Yisrael, we need to remain focused on our goal and resolve to hold onto it until it finally occurs.  What is that goal?  For a world that recognizes that there is one G-d who created us all and for all people to act in a way that acknowledges that connectivity.