Timeless Torah

Jacob wrestled, but with whom? The text merely says, “a man.” The Sages identify him as the angel of Eisav. Though the passage resists easy interpretation, it holds the key to understanding Jewish identity. For it was then that Jacob acquired the name that his descendants would bear throughout eternity, “The children of Israel.”

Names in the Torah, especially a name given by G-d, are not mere labels. Jacob becoming Israel signals who we are; the people who struggled with G-d and with man. What does this mean? One way into the text is to reason backward. By studying the result, one might guess at the cause.

The events of the next day are astonishing. We had been prepared for a tense encounter with Eisav’s force of four hundred men. Jacob made elaborate preparations and adopted three tactics: diplomacy (he sent lavish gifts), prayer (“Save me, I pray...”) and readiness for war (dividing his household into two camps).
Yet when Eisav finally appeared, Jacob’s fears were proven unfounded. Eisav kissed him and wept. There was no animosity or threat of revenge in Eisav’s behavior (at least, in the plain sense of the narrative).

Far more consequential, was Jacob’s conduct when the brothers met. It was extraordinary. First, he “bowed down to the ground seven times.” He called Eisav, “my lord,” and referred to himself as Eisav’s “servant.” .
How are we to connect this show of subservience with the wrestling match of the previous night? Surely Jacob had won over his adversary. Even his new name implied triumph. After all, a man who has “wrestled with G-d” need not bow down to anyone. Thus, we would have expected Jacob to display confidence, not servility.

This is not all. When Eisav at first refused the gifts, Jacob replied, “Accept this gift...Please accept birchasi, (literally my blessing)...for G-d has been gracious to me and I have everything.”
Jacob’s use of the word blessing takes us back twenty years to another fateful moment in which Jacob, dressed up as Eisav, ‘steals’ his brother’s blessing of wealth.

The patriarchs were more than just founders of a new faith. They are our role models. Abraham’s refusal to worship the idols of his age came from his love of G-d. Isaac’s courage derived from his fear of G-d. Jacob’s commitment to Judaism is an extension of his search for truth. These three traits were inherited by all Jews. Indeed, it is only because we love and fear G-d and pursue truth, that we have survived history.

Jacob investigated not only the truth about G-d, but the truth about his own identity. In the first phase in Jacob’s life, he longed to be Eisav – more specifically, he desired to occupy Eisav’s place. He struggled with him in the womb. He was born holding on to his heel. He bought his birthright, dressed in his clothes, and took his blessing.

Why? Because Eisav was everything Jacob was not. He was the firstborn, a skilled hunter, “a man of the fields,” and most importantly, he had his father’s love.

It is not surprising that Jacob took Eisav’s blessing. But was it destined for him? Was not his true blessing the one he received later when Isaac knew he was blessing Jacob; the blessing that had nothing to do with wealth or power? And was it not true that to receive that blessing (the covenant of Abraham) Jacob did not have pretend to be Eisav. He just had to be himself.

Twenty years later, Jacob wrestled. It was a battle to discover, once and for all, who he was: a pretend Eisav, or a true Jacob. That night the unnamed stranger gave Jacob an unconventional blessing, not wealth, safety, or a life free of conflict, but a new name. But was it? Do not both names Jacob and Israel signify struggle. True, but the conflict has now changed.

It is as if the ‘man’ said, “In the past, you struggled to hold on to Eisav’s heel. In the future you will struggle to hold on to G-d. Now let go of the first, so that you can be free to hold on to the second.” The next day, Jacob did so. He let go by giving Eisav back his blessing.

This explains what Jacob did when he met Eisav. The herds he sent represented wealth; the bowing power. Jacob no longer wanted or needed these things. This was what he meant when he declared, “Please take birchasi, my blessing.” Still the passage ends, “And Jacob emerged complete.” That is the stunning truth. To be complete we do not need Eisav’s blessings.

Not by accident was this episode the birth of our identity as Israel. We have long wrestled with civilizations who worshipped wealth and power. Israel didn’t covet the wealth of ancient Greece or the power of Rome. Israel’s wealth is not physical but spiritual, and its power transcends all earthly powers.

Jews have often wished to be someone else, the Eisavs of the age. That is a feeling we must ultimately reject and wrestle with, as did Jacob, alone, at night, in the depths of our soul, and discover the blessing that is truly ours.