Parshat Vayishlach; Genesis 32:4-33:17 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
In this week’s portion the patriarch Jacob becomes Israel. There are two versions of the way this name change happens presented in this week Torah portion. Early in the portion, Jacob wrestles with an angel of God on the night before he will meet up again with his brother Esau. Jacob is not really looking forward to this meeting. The last time the brothers were together, Jacob had deceived their father and received the blessing meant for Esau. Esau was enraged. Jacob fled to his mother’s family in Haran to escape his brother’s wrath. And now many years later as Jacob and his own family return to Canaan, the land of his father and grandfather, he must reconcile with his brother and in the process wrestles with God. Jacob prevails over the angel of God and the blessing of the angel contains a changed name for him. That name is Israel.
Later in the parasha, God appears to Jacob and tells him to return to Beth-El. This is a place Jacob knows. He has been there before. It was at Beth-El or Luz that Jacob had his dream of a ladder reaching heavenward. It was at Beth El that Jacob entered a special relationship with the Holy One on his own terms not just those of his father, Isaac and grandfather, Abraham And now in Parshat Vayishlach, Jacob returns there, builds an altar to God and rids his household of any alien god and goddesses that are in their possession, that they brought back from Haran. This reformation is a rededication of his entire household to YHVH. Thus God appears to Jacob and blesses him and in this version, changes his name to Israel. (35:9-10).
Both of these version of the story of how Jacob became Israel involves deepening and developing his relationship with the Eternal. The first story, involves deepening his personal relationship with God. As he is about to reconcile with his family, he must face his past. It is a past that involved deception and lies. His wrestling with the angel can be understood as his own wrestling with his moral compass now that he has matured and is responsible as a father and spouse for his entire household. To face his future, across the River Jabbok, and to face his brother, Esau whom he hurt so long ago, Jacob must face his fears, his actions and align himself with a Divine and Holy Energy. He succeeds in his struggle even as he is wounded in the struggle. But the blessing comes from this Divine Wrestler in the form of a name change. He has come full circle in many ways; he is about to meet up again with his brother in the land he came from but he does so with God an integral part of his being.
In the second version of the story, Jacob comes full circle back to the place his journey began, Beth –El. It was here that Jacob began his own relationship with God and built a first altar there after his amazingly vivid dream. Now God calls to him to return to that very spot. Jacob does so and reaffirms his relationship with God, not just for himself but dedicates his whole household to this God. Jacob recognizes that God has been with him just as God had promised at the beginning of his journey. Now at a later stage in his life, he is aware of his many blessings. Jacob makes sure that any foreign gods/goddesses in the form of idols are buried and out of his house. Thus Jacob the patriarch becomes Israel through God’s blessing.
It is at this moment that the covenantal promise to Jacob is extended from just personal protection to his descendants. The promise once made to Abraham, is in many ways repeated to Jacob/Israel. “A nation, yea an assembly of nations Shall descend from you. Kings shall issue from your loins. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I give to you and to your offspring to come will I give the land.” (Gen 35:11-12). Thus in this name change from Jacob to Israel we see now how Jacob is representative of something much more than his own generation. The use of the name Israel transforms Jacob from individual tribal head to the father of a nation.
The themes present in Jacob’s name change are the themes of reconciliation and faith and the intersection of those two components are powerful opportunities for Jacob to not only transform his own life but those of his family and ultimately, on a more global realm to that of an entire people who will descend from his sons!
We ought to see that in our own lives, by asking for forgiveness, by seeking to reconcile with those we have harmed and by living a life that not only wrestles with faith but prevails—we too can effect a positive change in our own lives but perhaps if more of us sought to bring reconciliation and healing to the relationships that we have damaged—the world would feel the reverberations as well!
Posted by Aaron at November 21, 2007 10:16 AM
