VaYishlach: To Wrestle and Not Let Go

This week, in Parashat VaYishlach, Jacob finally returns to the land of his parents and grandparents after many years away. However, a great threat also awaits him there: his estranged twin brother, Esau. Decades before in their youth Jacob had schemed with his mother to steal Esau’s inheritance. The last thing Jacob knew of Esau, when he fled his parent’s camp, was that Esau sought to take his life. 

Jacob was full of trepidation. He had no idea how his brother, who had created a large family and collected a retinue of loyal followers, would greet him upon his return. This led him to prepare for the worst: he split his camp so that, if Esau chose to attack, only part of Jacob’s family would be affected while the others could flee. After sending his family to a place in which Jacob hoped they would be safe, he found a solitary place in the desert and hoped to get some sleep before what promised to be a dramatic day. 

That night, Jacob was visited by an angel who engaged him in a great wrestling match. The two struggled, neither able to best the other, until dawn arrived. The angel then demanded that Jacob release him, but Jacob refused until the angel gave him a special blessing. The angel then blessed him with a change of name: he would no longer be known as Jacob, but as Israel because he had “striven with beings divine and human”. (Genesis 32:29) 

Jacob is blessed, in spite of the physical challenge and the injury he sustains in this struggle, because he refuses to give up. In Hebrew Jacob is said to ye’avek, which comes down into modern Hebrew to mean ‘wrestle’. He physically engages with the angel, he meets the challenge laid before him, and is unyielding in the struggle. 

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, wrote that this struggle, combined with a refusal to grow weary or give up, is the essence of what it means to be a Jew. We wrestle with God in prayer; we wrestle with moral dilemmas; we wrestle with injustice in the world; we wrestle with suffering. And even though this constant wrestling match is spiritually and physically exhausting - we still must choose to engage in it.

Struggling with, wrestling with, engaging with, being frustrated or disappointed by - these are all necessary steps on the way to receiving the incredible blessings that our tradition and its wisdom offers. And it begins by leaning in and embracing all that our tradition has to offer.  

Particularly in an era of instability and discomfort for our wider Jewish community, as Bret Stephens, the well-known New York Times columnist, put it: the answer is not to disengage, rather it is to be 10% more Jewish. This idea echoes an ancient Jewish teaching in the Mishna in which we are taught that “the day is short, and the work is much… it is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” 

Jacob, in this week's portion, reminds us that the greatest blessings come when we engage. When we lean into our great tradition, when we wrestle with it, when we wrap our arms around it wholeheartedly there are endless blessings that it has to offer us. May we be blessed this Shabbat and in all the Shabbatot to come with the courage to engage and the myriad blessings that come from it.  

Shabbat Shalom!