SAN DIEGO — In our Torah portion this week, VaYishlach, our Patriarch Jacob is wandering in the wilderness. He comes across a random man in the woods and they begin to wrestle. As unusual as this incident may be, it has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Some commentators believe that this random man may have been Jacob’s brother Esau attacking him. Others claim that Jacob was really wrestling with himself and his inner demons. Nevertheless, the text strongly suggests, and most commentators assert, that this man is an angel. That being the case, the YalKut Shimoni asks a seemingly important question: why? If Jacob is our Patriarch, God’s choice to inherit the covenant and be one of the founding fathers of Judaism, why would Jacob need to fight a divine being? The Yalkut Shimoni provides two complementary, albeit very different answers to that question.
The first answer is that God wanted to show the other nations of the world just how strong Jacob and, in turn, the Jewish people are. Jacob, who was referred to as a simple man, especially in comparison with his strong warrior brother Esau, was now strong enough to win a fight with a divine being. The other answer was that Jacob needed to prove to himself what he was capable of. As was the case with his brother and his uncle, Jacob has a reputation of running away from conflict, instead of facing it head on.
At the end of this altercation, Jacob is given a new name; Israel, meaning to struggle with God. Like Jacob, as the Yalkut Shimoni suggests, we are always struggling with perception, not just in terms of what other people think about us, but also with regards to what we think about ourselves. We often make choices, and take action to help alter that perception, and gain confidence in who we are, to assert ourselves as individuals and as a people. Being Jewish means constantly struggling with ourselves, with our relationship to the world around us, and with God. Sometimes we struggle without any clear resolution. It is my hope and prayer that we embrace that struggle instead of running away from it, that we use it to learn, and grow,
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Rabbi Joshua Dorsch is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted via joshua.dorsch@sdjewishworld.com
