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Our Daily Struggles
Make Us Better People

Shabbat Vayishlach: Genesis 32:4-36:43;
Hosea 11:17-12:12.

RABBI IRWIN GRONER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

n this week's Torah reading,
Jacob leaves his uncle Laban's
house to meet his brother Esau,
who had previously vowed to
kill him. Along the way, "Jacob
was left alone and a man wrestled
with him until the break of dawn.
When he saw that he had not pre-
vailed against him, he wrenched
Jacob's hip at its socket ... then he
said, 'Let me go for dawn is break-
ing.' But he answered, 'I will not
let you go unless you bless me.'
Said the other, 'What is your
name?' He replied, 'Jacob.' Said
he, 'Your name shall no longer be
Jacob, but Israel, for you have
strived with beings divine and hu-
man and have prevailed.' Jacob
asked,'Pray, tell me your name.'
But he said,'You must not ask my
name.' And he blessed him there."
(Genesis 32:25-31)
The big mystery: Who fought
Jacob?
The Midrash and the leading
commentator of the Middle Ages,
Rashi, say that Jacob was battling
with the spirit of Esau. Thus, Ja-
cob experienced the entire strug-
gle throughout Jewish history
between the Jew and his enemies,
with Jacob representing the Jew-
ish people and Esau representing
the hostile nations who vowed to
destroy us. Although they strug-
gle the whole long night of the bit-
ter exile and Jacob is maimed,
ultimately with daybreak, repre-
senting redemption, he emerges
victorious.
Modern Jewish commentaries,
however, emphasizing "Jacob was
left alone," believe that the whole
episode was an internal struggle.
Jacob was fighting the spirit of
Esau within himself. Esau, who
gave up his birthright for a mess
of pottage, was a creature of im-
pulse who required immediate
gratification. His desires must be
satisfied now, his best appeased
immediately. Jacob understood
that one must sacrifice the pre-
sent to achieve the fulfillment of
the future.
Yet Jacob, like all men, was the
child of two worlds: earth and
heaven. He could be party to a cru-
el hoax played on his father and
brother, he fought Laban's treach-
ery with crafty schemes of his own;
at times, he became weary of sac-
rifice, dedication and delayed grat-
ification.
But, on the other hand, Jacob
was capable of great moral

Irwin Groner is rabbi of

Congregation Shaarey Zedek.

Rabbi Groner

growth, of profound spiritual
achievement, for he had visions of
a God whose word he would pre-
serve and whose truths he would
transmit to his descendants.
There resides within every Ja-
cob a little bit of Esau. Jacob
knows that he is going to meet his
brother the following day. He
struggles all night with the possi-
bility of joining forces with Esau,
of giving up the struggle of estab-
lishing a separate identity and
forming an independent theology
and lifestyle. By naming us Israel
(one who struggles), the Torah
teaches us that we will always
have to struggle with our unwor-
thy appetites and base desires.
Therefore, the moment of vic-
tory is not in Jacob's subduing the
mysterious adversary. It is
achieved in the bestowing of the
blessing which constitutes the vic-
tory over darkness and fear. And
what is the blessing? A change of
name which is nothing less than
a change of essence, of personali-
ty. Jacob emerges transformed as
a man, and that transformation is
the essential lesson of the story.
This lesson bears renewed em-
phasis in our day. Modern man
has conquered nature, but cannot
evade the challenge of chow do I
deal with my selfhood?" The lives
of many people can be described
as running away from self-con-
frontation, the confrontation that
Jacob underwent on that fateful
night which enabled him to
achieve a new awareness of his
identity. A noted psychiatrist once
said, "Our problem is not primar-
ily to fit a man to face his envi-
ronment, but to fit a man to face
himself."
Each of us needs to discover in
experiences of self-encounter those
truths that will enable us — as
they enable our forefather Ja-
cob/Israel — to move forward on
the journey of life victorious, un-
afraid and bearing divine bless-
ings. ❑

Cf.

