Spirituality Send a Chanukah Gift to Israel. Malli N SCfte Wi/Z SUPPORTS ISRAEL'S RED CROSS. DAV10 An: . k ARNIE) I 17. "Vever AMERICAN REo AiAtikAiDatno OR onAEL www.armdi.org I I MANUFACTURER'S COUPON BUY 2 /SAVE 754 On Any Manischewitz Egg Noodle Product EGG NC.)0DI.F.5 302 1 5 III 72700 04132 INNI mew 1m American Red Magen David for Israel is the exclusive authorized fundraising organization in the U.S. for Magen David Adorn, Israel's National Emergency Medical, Ambulance, Blood and Disaster Service, equivalent to the Red Cross. I I EXPIRES 01 /31 /03 I BUY 2 /SAVE 754 I On Any Manischewitz I I . Raafe The a Manecte. Careen, LLC eel eirrtuse youIce to face maim of tie capon des 8t proidad you and Ma oceaumee h. I terrei eel nee to deer errs. C.... peep./ fedeerned eel to Kid Oro heii Rep odue. of lie coupon expeenly prohteed. (ANY OTHER USE • CONSTMRES FRAUD.) JAM Re a ...me Coffee, LW, OAS I Dept 117271:0, f Fames DOA, Del Re TX 788.0. Ca. wee VICO of a cent LINT ONE COUPON I PER PRODUCT PUROMSED. COUPON 0000 ONLY IN USA 9 MANUFACTURER'S COUPON Potato Pancake or Latke Mix ea 1 1 1 1 1 11 I 3021 I I 05832 7 . Now ■ 5 I ow 72700 ■ ow ilm am = www.manischewitz.com 11/22 2002 62 causes us great pain. For anyone who seriously engages in a faith- journey — a search for God, a meaningful understanding of what the "Covenant" is all about — the language of these verses strikes home. n last week's Torah reading, Jacob and the man fight to a Jacob flees the anger of his draw: Neither can win; neither father and brother to find loses. Upon their mutual release, the safety with his mother's fami- man announces that Jacob will no ly. This week, we find Jacob return- longer be called by that ing to his homeland a name, but by Yisrael, changed man. meaning "one who strug- He has learned much gled with God." The from his dealings with his change announces that father-in-law, Laban; now, Jacob is a new person, and he is about to meet his his relationship with the brother, Esau, as he passes Divine has changed signif-, over the river-border on his icantly. way home., But this transforming It is night; Jacob takes wrestling, with its reward, his family across the river RAB BI JOSEPH is not without its cost; for and then re-crosses alone. KLEIN Jacob-Israel now limps. Then, Genesis 32:25 seems Having encountered God Spe vial to the to be a paradox. The text "face to face," Jacob learns Jew ish News reads: "Jacob was left all a painful lesson in humili- alone and a man wrestled ty and about relationships. with him until dawn." In our Jewish tradition, when If he was "all alone" where did God "speaks to us," the message this "man" come from? The text car- prompts a struggle to understand, a ries us from the first statement that wrestling with ideas and values. If there was no one around directly God within us is something like into the second: that someone was what we call "conscience," then are there! So who is he? not all of us Jacob-becoming-Israel If the text seems to be problemat- — locked together, "me with me," ic, the context explains: The looking for release before the dawn? Hebrew reads with remarkably simi- And when we are able to release lar words. Jacob (Ya-akov) comes to ourselves, we are better for the the Jabok (Ya-vok) crossing, and struggle, but also somewhat the there he wrestles (yeh-avek) with worse for wear. someone. Ya-akov at the Ya-vok, yeh- Our people has taken the name aveks! of the transformed Jacob for our I would suggest that this coinci- communal own. May each of us dence of similar sounding words is within Israel continue the struggle not accidental. The place in the of the first Israel, growing and river, the crossing called Jabok, is maturing as did Jacob our father. ❑ really the name Jacob turned inside out. The verb "wrestling" yeh-avek is itself an inside-out Ya-akov — Jacob. Could the "man" be an inside-out Jacob as well? Jacob names the place of the Is it possible that he is struggling wrestling Penu-el, the "face of with himself? Whoever this man is, God." In what sense does each of he says that Jacob has struggled with us wrestle to find God's face? God and with men and has pre- Jacob limps away from the pre- vailed. Might it be that he has dawn encounter. In what sense struggled with what "connects God does our struggle to find God or with men," the relationship between faith become sometimes a the Divine and the human? painful experience? In what ways That struggle is one in which all is our struggle to find God in the of us engage. At times, the conflict darkness of fear or anxiety mir- rored in Genesis 32? Joseph Klein is rabbi of Temple Shabbat Vayislach: Genesis 32:4 - 36:43; Hosea 11:7-12:12. Conversations raeriuse you for ea laps valet et ea oeep. P. at hence% preiled you and ea con.ner have mcg veltl tv oder ems. Co.re not pop./ eedeenad be vcid . Ned %pole. U SE cap. ef,seely p.a. (ANY 0711. USE CONSTITUTES FRAUD) Mai so: The a Me... Comp, ' . LW. CMS Dept e72701 I P.M INve. Dal Rim TX Ma Ca. wee IA D) of a as LLMIT ONE COUPON PER PRODUCT PURCHASED. COUPON GOOD ONLY el USA Transforming Jacob Into Israel: Wrestling With God, Conscience I Manischewitr, always a part of your holiday table,wants this Chanukah to be really special. So for each coupon below that you redeem, Manischewitz' will make a contribution to ISRAEL'S RED CROSS... AMERICAN RED MAGEN DAVID FOR ISRAEL. There's no better gift to give for Chanukah. Manischewitz' and you make it happen. EXPIRES 01/31/03 Torah Portion COMMITTED TO SAVING LIVES IN ISRAEL. Emanu-El.