by rabbi michelle fisher
Vayishlach
Genesis 32:4-36:43
Obadiah 1:1-21
One of my childhood friends was a varsity wrestler. He always reflected that wrestling was more mental than physical. Our patriarch Jacob would likely have concurred. In Parashat Vayishlach,we read, “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn” (Gen. 32:25).
Twenty years earlier, Jacob had fled from his brother, Esau, who threatened to murder him. Now Jacob made all the preparations for a reunion with his brother, a guilt-ridden encounter with a twin sibling from whom he had stolen his father’s blessing. The night before their fateful reunion, Jacob was left alone by the banks of a river. There someone wrestled with him until the break of dawn. The man blessed Jacob and changed his name to Israel, and Jacob walked away with a limp.
So, with whom did Jacob wrestle? The Torah is vague here. It explicitly states that Jacob was left alone. So the most obvious answer is that Jacob wrestled with himself. Perhaps the wrestling was between his good and his evil inclinations. The evil inclination had caused Jacob either to hide himself or to flee whenever he confronted a difficulty. He hid his true identity from his father; he fled from his brother; he later fled from his father-in-law. The good inclination said that it was time to stand up and confront difficulty rather than hiding or fleeing. And so the good and the evil within Jacob argued.
Perhaps Jacob wrestled with an angel. According to the prophet Hosea, Jacob will be punished because “in the womb he took his brother by the heel, and by his strength he strove with a godlike being. He strove with an angel and prevailed” (Hosea 12:3-4).
Biblically, there was a belief in spiritual beings, messengers from God who interact with humans. Today mystics still speak of spiritual forces in the universe that confront humans at key moments. Perhaps it was an angel, or perhaps it was a demon. In the Rabbinic Midrash, the godlike being was actually Esau’s guardian angel. Before Jacob could confront Esau in this physical world, their spirits had to meet in the spiritual dimension.
Perhaps Jacob actually wrestled with God. After all, the Torah teaches that Jacob’s name was changed to Yisrael, which means “wrestles with God.” The entity who fought with Jacob said, “You have striven with God and man and have prevailed.” He refused to give his name, just as God does not give God’s holy name. Jacob named the place Peniel, which means “the face of God.” “I have seen God face to face and prevailed” (Gen. 32:31).
So did Jacob wrestle with himself, an angel or God? Ultimately, they all mean the same thing.
Jacob had a moment of confrontation. He walked away with a new name and a new mission in life. He also walked away with a pronounced limp, never to walk normally again.
We the Jewish people, who are also called Israel, wrestle with God.” We are a people who never passively accept God’s world as is. We strive to envision God’s world as it should be. Wrestling with God is a metaphor for the Jewish mission in the world.
We all face moments in our lives that change us forever. We confront our true self, the good and the evil inclinations battling within us. We confront our guardian angel, or perhaps our demons within us. We confront God, and we wrestle with questions: Who are we? What are the names we are making for ourselves? What does God really want from us?
We walk away recharged and refreshed, with a new mission and a better outlook. We also walk away damaged, injured by such a life changing confrontation.
The scene of Jacob wrestling with an angel is so powerful because it reflects a universal truth. We all have moments that change us forever. Like Jacob, we all need that moment alone to confront our demons and our past.
If we are fortunate, we will walk away renewed, having seen God face to face, and ready to do God’s will in the world. Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi Michelle Fisher is the spiritual leader of the Congregation B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek.
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