Parashat HaShavua - Vayishlach
Family reunions can sometimes be tricky, and in this week's Torah portion, there is a family reunion like no other. After spending 22 long years in Lavan’s house, Esau and Jacob are about to see each other for the first time since Jacob’s famous trickery and stealing of Esau’s birthright blessing. The Torah tells us that Jacob sends messengers to his brother Esau and receives word that Esau is on his way to meet him with 400 men. Jacob, thinking the worst is about to unfold, divides up his entire family into two, so that at least one may survive. He preemptively sends Esau gifts and he prays. Jacob takes every precaution one could take. But the night before the reunion, we are surprisingly told of a mysterious encounter between Jacob and an “Ish,” an unnamed man.
(25) Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. (26) He saw that he could not prevail over him and he touched his thigh joint, and Jacob’s thigh joint was dislocated when he wrestled with him. (27) He said, "Please, send me forth, because dawn has broken." He said, "I will not send you forth unless you bless me." (28) He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Yaakov". (29) He said, "Your name will no longer be called Yaakov, but rather Israel, because you have wrestled (sarita) with God and with men and have prevailed." (30) Jacob asked and said, "Please, tell me your name." He said, "Why ask regarding my name?" And he blessed him there. (31) Jacob named the place Peniel, "because I saw God face to face and my life was saved."
Questions abound. Why is Jacob being attacked? Once victorious, why does Jacob demand a blessing? Why is Jacob’s name changed? And why does he want to know the name of the “Ish”?
Commentators have spilled much ink over these questions but I’d like to focus on the final words of this mysterious encounter: “Jacob named the place Peniel, "because I saw God face to face and my life was saved."
After his all night wrestling match, Jacob reveals the identity of his opponent: God. Finally, we learn that this wasn’t an ordinary wrestling match between two people, rather it was a divine encounter, an encounter that not only left him with an injury, but ultimately transformed his name and his family’s subsequent identity. But why did Jacob need a divine encounter at this moment in this specific way? Why did he need to come face to face with God before he could come face to face with Esau?
The Rashbam, an 11th century French biblical commentator, suggests that Jacob, even with taking all the necessary precautions, actually had a last minute change of heart and tried to run away in the middle of the night, and this is why God confronted him, to stop him in his tracks to make sure he faced Esau the next day.
At this point in Jacob’s life, God might be teaching him two powerful lessons. The first is that he can’t run away from his greatest vulnerability, in this case the fear of his brother. And the second is that before he does confront his brother, he needs to know who he really is. A divine encounter was necessary to show Jacob who he’s been all along, not an impersonator, but a wrestler, and a good one at that. I believe that Jacob’s name change wasn’t so much of an identity transformation, but rather an identity revelation. He wrestled with God, and was victorious, all on his own. Jacob could now see himself for who he truly was. Only after having finally embraced himself is Jacob fully ready to embrace his brother.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Jonathan Klatt
High School Jewish and Student Life Associate Head