"Maybe you will fool God"
Rat can't fool God. We're rasslin' partners.My Hebrew middle name is Yisroel, he who wrestles with God. He can tell when I let him win.
Jacob and our wrestling match with God
The Torah is full of stories of bloodshed and warfare. But only one of our forefathers engaged in hand-to-hand combat: Jacob, who wrestled with an angel and went on to start a nation. Since then, wrestling with God has been at the core of Jewish identity. The wrestling can take different forms, from struggling to understand the Holocaust to arguing over the meaning of a sacred text. Jacob was the third patriarch, grandson of Abraham the journeyer and son of Isaac the would-be sacrifice. He began his career as a wily trickster, strategically obtaining for himself his brother's birthright, after following his mother's orders in deceiving his blind old father Isaac. His name itself meant heel or crooked. But touched – and partially crippled – by an angel, he emerges as the archetypal Jewish ancestor. Even flawed, he continues on to face and wrestle with God and man. Jacob, more than any other figure, represents the character of our people.
| | First Person | Part of taking responsibility for our relationship with God is being willing to learn, willing to change, willing to work, willing to argue, and willing to love. –Ricki H. I think people are generally embarrassed about defining and expressing their feelings about God. They're afraid of sounding like fanatics. –Nechama M.
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| Like his grandfather before him, Jacob received a new name from God, symbolizing a transformation. "No more shall you be called Jacob, but Israel, " declared the angel, "for you have wrestled with God and with men, and have prevailed." Among the understandings of the name Israel are:One who wrestles with God.
One who is straight (direct, honest) with God.
This quality of confrontation and engagement with God, as opposed to pure submission, remains a distinguishing characteristic of Judaism.
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mishpacha.org |
