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Did You Ever Wrestle With An Angel? - וישלח

Friday, 13 December, 2024 - 11:04 am

 

Did You Ever Wrestle With An Angel?


Did you ever wrestle with an angel?


Did you ever overpower an angel? 

 

The Jewish people received their collective name, Israel, because of the episode in this week's Torah portion, where our father Jacob had an all-night wrestling match with a mysterious person who turned out to be an angel. In the morning, Jacob would not let the angel go until the angel agreed to bless him and said: 


So he said to him, "What is your name?" and he said, "Jacob."

And he said, "No more will your name said to be 'Jacob', but rather 'Israel'; as you have become ruler with the divine and with men and you have prevailed" (32:28-29)


There are many interpretations of the meaning of the struggle and the blessing; the Rebbe offered an interpretation that makes this story relevant to each of us, descendants of Jacob, members of the people of Israel. 


The Rebbe taught that yes, each of us does indeed struggle with an angel, and each of us, by virtue of being a descendant of Israel, possesses the ability to overcome and overpower the angel. 


What angel are we referring to?


The Talmud teaches that before a child is born, an angel declares the destiny of that child: 


As Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa interpreted that verse in the following manner: That angel that is appointed over conception is called: Night. And that angel takes the drop of semen from which a person will be formed and presents it before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and says before Him: Master of the Universe, what will be of this drop? Will the person fashioned from it be mighty or weak? Will he be clever or stupid? Will he be wealthy or poor?


The conventional understanding is that the angel's declaration determines our destiny and that we cannot become wiser or more successful than the declaration of the angel, which then becomes embedded within our nature. Yet the truth is that the very name of our people, Israel, represents the ability to" become ruler" and "prevail" over the angel of G-d. Embedded within the Jew is the ability to overcome the restrictions imposed by the natural self and transcend the inborn limitations. 


A Jew may feel that he or she has reached their capacity, that they reached the point beyond which they cannot cross. The angel in our portion tells us otherwise. Yes, there are limitations imposed by the natural world and even the spiritual DNA conveyed to us by the angels. Yet, the children of Israel are undaunted by the limitations of our nature. We are not afraid to wrestle with the angel; until, ultimately, we overcome both man and angel.


Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Shabbat Yitro 5744


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