December 1st, 2017 13 Kislev, 5778 Were often referred to as Bnai Yisrael, the Children of Israel. We are called that because, of course, we are the people Israel and so all of us are children within that people. But that name more specifically co
December 1st, 2017 13 Kislev, 5778
We’re often referred to as B’nai Yisrael, the Children of Israel. We are called that because, of course, we are the people Israel and so all of us are children within that people. But that name more specifically comes from us all being descendents of Jacob’s sons, who comprised the 12 tribes. Why aren’t we more commonly called, then, the Children of Jacob? That’s because in this week’s parashah, Vayishlach, Jacob’s name is changed to Yisrael. It’s this week where we get the name Yisrael.
While on his own on the side of a river, Jacob wrestles with a mysterious man in the middle of the night. Commentators tell us this was an angel, some type of Divine being. Jacob demands being blessed before dawn, and before blessing him, the anonymous wrestling opponent says the following:
לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ--כִּי, אִם-יִשְׂרָאֵל: כִּי-שָׂרִיתָ עִם-אֱלֹהִים וְעִם-אֲנָשִׁים, וַתּוּכָל. Your name will no longer be Ya’akov, but rather Yisrael, because you struggled with God and with men, and you became able. (Bereshit 32:29)
The word sarita in Hebrew, meaning “you struggled” is part of the name Yisrael, which literally means One Who Struggles With God. It is a name that honors the struggle that Jacob went through and will continue to go through with God, but it also honors the struggles that each of us, as Children of Israel, continue to have. Our identity as strugglers, as question-askers, is embedded within the very fabric of our name, Yisrael. Perhaps we can say that to live up to our name as Yisrael is to engage in that very struggle. We are invited to question, and it is through that struggle that we become stronger, and like Jacob, become able.
Many of us might think we’re not supposed to question things or struggle with elements of our tradition, especially God. I hope that we can be a community that lives up to our name as Israelites, a community where we support each others struggles and where we give voice to the questions inside each of us.
