December 1, 2012

Vayishlach, Genesis 32:4–36:43 

A Wrestling Match for the Ages

Bruce Kadden “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to rumble!

“In this corner, returning after a long absence in Haran, where he is rumored to have fathered eleven sons and one daughter with four different women, considered by some a saint and by others a heel, is the one, the only, Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebekah.

“And in the other corner, the most mysterious being ever to set foot in a wrestling ring: Is he a man? An angel? God? Nobody knows.”

That is how the unusual encounter that highlights the beginning of this week’s Torah portion might be described if it were to take place today (before a live, pay-per-view audience, of course). If there was ever a match for the ages, an encounter that transformed not only each participant, but also an entire people, it was the experience that Jacob had when he was left alone after crossing a ford of the Jabbok River. Jacob would not be the same, his opponent would not be the same, and we, the Jewish people, would not be the same.

And yet, for all its profound significance, it is a story characterized by ambiguity and confusion. The text first says that “a man” wrestled with Jacob until dawn (Genesis 32:25), but it quickly becomes clear that it is no ordinary human being. When Jacob asks his name, he becomes indignant: “Why do you ask my name?” he says before leaving. Jacob then names the place Peni’el—“for I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life has been spared” (32:31).

Compounding the confusion surrounding Jacob’s opponent, is the fact that the text uses so many pronouns—he/him—that the reader is not always sure who is who: “Now Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the rise of dawn. When [he] saw that he could not overcome him, he struck his hip-socket, so that Jacob’s hip-socket was wrenched as [he] wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go; dawn is breaking!’ But [he] said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me!’ The other said to him, ‘What is your name?’ and he said: ‘Jacob.’ [He said,] ‘No more shall you be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with human beings, and you have prevailed’” (32:25–29).

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