Vayishlach
Can we remember points of light?
Reflection by Or HaLev teacher Dafna Arnoni:
"In this week’s parsha, Jacob sets out on a new road with his family, back to the Land of Israel, and is filled with fear when he hears that his brother Esau is marching up to meet him with hundreds of people. Jacob prays to God:
'קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת שעשית את עבדך. . . הצילני נא . . . ואתה אמרת היטב עמך ושמתי את-זרעך כחל הים' (בראשית לב:יא)
`I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and truth that you have shown to your servant . . . please save me . . . Yet, you have said, I will deal bountifully with you and make your offspring as the sands of the sea` (Genesis 32:11-12).
Jacob turns to God in prayer and supplication: Who am I, so small? What am I without you? He thanks God for what he has and reveals to God all his fear and pain. He then reminds God of the promise God had made to him, thus reminding himself that he is not alone. God is with him here, too. In the midst of fear and darkness, he draws threads of light from another reality, a reality in which he feels safe and protected and knows the presence of God.
Jacob journeys on and is left alone. In the darkness, he encounters a `man` who struggles with him throughout the night. Many understand that this figure was an Angel of Esau. Some see in the Angel Jacob himself, an inner aspect of himself he needed to encounter and wrestle before he could be born as the father of the Children of Israel.
At dawn, the figure asks Jacob to release him, and Jacob asks from him a blessing. The being responds by giving Jacob a new name, Israel, `because you have striven with beings divine and human and have prevailed (32:29). The word `strive` in Hebrew is contained in the word `Israel,` giving the word Israel a meaning something like `striving with God.`
Jacob is a striver, someone who can hold onto inner goodness no matter what is happening around him.
The Children of Israel, as a nation and as human beings are in a great darkness, a period of immense and unimaginable pain. Jacob’s story is here to remind anyone who needs to hear it that we too have the capacity to remember points of light. These lights are with us always, and they can give us strength and hope for life and for goodness.
With prayers for better days, the return of all hostages to their homes, and days of peace."