Parshat Vayishlach
18 Kislev 5764
December 13, 2003
Daf Yomi: Menachos 68
Guest Author:
Rabbi Arie Isaacs
Young Israel of New Haven, CT
One of the most
famous events in this week�s parsha is Yaakov�s wrestling with a man, a
man who is identified by our Chazal as the �sar shel Eisav�, the heavenly
officer of Eisav. And the two of them were entangled when suddenly the
officer, the Angel, said, �let me go, for dawn has arisen�. And Yaakov
replied, �I will not let you go until you bless me�. And the Angel said,
�your name will no longer be Yaakov, but Yisrael, because you have fought
with G-d and with men and you have overcome�. Once they were talking about
names already, Yaakov asked the Angel, �what is your name?� And the Angel
replied, �why do you ask me for my name� and he ultimately blessed him and
left.
An interesting exchange, to be sure, but what does it all mean? Why was
Yaakov�s name changed? Why didn�t the Angel reveal his name? What�s going
on here? The name Yisrael is a name of victory. It�s a combination of two
words, yisra eil--to prevail over the mighty one, referring to the Angel.
But it�s more than that. Yaakov Avinu serves as the paradigm for Jewish
survival in galus, exile. The name change was also an instruction. If you
want to survive, if you want to hold on to all that is important to you,
you have to be willing to fight, sometimes even against those who are
mightier and more powerful than you. That�s what Yisrael means. That�s
what Yisrael stands for. The preservation of a people and of a way of
life. The Angel, on the other hand, didn�t give his name. Explained Rabbi
Chaim Dov Keller, a Rebbe of mine and Rosh HaYeshiva of Telshe Yeshiva in
Chicago, that this Angel represented the yeitzer hara, the evil
inclination. The evil inclination has no real identity. He can�t be
definitively labeled. His mission is to test people, and as situations
change, the temptations change, and consequently the yeitzer hara changes,
and so he has no name or identity. The one constant is Yisrael, because
regardless of the tactics employed by the yeitzer hara, the Jew must be
ready to fight and battle and hopefully win.
This morning we read about Yaakov and his trials. But there was another
person in history who also had trials. His name was Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi
Akiva was one of the ten martyrs that we read about on Yom Kippur. He
didn�t start learning Torah until he was 40 years old. He went on to amass
24,000 students, who later perished due to some mysterious illness,
because, as the Gemara tells us, they didn�t show proper respect for each
other. In Hebrew, these two names, Yaakov and Akiva, share the same root,
ayin kuf bet, eikev which means heel. Whereas the entire body is straight,
the heel is bent. It represents the idea of going against the norm,
opposing that which everyone else has accepted. That�s what Yaakov did
when he fought the Angel. He made a statement that just because Eisav has
his 400 men and has his way of life, it doesn�t mean that I too have to be
that way. Rabbi Akiva also made a statement. He didn�t say �I�ve survived
40 years without Torah, so why should I start learning now?� He began
learning and he continued learning, until they combed the skin off his
flesh.
Yaakov is spelled yud ayin kuf bet. Akiva is spelled ayin kuf yud bet
aleph. The exact same letters except for one. Akiva has an aleph whereas
Yaakov doesn�t. The difference between the two names is an aleph. I think
there�s a powerful message in that. Even a single person, an individual,
an aleph, can make a difference. Yaakov, by himself, overcame the officer
of Eisav. Rabbi Akiva himself started learning at age 40 and taught 24,000
students. Every person makes a difference. In your home, in your family,
and in your community.
With this explanation, we can partially explain why our homeland is called
Eretz Yisrael. Not Eretz Avraham, not Eretz David, but Eretz Yisrael.
Because Yisrael means to prevail, to overcome. And as we all know, no land
has had to overcome more strife and more challenge than Eretz Yisrael. Yet
it remains the land that has overcome, the land that has persevered. In
this unique time, where our challenge clearly is to continue to maintain
trust and faith in HaShem, despite all that has happened, let�s turn to
our name. We are all the B�nei Yisrael, the descendants of the one who
overcame, who prevailed. Genes and characteristics are passed down from
one generation to the next. And certainly one of the special genes that we
have inherited is the gene of survival, of perseverance. We hope and pray
that we can continue to benefit from that trait and that Eretz Yisrael and
B�nei Yisrael will always be the chosen land and chosen people of HaShem
until the Mashiach comes speedily in our days. Amen.
To receive a free e-mail subscription to NCYI�s weekly Torah Bulletin, send an email to:
YI_Torah@lb.bcentral.com
