TorahParsha

Jacob / Israel

i
Jacob is named Jacob, Yaakov, because he is born clutching the heel, eikev, of Esau, his older twin brother.

He will live a life following on the heels of his brother. (Or consider the Hebrew, la'akov: to follow).

Jacob is given the family birthright, not because he is born to it but because he purchases that family birthright from Esau.

Jacob is given the family blessing, not because it is meant for him—it is meant for Esau; but because he tricks his father into giving him Esau's blessing.

ii
Then a nameless angel wounds Jacob in the thigh, and calls Jacob Israel.

Now, there is no one for Jacob—Israel—to follow after (the angel is nameless). And with the wound, the symbol of the leg (the source of following) is taken from Jacob.

*
Jacob was one who chased after his brother's life.

Becoming Israel, Jacob is called to have his own, separate life.

To be Israel is to have a life apart.

***
Based partially on comments of Rabbi Matthew Stein and my wife, Kathi.


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The Rejection of Esau

i

Before God makes Man, the plants of the field—siach ha'sadeh—had not yet sprouted. For there was no man yet to work the land.

 

And then God makes Man and places him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it.

 

*

Isaac is a man who goes out to meditate in the field: la'suach ba'sadeh.

 

Meditating, Isaac binds himself to Man's original purpose; he meditates back to the field and the protection of the field.

 

Isaac meditates back to Man's purpose of helping things grow.

 

ii

Esau, Isaac's son, is a man of the field. So he is like is father.

 

But Esau is also a Man who knows how to hunt.

 

To hunt is to undo Man's purpose in the field: to hunt is to kill.

 

iii

Esau is rejected from the line of Isaac, from the line of Abraham, from the line of men who fulfill their reason for being created.

 

This is because it is not enough to be a literalist.

 

It is not enough to say: I have shown up to the right place, I have come to the field, I am a man of the field; and that is enough.

 

Because it is not enough to only show up to the right place. You must fulfill your purpose in that right place. You must help the things of that place grow.

 

Esau does not understand this, and so he is rejected.

 

That is the tragedy of Esau.

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The Empathy of Israel

i
Jacob wrestles an angel, at night, before meeting with his brother Esau.

Jacob has not seen Esau for more than twenty years. Jacob fears that Esau may want to kill him.

*
The angel changes Jacob's name. The angel calls Jacob, Yisrael: Israel.

For, the angel says to Jacob, of Jacob, You have struggled (saritah) with God and with man, and you have prevailed.

ii
But struggle brings pain.

Wrestling Jacob, the angel touches the hollow of Jacob's thigh, by the place on the leg called the sinew of the vein.

That touch wounds Jacob and makes him limp.

*
This wound creates a Law.

The verse says: Because of this wound, when we eat meat, the Children of Israel do not eat of the sinew of the vein until this day.

iii
Thousands of years ago, Jacob was hurt in his thigh.

Now, as we enjoy food, we may not enjoy the meat of the place of Jacob's wound.

*
To be of the Children of Israel is to hold empathy for all that has happened to Israel, ever. 

That empathy is tied to the very roots of our name.

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Children of Isaac

i
Jacob and Esau are Isaac’s sons.

Esau is a hunter. But Jacob is a simple man, a dweller of tents.

Jacob’s offspring—and not Esau’s offspring—will carry the mantle of Isaac.

*
Once, Esau returns from the hunt and is hungry to the point of death. Jacob, meanwhile, cooks lentils.

Esau remains hungry, though he hunts: though he seeks to capture food from far and wide.

Meanwhile Jacob, a dweller of tents, makes a meal. A dweller of tents, he understands how to use what is near at hand.

ii
Torah is the study of the holiness of the close-by. In it you jump into questions like how to prepare meat, or what fire is, or what constitutes the act of sewing.

*
Torah will be the task of the family of Isaac, through the end of time. So the task of the family of Isaac is to grow nourishment from the-near-at hand. It is a task for dwellers of tents.

Jacob is a dweller of tents. It is no surprise, then, that Jacob would carry the mantle of his family.

*
We are that family.

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