ParashatHaShavua: Vayishlach
Yaakov Rodríguez
"Whoever changes his or her name, also changes their destiny," says our tradition.
We find in our parsha, Vayishlach, with the description of one of the toughest challenges that Yaakov Avinu had to face in his life. After living many years away from home, fighting against the wicked Lavan, working hard for the love of his beloved Rachel and the heritage of their children, the sacred tribes; Yaakov begun his journey back home.
But coming home is not always pleasant and hopeful, in Yaakov´s case it meant reconnecting with his past, with the hatred of his brother Esau, from whom he had taken his birthright and the patriarchal blessing. Yaakov has great fear of Esau, knowing that he seeks to kill him and destroy everything that he has built through a painful road.
Esau is already aware of the return of his hated brother who he has waited all these years for revenge. Despite the many gifts that Yaakov sentas a sign of peace and desire for reconciliation, Esau goes to his encounter with a troop of soldiers, with the sole intent to destroy him and his descendants.
Faced with this distressing news, Yaakov steps out of the field to pray for divine intervention, and then a mysterious event takes place in the narrative of the Torah. Yaakov spends all night fighting against an angel. But for what reason is Yaakov fighting: He demands a "blessing" from that divine being. The Angel demands his release by dawn, injuring Yaakov in the sciatic nerve that will leave a permanent limp in the patriarch until the end of his days. But Yaakov does not yield, he doesn’t let go of the angel, and finally his blessing is granted. The angel asks: what is your name ... Yaakov will no longer be your name, but Israel, for you have struggled with heavenly beings and human beings and have prevailed ". The angel leaves, and Israel is left with his blessing and limp. The meeting with Esau is successful, a reconciliation takes place and he can´t damage him. Yaakov has ensured the survival of their families and the future of Jewish people.
Yaakov has not only saved himself from destruction but has forever changed his nature and destiny. The Midrash tells us that the angel who fought our patriarch was really the prince guardian of Esau, according to our mystical tradition, every nation has a guardian angel or celestial prince who represents the nation in the spiritual realm to the Court of Heaven. Yaakov understood, after many hard lessons in hislife that battles in this physical, finite and ephemeral world, are won first in the spiritual world, eternal and permanent. He fought not only for his survival but for the vindication of his rights and recognition of his achievements. Yaakov in Hebrew comes from the root Ekev (heel), it means "the one who takes by the heel" or "he who takes over from". Until now Yaakov had to live with the stigma of one who supplanted his brother's birthright, the deceiver who stole his father's blessing. But Yaakov now demands that his rights be recognized, not only by the qualities that distinguished him as a righteous man, unlike his evil brother and superfluous; if not for the struggles he had to face and from which he has been victorious. Yaakov already has earned his title and his blessing.
Therefore the angel of Esau, can recognize the greatness of this dreamer and a fighter, he changes his name to "Israel", he who fights alongside God. As it has struggled in this dimension and the spiritual and has won in each test. He has fought for his birthright, has fought for the blessing, he has fought for love, has fought for his family, he has fought for the future of their descendants, and he has conquered. However, his victory has left a mark for life, his lame leg and his pain.
The story of Yaakov is also a metaphor for life, and a formula that the Torah teaches us for success:
1. Don’t just dream. Jacob dreamed of a ladder of angels that rose and fell, but then anointed the stone from the place where he dreamed of. So if we have a dream, we must not leave it in the ethereal, you should place a memorial, a stone, something to remind us every day that we pursue the dream to materialize it.
2. The realization of a dream is inevitably linked to the constant struggle, struggle for popularity, for love, success, the right to exist and transcend. On the way to the dream deceptions, disappointments, fear, failure and any kind of imaginable obstacles are stationed.
3. There are many Esau who want to destroy our life, destroying not only our bodies but our spirit and our will. The fear is always there. Yaakov teaches us that the struggle is won not only in the framework of actions represented as the gifts sent to Esau, but in the realm of the mind and spirit, depicted in wrestling with the angel. It is the unshakable will and desirethat make miracles happen in our lives. In Hebrew the word "tzinnor" (channel line) consists of the same letters as the word "Ratzon" (will win), which means that when we really desire and will for a Dream, will eventually end up creating in the cosmos channel, the way that leads to it.
4. Victories are achieved through persistence, perseverance, never getting tired of fighting until getting it, even when we are injured to prevent us from walking with a limp. It is forbidden to stop, we must keep fighting all night and until the coming of dawn for the "Bracha" (blessing). Until our name changes our nature and our destiny.
5. Only the tirelessly fighting deserves a worthy name. Whoever surrenders will not be remembered easily. It is precisely our achievements, our victories, large and small, that make us visible to the eyes of others, which make us endure in memory. The name of a person, either Samuel or Miriam, etc, is not composed only of letters, but everything that is impregnated with that person´s struggles and victories of life which represent him. The goal of every human being is to receive the title of "Israel", "Fighting the world of action and the world of mind and triumphs."
6. There is no success without pain, and there is no pain that does not leave a mark. In the struggle to receive the "blessing" we will get wounded many times, but those brands whenwe learn how to deal with them will become trophies of victories. No matter if we are limping,just keep walking, even if what comes may scare us.
We all have our Esau, that old fear that awaits us ahead, but we also have the strength of Israel, of confronting and beating the angel of Esau, to face and win the first battle of the mind and spirit; which then with absolute certainty go and encounter the physical Esau, and reconciled with him in this world of action.
Shabbat shalom!