1.
Hello, children. I understand that you barely study Bible, literature, or Jewish heritage at school. Your educators seem concerned about shielding your young, impressionable minds from the supposedly harmful influence of our foundational texts. It's deemed "religious coercion" to introduce you to the eternal ideas of our people that transformed the world. It might even lead you to dangerous religious fundamentalism of the sort adopted by our enemies who sought to eliminate us in the name of their faith. Heaven forbid you become acquainted with problematic concepts and terms like motherland, faith, exile, redemption, Shabbat, Passover, the Exodus from Egypt, tzitzit and tefillin, the laws of kashrut, family, the Prophets of Israel, Hillel and Rabbi Akiva, Rambam and Rashi, Genesis and Numbers, the Vilna Gaon and Rabbi Haim ben Attar. Heaven forbid that you become acquainted with "If I forget you, O Jerusalem," the wars of the Maccabees, or the cultural and historical continuum from which Zionism emerged. After all, even Zionism itself is problematic as it intersects with these terms, and who knows what might happen if you are exposed to all this wealth? We offer our thanks to the Ministry of Education for raising a generation of ignorant and uninformed youth.
But we find ourselves at war nevertheless, and Hamas is not fighting an amorphous entity called "Israel" but the Jews! Similarly, the world isn't debating "the State of Israel" but the Jews; see how antisemitism is thriving globally. Even the Pope, as we approach Christmas – the birthday of a well-known Jewish Galilean who lived in Jerusalem – told his followers that a "genocide" may be taking place in Gaza. This suggestion echoes centuries of blood libels, such as the claim that Jews baked matzot with the blood of children. How can we explain our existential battle without the vast cultural and spiritual arsenal that has sustained us until now?
2.
So, with your permission, let's briefly study the name "Israel" in honor of this week's Torah portion. Jacob flees into exile, fearing his red-haired brother Esau, who seeks to kill him. For 20 years, Jacob lived in the house of Laban, who deceived him repeatedly. Despite these challenges, Jacob amassed wealth and built a large family. Then he overheard Laban's sons saying, "Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from that which was our father's he has built up all this wealth" (Genesis 31:1) – in other words, he grew rich at our expense. This is what has happened to Jews throughout the ages. In past centuries, we have come to call this "antisemitism." The result was that Jacob fled Laban's house and returned home to his ancestral Land. In a similar fashion, the Jews realized in recent generations that they had no future in the Diaspora, where persecution would only worsen (this occurred long before the Holocaust,) and they needed to return home.
Upon Jacob's return, enemies awaited him; in his absence, they had claimed his place. Esau marched toward him with armed men to avenge his grievances. But Jacob had changed. He was no longer merely a "simple man, dwelling in tents" (Genesis 25:27). The school of life had taught him how to integrate elements of his twin brother Esau into his own personality. His years in exile taught him how to survive and overcome dangers in the field and the city, whether from wild beasts or people seeking to harm him. He is driven by a deep sense of having "no other choice" with a family and children to take care of and no future in an exile going up in flames.
3.
At night, Jacob crossed the Jabbok River with his wives, children, and possessions, heading back to the motherland. He carried his children through the raging waters and returned to ensure nothing was left behind. Alone in the dark, his senses dulled, and an adversary attacked him: "Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn" (Genesis 32:25).
The old Jacob would have fled his adversary, but now he turned to face his foe and fought successfully. His adversary, realizing defeat, pleaded, "Let me go, for dawn is breaking" (25:27). We recognize this behavior. Our enemies attack and massacre us, and when we fight back and crush them, they cry to the world about their victimhood. They accuse us of "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" in an attempt to bind our hands.
But Jacob, the third patriarch, understood these tactics, having learned them in Laban's house. He refused to relent, saying, "I will not let you go unless you bless me" (ibid). Habibi (my friend), I did not start this war. You were certain you would destroy me, but now you're stunned and battered, pleading for a reprieve so you can regroup for yet another massacre. You have two choices: continue the fight and pay with your life for the atrocities you've committed, or acknowledge that the blessings are rightfully mine. Admit that the inheritance of our ancestors – this land and the Abrahamic mission to build a nation that will change the world – belongs solely to me and my descendants. You will proclaim this to the entire world, renouncing all future claims against us forever. What do you say?
4.
And the angel said to him: "What is your name?" He replied: "Jacob." And the angel said: "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed" (32:28-29). Children, do you understand? The name Israel encapsulates our history and our eternal struggle with "men," meaning nations and peoples. We are the people others plotted against in the days of Laban, Pharaoh, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. We are the people others sought to destroy in the days of Antiochus and the days of Titus and Rome, as well as the destruction of Jerusalem and Hadrian during the suppression of the Bar Kochba revolt.
We are the people who faced hostility with the rise of Christianity over the Roman Empire, during the Muslim conquest of the Land of Israel in the 7th century, through the Inquisition and the expulsion from Spain and Portugal, and in the pogroms in Arab lands and Eastern Europe. We are the people whom the Nazis sought to annihilate only decades ago. And we are the people who, just a year ago, endured the worst blow since the Holocaust, yet rose from the ashes to fight back against our enemies, pushing them to the brink of disappearing from the stage of history. See how Hamas in Gaza is fading, Hezbollah in Lebanon is collapsing, Assad's regime in Syria is crumbling, and his army is dismantled by our fighters in just two days.
5.
But we do not struggle only with "men." We also struggle "with God," meaning with our ancient faith and identity. No other nation has turned the internal debate over its identity into a national pastime as we have, constantly asking, "Who are we?" This perpetual questioning is the secret to our survival in history. A nation that argues with God does not take human authority for granted unless persuaded.
The kings of Israel in the Bible were not absolute monarchs like those in Europe; they were leaders of the people and heads of the tribes (see 1 Samuel 15:17). Even when a prophet announced that God had chosen someone as king, the people did not easily accept it – they had to be convinced. The kings themselves were subject to ancient laws (see 1 Kings 21): the story of Ahab and Naboth's vineyard) and were held accountable through public criticism voiced by prophets who were a moral voice.
Every page of the Talmud contains endless debates, and the Mishnah, edited in the Galilee in the second century, preserves dissenting opinions alongside the majority view. There is no other legal text like it in the world. Do you understand? Democracy is natural to us as Jews.
6.
After Jacob fights back and ultimately overcomes Esau, securing full acknowledgment of his rights, the story reaches its hopeful resolution with the reconciliation of the brothers: "Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept" (Genesis 33:4). This ties into Jabotinsky's "Iron Wall" theory, but that is a story for another time, children. Go to your parents and teachers and ask to learn more about yourselves.
Remember: after the long and dark night of war, Jacob's victory comes with the dawn. And then it is written: "The sun rose upon him" (32:32). There is hope.
