Vayishlach - Wrestling with Wrestlying: Dec. 2 2025
Shalom,
Wrestling is such a funny thing to me. I don’t mean the scholastic or olympic style of wrestling, but the professional entertainment kind. Growing up, I definitely wrestled with my brother, with my friends, and enjoyed the WWF (professional wrestling), the precursor to the WWE. But, as I grew older, perhaps matured a bit, and learned more about the production side of professional wrestling, I began to view it as silly. Yet, both styles of wrestling have the same goal: To pin or toss your opponent. It is when I re-visit this description and use that to read this week’s Torah portion, I become confused.
In parashat Vayishlach (Read the portion here>>>), Jacob is returning from decades away after fleeing his twin brother Esau. As he approaches the moment of confrontation, he stops for the night by himself. This is the well-known scene in which he wrestles with an entity, the text states a “man” yet the details are not entirely clear:
Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” Said the other, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human,-d and have prevailed.” Jacob asked, “Pray tell me your name.” But he said, “You must not ask my name!” And he took leave of him there. (Genesis 32:25-30)
This is a different kind of wrestling. That is what strikes me this year. We, as a people, have earned the nickname of being God Wrestlers from this passage. But, if I think about wrestling as pinning or tossing, that’s not what I want to engage with vis-á-vis God. The commentaries added perspective like Ibn Ezra who connects the Hebrew for wrestle (aleph bet koof) to another of its meanings as dust: They got dusty, and kicked up dust around and between them. Rashi turns to the Midrash, as he usually does, and shares that Jacob’s opponent was Esau’s guardian angel. (Genesis Rabbah 77:3) There are even more layers our tradition provides to elucidate this scene, a lifetime of learning in fact.
At this moment, there are two ideas that strike me. One is that I like a different translation for ויאבק (wrestle), and that is grapple. Yes, grapple can mean wrestle, but it can also mean to grasp or bind closely. I like the idea that Jacob is grappling with his relationship with God, and therefore, we are implored to grapple too; we are charged to work towards grasping a relationship with the Divine. The other is this idea of the opponent being Esau’s guardian angel. Through this lens, I am learning that Jacob knows he was not entirely upright in dealing with his brother. In order to return to him, to perhaps reconcile, he must grapple also with how he understands Esau, and to look at it honestly.
We are God-grapplers, and I like that better than wrestlers because it is not about being victorious, rather being learners. And, when faced with prickly relationships, with wrong-doing, and reconciliation, we must grapple with how we perceive others, and with ourselves, as Jacob appears to be doing in this scene.
As we move into a new week, and towards the light of Hannukah, may we grapple with ideas big and small…and with our relationship with God, the Divine, Mystery of Creation, whatever it is we believe. May we consider moments of struggle as an opportunity for learning, for perceiving differently, and holding tight to what truly matters.
Shavua Tov - To a Good Week,
Rabbi Evon
