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By Rabbi Joshua Kullock,
Comunidad Hebrea de Guadalajara, Mexico

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

One of the motifs that particularly interest me in the description of the lives of our forefathers is the way in which the Torah shows us how they gradually change as they grow older. Thus, we see the great differences between the first Abraham, who makes a pact with God based on physical and material privileges (descendants and obtaining land), and an Abraham willing to relinquish all that for the love he felt for the transcendental bond that united him with Baruch Hashem.

And just as it happens with Abraham, something similar happens with his grandson Jacob. The Torah gives us many sides and edges about this complex character, who knew how to dwell in tents (Gen. 25:27) and also how to get out of them, in order to roll the stones from the well’s mouth and water Rachel’s flock (Gen. 29:10). Jacob was the master of deception (Gen. 27), only to be deceived later on by his father-in-law (Gen. 29), and was hated by his brother (Gen. 27:41) only to make up with him many years later (Gen. 33:4). All these antagonisms reflect in the names received by our patriarch: Jacob, who clings to Esau’s heel and lives a life of deception and lies (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; Jer. 9:3; Hos. 12:3), and Israel, the one who can finally stand still in order to confront both God and his own essence, and prevail (32:29).

It is precisely on this last feature, that is, on the possibility of no longer escaping from oneself in order to confront the challenges presented by life, that I want to expand, making the most out of this discussion on our shared study.

During the night that was possibly the most important of his life, Jacob had to decide against whom to fight. On the one hand, he had his brother Esau, who waited for him with a large army. On the other hand, he had his own solitude, together with the deep silence that confronts us – when we give ourselves the chance to listen – with those ultimate questions we sometimes prefer not to give heed. And in that important night, Jacob finally decided to listen to himself. And by listening, he found himself. And by finding himself, he fought.

But Jacob’s fight turns paradigmatic and meaningful in our times as well. Because if there was something that Jacob learned that night, it was that meeting oneself does not mean declaring wars or oppressing others. Jacob learned that meeting oneself means to question, to confront those arguments that do not convince us; to provoke our reason to reject the yoke of the illogical, the dogmatic, or the amoral. Jacob learned, at the end of the day, that acknowledging oneself cannot be dissociated with inviting others to a fraternal dialogue, which often begins with the question “What is your name?” This is probably why, just at the moment when Jacob asks the name of the mysterious being with whom he is struggling, he finally achieves his own name.

And that name, Israel, has marked our life as a people.

Because as of the moment we become Israel, we are no longer afraid to read our texts and traditions in a critical, serious, and profound way.

Because as of the moment we become Israel, we are called to denounce the injustices that are committed in our surroundings.

Because as of the moment we become Israel, we have the moral obligation to acknowledge our weaknesses in order to make amends through real Teshuvah.

Because as of the moment we become Israel, we can recognize ourselves and reconcile with others, inviting our fellow men to do Tikkun together.

The path that takes (will take) us to become Israel is a path that requires time, much personal and communal work, and lots of patience. It is a path of continuous learning, and of a persistent invitation to know those aspects – both luminous and not so luminous – of our own being. But above all, it is a path where everything needs to be done.

The decision to retrace our own steps is always up to us.

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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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