Torah Big Idea #15 We Can be Injured But not Defeated

Shmot(Exodus)

It’s a strange thing to say, but I’m happy when I see blatant anti-Semitism. “Happy” is of course in quotes, but my point is that when it’s obvious, we know what we’re dealing with. No hidden meanings or confusing signs. Someone says they don’t like Jews simply because we’re Jews; okay, message received.

The Book of Exodus opens with such an explicit statement. In the very first chapter, Pharaoh says, Look, the Israelite people are becoming too numerous and strong for us. Let us deal with them shrewdly so that they may not increase. (Exodus 1:9-10)

It’s not an angry mob chanting “Jews will not replace us,” but it is precisely the same sentiment and likely the original source for anti-semitism.

Then the Torah reports something that is also an original source.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and the more they spread. (Exodus 1:12)

Rabbi Sacks z”l (Studies in Spirituality) asks:

Where did it come from this Jewish ability to turn weakness into strength, adversity into advantage, darkness into light?

He traces it back to our ancestor Jacob during the long night when he wrestled with God’s angel. As dawn was approaching and Jacob was defeating the angel, the angel begged to be released, Jacob demanded: I will not let you go until you bless me. (Exodus 32:26)

Jacob’s name changes to “Israel” – he who wrestled with God – because he demands to find the blessing in adversity. He refuses to leave this traumatic experience without something positive.

I love that.

Jacob, at this point a husband and father of many, a wealthy man, still feels the pull for spiritual growth.

Jacob, who was scurried out of his childhood home because of the stolen birthright, Jacob who was tricked into marrying one sister before the real love of his life Rachel. Jacob, who loses his beloved wife Rachel in childbirth of their youngest son … Jacob, our father, of many, many life challenges.

Jacob could rightly quote Tevye’s words from Fiddler on the Roof: God, I know we are the chosen people but couldn’t you choose someone else once in a while?

And yet there is not a shred of self pity in Jacob. He wrestles the angel all night, he is injured in the thigh, he is terrified of the uncertain reunion with his brother, Esau, in the morning, and still Jacob demands a blessing.

Rabbi Sacks teaches: There is something profoundly spiritual as well as robustly practical about this ability to transform the bad moments of life into a spur of creativity… We may find ourselves limping, as Jacob did, but we will not let our adversary go until we have extracted a blessing from the encounter.

In today’s world when anti-semitism is both obvious and hidden, when we may be limping and heart broken from all the struggles and loss, we remember that we are Jacob’s heirs. We wrestle and at the same time we insist on finding the blessings and moments of spiritual growth in our lives.