Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)…WIth What Do WE Struggle?

This week’s portion, one of the most  dramatic in the Torah, comes to us with great depth. We witness the reuniting of Esau and Jacob. After years of estrangement, they prepare to re-engage. Jacob does not really know what he will find with Esau and so he is, the night before they meet, l’vado, alone not only without other people, but in truth, existentially. How does he engage his brother after all these years,  the hurt,  the deception? Of course the story is well known that at night, Jacob struggles or wrestles with….? The commentaries give many opinions, was it a man, an angel, himself? How many of us have wrestled with issues as we attempt to reconcile past hurts or divisions among family members?

I have no doubt that many rabbis will teach issues concerning this story  during the upcoming Shabbat. As I thought about this passage (one of my favorites), I also reflected on last week’s portion, In this space we asked who holds you up, what angels do you have to support you? This week, the thought came to me to try and consider what we struggle with as we get older? With what do we wrestle, the result of which may often leave us “wounded” spiritually. Certainly, we are often changed (as Jacob’s is changed in a profound way as we witness in his change of name). We are of a time in our life when we are trying to deal with so many changes. We struggle with loss, both natural and imposed. We wrestle with changes in health, body and relationships’ maybe saying goodbye to some and engaging in new ones. We struggle to understand our own mortality and the rapidly limited time we have left while wrestling with what our own legacy will or can be.

This is not, as media may wish to portray, a quiet and leisure time. These struggles are with us, even though we may seek to repress them at times. Yet, Judaism welcomes these struggles. Jacob emerges changed. He reunites with Esau and, while they will never be close, they seem to understand that there is more to be  gained by moving on from past hurts than by clinging to them. It is another aspect of another struggle: with what do we hold on to and with what do we let go?  We are, as Jews, given the freedom to wrestle with these real life issues, and given the freedom to grow and change. It is the struggle to seek meaning that underscores our Jewish way of living. Do not fear that engagement. For in the struggle with meaning we can come to see a true sense of self at this stage of life.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Richard F Address