The Struggle Within

In this past week’s Parsha (וישלח) the Torah tells us:

״ויותר יעקב לבדו ויאבק איש עמו עד עלות השחר״

“Yaakov was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”

Who is this איש/man that Yaakov wrestled with?

We know that the Torah refers to עשו as a man when is says that he was an ״איש יודע ציד איש שדה״ —“A man who knows trapping, a man of the field”. In that very same verse, the Torah also refers to יעקב as an ״איש תם יושב אוהלים״ — “A wholesome man, abiding in tents”.

Could we say that he was fighting עשו? He still hadn’t reached him??

And could we say that he was fighting himself? What would that even mean??

In Kabbalah we often teach that if you analyze things deeply you can transcend duality and find a unifying way to incorporate both sides into one singular truth. 

So let’s look at the original verse again.

“Yaakov was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”

The verse itself seems contradictory.

Was he alone or not?

A way to solve this seeming contradiction would be to say that he was physically alone, implying some sort of התבודדות/meditative seclusion, and that the wrestling was on a spiritual plane.

He was wrestling with an idea, struggling with a concept, and it is represented here by the term איש.

So now that we’ve placed the struggle internally we are still left with the question, was he fighting עשו or was he fighting himself?

Here too we can include both possibilities by saying that יעקב was fighting the piece of עשו within himself. He was fighting an inner shadow. A struggle which he could not win. For how can a person triumph over a part of himself?

But eventually he realized that the goal is not to conquer and rule over the parts, but rather to incorporate them into a cohesive whole. That is why he asked for a blessing from his opponent. He didn’t want to be declared the winner, but rather to be acknowledged as an integral part of the process. At the same time he was saying that he valued the opinion and the blessings of the opposing side, and that there was no need to continue fighting.

He learnt to let go of the struggle and incorporate the two sides into one.

He learnt the secret of Yichudim.

Not “letting go” because he was giving up. Not “letting go” because he couldn’t win. 

Rather “letting go” from a place of understanding. A “letting go” from complete acceptance. An end to the struggle through finding a unifying way to incorporate both sides into one singular truth. 

In that moment he transcended the state of איש — the state of duality, the struggle of the two sides, and he became תפארת — the very harmony between them. 

It’s precisely then that his new name is declared.

Precisely then that he becomes “Yisroel, for you have striven with the Divine and with man and have overcome” — the one who embodies and unites the very best of both worlds.

The one who brings it all together in harmony, peace, and truth.