A few weeks ago, my friend Tom Schiffour, a gifted musician and songwriter, passed away. Since his death, I keep thinking of the words from his song “Strengthen Your Hands“:
It’s been a long dark night we’re still waiting for the sun
It’s hard to get some rest in a world that’s on the run
When you think you’re finished, you’ve only just begun
There’s still work to be done.
I thought of Tom’s powerful words as I read about the final moments of another great Jew.
Notice the strange shift in the verse – Jacob refers to himself first as “Jacob” and then as “Israel.”
Why did Jacob switch names mid-verse, first addressing his sons as “sons of Jacob” and then speaking as “Israel, your father”? To understand this, we must first understand the essential difference between these two names – Jacob and Israel.
The name Jacob, derived from the Hebrew word ekev, meaning “heel,” recalls how Jacob emerged from the womb holding his brother Esau’s heel. Like a heel that is stepped upon, this name marked Jacob as someone who would let others dominate him, a man destined to flee from conflict rather than confront his enemies. When facing dangerous situations, Jacob’s first instinct was to run. He fled from Esau to Laban’s house, then fled from Laban years later. He was an ish tam yoshev ohalim, “an innocent man, dwelling in tents” (Genesis 25:27) ā a passive figure who allowed others to take advantage of him.
But everything changed during that fateful night when Jacob wrestled with a mysterious angel.
For the first time, Jacob didn’t flee. He fought through the night, even after the angel dislocated his hip. When morning came, the angel gave him a new name:
The very act of struggling ā of refusing to run away ā was itself the victory. This is the meaning of the name Israel, which would define not only Jacob’s personal transformation but the destiny of his descendants. The children of Israel would not be a nation of frightened tent-dwellers but a people ready to fight for their land, refusing to cower before enemies who sought their destruction.
Yet God didn’t completely eliminate Jacob’s original name. Unlike Abraham, whose name change from Abram was permanent, Jacob continued to be called by both names. This dual identity would characterize his descendants throughout history. In times of exile and persecution, Jews often reverted to being “children of Jacob” ā passive, afraid, more concerned with survival than with fulfilling their divine mission.
The Sages mystically teach: “Our forefather Jacob never died” (Talmud Taanit 5b). While this is usually interpreted positively ā that the spirit of Jacob lives on eternally in the Jewish people ā there is another, more challenging way to understand these words. The inclination among Jews to be like Jacob ā internally weak, afraid, running from enemies, remaining too long in exile ā this dangerous tendency never dies! It lives on in every generation, a spiritual curse that we must constantly fight against.
We see this at the conclusion of the Passover Seder and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), when Jews sing “L’shana haba b’Yerushalayim” ā “Next year in Jerusalem!” While this prayer has given Jews strength throughout millennia of exile, it also carries a sad undertone. Year after year, we say “Next year in Jerusalem” ā but not now, not today. This is the eternal Jacob within us speaking, the voice that would keep us in exile rather than fulfilling our destiny as Israel.
This was Jacob’s worry on his deathbed. Though his sons were righteous men, would they have the courage to be truly Israel? Would they fulfill their destiny as God’s chosen people, or would they remain satisfied with being “Jacob,” modeling themselves after his earlier, smaller self?
The Sages teach that Jacob’s sons responded with words that would become the central prayer of Judaism: “Shema Yisrael, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” Though this verse appears later in Deuteronomy, the Sages explain that it was first uttered at this crucial moment. Notice that the sons didn’t say “Hear O Jacob” ā they specifically addressed their father as Israel! In doing so, they declared: We accept your challenge! We choose to be the children of Israel, not merely the children of Jacob. We will fight like you fought with the angel ā until victory comes, until dawn breaks.
Today, as Hamas, Iran, and their allies work tirelessly to destroy the Jewish state and Western leaders pressure Israel to cave to Hamas’ demands, Jacob’s ancient question rings out again. Will we retreat into being Jacob, seeking safety through appeasement? Or will we embrace our identity as Israel, standing firm until evil is defeated?
As Tom so beautifully sang, the long dark night isn’t over yet. The world is still running wild, and there’s still work to be done. The children of Jacob might flee from battle ā but the children of Israel know that when you think you’re finished, you’ve only just begun. Like our forefather who wrestled until dawn, we must keep fighting until victory comes, until dawn breaks over a redeemed world.
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