VaYetze

Wrestling and Reconciliation

Adapted from Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso

The sisters Rachel and Leah are rivals, just as the brothers Jacob and Esau are. The brothers eventually reconcile. One night Jacob struggles with an angel and receives his new name Yisrael, one who has "wrestled with God and men and prevailed". The next day, the two brothers meet, embrace and weep together; eventually they bury their father together.

Rachel, who has her husband's love, wants children. Leah, who has children, wants her husband's love. Do they ever put aside their jealous feelings towards one another? Torah hints that they do. They follow the same process as Jacob and Esau: inner, personal struggle, followed by cooperation.

Rachel names the son born to her handmaid Bilhah "Naftali," saying, naftuli Elohim - "With God-wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and prevailed." Shortly after that statement, each sister shares her advantages with the other. Leah gives her sister mandrakes -- fertility herbs. In return, Rachel gives up her date that evening with Jacob and lets Leah see him instead.

Torah tells us that Jacob comes to his new sense of self in a struggle with God, under cover of darkness. Rachel, however, comes to her new awareness through daily struggle with her sister. Life's struggles are often like Rachel's. Too often there is not time for reflective solitude. Reconciliation is hammered out in the day-to-day dialogue of living and working with others.

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