We could have been named after anyone
A story- which we will hear read tomorrow:
Jacob -- our patriarch, who runs away from his brother’s wrath - after stealing his birthright in exchange for a serving of red lentil stew (which coincidentally I am told is the soup d’jour for next week’s lunch and learn)
Must now return to the land that Esau occupies -
After ensuring the safety of his family, he separates himself from them
Crossing a river, and camping on the other side -
Awaiting his fate
Will his brother confront him there? Attack him while he is most vulnerable?
It was not, as the text tells us his brother, that came to him in the middle of the night
But an unnamed “Ish” or man, which many read as an angel
The man attacks Jacob - and they wrestle until dawn begins to break -
At which point, the man/angel sees that Jacob will win this fight -
Jacob is injured - his hip pulled out of its socket - but seemingly victorious-
The angel/man relents - he asks Jacob to let him go -
Jacob’s answer - “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”
His adversary responds strangely - “What is your name?” Jacob replied, “Jacob.”
And this is the blessing:
“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have שָׂרָה- battled with beings divine and human,* and have prevailed.”
Your name will be Israel -
The one who wrestles -
Who struggles -
Who battles - to win each match
Who comes out injured but never fully defeated
Our name is Israel, too.
Am Yisrael -
The ones who wrestle
Who struggle
Who battle
Who are injured, who have been fighting these fights for too long
Who are exhausted
I know -
I feel it, too.
I’m tired -
We’re tired -
There is, in fact, a facebook group, with over 7,000 members named, “The Jews Are Tired” that has over 7,000 members.
I don’t need to tell you why - especially, there is fatigue
I know that being a Jew - loving a Jew, caring for Jewish children and a Jewish future
Being part of this global community
Can be hard
It is hard -
And - Truly, given the option for it to be easier,I don’t know if I’d have it another way
YES, I certainly would prefer far fewer humans for us to have to wrestle with
Far fewer communal injuries - existential and actual threats
Far fewer moments in time feeling alone in history and in the world
Community and Solidarity would go a long way to reinvigorate
--
Easy is not something I would say about Judaism
Wonderful - full-- beautiful -- joyous -- rich
But not easy
We are, after all, Am Yisrael - the people of wrestling
We could have been named after anyone
Am Yitzak -- the Nation of Laughter
B’nai Yosef- the Children of Abundance
Klal Rachel - the community of gentleness
Khilat Moshe - A Group of Prophetic Leaders
We’re not even “Abrahamic” like people say in English
But no - we are “Blessed”
With Yisrael
We are blessed with the hard
Blessed with having to be and do more
Blessed with no option to opt-out
The journalist Jordana Horn said this earlier this week, quoting Glennon Doyle: “We can do hard things.” But the Jewish way of looking at that is preferable to me, because it’s not just that we can do hard things, but rather, that we must — that we are, by virtue of being Jewish, actually obligated to take on the hard things. We don’t get to opt out.
Importantly, this does not mean seeking out the hard
I promise, the hard will find us
It is not making things harder for the sake of the challenge
For the glory of the win
We are tired enough, afterall
And this is not about making things hard for Jews
creating barriers to participating in Jewish life
Putting up extra fences around the Torah
Building unnecessary walls that make us feel protected but keep us from everything good they inevitably block out
We are trying to create a Judaism is that is accessible, but not easy
In that way, we owe it to everyone who wrestled before us
We stand on their bruised shoulders
It is about saying -
If we’re going to do this -
If we’re really going to take our Judaism seriously
It means doing it -
It means showing up
It means not opting out
It means fighting the harder, but better way to do things
It means wrestling with meaning -
Recognizing that there are things within our tradition that our not beautiful - and that we don’t just ignore them
But we wrestle with them, too
It means telling stories that end staring over a mountain, watching a new generation live your legacy
It means telling stories whose lessons don’t include happy endings
It means saying that Judaism is About understanding, to quote Michael Satlow’s book on Creating Judaism, that truth must be seen “in a proposition, and its opposite.”
It means behaving, to quote comedian Alex Edelman, with empathy always as our “default orientation”- even when – especially when -- it feels impossible or like the thing you want to do least that
It means knowing, frankly, that it would be easier to just not be Jewish or not be part of this community
It means knowing that life is is easier when you don’t care; when you don’t have something to care about
But so much better when you do.
It means not running away from the fight that finds you in the middle of the night
But doing whatever you can to struggle until a blessing comes out
(It will, I promise)