Sabbath featured the weekly Torah reading “Va’yishlach” from Genesis 32-36 centered on the life of Jacob.
Immediately after Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord and demanded to receive a divine blessing, he was christened “Yi-SRa-El” which means “One who prevails with God.”
“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28)
The root “prevail” is also related to “sar” – the word for a “prince” and a (governmental) minister. This richly loaded interaction between Jacob and the divine angelic representative seems almost blasphemous. It’s nothing like the stiff religious ceremony one might expect, and yet it marks a high-water point in God’s approval of human attitude and behavior.
This is an essential aspect of what it is to be part of Israel, whether by human ancestry or by faith.
It is to be utterly and brutally honest with God; demanding to hear and to be heard, all out of the foundation of respect, submission and awe. It’s like a young lawyer coming before the Supreme Court judge with endearing boldness. You might call it sanctified chutzpah.
Abraham and Moses both maintained a similar line of painfully transparent and open communication with their Creator, as well. Abraham tried to dissuade God from destroying The city of Sodom. Moses dissuaded God from destroying the 12 Tribes. Moses was also surprisingly candid with God at the beginning of his ministry when the first declaration of God to Egypt brought *even more misery on the Israelite slaves. Barren Hannah poured out her soul in prayer. Many Psalms display this agonizing honesty. As does Jeremiah.
Notably, one Gentile Bible hero also epitomizes this approach that God seems to appreciate so much. In his bitter life circumstances Job spends chapter after chapter airing his complaint and appealing his case before God. Afterward Job hears back from God. To our great surprise, God does not rebuke Job for the way he talked. God can handle open and genuine communication from those who love and fear Him. Maybe God even expects and requires it. A phrase in that last chapter of Job sums it up for us. The phrase appears identically verse after verse, emphasizing its importance. Out of dozens of English translations, only a couple bring out the sense of it as understood in modern Hebrew. In both Job 42:7 and Job 42:8, God rebukes Job’s friends:
“You have not spoken to me correctly as my servant Job has.”
It is better to speak to God – bluntly, painfully pouring out our strongest feelings – than to speak about God in some religiously correct, theoretical way, as the friends of Job did.
The first century Rabbi Saul stated that people all over the world can be children of the faith of Abraham. Perhaps we can extend that generalization also to this matter with confidence that like Job, people everywhere are invited into a respectful, open, honest, Israelite chutzpah toward the Almighty.
*Moses says to God “Why have you dealt evil to this people!?” (Exodus 5:22) This reflects the pain of many Israelis following the October 7th holocaust. One can hope that they are engaging their Creator in “tachles,” bottom-line dialogue to prevailing effect.
