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Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: [email protected]
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: [email protected]
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: [email protected]
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: [email protected]
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
“Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn… Said [the man]: Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Yisrael, for you have striven with God and men and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:24, 28).
Our ancestor Jacob was a struggler. His life was filled with struggles and troubles.
The struggles and troubles of Jacob reach their climax in the seven crises in the parasha of Vayishlach:
He struggles with “a man” at Yabok;
He is forced to confront his brother Esau;
He is forced to deal with the rape of Dinah and her brothers’ act of vengeance;
He is forced to deal with the “alien gods” favored by his household;
He is forced to bury his beloved wife Rachel at Bethlehem;
He learns that his son Reuven slept with his concubine Bilhah;
And he is forced to bury his beloved father Isaac at Hebron.
Did Jacob succeed in dealing with all of these crises? Yes and no.
As for the struggle with the ‘man,’ some say that this symbolizes Jacob’s conscience and therefore the verse says “and he remained alone.” Rashi explains that a change of name symbolizes that from now on he would not struggle with Esau and others through deceit symbolized by the name Ya’akov but through direct struggle symbolized by the name Yisrael. Thus, Ya’akov succeeded in this struggle.
He also succeeded in arriving at a modus vivendi with his brother Esau. True, they did not become best friends, but they learned to live in peace one beside the other (36:6-7) and when Isaac died, Jacob and Esau buried him together (35:29).
Similarly, Jacob succeeded in removing the alien gods from his household and in turning Bet El into a house of God as he had vowed when he left Israel (35:1-8; 28:20-22).
Finally, he succeeded in seeing his father one last time (35:27) and, according to the midrash (Pirkei d’rabi Eliezer-Chapter 38), Isaac rejoiced greatly at the sight of Jacob and his large family.
On the other hand, Jacob failed to deal with the rape of Dinah: “Jacob heard that [Shechem] had defiled his daughter; but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Jacob kept silent until they came home” (34:5) – והחריש יעקב עד בואם. The result is well-known: Shimon and Levi killed every male in Shechem (v.25), Jacob was angry at them for bringing trouble upon him (v.30), and at the end of his life he cursed them instead of blessing them (49:5-7).
Jacob also failed in the case of Reuven: “Reuven went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard” (35:22) — וישמע ישראל. Jacob heard, and yet he did nothing!
We have been taught in Pirkei Avot (2:16): לא עליך המלאכה לגמור, ולא אתה בן חורין ליבטל ממנה — “It is not your duty to finish the task, yet you are not free to desist from it.” This is the message of Jacob’s life: he did not finish the task; he did not succeed in all his struggles; but he continued to struggle as best he could in all of the struggles which God placed before him.
And so it is on the national level in the State of Israel. We and the rest of the world expect the State of Israel to be perfect, and when she is not, there is criticism and disappointment. This is a mistaken approach. Success is not measured by constant victory, but by constant struggle.
We must struggle to rescue all the hostages.
We must struggle against our many enemies.
We must struggle to integrate Haredim into the IDF and Israeli society.
We must struggle for Unity in the State of Israel.
We must struggle for Jewish education and religious pluralism in Israel.
If we do so, we shall indeed be worthy of our name Yisrael — the striver.
SHAVUA TOV FROM SCHECHTER
image: “Wrestlers in Moonlight”, cover of the book: Kol-HaTor – Vol. 1 Genesis, a new translation of the Torah with a Devotional Commentary by Rabbi Dr. Martin S. Cohen, cover image by Jonathan Freeman
Rabbi Cohen’s book can be purchased via Amazon
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. He made aliyah in 1972, earning a B.A. in Jewish History and two teaching certificates from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received an M.A. in Rabbinics and a Ph.D. in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was also ordained as Rabbi.
Prof. Golinkin is President Emeritus of The Schechter Institutes, Inc. and President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where he also serves as a Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law. For twenty years he served as Chair of the Va’ad Halakhah (Law Committee) of the Rabbinical Assembly which writes responsa and gives halakhic guidance to the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel. He is the founder and Director of the Institute of Applied Halakhah at The Schechter Institute whose goal is to publish a library of halakhic literature for Jews thoughout the world. He is the Director of the Center for Women in Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute whose goal is to publish responsa and books by and about women in Jewish law. He is also the founder and Director of the Midrash Project at Schechter whose goal is to publish a series of critical editions of Midrashim.
In June 2014, Rabbi Golinkin was named by The Jerusalem Post, as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world. In May 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jewish Theological Seminary. In November 2022, he received the Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Award for his contributions to Israeli society in the field of education
Prof. Golinkin is the author or editor of 65 books dealing with Jewish law, Talmud, Midrash and prayer, as well as hundreds of articles, Responsa and sermons.
For a complete bio click here.
