• • •

This unknown, oddly behaved aggressor, who was he? Who had sent him? And for what purpose? Was he even a human being? The Biblical text uses the word ish, man. The Midrash and the commentators elevate him to the rank of angel. As for Jacob—who should have known—he situated him higher yet: I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved. The aggressor readily confirmed this appraisal: Ki sarita im El—Your name shall be Israel, for you fought God and you defeated Him.

A confused and confusing episode in which the protagonists bear more than one name; in which words have more than one meaning and every question brings forth another. One constantly gets the feeling of being shut out, of watching an event through an almost opaque screen. What was it all about? Was the encounter accidental or deliberate? And this change of name—what exactly is a name? Is a man’s self limited to a single name? And why did Jacob accept this new name? Did he not find his old one suitable?

We stumble on a secret even more impenetrable than that of the averted sacrifice of Isaac. There at least one felt that one understood, however superficially, why the characters acted as they did and what motivated them. Here we are left in total darkness. We understand neither the aggressor nor the victim, nor even the circumstances of their meeting. They seem to have spoken without communicating. The questions did not correspond to the answers. The words, the blows, the compliments—all seem irrational. The whole incident appears almost parenthetical, though clearly not without meaning.

To better comprehend the aggressor, let us examine his victim, Jacob. He is, after all, well known, more so than his parents and grandparents. From the moment of his birth, and even earlier, his every deed—and misdeed—was officially recorded. His reluctance to come into this world, clinging as he did to his twin brother’s ankle. His extreme shyness. His education, his adolescence, his differences with his blind old father, who favored his older brother. His flight to Laban, his romantic adventures. We know that his mother protected him, perhaps a little too overtly. And that his children caused him concern: they hated their own brother Joseph, forcing him to become an expatriate in order to build himself a career.

Two events marked Jacob’s life; three left an imprint on his legend: a dream about a ladder he did not climb, a gift he received without having solicited it, a secret he desperately tried to reveal without success.

The gift, as we saw earlier, was that of a name.

• • •

Let us reread the passage in the Bible: . . . Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket. He said: Let me go, for dawn is breaking. — Jacob answered: I will not let you go unless you bless me. — And he said: What is your name? — Jacob answered: Jacob. — Whereupon the other said: Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with God and have prevailed. — Jacob then asked: Pray tell me your name. — And he answered: Why do you wish to know? And he blessed him. — Jacob named the site Peniel: For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.