By Marco Del Monte
“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with G-d and with men and have prevailed.”
In this Parashah we note an example of how a person's destiny can be changed by changing their name, as happened previously with Abraham and Sarah.
According to the Chachamim, the name of something defines its essence and role. The Ben Ish Chai explains (Parashah Ki Tavo, Shanah א) that the name Yaakov יעקב can be read as עקב- י Yud Akev, meaning the condition of one who is at the heel, the lowest point of the body; whereas the name ישראל Israel can be anagrammatized and read as י לראש Yud LaRosh, meaning the condition of one who is at the head, the highest point of the body. In other words, the angel is telling Yaakov that he will no longer be the tail but the head – a name change that implies a total revolution of destiny. As Ramban (Nachmanides) also explains on Deuteronomy 7:12, based on Onkelos's translation, Yaakov has at its root the word *akev*, meaning a "crooked path" as written in Isaiah 40:4; whereas Israel can be read as *Yashar-E-L*, meaning "straight" towards Hashem. The berachah represents not only a change of role and position, from tail to head, but also a change of path, from crooked to straight.
A completely personal view makes me think of the figure and pairing of Yaakov-Israel as a projective personality test, the kind in which amorphous inkblots take on a configuration in the mind of the person viewing them, and this representation describes the personality traits of the person interpreting the blot: Esav, an individual with an extremely twisted personality, describes his brother as one whose name is Yaakov because "Vayaakveni – he has deceived me." The same patriarch is instead called "Israel" by an angel, meaning a straight, upright person, a *Sar-El*, a prince of D-o – precisely what can describe the "personality" of an angel. A very beautiful Midrash tells us that there was a student of a great Tzaddik who was despised by certain people. This student asked the Rav what the root of this dynamic was. The Rav told the student that before answering him, he had to run an errand for him. He asked the student to go to a market to get an estimate for a small stone that the Rav wanted to sell. The student went, and every merchant quoted him more or less a very low monetary price. The student, somewhat discouraged, returned to the Rav and reported what had happened. The Rav asked the student for one last task: to go to the most expert jeweller in the city to ask him too for an estimate on the stone. The student did so, and to his utmost astonishment, he heard from the jeweller that that small stone had an enormous, inestimable value. The student, with a very happy heart, returned to the Rav and reported everything. The Rav said: Now I can give the answer to your question!
Each of us is that small mirror-stone, we are Yaakov or Israel; the judgment that others pass sometimes qualifies them more than the stone, as is written in the Talmud (Kiddushin 70), anticipating the concept of Freudian projection by a long time: "Kol Haposel Bemumò Posel", meaning, anyone who disqualifies others by claiming their quality is imperfect shows that he himself possesses that very imperfect quality.
"Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel" is the most beautiful wish one can receive: that of feeling appreciated and having one's qualities recognised by people of quality!
Shabbat Shalom Umevorach.
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.