Wrestle With God

“What is unique, perhaps, to Judaism is the notion of arguing with God. For example, in the Bible, Abraham argued with God for the sake of the righteous citizens in Sodom and Gomorrah. He didn’t just say “Whatever you say, God”—he bargained! It’s like the whole stage was set for a particular kind of exchange with the Divine. Jews are even called the “Children of Israel” because of the Biblical story of Jacob who wrestled with an angel and got his name changed to Israel, which means “one who wrestles with God.” While the idea of a complete surrender to faith, a surrender to God, is harmonious with many Christian and Muslim faiths, it’s much less comfortable for most Jews, who are traditionally taught to question in order to learn say that God is the universe, and the universe is God. Some folks say that all these ideas are true. The one thing that Jews won’t argue about, period, is that God—whatever you imagine God to be—is ultimately unknowable and therefore unnamable.

Jewish tradition allows that there can even be some purpose for not believing in God. Here are the words of a Rabbi Moshe Leib, a great Hasidic teacher: To what end can the denial of God have been created? If someone comes to you and asks your help, you shall not send him off with pious words, saying: “Have faith and take your troubles to God!” You shall act as if there were no God, as if there were only one person in all the world who could help this man—only yourself…

In the ancient world, naming something meant that you had power over it. Even today, naming implies both understanding and control. What, then, do people do about naming a God Who is beyond full understanding, certainly beyond control, and generally perceived to be far more powerful than puny humans? A longstanding Jewish tradition states that each name of God (like Ha-Rachaman, “the Merciful One”) refers to an aspect or quality of the Divine. The name defines the ways humans experience God rather than limiting God’s Unity. Most traditional Jews won’t write out the word “God,” so many Jewish books and periodicals print it “G-d.” Just as the four-letter name of God isn’t supposed to be pronounced, some Jews extend this restriction to writing names of God…

You might say that God has all names, so the simplest “name” of God in Jewish tradition is Ha-Shem (literally “The Name”). Many traditional Jews say Ha-Shem instead of any other name of God, except in the context of worship or group study. In the Jewish mystical tradition, God is often referred to as Ain Sof (“Without End”), though sometimes this is shortened simply to Ayin (“Not”) to indicate how far beyond words that Reality is.

The Shem Ha-M’forash (“The Ineffable Name”) is the Tetragrammaton, the name of four letters. This name of God is comprised of the Hebrew letters yod-hay-vav-hay (YHVH), and it’s never pronounced as written. Instead, the Jewish tradition teaches that anytime YHVH appears, it should be read Adonai (which actually means “Lord” or “my Lord”). However, it’s important to remember that the name that Adonai replaces doesn’t mean “Lord.” More importantly, no one knows how this word is actually supposed to be pronounced. Historically, YHVH was misread as “Jehovah,” and some scholars now think it may be read “Yahweh,” but even if it were, we think there is something sad about not honoring the intention of the tradition. This was to be the Name beyond pronouncing, to remind people that God is beyond the limitations implied in being named. The four-letter Name is a form of the Hebrew verb “to be” which signifies unlimited Being. That’s why we translate it as “the Eternal” or “Eternal One.”

The two most frequently used names for God are the unspeakable YHVH (usually translated “Lord”) and the word Elohim (usually translated “God”). What makes Elohim remarkable is that grammatically it’s the plural form of the noun. The singular Eloah is also translated “God,” but while you’d expect Elohim to be translated “Gods,” it never is when referring to the One. (There are actually a few places in the Bible where Elohim refers to the gods of other peoples.) Plus, Elohim almost always takes verbs and adjectives meant for a singular noun. What is going on here? One tradition teaches that Elohim is the One manifesting as the many—so it’s a plural expression that is still a Unity. In this sense, YHVH refers to the Totality (the transcendent, which contains everything), and Elohim refers to the Immanent, that Spark of Divinity which awakens within each and every expression of the One Being. It’s another way of reminding people that what they see as lots of individual forms (people, animals, plants, rocks, and so on) is, behind the scenes, all part of the One.”

~ Rabbi Ted Falcon, David Blatner, Judaism For Dummies

"And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob's hip became dislocated as he wrestled with him. And he (the angel) said, "Let me go, for dawn is breaking," but he (Jacob) said, "I will not let you go unless you have blessed me." (Genesis 32: 25-27)

This painting captures the struggle with the Divine as Jacob encounters the angel that embodies the spirit of Esau. Their confrontation is framed on one side by a golden angel with wings, and on the other by a dark figure with a sword. As well, there are suggested figures indicating different time frames in the night-long encounter. In the center, the darkness of the night is illuminated by rays of sunlight, showing that the man “wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”

Rashi explains that the man who wrestled with Jacob until daybreak was Esau’s guardian angel. The Hebrew word for wrestle, yaavak, comes from the root word avak, dust. We can feel the movement in paint capturing the opposing forces of light and dark, as the dust of the confrontation flies heavenward. The energetic feeling of their struggle is tempered by a sense of calm as Jacob emerges victorious, vanquishing the supernal creature who bestows on him the name Israel, which means “he who prevails over the Divine.”

~ Yoram Raanan