After seizing the blessings from his brother Esau, Jacob flees for his life to Haran, the home of his Uncle Laban. He was also instructed by his father to find a wife while he is there as well.

While in Haran waiting for his brother’s anger to subside, he marries the two daughters of Laban—Leah and Rachel. Without question, fear of his brother remains in the forefront of Jacob’s mind.

After building a family and working for Laban for many years, Jacob decides to leave Haran with his family. He then sends a messenger to his brother Esau hoping that after all these years they would be able to reconcile. The messenger returns with a scary report—-Esau and 400 armed men are on their way. Reconciliation does not appear imminent.

One evening, apparently the night before he was to meet his brother Esau, Jacob was left alone. The Torah tells us that “a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.” (Genesis 32:25) 

It is unclear from the text who was this man wrestling with Jacob. Was it a complete stranger? Was it an angel of God? Was it Esau’s guardian angel? Or perhaps it was Jacob confronting himself and his own feelings of guilt?

Leaving that aside, when the struggle is over, the mysterious assailant gives Jacob a new name. “He said, “No longer will it be said that your name is Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with the Divine and with man and you have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:29)

For the Hebrew reader, there is a powerful lesson in these words that can easily be overlooked if you only read a translation.

If I would ask a non-Hebrew reader what the word Israel means, the answer, based on the English reading of the verse would be “for you have striven with the Divine and with man and you have prevailed.” They would be confident in their answer, after all, isn’t that what the verse says?

Not exactly. 

If you read the verse in Hebrew, you understand quite easily what the word Israel means. The word in Hebrew for Israel is Yisrael and this is the key. The only words related to Yisrael in the verse are “you have striven with the Divine.”

In Hebrew, “you have striven with the Divine” is “sarita im E-lohim.” The word Yisrael is a contraction of that Hebrew phrase; yisra is connected to striven and el is a Divine name.

Why does Jacob get the name Yisrael which is related to the struggle, and not get a name related to the end of the verse where it says that he had prevailed? At the end of the day, Jacob had lasted the night and prevailed. Isn’t that far more significant than the struggle?

Sadly, we have been programmed to think that winning is the ultimate and that it is the whole reason for the struggle. Struggling in and of itself only has value if there is a victory at the end.

The Torah comes to teach us that this is not true. The emphasis on the struggle and the determination of Jacob to keep fighting is exactly the message. It is in the struggle that we develop strength of character, that we learn to persevere, to not give up, and to always work hard.

Yisrael is named after the struggle and not the victory to remind us that to perpetually strive for greatness is in fact the true victory.