Parshat Vayishlach

What’s in a name?!

This verse raises a particular difficulty, even if we overlook the blessing that Jacob had already received after his night of struggle (see 32,29). Look just four verses later and Jacob is still called Jacob and not Yisrael! The Talmud (Berachot 13a) picks up on this point, writing that the name Jacob is not discarded but rather that Yisrael is a superior name.

Rashi, the premier Torah commentator, commentating on our verse, is also sensitive to this and explains that the word Ya’akov comes from the root ‘akeiv’ meaning a heel, while the word Yisrael comes from the root ‘sar’ which means a prince or ruler.

The other commentators have much to say on this verse, but in our brief space we will look at the explanation of the great Rabbi Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk (20^th century), in his work ‘Meshech Chochma’. ‘Meshech Chochma’ writes that the name Jacob is used when the context is talking about Jacob himself, while the name Yisrael is used when talking about Jacob or his sons in a national context - different situations demand a name appropriate to the situation. Hence, Jacob’s children are called ‘Bnei Yisrael’, including in the verse earlier on in the Sidra when the prohibition – one of the 613 mitzvot - against eating the inner and outer sinew of an animal’s thigh is taught (32,33).