Yakov as Peaceful Warrior

What does it mean to be a peaceful warrior?

At first glance these two words seem contradictory yet if we think more deeply into the the root of what makes us strong, (our vulnerability) what makes us the best fighters, (a desire for true peace) and what helps us to reach above ourselves, (being grounded) then perhaps the combination of these two words is not so strange after all. A peaceful warrior is someone who enters into battle open to reconciliation if that is truly available, but brave enough to take a stand if it is not. In my understanding, a peaceful warrior is a fighter who is centered and calm, flexible and adaptable and really wishes to hurt no living thing, but when his or her family and values, land and loves are threatened, they can be very focused in defending what is right and what is theirs.

In this week's Parsha our forefather Yakov reminds me of  the perfect example of what a  peaceful warrior truly is.

Yakov leaves Charan and the home of Lavan where he was successful in transforming the energy that existed there from energy that served selfish and material interests, to energy that fused the material and the spiritual in the service of Hashem. He leaves with 12 children and great material wealth, his abundance all devoted to the service of the ideals of the Torah, his children and wives  loyal to his beliefs and the wealth available for offerings and gifts to G-d as well as spreading light in the physical world....

and he now prepares to confront and attempt to elevate the energy of Esav.

The Torah tells us of the various different strategies Yakov employs in planning for this cosmic meeting. He sends angels (in the form of people as Esav would not have been able to engage with them in angelic form) with a message of reconciliation, he divides his family into two camps, (part of a war strategy that in the event of  violence,  at least one camp would escape Esav) he prays to Hashem to save him , (connects to his spiritual self) and he sends  a very large gift, (as Rashi explains, large enough to  amaze and fully satiate the eye of Esav) more effort at reconciliation and then perhaps without planning it at all, he is forced to do the most intense preparation of all, he fights with the angel of Esav. 

There are many different explanations of  the meaning of this encounter with the angel of Esav . Is the angel the externalization of his own inner conflict and fear in relation to Esav that he needs to confront? According to the Babylonian Talmud (Chullin 91a) the angel appeared in the guise of a man; one opinion is that this " man" was a pagan idol worshipper and most interesting another opinion suggests that the angel took the guise of a Torah sage! Does Yakov need to understand his own guilt and ambivalence regarding their past?  Does he need to come to grips  with what happened and  defeat the 'idea" of  what Esav represents in this world before he can face him in a calm and secure fashion in actuality? To truly defeat Esav, Yakov has to come to a point where he can reconcile himself to what happened regarding his and Esav's history, he needs to  understand why in fact it was G-d's will that he should have received the blessing of the first born when in fact Esav was really older and his father's intended recipient for the blessing? 

It seems that  it took all night for Yakov to work through all these inner struggles and at the end of it it.. the "man" was not able to overcome him, meaning possibly that Yakov was able to neutralize all the accusations thrown at him by both the secular voices in his head and the super halachic and  "super righteous"  voices telling him he had possibly sinned and had no Torah based claim to the blessings....so ultimately he does emerge victorious but he is damaged slightly. The significance of the damage is that Yakov is forever vulnerable in certain aspects of his mission, some doubt did lay it's seed within him  and this seed developed into fruition with the destruction of all that Yakov held dear generations later with  the destruction of the Temples on a date that has a Kabalistic connection to the site of the injury. 

Most important of all, Yakov emerges from his night of confrontation with something that adds a dimension to him for all time and becomes an aspect of the entire Jewish people.. Yakov becomes Yisroel! Yakov, who deals with things in a somewhat round about kind of way,  sometimes surreptitious and perhaps even devious, becomes Yisroel ,  Yashar-El... straight with Hashem, unapologetic, upfront and direct and then he names the place of the encounter Peni'el, (the face of G-d) he is ready for a face to face encounter with what ever !

Yakov struggled within himself to find his belief that ultimately he is the one to whom the blessings rightfully belong, and that he can walk tall and face anyone who may be an accuser , knowing that he is calm and centered within...peaceful and focused...this calmness and clarity has allowed him to see the face of Hashem hidden in all the details, and this calmness allows him to face Esav as a peaceful warrior!

The name Yakov implies a kind of struggle while the name Yisroel hints to a place beyond the struggle , a place of peacefulness and resolution. When Avram becomes Avraham his new name takes root and he is never again called Avram, however  Yaakov continues to be referred to by both names, he continues to have struggles in his life ( the loss of Yosef for over 20 years) being called by both names  even after he receives his name Yisroel.

May it be that the Children of Israel/Yisroel truly achieve a state of peace, within and without in the perfected world of the Messianic era and may it be soon in our day!!!