When Moses and the Hebrew people leave Egypt and wander for forty years on their way to the Promised Land, the Torah calls them “The Children of Israel.” Why the children of Israel? Why not the children of Abraham or the children of Moses, the liberator of the slaves? Why did tradition choose to call them “children of Israel?”

In the biblical account, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, as Breishit 32:24-29 describes: “So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of day. And when the man saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and Jacob’s thigh went out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, “Leave me alone, for the break of day is breaking.” And Jacob said to him, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And the man said to him, “What is your name?” And he said to him, “Jacob.” And the man said to him, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

The word Israel in Hebrew means “to wrestle with God.” Why call the Hebrews the children of Israel, the one who wrestled with God? With this, tradition suggests that to be truly descended from Israel, modern Jews must not assume that tradition demands submissive obedience. On the contrary, the name of the Jewish people comes from an ancestor who wrestled with God while on the road. Struggling on a journey is what the term “odyssey” means.

The importance of “struggling” is present in the life of the Jewish people from its beginnings. Forty years to cross a desert that anyone would have done in much less time is a clear example. What is the message? That the value is in the effort, in the struggle to arrive. The Torah is teaching us that the path to Judaism is one of effort and struggle. To imagine Judaism as something perfectly packaged and happily perennial, is to trivialize it. Nothing important in our own lives has come easy. Everything that has given us deep satisfaction has come through hard work and effort. Why should our own Judaism be any different?

True Judaism involves a passionate struggle and an honest search. It is about beginning that journey towards the Promised Land. It was started by the patriarch Abraham when God told him Lech Lecha, leave your house, and in the Torah it is continued by Moses with the departure from Egypt. Our tradition suggests that we are a people in constant search of the Promised Land, knowing that the most enriching part of our lives is the process of searching and not the joy of having reached the goal. The Gaon of Vilna, one of our great rabbis, was once asked if an angel were to come to reveal to him all the divine truth, would he accept it? He answered no, because life has more meaning and is richer if one has to fight for that truth on one’s own. Being human is perpetually asking questions, knowing that we will never be totally satisfied with the answer. Being Jewish involves striving to understand our place in the world, working to become more whole beings, and recognizing that the struggle to achieve it is more important than the final result. That is why we are the “Children of Israel, the fighters with God.”

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: God was not in the fire, the search for a spiritual Judaism by Rabbi Daniel Gordis.