{"id":40228,"date":"2018-09-16T16:32:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T13:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=40228"},"modified":"2022-04-11T15:53:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T12:53:09","slug":"why-are-we-the-people-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-are-we-the-people-of-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are We the People of Israel?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[384,539,490,442,354],"acf":{"old_id":"40228","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"47","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"At the depths of Jacob\u2019s despair, he is lifted to the greatest heights of spirituality","content":"

Why is Jacob, i.e. Israel, the father of our people, the hero of our faith? <\/span><\/p>\n

The account of Jacob in the Torah seems to fall short, at least if we read the text literally. He has tense relationships with his family. In reply to Pharaoh he says of himself, \u201cThe days of my life have been few and hard\u201d (Gen. 47: 9). This is less than we might expect from a hero of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes Jacob unique is that he has his most intense encounters with God \u2013 they are the most dramatic in the whole book of Genesis \u2013 in the midst of the journey, alone, at night, far from home, fleeing from one danger to the next.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacob\u2019s meetings with angels are described by the verb which means \u201ca chance encounter\u201d, as if they took Jacob by surprise, which clearly they did. Jacob\u2019s most spiritual moments are ones he did not plan. He was thinking of other things, about what he was leaving behind and what lay ahead of him. He was, as it were, \u201csurprised by God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacob is someone with whom we can identify. We can feel his fear, understand his pain at the tensions in his family, and sympathise with his deep longing for a life of quietude and peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is not just that Jacob is the most human of the patriarchs but rather that at the depths of his despair he is lifted to the greatest heights of spirituality. He is the one who, at the very moments he feels most alone, discovers that he is not alone, that God is with him, that he is accompanied by angels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacob\u2019s message defines Jewish existence. It is our destiny to travel. Rare and brief have been our interludes of peace. But at the dark of night we have found ourselves lifted by a force of faith we did not know we had, surrounded by angels we did not know were there. If we walk in the way of Jacob, we too may find ourselves surprised by God.<\/span><\/p>\n

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