1. AND A MAN FOUGHT WITH JACOB UNTIL THE MORNING \u2026 (32:25)<\/p>\n
According to Jewish mystical tradition, this was not an ordinary fight.<\/p>\n
Jacob\u2019s battle with the stranger is symbolic of an eternal struggle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about the forces that would destroy us. And our battle for survival.<\/p>\n
And the story has a powerful lesson.<\/p>\n
Because why attack Jacob?<\/p>\n
Why not Abraham? The first Jew. Or Isaac?<\/p>\n
Why Jacob?<\/p>\n
… In Jewish tradition, each of the forefathers represents something.<\/p>\n
Abraham represents Chessed. Acts of kindness.<\/p>\n
Isaac? Spirituality. Prayer.<\/p>\n
And Jacob \u2013 the one who \u2018dwelled in the tents\u2019 \u2013 represents the study of Torah.<\/p>\n
… And sometimes our enemies know us better than we know ourselves.<\/p>\n
Think about the former Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
How Jewish life was almost totally destroyed. In just seventy years.<\/p>\n
How?<\/p>\n
They closed all Jewish schools.<\/p>\n
\u2026 Yes, synagogues are important.<\/p>\n
But even well attended services can\u2019t guarantee Jewish survival.<\/p>\n
The younger generation won\u2019t understand. Won\u2019t be inspired.<\/p>\n
And they\u2019ll drift away.<\/p>\n
Same thing with chessed. Caring for the less fortunate.<\/p>\n
In Jewish life it\u2019s central.<\/p>\n
And Jews have always been in the forefront. Which is how it should be.<\/p>\n
But as important as chessed is, it also can\u2019t guarantee that our kids remain Jewish.<\/p>\n
No. The enemy attacked Jacob.<\/p>\n
Because Jacob represents the secret of Jewish continuity.<\/p>\n
Torah study. Jewish education.<\/p>\n
\u2026 And that\u2019s the key to Jewish survival.<\/p>\n
2. STORY OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n
It happened a number of years ago at a \u201cshiva\u201d house. A house of mourning.<\/p>\n
One of the visitors mentioned something he\u2019d noticed about the man who passed away.<\/p>\n
How every day, at a certain time, he would see him standing on the same street corner. Just standing there.<\/p>\n
He wondered why. And the family explained:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something our dad kept to himself. But now we can share it. You know, he was a holocaust survivor. He lost his entire family. Yet somehow, he survived and managed to start all over.<\/p>\n
\u2026 Well, it was on that street corner that he got his strength to continue. To rebuild.<\/p>\n
Because there are a number of Jewish day schools in this neighborhood. And dozens of school buses pass by each day.<\/p>\n
\u2026 Dad would just stand there and watch.<\/p>\n
He wanted to see hundreds of Jewish kids going to school. Learning Torah. And becoming proud, knowledgeable Jews.<\/p>\n
\u2026 It was his biggest pleasure in life.<\/p>\n
To him, it meant that there was a future for the Jewish People.<\/p>\n
And it gave him the strength to go on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. AND A MAN FOUGHT WITH JACOB UNTIL THE MORNING \u2026 (32:25) According to Jewish mystical tradition, this was not an ordinary fight. Jacob\u2019s battle with the stranger is symbolic of an eternal struggle. It\u2019s about the forces that would destroy us. And our battle for survival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-chicago-torah-network-shabbat-fax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1756,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions\/1756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}