Conflict and rivalry with one’s siblings is natural. Though many of us have been in fear of our siblings, I won’t ask how many of you have ever wanted to kill them!

In Vayishlach, Jacob, the son of Isaac, returns home with his wives, children and bounty to face his twin brother Esau after 20 years in exile. In their last meeting, Esau had threatened to kill Jacob when he stole their father’s blessing and manipulated his birthright.

Jacob is afraid to face his brother. Fearful of his brother’s revenge, he sends out his "angelic messengers" and they return with the grim news that Esau is headed in Jacob’s direction with 400 soldiers.

Reminding God of his promises, Jacob prays. He then sends ahead multiple gifts to Esau and strategically prepares for war by dividing his people and goods.

Jacob then takes his family across the Jabbok River and returns alone to the other side. At night, in his spiritual solitude, he wrestles with an angel until dawn and refuses to let him leave until the angel blesses him. During the struggle, Jacob is wounded in the leg, which becomes the basis for Jews not eating the thigh muscle of an animal. The angel says to him, you shall now be called Yisrael, Israel, (a combination in Hebrew of wrestling and God), "for you have wrestled with beings divine and human and have prevailed." Jacob declares that he has seen a divine being "face to face" and yet he lived!

In the morning, Jacob goes to face Esau, and miraculously, Esau kisses him and they both weep. Jacob begs Esau to keep all of the gifts he sent him and states that "seeing his face is like seeing the face of God." They reconcile and go their separate ways.

Rachel, Jacobs’s beloved wife, also wrestles with an angel; the angel of death. But the angel prevails as she dies after giving birth to Benjamin.

The encounter with the angel on the Jabbok River leaves Jacob limping and spiritually wounded. Though God once again renames Jacob "Israel", the Torah repeatedly calls him Jacob. As Jacob limps through life and faces challenges, he frequently is unable to reach his higher self of "Israel". He struggles to become "Israel" yet his transformation is not yet complete.