Musar for Megillah 35:17

Isaac slowed the expansion of the influence of the tree of knowledge by means of the birth of the twins Jacob and Esau. This was an indication that even evil can be rehabilitated. Our sages phrased it thus: Esau's head reposes within the lap of Isaac; such is the mystery of how evil can be rehabilitated. The secret of how this happens was alluded to by our sages' explanation that the reason the pig is called חזיר, (from the root חזר to return) is that in the future it will restore the crown to its Master, as we know from Ovadiah 1,21 ועלו מושיעין בהר ציון … והיתה לה' המלוכה, "For the saviours will march up Mount Zion… and the kingdom will be G–d's." (cf. details in Kohelet Rabbah end section 1). All of these events will occur at the time when G–d will "slaughter" the angel of death. This is the plain meaning of Isaiah 25,8 בלע המות לנצח, "He will destroy death forever." This angel of death will then remain as a regular angel, since all the negative forces we know as קליפות are after all an outgrowth of a holy source. This is what was alluded to in the quote that the head of Esau reposes in Isaac's lap. When the head expands it becomes a symbol of impurity. The very name סמ-אל Samael, (Satan) reflects the dual nature of evil. On the one hand the name א-ל, G–d, is part of that definition, on the other hand the word סם represents the סם המות, lethal poison. In such a future the סם aspect of Satan/ Samael will be abolished. We, the Jewish nation however, are called by the name of G–d. Our sages interpreted Genesis 33,20 ויקרא לו א-ל א-לוהי ישראל, "He (G–d) called him (Jacob) El the G–d of Israel" (Megillah 18a, proving that the word לו could not refer to the altar Jacob had built). We have an allusion to this in Genesis 11,10 אלה תולדת שם, suggesting that we, his descendants, are all a "full name," not half a name such as סמא-ל.

A slightly different version in Shemot Rabbah 42,6 attributes the reason that G–d used the term "your people" when speaking to Moses to the fact that it was the mixed multitude who initiated the sin of the golden calf. Moses had taken those people out of Egypt without having consulted G–d. When G–d spoke about wiping out the people in 32,10, He had these people in mind. Thereupon Moses began pleading with G–d in 32,11 asking G–d why He would be angry at the people of Israel, i.e. "Your people whom You have taken out of Egypt?" Moses implied that G–d did indeed have reason to be extremely angry at the mixed multitude, i.e. Moses' people. G–d then admitted that Moses had a point, and this is the meaning of 32,14 that G–d renounced His plans to punish His own people so severely. After reading both versions of the Midrashim it is clear that the Jewish people were still regarded as G–d's people even after they had participated in the sin of the golden calf. Not only that, but they bear the imprint of G–d's "seal" upon themselves as did their patriarch Jacob whom G–d had called “א-ל אלוקי ישראל, "the Lord of Israel called him א-ל." Moses, by contrast, was called א-לוהים. This whole reciprocal attachment, דבקות, is due to the intermediary Torah. It was the Torah which cleansed Israel from the residual pollutant of the original serpent when the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai.

Another peculiarity is found when the angel tells Jacob that in the future (at Bet El in 35, 9) he will be known as "Israel," suggesting that at this time he was still only "Jacob" (32, 29). We find, however, that in 33, 20 and 34,7 Jacob is already described as ישראל. Rashi comments on the former, that the name ישראל did not refer to the altar he had built, but that he employed this name as being his own. He built the altar to the G–d א-ל who had named him ישראל. This is strange since the Torah did not yet report G–d as having changed Jacob's name. This commentary does not take into consideration that the Torah reports the change of Jacob's name to be effective only after chapter 35, 10. If we accept the interpretation of the Talmud in Megillah 18, that we learn from this verse that G–d i.e. אל-הי ישראל, called Jacob “א-ל,” we have no problem: Jacob had already been renamed at the time the Torah was recorded in writing. We have to solve the difficulty in Rashi's commentary by saying that when the Torah reported Jacob as arriving שגם, "whole" in body, spirit and economic strength in 33, 18, that his thigh joint had healed, that he was free from both Esau and Laban, which were the troubles that Samael had referred to when he acknowledged that Jacob had fought man and G–d and prevailed When Jacob assumed the title "Israel" for himself, this was not an act of arrogance on his part, but on the contrary, it was an acknowledgment to G–d that his achievements were not due to his righteousness and physical prowess but to the blessing he had received from the angel (who represented Samael and who at one time had been the agent of forces called קליפה). Having said all this, this still leaves us with the problem why Jacob was referred to as ישראל, in connection with the rape of Dinah in 34, 7 where the foul deed was described as something that must not be perpetrated "in Israel."

"There he praised the Almighty G–d of Israel." According to the view of Rabbi Eleazar in Megillah 18, this verse tells us that G–d called Jacob “א-ל”; his reasoning is as follows: – If this were an appellation Jacob had given, then the Torah should have written ויקרא לו יעקב א-ל אלוקי ישראל. The Torah wanted to go on record that Jacob represents only the “א-ל” part of “סמאל” . When we view the struggle between יעקב, who was all א-ל, and Samael, who was only partially א-ל, it is natural that Jacob should have prevailed, i.e. כי שרית עם אלוקים ועם אנשים ותוכל, "You have contended with G–d and with men and have prevailed." This description of a dual encounter refers to the struggle with the terrestrial force of Esau on the one hand, and with the Celestial forces of Esau, i.e. Samael, on the other. The name ישראל fittingly reflects this dual struggle. It is a name conferred upon Jacob by Samael himself, an acknowledgment that Jacob was the bearer of Isaac's blessings.