Weekly Thought From the Desk of Rabbi Allouche

HOW TO CONTROL OUR IMPULSES

What is your name?

Jacob, our forefather, would have had a tough time answering this simple question.

In this week's portion we read that, after wrestling with an angel, Jacob's name is changed to "Israel." Yet, after this name-change, the Torah, from time to time, still calls him "Jacob."

The same applies to the name of our nation. At times, the Torah calls the Jewish people, "the seed of Jacob"; other times, we are called "the children of Israel." So who are we? What is our real name?

The message is profound.

Every Jew has two identities. One the one hand, we are "Jacobs". We struggle, we fight and we are called to battle the evil "Esaus" of our lives, including our inner demons, impulsions, and temptations.

Life, as we all know it, is not smooth-sailing. There are ups and downs, highs and lows, and all our inner Jacob hopes for is to go "from stumble to stumble, with no loss of enthusiasm," as Winston Churchill once put it.

But we also have moments in which we are "Israels." These are the moments in which we connect to our deepest self, to assume our Divine roles and become G-d's beacons of light and bastions of hope in our dark and broken world.

To always be an “Israel,” is, perhaps, impossible. Most of us remain both Jacobs and Israels throughout our lives, alternating between these two identities.

But the goal is to have more "Israel" moments than "Jacob" moments. And the objective is to invest all of our energies and efforts toward digging deep beyond the outer, and sometimes, negative, perspectives of life, to unleash our soul, and all of its light; to actualize our infinite potential; to realize our G-d given talents and skills; and to engage in uninterrupted deeds of goodness and kindness, even when our Jacob-like mentality and mood may seek to disrupt us.

At times, we may see ourselves as struggling “Jacobs” destined to live a life of hardships, from within and from without. Our minds may then be conquered by despair. We may even say to ourselves, "this is the way we were born, and this is the way I will always be."But our confining Jacob-name can be altered; our narrow perspectives can be changed. And if we can just re-ignite our Israel, our flame of G-d within, and engage relentlessly in Mitzvahs, and in good deeds, we can rise beyond our all of life's challenges, and bask in the light of G-d and in the grace of His embrace.

So, have you connected to G-d yet today? Have you performed a Mitzvah? Have you become a true “Israel”?

Shabbat shalom and many, many blessings,

Rabbi Pinchas Allouche