Parshas Vayishlach
1. Concerning what is written, "ולא יקרא שמך עוד יעקב כי אם ישראל יהיה שמך" ("Your name shall no longer be called Yaakov, but Yisrael shall be your name"), the Gemara says1: one who calls Avraham "Avram" transgresses the statement "ולא יקרא עוד שמך אברם" ("Your name shall no longer be called Avram") — your name will no longer be called Avram. The Gemara asks: if so, then one who calls Yaakov by the name Yaakov, and not Yisrael, should likewise transgress the statement "Your name shall no longer be called Yaakov." The Gemara answers that the name Yaakov is different from the name Avram: once G‑d gave Avram the name Avraham, from then on the Torah calls him only by the name Avraham; with the name Yaakov, however, it is different — after G‑d gave Yaakov the name Yisrael, the Torah calls him by the name Yaakov as well.
We need to understand: why indeed, after he is already called by the name Yisrael, is he later called by the name Yaakov as well?
Chassidus explains2 that the two names Yaakov and Yisrael denote two levels in the service of G‑d, both of which must be present in every Jew: there are times when a Jew must carry out the service of "Yaakov," and there are times when he must carry out the service of "Yisrael." Although Yisrael is a name of distinction that denotes a higher level, the service of Yaakov must nevertheless be present as well.
2. The difference between the two levels of Yaakov and Yisrael: "Yaakov" indicates that Yitzchak's blessings came to him "בעקבה וברמיה" ("through supplanting and guile")3 — he outwitted Esav and obtained Yitzchak's blessings away from him; while "Yisrael" points to a higher level, where the blessings come to him not by way of guile, but "בשררה וגילוי פנים" ("with dominion and openly")4.
"מעשה אבות סימן לבנים" ("The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children")5. Since a verse never departs from its plain meaning, the blessings were for material matters — "מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ וגו׳" ("Of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth...")6 — and in order to receive these blessings, Rivkah and Yaakov exerted themselves with self-sacrifice and carried out various acts of guile; and Yaakov had to put on the garments of Nimrod*, "שהמריד את כל העולם כולו עליו במלכותו" ("who incited the whole world to rebel against Him during his reign")*, in order to extract the sparks found in material things and elevate them to holiness.
From this there is a directive for us in our service: a Jew's approach to eating, drinking and similar material matters is by way of guile7. The way of a trickster is not to reveal his own intention. He seemingly goes along with his opponent in the direction the other wants, but when it comes to the crux of the matter, the trickster then does as he wishes — the very opposite of what the opponent wants. And this is how a Jew must approach material matters: outwardly he is seemingly occupied with materiality — he eats and drinks, he does business, and so on — but he does it for the sake of Heaven, and he is not after the materiality at all. He clothes himself in the "garments of Esav," but he does all these material things with an inner intention: to extract the sparks from the material things and elevate them to holiness.
The service of Yisrael, however, is different: the blessings "of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth..." came to him "with dominion and openly." He does not need to conceal the G‑dly intention within material things, because materiality does not wage war with him and does not hide from him the G‑dliness that is within it. This is similar to the way a Jew eats the Shabbos meal8, through which itself he fulfills a mitzvah — not like the work of refinement (avodas habirurim) of the six weekdays, where the eating is entirely for the sake of Heaven by way of guile, with the intention of elevating it to holiness — rather, in the materiality itself holiness is revealed.
This is also the meaning of what is written regarding the giving of the name Yisrael: "כי שרית עם אלקים ועם אנשים ותוכל" ("For you have striven with Elokim and with men, and have prevailed"). "Elokim," which here means angels9, refers in general to the concealment of the seventy ministering angels (sarim) above, through whom passes the flow of influence to physical and material things10, which obscure G‑dliness. From the concealment of "Elokim" comes the greater concealment of "men" — lowly people who mock a Jew who observes Torah and mitzvos11. As we plainly see, the concealment of "men" is harder to withstand than the concealment of "Elokim," of materiality itself. That is why the first seif of all four parts of the Shulchan Aruch is "שלא להתבייש מפני בני אדם המלעיגים" ("not to be ashamed before people who mock") — not to be ashamed before the scoffers — because this is the foundation of the entire service: to break through the concealment of G‑dliness.
The distinction of Yisrael — "For you have striven with Elokim and with men" — means that he is a master (sar) and proprietor over the concealment of "Elokim" and of "men." That is to say, for the level of "Yisrael" they are no obstruction at all. Not only do they stop waging war with him, but more than that, they even give him their consent to the blessings12 — not only did he defeat "שרו של עשו" ("the guardian angel of Esav"), but that angel even blessed him. As it is written13: "גם אויביו ישלים אתו" ("Even his enemies will make peace with him") — to the point that even the greatest "enemy," the "primordial serpent," who is the root of all sins and all enemies, not only does not oppose him, but "makes peace with him" and even helps him.
3. This is also the difference between Yaakov and Yisrael that is discussed in Likkutei Torah14, based on the verse15: "לא הביט און ביעקב ולא ראה עמל בישראל" ("He has not beheld iniquity in Yaakov, nor has He seen toil in Yisrael"). At the level of Yaakov there is no "iniquity" (he has no sin and is whole in thought, speech and action), but "toil" he does have: he must toil so as not to have any "iniquity." For he has concealments and hiddenness that he must overcome, which is why he is called "יעקב עבדי" ("Yaakov My servant")16 — from the term avodah, service and effort — to refine the animal soul (only that he has no "iniquity," since in the end he strengthens himself and defeats the evil inclination). But regarding the level of Yisrael it is written, "nor has He seen toil in Yisrael": he does not need to toil at all or wage war with the evil inclination, because "you have striven with Elokim and with men" — he has already mastered and nullified all the concealments and hiddenness of G‑dliness. Therefore the service of "Yisrael" is not in the manner of war (with the side opposite holiness); rather, his entire service is to ascend ever higher, from elevation to elevation, within the levels of holiness itself — "ילכו מחיל אל חיל" ("They go from strength to strength").
4. My father-in-law, the Rebbe, related that the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, once, in the middle of a farbrengen, jumped up onto the table in great emotion and said: "מה לי קטלה כולה" ("What is it to me — killing it entirely") (having killed the evil inclination altogether [OCR unclear — the rest of this section is missing from the source] ... "killing it entirely," a new manner of life comes about — a pleasant life and a life of delight.
5. The two levels in the manner of service of Yaakov and Yisrael depend on the two levels of the G‑dly soul. Yaakov is "י׳ עקב" ("yud-heel")19: only the "heel," the lower level of the soul, shines in him. Therefore it is possible for his body and animal soul to obscure the light of the soul, and he must wage war with them. But Yisrael is "לי ראש" ("a head to Me")20: the "head" of the soul shines in him, so he need not have any wars — "For you have striven with Elokim and with men, and have prevailed."
In general, Yisrael is the level of tzaddikim, and Yaakov is the level of the beinonim, "מדת כל אדם" ("the measure of every man")21. In particular, within the measure of every man itself there is, as mentioned above, the level of Yaakov — the service of the weekdays — and the level of Yisrael — the service of Shabbos. Even among tzaddikim themselves there are the two levels of Yisrael and Yaakov (each according to their standing). This is understood from the Gemara — that even after Yaakov (also as an individual) was called Yisrael, he is at times called Yaakov as well (also as an individual).
And since the level of Yaakov exists in every Jew — both in "every man," the beinonim, and in tzaddikim — therefore even after Yaakov attained the level of being called by the name Yisrael, "הדר אהדריה קרא" ("Scripture went back and called him [Yaakov]"), so that the name Yaakov also remains, because later too the service of Yaakov exists.
6. As was said earlier — "He has not beheld iniquity in Yaakov." Although "toil" does exist at the level of Yaakov, since the war with the evil inclination is hard labor and is bound up with danger, he nevertheless has the power to win the war and to be clean of every "iniquity." For every Jew is "נצר מטעי מעשה ידי" ("the branch of My planting, the work of My hands"), and is "חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש" ("truly a part of G‑d above") (he is, as it were, a part of the Al-mighty). And just as it is impossible for anyone, G‑d forbid, to hold sway over the Al-mighty, so, as it were, no one has any dominion over a Jewish soul unless he himself wants it. A Jew always has the power to win the war; and more than that, he has the assurance that he will indeed, in the end, actually win the war: "לא ידח ממנו נדח" ("No one banished will remain banished from Him")22 (no Jew will, G‑d forbid, be cast away from the Al-mighty); "כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא" ("All Israel have a share in the World to Come")23.
This assurance, too (like all matters in Torah), bears on actual service now. The assurance one has that in the end one will win the war must add strength and joy in doing the service; and this joy itself helps bring about the victory, and also makes it come sooner. As in the saying of my father-in-law, the Rebbe24: "A soldier... although he is going into a place of danger, goes with a melody of joy... he goes with joy, and that is what makes him a victor."
7. Therefore on Motzaei Shabbos we say "אל תירא עבדי יעקב וכו׳" ("Fear not, My servant Yaakov...") — as explained there in Likkutei Torah25 — because on Shabbos Jews are at the level of "Yisrael," so they do not then need to come to the service and labor of refining the birurim. But on Motzaei Shabbos, when one ...
[The source page ends here, in the middle of section 7; the rest of this Sicha, including its closing line, is not in this source.]
Notes
1) Berachos 13a (that he transgresses a positive commandment, or a prohibition). Yerushalmi, and Bereishis Rabbah 46:8 (Rabbi Levi said: a positive commandment and a prohibition. And so rules the Magen Avraham at the end of siman 156 — unlike several works which wrote that this is merely an asmachta [a supporting allusion]. And apparently this is also the reading in our Talmud, even regarding a prohibition. Note also Zohar Chadash (Chukas 51d): "Whoever calls him Avram blemishes his place, for it is called a positive commandment and a prohibition." This is not the place to elaborate).
2) See Likkutei Torah, the discourses beginning "Lo Hibit" and "Mi Manah," and elsewhere; the discourse beginning "Mah Tovu" (in Sefer HaMaamarim — Yiddish, p. 122). — And note Chizkuni, Lech Lecha 17:5.
3) Rashi, Vayishlach 32:29.
4) See above, Parshas Lech Lecha, and the sources cited there.
5) Midrash d'Rabbi Eliezer (מדר״א), ch. 24; Bereishis Rabbah 48:16 [OCR reads פסמ״ח]. Cited in Rashi, Toldos 26:15.
6) Eruvin 53a. Rashi, Noach 10:8.
* [The starred notes are not in the OCR source.]
7) See also the discourse beginning "Padah V'Shalom," 5703.
8) See Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Chayei Sarah; the discourse beginning "V'Hu Omed," 5663, and the sources cited there.
9) Targum Yonasan. Chullin 92a.
10) See Iggeres HaKodesh, ch. 25 (139b).
11) See the discourse beginning "Ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu Ba BiTrunya" (in Sefer HaMaamarim — Yiddish).
12) Note Shabbos (119b): that right at the start of Shabbos, on the Eve of Shabbos, the evil angel answers "Amen."
13) Mishlei 16:7. And Bereishis Rabbah, beginning of Parshas Vayeira: "This is the serpent." And according to what is explained in Or HaTorah on the verse "ואיבה אשית" ("And I will put enmity") (47b).
14) Parshas Balak, 72b.
15) Bamidbar 23:21.
16) Yeshayahu 46:1 [as printed in the OCR source].
17–18) [These notes, and the passage of the main text that referred to them, are missing from the OCR source.]
19) Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Vayeitzei, and elsewhere.
20) Likkutei Torah, Shelach 48b.
21) Tanya, ch. 14.
22) II Shmuel 14:14 (with a change of wording). The Alter Rebbe's Hilchos Talmud Torah, ch. 4, seif 3. Tanya, end of ch. 39.
23) Sanhedrin, beginning of the chapter [OCR reads רפ״א].
24) [The text of this note is not in the OCR source.]
25) [The text of this note is not in the OCR source.]
Key Lesson
Every Jew has two modes of service: "Yaakov," who must struggle with and outwit the concealment found in material things, and "Yisrael," for whom that concealment has no hold at all and holiness is openly revealed. Even after reaching the level of "Yisrael," the service of "Yaakov" remains, and because every Jew is truly a part of G‑d above, he can go into this struggle with confidence and joy, knowing that he will surely win.