This week’s Parashah meets us in a place we know well, in the struggle, in the uncertainty, and in the moments when we hold on to God because nothing else makes sense. Jacob is alone, preparing to meet Esau, the brother who once vowed to kill him. In that moment of fear and vulnerability, a heavenly being appears and wrestles with him until dawn. Jacob holds on with everything in him. He wrestles without even knowing that the One he is clinging to is God Himself. Yet, he demands a blessing:

I will not let You go unless You bless me.
Genesis 32:26

It is in the struggle, not after it, that God gives him a new name: Israel.

Israel is a name born out of wrestling. It is not the name of a people who walk an easy path. It is the name of a people who refuse to let go of God, even with a limp, even at daybreak, even when they do not fully understand the journey ahead.

And the truth is, each of us knows this place. We all have seasons when we wrestle in the dark, when we hold on to God with trembling hands, and when we wait for the first light of daybreak. Jacob’s story is not just Israel’s story; it is ours as well.

But it is important to be clear; this story was first and foremost given to Jacob and to his physical descendants. The personal lessons we draw from it never replace or diminish the unique covenant that God made with Israel as a people.

This account feels painfully relevant today. Throughout our history, we have wrestled with God’s promises and with the pressures of the world around us. Today is no different. Even after the horrors of October 7th, the brutality inflicted on babies, children, mothers, fathers, and grandparents by a demonic group whose very name in Hebrew means violence, “hamas”, we still find ourselves needing to justify our right to defend our people.

If this attack had taken place in any other country, no one would question their right to fight back. Yet with Israel, the standards suddenly change. This kind of double standard cannot be explained by politics alone. It exposes a spiritual hatred that has followed Jacob’s children since the beginning.

The spiritual foundations of this conflict are far older than modern history. Genesis tells us:

Now this is the genealogy of Esau, that is, Edom.
Genesis 36:1

A genealogy is more than a list of names. It is memory passed down, a legacy. Esau’s resentment, wounded pride, and sense of injustice did not disappear. They were carried through generations of Edomites. Obadiah exposes this generational wound:

Because of violence (hamas), to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.
Obadiah 1:10

But it was not only the violence. It was their silence.

On the day you stood aloof, you were as one of them.
Do not gloat over your brother’s day, do not rejoice over the sons of Judah.
Obadiah 1:11-12

When I read these verses, I cannot ignore how closely they reflect what we still see today - celebrations after terror attacks, candy passed out in the streets, rejoicing over Jewish suffering. It is the same ancient evil spirit revealing itself again.

These actions are wicked and must be condemned, but we must also understand the deeper reality. This is spiritual blindness, rooted in generations of hatred. And if the root is spiritual, then the answer must also be spiritual.

Obadiah also speaks to something many of us feel deeply: the abandonment of Israel by nations we once counted as allies.

For the day of the Lord is near for all nations, as you have done, it will be done to you.
Obadiah 1:15

He describes a cup that the nations will drink. Scripture gives us two connected images.

1. The Cup of Reeling

I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples.
Zechariah 12:2

Those who try to pressure Israel or divide Jerusalem lose their stability.

2. The Cup of God’s Wrath

Take this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations drink…
Jeremiah 25:15–16

Every empire that rose against Israel eventually drank this cup, not because Israel was strong enough, but because God is faithful.

As I have shared before, if we let the world define truth for us, we will inherit its confusion. But when we anchor ourselves in God’s Word, especially in days when lies are packaged as compassion and reality is rewritten, we see clearly again. His Word reveals what is true, even when the world insists on another story.

The struggle we see is not only military or political. It is spiritual. It began in a womb, continued through generations, and now plays out on our screens and in our streets. But the same Scriptures that describe the struggle also promise the end of it.

The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
Obadiah 1:21

The story does not end because Israel is clever or strong. It ends because God keeps His promises, even when the nations do not.

Hold on to the truth, stand for the truth, speak the truth with courage and humility.
And do not let go of the God who named us Israel.

Shabbat Shalom,
Moran