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| Jacob, the Angel
and Zionism by Professor Michael Rosenak The author, of the Melton Center School of Education, Hebrew University, is the veteran member of the Melitz Board, now retiring after years of service. The following is a brief excerpt from his book, Tree of Life, Tree of Knowledge. One of the most powerful images in the Bible, elaborated in Midrash commentary, is that of Jacob wrestling on the borders of Eretz Yisrael with a man identified with his enemy and brother, Esau. It was a battle of life and death, waged throughout a dark night. Jacob was strengthened by his consciousness of being chosen; he was vulnerable because of his feelings of unease, for he had stolen the birthright. Mysteriously his conviction that it belonged to him, that God wished him to have it, did not completely reassure him. And yet Jacob's strength, miraculously stored up through many years of exile and deprivation, enabled him to persevere through the night. At dawn, his brother and adversary blessed him, and Jacob understood that, in asserting himself, he had fought God Himself and it was He who was now blessing him. Zionism is engaged in Jacob's battle. Zionism's belief is that, at dawn, we shall be blessed, and that God will account it a virtue that after having prayed, we wrestled. * * * Please help Melitz continue to provide programs
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