Yisrael (Jacob): We struggle with God and prevail.
The concept of struggling with God—and prevailing—is in our name, our history, our collective DNA, and in our very soul as a People. To think that we Jews are one thing—that we think alike, act alike, vote alike, live alike, or even die alike—is not the true picture of who we have been, who we are, and who we will become in the future.
Our collective name is B’nai Yisrael, the children of Israel. We are the spiritual descendants of Sarah and Abraham; Rebecca and Isaac; Leah, Rachel, and Jacob. The children of Israel, all tribes and generations, are like any other family: we will disagree, fight, estrange ourselves from one another, and we may not always heal the wounds inflicted upon each other.
But our definitive characteristic—struggling with God—means that we are inquisitive, that we constantly question what we and others do, we continue to explore our relationship to Adonai and our relationship to the concept of Jewish Peoplehood. In today’s world, it is even harder for us to NOT struggle with the realities we see in our everyday lives.
We can struggle with almost everything—especially with what we believe—but in the end, like Jacob, we must extend our arms openly to others and state clearly that we are still brothers and sisters, struggling together to make our world better.
It is my prayer that we prevail by walking hand in hand with each other despite and because of our differences, similarities, likes, and dislikes. Let us be partners with God in creating goodness and harmony.
— Cantor Nathan Lam