Jacob Wrestles the Angel - Study in Psychoanalytic Midrash

7/29/2019 Jacob Wrestles the Angel - Study in Psychoanalytic Midrash

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International Journal of Transpersonal Studies106 Abramsky

his paper examines the Biblical gure o Jacob

and his transormation through the lens o

Midrash. It employs tools rom developmental

psychoanalysis, transpersonal psychology, Jewish

Kabbalah, and literary analysis to explore, ampliy, and

develop the major psychological themes inherent in this

legend.

Te essays structure reects the integrative work

o Ken Wilber (2000). He has argued that systems that

are diverse on the surace share the same underlying

metaphysical structure. All such systems see man asmoving through a series o stages beginning with the

primitive sensory motor stage o action, through the

more interiorized and mentalist stages o thought/eeling,

to the ultimate stage o spiritual presence and soul. Te

number and description o the stages dier somewhat

rom system to system, but all share these common

parameters describing a matter-to-spirit axis and man

evolving along that axis.

Te Hebrew Bible, the anakh, began as an oral

tradition. It wove together legends, olktales, poetry,

and ethical imperatives and passed this wisdom romgeneration to generation. Tese words were incorporated

into the abric o Hebrew culture as guidelines or both

ethical and spiritual practice. Tat culture was torn

asunder in 586 BCE by the invasion o the Babylonian

empire and the subsequent exile o the Jews to Babylon

or 70 years.

When the Jews returned to Israel, they began

to commit the orah and other holy books to writing.

Perhaps, given their experience, they knew their time as

an insulated and coherent culture had come to an end.

Te holy books would provide the cohesion that their

homeland no longer could aord them. Te compilation

process continued or over 500 years until a unied

canon was ormed called the anakh, or, to Christians,

the Old estament (Robinson, 2000).

Soon ater the canon was created, commentaries

on that canon began. Te commentaries on the moral,

ethical, and legal codes were called Midrash Halakah.

Midrash means to investigate or explore. Tese commen-taries largely interpreted the broad principles o the 613

mitzvot (Gods commandments) and applied them to

concrete situations, much as our contemporary courts

do today with congressional laws.

Te commentaries on the legends, poetry, and

olktales were labeledMidrash Aggada. Tese commen-

taries took a dierent orm and were designed or a

dierent purpose. Te purpose o Midrash Aggada was

or homiletic preaching, using such tales in sermons

or teachings to inspire and inorm. Midrash Halakah

appealed to the rational aspects o the mind whileMidrash Aggada related more to the emotive, creative,

and archetypal. Midrash Aggada used stories to ll in

gaps in the Biblical narrative, but it also interpreted

Biblical stories in a mythopoeia narrative. Tis provoked

the emotions and personal inspiration through tales

o aith, morality, and social compassion and oered

hope, guidance, and personal transormation to the

beleaguered.

Jacob Wrestles the Angel:A Study in Psychoanalytic Midrash

Michael Abramsky

University o Detroit Mercy

Detroit, MI, USA

Tis essay is a study in psychoanalytic Midrash: a literary and psychological meditation on the

Biblical story o Jacob. Te Hebrew verbal root rom which the term Midrash derives means to

investigate or explore. It is a genre o Biblical scholarship used to interpret the Bible in symbolic

and inspirational terms. Tis essay examines Jacob as he moves rom a character dominated by

sel-deeating neurosis through his transormation into a spiritual being and exemplar o principled

leadership. Insights rom Freudian and Jungian psychologies, mythology, and literary traditions are

used to describe and explain Jacobs character metamorphosis.

Keywords:psychoanalysis, midrash, transpersonal, Jacob, spirituality, religion, Jung

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(1), 2010, pp. 106-117


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International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 107Jacob Wrestles the Angel

Strack and Stemberger (1996) have written

extensively on the history o this orm o commentary

and analysis. Midrash Aggada is a literary, rather than

legal, orm o exegesis, reer and more characterized

by a playul element (p. 238). In contrast to the legal/

rationalist style o Midrash Halakah, Midrash Aggada

begins its analysis with holes in the Biblical narrative,

cryptic passages, or a problem suggested by inconsistency

or incomplete thought. Tis Biblical problem is then

answered through reerence to other sources, sometimes

a single source or sometimes like a nested Russian doll

each reerence leads to another reerence in a process most

similar to ree association. In the initial Midrashimthe

interpretation oten occurred through direct reerences

to other passages rom the Bible. For example, the

book o Chronicles was seen as a type o Midrash on

the books o Samuel and Kings. However, over time

Midrashic exegesis has evolved. Beginning with Biblical

narrative, Midrashim began to interpret these themes

through elaborate exposition, oten only loosely tied to

the original text and laced with maxims and parables. In

its later incarnations, Midrashim began to take Biblical

narrative, characters, and themes and explicate them

through numerous non-Biblical orms such as secular

literature and psychoanalysis.

Te growth o clinical psychoanalysis in the

20th century gave birth to numerous psychodynamic

interpretations o the Bible. A number o psychoanalytic

writers ocused on Biblical narrative, psychobiography

o Biblical characters, and psychological exposition o

traditional Biblical themes (e.g., Ellen & Rollins, 2004;

Freud, 1955; Jung, 2010; Rank, 2008; Zeligs, 1974).

Jacob, the third patriarch o the Old estament,

became the ocus o numerous psychoanalytic exegeses.

Zeligs (1974) oered a psychoanalytic explanation

o Jacobs striving, his eorts to ree himsel rom the

bonds o sibling rivalry, and the Oedipal dynamics o

his amily. Wiesel (1976) ocused on the mysterious

encounter between Jacob and the angel, which

transormed Jacob rom an isolate to a patriarch whoathered the people o Israel. Wink (2004) translated

Jacobs struggle to an intrapsychic plane, seeing this

protagonist as acing and struggling with personal ear

and his abyss o pain (p. 12). Sanord (1981), utilizing

a Jungian perspective, analyzed Gods orce in Jacobs

personal-spiritual growth. Kille (2004) examined the

Jacob myth in its actual historical context as well as

Jacobs individuation process, rom sel-preoccupation

to Gods prophet. Finally, Zornberg (1995) combined

psychoanalytic concepts, literary allusions, and Biblical

exegesis to examine Jacobs story. She saw Jacob as an

inauthentic character, a trickster, an unormed creature

alienated rom God. She described his evolution as a

movement to authenticity and sincerity, qualities that

bring him within the spirit o God and evolve him to

patriarchal status.

Pre-Liminal Stage

he anthropologist Victor urner (1967) developed atripartite system to outline the stages o growth inheroic myths and anthropological studies o institutional

and personal transormation. In a somewhat more com-

plex scheme, Joseph Campbell (1949) has outlined similar

stages in his hero mythology. According to their schema,

Jacob, as the Biblical story opens, is in a pre-liminal stage.

He is a man o the mundane world subject to the usual

desires o power, greed, ignorance, and lust.

Te pre-liminal stage nds Jacob as an ordinary

man, imbued with conicts. Jacobs birth establishes

the earthly conict he aces. Jacob was a twin, and his

brother Esau was born rst: then his brother came

out, his hand grasping Esaus heel, and they called him

Jacob (Alter, 2004, p. 30).

Te metaphor o grasping the heel denes

Jacobs most primitive, neurotic struggle. Te heel (akev

in Hebrew, which is one o the etymological hooks or

the HebrewYaakovor Jacob) is the back o the oot.

Zornberg (1995) drew nuanced meaning rom

this metaphor. o attack the heel is to come rom behind,

to be sneaky, to get ones way through deception or

trickery. Tis modus operandi, according to Zornberg,

reects Jacobs lack o an inherent identity, a missing

essential sel-image due to being born second. Without

such an inherent identity, which his brother Esau has by

virtue o being the rst-born and heir to the kingdom,

Jacob denes himsel only through his rivalry with his

well-dened sibling. Jacob is dominated by envy. Envy

is a regressive psychological state where one covets what

another has and resents those who have what is desired.It is a violation o one o the en Commandments and

a source o psychic imbalance dominated by hostility

toward others, paired with a compulsive dissatisaction

and degradation or ones own accomplishments or

status. Interpersonally, it maniests itsel in conicts

with the envied person and a competitive desire to have

what others are entitled to by virtue o birth or hard

work.


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Te theme o envy repeats itsel in two more

vignettes rom Jacobs lie. In the rst, Esau a hunter

comes home amished. Jacob bribes the slow-witted Esau

with a bowl o lentils in exchange or Esaus birthright.

I Jacob was not chosen to be the primary son, he would

trick his way into it. Later when their ather Isaac, now

blind, orders his son Esau to hunt game and to use it

to make a east or him, a second maniestation o envy

occurs. Jacob comes to his ather pretending to be Esau

and tricks his ather into giving him the blessing meant

or his brother.

Rebekah, Jacobs mother, osters the sibling

rivalry, by conniving to ensure that Jacob gets the

blessings. She promotes manipulation by urging

Jacob to take Esaus rightul heritage. In doing so,

she encourages triangulation by setting Jacob against

his ather and brother. Jacobs sel-image is promoted

through these Oedipal dynamics, underscoring the

character traits o rivalry and deception. Victory means

deeating the brother and taking the place o his own

ather.

Jacobs early lie is thus dominated by eorts

to usurp his brother and to move into a place o

primogenitor. Te law o primogenitor ruled in the

Middle East (Plaut, 2005), meaning that the rst-born

son, Esau, would receive all properties and goods and

would become head o the amily with the younger sibling

getting nothing. Such conicts oster the development

o a deceptive personal core. He envies Esaus rst-born

status and the material and psychological rewards it

brings. Guided by envy, he uses trickery to achieve his

ends.

Te British psychoanalyst Melanie Klein (2002)

conceptualized envy as a psychological phenomenon.

According to Klein, the potentia l or envy develops at

one o the early psychosocial stages and is oten ed by

sibling rivalry. Among siblings, a triangle will develop

with these siblings competing or the praise and aection

o the parent. Te natural competitive atmosphere oten

lends itsel to the development o envy on the part othe later-born sibling with deep antagonisms toward

the avorite and eorts to get adulation rom a parent.

Jungian psychology views conicts such as

Jacobs through an archetypal lens. Jacobs behavior is a

maniestation o the trickster, an immature masculine

archetype o the shadow system (Moore & Gillette,

1990). Singer (1994) cal led the shadow the inerior part

o the personality, which cannot be expressed directly.

Te repression o the shadow into the unconscious causes

it to be splintered o and then maniested in action. Te

complement to this shadow is the precocious child or

a boy (Moore & Gillette, 1990, p. 27).

Te mature masculine archetype o this

dynamic is the magician, the archetype o awareness

and insight, knowledge o the hidden and the magical

(Moore & Gillette, 1990). Te unction o this

archetypal wisdom is to disentangle the subtle, the

unconscious, and mysterious in order to make necessary

lie decisions. Whether these lie decisions are positive

and whether they reach out to others constructively

depends on resolving the shadow complex. Te mature

qualities o the magician archetype are those proound

insights into the hidden nature o the world, clarity

as to ones own motives, and the ability to access lie

energy in the service o growth. However, when the

shadow component dominates, these powers are used

to manipulate, place obstacles in the paths o others,

and are destructive to sel and others.

Te trickster dominates Jacob. He is cerebral,

clever, and goal directed. He is aware o the railties

o others. Whether he will use his power in a positive

or negative way is still an open question. Whether

he moves rom the boy psychology o the primitive

trickster to the man psychology o the wise magician is

unsettled during the rst phase o the Biblical narrative

o Jacob.

Zornberg (1995), utilizing a more traditional

Biblical analysis, underscored that at this stage Jacob is

inauthentic. She noted in addition to the etymological

connection to heel, the name Yaakov also relates

to akov, meaning crooked or indirect, suggesting a

position equivalent to an idol worshiper: someone who

is unconnected with an authentic God, a pretender

who is not grounded in true spiritua l belies and who is

sel deceptive, and thereore alienated rom his creator

as well as his authentic soul. She described Jacob as

having an identity crisis and being torn between his

own uncontrollable desires, which maniest themselvesin deception or gain, and Gods ratzon or ultimate

purpose or him. His actions alienate him rom God.

Rather than accepting who he has been chosen to be,

a reection o Gods will, and using his considerable

skills to be the best he can be, he tries to be what he is

not. Tus, his actions do not elevate his soul and bring

him closer to God but reinorce evil, the yetzer hara

(evil inclination) putting distance between him and his


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God. God is hidden rom Jacob as Jacobs egoic needs

control his actions, eectively blotting out Gods light

or purpose or him.

Te Yiddish concept obshertor predestination

(ate) amplies this perspective on Gods will as maniested

in man. Te Hebrew literature uses this concept o ate

dierently than it is used in the Greek literature. Te

Greeks cast ate as the tragic end. Ultimately, ate lures

the characters o Greek classics toward sel-destruction

(Schwartz & Kaplan, 2004). In the Jewish liturgy,

bshert involves bringing the will or ratzon (desire, lie

energy) into line with the ratzon o God (obedience,

submission; Zornberg, 1995). Each man is created with

Gods purpose. Trough his own choices and mistakes,

he ultimately learns that purpose. Te conicts o the

lower stages block Gods light according to Kabbalistic

thought and thus block man rom recognizing his God-

given purpose. However, conicts and even tragedy may

eventually open a mans heart to the ultimate vision o

who he is and who God has chosen him to be. Tis is

climbing the ladder rom the darkness o egoic conicts

to the realm o purpose and meaning. Tis is the

evolution o the soul.

raditional Kabbalistic imagery uses a ree

o Lie to describe this process. Te ree reaches rom

heaven to earth. Gods light shines down touching

the upper branches rst, and these branches represent

our highest soul traits (midot): those traits closest

to God. At the earthly site dense vegetative layers o

unconscious conicts, ignorance, emotional complexes

and socialization, those ego processes arthest away rom

Gods enlightenment, block His light (Halevi, 1986). It

is only through the reeing o these earthly and personal

concerns that man ascends the tree o lie to transpersonal

realms and ultimately to devukut or cleaving to God.

Such is not yet the case or Jacob. All developmental

systems, regardless o idiom, see him, by virtue o his

emotional conict, at the lowest stage o psychological

and spiritual evolution.

Liminal Stage

he liminal stage reers to a threshold. It is the riteo passage where the protagonist must strugglewith who he is and who he may become. At this point,

his world (the pre-liminal) has collapsed. His sense

o identity has dissolved. His lie is ambiguous and

indeterminate. However, the point o crisis has also

made him psychologically open, open to a new identity.

ypically, this stage is uid, lled with difculties, small

successes and ailures. Ambiguity reigns until resolution

occurs.

Jacobs transormation begins, as it does in

most hero myths, with a journey (Campbell, 1949).

Te journey is a passage toward transormation, a rite

o passage. passage. Ater deceiving his brother Esau,

the hunter, earing or his lie, Jacob ees abandoning

community and amily. He journeys to his Uncle Laban

in an attempt to escape Esaus murderous wrath. On

this physical journey, he stops to rest or the night. He

places his head on a stone or a headrest. In his sleep,

he experiences a dream: loa ladder was set on the

ground, with its top reaching to heaven, and loangels

o God going up and down on it (Plaut, 2005, p. 195;

Genesis 28:10).

Te dream sets the stage or transormation.

First, it makes Jacob aware o choice. Just as the

messengers o God travel up and down, so Jacob too

can ascend to the highest o heights or remain mired

in the earthly deceits, which have characterized his

development. God shows Jacob possibilities. He may

become a landowner and his seed will ather a nation, a

promise God also made to Abraham in Genesis 15:4-5,

or he can ail to take his place in his historic lineage.

Te dream also reects the twin dynamics

o ascent and descent, with the complementary

processes o moving upward with our material lives and

transorming into Gods aspirations and Gods light

moving downward to enlighten us. It reects movement

rom our lower sel to our higher sel, rom our conicted

ego qualities to midot, those soul qualities closest to the

divine (Morinis, 2007).

Te Mussar tradition, a rationalist Jewish

psychological perspective sees man as moving toward

wholeness (shlemut), which is synonymous with the

concept o holiness. According to this tradition, God has

only planted seeds or potential. Man is born incomplete

and must complete the work o his own creation. Te

great Mussar teacher, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (as

cited in Morinis, 2007) elaborated:God is certainly capable o making people, and

all creation, absolutely complete. Furthermore, it

would have made much more sense or Him to have

done so, because insoar as He himsel is perect in

every way, it is tting that His works should also be

perect. But in his great wisdom he ruled it better

to leave to people the completion o their own


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creation. So he cut short His own trait o perection

and out o His greatness and goodness withheld

Himsel rom His greatness in these creations and

made creations incomplete. Tis was the way He

wanted them made, according to his sublime plan.

(p. 14)

Te symbolism o the ladder with messengers o

God running up and down reveals the choices Jacob can

make. God oers the possibilities (up or down), but the

direction o Jacobs evolution is chosen by the actions he

takes. He may elevate himsel through righteous intent

(yetzer hatov) or sink down under the weight o the

yetzer ha ra, the inherent evil instinct. Te liminal stage

is characterized by the dialectical interchange between

these two orces. At this point, the winner is unclear.

Te glimpse o the divine, which sets up Jacobs

choice, is also allegorized in numerous Midrashim.

Schwartz (2004) has compiled Jewish myths, derived

rom several ancient Midrashim which center on the

dream incident (Rashi on Genesis 28:11, Genesis Rabbah

68:10, Midrash ehillim 91:7). All share the vision that

Jacobs dream emanated rom a sacred place. One drash

(abbreviation or Midrash) states that the place o the

dream was Mount Mariah, where Abraham took Isaac

to be sacriced (the ultimate allegory o complete aith

in the divine) and the uture site o the emple Mount

in Jerusalem. Another states that Jacob saw the ery ace

o God at the top o the ladderyet another that Jacobs

vision entailed the birth o the uture sacred emple.

Te emple was lled with Gods earthly presence, the

Shekhinah, a mirrored reection o Gods holy emple

in heaven (Schwartz, 2004). All reect Jacobs rst

moment o enlightenment to his spiritual and historical

possibilities. Indeed, the Lord is in this place, and I did

not know how earsome is this place! Tis can be but

the house o God and this is the gate o the heavens

(Genesis 28:17).

Kille (2004), writing rom a Jungian perspective,

saw Jacobs ight as the rst step in the individuationprocess. He is cut o rom the known world o amily

and community and nds himsel in the wilderness. Te

sacred place o the dream is a boundary, geographical

and psychological. o cross that boundary, a protective

gure and guide is necessary. God provides this womb

o incubation and insight. Te dream is an ascent into

heaven, a vision and alternative state o consciousness

necessary to make his lie transition. For Jungians,

it represents the birth o the Sel, the transpersonal

consciousness, which may evolve out o the ego, the

individual and personal consciousness. Te ladder dream

shows possible growth or decline based on what choices

Jacob may make (Stevens, 1983).

Te interace between spiritual evolution and

individuation is reected in some o the archetypal

symbolism associated with the dream-place. Te orah

emphasizes that prior to the dream Jacob sleeps resting

his head on a stone that he gathered. Subsequent to the

dream, he consecrates the stones with oil to mark it as

holy place (Genesis 28:18). Von Franz (1964) has pointed

out that stones were oten used to mark places o worship

due to their permanence and solidity. Tus, the placing

and consecrating o the stone suggests a beginning: the

beginning o the oundation o Gods temple and the

beginning o Jacobs transormation.

Stones, however, are also a symbol or the Sel,

which in Jungian psychology is the transormational

aspect o personality (von Franz, 1964). In Jungian

psychology, there is a dierentiation between the ego

and the Sel. Te ego is the I, the purely personal. It

is generated by our unique biological inheritance and

individual socialization experiences. Te ego is the stu

rom which Freudian psychology is made. Te Sel is

the bridge between the personal and transpersonal. In

addition to personal history, it is ormed by our collective

and universal history as a species and a people. Te Sel

is dominated by purpose, as well as by collective and

universal meaning. Te Sel, as an experience, is capable

o higher levels o consciousness, which are universal:

dreams, symbols, meditative states, and complete ego

loss.

Te Sel has the potential to guide us into our

higher levels o being. In viewing the Sel as one o several

stages through which psychological and transpersonal

development ensues (Wilber, 1986, 2000), the lowest level

o Sel entails both personal and transpersonal elements.

It grows out o the ego, and egoic elements remain at

this lowest level. Tese may maniest themselves inmeditative states or in intensive prayer, which require the

ego unctions o will and practice to enter. Once there,

we transcend ego-sel. Our ordinary ego surrenders at

least momentarily, and we touch a more egoless domain.

We move toward becoming pure observation, and non-

reactivity (Engler, 2003). Te next level is that o the

transpersonal. Wilber (2000) divided the transpersonal

stage into both soul and spirit. Both o these subdivisions


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represent a urther loosening between the subject-object

relationship and a graduated movement away rom ego

unctions. Te lower level o soul is best represented in

dreams, but also in literary symbols and characters such

as those, like Jacob, who populate the orah. In Jewish

mystical thought the seroto Kabbalah are transcendent

qualities given literary expression in orah (Addison,

2001). Tis is the archetypal level, which Jung thought

contained universal symbols or pure orms. Wilber

(2000) theorized that the highest transpersonal level is

that o spirit, o ego-less-ness or the presence o subject

but no object. It is ormless. It is the realm o no sel.

Tis state is maniest in deep sleep but also represented

in the mystical traditions: nirvanain the Vedic tradition

and KeterorAyin (concealed no-thingness) in Kabbalah

(Weiss, 2005). In contrast to the ego (the I), the Sel

bridges the axis between man and God, between person

and other, between personal and transpersonal, between

the mentally mundane and the spirit (Wilber, 2000).

In Jungian psychology, as well as spiritual

traditions (Morinis, 2007), the ocus on ego or I is

an impediment to spiritual evolution. Te more our ego

identies with a situation (e.g., I am jealous over what

Esau has) the less energy we have toward the development

o spirit. Spiritual development ocuses on touching the

larger and universal aspects o our lie and our unique

purpose in this schema.

At this dream point, Jacob also gains a

perspective on the covenant, the contract with God that

appears with other patriarchsAbraham and Moses

and that signies the undamental interactive nature o

Judaism. It means a questioning dialogue between man

and God or, rom a psychological perspective, mans

internal dialogue, which aims or clarity o purpose.

God, in ullling his part o the covenant, has promised

generativity to Jacob, through a marriage, through

children, through becoming a patriarch, and ultimately

in athering the nation o Israel. It is unclear what Jacob

must do or God as his part o the contract. Tis has

not yet been revealed. Man must struggle with GodGod in him, God outsideto see his chosen path or

purpose and to align his ratzon with that o God or he

will remain alienated.

In the sacred heros journey, Campbell (1949)

reerred to events such as Jacobs dream as the crossing

o a threshold, a nascent movement to a new phase. In

this case, it represents a religious transormation with

Jacobs stone setting the oundation or the Hebrew

emple and a personal transormation rom an egoic to

a transpersonal state.

Ater the prophetic dream, Jacob returns to the

mundane world and is challenged by his own desires.

He approaches the home o his Uncle Laban and sees

Labans second daughter, Rachel, bringing sheep to the

water. Tey instantly all in love, and Jacob asks or

her hand in marriage. Laban appears overjoyed. In a

visionary statement, characterized by a double entendre,

which oreshadows later mutual deceptions, he tells

Jacob, Indeed, you are my bone and esh (Genesis

29:14). Jacob agrees to work or Laban or seven years

in exchange or Rachels hand. When his labor is over,

Laban instead gives Jacob his oldest daughter, Leah, as

his bride. Te trickster has been tricked. Laban and Jacob

are truly both o the same bone and esh o chicanery.

Jacob works another seven years to secure

Rachel and marries her, but she is barren and cannot

provide him with children. Leah is ertile and provides

him with six children. Jacob is despondent. He loves

Rachel but desires the children Leah gives him. Tere

is also a rivalry between Leah and Rachel. Leah eels

unloved and is desperate or Jacobs love. Rachel is loved

but denied the git o enabling her husband to ulll the

command to be ruitul and multiply (Genesis 1:28).

Each is denied their desire, each envious o what the other

has. Jacob is caught in the middle eeling helpless.

Finally, Jacob decides to leaves the house o

Laban and become independent. He takes his wives and

children, livestock, and retinue with him. He barters with

Laban or nal payment, his well-deserved share o the

herds, and his wives. By now, he had worked or Laban

or 20 years. However, he tricks Laban to maximize his

personal gain through an act o chicanery, and thus, he

gains wealth but has allen back into the world o deceit,

drawing anger and opprobrium rom Labans amily.

Despite suering due to his past deceptions, Jacob

remains the archetypal trickster. Where has his insight

gone? Has he allen o the ladder into the depths?

Tese themesdeception, sibling rivalry, andreusal to accept the rules o primogenitorcreate

intergenerational conict and resonate rom earlier

times. o mix cultural contexts, they represent a karmic

principle. Jacobs early deceptions now resonate or him.

He is caught in a web o his own making. What comes

around goes around.

In summarizing ancient Buddhist texts Koller

and Koller, (1991, pp. 233-239) sawdependent origination


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as meaning all actions have a cause, and all causes have

consequences. For some acts we pay in the present, or

some we pay in the uture, or some acts we pay in other

lives, but our lie always reects our choices. Jacob must

pay or his deceptions; and unless he transorms himsel,

he will remain on the great wheel o lie with the same

themes recurring.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, Freud

(2009) discussed the repetition compulsion. According

to psychoanalytic theory, xations or unresolved

conicts rom earlier stages repeat themselves in uture

interactions. For Jacob, these themes originally generated

in his nuclear amily come back to rob him o happiness.

His own deceptions with brother and ather are turned

back on him by Labans deception. His inability to

ollow the rules concerning the rights and duties o the

rst born with Esau repeat with Rachel and Leah. His

sibling rivalry with Esau resonates in the sibling rivalry

between Leah and Rachel. Still he does not learn and

instead responds to Labans deceit with deceiving Laban

about the division o the herd.

Once a psychological dynamic becomes

entrenched, it repeats itselad innitum. Buddhists reer

to this principle as dukka or being stuck on the great

wheel o lie, which carries us round and round in circles.

Psychoanalysis sees the repetition compulsion. Spiritual

psychologies such as that o Jung see such conicts as

xations compromising our evolution to higher states o

promise and potential. Kabbalists see such venal actions

as interering with Gods light and thus our own upward

movement in respect to the highest evolution o the

neshamah, the pure and holy soul (Weiss, 2005).

Like an actor rom Greek tragedy, Jacobs

strivings lead to his own destruction. Schwartz and

Kaplan (2004) commented that the Freudian view is

colored by Greek tragedy, a view o man sel-destructing

with no redemption. While true, the theoretical schema

outlined in this paper suggests that such dynamics only

dominate the lower worlds o mans existence. In these

worlds, lie patterns are circular and repetitive. Tere isno exit. One cannot escape by repeating old patterns.

One can only escape by entering a new world, by

transcendence, by leaving the egoic world behind, and

entering the world o non-egoic purpose.

Te transpersonal world is the world o higher

purpose and meaning. In Judaism, reaching into this

world is translated into ratzon, bringing ones purpose

in line with Gods. For Jacob to escape this wheel o

repetition, he must not simply become more clever, but

he must enter a dierent realm o consciousness and

existence.

Tis liminal stage is represented by a series o

trials and tribulations. ypically, the hero tries to grow

by using his wiles or simply becoming more perect in

the way he expresses his aws, but in doing so, he is

doomed to repeat his lie tragedies. Te grasping o the

ego continues, with the same themes o ailure repeating.

However, learning does occur gradually, and the hero

starts to give up the old ways and to surrender to a new

realm o meaning.

Jacob takes his wives and 11 children and ees.

He tries another escape, exiting the community to resolve

his problems, another ailed attempt to deal with issues

by running. By this time, Esau has become a powerul

ruler o the kingdom. He is looking or Jacob to exact

revenge. Jacob is ordered by God to return to Haran, the

scene o his crimes, where Esau is now King. Jacob tries

to placate Esau by oering part o his wealth while still

holding back part. A trickle o deception still occurs.

However, there is a subtle change maniesting.

In the orah text, Jacob begins to reer to himsel as

Esaus servant (Genesis 32:18-20) and Esau as Lord

Esau (v. 4). He is beginning to accept his role as the

second son without resentment. Tis acceptance is

predicated on the act that Jacob, through struggle and

conict, is on the brink o a true spiritual awakening. He

is on the cusp o superiority in his personal development.

Trough struggle he has transcended the earthly laws o

primogenitor and the cluster o envy and competition

that goes with it. Te signicance is unmistakable. It

was Gods will that Esau be the rst-born, the societa l

laws o primogenitor reinorced this. However, Jacob

would not accept the place God had chosen or him. He

attempted to best his brother in a deceptive way, to deny

his own place and, thus, Gods will. Now, he begins

to align his will with that o God. He accepts Gods

command to return. In spite o personal danger, he

shows aith by obeying and trusting God. He venturesinto his destiny to be rst, but he does so by both his

spiritual evolution and through honest orthright action.

His destiny was to be superior, to berstin his spiritual

evolution, not in the earthly structure o near-Eastern

society. He is becoming his own person ullling his

unique lie purpose.

Esau marshals 400 men against Jacob. Jacob

crosses the river to meet Esau, and this Rubicon


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crossing marks the nal transition into the post-liminal

stage. Spending the dark night o his soul waiting to

see whether Esau will orgive him or destroy him, he

is approached by a man, and they wrestle until dawn.

Tey wrestle to a draw; and as the light enters, the man

states he must leave. Jacob will not let go until the man

blesses him. Te stranger, an angel or emissary o God,

does this by changing Jacobs named to Israel, which

means, he who struggles with God. Tus, Jacob nally

transitions rom a deceiver to holy man who will ather

the people o Israel and their perpetual struggle with

their relationship with God. Te stranger is an angel,

Gods emissary, representing Gods will (Schwartz,

2004).

Jacobs struggle with the angel provides

the ultimate transormation. It is one o the richest

metaphors o the Bible. It entails numerous levels

o meanings, all echoing transormation. Te act o

wrestling is an undoing and a transormation o Jacobs

past relationship to Esau. At one level o meaning the

angel represents Esau. Jacobs deeats o Esau have been

accomplished in the past through chicanery. Now Jacob

commits to ace Esau/angel squarelyto enter into

manly combat and to become Esaus equal legitimately.

Jacob has shed deception as a way to handle his desires.

He has realized both his own strength and the integrity

o winning on merit. Deeating the angel through

direct combat is a reworking o his earlier battles with

Esau, done with Jacobs newound power and sense o

integrity.

Jacob also obtains a blessing rom his opponent

through will and determination, undoing the blessing

through deception he got rom his own ather. Jacob uses

his strength, talents, and tenacity to obtain legitimately

what he got beore through deception. Tis is genuine

transormation, not the pseudo transormation gained

through guile.

Jacob aces his ate through aith. He ollows

Gods wish to return to Haran, alone to ace Esaus

wrath and his 400 soldiers. God o my ather Abrahamand God o my ather Isaac! Lord who has said to me,

Return to your land and your birthplace and I will dea l

well with you (Genesis 32:10). He joins the same aith

in Gods wisdom as the other patriarchs. Personal ear

is transcended by seeing purpose and meaning through

ollowing God.

Psychoanalysis speaks o object relationships

(Fairbairn, 1981). Tis reers to our intra-psychic

organization. Our mind contains images o sel, others,

and o the relationship between sel and others. Tus,

we do not real ly relate to another person. According to

analytic theory, we relate to the mental representation o

that person, which is called an object. Wrestling with the

angel changes these intra-psychic object relations. It is

equivalent to a proound insight in psychoanalysis, which

transorms and creates a new psychological dynamic.

Jacob truly becomes an adult, one who can ace obstacles

squarely and conront the difculties in a orthright

manner. Te inner relationship with Esau becomes one

o equalspeerseach with a unique set o skills. Envy

is thwarted by Jacob becoming his own person. He has

his own unique qualities to cherish and develop. Envy

and acquisition by deception are replaced with internal

strength, direction, and personal integrity.

Wink (2004), echoing depth psychology, also

saw the wrestling as an internalized dynamic. He saw

Jacob wrestling with his shadow, the repressed and

negative side o his character. Te shadow side must

be made maniest and acknowledged in order to be

conquered and integrated into the personality. Jacob

aces his own treachery, deceit, and dishonesty; and

in doing so, he conquers this split-o side to become

whole. Jacob overcomes his ear o Esau, which is the

motive root o his deceptive behavior.

Resolution o the personal neurosis o envy

opens the door to a spiritual transormation. Te major

spiritual transormative vehicle in Judaic thought is

repentance or teshuvah. Luz (1987) has pointed out that

teshuvah has two complementary meanings. It derives

rom the verb to return or to going back to the straight

path, to ones origin, or to an authentic way o lie ater a

period o absence. Te second meaning derives rom the

verb to reply: a response to a call originating outside o

ones sel. eshuvah embraces both meanings: a return

to ones source or essence and a divine call. It is central

in Judaic thought, which sees the relationship between

man and God as ethical in nature, a partnership where

both God and man have a role in bringing the world toperection (tikkun olam).

When there is an ethical break and the covenant

between God and man is shattered, teshuva repairs it.

From the perspective o Biblical history, it creates a

return to the ideal statethe Garden o Edenthat

only existed prior to sin. Kabbalists speak o tikkun

olam or repair o the world. Ethical breaches shatter the

spiritual world, and teshuvah restores it. Trough the


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act o teshuvah, there is individual repair and a return

to the spirit o God as maniested in the ideals o the

Jewish community. Jacobs story could be the template

or the process o teshuvah.Practically, teshuvahentails three processes (Luz,

1987). Te rst is insight or recognition o wrongdoing.

Jacob had to recognize that his actions toward Esau were

wrong. Tis involved insight and action, knowing and

doing. Rather than simply nding a more rened means

o deception or a continued eort to get what Esau has,

Jacob acknowledges the God-given relationship and his

own assigned role in it. Tis is constructive repentance,

entailing real change.

eshuvah also is the recognition that we have

broken our covenant with God. Egoic actions block

Gods light, and we all rom His grace. Repentance

entails recognition that there are higher and lower worlds.

Our inauthentic actions mean we have been living at

the lowest level. eshuvah opens us up to Gods higher

mission or us, to our true authenticity. Te second step

is compensation. Undoing the wrong means making the

victim whole. Obviously one cannot reverse a temporal

action, but compensation, both psychological and

material, can be made. Jacob both apologizes to Esau

and attempts to give him a portion o the wealth he has

accumulated.

Tirdly, the oender must loose the desire, the

seed, which began the destructive process. Learning must

occur, so that the same actions do not repeat. Sometimes

this learning occurs as a peak experience (Maslow,

1998), but more oten it entails a series o practices

that counter the yetzer ha ra. For Jacob, this meant

both the acceptance o Esau as his athers heir and the

establishment o his own unique identity as a patriarch.

For example, in the Mussar tradition meditation, prayer,

creative visualization, chanting, and other techniques

are utilized to develop counter-habits which neutralize

and then transorm dysunctional desires.

In respect to the narrative, Jacob compensates

Esau, humbles himsel beore Esaus might: bowed tothe ground seven times (Genesis 33.3). He aces possible

death rom Esau and his army but nally meets him

ace to ace. Reconciliation takes place. Each brother

recognizes their dierences but is content with who

they are. Each has a dierent lie mission, but both are

carrying out their unique Godly purpose.

Te universal meaning o this transormative

process is mapped and illustrated in the Jewish Kabbalah .

Kabbalah (to receive) sees the world as the recipient o

Gods light. As people, we are the containers, the vessels

o that light. While God is innite, we are not, so we

must contain and channel his divine light.

Te Kabbalistic developmental ladder is

called the ree o Lie. It is the lattice on which the

soul ascends like ivy growing up a trellis. Te ree has

10 branches, which are not wood or ber but points

or wheels o light called the serot. Each serah is a

contained maniestation o Gods light or essence.

Tey are Gods attributes through which He conducts

the world. Gods light is strongest at the top, which

represents the highest human values, those closest to

God, such as Wisdom. Te lower branches are closest

to earth and arthest rom Godly inusion. Tese are

the incarnate action patterns. Spiritual development

involves the integration o the lower branches with

the upper branches. Te complete man unctions on

all planes with each branch orming a supportive and

cooperative relationship with all others.

Te ten serot are in three groupings. Te

supernal triangle consists o those qualities closest to

God, the esoteric teachings. Te lowest triad is the

practical serot o action, Gods expression in the way

we behave, the earthly emanations. Te middle triad,

divine emotion, includes those human qualities o the

heart, which express Gods perections in thought and

eeling (Halevi, 1986).

Te middle sphere o divine emotion is

represented by the three patriarchal archetypes o the

Bible. Abraham is the archetype o compassion. His

son Isaac is the archetype o justice. Jacob is the perect

balance, integrating justice and compassion, and called

ieret, which is usually translated as beauty (Addison,

2001).

Structurally, ieret is the bridge between Gods

maniestation in the earthly world and His heavenly

domain. Tereore, Jacob represents the transition

between our maniest actions and the higher realms,

those closest to Gods light. When there is perectbalance, Gods light reaches down and guides our

earthly actions, and our earthly actions reach up to the

divine (such as our day-to-day actions being guided by

Gods wisdom). Jacob is thus the transormative gure,

a gatekeeper to allow the integration o higher and lower

worlds. Tis is a Kabbalistic meaning o wrestling.

According to Ariel (2006), the transormative

nature o Jacob creates souls and then transmits these


10/12


souls to the serahoMalkhut (earthly maniestation)

bringing them orth into the world. Jacob represents the

transition between the earthly maniestation o man and

the development o his soul, imbuing earthly pursuits

with spiritual purpose and transorming spiritual energy

into our daily actions.

Jungian psychology regards mans development

through what Hillman (1999) called the acorn theory.

Te acorn carries within it the blueprint or the oak tree.

A pattern o development is inherent in mans nature

and its sequence is unvarying. Te stages o mans

development are each archetypal, a pure orm, but

the particular expression o the orm will dier rom

individual to individual. Te our archetypal stages o

mans development are the primitive man, the romantic,

the keeper o the word, and the embodiment o wisdom

(van Franz, 1964). Te movement rom stage to stage

is temporally acilitated by conicts. Jacobs odyssey

begins as the primitive man and moves through the

romantic or questing phase, where he attempts to anchor

his earthly lie. He then becomes a ather, businessman,

and leader o his own clan. Te struggle with the angel

transports him into a man o wisdom, who then carries

within him the seed to oster a new nation built upon

the covenant with God.

Jung (1960) might have viewed the struggle

with the angel as dream phenomena. Jung saw dreams

as prophetic, as arcane puzzles which had to be

deciphered, but once solved, as vehicles o inspiration

that reveal the lie purpose to the dreamer. His view

o dreams was teleological. Jungs dream theory is in

this way similar to the way dreams are portrayed in the

Bible, such as Josephs dreams predicting his brothers

murderous envy toward him and the amine that was

lurking in Egypts uture. Freudian dream psychology

is reductionist, relating dreams to unresolved childhood

conicts. Jung elt dreams revealed our cosmic purpose.

Jacobs struggle points to his l ie mission. It is a symbol

o transormation, rom one who is preoccupied with

the mundane aspects o lie to one who carries the torcho spirituality. It shows a willingness to engage with

God, to question and struggle to nd his place in the

pantheon where man and God merge in devekut.

Jacobs wrestling match can be viewed through

numerous idioms: traditional Hebraic, Jungian, and

transpersonal. All, however, stress the structural

transormation rom ego-centered conict to higher

states o universal purpose and meaning.

Post-Liminal Stage

he post-liminal stage reers to a new level ointegration. It represents the synthesis and incor-poration o previous conicts into a new, more adaptive

dynamic. As with all stage theories (Erikson, 1980;

urner, 1967; Wilber, 1986) this incorporative stage

represents a higher level o hierarchic integration, where

older conicts are resolved and transormed into a more

exible and evolved way o organizing ones world.

In transpersonal psychology there in a

general evolution rom ego dominated stage(s) to the

transpersonal stage. In respect to the story o Jacob the

hero evolves rom a character dominated by neurotic

envy to a transpersonal stage wherein he recognizes

and accepts Gods purpose or him; he moves rom

an ego dominated stage characterized by anxiety ed

deception to one o aith where he trusts Gods wishes

and His protective hand. Trough acing conicts and

the resolution o such conicts, the individual obtains a

higher level o spiritual and psychological being. Jacobs

story is a paradigm o this dialectical evolution.

Jacob became one o the great patriarchs o the

Bible. His 12 sons became the 12 tribes o Israel, the

oundation o the Jewish state. His narrative eventually

led the Jews to Egypt through his youngest son Joseph.

Tis is where the central historical and religious motis

o Judaismoppression and exoduswere born. Tese

motis have resonated throughout the lie o that people.

His path is exemplary o how Gods chosen ones grow in

understanding o the divine element in their lives (Plaut,

2005).

Although the other patriarchs, Abraham and

Isaac, had their personal struggles, Jacobs conicts were

more complex and arduous. He had to learn and earn his

basic lie purpose through struggle and adversity. God,

rom Jacobss birth on, determined that Jacob would be

the patriarch o the Hebrew people, not Esau. However,

Jacob had to discover his place. He had to transorm

beore he could understand the mission God had chosen

or him:

wo peoples are in your belly,

wo nations shall branch o rom each other

As they emerge rom your womb.

One people shall prevail over the other,

Te elder shall serve the younger

(Plaut, 2005, p. 173, Genesis 25:22).


11/12


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About the Author

Michael Abramsky has both an MA and PhD in ClinicalPsychology. He is a Diplomate o the American Boardo Proessional Psychology in both Forensic and ClinicalPsychology. He has authored over twenty papers onpsychology and the law and clinical pathology. He is alsoa published poet. Currently he is completing an MA inreligious studies with a concentration in ComparativeReligions. He maintains an active clinical practice inBirmingham, Michigan.

About the Journal

Te International Journal o ranspersonal Studies is apeer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It ispublished by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as theofcial publication o the International ranspersonalAssociation. Te journal is available online at www.transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www.

lulu.com (search or IJS).

Documents

Jacob Wrestles the Angel - Study in Psychoanalytic Midrash