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Genesis 32:3-36:43
Yakov, weighed down with all that he had
won,
Returned to face the brother he had
fled.
He prayed and planned to do what could
be done
With his G-d’s promised help. But his
soul’s dread
Informed him that between G-d and the
world
There yawns a crack where promises can
drop;
And so when he went back across the
ford
For some small jar he had not yet
picked up,
Night fell upon him, and with night the
obscure
Assailant who left him named and lame.
Was the man his doubt? his brother’s
hate’s fury,
Deeper than any wrong? But the day
came,
And Israel looked into G-d’s face, the
resplendent
Answer to the messages Yakov sent.
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... and I must still wrestle with Jacob’s angels
-- Paul Celan, “Black Snowflakes”
All those he loved had gone across the ford
Into the land, but he remained alone
On the other side, for reasons of his own,
Perhaps: some small things he could not afford
To leave, he thought. Then in the gloaming toward
Him came some dread in the likeness of a man –
He asked its name but it would give him none,
Not for itself. But after they had warred
Nightlong, beneath the dawn-star’s ray it gave
Him, him a name. And then was called away –
To sing heaven’s morning-song, the sages tell.
So, they surmised, he won the power to save
His people. That which strove with him till day
They called Satan, transformed to Mikhael.
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