Commentaire sur La Genèse 35:10

לא יקרא שמך עוד יעקב THY NAME SHALL NOT BE CALLED ANY MORE JACOB— which means a man who comes as a lurker and trickster, but it shall be Israel (ישראל), which signifies Prince and Chief.

THY NAME IS JACOB. G-d is saying, “Now you are still called Jacob even though the lord of Esau has changed your name¹⁹⁷Above, 32:29. See Rashi, ibid., Verse 24, that it was “the lord of Esau” who strove with Jacob and then finally blessed him. because he was not sent to you to change your name. However, from now on, thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name,” this being the meaning of the end of the verse, and He called his name Israel. It may be that it alludes to the fact that He called his name Israel in addition to the name Jacob, but not that it be forbidden for him to be called Jacob.

שמך יעקב, at this time I make your name Yaakov an eternal name, i.e. after all the other nations will have perished you alone will remain. This will give a positive meaning to the word עקב, “heel,” meaning something that will survive all that precedes it. Compare Jeremiah 46,28 כי אעשה כלה בכל הגוים ואותך לא אעשה כלה, “when I shall put an end to all the nations, I will not put an end to you.

לא יקרא שמך יעקב כי אם ישראל, "You will not be called Jacob but Israel, etc." We need to understand the difference between when G'd renamed Abram and when he renamed Jacob. Berachot 13 states that anyone who calls Abraham Abram nowadays violates a positive commandment, whereas it is permissible to refer to Jacob as either Jacob or Israel. Although our rabbis in the Talmud there point out that the Torah itself refers to Israel as Jacob after G'd renamed him, in view of the fact that we ignore the words לא יקרא when it comes to Jacob, why should the same rule not apply to Abraham and we should have the choice of calling him by either name?

שמך יעקב, “your name is Yaakov.” Your name is still Yaakov even though the celestial representative of Esau had changed it to “Yisrael,” it had not been that angel’s mission to change your name. However, from now on your name will be Yisrael. The meaning of the apparent repetition ויקרא שמו ישראל, “He called his name “Yisrael,” is hat this was an additional name and it was not forbidden to call him Yaakov.

A term denoting a person who comes in ambush and deceit... מארב means as in וארב וקם עליו, “And will ambush him, arising against him” (Devarim 19:11).

לא יקרא עוד שמך יעקב כי אם ישראל יהיה שמך. This means that G’d gave him an additional name to his existing one. The word עוד means the same as בלבד, exclusively. G’d informed Yaakov that henceforth he would have two names, used alternatively. We find something similar in Jeremiah 3,16 לא יאמרו עוד ארון ברית ה', where it also means that henceforth the Holy Ark would not only be referred to as ארון ברית ה'. What was meant was that henceforth the site of the Holy Ark would not be the exclusive site for the Presence of the Shechinah, but that the entire city of Jerusalem would have a similarly holy status. This is the meaning of: בעת היא יראו לירשלים כסא ה' “at such a time they will refer to the city of Jerusalem as G’d’s throne” (verse 17 in the above mentioned chapter in Jeremiah). This then is the meaning of כי אם ישראל יהיה שמך,i. Sometimes the name Yaakov would be used, other times the name Yisrael. Proof that this is correct is found in Isaiah 48,12 where the prophet uses both names simultaneously, שמע אלי יעקב וישראל מקוראי, as well as in Jeremiah 46,28 אל תירא עבדי יעקב ואל תחת ישראל, “do not fear My servant Yaakov, nor be afraid Yisrael.” (quoted by Rabbeinu Bachya)

,לא יקרא שמך עוד יעקב'שמך יעקב, “your name has been Yaakov; it will no longer be Yaakov;” The Torah means that henceforth his name would no longer only be “Yaakov,” but the name “Yisrael” would be added to it. If the name “Yaakov” were to be eliminated completely, this would be interpreted as having been a name describing a person with negative character traits up to now. (Compare Esau’s comment in Genesis 27,36) Henceforth the Torah will refer to YaakovYisrael sometimes by his original name and sometimes only by his additional name. When G-d changed Avram’s name to Avraham, He had never said that שמך אבדם, “your name is or was Avram.” This is why the sages have said that anyone referring to Avraham as Avram, is equivalent to violating a positive commandment of the Torah. (Talmud B’rachot 13).

לא יקרא עוד שמך יעקב, when the time will come when Yaakov will be the only surviving nation on earth as Bileam said in Numbers 25,9 הן עם לבדד ישכון, “this is a nation which will dwell in solitary splendour,” there will no longer be any significance to the name Yaakov. [as there are no others to relate its meaning to. Ed.]

Perhaps the very fact that G'd limited the good news when He renamed Jacob by saying: "your name is Jacob," made this change of name qualitatively different from that of Abraham at the time. There had been no need for G'd to repeat "your name is Jacob." Who did not know this? Surely what G'd meant by this was that Jacob's permanent name would remain Jacob, but that on some occasions he would be referred to by an additional name, i.e. Israel. Why would it bother G'd that we should not refer to Abraham's original name? I believe there is a very good reason. We have to remember that names describe the nature of its bearers' souls, their essence. The Talmud Berachot 7 illustrates this point. Jacob's essence then is described by the name Jacob. Whenever he enjoyed a large measure of Holy Spirit he was referred to as "Israel." There is certainly no reason why Jacob should be deprived of his original name on account of an occasional infusion of רוח הקודש. It was quite different in the case of Abraham who retained all the letters of his original name in his expanded name also. This is why G'd commanded to call him only by his new and expanded name Abraham. By doing so one did not deny his original name at all. Perhaps Chronicles I,1 26 refers to this when it states: "Abram is Abraham." When the Torah said: "your name shall not be called, etc," the meaning is that it should not be called exclusively Jacob but also Israel. This is exactly parallel to Genesis 17,5 where Abraham's name was changed.

כי אם ישראל יהיה שמך, “but your name shall be Yisrael.” The name implies that the one possessing it wields authority, as the angel had said to Yaakov: ”you have contended with Divinity and you have prevailed.” (32,29) The name is very appropriate for you as you will be the founding father of kings. Rashi here claims that the reference in this verse is to King Shaul and his son Ish Boshet. Should you ask that we have been taught (in Sanhedrin 20) that Avner was punished for having delayed David’s occupying the throne of the Kingdom for two and a half years, i.e. the years during which Ish Boshet ruled after he appointed him as Shaul’s successor; why would he be punished for this, seeing it has been decreed already in the Torah that he would rule (according to Rashi)? We would have to answer that he was not punished for having crowned Ish Boshet, but because he had crowned Ish Boshet not because he considered him as fit to rule, but that he was motivated exclusively by trying to thwart David from ascending the throne.

כי אם ישראל יהיה שמך, seeing that you will rule, תשתרר over the remnants of all the nations that have ceased to exist as such. This also corresponds to the previous prophecy of Bileam in Numbers 24,17 וקרקר כל בני שת, “he (Yaakov) will smash all the foundation of the sons of Seth (mankind.)

ויקרא את שמו ישראל, He blessed him in that the predictions which were meant for the end of time, were beginning to be implemented already from that time on, and not only while Yaakov was on holy soil in the land of Canaan, but even when he would be outside (as in Egypt). From this time on no one who would attack Yaakov and his family would meet with success. This was the meaning of what our sages said in Sanhedrin 76 that ”wherever Yaakov and his family walked on they became princes over their masters,” and this is what the prophet Jeremiah bewailed in Lamentations 1,1 as what the Jewish people lost as a result of the destruction of the Temple.