Chasidut su Genesi 32:28

Let us proceed to explain some aspects about Yitzchok’s and ‎Rivkah’s marital union and its implications. We must take note ‎that the marital unions of the patriarchs and their details have ‎been described in the Torah, with the exception of the union of ‎Avram and Sarai at the time. Seeing that at the time Avram ‎married Sarai he was not yet a founding father of the Jewish ‎nation, the Torah did not see fit to give us any details about that ‎union and how it came about. We have explained previously that ‎names reflect the soul’s origin, so that when both Avram’s and ‎Sarai’s names were changed they also experienced a change in ‎their souls. The union of Avram and Sarai had not produced any ‎offspring, and until both their names were changed by Divine ‎decree they could not become patriarchs and matriarchs, ‎respectively. This leaves us with the question why the names of ‎Yitzchok and Rivkah were not changed so that they would not ‎have become parents of an Esau? Avraham’s name was changed in ‎order that his attribute of ‎חסד‎ could take root in the world and ‎enable him to be active spreading this virtue. By doing this he ‎incidentally illuminated the world with some of the Divine light ‎that had been withheld since Adam’s sin. We have explained ‎previously that this Divine light, brightness, cannot be allowed to ‎keep on getting stronger without endangering the existence of ‎the human race while man had not kept pace with the spiritual ‎growth needed to tolerate these infusions of Divine light. It was ‎Yitzchok’s task to preserve the limitation of this accomplishment ‎of his father Avraham without endangering his achievements by ‎recklessly leading where his contemporaries could not follow and ‎keep in step. This is why his name, as opposed to that of his ‎father or his son Yaakov, was never changed. Just as G’d had to ‎impose limitations on Himself before becoming active in a ‎material world, so Avram before becoming active as a patriarch, ‎had to impose limitations on himself. The name ‎אברם‎, “a ‎towering personality in lofty regions,” was appropriate as long as ‎he had not been charged with spreading monotheism through his ‎loving concern for his fellow throughout the regions in which he ‎would sojourn. Once this became his primary task, the name ‎change from ‎אברם‎ to ‎אברהם‎, i.e. “father of many (terrestrial) ‎nations,” and mirrored his becoming more effective in our ‎terrestrial regions. He himself could not produce personal issue ‎until he had begun the task assigned to him on earth. Yaakov, ‎who as we explained, represented a fusion of the attributes of his ‎father and his grandfather, had his name changed to Israel, when ‎he had matured to the point of representing this meld of loving ‎kindness on the one hand, and awe of G’d on the other.
‎[No other patriarch is quoted as having been “afraid” as many ‎times as Yaakov, in spite of his having received more assurances ‎from G’d than either his father or grandfather. Ed.]‎
Whereas Avraham, after having had his name changed, is ‎never again referred to as Avram, and according to halachah ‎it is inadmissible for us nowadays to refer to him by his original ‎name, Yaakov received an “additional” name, his original name ‎not having been uprooted and the prophets throughout the ‎generations repeatedly referring to him by that name. The fact ‎that he was able to sire all the 12 tribes before having had the ‎name Yisrael added to his name, is proof that his name change ‎was of a different kind from that of Avram’s becoming Avraham. ‎Yaakov’s combining the attributes of ‎חסד‎ and ‎גבורה‎, did not need ‎to be renamed for the sake of achieving ‎צמצום‎, voluntary ‎restriction of some of his natural initiatives. When the angel ‎informed him that henceforth the name Israel would be added to ‎his original name (Genesis 32,28) this was in recognition of ‎Yaakov’s ability to function on both “wavelengths, i.e. he could ‎keep in check his tendency to practice ‎חסד‎ as well as his tendency ‎to be in awe of G’d, ‎גבורה, דין‎ as the occasion demanded. We can ‎best understand this when picturing a father who, when ‎displaying his love for a young child, has to keep in check that ‎this intellect tells him that he is wasting valuable time “playing,” ‎during which he could perform other tasks whose usefulness ‎would be apparent to all. By knowing when to use the instrument ‎of tzimtzum, he pleases the Creator so much that the ‎prophet Isaiah 49,3 quotes G’d as saying of Israel: ‎ישראל אשר בך ‏אתפאר‎, “Israel through you I am glorified.” [I have occasionally ‎paraphrased the author’s words in the preceding paragraph. Ed.]‎‎

Genesis 32,28. “He said: ‘your name will no longer be ‎Yaakov, but Israel, for you have contended both with celestial ‎forces and with human forces and you have prevailed.’” ‎There are people who constantly remain attached to G’d even ‎while they are engaged in conversation with human beings. There ‎are other people, who while engaged in a conscious effort to serve ‎the Lord, concentrate on this to the exclusion of everything else; ‎these people while engaged in mundane activities, such as ‎business conversations with their peers, cannot at the same time ‎remain conscious of their duties towards their Creator. The first ‎type of person deserves the title: “Israel;” as the letters ‎ישר‎, ‎‎“upright,” as well as the letters ‎ראש‎, “head,” are part of that title. ‎The second category of person, (observant Jew) is called ‎יעקב‎, i.e. ‎י-עקב‎, meaning that his attachment to G’d is ‎עקב‎, “secondary,” ‎just as a heel is a secondary and not a primary organ. Esau’s ‎celestial representative acknowledged that Yaakov was a person ‎for the first category, since in his dealings with man he never lost ‎sight of his primary duties to his G’d.‎