The Angel’s Blessing

Yakov is returning home after many years of self imposed exile. During the journey he is confronted with a mysterious figure. They struggle and Yakov is wounded with an injury that he will carry for life. He overcomes his opponent, who is revealed to be an angel, and then demands from him to bless him. Rachel Remen, in her book, “My Grandfather’s Blessings”, shares her grandfather’s understanding of the story as teaching that the response to suffering is to find the blessing within it.