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A central episode in this week’s Parashah is the midnight brawl between Ya’akov and a mysterious man, widely interpreted as Esav’s guardian angel.  By the end of this fight, the Torah tells us that Ya’akov’s name is changed to Yisrael, because, as the angel explains, “you have struggled with G-d and man, and have prevailed” (BeReishit 32:29). Additionally, because Ya’akov is injured in the Gid HaNasheh, the Torah tells us that his descendants will be forbidden to eat the Gid HaNasheh of any animal.

This incident -- one of the most esoteric and enigmatic in all of Chumash -- has no obvious narrative significance; it’s seemingly an interlude, a brief subplot in the larger story of Ya’akov’s encounter with his twin brother.  Yet, this episode serves as the origin of the term “Bnei Yisrael” -- the very moniker our nation goes by -- and warrants its own commemorative mitzvah. Clearly, this event has an importance and relevance that must be understood.

In his writing on the commandment against eating the Gid HaNasheh, the Sefer HaChinuch writes this struggle between Yaakov and the angel is symbolic of the eternal fight between Bnei Yisrael and other nations, who will continually try to eliminate us but will fail.  Similarly, just as the sun shone on Ya’akov’s thigh and healed it, as a Medrash tells us, so too, the era of Mashiach will shine down and heal Bnei Yisrael. Thus, the Gid Hanasheh is an everlasting reminder of this eternal fight and that the Jewish people will triumph, just as Yaakov did. 

The Gemara (Makkot 23b) says that the 365 prohibitive Mitzvot of the Torah correspond to the 365 days of the year.  The Zohar perplexingly states that Tishah B’av, the day in which both Batei Mikdash were destroyed, corresponds to this very commandment of the Gid HaNasheh.  In light of Sefer HaChinuch’s view, however, this makes perfect sense.  As Rabbi Mordechai Becher explains, Tisha B’Av is the day that we mourn the tragedies of exile and the pain inflicted upon Bnei Yisrael by other nations; the Gid Hanasheh represents this pain as well, a pain that will define us as a nation -- so much so, in fact, that we are named after it.