The Torah says that when the unknown assailant failed to defeat Ya’akov, then he struck the socket of Ya’akov’s hip, causing it to go into disjoint. “The man said, “Let me go, because it’s daybreak” (vs.27a) But by now, Ya’akov had come to the realization that this was no ordinary man. It was not some desert robber, or bounty hunter, or even a demon—it was none other than a representative of the One who could see into his own hollow soul and cause the supernatural change that Ya’akov knew he so desperately needed! For this very reason, rather than let go of this man, Ya’akov clung to him for dear life! He had finally come to the place where he knew he could not—would not—run any further! He knew now inside of himself, that this was the only One who could rescue him from his own fearful self! So, despite the all-night struggle, he mustered up enough strength to say within himself, “I will not! I refuse to let you go! I have spent all of my life running in fear from the things that I could not control! I have nowhere else to turn for help! So I will NOT let you go! I will not let you go UNTIL YOU BLESS ME!” This was the breaking of the man Ya’akov. This was the moment when HaShem recognized that he was genuinely a humbled man, in desperate need of a Savior.