Prohibition on eating the thigh sinew

The prohibition on eating the thigh sinew is a dietary rule grounded in Jacob’s encounter at the Jabbok, making an injury from a single night of struggle the basis for a practice observed by the Israelites “unto this day.”

Origin in Jacob’s Encounter

After sending his household and possessions across the ford of the Jabbok, Jacob remained alone and wrestled with a man until daybreak. When the man could not prevail, he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, straining it. Jacob refused to release him without a blessing; the man renamed him Israel, saying that he had striven with God and with men and prevailed, and blessed him there.

Jacob asked the man’s name but received no answer. He named the place Peniel because he had seen God face to face and survived. As he crossed Peniel at sunrise, he limped because of his injured thigh.

The Rule and Its Rationale

The text explains that the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the thigh-vein located at the hollow of the thigh because the wrestler touched that part of Jacob’s body. The rule is thus explicitly tied to the site of his injury, rather than presented as an unexplained dietary restriction.

By linking a collective custom to Jacob’s altered body, the prohibition carries the encounter beyond its immediate narrative. The Israelites’ continuing observance preserves the memory of the struggle, the injury, and the blessing associated with the name Israel.