Even though Yaakov's name change to Yisrael appears to be quite similar to Avram's name change to Avraham (compare 17:5 with 35:10), in essence, they are very different. In contrast with Avraham, where a single letter ["heh"] is added to the existing name, Yisrael constitutes an entirely new name. Furthermore, 'Yisrael' serves as an alternative name for Yaakov, in contrast with Avraham which became a replacement!

In this week's shiur, we explain how the nature of this name change may reflect a very critical stage in the development of the "bechira" process in Sefer Breishit.