This week's newsletter focuses on the consequences of a lack of communication. FYI:The National Havurah Committee’s Winter Weekend Retreat is meeting in person (for the first time since 2019) at Camp Ramah, Palmer, MA, Dec 15-17, 2023. For full details, click on: (https://havurah.org/nhc-winter-retreat-2023/)
michael
A word of Torah: It is hard to read this week’s Torah portion about a bitter conflict between brothers and not to think about Israel and the Palestinians. While it would be simplistic to equate the dynamics in a family to those between people or nations, the biblical text portrays a rivalry that leads to one brother, Jacob, getting the blessing and the other brother, Esau, weeping over the deception. Esau quickly becomes enraged and plans to kill his brother. Rebecca warns Jacob to flee, leading to his exile for many years from his family. The Netziv, a traditional commentator, suggests a surprising starting point for this conflict. In last week’s Torah portion, Rebecca is being brought from her home to meet Isaac for the first time. The text reads: Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel and said to the servant, “Who is that man walking toward us?” And the servant said, ”That is my master.” So, she took her veil and covered herself. (Gen. 24:64-65).
The Netziv comments: She covered herself out of awe and a sense of inadequacy as if she felt she was unworthy to be his wife, and from then on this trepidation was fixed in her mind. Her relationship with Isaac was not the same as that between Sarah and Abraham or Rachel and Jacob. When they had a problem, they were not afraid to speak about it. Not so with Rebecca.
At this first meeting, there is a literal physical distance between Isaac and Rebekah. In general, Isaac is silent in the biblical text—perhaps he never recovers from the trauma of seeing his father about to sacrifice him on Mount Moriah. Instead of the main characters in this story communicating, there is only maneuvering and deception.
The premise underlying this story and almost every story in Genesis is that there is only enough blessing for one child to inherit. Here, the main blessing is that one will rule the other.
Why? Why isn’t there enough blessing or land for both of them? Why can’t parents love both their children? Why can’t God choose both Abel and Cain’s sacrifices? God’s choice there led to conflict and murder!
At the beginning of Abraham’s story, God tells Abraham to go forth on a journey to a promised land. God doesn’t say that Abraham will be blessed with many material blessings. Instead, God says to Abraham, ve-heyai berakhah/and you will be a blessing…and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you (Gen. 12: 2b; 3b). That vision of abundance seems to be lost in the stories of scarcity in the book of Genesis.
Our Shabbat liturgy suggests a different way: Bless us, our Parent, all of us as one in the light of your Presence/Barkheinu avinu kulana ke-ehad be-or panekha. The difficult challenge for us to be a source of blessing in this world, begins with an attempt to break through the static of division and miscommunication to listen and to be heard clearly.
