Are you coming tonight? If you aren't, you are missing something great!
Join us for SHABBAT BEINEINU
5:00pm SPECIAL TOT SHABBAT (challah and grape juice provided).
Musical service and a really yummy dinner.
Great music! Great people! Great food!
You don't need to do any of the cooking (and only a little of the cleaning).
6:30pm - All Angels Church - 251 W80th St. (80th/BDWY - behind Zabars)
Great music! Great people! Great food!
You don't need to do any of the cooking (and only a little of the cleaning).
6:30pm - All Angels Church - 251 W80th St. (80th/BDWY - behind Zabars)
Let's get busy with some Torah.
Parashat Toldot: Genesis 25:19–28:9
Yitzchak(Isaac) and Rivka(Rebecca) have children after twenty years of not being able to - "thank you God." While pregnant, Rivka experiences some pain in her womb (can anyone who has every been pregnant relate?). She turns to God (oddly not to her husband or a BFF) to ask "Why?". God tells her "there are two nations in your womb," and that the younger will prevail over the older. Apparently once she speaks with God, the pain in her womb goes away (really?).
The twins are born. Esav(Esau) is the eldest. He grows up to be quite hairy and ruddy, a hunter. Yaakov, who comes into the world holding onto his brothers "ekev" (heel, hence Yaakov), grows up to be "an innocent man, dwelling in tents". "Yitzchak loved Esav and Rivka loved Yaakov." This is a direct quote from the text.
From this very moment, we should know something is up. What kind of parents love one child over the other. And if they do, would they every admit this to anyone? In fairy tales, at least it's the wicked step mother. Apparently, the Torah is the one place where this happens.
Esav, being the eldest, is guaranteed the birthright. That's how it was done back then. The oldest son received THE BLESSING, aka, all of the inheritance. Daughters didn't count (except as property - and a means to acquiring more property). But, something strange happens. One day while Esav is out hunting, Yaakov cooks a stew (the famous lentil stew). Esav returns totally exhausted and upon seeing his brother and smelling the stew, asks Yaakov to pour some of that stew into his mouth. Yaakov says he will, but only if Esav gives him the birthright. Esav agrees. He says he is going to die if he doesn't get the stew so he wouldn't get the birthright anyway.
WHAT? Two lines prior, the text tells us that Esav is "ayef"(tired). Now Esav is claiming he is going to die? Esav agrees and trades his entire inheritance, essentially his entire future for a bowl of lentil stew. ANOTHER indication that something is up.
[The next section of this parasha deals with Yitzchak and Rivka making their way to where they would settle. Along the way, they encounter King Avimelech. The same King Avimelech that Avraham, fearing for his life, lies to, saying Sarah is his sister and not his wife. Yitzchak does the same thing as his father. He is also afraid of getting killed so he tells Avimelech that Rivka is his sister. What is up with these husbands passing their wives off as their sisters? That's going to have to wait until another time.]
Fast forward. Yitzchak is aging and losing his eyesight. He calls Esav into his room and tells him it's time to receive the birthright. He tells Esav to go and hunt and make him his favorite dish because it's time. Yitzchak is ready to give Esav the blessing. Esav goes out to hunt. While he is away, Rivka, who apparently has already prepared Yitzchak's favorite meal, puts fur on Yaakov's arms, gives him the food and tells him to go to his father and take the birthright. Does she know that Yaakov already took it from Esav years before?
Yaakov goes into his father's room and Yitzchak says, "who are you?". Yaakov answers, "it's me, Esav." Yitzchak is confused. How is it that Esav was already back from hunting and preparing the meal? And, while the arms felt like Esav, the voice was Yaakov. Yitzchak asks a second time, "Are you [really] my son, Esav ?" And Yaakov says, "I am." So Yitzchak moves ahead with the plan and gives Yaakov the blessing. And, like all good stories, right as Yitzchak finishes giving all of the blessing, Esav returns from hunting and enters asking his father to bless him.
Yitzchak feels terrible and blames everything on Yaakov. Esav is beyond furious. He is so angry he wants to kill his brother. Meanwhile, in the other room, Rivka tells Yaakov to run away to her brother's just until Esav calms down. Yaakov flees.
The parasha closes with Esav going to Ishmael to take a wife or three. Remember Ishmael? He was Avraham's oldest son and was cast causing him to lose the birthright to his younger brother, Yitzchak.
[Read ahead and you know that Yaakov's entire life is built on soaked in deception and lies. He is tricked into working 14 years, instead of 7 to marry Rachel. Then he is tricked into marrying her sister Leah first. They trick him into getting one another pregnant (them or their maidservants). Ten of his eleven sons continue this path by selling their brother into slavery and then lying to their father telling Yitzchak that Joseph is dead. This is not a "Leave it to Beaver" family. If you don't feel like reading, watch "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat".]
Wow! My head is spinning.
Is this really happening?
Did Rivka share the conversation she had with God while she was pregnant?
Did she share it with Yaakov later on?
Why didn't God take action? Or was telling Rivka the younger would rule over the older God's way of putting things in motion?
Was Yitzchak's eyesight really fading?
Did Yitzchak really think Esav was receiving the blessing?
Is anyone justified in their actions?
Why is deception the mode?
What's the takeaway?
?
Mekor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Life, as we move into another Shabbat, and another opportunity to do some honest reflection, let us open our hearts to the possibility that we might also engage in (soft or hard) deception in order to get things we want or as a way of directing a situation towards a specific outcome. What role does lying play in our own lives? What actions do we justify? What impact does all of this have on our relationships? What changes do we want to make?
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach.
May Shabbat be filled with peace, wholeness and blessing,
Laurie
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