“Proactive Possibility” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
November 29, 2024 | 28 Cheshvan 5785
Welcome to Shabbat Awakening as we move into Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast here .
This week we have arrived to a pregnant Rebecca whose belly holds twins. After finally conceiving, the sons struggled within her וַיִּתְרֹֽצְצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ. We, who know how the Torah works, how the story will end up because we don’t read the Torah from a linear perspective but actually know the ending, middle, and beginning in and out of order, are well aware that these two in her womb will set the stage for confrontation, deception, strife, and dispute.
Jacob and Esau: these little babies who have not yet even emerged to breathe the same breath bestowed upon adam by God, whose souls only hold the pure possibility of life have already begun to struggle. The other forms of the Hebrew word used to describe what they are doing contain the underpinnings to struggle: beaten, crushed, fallen, thrust, broken, slay.
The sons struggled within her וַיִּתְרֹֽצְצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ.
The verb in this form only appears once throughout the Bible. It is reflexive in its structure. Struggling with the other also entails struggling with oneself. How the story of Jacob and Esau plays itself out impacts both of them. No one is left unscathed in the course of human history when one group or persons struggle with another, sometimes to devastating effects.
Our parashah, our Torah portion also has a response. When Rebecca inquires from God about these struggling twins within her, God responds in an oracle fashion conveying that there are two nations with two separate peoples, one of which will be mightier than the other. The last line potentially clarifies which one will be mightier.
וְרַ֖ב יַעֲבֹ֥ד צָעִֽיר
Often translated as “The older shall serve the younger.” As we know, Esau emerges first. However, there is a grammatical problem which actually makes the statement ambiguous as some scholars point out. It could also read, “The younger will serve the older.” Because of the grammatical structure that needs the Hebrew word, et, it is not clear which noun is the object and which is the subject. It will take human actions, like the selling of the birthright from Esau to Jacob and the taking of the blessing by Jacob assisted by his mother, Rebecca, to define specifically the meaning and ultimate outcome of the prediction. Their fate results from what they choose to do, not necessarily because it is predetermined.
The potential for destructive behavior is matched by proactive possibility by our own strength to respond. The ancient lessons of the Torah call out to us—still—to transform human capacity for ill into taking care of one another. Let us not give in! It is up to us Aleynu to wrestle the goodness out of each other and help to heal this ever so fractured world.
Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום
Rabbi Elaine Zecher
I truly welcome your comments, reflections, and thoughts. Connect with me here.
We join together tonight for Qabbalat Shabbat at 6:00 p.m. to sing, to pray, and welcome Shabbat in community. Tonight we will have even more singing led by Cantor Stillman. For those who have college students home or around, Rabbi Jacobson will welcome everyone to hang our together after services. Register here to join on Zoom.
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