Lavan, First Borns, and the Tyranny of Rules

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In this week's parsha we get to know one of my favorite bad guys in the whole Bible - Yaakov's father-in-law, Lavan. Yaakov escapes from his brother Esav, who wants to kill him for stealing the blessing of their father, Yizchak. Yaakov flees Israel, and goes to the original home of his mother Rivkah and grandfather Abraham - Charan. In addition to escaping from Esav, he also wants to find a wife from among his kinfolk there. He meets and falls in love with his cousin Rachel, whose father, Lavan, agrees to the marriage on condition that Yaakov work for him as a shepherd for seven years.

What Love can do to us - Yaakov and Esav

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This portion of Toldot contains the difficult story of the sibling rivalry between Jacob and Esau (Yaakov and Esav), seen by Jewish tradition as emblematic of the difficult relationship between Israel and the nations of the world - specifically Rome and Christianity - and the problematic handling of their rivalry by their parents, Isaac and Rebecca (Yizchak and Rivkah). Early on, the Torah takes the poor parents somewhat off the hook, in that it describes the rivalry between the two brothers as something that began in the womb - can't blame faulty parenting here!

Avraham, Hevron, and Competing Rights to the Land

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Over the past week or so, my wife Iris and I have had a difficult decision to make. Our 15-year-old son, Sruli, has a class trip scheduled for this Shabbat, on which we read the portion of Chayeh Sarah. In Israel, this Shabbat is fraught with political implications; it is in this parsha that Abraham buys a plot of land in Hevron (often spelled 'Hebron'), on which stands the cave called 'ma'arat hamachpela'. It is there that he buries his wife, Sarah.

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This week's portion of the week opens with the well-known scene, often depicted in Jewish illuminated manuscripts and church art, of Abraham, recuperating from his recent circumcision, sitting in the opening of his tent. According to the Rabbinic understanding (inferred, clearly, from his subsequent behavior), Abraham was sitting in the doorway, watching for passers-by to whom he could extend his hospitality. Soon enough, three strangers pass by, and Abraham invites them in and wines and dines them.

The Individual and the Collective in God's Eyes

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Lech Lecha is such a comfortable parsha. Coming after the pre-historic pyrotechnics of Bereshit and Noach, one feels that one is on much more solid ground here - the people live long but not THAT long, we can start recognizing 'Jewish' things, and, in general, there is a feeling that we have left behind the world of myth and magic and moved into a much more real and recognizable world of commandment and custom.

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