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It is no coincidence that we read this week’s Torah portion, Toldot in such close proximity to Thanksgiving.  Think about it: it’s an amazing moment of confluence for our American selves and our Jewish selves. 

As we prepare to gather around our family tables later this week surrounded by love and warmth and good food (Jewish indeed!) we also know that by its very definition, that family table can also be rife with uncomfortable patterns, mixed messages and power struggles large and small. 

There are conversations we wish we hadn’t had.  There are some we agree in advance not to have!

For Isaac and Rebecca and their sons Esau and Jacob, this scenario was a fairly accurate portrayal of their every day.  Their life together was a study in lack of communication and attempts to move around one family member in the name of shaping the destiny of another.  And let’s not forget the small matter of “I’ll trade you some of my stew for your birthright – no backsies!”

How might the events of the Torah portion Toldot have played out differently if this family had talked to each other?  If they had shared even some of their secrets, their hopes and their longings, would the parents each have picked a favorite child?  Would their children have grown to maturity being defined in opposition to each other?

These questions found life beyond themselves for many of us watching and listening to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s despicable crimes describe, in their own words, what it has taken for them to share their truths and fight for justice together.  Thanks to them and their allies, justice just may be a step closer.  Each shared story has turned their listeners from denial to understanding, from personal despair to helping create families and communities in which we can all be seen and heard and believed.

We hope these questions will find life beyond themselves right here at Temple too.  Tomorrow night from 5:00-6:30pm we will meet in the Social Hall for the first of a 3-part series: “Courageous Conversations in a Difficult World.”  Led by Social Action Chair Michele Jasne and myself, we will create an honest, respectful space exploring what Jewish tradition and our own lived experience can teach us about navigating sometimes fearsome waters such as these.  All are warmly welcome to attend.

In the coming weeks, on Thanksgiving and ordinary days to come, may the blessings outweigh the hurts.  May we all come to inhabit a world of possibility and change for the better, with enough to go around, where we all move through life as our very fullest selves.

Shabbat Shalom,

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   As Jews, we do not have to look very far at all to find models of family conflict.  Since we began reading the Torah from the beginning again, seven weeks ago, we have seen the death of Abel at the hands of his brother Cain.  We have witnessed Hagar the maidservant—her abuse at the hands of Sarah, and her subsequent exile at the hands of Abraham.  On Rosh Hashanah we read of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac.  Two portions later, in Toldot, we read of Rebecca’s subterfuge in Jacob’s conning his brother Esau out of his birthright.