Reconciliation

Vayishlach

Gen. 32:4 - 36:43

 

Précis: As he nears his return to his homeland, Jacob sent (vayishlach) messengers to Esau to ascertain Esau’s state of mind after their 20-year separation. While he awaits a reply, Jacob encounters an “adversary” (most assume an angel) with whom Jacob wrestles through the night. As dawn breaks, the adversary announces that Jacob’s name is to be changed to Israel: “He who wrestles with God.” On the following day, Esau approaches, and despite Jacob’s fears, there is a happy reunion.

            We then read the story of how a local prince rapes Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, and then asks to marry her. Jacob agrees on condition that all of the men of the city are circumcised. While the men are recovering, Jacob’s sons Simon and Levi attack the city and kill all of the inhabitants in revenge for the insult to their sister. Jacob soon travels to Beth-el (the site of his ladder dream), and on the way, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth. Thereafter, Isaac’s death is noted, as is his burial by Esau and Jacob. The parasha ends with a genealogy of Esau and his descendants.

 

Gen. 33:4 “And Esau ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.”

 

After Esau threatened to kill Jacob, Jacob ran away. He returns to meet his estranged brother decades later, now accompanied by wives and children, a wealthy man who has actually struggled with God and has had his name changed to Israel to reflect that encounter. Instead of anger, Esau reacts with tears and kisses. Is there peace at last between the brothers?

            The rabbis had difficulties imagining that Esau was in fact reconciled. The text gives them some support: the brothers go their separate ways, and never (at least in the text) meet again until they bury their father. Moreover, since our Tradition uses Esau as a proxy for Edom and Rome, two traditional foes of Israel, the rabbis infer that Esau’s kiss and tears was less than honest.

            I prefer to see the kiss and tears as truthfully offered. In this family history beset with sibling rivalry, even the most awful interactions can eventually be forgiven.  Although infrequent, many have observed long-term interpersonal relationships cursed with discord eventually resolve into renewed closeness. It is rare, but it is possible.

            This is true not only within families, but within nations as well. This thought was reinforced by news this week of new climate-related projects among Israel, Jordan, and the UAE. Perhaps that is the lesson for our times: reconciliation is difficult, but not impossible.

Hard Working Ameican Families

Vayetze

Gen. 28:10-33:3

 

Précis: As Jacob travels towards the household of his uncle Laban, he dreams of a ladder (some translate it as a ramp) to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. He vows to build a great House for God on the spot. Jacob meets and falls in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. Laban agrees to the match, provided that Jacob works for him for seven years. Laban switches the older daughter, Leah, for Rachel; Jacob works an additional seven years for Rachel’s hand. Jacob then works for Laban another six years, and acquires great wealth and flocks through shrewd husbandry. During the stay with Laban, most of the children of Jacob are born. At the conclusion of the parasha, after tense negotiations with Laban, Jacob leaves with his possessions and family.

 

Gen. 29:7 “And he [Jacob] said [to the shepherds at the well], ‘Lo, it is yet high day, and it is not time to round up the cattle; water the sheep, and then go feed them.’”

            As I have mentioned before, The Sforno, the 16th century Italian commentator, relates that Jacob, a stranger, chastises the workers for quitting early. From this, he draws an ethical mandate: a righteous man objects to a wrong that he observes, even though the wrong is done to others. Thus, one can’t stand idly by when a wrong is being done to another because one is not personally affected.

            This week, I wanted to look at this verse not from Jacob’s perspective, but rather from the shepherds’ point of view. We can’t stand idly by as working people are deprived of the ability to earn enough to support themselves or their families.

            Perhaps these shepherds were employed by Laban, an individual who we know from the text was far from an ideal employer. He changed conditions adversely for those who worked for him (including Jacob). Perhaps they were actually justified in stopping work early in the day because their pay was insufficient, or because they were not treated properly by their employer.

            Today, we have seen a remarkable change taking place in the American workforce. Some are calling it the “Great Resignation” as record numbers of individuals are quitting their jobs for a wide range of causes. Perhaps because of COVID, perhaps because many baby boomers have decided it’s just not worth going back to work, perhaps because many women lack access to reliable child-care, and perhaps because of limits on immigration, the number of folks actually in the workforce has shrunk. Suddenly, many employers are raising wages, offering new benefits, and beginning to treat their workers in a way which is more humane.

            Our tradition is clear in this regard: employees are to be treated with dignity, paid promptly, and dealt with respectfully. In the United States, with the decrease of union representation over the past decades to its lowest level since the Labor Movement began, we see that employers have fought their way to the bottom wherever possible, treating employees with disregard for their ability to provide for their families. Perhaps, just perhaps, we are witnessing the beginning of a turn-around. Living wages are a necessity in a society as wealthy as ours. With the stock markets at record highs, with the insane accumulation of wealth among a handful of uber-billionaires, perhaps the time has come to commit to actually help what politicians love to call “hard working American families” while they sit on their well-padded bottoms and do little to help.

            President Biden is seeking a real way to help American families, through enhanced child care benefits, universal pre-k education, improved Medicare coverage, and improved tuition assistance for higher education. In this era of political division, the chances of these changes being enacted are questionable at best. But we, as ever, must see to the needs of the least fortunate among us.