{"id":37889,"date":"2018-08-15T11:44:18","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T08:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=37889"},"modified":"2022-03-09T22:58:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T20:58:59","slug":"holding-different-forces-within-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holding-different-forces-within-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding Different Forces Within Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first occurrence of twins in the Tanakh is a flashpoint of Jewish intellectual curiosity. Before Jacob and Esau are born, in Genesis 25:23 Rebekah cries out in pain, <\/span>why is this happening?<\/span><\/em> And God answers that within her womb there are two nations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi<\/span> and other commentators illuminate that Jacob and Esau come to represent the forefathers of later conflict in Jewish history. Jacob represents the Jewish people and Esau is connected to the tribe of Edom, which the Rabbis of the Talmud later use as a euphemism for the Roman Empire (Rosh Hashanah 19a), drawing a lineage from Esau to emperor Antoninus the Pious (Avodah Zara 11a). Further, Rashi comments that these nations will only become powerful at the cost of the other, thus declaring their mutual exclusivity (on Genesis 25:23).<\/span><\/p>\n

Around the turn of the 20th century, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook reframes the duality of the twins. He describes Esau as a symbol of raw power– an image described in other Rabbinic sources. While in the womb, Jacob grasps at his heel, in an attempt to tame and temper the ferocious wildness of his brother. Rav Kook goes on to describe that in each of us lives this tension of the brothers, a constant battle of opposing forces (<\/span>Ein Ayah <\/span><\/em>v. I pg. 68). <\/span><\/p>\n

Human existence is the experience of balancing different sides of ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these readings are a response to what God answers to Rebekah. This response is the validation of internal struggle. For Rebekah it is literal, and for us it may be physical, mental, or spiritual. In times of internal battles, we can turn to this interaction: God receiving Rebekah\u2019s courageous and honest question of anguish and responding with a recognition of the human condition of living with dualities and complexities.<\/span><\/p>\n

May we be blessed like our foremother Rebekah.<\/span><\/p>\n

May we be blessed with the urge to question what pains us.<\/span><\/p>\n

May we be blessed with clarity that our pain is sometimes found at the contradiction of important values and core aspects of our identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

May we be blessed with the reassurance that our pain is perfectly, uniquely human and that we are not alone in feeling it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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