This week's portion covers Jacob's return to the Land of Israel; his transformation into Israel; his reconciliation with Esau; the death of his wife, Rachel, in childbirth; and the rape of, revenge for, Dinah.
Briefly, I want to draw attention to the two most relevant stories.
Dinah is kidnapped by Canaanites and raped; in revenge, Simon and Levi kill every member of the city that kidnapped her. This might be a lesson for Israel in its war against Hamas. It is also a warning: Jacob admonishes his sons that their tactics have turned the whole land against him (though, in the end, he is both feared and respected).
Second -- Israel. An angel gives Jacob his name, which means "he who struggles with (or overcomes) God and man." This made sense to me for a long time as a metaphor for spiritual and moral struggles.
In recent days I have had cause to remember the "man" part -- that is, Jews seem to be destined to have to struggle for our physical existence, alongside the daily internal struggle to live a moral life.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
