Wrestling with an angel...Parshat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” Genesis 32:29

So how does a person change over the course of twenty years?  How does getting married, having children, and wrestling with one’s “conscience” for things done in one’s early years change a person?

This week’s Torah portion tells of the reacquainting of Jacob with his brother Esau.  The last time Jacob saw his brother was when he tricked him out of his birthright, followed by tricking his dying father into giving him Esau’s first-born blessing.  Not the proud memories of behaviors that bring about great pride and joy.  These were the memories of an immature youth pursuing material goods and instant gratification.

But what we learn in this week’s portion is that after twenty years and the related life experiences, most of us are not the same person we were as children.  Maybe our mannerisms, and maybe even our interests and appearances can still be found in who we are today, but in most of us, our maturity and self-reflection have aided us in appreciating the things that we might have missed in our youth.

Jacob’s name was literally changed to highlight his physical, emotional, and even spiritual struggles.  The lessons he learned in his twenty-year “road trip” helped him become the patriarch to our people that we know him to be today.  This weekend, take the opportunity to share with your children some of the “mistakes” and challenges you faced as a child and teach them that we all make choices that we have to live with.  What are the things you learned from these struggles?  What are the things you hope your children can learn from you, so they won’t have to “wrestle” with the same things themselves? 

Have a wonderful weekend and Shabbat shalom!

Thanksgiving story...

This Thanksgiving I found a wonderful story/poem, that although not directly about giving thanks, is a wonderful message to consider nonetheless.

Unfortunately, I cannot give the author direct credit as it came to me many moons ago as an anonymous chain email which I've kept in my "go to" folder for just the right time.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...Happy Thanksgiving!

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be...grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.