Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Yitzhak/Isaac praying for a child after Rivkah/ Rebecca had been unable to conceive, and immediately his prayer is answered. But, she experiences difficult pregnancy as the “children struggle inside her.” She prays that the cause of her suffering be revealed, and Hashem responds that “two nations in your womb.” Esav/Esau emerges first, and Yaakov/Jacob is born clutching Esau’s heel. (Yaakov, Jacob, means “heal.”) As they grow up, Isaac favors Esau, but Rebecca loves Jacob more. One day, when Esau returns home exhausted and hungry from the hunt, he sells his birthright to Jacob for a pot of red lentil stew.
In Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Isaac presents Rebecca as his sister, out of fear that he will be killed by someone coveting her beauty. He farms the land, reopens the wells dug by his father Abraham, and digs a series of his own wells, and Esau marries two Hittite women. Isaac grows old and blind, and wants to bless his first born Esau before he dies. While Esau goes off to hunt for his father’s favorite food, Rebecca dresses Jacob in Esau’s clothing, covers his arms and neck with goatskins to simulate the feel of his hairier brother, prepares a similar dish, and sends Jacob to his father. Jacob receives his father’s blessings for “the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land,” as well as mastery over his brother. When Esau returns and the deception is revealed, Isaac blesses him as well with the “fat of the earth and dew of the heaven,” but also that he shall live by the sword and serve his brother, though there will come a time when he will “break the yoke” from his neck. Jacob leaves home for Haran to flee Esau’s wrath and to find a wife in the family of his mother’s brother, Lavan/ Lab
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיִּתְרֹֽצְצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִי וַתֵּ֖לֶךְ לִדְרֹ֥שׁ אֶת־יְהֹוָֽה׃ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְה–ֹוָ֜ה לָ֗הּ שְׁנֵ֤י גוֹיִם֙ בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ... The children struggled within her, and she said, “If so, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Divine. Hashem said to her, “Two nations are in your womb…” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 25:22-23
Our political climate nowadays is passionate polarized. But there’s another contest for power going on right now as well – can you engage in it with the same enthusiasm? It is the contest between two different versions of yourself. On one side is the Ego. For most of us, this ego usually wins in landslide victories, over and over again. And, rightly so. The Ego has the most experience, with the advantage of being constructed over a lifetime, not to mention having the constant support of the Thinking Mind. On the other side is Awareness. Awareness has a more difficult time because people don’t even notice her. They can’t see her because she is the seeing itself. Furthermore, even though Awareness is far more ancient than the Thinking Mind, she never really ages. She is always seeing this moment anew, so she seems young and naïve. She must, we tend to think, need the Ego and his Thinking Mind to run the show. How does it do that? The basic approach of the Ego is struggle:
וַיִּתְרֹֽצֲצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִי... The children struggled within her, and she said, “If it be so, why am I like this?” There comes a time when a person is ready to give up the struggle. The question to each of us is, have you reached this point? Are you ready to go beyond Ego? Do you want to inquire of Reality and find another way? וַתֵּ֖לֶךְ לִדְר֥שׁ אֶת־יְהֹ–וָֽה– She went to inquire of the Divine… Let this be your prayer: “How do I give up the struggle?” But then, sh’ma –listen: a message vibrates from the Silence: שְׁנֵ֤י גוֹיִם֙ בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ וּשְׁנֵ֣י לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִמֵּעַ֖יִךְ יִפָּרֵ֑דוּ וּלְאֹם֙ מִלְאֹ֣ם יֶֽאֱמָ֔ץ וְרַ֖ב יַֽעֲבֹ֥ד צָעִֽיר: Two nations are in your womb –– in other words, there are two of you! Two peoples will separate from within you –– in other words, be aware of the distinction between the ordinary me, the Ego, and the awareness behind and beyond the Ego. And one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom, and the older will serve the younger… The Ego, the conditioned me, is old, not in the sense of actual age, but in the sense that it is based on experience from the past. But, there is a deeper I that never grows old; it is always fresh, alive and new. The Ego likes to be in charge, but it is destined to serve Awareness. Then, there will be a great Silence far more profound than any thought. That Silence is your nakhalah, your birthright, if you would but awaken to it. How to awaken to It? וַיְהִ֣י עֵשָׂ֗ו אִ֛ישׁ יֹדֵ֥עַ צַ֖יִד אִ֣ישׁ שָׂדֶ֑ה וְיַֽעֲקֹב֙ אִ֣ישׁ תָּ֔ם ישֵׁ֖ב אֹֽהָלִֽים: Esau was a man who knew hunting… but Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents. In other words, Give up your “hunting,” give up your seeking for control. Or more precisely, be the awareness of your impulse to seek control. Come into the “tent” of your heart, into this moment as it is, and dwell here in simplicity. This portal of simplicity is represented by the letter yud. The letter yud is the smallest of the letters, almost dimensionless, like a point. It is also the shape that begins the inscribing of all the other letters. In this sense it hints that all of our experience on all levels begins with this formless, dimensionless, unassuming yet most profound miracle – the Divine gift of consciousness. It is simple because it is prior to preference, prior to analysis, prior to opinion; it is simply aware.
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