We begin again…with the beginning of Torah, parshat Bereishit!

Parshat Vayera: God promises, Sarah delivers. Abraham pleads for Sodom and Gomorah, God denies his plea. Listening to Sarah, Abraham banishes his son Ishmael and his mother Hagar. Abraham is tested on Mount Moriah.

Lots of conflict and familial strife here. Come wrestle with it, in community.

Parshat Toldot: the birth of twins Esau and Jacob, who are opposites, fighting even before they are born, in the womb of their mother Rebecca.

Deception, favoritism, trickery and other mayhem ensues. The story’s conclusion is heart breaking, and leaves us much to consider:

Genesis/Breishit Chapter 27:   30 No sooner had Jacob left the presence of his father Isaac-after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob-than his brother Esau came back from his hunt. 31 He too prepared a dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father sit up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may give me your innermost blessing.” 32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, Esau, your first-born!” 33 Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. “Who was it then,” he demanded, “that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!” 34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!” 35 But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.”