Esau
A man of the field, a warrior, this twin fathered the western world.
Rebecca gave birth to twin boys. One yearned for the tents of spirit; the other for the coliseums of matter. Esau was born first; then tricked out of the birthright by Jacob. Esau sculpted his body, honed his sword, and lived and dies by it. Esau fathered Edom, Rome and the western world. This branch of the family tree would destroy the second temple and exile the descendents of Jacob, the children of Israel, for the past two millennia. Perhaps, today, more than in other period of world history, the offspring of Esau the warrior have begun to wipe their knives clean and embrace the children of their grandfather’s twin.
Massacre in San Bernardino
What can we do about the massacre in San Bernardino? Joseph’s clash with his brothers teaches us how to repair and heal the world. We must begin by repairing ourselves and integrating faith in our actions.
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The Plot Thickens – Jacob & Esau: Two Nations
We now have before us Abraham, father of all nations, Ishmael father of the Arab/Muslim world, Esau, father of the Roman/Christian/Western world and Jacob, father of the Jewish world.
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The Duplicity of the Jew
The Jew dresses in Esau’s clothes, but he refuses to allow the clothes to make the man.
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The Determined Chooser
“Choice vs. Determinism.” How much control do we really have over our actions?
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The Spiritual Meaning of Straw
Esau wished to tithe the straw of life, to attribute spiritual worth to animal fodder. Instead of exploiting the material to serve the spiritual, he wished to invest the material with a significance and value of its own, which is the spiritual meaning of straw.
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Vaeira: Why is Paris Burning?
Inside “secrets” provide perspective to current events in France — and the world — illuminating for us: why is Paris burning? Why is France, of all places, at the forefront of today’s upheavals?
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Toldot: Our Response to Tragedy
The Jewish response to a gruesome attack, is to channel all our outrage and fury into a spiritual eruption of building an even stronger Jerusalem, both physically and spiritually.
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Chayei Sarah: Can East Meet West?
Abraham surely knew how religious zealotry can breed intolerance, condescension, judgmentalism and prejudices of all sorts — feeding into the ugliest elements of human nature.
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Vayishlach: Hypocrisy
Instead of seeing hypocrisy in our inconsistencies, we should be seeing in them our struggle to discover our true selves—a struggle that inevitably creates a dichotomy between what you believe and what you do.
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