Jealousy, betrayal, sibling rivalry… Just how far can it go? In this week’s Torah Portion, Vayeishev, Jospeh is sold into slavery by his eleven brothers. Eleven brothers who – instead of loving him unconditionally and having his back – are so overcome with bitterness toward him that they want him dead, gone from their lives for good. How does this happen?
Unfortunately, we’ve all seen it – and most of us even dealt with it to some degree: Family and relationships that should be our backbone, our stability and love, are often torn apart, broken, seemingly beyond repair. Often we can’t even recall what the catalyst behind the rift is, or it seems so inconsequential in the bigger picture. But the damage was done, and we’re left wondering; how did we get here and where do we go from here?
Join Rabbi Jacobson for The Bible Series: A fresh perspective on biblical events, laws and personalities. Personalize and bring to life the timeless and universal lessons of the Torah in a psychological, spiritual and emotional way.
* This class was dedicated in honor of Maria Devinki. Maria and her husband Fred survived the Holocaust with 7 others, living under a barn, underground in a bunker for 29 months. Over 100 of her family members were lost.
Rebuilding her life, she went on to have a 50+ year marriage, and was blessed with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
She built a successful real estate business but charity was always her most important message to her family.
She lived to bring light into the Jewish world and was a founder of the National Holocaust museum in Washington DC as well as the Midwest center. After her own son was turned away from cheder due to lack of funds – she went on to leave a legacy that any child in Kansas City who couldn’t afford a Jewish education had a scholarship form her and her late husband that would allow for them to enroll. She lived her life as a true example of Chesed and Malchut.
