Prayer for the New Month (written by Marcia Falk)
May the month of Iyar be a month of blessings;
blessings of goodness, blessings of joy,
peace and kindness, Friendship and love,
creativity, strength, serenity,
fulfilling work and dignity,
satisfaction, success, and sustenance,
physical health and radiance.
May truth and justice guide our acts
and compassion temper our lives
that we may blossom as we age
and become our sweetest selves.
May it be so.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְמַן הַזֶּה:
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, shehecheyanu v'key-i-manu, v'higi-yanu laz'man hazeh.
Blessed are you, ruling spirit of the universe who gives us life, sustains us, and allows us to reach this moment.
(19) This is the story of Isaac, son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. (20) Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. (21) Isaac pleaded with Adonai on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and Adonai responded to his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived. (22) But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of Adonai, (23) and Adonai answered her,
“Two nations are in your womb,/ Two separate peoples shall issue from your body;/ One people shall be mightier than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.” (24) When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. (25) The first one emerged red, like a hairy mantle all over; so they named him Esau. (26) Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born. (27) When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a mild man who stayed in camp. (28) Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game;-e but Rebekah favored Jacob. (29) Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished. (30) And Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom. (31) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” (32) And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?” (33) But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. (34) Jacob then gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, and he rose and went away. Thus did Esau spurn the birthright.
(5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to Esau. When Esau had gone out hunting, (6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I overheard your father speaking to Esau, saying, (7) ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with Adonai's approval, before I die.’ (8) Now, my son, listen carefully. (9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. (10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.” (11) Jacob answered Rebekah, “But Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. (12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.” (13) But Rebekah said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.” (14) He got them and brought them to Rebekah, and she prepared a dish such as his father liked. (15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her son Jacob put them on; (16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. (17) Then she put in the hands of Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared.... (23) Isaac did not recognize Jacob, because his hands were hairy like those of Esau; and so he blessed him. (24) Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And when he said, “I am,” (25) he said, “Serve me and let me eat my son’s game that I may give you my innermost blessing.” So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. (26) Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come close and kiss me, my son”; (27) and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that Adonai has blessed. (28) “May God give you
Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth,
Abundance of new grain and wine. (29) Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow to you;
Be master over your brothers,
And let your mother’s sons bow to you.
Cursed be they who curse you,
Blessed they who bless you.” (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.
Who is Rebecca? Heroine? Villain? Is she deceiving Isaac or is he complicit and knowing?
Is Rebecca duplicitous? What about her “Why do exist?” quote?
What is the role of each of the 4 family members?
Midrash Bereshit Rabbah
Rabbinic interpreters and modern scholars have attempted to justify Rebekah's and Isaac's actions. B'reishit Rabbah, for example, suggests that Esau was drawn to idolatry (63:6, 63:10), promiscuous (63:10), and both a rapist and a murderer! (63:12). It describes Jacob as pious (63:6ff), while, as Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah taught, Isaac's "eyes were dim from seeing" Esau's wicked deeds (B'reishit Rabbah 65:10, a midrash on Genesis 27:1). The early medieval Rabbinic association of Esau with the brutal Romans, which began with a Rabbinic exegesis of Genesis 27:40 (when Isaac says to Esau: "By your sword shall you live"), was developed further in the 11th century by Rashi, who described Rome and Christianity, the heir of the Roman Empire, as embodiments of the wicked and hateful Esau
Helpmates, Alice Ogden Bellis, p. 69
Rebekah displays no cruelty in her character, nor does she spar with any other female character. Her "sin," according to many readings, lies in deceiving Isaac into blessing Jacob, the younger son. However, Christine Allen counters the usual criticism of Rebekah by pointing out that God reveals to her in a dream that Jacob is the one who will carry on the family traditions. Allen argues that Rebekah more than Isaac, is the spiritual link between Abraham and Jacob: 'Can it be that God asked this particular deceit of her?...In this case, Rebekah would not merely be acting on her own to fulfill the prophecy during her pregnancy, but she would be responding to a specific call to help the divine plan. had not Abraham been asked to sacrifice Isaac? Could she not be asked to sacrifice her marriage trust?
Is Rebekah's integrity in question? What does this tell us about moments where we sacrifice one thing because of another?
Christine Allen (Helpmates, Bellis, 70)
[Rebekah's] primary significance is her own response to God. In addition, however, she is also the mother of the faith. As Abraham became the father of the faith through meeting the test (of the Akeidah and almost sacrificing his son), so Rebekah became the mother of the faith. More concretely, she is the mother of Israel. Jacob was told: "your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have been strong against God you will prevail against men." (Gen 32:28) And if one could break the chain of patriarchy a more proper blessing would be "in the name of Abraham, Rebekah and Jacob."
Rebecca
Shirley Kaufman (TAWC, 155)
It's the duplicity that sticks--
that I would trick my husband when
he couldn't see. Rocking, he hugged
his knees and heard the meat already ticking in its great.
Oh
we were quick about it then,
though Jacob was slow to move.
He used to squat all day in the tent,
feeding the fire with me. I watched
the blood run when he stripped the goats,
and helped him carry the skins behind
the trees. I wound the pelts around
his wrists, his smooth girl's neck,
and dressed him in his brother's clothes,
smelling of woods and wind, the wild
grass after a rain.
I plotted
merely for a gift. Like any
clever woman at her stew. A pot
of deer, salt and fresh herbs.
It wasn't easy pacing inside my flesh
while Isaac ate, sucking my breath
between the cracks of my small teeth,
hotness climbing over my face, the way
I waited for him as a bride.
I listened still to water at the well,
an arm uplifted to the jug.
Clumsy at noontime in his night,
he wiped his mouth and shook the light
outside him, touching the wrong one.
His fingers, delicate as leaves,
dropped in the false skin.
Let people serve and nations bow
to thee.
and all the rest. It stays
in my ear like cramps. Blessed, Blessed.