Genesis Cycle Three Toledoth 25:19 to 28:9

Toledoth

In Toledot we see that conflict, when sacred, leads to ascension into the Oneness of God. The question therefore is how to enable conflict to become sacred. In other words, how can we help to spark action… so that the dichotomy becomes conflict becomes struggle…and so that the force of the spark, fed by the rush of this very metamorphosis, becomes a pillar of light within which we rise to absolute radiance?

To step back for a second, conflict here is not seen as bad. It’s the focus of an eternal equation. Conflict plus action equals higher level conflict until it’s so high it’s not even a concept anymore. It is integrated with God. This is why (I think) duality is a matter of perspective, a matter of what lens, what distance from the action. There is no doubt though that in this real world… within us, between us, between families and between nations…we must embrace the severe duality in order to rise above it. This way we can (with balance) recognize the importance of lighting the spark of action so we can achieve wholeness and peace.

As Rabbi Yehidah says in the Zohar (1:135b)…I will go to Rabbi Yiotzhak’s house and engage in Torah so we can join as one….Here going and engaging imply both a forward action and a certain conflict. There is body-conflict as the body moves through molecules to go anywhere. And there is mind-conflict when it moves through thoughts, dreams, visions and input to engage. Finally, both actions lead to Torah study and therefore to unification.

It isn’t always that simple though. In our lives there are family matters, back-stories, emotions and memories ricocheting around the primal setting causing conflict to seem like an impossible puzzle, one we could never make sacred despite hours of counseling, love-making, meal-making, gift-giving, lobbying, peace-making. It all seems to turn into manipulation, trickery, doubt-clinging, death-fearing, body-crushing pain.

Let’s see therefore a bit how God, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau light sparks of action and maintain balance so that their sacred work becomes a foundation for future generations.

First, in the divine words of Torah, we consecutively hear about the days of Abraham, then the toledoth of Ishmael then the toledoth of Isaac. There’s a fast build up here…the force of generation…the action of births all leading to Rebecca’s infertility. Conflict Number One: God has created a huge wick but will not light it within Rebecca. Conflict Number Two: Isaac entreats God more than once. He is opposite his wife (25:21). Rashi says that he is praying in one corner and Rebekah is praying in the other. Isaac succeeds. The spark is lit. And this raises us to Conflict Number Three: the ratzatz in the womb. As the Zohar points out…the children are crushing each other. Rebekah, stunned, seeks balance from the visions of prophets. She received it within the sanctity of the words ulam m’lam yametz, v’rav y’avod tsair. As it says in Talmud (Megillah 1A) at any one time one will be stronger than the other, one ascendant and one subjugated. The use of one word to show the struggle as well as the parallel form of the response (three syllables/three syllables) emphasizes both balance and the unification necessary for a foundation and for further ascension. It also however creates Conflict Number Four: Who/what will ascend and who/what will be subjugated?

Cut to the blessings. Here Isaac lights one spark by asking Esau for food that is ta’amim. So much of Torah is oral and we must not forget that Jacob is described as tam (25:27). In my opinion, Isaac who is blind (but sees with blinding sight) is calling Jacob on one level and Esau on another. He’s calling both, lighting that spark of conflict once again. Esau lights the next spark by going hunting. Rebekah immediately lights the next by transmitting the call to Jacob. And Jacob lights the next by acting. The spark by now is racing like fire. We read v’yalach, v’yikach, v’yavay…three verbs moving so fast they even lack (written) objects. The balance and foundation has already been created (by Rebekah and by the very idea of a blessing) though so what we end up with is not an explosion but the ascension of everyone involved.

On one level, no doubt, Esau represents the dark, the underworld and Jacob, the light. Finally though, if we really rise through the pillar of light, no one here is good or evil. In fact, the only evil is the inability or the refusal to be pro-active and light the spark under stasis. The only evil is giving up. And I don’t see that here at all.

So may we discern the forces of emotions, loved ones, community leaders, and nations that create a conflict within or among us. May we see that peace is not the clinging to one side or another, nor is it denial but simply the wholeness of our souls while making room for others. May we see that the only evil is the doubt of our purpose and of our work, the rejection of love. May we find the equanimity to create a foundation. Then may we light the sparks on the wicks created by God and rise together conflict after conflict beyond all impermeable boundaries to the warm and One beyond.