Saturday, November 10, 2012

Parashat Toledot (Callan Sullivan)


Shabbat Shalom.

For three months I have been studying this week’s parasha, Toledot. In the beginning I struggled with the learning, but now I feel fully confident. When I was studying the stories of Toledot, I was interested in how Esau threw his birthright away like it was nothing, but then got upset when Jacob actually took Esau’s blessing in Isaac’s old age. I felt like Esau should have known better than to give his birthright away, if he cared so deeply about the blessing.

A birthright is the inheritance to the first-born son when a father dies. The son inherits all the power, land, and blessings of his father. Later in the parasha you find out that Isaac is dying. Rebecca helps Jacob steal the blessing, because Rebecca favors Jacob over Esau while Isaac favors Esau over Jacob.

For the last three weeks as I’ve studied Toledot, I’ve felt a ton of pressure on getting the prayers fluent.  Now that the day is here I am relieved that I wont have a lot of pressure anymore. Even though I wanted to get my bar mitzvah over-with and I wished that time would slow down, instead time seemed to speed up. The day has come and I couldn’t wait to get on the bimah. As I have become a bar mitzvah I have learned that stuff that sounds easy is only easy if you work hard. I feel like getting ready for my bar mitzvah has been like Esau in my parsha: Esau threw his birthright away not knowing that it would be helpful later in life. This is like how I wish that I tried harder in Hebrew school.

I’m going to end this dvar torah in a wish that every one would follow in the footsteps of Jacob who always thought of his future more than his present, rather then Esau who only thought about what he needed in the present.

Shabbat Shalom.