Eliana Benador: The beginning of a new week: Shavua tov!

B”H

As Shabbat has once again ended, reading of our Holy Torah is as always the most uplifting testimony for our souls.

We read our Torah on a yearly basis, from year to year.  And every week, no matter how many years we have read it, we always learn new elements, new teachings and lessons left for us by G d Himself.

Indeed, each historical passage that is recorded there shows how HaShem after some period patiently waiting for mankind to redeem and to repent, and yet redemption and repentance barely ever come one hundred percent.

So punishments are there as lessons from the Almighty.

And, as in every case, some righteous men will save the day, but in doing so, the seed of evil is saved as well.   It happens in the time of Noah, in the time of Babel, in the case of Abraham, who with two sons, one by Sarah and other by her Egyptian princess slave Hagar, we were left with good Isaac and evil Ishmael…   The same repeats itself with Isaac and Rebecca, when she gives birth to twins:  Esau and Yaacov, evil and good, respectively…

And, so, it goes on endlessly….  No matter how righteous, there is always the seed for evil, just as in all of us.

Try as we may, our human condition is precisely that, a “condition”…

We saw how, because of Laban’s treachery, Yaacov ended up marrying not Rachel the woman he loved, but Laban, their father, did not keep his word and gave first Leah to Yaacov, and then Rachel.

We see how HaShem seeing that Leah was not the loved one, he makes her the mother of Ruben, Shimon, Levy, Judah, Issachar and Zabulun.  Her slave, Zilpa, bore Gad and Asher.  While Rachel, after being barren for a long time, will be the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.  Her slave Bilha bore Dan and Naftali.

At 184 years, Isaac passes away, and his two sons, Yaacov and Esau, together, bury him.

Yaacov’s favourite son turns to be, unsurprisingly, Joseph, the son he had with the woman he loved, Rachel…   And a new story begins, to be followed next week.

That said, the story of this week ends with a thorough documentation of Esau’s descendants.  The reason for it being that many of the evil coming the way of the Jewish people find their source in him and his generations that followed, like the Romans, and Amalek, the son of Timnah…

The big question is:  Will mankind ever make check mate on evil?

Despite the gloom fate reserved to mankind, I want to wish all as good a week as possible…   May the good outweigh the evil and may your choices always bear in mind what’s good in the Eyes of G d.

Remember, G d did not gave us a menu to choose from.  His are Commandments.  Orders.  Not choices.

G d Bless you.  G d Bless this world with His Light and His Love.

Have a great and blessed week…  Shavua tov!

©ElianaBenador