Nach:

Ovadia 

Parsha:

Vayishlach 

Description

We, the descendants of the patriarch Jacob, are meant to hold onto the Torah commandment that forbids us from despising the people of Edom (Devarim 23:8), despite the challenges that have arisen over the years. In fact, it’s hard to tell if there was really ever a time when we had things right with Eisav/Edom. Every interaction between Eisav and Yaakov, and every encounter between their descendants recorded in Tanach, is marked by tension at best, and violence at worst. Yet R. Abahu (Breishit Rabbah 78:14) asks us to hear in the words of Yaakov and the embrace of Eisav that there can eventually be a day of reconciliation with Edom, even if it remains in the far-off future, in the end times whose character we can only imagine.