Parshat Toldot: Generations

Rebecca is pregnant, but does not know she is carrying twins. She asks God about the unusually intense pain she feels and, in the only instance in the Torah that we see God speak directly to a woman, God tells her that she is carrying twins who are battling each other in the womb, and will battle each other in life. (Genesis 25: 22-4)

Rebecca is in pain. She is frightened,
And she calls out to God:
“If this is so, if this pain is inside of me,
If life is such a struggle,
Why do I exist?”

Troubled, worried, filled with fear,
Rebecca does not retreat.
She steps forward toward encounter,
Interrogating life.

God answers by telling her that
Complexity and paradox
Live inside,
And we must create the capacity
To live it well.

There are no easy answers,
Sometimes no clear paths to travel,
But the ways we navigate the journey
Will affect generations to come.
 
So continue to call out,
To seek encounter
And to question life,

And know, God says, that, Wherever you are, there I am.