In the Rabbinical Council of America's newsletter for Toldot they presented, in memoriam, a video of the recently departed Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. One quandary he endeavored to elucidate was Isaac's relationship with his wayward son Esau. Was he fooled or not?
Rabbi Sacks suggests that he wasn't fooled and, on the contrary, when a parent senses their child slipping away, his approach was more love, not less, rather than pointless rebuke. And even though he may have "failed", Rabbi Sacks says it was an honorable failure. Indeed, it was a mirror image of God's relationship with us, love, despite all our shortcomings.
Downtown Minyan joins us again for this Shabbat. All Shabbat services will be outdoors.