Love the Stranger

Jacob tried to flee from his estranged brother. Did he fear more the battle, or the potential reconciliation? What happens when victimhood is built into our self-definition? What do we lose when we stay at the table, and what might we gain? What will it take for us to understand that there is no future until we see one another?

There is a teaching in Pirkei Avot that says that the mouth of the well was made during the first Shabbat of creation. We have long accepted it to be Miriam’s well, but what if it’s the well from this week’s parsha – the one Jacob encounters after his dream, and where he meets Rachel for the first time? If it’s that well, then maybe we, like Jacob, have to find the well, roll off the stone, and discover what exists underneath.