Rabbi Howard Morrison

On this Shabbat morning, we completed reading Sefer Bereishit, the Book of Genesis. If one were to try and summarize the entire book, one might call it a book about brothers. At the outset, Cain kills Abel, a brother kills a brother. At the very end, however, brothers once divided, live together in harmony, that of Joseph and his brothers.

What about the intervening stories about brothers? We have the saga of Isaac and Ishmael. At an early stage in their lives, they have to be separated from each other. Ishmael is a bad influence on Isaac. They cannot remain together. However, that estrangement does not have to be permanent. We read that when their father Abraham dies, Isaac and Ishmael buried their father together. At some point, these two brothers united. 

While Isaac would be a progenitor of the Jewish people, Ishmael would be the progenitor of the Arab/Muslim world. There was a time in the Golden Age of Spain when Jews and Muslims got along, worked alongside each other, and shared from each other's insights. However, the Jewish - Arab/Muslim world has been bitter as well. Before October 7, Israel had made economic agreements with the United Arab Emirates and was close to striking a deal with Saudi Arabia. Do we know how these Arabs feel about the Jewish people right now? Sadly and tragically, Hamas seems to have purposely done what it intended to do in order to destroy any kind of bond between the Jewish and Arab/Muslim world.

Jacob and Esau are twin brothers. Conflict defines the early years of their relationship, causing Jacob to leave the nuclear family. However, some two decades later, these two brothers embrace each other and unite before going their separate ways again. 

While Jacob's name would be altered to Israel and become a progenitor of the Jewish people like Isaac, Esau's national personna would evolve over the generations. Esau became identified with the nation of Edom in Biblical times. Esau became identified with Rome in ancient rabbinic writings. Esau subsequently became identified with ancient Christianity. When one considers Jewish - Christian relations - hostility, persecution, and hatred came to define antiquity and most of the Middle Ages. Most of Christianity adopted replacement theology. The Church was now Israel. The Jew was replaced by the Christian. The New Testament superseded what Christians called the Old Testament.

While tensions still exist between certain Christian denominations and Judaism, some branches of Christianity, like some evangelical groups and Catholics, no longer believe in replacement theology. God has two legitimate covenants, one for Christians and one for Jews. There has become a new dawn in the relationship between Judaism and some denominations of Christianity.

Today, we finish Bereishit, Genesis - a book about brothers and their spinoffs throughout history. Now is a time to assess Judaism's brotherly relationships today. The events of October 7^th and beyond seem to have set many of the relationships backward, at least for the time being. With Ha'Tikvah as our mantra, we must "hope" that situations can change and improve, as has been the case up and down throughout Jewish history. Let us keep in mind that a book which began with one brother killing another ends up with brothers uniting as a family.

Rabbi Howard Morrison