Siblings Without Rivalry – Breaking generational trauma |
From the beginning of Genesis, sibling relationships are fraught. Cain and Abel. Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Joseph and his brothers. Again and again, difference turns into rivalry, and rivalry into rupture.
That is the background to the quiet scene at the opening of this week’s parsha.
Joseph brings his two sons, Ephraim and Menasheh, to his father Jacob to be blessed. Joseph positions them carefully. He knows what happens when one child is singled out. Trauma has taught him that distinction is dangerous.
Jacob crosses his hands.
Joseph immediately........