Parshat Toldot

In this week’s parashah, Toldot, the Torah tells us that Yaakov and his brother Esav contended with each other even before they were born, to their mother’s great distress. “The sons struggled inside her. She exclaimed ‘If so, why do I exist?’ And she went to seek out YHWH.”

Rivka’s words “Why do I exist?” sound more like a cry of pain than like an actual question. But Rabbi Efrayim of Sudlikov heard those words as a real question, not a rhetorical one. He understood Rivka to be asking God to help her recover a sense of purpose — a “Why?” — for her life. Due to the struggle within her, she had lost her sense of what life was about, and needed help restoring her perspective.

We all have conflicts wtihin us, which can cause us to lose focus. At those times we need help to remember what matters most in life, what makes life worth the struggle. Regaining perspective does not make the struggles go away, but it can help to make them manageable, and even turn them into sources of growth.

That is why Shabbat is such a gift. Shabbat does not solve our problems, but it can help us to remember what makes struggling with them worth it. By giving us space to get our values and priorities in order, it helps us to find the strength to confront our challenges anew. May this Shabbat, and every Shabbat, help us to remember why we live.