Chayyei Sarah

Genesis 24:6-8 -

Abraham exhibiting a sacred value. Abraham has instructed his servant to return to his home country to acquire a wife for his son, and when the servant suggests that if he has trouble finding a wife that he bring Isaac with him, Abraham is adamant that he not remove Isaac from the land. The sacred value of keeping Isaac in the land is more important than getting him a wife from his home country.

Genesis 24:10-49

The story of the the servant finding Rebecca shows the activation of a superordinate identity. As they find that the servant’s master and the family of Rebecca are the same family, the assumption is made by the servant that all of the people in the family will be like Abraham - they are united by this shared identity. In the story, however, Laban is quite different, but that difference is obfuscated at this time by the superordinate identity.

Toldot

Genesis 26:7

Isaac demonstrates a perception gap. Since the story is so similar to the one in Genesis 20, it is no surprise that the perception gap is so similar also. Isaac says that he thought that the locals would kill him if he said that his wife was his wife because she was so good looking. However, even with her supposedly available, she is not taken into the king’s household (in contradistinction to Genesis 12 and 20) and when Abimelech sees Isaac and Rebecca being affectionate together, he berates Isaac because someone might have incurred guilt because of it.

Genesis 25:29-34

Jacob demonstrates a sacred value. The contrast between the twins Esau and Jacob is inescapable in the Torah, and in the scene in which Esau comes in hungry from the field to find Jacob making a stew, we see that Jacob values the idea of continuing the legacy of the family greater than does Esau. Esau is ready to give it up for food. The narrator confirms that Esau does not view the birthright as important in verse 34

Vayetzei

Genesis 30:1

Rachel demonstrates that having children is a sacred value. The text has made clear that Rachel is the beloved of Jacob, even though he has another wife, but that love is not sufficient. Her sister, Leah, may be unloved, be she has many children, and Rachel has none. She compares herself to a dead woman as a result. She goes so far as to offer her handmaid in her place to have a child.

Genesis 31:1-3

Jacob discovers toxic polarization in the attitude of Laban towards him. Laban’s sons spread disinformation about Jacob, and Jacob sees in Laban’s face that he is no longer favorable towards him. By verse 14, Rachel and Leah confirm that they have experienced this dehumanization also when they note that they are like foreigners to their own father.

Vayishlach

Genesis 32:7-9

When the messengers return from informing Esau of Jacob’s return, there is a deep mix of group attribution error, motive misattribution, and metaperceptions creating the potential for conflict. The last that Jacob has heard of his brother was Esau’s vow to kill Jacob twenty years before. That potential violence has been attributed to his entire group by the messengers. Further, the messengers and Jacob both assume that they know Esau’s intentions although no information about that has been provided either by the narrator nor by Esau himself. Jacob is stuck in the metaperception of thinking his brother hates him that he does not consider a possibility other than approaching violence. When the brothers unite, a simple read of the text, setting aside the rabbinic commentary for a moment, shows Esau as kind and forgiving, the complete opposite of Jacob’s expectations. Of course, this simple hook cannot do the complexity of this story justice.