* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Mazal Tov! After many years of waiting, our matriarch Rivka is finally expecting. But then she feels her twins struggling within her. “But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If [it be so], why do I exist? And she went to inquire of God.”
It would seem that in this situation she should go to her gynecologist and request an ultrasound! Why is Rivka pondering the existential question of “Why do I exist?” and, further, why does she go “to inquire of God”?
Our sages explain that Rivka is aware that many things that happen in this world have a spiritual source and a deeper purpose. She seeks to understand this dimension of reality and to determine her role in what is happening to her. She receives an answer regarding her two sons, Yaakov and Esav, who are already so different from one another in the womb. She begins to grasp that the struggle taking place within her represents the future struggle between two nations and two opposing world views.
The same is true with everything that occurs in our personal lives, as well as in the life of our nation. Nothing is random. Rivka is not offered any promises or magical solutions, but it’s important to focus on how she responds to her difficult situation. She is teaching us to ask ourselves, when we are faced with confusing or challenging situations: What does God want from me now? What is the deeper meaning of what is happening to me? And what is my role here?
