Page 72 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola

how sibling rivalry can lead to violent, fratricidal intentions.
Questions and observations like these arise in Jewish interpretive traditions and are readily explored by Torah scholars and teachers, such as in the writings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020). I find myself pondering this disturbing aspect of psychological and social dynamics: Why is it that sometimes we are most blind to those areas of life where the lessons are most salient, obvious and personally closest to one’s own experience?
Deep down, we can surmise, Jacob knows the truth. The sibling rivalry is plain to see. He knows how strongly Joseph is hated by his older brothers. He knows what his older sons are capable of, as shown by their unrestrained vengeance in the episode at Shechem. However, he wishes it were otherwise. He wishes for a harmonious family. Perhaps his older sons’ rage against Joseph is not really that bad, he tells himself. He recalls that he and Esau achieved some semblance of reconciliation. So, perhaps there is more genuine brotherly feeling among his sons than is apparent.
Of course, this is delusional thinking. Joseph narrowly escapes being killed by his brothers, and instead is sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. Tragically, it is Jacob, his own loving father, who sent him to his fate.
I was reminded of this passage as I reflected on the hatred that has been dealt our Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia in the wake of October 7 and on the ‘wishful thinking’ of so many Catholics that is inviting tragic consequences. How long can our Catholic leaders, with few exceptions, keep turning a blind eye to the outbreaks of antisemitism in Australian streets and around the world, including its most heinous expression in the atrocities committed at the hands of Hamas’ ideologically-driven
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