Isaac and Rebecca had struggled for twenty years to have a baby.  Now finally, Rebecca is pregnant with twins.  The twins, to be called Jacob and Esau, struggle in her womb.  And she cries out, "If it be so, why am I thus?"  If my children are going to fight, what purpose is my life?  Jacob and Esau will be born into a life of rivalry.
       It is the dream of every parent that their children will get along.  Not only should they not fight, but they should positively help each other.  In fact, I raise this issue with every single bar and bat mitzvah in my synagogue.  I tell them that they have a mitzvah to honor their father and mother.  And at the center of that mitzvah is the obligation to take care of their brother or their sister.  We honor parents when we care for siblings.  In fact, later in the book of Deuteronomy, if a brother is forced to sell himself into indentured servitude, the Torah puts the obligation on the brother to redeem his brother.  Brothers and sisters take care of brothers and sisters.
       In my book God, Love, Sex, and Family I shared a story that I often retell when I lecture around the country.   A couple was celebrating their fiftieth anniversary and wanted to throw a lavish party.  They had two sons, one wealthy and one poor.  The parents told the wealthy son, "Throw us a proper party and we will reimburse you.  Spare no expense to make sure we are properly honored."
       The wealthy son threw a wonderful formal party.  The poor son could not afford the proper clothes, and came in a threadbare suit.  His wife came in an old dress.  When the party was over, the wealthy son handed his father the bill for reimbursement.  The parents said, "We will not reimburse you.  We said to spare no expense to make sure we were honored properly.  It is not an honor to have your brother come in an old suit."  The lesson of course - to honor parents means to care for our brothers (and sisters.)
       In the Bible this idea is much broader than caring for our biological and adopted siblings.  In a sense all human beings are brothers and sisters.  The prophet Malachi teaches, "Have we not one father?  Did not one God create us all?"  (Malachi 2:10)  Just as there is nothing more painful for a parent than seeing his or her children fighting among themselves, so there is nothing more painful to God then seeing God's children at war.  To be a human is to be a child of God.  And this obligates us to care for the other children of God. 
       Unfortunately, sibling rivalry seems to be the way of the world.  In Genesis alone, Cain kills Abel, Isaac and Ishmael are rivals, Jacob and Esau fight in their mother's womb, and Joseph's brothers throw him into a pit.  No siblings get along.  Even the sisters Rachel and Leah vie for their husband Jacob's attention.  We seem to live so far from the Biblical vision, "Here is what is good and what is pleasant, for brothers to dwell together."  (Psalms 133:1)
       We live in a world of hatred and rivalry.  Yet to truly honor God, we need to find a way to care for one another.  It may be a dream, but it is a dream we must continue to hold.  Every day God waits for God's children to get along. At the end of the book of Genesis, Joseph and his brothers embrace and forgive one another.  The book points towards the hope that sibling rivalry will end.  So we must always hope for the day when all humans will embrace one another.  As the popular Israel song Machar, (Tomorrow) says, Im Lo Machar as Mochratyim "If it does not happen tomorrow, then it will happen the day after tomorrow."
       The Messianic dream in Jewish tradition is a dream of peace, where the lion will lay down with the lamb.  It is not just our dream, it is God's dream for us humans.  May it come speedily in our day.