With Thanksgiving around the corner, our thoughts naturally turn to family (and food).  I always look forward to getting together with my sister, brothers, cousins, aunts, nieces and nephews and doing a little catching up.  We all enjoy each other's company and I cannot recall a sour moment in the twenty-plus years we have been gathering.  What's wrong with us?  We could never have our own reality TV series.

Our Biblical ancestors are another case altogether.  In this week's parashah, Va-yishlah, we have Jacob reconnecting with his brother Esau, the horrible recounting of the rape of Dinah and its gory aftermath, and the death of Rachel after giving birth to Benjamin.  These folks make the Kardashians look like self-promoting projections of their own boring lives.  But yet, from this often fractured and fractious Biblical family a nation is born.

Amidst the surface turmoil of most of this parashah, we find the passage of Jacob's nighttime wrestling match.  Having taken his family across the river, Jacob is alone until he is engaged in the struggle with "a man."  There has been much debate about the identity of Jacob's foe, but the fact that he has isolated himself from his family on this crucial night cannot be overlooked.  Jacob's struggle is a time for self-reflection that results in a changed man, with the new name of Israel.

As we gather with our own families for Thanksgiving or some other future holiday, enjoy the group, hopefully stay away from any unpleasantness, and steal a little time for self-reflection.  Perhaps we can all continue to change for the better.

Have a peaceful Shabbat and a fulfilling Thanksgiving.