Even by biblical standards, few statements are as stark as God's words to Rebekah after the matriarch had conceived twins. "Two nations are in your womb," God explains, "And two peoples shall be separated...And the elder shall serve the younger."

Indeed, few Biblical struggles, few familial conflicts--in a book filled with stories of intra-family struggles--are as tragic as the confrontation between Jacob and Esau.

It seems that from that moment, the twin brothers clashed and competed over the family birthright and legacy. The twin grandsons of Abraham and Sarah were, from their birth onwards, locked in a constant struggle over inheriting the prophetic mantle of Abraham and Sarah, inheriting the leadership over the family, and of course, inheriting the riches of the land which God had first promised to Abraham.

As the Torah portion Toledot unfolds, we witness Jacob, the younger brother, gaining through guile what had first been granted to Esau by virtue of being born first. Together, Jacob and Rebekah successfully conspire to transfer the blessing Isaac had intended for Esau over to the younger brother. More than being mere words,