What happens in the hidden realms when the grand stage of history is filled with guilt, betrayal, and pain? Where does God work when the obvious fails and the main actors fall silent?

The greatness of God’s covenant lies in His mercy. How, in all His majesty and perfection, He was willing to walk with sinful men – even the fallible patriarchs of the covenant – to fulfil His promises of redemption, is awesome to contemplate.

Have you ever felt that you are standing inwardly at a turning point? That life is pressing you, urging you no longer to continue as before? That you realise the person you were no longer fits the person you have become? It is exactly there that the story of Jacob begins — and exactly there that it begins with us too. This is the weekly Torah portion that we in the people of Israel read on this Shabbat. Come and read with us!

There is much for us to learn from Jacob’s walk that helps us to understand our own walk.

Have you ever felt that a path you were forced to take against your will ultimately turned out to be the very one that brought you back to yourself?

A close reading of the biblical text reveals antisemitic patterns that we still see today.

God’s ways are beyond our human logic. He separates to Himself, as Jacob divided the flocks of Laban, those who are called and respond to His covenant purposes, and cares for them as a shepherd does his flock.

When rereading a well-known Torah portion leaves you open-mouthed, goosebumps all over, swept up in a deep inner rapture.

As we consider this week’s Torah portion, we might also consider our own situations as present-day custodians and witnesses of God’s covenant promises.