Examples of twins in ancient mythology abound. There is Romulus and Remus from Ancient Rome, Apollo and Artemis from the Ancient Greeks, Ohrmuzd (God of Light) and Ahriman (God of Darkness) of Ancient Persia, and Osiris and Set from the Ancient Egyptians. Many of the stories about these twins involve one or more of their birth parents being Gods, and often they are foundational stories about the birth of a society. Sometimes the twins get along, and sometimes as in the cases of both Romulus and Remus and Osiris and Set, they end up killing one another.
Surprisingly, in all of Tanach, including more than 3500 different characters, there only two sets of twins – Jacob and Essau (from this week’s Torah portion Toldot) and Tamar’s sons Peretz and Zerach. What sets the stories of the twins apart from the similar twin stories in other cultures is how very human they are. Jacob and Essau are at times rivals and at other times friends, their relationship moves from trickery, to anger, and finally to reunion.
Even twins born in today’s world are weighted with societal expectations that they’ll be best friends as they grow into adulthood. I have had a chance to Bar and Bat Mitzvah several sets of twins and each is so different than the other. Sometimes, it is helpful in their preparation, knowing they are not going through the process alone, and sometimes it makes it much more complicated. We learn from the story of Jacob and Essau that relationships evolve, that where we are at one point in our life is different than another, that all family relationships, whether twins or not, require hard work and maintenance, and that even the worst of sins against one another can, in time, be forgiven.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last Updated on 12/02/2016 by wpadm