Jacob's Diverse Family Jacob found it in his heart to embrace
all his children, though they chose different paths. Provided by
the Jewish Outreach Institute, an organization dedicated to
creating a more open and welcoming Judaism. We have come to the
end of Jacob's tumultuous life. And as he gathers his children
to his on his deathbed, Jacob offers each one a blessing. In
these blessings are contained wishes for his children that
emanate from his own experience of life and his relationship
with each one. Rather than being cut of divine cloth and thereby
a form of revelation, these blessings emerge from the kind of
wisdom that only comes from the experience of human living. Of
the many lessons that Jacob teaches us, we learn from him that
old age can be a powerful teacher, as well as a calming
influence particularly as they relate to those issues that seem
to tear families apart only years before. The things that were
once so important are eclipsed by the hovering shadow made so
poignant by the angel of death.