In the Torah portion that we read this week we do not learn much about the attributes of Jacob. We do know that he was not as strong as his twin, Esau. He was not as independent as Esau. He was not the hunter that Esau was. However, Jacob did have one advantage that Esau lacked. Rebecca, the twins’ mother, was crazy about Jacob and only Jacob. She would do anything for him. She gave him confidence to conquer the world. She prepared the road for success for him. She even worked behind the back of her husband, Isaac, to make certain that Jacob received the blessing of the first born even though by all rights, that blessing should have gone to Esau, the real first born.
Jacob’s mother, like Isaac’s mother before, and like Moses’ mother after, showed unlimited confidence in her son. She knew that he could attain any goal that he desired, and she never let him forget that fact. She knew that he was a ‘genius’, that he was more qualified to succeed in this world than any child who ever existed!
Truth never got in the way of Rebecca’s belief. Indeed, she made what was perhaps a false assumption into a truth. Jacob was not a genius; he was not the person Rebecca dreamed that he was. Her misconceptions did not matter. All that did matter was the confidence that she gave to her son. Because of that confidence, Jacob did turn out to be a somebody. Because of the support that she gave him while he was young, he was able to cope with life, no matter how difficult life became.
Jacob was a father of our people, but he would have been nothing if his mother, Rebecca, did not believe in him.
Never under estimate the power of a mother. Our tradition teaches that great people become that way because of the mothers that they have.