I'm sorry this is late - medical issues have been consuming a lot of time and energy this week.
This week's Torah reading is the story of Jacob and Esau, whose fighting began in their mother's womb and continued into next week's reading. The rabbis do a lot of justification of Jacob's (and Rebecca's) actions that trick Esau out of his birthright and the blessing of Isaac. Rebecca is seen as knowing that Jacob is supposed to carry on the blessing first given to Abraham and doing whatever it takes to see that he gets it. And poor Esau is painted as evii, much as Ishmael was, though there is nothing in the text to support such an interpretation.
The fact is, Rebecca does everything to see that the right son gets the blessing except to discuss it with Isaac and work to convince him to do the right thing. Instead she conspires with Jacob to trick Isaac, who is old and blind and frail, into thinking that Jacob is Esau while Esau is out doing Isaac's bidding.
And Jacob protests - but only that he doesn't think it will work.
But then, Jacob has already tricked his twin brother out of his birthright. Esau, exhausted after hunting, finds Jacob cooking a "mess of potage," a lentil stew, and asks for some. Rather than offering succor, Jacob makes a deal - a meal in return for the birthright. Compare to those people who now want to make the poor and hungry, even children, somehow prove that they deserve food or other kinds of help before giving it. Here is a Biblical precedent for such behavior.
After the deception is revealed too late, Rebecca is afraid of Esau's wrath, and gets Isaac to agree to send Jacob away to her brother's family.
This portion is always read near the time of the New Moon, and therefore is paired every few years with this week's special haftarah, the story of David and Jonathan, with its strong contrast to the story of Jacob and Esau.
Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and David, a courtier to the king, deeply care for each other. When Jonathan hears that Saul plans to kill David, whom Saul knows will become king after him, he warns David and they work out a plan that will warn David to stay away from the feast of the new moon if Saul really plans this, which he does. When Saul realizes that David is gone and that Jonathan has probably warned him away, he angrily asks Jonathan if he realizes that David will take what Saul considers to be Jonathan's birthright.
So we see a pair here whose love for each other overcomes potential jealousy and leads the one who will lose to the other to protect the usurper. I cannot imagine a stronger and more direct contrast to the brothers of the parsha.
I sometimes wonder if it was planned this way.
Shabbat shalom.