Toledot 2017
In this week’s torah portion, Toldot, Rebecca the wife of Isaac is pregnant with twins who are struggling and moving within her womb a great deal. She was extremely disturbed by this and went “to seek out G-d” for an explanation. She was told there are “two nations in your womb…and the elder shall serve the younger.” As they grew up the older son Esau became a hunter and man of the field and the younger son Jacob embraced the contemplative life, becoming a “simple man who dwelled in tents.”
Jacob bought the firstborn birthright from Esau for a bowl of red soup, which Esau was happy to sell, for he felt that, “I am going to die (eventually), so what good is this birthright to me.” Subsequently Isaac their father, who either did not know about the sale or did not care, wanted in his old age to bless his sons and to bestow upon Esau, the firstborn, his firstborn right of a special place in the future leadership of the clan.
Rebecca their mother realizing that Esau was no leader for the nation they would become, told Jacob to dress as Esau and fool his father Isaac into giving him the first born blessing and mantel, which he did. Ultimately of course Jacob became the Jewish People and heir to Abraham’s destiny, and not Esau.
Many questions have been asked and answered about this perplexing but central story in the birth of our people but I would like to focus on one, the question of why Isaac insists on giving Esau the firstborn blessing of leadership and not Jacob, the more fitting Jewish leader. Was Isaac the holy man really blind to his children’s natures and their potential?
A fascinating explanation is offered by Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Ishbitz (1801-1854), a Chassidic Rebbbe and student of the famed Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. The Isbitzer explains (Mai HaShiloach, 1:33) that actually Esau had more potential for holiness than Jacob. True, Esau perhaps was wicked and was certainly a riskier proposition, but this was only because his greater holiness was more hidden and harder to refine. Never the less Isaac felt Esau must not be forsaken. Just the opposite, he must invest more effort, nurturing and blessing in him in order to unlock his powerful potential. Rebecca of course disagreed, and as with our other Jewish matriarchs, it was her voice to which God would hearken as the story of the Jewish nation unfolds.
For us though there is a great lesson to be learned from Isaac and Esau. None of our brothers and sisters, no matter how wicked, may be forsaken. In fact it is precisely those who reject the proper path and those who are wicked, who have the potential for the greatest holiness, if only we have enough faith in them, love for them, and the patience to help them develop into the great people they can be.
Shabbat Shalom.