Congregation B'nai Israel

Toldot

 

 

Jacob then gave Esav bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank and he rose and went away.  Thus did Esav spurn the birthright.

 

 

Esav consented to the sale because he was in mortal danger from his hunting animals, and it was likely that he would die while his father was alive, and the birthright carried with it no distinction except after the passing of the father.  So of what benefit was the birthright to him?

(Ramban 13^th Century)

 

Esav is a hunter because he is vacant, empty of meanings, cut loose from the intentional energies of life, conscious of his own vitality only in the act of destroying life…Esav emerges as a “field sports” man, leisured, purposeless, sensing the pulse of his own life only in the shedding of the blood of others…he has the fury evoked by animal life; the desire to extirpate what has no proper existence.

Aviva Zornberg (Contemporary)

 

Esav’s concept of the birthright and its values did not differ much from the way many Jews perceive the “idea of Heaven.”  Some are willing to sell their claim cheaply; others treasure it and would spend their life savings to assure themselves a share in it…The Torah gives evidence that Esav had an opportunity to reconsider this rash decision when he was restored to his senses.  Therefore we are told, “He ate, he drank, he got up and he went about his business;  he despised his birthright.”

Akedat Yitzchak (15^th Century)

 

 

Jacob’s life story includes jealousy and competition, issues between the sexes, struggles over acquisition and property, the pain of raising children, failures and victories.  Jacob himself, in his old age, said that, “The days of my life were few and hard when compared to the lives of my ancestors (47:9).”  A very late Midrash has God saying about Jacob:  II never performed any miracles for him.”…Whatever he was supposed to receive, he obtained in a roundabout and complex way.  It was clear from the outset that he was meant to be the spiritual heir to Abraham, but he achieved this by questionable and circuitous means.  The birthright and the blessing which were meant for him, the wife who was meant for him… none of these were given to him via the straight path…he was forced to overcome obstacles, and meeting with failures…Finally it was this man who became Israel.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz (20^th Century)

 

 

Jacob’s acquisition of the birthright may seem to be a legitimate exchange – the birthright for a pot of soup.  But…it is clearly a violation of the Torah injunction against placing a stumbling block before the blind.  The Bible’s condemnation of Jacob is implicit in the many stories of Jacob’s own suffering at the hands of those who deceive him:  Laban, his sons, and even his favorite son, Joseph.  The deceiver is deceived, again and again.

Neil Gillman (Contemporary)