Parshas Toldos
Eisav's Fables
By: Daniel Listhaus
“And Yaakov boiled a stew, and Eisav came in from the field, and he was exhausted. Eisav said to Yaakov, 'Pour into me, now, some of that very red stuff for I am exhausted.'...Yaakov said, 'Sell as this day, your birthright to me.' And Eisav said, 'Look I am going to die, so what use to me is a birthright?' Yaakov said, 'Swear to me as this day'; he swore to him and sold his birthright to Yaakov. Yaakov gave Eisav bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, got up and left; and Eisav belittled the birthright.”
-Toldos 25:30-34
The Kli Yakar1 brings from the Gemara2 that Eisav transgressed on five major transgressions on the day related in the above passukim. He had immoral relations, murdered, denied Hashem's existence, denied the concept of techiyas ha'meisim (revival of the dead), and belittled the bechorah (birthright). This is alluded to the by the sequence of words in the passuk: “He ate, drank, got up, left, and belittled the birthright.”3 As a matter of fact, this is why Hashem caused Avraham to die five years earlier than he should have, in order that he should not have to see his grandson, Eisav, depart for evil ways.4
There are a couple of parts of this story which are difficult to comprehend. Imagine the scenario. Eisav comes storming into the house after a long day of transgressions, and demands of Yaakov to pour some of the “very red stuff” that Yaakov was boiling on the stove. Was this a new recipe in the house of Yitzchak? Did Eisav not know what lentil stew was? Why is it that he addressed the food as “red stuff”, and not by its proper name?
Additionally, Eisav's response to the situation seems quite unusual. He said to Yaakov, “Look, I am going to die, so what use to me is the birthright?” Let us assume for a moment that Eisav knew what getting the bechorah meant. This is a safe assumption because if it is not true, then Eisav should have been able to claim on Yaakov that the sale was a mekach ta'os (mistaken sale) and that all the facts were not on the table. Such a claim would dictate that everything go back to the way it was, with Eisav in possession of the bechorah. Anyway, what was the meaning of Eisav's response? This argument seems so generic with no specific relevance to the bechorah. Yet, certainly Eisav did not walk around saying, “Look, I am going to die, so what use to me is eating, drinking, fighting, or having fun”. Eisav lived his life with exactly the opposite mentality. He spent his time doing whatever he wanted. He certainly did not give off the impression of someone who feared death. So what did Eisav mean in his response to Yaakov?
Let us take a step back for a moment and review what the bechorah package-deal included. The Torah5 tells us that a bechor gets a double portion of the father's estate. In addition to this, before cheit haeigel, the bechorim were the ones who were supposed to do the avodah in the Mishkan and Beis Hamikdash. Above all of this, it also seems that having the bechorah was a necessary thing to have in order to be fitting of receiving the bracha of Yitzchak, later in the parsha6. This was something which Eisav made clear he was interested in. What convinced Eisav to give this all up?7
The S'forno8 writes that when Eisav came home and asked for the “red stuff”, Yaakov took the opportunity to rebuke his brother. He told Eisav, “Look at you! You are so focused on your work that you are totally exhausted. You do not even recognize the food, and instead refer to it as “red stuff”! There is no doubt in my mind that you will not have the ability to serve Hashem in the proper way that is demanded of a bechor.”
Rashi9 writes that when Eisav came and said, “I am going to die, so of what use to me is a birthright”, he was really responding to Yaakov. Yaakov told Eisav that being a bechor meant doing avodah in the Beis Hamikdash for Hashem. Some parts of the avodah are so strict and serious that making a mistake could cost one his life. To this, Eisav responded to Yaakov that since he would die anyway, there was no point in him keeping the bechorah.
What exactly was going on here? What was it that Yaakov said that persuaded Eisav to give over the bechor? This is Eisav we are talking about. He was a risk-taker, living life on the edge. Why was he any more nervous about messing up in the Beis Hamikdash than Yaakov should be?
The best way to understand all of this is to first realize who Yaakov and Eisav were. The Torah and Rashi10 describe that starting from when they were in Rivka's womb, they had quite different perspectives on life. Whenever Rivka would pass the Beis HaMedrash of Shem and Aver, Yaakov would toss around; whenever Rivka would pass a place of idol worship, Eisav would start tossing around. As they grew up, the Torah details the interests of the twin teenagers. Rashi11 elaborates that Eisav's two hobbies were spending time in the field and deceiving his father. Eisav liked to indulge in mundane matters and transgress on the word of Hashem in order to gain physical pleasures. He was someone who lived life only to feed the unquenchable desires of his guf (body). Anything that did not translate into instant gratification for Eisav, he had no interest in. When the choice came before him to take a bowl of lentil soup or the privilege of serving Hashem, it was an open-and-shut case. It was so obvious to Eisav to take the thing which would benefit him now in a physical way to which he could relate.
Yaakov, on the other hand, is described as a wholesome man who spent time studying Torah and becoming closer to Hashem. Yaakov was totally focused in avodas Hashem. When Yaakov saw the type of person that his brother was, he realized that Eisav was not fitting for the bechorah. As Yaakov told him, it is impossible to be so involved in your guf and also appreciate kedusha and spirituality. This is very logical. After all, even if a person would utilize all one-hundred percent of one's potential ability to focus, one still only has the capacity of one-hundred percent focus. It is impossible to be engrossed in two things to capacity at the same time. By definition, once one begins to even start thinking about something else, the completeness of concentration is broken. One could focus on multiple items equally, but not all to the capacity possible if one only had to concentrate on one.
When it comes to avodas Hashem, there is no room for fracturing one's attention and dividing it amongst multiple things. One who wants to serve Hashem properly must be totally engrossed in recognizing and carrying out ratzon Hashem. Sometimes, ratzon Hashem indeed demands getting physical pleasures. We eat, drink, sleep, and thank Hashem for the various pleasures from which we benefit. However, the focus must completely be on Hashem. This is the only way that life could be lived in the correct way.
This is precisely what Yaakov was telling Eisav. Yaakov said, “Look at you! You spend your days totally engrossed in your 'work' deriving physical pleasures. Your attention is too divided, how can you expect to carry out the responsibilities of the bechor?” Being a bechor means serving Hashem; and serving Hashem requires unadulterated concentration.
Along with this difference between Yaakov and Eisav, comes another. We live in an olam hasheker – a fake world designed to hide Hashem's presence. Someone who immerses himself in the physical pleasures of this world is, simultaneously, plunging himself into sheker (falsehood). The chitzoniyos are meorer our penimiyos. The things we do have an effect on who we become in a very real way. It is now wonder then that Eisav was a master in deceiving. When the Torah describes Eisav as someone who knows trapping, Rashi12 comments that he knew how to trap and ensnare people with his mouth. He would ask his father, Yitzchak, insincere questions to make it sound that he was constantly thinking about the intricacies of halacha. Eisav was someone who was so steeped in sheker that it became a part of him – Eisav was a manifestation of sheker in the way he acted, spoke, and thought.
Yaakov avinu, though, is described by Rashi13 in a very different way, “As is his heart, so is his mouth”. Yaakov was someone who was real. There were no discrepancies or variances between who he was and who he showed to be. He was not someone who put on a show for others, nor was he a person who lived life for himself. Rather, Yaakov avinu engrossed himself in avodas Hashem at full capacity. This is why he was fit to receive the bechorah and this is why he is associated with emes (truth and reality).14
There are many levels that exist on the spectrum between being an Eisav – living a life of sheker and concentrating on physical pleasures, and being a Yaakov – living a life of emes with total and complete focus on avodas Hashem. In the world of instant gratification that we live in, there is no doubt that it is becoming increasingly more challenging to be a Yaakov. We have so many distractions which occupy such a large portion of our heads. Even the once-in-a-while that we could get ourselves focused on something, we expect immediate results, or else we are in desperate need of a commercial break.
There is no question that such a mentality diminishes our ability to focus on the real way to live life. It is not just hard for us to serve Hashem properly when we are so self-centered and unable to focus, it is impossible!
With this comprehension, we could now perhaps understand a difficult passuk in the beginning of the parsha. While Yaakov and Eisav were fighting in Rivka's womb, Rivka was pained and wanted to know what was happening. Hashem told her, “Two nations are in your womb...and one regime shall become strong from the other regime.”15 Rashi16 explains this cryptic passuk as follows, “They shall not be equal in greatness. When this one rises, this one falls.” With our understanding, this is clear. Physical engrossment is as mutually exclusive to pure avodas Hashem as sheker is to emes. If the focus for one is up, then the scale must balance itself accordingly. During times of sheker and distractions from concentrating on ratzon Hashem, Eisav rules. Only if we bring emes into the world, could we knock down Eisav.
Let us hope that we at least recognize our distractions so that we could work on them appropriately, instead of pretending that they do not exist. In this way, we could survive this olam ha'sheker and live life as a means of becoming closer to Hashem. With this zechus, Hashem should indeed keep his promise of “teeten emes l'Yaakov” (grant truth to Yaakov) and help us lead a real life of emes, instead of living inside one of Eisav's fables.
1Beraishis 25:34
2Bava Basra 16b
3Beraishis 25:34
4Rashi Beraishis 25:30
5Devarim 21:17
6Beraishis 27:36 and Rashi there.
7According to some, including the Sifsei Chachomim (Beraishis 27:19), learn that Eisav gave away all privileges of the bechor, except for the right to the double portion which he kept for himself.
8Beraishis 25:31
9Beraishis 25:32
10Beraishis 25: 22
11Beraishis 25:27
12Beraishis 25:27
13Ibid.
14Such as we say in Uva L'tzion (in Shacharis) which quotes from the passuk in Michah 7:20
15Beraishis 25:23
16Ibid.
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