by rabbi judah dardik
Toldot
Genesis 25:19-28:9
Samuel I 20:18-42
How did it come to this? In just one chapter of narrative, we go from Isaac expressing his intent to bless his elder son, Esav, with his birthright, to his wife, Rebecca, encouraging Jacob to deceive his blind and elderly father.
When all is said and done, Jacob does receive the blessing, along with death threats from his older brother and a maternal directive to run away from home for his own safety. In a matter of verses, the family comes unglued.
Contrast this to the end of the book of Genesis, where Jacob is faced with blessing a much larger family at the end of his life. There, the brother who took the blessing intended for Esav offers separate comments and thoughts for each of his children. Why couldn’t Isaac just offer a blessing to each of his sons? Was there a shortage of words to go around? Couldn’t all this have been avoided by wishing good things for both his children?
An earlier episode may offer a bit of insight into the personalities of Isaac and Rebecca’s children. At the opening of the Torah portion, Esav returns home from the hunt tired and thirsty. Jacob proposes a sale of his brother’s birthright, and Esav responds, “I am going to die, so of what use to me is a birthright?” (Gen. 25:32).
What does he possibly mean by that?
The Chizkuni explains Esav’s logic: The birthright is the inheritance of the land of Israel promised to Avraham. However, HaShem also predicted to Avraham that before they receive the land, his descendants will be oppressed in a foreign land for 400 years. Esav’s statement means, “If it is going to take 400 years, then I will never live to see this inheritance. I’ll be dead by then, so what good is the inheritance?” Esav is a person concerned with himself — the welfare of others, even his descendants, doesn’t matter to him.
When Jacob impersonates his brother, he does an excellent job. So good, in fact, that his invitation to his father to come and eat and then bless him (Gen. 27:19) is identical to the phrase that Esav himself later uses (Gen. 27:31), with one exception: Esav inserts one word that refers to himself as “the son” of Isaac. Jacob doesn’t use the phrase, because in truth Isaac has two sons. But Esav considers himself to be the only son; he can’t seem to share that status with Jacob.
Even when Esav discovers that Isaac has blessed Jacob instead of him, he asks, “Have you but one blessing, Father?” (Gen. 27:38). The Radak explains the question to mean “Is there any area in which you did not bless Jacob, in which you could now bless me?” Esav cannot conceive of sharing a blessing with Jacob. Instead, he wants to know if there is a blessing he could call his own.
At issue between the two brothers is the question of good fortune and blessing in this world. Is it simply a lottery that randomly favors some over others? Or is there a hand that guides the process? Is life simply an indiscriminate rat race that pits us against one another?
Esav maintained a lottery mentality, which leads a person to hope that no one else will win as well because then he would have to split the winnings. The prize pool is limited, so other’s gain is your loss. There couldn’t be any peaceful sharing in this home; Jacob’s gains were going to be perceived by Esav as his loss.
Unfortunately, he missed his truest birthright, the Jewish approach. We are taught not to covet, as one person’s gain involves absolutely no loss to anyone else. HaShem has plenty of blessings to offer, so that people’s fortunes don’t set the standard for those of their neighbors.
Isaac offered him the consideration of an alternative approach, that perhaps they could share, but this was rejected in a murderous rage. It wouldn’t be until Jacob’s sons worked through their sibling rivalries that the family would witness a blessing for each and every child.
How do we, the descendants of Jacob, react to the good fortune of others? Do we begrudge them the gain? Or do we rejoice for them, allowing that HaShem has blessed them as well as us?
Rabbi Judah Dardik is the spiritual leader at Orthodox Beth Jacob in Oakland. He can be reached at Rabbi@BethJacobOakland.org.
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