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A

dramatic and emotionally
charged narrative unfolds
in the Torah selection of
Toledot. Through the care-
fully planned strategies of his
mother Rebekah, Jacob success-
fully follows them in wining his
father Isaac's blessing. Although
a clever ruse was employed to de-
ceive the aged and blind father,
the blessing rightfully belonged
to Jacob by virtue of the sale of
his birthright earlier by Esau.
Not until Jacob had spoken at
some length did Isaac become
suspicious about the identity of
the son who claimed to be Esau.
After all, Jacob had been ade-
quately disguised to appear to the
touch like his hairy brother,
Esau. He also had dutifully ful-
filled his father's wishes by sup-
plying Isaac with the viands
which he enjoyed.
Notwithstanding the seem-
ingly perfect disguise coupled
with the preparations of food
which augured well for Jacob
something occurred which sud-
denly aroused the sightless pa-
triach's suspicions. Was this
really Esau as claimed?
We can well imagine Jacob's
plight. A panicky feeling must
have gripped him when he heard
his father say, "Come near and
let me feel you, my son. Are you
my son Esau or not?" So Jacob
approached with trepidation nd
apprehension in his heart as he
submitted to the groping fingers
of his father. How relieved he
must have felt when he heard the
words, "The voice is the voice of
Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau." A bit further on,
we come across a rather puzzling
verse, "... and he didn't recognize
him for his hands were hairy as
his brother, Esau's hands, and he
blessed him."
There seems to be something
amiss in this story. Firstly, if Ja-
cob's tone and quality of voice
were so marked, why were his fa-
ther's suspicions not aroused at
the onset when Jacob first spoke?
It is apparent that Jacob made
no attempt to alter his voice as
he did his physical appearance.
Why when Jacob said, "Father,"
didn't Isaac recognize that the
voice was not that of Esau?
Actually, Jacob had quite a
long conversation with Isaac be-
fore the latter's suspicions were
expressed. You will recall that
Jacob said to Isaac: "Here I am...
I am Esau your firstborn. Arise I
beg you. Sit up and eat of my sa-
vory food that you may bless me."
Certainly, this verse is of suffi-
cient length for a father to recog-

nize a son's voice. Yet no doubt
asserts itself until the next ques-
tion is posed, "How is it that you
have found it so quickly, my son?"
To this query, Jacob replies: "Be-
cause the Lord your God has sent
me good speed."
One commentator suggests
that being twins, Esau and Jacob
had nearly identical voices.
Therefore, Rebekah was only con-
cerned with Jacob' outward ap-
pearance. There was no need for
him to alter his voice. For this
reason, Isaac's doubts did not sur-
face at the beginning of his con-
versation with Jacob.
Furthermore, when Jacob had
passed the test of touch, Isaac's
suspicions were allayed and the
masquerade was not discovered.
Everything then is explained ex-
cept for one thing. If the voices of
Esau and Jacob were similar,
what is the meaning of the verse,
"The voice is the voice of Jacob
but the hands are the hands of
Esau"? Also, what eventually
made isaac suspect that some-
thing was wrong elsewhere?

Shabbat Toledot:
Genesis 25:19-28:9
Malachi 1:1-27

Rashi (R. Shlomo b. Yitzhak,
1040-1105) gives the conclusive
answer to this rather perplexing
question. It was not the tone or
quality of Jacob's voice which
caused the doubt in Isaac. It was
rather the words and expressions
which Jacob used. To Isaac's
question, "How is it that you
found your prey so quickly, my
son?" Jacob replies, "Because the
Lord your God sent me good
speed." At this point Isaac's sus-
picions were aroused. As Rashi
puts it: "Isaac mused. It is not
Esau's habit to have God's name
on his lips and this one is saying
that the Lord your God has sent
me good speed." It was not the
sound of the voice which made
the difference but the choice of
words, the vocabulary which dis-
tinguished the twins from one an-
other. Esau was accustomed to
using rough language whereas
Jacob's speech was refined.
This attitude of Jacob to the
spoken word was retained by his
descendants. In fact, when the pi-
oneers of the revival of the mod-
em Hebrew idiom encountered
the difficult problem of finding
equivalents for vulgar expres-
sions they had to borrow expres-
sions from other Middle East