Torah Portion
Truth Within The Family
Prevents Feuds And Isolation
-
place of Esau. "Perhaps I sinned in plac-
ing the younger ahead of the older," the
midrash says of Isaac. What happens
next? Esau cries bitterly and makes a
rueful pun of Jacob's name: "for this rea-
son he was called Jacob (Yaakov), for he
has thwarted (yaakaveinz) me these two
times."
rom start to finish, this week's
Two times? The midrash has Isaac ask
Torah portion traces an
of Esau, "when was the first time?" At
increasingly poisonous rela-
this point Esau recounts the story of the
tionship between two twin
porridge and his sale of the birthright.
brothers, Esau and Jacob.
Now Isaac understands that Jacob had
The feud begins in the womb, with
legally acquired the birthright; therefore
the boys struggling for primacy even
Isaac really should have
before they draw their first
blessed Jacob with primacy.
breaths. Thrust into the world,
For Isaac, this information
they immediately differentiate,
is a surprise. We wonder —
with Esau distinguished by his
did Rebecca never tell her
physical exploits, and Jacob
husband of God's prophecy?
more delicate and bookish.
Did Jacob never inform his
This intense narrative charts
father about the porridge?
the deterioration of their rela-
Apparently
not! Isaac has
tionship, which implicates the
been
kept
in
the dark both
parents and brings the family
literally
and
figuratively.
to a crescendo of anger verging
on violence. Jacob flees from
RABBI DANIEL Although the blessings are
ultimately apportioned appro-
home with a pocketful of
NE VINS
priately, just look at the emo-
promissory notes, alone and
Sp ecia 1 to the
tional devastation.
afraid. Twenty years later,
Jewish News
Could there ever again be
when he finally ventures back,
between Isaac and
dust
Jacob remains terrified of his
Rebecca,
the
only
monogamous couple
brother's anger.
of our first generations? Could Jacob
Although the facts of this narrative
ever feel at ease with the blessings he
are clear, it is much harder to assess what
had acquired? Could Esau's anger ever
share of the blame Jacob deserves for
be appeased? The ramifications of this
creating this horrid situation. After all,
deception would be felt for generations,
God predicted to Rebecca during her
or even millennia. Wasn't there a better
pregnancy that the two boys and their
way?
descendants would struggle bitterly for
Some conflicts are necessary and
primacy, with the younger boy (Jacob)
unavoidable.
Nevertheless, there is gen-
prevailing. We may presume that
erally an honorable and forthright way
Rebecca raised Jacob to fulfill God's
of playing them out. Jacob used decep-
mandate. Nevertheless, Jacob was any-
tion within his family, and his blessings
thing but passive. He took advantage
were consequently tarnished and cir-
first of Esau's hunger and then of Isaac's
cumscribed. In fact, he will himself be
blindness in order to claim his brother's
deceived in the dark by Laban in a bibli-
birthright.
cal version of poetic justice.
The medieval commentaries are
The portion is a cautionary tale.
stunned by Jacob's patent deception of
While we can't avoid all conflicts, even
his aged father. Why couldn't he simply
within the family, lies and deceptions
tell Isaac the truth: It is I, Jacob, but
will only worsen any situation. Keeping
Esau has sold me his birthright? The
others in the dark can leave us isolated
apologetics are unconvincing. Jacob was
like Jacob, running from one bad situa-
within his rights to insist upon the
tion to another. Though the truth may
birthright that he had bartered for, but
be
uncomfortable, it remains the surest
not to lie to his father.
path to conflict resolution.
Indeed, when the real Esau finally
appears with his father's steak, Isaac is
literally shaken by the enormity of what
has transpired.
Midrash Tanchuma is exceptionally
Do we ever make it harder for
astute in its reading of this passage. It
people to be honest with us? Are
asks why Isaac was so shaken by the real-
there circumstances that justify
ization that he had blessed Jacob in
avoiding a conflict rather than fac-
Shabbat Toledot:
Genesis 25:19-28:9;
Malachi 1:1- 2:7.
p
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Conversations
Daniel Nevins is a rabbi at Adat
Shalom Synagogue.
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