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 ❑ Conversations Daniel Nevins is a rabbi at Adat Shalom Synagogue. 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