>> Torah portion

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Discipline In Eating

Parshat Vayishlach: Genesis
32:4-36:43; Obadiah 1.1-21.

T

he biblical kashrut laws for Jews
have always been a powerful
tool in keeping us a "nation set

apart:'
We left Jacob last week leaving Laban
and his land behind, heaven-bent on
returning to the land of Abraham and
to the house of Isaac. Jacob understands
that his inner self has been overtaken
by the deceitful and aggressive hands
of Esau — that he must return to his
ancestral home in order to recapture the
Abrahamic birthright.
But what exactly are the building
blocks of this birthright? Is
it possible that Esau is now
even more deserving, or at
least as deserving of it as is
Jacob?
What is the real content
— and significance — of
our Jewish birthright? The
very first prerequisite for the
carrier of the birthright is a
very strong Hebrew identity,
a powerful familial connec-
tion that defines the link to a
unique heritage and ancestry.
Abraham established his
commitment to the Hebrew identity
when he insisted upon purchasing a
separate gravesite for his wife, Sarah,
beyond the various sites of the Hittites.
Esau certainly is biblically described
as having a strong sense of familial iden-
tity. Isaac loved Esau because he provid-
ed him with the venison he dearly loved.
Esau also had strong sibling ties to his
brother, despite Jacob's underhanded
deception surrounding the blessings.
In the Torah portion this week, Esau
first seemed to have set up a greeting
brigade of 400 potential warriors to
"welcome" the return of the prodigal
brother; but once Esau actually sees his
younger brother and his family, his heart
apparently melts with brotherly love.
Esau even wishes for the two of them
to travel together and to settle down
together. It is Jacob who politely refuses.
Yes, Esau has strong familial identity.
However, Abraham had two other cru-
cial characteristics which Esau lacks:
continuity and destiny. Continuity is
most meaningfully expressed in marry-
ing a suitable mate: from our modern
perspective, taking a Jewish spouse (so
that the children will remain Jewish),
and from the biblical perspective, not

marrying an immoral Canaanite. But
Esau took Hittite wives.

Delayed Gratification
Another test for continuity is the ability
to delay gratification and act with disci-
pline, especially in the sexual and gusta-
tory realms. The biblical kashrut laws
for Jews have always been a powerful
tool in keeping us a "nation set apart,"
which didn't fall prey to assimilation.
Esau sells his birthright for a portion
of lentil soup. He even expresses his
desire to have the broth "poured into his
mouth" as one would feed a
camel.
To have one's eyes on a
historic mission, to realize
the goal of having "all the
families of the Earth blessed
by us" — through our vision
of a God of compassionate
justice, morality and peace
— requires a lifestyle of
commitment to an ideal and
delayed gratification, which
is impossible for the charac-
ter displayed by Esau.
But before Jacob can
affirm his covenantal continuity and
begin to achieve his destiny, he must
first disgorge the grasping hands of
Esau, which have overtaken his person-
ality and substituted the Jacob of "he
shall emerge triumphant at the end"
with "heel-sneak"; he must restore his
"image of God" which was the source of
that "wholehearted individual who was
a studious dweller in tents:'
This is the purpose of that mysteri-
ously eerie nocturnal struggle with an
anonymous assailant, a wrestling match
which must precede the Esau/Jacob
face-to-face confrontation. Jacob is all
alone; his struggle is an inner battle, to
rid himself of the heel-sneak Esau in his
soul.
And he wins, both over Divine forces
and human powers. He has seen God
face-to-face and succeeded in restor-
ing his own Divine image by exorcising
Esau, the heel-sneak.
He now proudly is named Israel, the
righteous representative of God and the
fitting recipient of the Abrahamic birth-
right.

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December 4 • 2014

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