GENESIS XXXII:4-XXXVI:43

WITH AN EYE ALWAYS ON ISRAEL

Biblical heroes are not one-dimensional, and their personalities are not elementary. They are complex figures who have to battle and win, fight and overcome their impulses and passions. The Sentence of the Torah about the times of Noach (Noah),”for the inclination of a man’s heart is perverse from his youth,” applies universally and includes figures who, by the example of their lives, will be transcendental. 

Bereshit‘s (Genesis) accounts underscore the inner struggles and ethical conflicts of the patriarchs. When we read the epic of their lives, we are forced to delve into the reason for their performance under the most dissimilar circumstances. If we choose to rationalize and justify each of their acts, we lose the valuable opportunity to learn from their existential trances and the way they faced them. 

How can one excuse, for example, the deception perpetrated  by Yaakov (Jacob), instigated and assisted by his mother, to obtain his father’s blessing? Yaakov took advantage of the blindness of the old Yitschak (Isaac), and even at the risk of being discovered, he pretended to be Esav (Esau) by covering his hands and neck with the skin of an animal. If we assume that the patriarchs behaved in accordance with the dictates that the Torah (Pentateuch)would require in the future, Yaakov ignored one of the principles of great moral content, Lifnei iver lo titenmichshol, “you shall not place an obstacle in front of a blind man.” Even more so when the blind man was his own father.

In a previous episode, Yaakov had shown a great lack of solidarity with his brother. The scene in question describes Esav, tired from the work of hunting, observing Yaakov who is preparing a lentil soup with bread and asks him: “Let me taste this ‘red’ food that you are cooking.” The response of the one who was to raise the spirit of Chesed, the characteristic of mercy and piety

exemplified by his grandfather Avraham (Abraham), it should have been, “Eat and satisfy your hunger, brother.” But that was not his reaction: on the contrary, he took advantage of the situation to demand, in exchange for food, the right to the birthright that was

power of Esav because he was born first.

It can be argued that Yaakov had an extraordinary appreciation and respect for the principles of faith that his father and grandfather were preaching and knew that the “insincere” Esav, according to the traditional exegetes of the biblical text, would abandon this legacy at the earliest opportunity, when he had to choose between immediate carnal or material satisfaction and the sacrifice and deprivation that,  on many occasions, it demands loyalty to an ideal. Both Mother Rivkah (Rebecca) and Yaakov knew that Yitschak’s (Isaac’s) teachings would not be respected by Esav and resorted to deception and opportunism to secure a future for the monotheistic ideal. They justified the means by the end they pursued, and, in this way, they were establishing a very dangerous precedent.

The twenty years he spent at his uncle Lavan’s (Laban) side  were clearly aimed at molding Yaakov‘s spirit. There he was subjected to deception, even about his marriage: one woman was replaced by another, in an elementary but convincing demonstration that “blindness” is not caused solely by the malfunctioning of the eye, as in the case of Yitschak: the person who is in full use of his faculties can also be deceived.

The paternal blessing he had snatched away did not prevent him from having to work long hours each day, for months and years, to acquire many animals and goods. If a few years ago he had demanded in exchange for a few spoonfuls of lentils the privilege of serving as the priest of the family, now, at the time of the reunion with his brother Esav, he would have to implore the latter to accept a magnanimous “gift” consisting of a large number of animals, in exchange for leaving him alone and not using the fire of the four hundred men who accompanied him.  and to forget the offense committed in his youth.

A cursory reading of the text reveals no flaw in Esav’scharacter. On the contrary, he obtains the affection of Yitschak, remains at the side of his parents, and does not abandon them. He forgives the betrayal of his brother Yaakov. However, the last verses of Vayishlach demonstrate Esav’s limited idealism. Probably due to the increase in their possessions as a result of Yaakov‘s large “gift”, the land cannot support the cattle of both brothers. Therefore, Esav decides to leave the Promised Land and heads to the mountains of Edom, where he will remain ever since.

Yaakov will also leave the Promised Land and head to Egypt in search of food. And although the Hebrews would later suffer centuries of slavery in a foreign land, they would never lose their way: they would return and conquer the land of Israel, their historical destiny to this day.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 1 PROHIBITION

3. Genesis 32:33 Do not ingest the sciatic nerve (gid hanashe)