Toldot: November 21, 2020/5 Kislev 5781

This week, we read Parshat Toldot: the chronicles of Isaac. The narrative is structured quite symmetrically, beginning with the birth of Jacob and Esau, then there is the story of Esau selling his birthright as the firstborn (even if only by a minute or so) for a bowl of soup; next, there is an episode where Isaac goes to live in Philistine country. The second half of the parashah has Isaac in his late days and the episode of Jacob, with the help of his mother Rebecca, stealing the blessing intended for Esau. Then the parashah ends with Jacob leaving to go live with his uncle Lavan in Padan-Aram.

Although we are meant to look favorably upon Jacob in this whole business (though this does not mean that he is perfect - see our discussion of Lot a couple weeks ago), he does behave in a less than above-board manner in this parashah. Esau is, in popular perception, understood to have been a crude, cruel individual, and Jacob is portrayed in the opposite manner; however, the text describes them only briefly. Esau grew to be "a skilled hunter and a man of the field", while his brother was "a simple man who dwelled in tents". As the boys grew into young men, the Torah recounts a story of Jacob cooking a lentil stew (midrash places this story just after the death of Abraham - Jacob was apparently preparing food for the shiva - making the twins 15 at the time). Esau, returning hungry from the field, asks his brother for a bowl of the stew. Jacob agrees, but demands as a price the birthright to which Esau is entitled as firstborn (biblical inheritance law was that a firstborn son would receive an extra share of the estate). Esau agrees, and Jacob feeds him. While nobody forced Esau to give up his future inheritance, setting such a price sure seems like an unnecessarily harsh move on Jacob's part, especially given the situation - Esau nearly collapsing from hunger. Why. then, do so many commentators heap praise on Jacob for his actions here? He is praised for his resourcefulness, and even held up as a paragon of compassion for ensuring that the fruits of his work do not go to Esau without the sacrifice of considerable future income. While definitions of compassion vary, to me, keeping someone who you can help from getting that help is the opposite of compassion.

Later in the parashah, we find Isaac growing old and losing his sight. He calls his favorite son, Esau, and asks him to hunt some game for him, and he will give him a special blessing. Rebecca hears this, and decides to help out Jacob, whom she favors. She has Jacob slaughter a goat, and she cooks it up, dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes, drapes the pelt of the goat over his arms and neck (Esau was notable hairy, while his brother was not), and sends him into Isaac. Jacob poses as his older twin, and, after eating the meal he has presented, Isaac gives his son a blessing to prosper and have the best of all things, to include dominion over his brother. When Esau comes back and the trickery is exposed, Isaac is unable to go back on his blessing. This further enrages Esau, who decides the best way to regain inner peace is to kill Jacob, though he has the manners to wait until his father dies and the mourning period finished before putting anything into action. For Jacob's own safety, and to encourage him to marry within the tribe, he is sent off to his uncle's house, and Isaac blesses him with the blessing of Abraham, reiterating the blessings he had given Jacob previously under false pretenses. Some commentaries read this as Isaac understanding that he was correct to have given Jacob the blessing he intended for Esau, confirming both the worthiness of Jacob and the unworthiness of Esau. I disagree. While Jacob was certainly worthy of inheriting his father, that worthiness need not entail the unworthiness of Esau. And, given the fact that birth order is involved here, it is reasonable to say that Isaac was not correct in giving the blessing to Jacob initially, though based on the apparent principle that once given, a blessing cannot be retracted, reconfirming the blessing later is appropriate.

While cheating one's way into the inheritance and blessing status of the firstborn may not be worthy of murder, neither is it cause for praise. I believe that our heroes do not need to be perfect individuals, nor does a bad thing that someone does outweigh the good and vice versa. Jacob was a pious, righteous individual, and he also behaved duplicitously. It is perhaps fitting that, as we will read in next week's portion, Jacob was on the receiving end of duplicitous behavior at the hands of his kinsman.