And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb... And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bore them. (Gen. 25:24,26)

 

And his hand grasped Esau's heel, to detain him, so that he would come out first (Hizquni). Or else: to detain him so that he would go out with him, and his mother would not be in pain again because of him in the opening of her tomb [womb] (Moshav zekenim).

(Hatur haarokh, ad loc.)

 

Afterward his brother came out, and his hand was grasping Esau's heel. Because he would not have the power of governing immediately on the day of his birth, but rather in the end, when he was old, as is shown by the meaning of the word "heel," which indicates the end (on the heels of). Thus spiritual perfection is acquired mainly at the end of a person's life on earth, for "in the end everything is heard," and old Torah scholars increase wisdom. But on the day of one's birth one has no impression at all of that spiritual perfection. Hence this must mean that there is no reward for the righteous in this world, for the main time for acquiring perfection is in old age, when one is close to the gates of death, for then one's mind grows strong, and when will one receive one's reward, for all the days of old age are not sufficient for receiving the reward, because all covetousness has been annulled, and desire shall fail (Ecc. 12:5), therefore, of necessity, you have to say that the hand of perfection grasps the heel of Esau, that is to say, the end of the rule of Esau.

(Kli Yakar, ad. Loc.)

 

 

"I am Esau your firstborn" - on our Way of Studying Rashi's Commentary on the Torah¹

Eliezer Pinchover of blessed memory

Rashi achieved eternal renown by virtue of his commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud. In Rashi's opinion, everything written in the Torah conveys a message and significance, and not just information. Therefore, one should not be satisfied with an explanation of the literal meaning of the Bible. According to Rashi, every name, time, place, and event, every detail mentioned in the Torah, has meaning and purpose. According to his method, the Torah is a holy book that was given to people by God in order to guide them on the path of truth. Accordingly, that is the way it must be read and interpreted. Every detail, large or small, has unique value (Avraham Grossman, Rashi, Merkaz Zalman Shazar, 2006).

In every Parasha and on every subject we are commanded to strive for the full understanding of Rashi's commentary, especially on narrative sections. Every one of the details is part of the whole, and many of them cannot be understood except in its light and from within it. In the effort to attain complete understanding of Rashi, we must labor and gather up scattered elements of his interpretation of a subject from various verses, even verses separated from each other. We shall demonstrate this with Rashi's commentary on the verse, "I am Esau your firstborn" (Gen. 27:19).

To the question, "Who are you, my son?" (Gen. 27:18), which Isaac addresses to his son Jacob, who has come to take the blessing intended for Esau, Jacob answers, "I am Esau your firstborn," and this answer is surprising: How could Jacob, who was righteous and God-fearing, lie? (See Radak on v. 19). Rashi appears to offer a solution to this puzzle: "I - the one who is bringing it to you, and Esau - he is your firstborn." However, this is not a solution, and it does not resolve the question.

For the Holy One hates falsehood, so how could he obtain blessings through falsehood! (The MaHaRal in his commentary on Rashi, Gur Arieh). To our astonishment about the Patriarch Jacob, who is in difficulties, we also have a problem understanding Rashi's words, and we ask, what did he rectify by writing as he did? For his answer is worded, according to his interpretation, in a manner meant to deceive his blind father, and it almost seems to us that Rashi's love of Jacob has spoiled his judgment, and he goes too far here in his effort to justify him at any price.

However, if this is the way we understand Rashi, we are in error, and we have failed in our study. We have been warned not to be hasty in understanding Rashi's words on the basis of a single verse. Examination of a single entry alone is liable to lead us into error, and we must turn his commentary over and over to get to every place where Rashi discusses this issue until we reach the bottom of his opinion.

In Parashat Balak, in his commentary on the words of Bil'am, "How can I curse what God has not cursed" (Num. 23:8), Rashi says: "When they deserved to be cursed, they were not cursed... and when their father entered his father's tent deceitfully, he deserved to be cursed, but what is said there? ‘He, too, will be blessed' (Gen. 27:33).

Here Rashi opens what he had locked in its place, and he speaks in detail, saying that the Patriarch Jacob deserved to be cursed, because he came before his father deceitfully, but the Holy One did not want "to mention a curse on him there" (Rashi on that verse). Rashi's words here are taken from Midrash Tanhuma on Parashat Balak, though he does not mention his midrashic source, and Rashi, as is his wont, quotes only briefly. Here is the entire Midrash:

At a time when they deserved to be cursed, they were not cursed, and when Jacob entered to take the blessings by deceit, as it is written, "and the skins of the kids and the goats, etc." his father said to him: Who are you? And he said, "I am Esau your firstborn." Is not someone who speaks a falsehood worthy of being cursed? Yet he was blessed, as it is said, "He, too, will be blessed."

Jacob was deceitful to his father and fooled him with his clothing and his words, but in the end Isaac "agreed and blessed him of his own accord" (Gen. 27:33, ad voc. "He, too, will be blessed"). Here Rashi does not defend Jacob but accepts the words of the Midrash that "he deserved to be cursed," and he adds, commenting, that only the grace of the Holy One prevented him and his descendants from being cursed (Rashi, Num. 23:8, the end of the entry on "How can I curse...").

Did Jacob believe that the blessings would be fulfilled for him? Not at all! When we come to Parashat Vayishlah, Rashi teaches us that there Jacob knew that some people challenged the blessings: Esau and the man who wrestled with him, who is an emissary of the Place. Even the Holy One did not concur with the blessings that Isaac gave him (as Rashi teaches us in his commentary on Hosea 12:5), because the blessings came to him "crookedly and in deceit" (Rashi on Gen. 32:28, see below), and Jacob wrestles and, with great temerity, demands of the angel of God: "Concede the blessings that my father blessed me with and that Esau is challenging" (Rashi on Gen. 31:27, on the word "Bless me").

Even when the angel reveals to him that "in the end the Holy One will be revealed to you in Beit El and change your name, and there, He, himself, will bless you," Jacob is not reconciled, "and against his will [the angel] conceded to him," regarding the blessings in that place, Penuel, because Jacob did not listen to the pleas that Rashi places in the angel's mouth:

It will no longer be said that the blessings have come to you crookedly and by deceit but by strength and the revelation of His countenance, and in the end the Holy One will reveal Himself to you in Beit El and change your name and there He will bless you. And I will be there and I will testify to you about them... Wait for me until He speaks with us there! Jacob did not want it, but against his will [the angel] admitted them to him, and that is, "and he will bless you there," for he implored him to wait for him and he did not want to (Gen. 32:28, on "Not Jacob").

Nevertheless, the Holy One still does not concede to him regarding the blessings, and he forces Jacob to wait until he has come to Beit-El, and we are witness to the suffering Jacob had to bear before reaching Beit-El, and only there does He bless him and change his name, Jacob, "which is the name of a man who comes out of ambush and crookedly," and changes it to Israel, "a name for a prince and an officer" (Rashi, Gen. 35:10).

Moreover, despite the sale of the birthright, the Holy One did not acknowledge Jacob's status as firstborn until after the long years of slavery and the torment of fathers and sons. Only when He comes to redeem His people from the club of the oppressor does He announce to Pharaoh: Israel is my eldest son." And Rashi says: "Here the Holy One sealed the sale of the birthright that Jacob took from Esau" (Ex. 4:22, s. v. "My eldest son"). Thus we learn that the words of Rashi are like the words of the Torah "the poor in their place and the rich in another place" (Yerushalmi, Rosh Hashana, 3:5, fol. 58d).

Rashi's comment on Jacob's answer, "I am Esau your firstborn," are explained to us by a comprehensive view of the entire interpretation. It becomes clear to us that they are not a key to the entire Parasha, nor are they a defense of Jacob.² It seems to me that the effort of the commentator and educator was directed at reflecting the severe difficulties that Jacob was trying to avoid, in vain, in the way he worded his answer: "I! Esau is your firstborn," an effort that did not save an innocent man from the sin of crookedness and deceit toward his father. That sin pursued and tormented him for many years, and we must learn a lesson from it.

1.   First published in "Midrash unma'ase," the annual of Lifschitz College, 1982, and modified for this issue of Shabbat Shalom by Yehuda Pinchover.

2.   In contrast to the opinion that Jacob's deeds are described by Rashi without a hint of criticism. Y. P.

Dr. Eliezer Pinchover was a teacher and educator for generations. He passed away on 16 Shevat 5768.

 

When isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son esau and said to him, "my son." he answered, "here i am."

(Bereishit 27:1)

 

Isaac's Dim Eyes: Fate, Punishment, or Blessing?

When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see [meire'ot], another view: meire'ot [also translatable as "from the sight"] - [his blindness was caused by] the power of that act of seeing: When our father Abraham bound his son upon the altar, the attending angels wept, as it is said Hark! The Arielites cry aloud (Isaiah 33:7). Tears fell from their eyes into his [Isaac's] eyes, leaving their impression there, so that when he grew old his eyes were dim, as it says, When Isaac was old, etc. Another view: meire'ot - [his blindness was caused by] the power of that act of seeing: When our father Abraham bound his son upon the altar, he turned his eyes to heaven and looked at the Divine Presence. It may be explained with a parable. What is it like? It is like a king who strolled in the entrance of his palace and saw his beloved's son looking at him through a window. He said: "If I kill him now, it will overcome my beloved. Rather, I should decree that his windows be shut." So too, when our father Abraham bound his son upon the altar, he turned his eyes and looked at the Divine Presence. The Holy One blessed be He said, "If I kill him now, I shall overcome my beloved Abraham. Rather, I shall decree that his eyes be dimmed." So, when he grew old, his eyes became dim, When Isaac was old, etc.

(Bereishit Rabbah 65:10)

 

When Isaac was old - Rabbi Yitzhak began to speak: Who vindicate him who is in the wrong in return for a bribe (Isaiah 5:23) - anyone who takes a bribe and vindicates him who is in the wrong for a bribe and the vindication of the righteous is withheld by him: the vindication of the righteous - that is Moses; is withheld by him - that is Isaac. His eyes went dim because he vindicated the one who was in the wrong - When Isaac was old, etc.

(Bereishit Rabbah 65:5)

 

Rabbi Hanina bar Papa began to speak: You, O Lord my God, have done many things; Your wonders, etc. (Psalms 40:6).

Rabbi Hanina said: [With] all of the deeds and thoughts which you performed unto us for our benefit - why did Isaac's eyes grow dim? So that Jacob could come and take the blessings - When Isaac was old.

(Bereishit Rabbah 65:8)

 

And Rabbi Yitzhak said: Never take the curse of an ordinary person lightly, for Avimelekh cursed Sarah, and it was fulfilled in her children, for it is said, Let this be as a covering of eyes (Bereishit 20). He told her: Since you hid it from me and did not reveal that he is your husband, causing me this great trouble, may you bear children with covered eyes. This was realized in her children, for it is written: When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see.

(Bava Kama 93a)

 

What was the reason for Esav's anger? Loss of the blessing to Yaakov? Or the content of his own blessing?

"And Esav hated Yaakov over the blessing" - some understand that "over the blessing" refers not to the blessing which Yaakov received, but rather to the blessing with which his father blessed him "by your sword you shall live" and in it shall be your trust.

"By your sword you shall live" - by virtue of his profession, for he was a man of the field, used to hunting in the deserts and in places of destruction and desolation, he was deserving of the blessing of the sword. And the planet Mars, which rules those who shed blood, has great power over destruction and the sword, and therefore Esav's seed inherits the sword, and his master, which is the power of killing, is considered the source of the sword. For this reason, the Torah proscribed the use of sword and iron in the Tabernacle and in the Temple - in the Tabernacle as is written, (Shemoth 25) "Gold and silver and copper" - there was no iron there whatsoever; and regarding the Temple it is written (I Kings 6), "No hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the House while it was built", because iron is the sword, and it destroys the world and the Temple is the preservation of the world. "You shall serve your brother" - when Yaakov is worthy; "when you become restive" - when he is unworthy, "you will tear his yoke from your neck". This was the intention of Onkelos when he translated into "When his children will transgress the words of the Torah".

 (Rabeinu Bahaye, Bereishit 27:40)

 

"You will live by your sword": Curse, blessing, or necessity?

"You will live by your sword": In payment for your taking your quiver and your bow as I commanded you, "You will serve your brother." Said Esav, "Since you appointed him master, he will treat me disgracefully". His father said: "You will live by your sword" - your service will be by (use of) the sword, and this is not disgraceful." Said Esav, "Even so, he will overwork me with my use of the sword." He answered, "And you will serve your brother" with this use of the sword, and he will have mercy upon you."

(Hizkuni, Bereishit 27;40)

 

The reason for "You will live on your sword" - this is meant like "by your sword", and similarly "For not on bread alone will man live" (Devarim 8:3) (is to be understood as) "by bread". The meaning of the blessing is not that he will live off the spoils taken from enemies by his sword - for he was given (livelihood) from the fat of the land and the dew of heaven, and from these he will live; the meaning is that he will live in his battles, victorious, never falling by the enemy's sword. Therefore did he say: "And you will serve your brother," that you will not overcome him - he will prevail over you.

(Ramban, Bereishit, 27:40)

 

 

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