Parshas Toldos 5775
In this week’s parsha we learn of the birth, childhood and early adulthood of Yitzchak Avinu’s two sons, Yaakov and Esav. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 63:18) states that while growing up, no differences were distinguishable between them. Yalkut Shimoni (Yehoshua 247:23) even states that both Yaakov and Esav had awesome potential for greatness while they were growing up. Only, the Yalkut adds that Esav lost this greatness on the day that he scorned the bechora (birthright).
First of all, if until now Esav was destined for greatness, what caused him to change and suddenly scorn the birthright? Moreover, Chazal note that on that same day Esav committed a number of other sins, all of them seemingly more severe. Chazal state (Bava Basra 16b) that in addition to selling the bechora, Esav killed a man, had relations with a betrothed woman, denied Hashem’s existence and denied the Revival of the Dead. Why is the selling of the birthright singled out from among these sins?
Rav Simcha Zissel Broide answers that the verse singles out the reason behind all of the sins: Esav asked Yaakov, “pour the soup into me because I’m tired.” Now, when people are tired, what they usually do is take a nap. When Esav asked Yaakov for a heavy dose of food on the grounds that he was tired, he meant tiredness in a different sense. In our words, we too say such expressions: “I’m tired of this …”
This was Esav’s feeling at that time. “I don’t want to work so hard, I want pleasure right now, not just in the next world. Pour that red, red stew into my mouth; I’m tired.”
This surely explains why the sin of selling the birthright was deemed so bad. It meant that Esav had turned his back on the ideal of pursuing ruchniyus in favor of physical gratification.
Still, how is being tired of pursuing ruchniyus deemed worse than murder and adultery?
Rav Simcha Zissel notes that Chazal say that these deeds were not the out-and-out sins that they seem to be. The man Esav killed was the hunter, Nimrod (Yalkut 247:117), who himself was trying to kill Esav for having drawn the animals away from him (since Esav wore the garments of Adam Harishon, all the animals came naturally to him). If so, Nimrod was similar to a rodef, and Esav’s response had some potential justification.
As for having relations with a girl who was “betrothed,” this is not a sin for Bnei Noach, who are forbidden only to a married woman. Rather, Rav Simcha Zissel says that such behavior was inappropriate for Esav as the son of Yitzchak Avinu.
And as for denying Hashem’s existence and the Revival of the Dead, we see that Esav was moved to tears when he realized that he had lost Yitzchak’s blessings, so clearly,
Esav was still a maamin. Only at his level, Chazal saw that since he was willing to sell thebechora this meant that Hashem’s existence and the Revival of the Dead were not sufficiently clear to Esav.
Meaning, all of the sins that Esav committed on that day stemmed from this same “tiredness.” Esav had given up on working on himself, and the other sins followed as a matter of course. “From now on, I’m in it for pleasure, of course nothing that’s assur, but I do what’s good for me,” and what he decided to do was have relations with a betrothed woman and kill a man he felt was a rodef.
The sefer HaKsav Vehakabala says that the future of Esav and Yaakov was alluded to in the names that they received at birth. The Hebrew root of the word Yaakov is eikev, a heel. This symbolizes one who is always on the move, always going somewhere. The word Esav, on the other hand, is close to the word asu’i, which means done or completed. Each brother reflected this idea, respectively. The Torah states that when the two brothers grew up, Esav became “a man of the field.” He had graduated from cheder and was happy to have “finished” with it. Yaakov by contrast was a yoshev ohalim, studying in the tents of Shem and Ever. Unlike Esav, he saw that the education he had received as a boy was not enough; there was still much more to learn. Yaakov is therefore the archetype of a ben aliya.
This is a lesson for any ben Torah. As David Hamelech states: Orach chaim lemaala lemaskil, a wise man lives a life of ascension, of constant pursuit of higher goals inruchniyus (see Rav Chaim of Volozhin writes in Ruach Chaim 1:13). There is no such thing as stopping; you’re either going up or going down. Yaakov kept learning and growing, whereas Esav lost interest in this, and so began his spiritual downfall.
The Alter of Kelm notes that in Bava Kamma, the Amora Rav expressed this idea in his use of the term mav’eh to describe a man. This rare Hebrew word connotes one who is a seeker; this defines man. Meaning to qualify as a man one must be seeking something. Aben Torah must have she’ifos, aspirations that pull him ever higher. It’s unthinkable for aben Torah to go through life without she’ifos.
Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l often told bnei Torah to be careful not to stop their aliyamidway. “You’ll always be tested to stop your aliya, sometimes in the form of worries about the future, or about money; there can always be setbacks, disappointments and so on and so on. Even when you get older, at age 60 or 70, no age is a time that you can stop. The aliya must be constant,” Rav Tzvi Weissfish, a talmid of Rav Elyashiv, says in his name.
Rav Weissfish also notes that in all the photographs of Rav Elyashiv, even his final years, he never seemed worn out, but rather full of vigor.
“When I began learning by Rav Elyashiv I was in my twenties and he was in his seventies, but he was so energetic that at times I felt like an old man compared to him,” said Rav Weissfish.
May we be zoche to constant aliya in ruchniyus!