In parshas Toldos
there are two incidents in which Jacob our patriarch takes the rights of the
first born and its associated blessing from his older twin brother Esau. These
rights are basically honors, specifically to be buried prominently in the
family crypt, to be reckoned as the family mentor, and to perform the priestly
ceremonies. A major function of the cohanim was to bring the sacrifices. This
often took the form of being an honored guest at a religious dinner.
The Chumash describes
Esav as a sly hunter of both animals and people, making him an inappropriate
choice for this position. In the first incident he returns from the outdoors
very tired. Rashi explains that the reason he was tired was because he had just
committed his first murder. In addition he is later described by the
commentaries as frequently catching woman from under their husbands. Esav sees
Ya’akov cooking lentil soup and asks him to pour some of it down his throat.
Seizing the moment Ya’akov says he’ll only agree to it if Esav gives him the
rights of the first born in exchange. Esav displays his contempt for the
birthright and crudely accepts.
In the second incident
Isaac, who to a certain extent is moved by Esav’s skill in hunting, is
preparing to give him his blessing to be the family’s rabbi. Rebecca,
Yitzchak’s wife, is more inclined to Ya’akov because of his excellence in
scholarship and character. Therefore, she tells Ya’akov, to trick his father,
who is blind, into giving him the blessing intended for his brother. Ya’akov
objects but his mother persists so he reluctantly does so.
When the trick
succeeds, Yitzchak sees that Ya’akov really was the appropriate choice. Esav
who does have some genuine religious feeling is bitter and outraged. He
threatens to kill Ya’akov, but years later, draws the same conclusion as the
rest of the family and completely forgives him.
The connection between
the parsha and its haftorah is theme of disgraceful sacrifices. In it the holy
One, blessed be He, complains that Israel is not honoring Him and does not fear
His word. Essentially they have sullied the table of Hashem particularly with
their miserable sacrifices. The animals brought are described as marred,
stolen, and diseased.
Many of the sacrifices
are in fact a religious banquet through which the host expresses his happiness
and gratitude for the gifts of heaven. This is also the general idea of all the
sacrifices. So to speak HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the honored guest; however he has
sent the priest to represent Him. Therefore the food and décor should be of top
quality.
What is the message of
a slovenly religious feast? So to speak it is as if the king had a banquet and
a slob came in and spoiled his evening. Or worse, it’s as if the celebrants are
saying that the king himself really is dirty.
The subtle idea is
that a person cannot use skullduggery to receive an honor. If one cheats their
way into giving the opening dvar Torah, sitting in the middle of the dais, or
receiving the last reading of the Torah on Simchas Torah, the honor associated
with these acts changes to disgrace. Even if a person who is deserving, grabs
the honor from one who is not, the honor and the person will become tarnished.
This is like the story
of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the Torah giant of the generation, who was asked by
the Lubavitcher Rebbe, why he did not wear Rabenu Tam tephilin. Rabbi Moshe
replied that the general quality of tephilin sadly was very low and gave a list
of the deficiencies. He said that in regards to regular Rashi tephilin one is
obligated to put them on, therefore the shortcomings must be tolerated.
However, Rabenu Tam tephilin is a beautification of the mitzvah and one cannot
do a beautification in and ugly way. One can only do a beautification in a
beautiful way. The Rebbe responded by sending him a sofer with instructions to
write a pair of tephilin that carefully conformed the specifications of Rabbi
Moshe, and Rabbi Moshe’s responsa became the basis for the tephilin we wear
today.
לע"נ, ההדוד של האמא ,שמואל בן יואל לייב ז"ל
נלב"ע ר"ח כסלו תשמ"ד
Acknowledgements to websites:
תורת אמת, וויקיטקסטdictionary.reference.com/, http://hebrewbooks.org/,
Blogger Hebrew http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com/2014/11/99.html
No comments:
Post a Comment