THE NEW GENERATION
In this week’s Parasha, we meet the second generation of the Jewish people: Isaac, Ribqa, and their children. At the center of this Parasha, we find the famous episode of the blessing that Isaac wanted to grant to Esav, but thanks to the intervention of Ribqa, he ended up giving to Yaaqob.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Isaac and Ribqa had two sons. Jacob and Esav. Jacob was a man of his house, docile, upright, and studious. Esav was the complete opposite. Pure adrenaline. A man of battle. A fighter. A great hunter.
When Isaac grows old, the time comes to choose his heir. It is not about who would inherit Isaac’s material wealth but about something much more important: Who would continue, lead, and promote the path and values of Abraham Abinu? Which of the two sons was the most suitable to be the future patriarch of the Jewish people? Isaac and Ribqa had different opinions. For Isaac, the undisputed candidate was Esav. But for Ribqa, the most suitable was Jacob.
We will try to understand why they thought this way in the following few lines.
THE CASE FOR ESAV
Isaac knew that Abraham’s faith would inevitably be attacked by idolatrous peoples, who would surely try to eradicate his descendants. Why? In the polytheistic world, each person had and served their local gods. They accepted that other civilizations had their gods, and they believed that the powers of those gods were true. The pagan gods could coexist with each other. Sometimes, people exchanged their gods or even forged alliances among them.
But Abraham’s faith, monotheism, is different. Monotheism “excludes” all other faiths. By affirming that there is only one “and only” God, monotheism expresses directly or indirectly that the other gods are fake. With this ideologically and politically revolutionary message, Isaac knew that for his descendants to remain firm in the faith of Abraham, they would have to fight and defend themselves against countless enemies, and he was not wrong!
Based on a famous Midrash that describes Esav’s hunting tactics, we realize that Isaac saw that Esav was an expert at identifying his adversaries’ weaknesses. He was a cunning warrior who knew the enemy’s language, a critical talent in warfare. Isaac knew that his son Esav possessed the ideal virtues to defend Abraham’s faith and that he could organize and lead an army. And Isaac was not wrong! In two weeks (Vayishlach) we will see Esav leading an army of 400 men. Isaac wants to choose Esav because he knows that Esav will be able to conquer the land of Israel and militarily defend his descendants from multiple enemies.
THE VISION OF A MOTHER
But for Ribqa, all the military qualities of Esav were incompatible with Abraham’s human values. Could Esav, a man dedicated to warfare, be as kind to foreigners as Abraham was? Could he be as diplomatic with his neighbors as Abraham was with the Hittites? Ribqa thought Abraham’s future successor had to be kind, sensitive, and generous like Abraham. Smart, rather than aggressive. Abraham’s successor had to differentiate himself from all other men by prioritizing study, not war! And these were the characteristics of Yaakob. According to Ribqa, Ya’aqob and not Esav should be chosen to lead Abraham’s nation.
In the end (no surprises here), the wife prevailed, and Yaaqob was Isaac’s successor.
However, we must recognize that, in theory, the ideal would have been an alliance of the two brothers: the spirituality of Jacob combined with the strength of Esav. For Ribqa, this alliance was impossible because, as the Tora mentions in the paragraph preceding this episode, Esav crossed a red line and distanced himself from his family by marrying two Hittite women.
JACOB, ESAV, AND MEDINAT ISRAEL
This interpretation, which I wrote a couple of years ago about the virtues that Isaac and Ribqa were looking for in the future leader of Israel, is very relevant today to understand our present.
After 2,000 years of persecution and being unable to defend ourselves by our own means, we have achieved today the perfect balance between the strength of Esav and the virtues of Jacob. I am referring to Medinat Israel’s people, spirit, and army.
Israel, on the one hand, is a spiritual paradise where millions of Jews pray and study Tora daily. The voice of Tora has never been heard as much as it is heard today in the State of Israel. Jews in Israel practice unlimited Chesed (kindness), generosity, and compassion at incredible levels. Israelis are also extremely intelligent and highly educated in all areas, with infinite intellectual creativity.
And on the other side, Israel has a very strong army, the IDF, which is showing the world that whoever messes with the Jews is going to pay a heavy price and that it will not be other nations that defend us, but ourselves. Our own army. Our new strong hands will pursue justice.
Medinat Israel represents the perfect balance that our patriarchs were looking for: the sweet voice of Yaaqob’s Tora that Ribqa wanted, combined with the strong hands of a warrior that Isaac was looking for. Which, when necessary, would dissuade, deter, and punish the enemy. All in one at the same entity: Yaaqob / Israel.
הַקֹּל קוֹל יַעֲקֹב וְהַיָּדַיִם יְדֵי עֵשָׂו
Jacob kept his spiritual voice, and he learned to use his hands.
“The voice is the voice of Jacob, and the hands are [like] the hands of Esav.”
