Devar/5768/Toldot
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< Devar | 5768
עברית
English
And he said: 'Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.' And he said: 'Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?' (Gen 27:36)
It's difficult to read this excerpt without feeling Esau's pain. He seems an unfortunate, oppressed person, one of whom others take advantage to his detriment. Jacob indeed took his birthright, but Esau gave it to him freely. Not only did he give it freely, but: And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright. (Gen 25:34)
So he expressed the truth: that in practice, the birthright meant nothing to him. He did not value his inheritance, but when in the end he saw the wonderful blessing his brother received, he was sorry and protested. Similar to the Ishmaelites today - who, until the Jews came to their country, barely thought at all about the Land of Israel - but once the Jews came and made it blossom, suddenly they awakened and were sorry they ignored the Land.
We too, must recognize the good and work hard to fill our deficiencies. It is easy to follow in Esau's footsteps and say that our problems are because of someone or something else. It is much more difficult and more useful to engage in introspection and recognize the truth of our situation and to know that only by effort can we change reality.
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