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This week’s Parsha is Toldot which means “generations” or “history”.  It is the story of Isaac and Rebecca, and their two sons.  It’s not exactly the most harmonious of families, and the course of history changes as a result. 

Rebecca is pregnant — with twins, whom the Torah describes as “struggling within her”, so much so that she asks God what is going on.  God tells her that her children will become two great nations, one — the one descended from the younger twin — mightier than the other.  The older one, Esau, is born red and hairy (Esau means “hairy”), and the younger one, Jacob, comes out holding onto his older brother's heel (Jacob’s name is from the Hebrew word for “heel”).  As the brothers grow up, Esau is a good hunter and spends his time in the fields.  Jacob is described as a gentle man who likes to spend his time indoors.  The Torah is very clear about the following:  Isaac loved Esau because of his hunting (some interpreters of the Torah also believed that Esau knew just what to say to get his father to favor him); Rebecca, the Torah says, loved Jacob.  

-           What’s your reaction to Isaac and Rebecca apparently preferring one son over the other?

-           How do you think it affects how the brothers felt about one another?

One day, Jacob is cooking stew when Esau comes in from the field, so hungry that he feels faint.  He asks Jacob for some of the stew, and Jacob offers to give him stew in return for his inheritance (or birthright).  In ancient times, the older son inherited all of their parents’ wealth, so this was an important matter.  Esau replies that his inheritance will do him no good if he dies of hunger, and agrees to the deal.  

-           What’s your reaction to this interplay between the brothers?

-           Was Jacob right to ask for Esau’s birthright in return for stew?

-           Should Esau have known better than to agree? 

God speaks directly to Isaac and and recommits to the promise to Abraham — that many future generations will be descended from him, that the land Isaac lives in will belong to future generations, and they will all be blessed.  

Isaac has disagreements with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, about water, a precious commodity where they are in the middle east.  Isaac redigs Abraham’s wells, which had been filled in by Abimelech’s people.  As Isaac grows older, he becomes more and more wealthy, and continues to find more wells and more water -- eventually, Abimelech sees that God is with Isaac, and asks to make peace.  Isaac hosts a big feast and they reach an agreement.  

-           If two people you know are fighting with one another or have many disagreements, what suggestions or ideas do you have for how they could reach some sort of peace with one another (especially if you can’t manage to get God to intervene)?

Later in the Parshah, Isaac is old and going blind. He asks Esau to go hunting and bring him back something delicious to eat.  Isaac says that, when Esau returns with the food, Esau will receive Isaac’s final blessing.  Rebecca overhears this and tells Jacob what’s about to happen. She tells Jacob to go get a couple of lambs, which she will prepare for Isaac, so that Jacob can take them to Isaac and receive the blessing before Esau returns.  Jacob points out that his skin is smooth and Esau’s is hairy, and that Isaac might touch him and know he is trying to fool him, and curse him instead of blessing him.  Rebecca dresses Jacob in Esau’s clothes and puts animal skins on his hands to they will feel hairy like Esau’s. (Remember: When she was pregnant, God told her that the younger son would become more powerful than his brother.)

-           What do you think of this planning by Rebecca and Jacob?

-           Is it fair to try to fool Isaac and cheat Esau — especially after Esau has already traded his inheritance for a bowl of stew?  

Jacob goes to Isaac with the food, dressed up as Esau.  Isaac, thinking it’s Esau, asks “how did you get back from the field and cook the food so quickly” and Jacob replies, “because God prepared the food for me.”  Isaac then says, “you have the voice of Jacob, but the hands of Esau.  Are you really Esau?”  And Jacob says, “Yes.”  Isaac eats the meal, and tells Jacob to come closer.  Isaac kisses him, and says that he smells like Esau (remember, Jacob is wearing Esau’s clothes).   Isaac then blesses Jacob, saying that God will make sure his fields will have water and produce abundantly, that other nations will bow down to him, that he will be master over his brother, that those who bless him will be blessed and those who curse him will be cursed. 

-           Do you think Isaac was really fooled by Jacob?  If not, why did he proceed to give him the blessing?

Esau then returns, with food for Isaac, ready to receive the blessing.  They both realize what has happened, and Esau begs Isaac to bless him, too.  Isaac says, “but I already blessed Jacob with plenty of food and water and I made him master over you.”  Isaac blesses Esau as best he can, since he cannot negate the blessing he already gave Jacob.  He says “you will live where there is plenty of food and water, and you will serve your brother.”  The Torah says that Esau hated Jacob for stealing his blessing. Rebecca tells Jacob of this, and tells him to go to his Uncle Laban’s house until Esau calms down.  Rebecca tells Isaac that she wants Jacob to marry someone from her home town, so Isaac also tells him to go to Laban’s house, and to find a wife there.  He wishes for Jacob that he will have the same blessing from God that God gave Abraham.  And Jacob goes, as his parents have told him to.  Things get even more complicated for Jacob in the next Parshah — perhaps deservedly so!

Last week, we read about the arranged marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, and hoped that they loved and found comfort with one another even though they didn’t choose each other.  This week, we read about Jacob and Rebecca defying tradition and stealing Esau’s birthright and blessing.  Remember we are also told how different Esau and Jacob are — Esau hunts and stays in the fields, and trades his birthright for stew, while Jacob is clever (and conniving), trading Esau for his birthright and planning with his mother to receive Isaac’s blessing.

-           Was the tradition of the inheritance and the blessing going to the oldest child a fair tradition?

-           Was it right for Jacob and Rebecca to do what they did in order for Jacob to become the next in line to Isaac?

-           We list our ancestors as “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  Would you rather it were “Abraham, Isaac, and Esau?”

-           If you could change one thing about our history, as Jews or as Americans, what would you change?

With much to think about — why siblings sometimes don’t get along, whether traditions should change, how history unfolds — I wish you a peaceful and thoughtful Shabbat.

Dan