Religious Pluralism \ Parashat Hashavua-- The Weekly Torah Portion

Accepting the Real Esau

Parashat Toldot*: Genesis 25:19 -- 28:9 28-29 November 1997, 29 Heshvan 5758

By Rabbi Amy Levin

Cain and Abel, Yitzhak and Yishmael, Ya'akov and Eisav (Esau), Joseph and his brothers -- it seems that most of the generations described in Genesis are composed of one "good" brother and at least one "evil" brother. Two of the names of "evil" brothers have come to represent evil or threatening presences in general -- Yishmael and Eisav.

But, if one turns to the text of the Torah -- to the p'shat (plain meaning) of the stories of the lives of Yishmael and Eisav -- one is hard pressed to find the dark elements that his name evokes in later Jewish sources.

Let's take a close look at this week's parasha. Without naming names:

At the birth of these twins, one brother hold's onto the other brother's heel, as if to pull him back into the womb so that the second brother could emerge first.

One brother is favored by the father -- the parent with the power to bestow the inheritance of the covenant and its accompanying blessings. The second brother is favored by the mother -- who has been told directly by God that this younger son will supersede is older twin.

One brother works honestly by the sweat of his brow. We aren't told how the other brother contributes to the family welfare, if at all.

The hard working brother is finessed out of his rightful inheritance as the oldest son through the cunning of his younger twin.

As the father prepares to put his house in order before his own death, he sends his older son off to prepare the father's favorite meal. In the older brother's absence, the mother sends in the younger brother disguised as his older sibling. The father (confused or not by the disguise -- that's a discussion for another time!) bestows the blessing of the covenant on the younger son.

The older son returns to find he has been robbed of this precious blessing: "he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, "Bless me, too, Father!" (27:34).

So, tell me, is there an "evil" brother in this story? Eisav is an innocent victim. The worst we can say about him is that he did not sufficiently value his standing as oldest son. Ya'akov, on the other hand, is grasping -- as his name implies. He takes advantage of Eisav's forthrightness and complies without hesitation with Rivka's plan to manipulate her family's future according to the clear message she received from God during her pregnancy.

The fact is, there is no evil brother here. There may be complicated, imperfect human personalities, but there is no embodiment of evil in any of this story's protagonists.

Yet, the sages of the great rabbinic period stretching from the period of the Second Temple until the 6th or 7th centuries and beyond, invoke the name Eisav or his second name, Edom, when they wish to introduce a threatening, evil-motivated presence in their texts. Edom is Rome, the oppressive empire that destroyed Jerusalem.

Three examples of the "hate literature" leveled against Eisav/Edom in the classic midrashim of late antiquity:

In Genesis Rabbah, Parasha 63, we read: " 'Comes the wicked man comes derision' (Proverbs 18:3) Comes the wicked man is Eisav."

In Numbers Rabbah, Parasha 11, we read: " 'The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked' (Proverbs 3:33) this is Eisav the wicked."

In Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat Ki Tetzei, 9, we read: "Rabbi Levi opened [his midrash]: 'You blast the nations; You destroy the wicked" (Psalms 9:6). You blast the nations, this is Amalek, as it is written 'A leading nation is Amalek' (Numbers 24:20). You destroy the wicked, this is Eisav, as it is written 'And so they [Edom] shall be known as the region of wickedness,' (Malachi 1:4)."

Without any connection to the biblical Eisav, the rabbinic Eisav is wickedness personified. The complicated, nuanced "grays" of the original Eisav are reduced to stark black in the later literature.

I think there is a lesson to be learned from this treatment of Eisav. I think we have an opportunity here to ask ourselves how many of our own prejudices are actually without connection to the real personalities we paint black.

If you're game, try the following exercise: Select one or two of the following groups that you have a tendency to characterize in a negative way. Concentrate on what you think are all of the negative characteristics of this group. Then push yourself to find the "gray", the nuance, the complex humanity of your group:

Haredim:	Black?	Gray?
Left wing doves:	Black?	Gray?
Palestinians:	Black?	Gray?

The twelfth century Spanish-Jewish philosopher, Moshe ben Ezra, wrote: "Just as love blinds the eye to defects, so hate blinds the eye to good qualities."

Hate eradicates nuance, humanity, complexity. Openness to the "original" enriches and varigates our individual worlds. It is time to appreciate the real, biblical Eisav -- whoever it is that we have assigned the role of the rabbinic Eisav in our lives.

Shabbat Shalom

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Amy Levin has served as rabbi of the Masorti (Conservative) Family Congregation of Beit Ha-Kerem, Jerusalem, since September 1995. She is one of the first women to study in the rabbinical school of the Masorti/Conservative Seminary of Judaic Studies in Jerusalem. In addition to her congregational work, Amy teaches Talmud at Hebrew Union College's new Liberal Yeshiva -- a program designed to introduce English speakers to the basic texts and concepts of the Jewish tradition. Amy made aliyah in 1981 and is the mother of two wonderful teenagers.