This week our Torah portion (parsha) is called Generations (Toldot in Hebrew) because the parsha starts out by saying that these are the generations of Yitzhak (Isaac) son of Abraham.  It tells us of the difficult pregnancy Rivka (Rebecca) had and her giving berth to twins:  Asov (Esau) and Yakov (Jacob).  It quickly hints at the character of the two, and then tells the tale of how Yakov bought the birthright of the firstborn from a tired Asov for a bowl of lentil soup.

Then we hear of a famine that hits the land and Yitzhak is about to take the family to Egypt when god tells him to stay in the land, and so he hangs out with Avimelech as his father did once upon a time.  Yitzhak becomes wealthy and Avimelech tells Yitzhak to go away.  Then Yitzhak has several quarrels over wells with the Philistines.

The Torah now shifts to tell us that the 40 year old Asov marries some local women.  Sometime after, Yitzhak is going blind and wants to bless his sons.  He tells Asov to hunt some game and make his favorite food and then he will bless him.  While Asov is gone, Rivka makes a meal and has Yakov, pretending to be his brother, bring it to his father.  Yitzhak then blesses Yakov, “thinking” it is Asov.

Asov returns and becomes rather distraught at the situation.  He does manage to get a blessing though, and is ready to kill his brother.  Yitzhak and Rivka send Yakov away to protect him from Asov and also from the local women, telling him that he should marry from Lavan’s (Rivka’s brother) family.  When Asov hears this, he goes to Yitzhak’s brother, Yishma’el, and marries one of his daughters.

This is what we are going through this week, in a nutshell.  One of the hardest issues to deal with is the end:  Yitzhak seeming to not know that it was Yakov and not Asov.  What really happened?  I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure (at least I don’t remember being there :), but this is the story that haShem (god) blessed me with…

Asov was like an animal.  I don’t mean that in a derogatory way.  What I mean is that he was a man of action and quick emotions and that he didn’t like to stop to think.  If the mantel of leadership fell upon him, the promise haShem made to Abraham would disappear.

Yakov was the one who had the leadership ability.  So they could better serve each other by Yakov leading and Asov being the doer.

Do you think that Yitzhak didn’t know this, couldn’t see this?  Or that haShem never got around to telling him?  Or his loving wife Rivka, who from the time haShem told her which child was to lead and which was to serve, before the two were born, never told Yitzhak what haShem told her?  I think not.

The problem was how to bless Yakov without completely insulting Asov.  Why was this important?  So the two of them could work together.

Yitzhak and Rivka came up with this plan to send Asov off hunting giving time for Yakov to sneak in and get the blessing by pretending to by Asov.  I mean Yitzhak had to know.  First off, when one’s sight is gone, one’s other senses pick up.  He even says that he recognizes the voice of his son as Yakov’s.  And I am sure he could tell the difference between lamb and wild game, not to mention his wife’s cooking compared to his son’s cooking.  He also hinted that he had a pretty good idea of how long it should take Asov to scare up some game and then to cook it.

Nevertheless, he had to pretend he didn’t know, in order for the plan to work.  And work it did.  Yakov got the blessings for leadership.

And Asov received a very important blessing too.  He was told that he was to serve his brother, but only as long as Yakov treated him well.  You see, Asov was to be the body, and Yakov was the spirit.  They need to work together or problems develop.  This also is true for us and our body/soul cohabitation.

Naturally Asov did get upset. Y itzhak was ready for this.  He knew that if Asov heard that Yitzhak was going to Rivka’s brother to find a wife, Asov would go to HIS brother to find a wife in order to win favor.

Yitzhak hoped that Yishma’el would be able to teach Asov how to get over the hurt of losing the birthright and blessing, just like Yishma’el had many years earlier.  Was Yishma’el successful?  Did Asov get over being tricked out of the blessings?

I think so, for he becomes married to what Yishma’el was able to create:  his daughter Mahalat whose name means forgiveness.  In other words, after spending time learning/being with Yishma’el, Asov gets to forgiveness, and lets go of his anger.

May all of us can learn, like Asov did, to let go of the anger we have and learn forgiveness.

If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.