Chapter 27 is a most dramatic chapter, where different subplots merge into a most unbelievable climax; a story whose conclusion still leaves so many unanswered questions \u2013 yet whose drama melds irony, complexity, sarcasm, sadness and ultimately yields triumph.<\/p>\n
Consider some of the questions:<\/p>\n
Consider the<\/p>\n
When Eisav heard his father’s words, he wailed a most loud and bitter cry, and he said to his father, “Bless me too, my father.” .. Eisav said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father,” and Eisav raised his voice and wept.<\/i><\/p>\n
It is hard not to feel sad for Eisav \u2013 whose cries reverberate throughout the ages:<\/p>\n
R. Hanina said: Whoever maintains that the Holy One, blessed be He, is lax [in dispensing justice], .. He is merely longsuffering, but [ultimately] collects His due. Yaakov made Eisav break out into a cry but once, and where was he punished for it? In Shushan, the castle, as it says, And he cried with a loud and bitter cry, etc. (Est. IV, 1).<\/i><\/p>\n
Two simple words that are enmeshed in our text never before and never again appear in the description of our two main personalities Yaakov and Eisav, and yet appear three times in our chapter. They are the words gadol<\/i> and katan<\/i>, literally big and small respectively:<\/p>\n
The introductory verse:<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 1: And when Yitzchok grew old his eyesight faded and he could not see. He called Eisov, his big son, and said to him, “My son.” [Eisov] said to him, “Here I am.”<\/i><\/p>\n
As Rivkah implements her plan:<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 15: Rivkah took the garments of Eisav, her big son, [the garments] that were precious [to him] that were in her keeping in the house, and put them on Yaakov, her small son.<\/i><\/p>\n
In the aftermath of it all:<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n
Rivkah was informed about the words of Eisov, her big son, and she sent [a messenger] to call Yaakov, her small son, and she said to him .. [for Eisav intends] to kill you.<\/i><\/p>\n
We certainly know that Eisav was older and Yaakov younger. Even if it is contextually critical, why mention it more than once?<\/p>\n
1. To Ramban, the message is that even as Eisav was the first born and the maternal apple of Rivkah\u2019s eye, she overcame her natural instinct to recognize that Yaakov was the fit recipient of the bechora<\/i> (birthright) and the blessings. Rivkah\u2019s sacrifice is heightened by the resultant rift that would surely happen. Thus as the story concludes, once again gadol and katan are accentuated \u2013 indicating that the right and the expedient don\u2019t always merge \u2013 nor does one\u2019s natural love always point to the correct conclusion.<\/p>\n
2. Netziv and Ohr Hachaim explain the phrase gadol<\/i> to relate to Eisav\u2019s stature and strength. Because Eisav was bigger, Yaakov had to wear Eisav\u2019s clothing. Because Eisav was stronger, Yaakov, the physically, weaker had to escape.<\/p>\n
3. Two midrashic approaches: Chanifa<\/i>, inappropriate flattery has its place. When a wicked person is in control \u2013 one may at times give him undue adulation. Apparently, it beats the alternative. Thus Eisav, who is on top of the world, is called gadol<\/i>. Why Yaakov is called katan<\/i> is not treated by the midrash \u2013 but apparently it is to teach that deference (acting katan<\/i>) to the powerful has its place as well.<\/p>\n
4. A second more uplifting approach appears in several midrashic sources (Bereishis Rabah, 45:11):<\/p>\n
R. Eliezer ben Shimon said: This may be compared to a country that was levying a bodyguard for the king. Now a certain woman there had a son, a dwarf, whom she used to call \u2018Tallswift\u2019. Said she: \u2018My son is tall and swift; why then do you not appoint him?\u2019 \u2018If in your eyes he is tall and swift,\u2019 they retorted, \u2018in ours he is but a dwarf.\u2019 In like manner, his [Eisav’s] father called him great …his mother too called him great: Said Hashem to them: ‘ If in your eyes he is great, in Mine he is small,\u2019 as it says, Behold, I make thee small among the nations (Obad. I, 2).<\/i><\/p>\n
Most compelling for me is the notion that Rav Schwab develops. Gadol is not a this-worldly expression of physical prowess or power. It is a spiritual indicator. A famous Midrash teaches:<\/p>\n
And Rivkah took the choicest garments of Eisav her big son. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: All my lifetime I attended upon my father, yet I did not do for him a hundredth part of the, service which Eisav did for his father. I used to attend upon my father in soiled garments and go out in the street in clean ones; but when Eisav attended on his father, he attended upon him in royal robes, \u2018For,\u2019 said he, \u2018nought but royal robes befits my father’s honour.\u2019 <\/i><\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know of many homes where the children put on special garments to take out the garbage (except for our home). In the realm of honoring parents, Eisav was gadol<\/i> \u2013 greater in spiritual stature than anyone \u2013 including Yaakov!<\/p>\n
Rav Schwab explains that Yitzchak\u2019s desire for Eisav\u2019s hunt game was to \u201ctaste\u201d the incredible mitzvah sanctity resident in the food. Rivkah understands this. She commands Yaakov in a manner that compels him to overcome his natural truth instinct. Against Yaakov\u2019s better judgment, Rivkah thrusts Yaakov into an extraordinary mitzvah of kibbud eim<\/i>. She clothes him in Eisav\u2019s garments, the very garments that he would normally don while serving his parents \u2013 as if to say that now Yaakov is rising to Eisav\u2019s standard in this mitzvah\u00a0(2)<\/a>. Since Yitzchak tastes the same holiness in Yaakov\u2019s food, he is sure that it is Eisav.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the message? The power of a sincere mitzvah, one done without an agenda, cannot be overstated nor should it be underestimated\u00a0(3)<\/a>. As we encounter difficult people in our orbit, probably far less agenda oriented and more wholesome than Eisav, let us try to coax out a mitzvah or find their greatness \u2013 one never knows what power they may bring into the world!<\/p>\n Good Shabbos \u2013 Asher Brander<\/p>\n ________________________________________<\/p>\n FOOTNOTES:
\n<\/a>1. Which implies a notion of underhandedness<\/p>\n