2008

History repeats itself. Whatever groove Abraham or Isaac or Jacob are going to carve, their descendants will get stuck in it.

by Rabbi Ken Spiro

The most dramatic event of Isaacs life was being offered as a sacrifice by his father, Abraham, at Gods command. To offer up his beloved son was Abrahams most challenging test indeed, the ultimate test of faith given to any human being. If Isaac died, so would the promise of a great nation from his lineage. Abraham demonstrated his supreme trust in God, and Isaac his supreme trust in his father. As Abraham was poised to carry out the deed atop Mount Moriah God sent an angel to stay his hand, directing Abraham to sacrifice a ram instead. The Bible tells us that having done so, Abraham called the name of this place God will see, and it is so called to this day...1 We must remember Mount Moriah, as it will have huge importance later on.

Genesis 22:14.

We wont take the time to examine the other details of Isaacs life, because we want to focus instead on the patterns that are set here for the rest of Jewish history. And one of the great patterns we see with Isaac is a re-run of a situation that Abraham also confronted. The Book of Genesis2 relates that Abraham went to the land of the Philistines, and he lived among them for a while. But he had some problems for example, they tried to take his wife, Sarah. A few years later,3 Isaac faced the same situation. He was living among the Philistines somewhere in the coastal area (of todays Israel), and they tried to take his wife, Rebecca. Also his servants started having problems with the servants of Abimelech, the king of the Philistines. And what happened eventually? The Philistines became jealous of Isaacs success and threw him out, even though he had done nothing to deserve it as far as the Bible tells us. In addition, they plugged up all the wells that Isaac had dug4 an illogical act given the value of water in the arid climate of the Middle East and the difficulty of digging wells. But then something interesting happened Abimelech came after Isaac and said, I see that we prospered because of you. Because once Isaac left, things went downhill for the Philistines. Their economy declined, nothing was going well, and the Philistines came to realize it was because of the Jews. So the king asked Isaac to return. This is the great pattern of Jewish interaction with non-Jews in history. The Jews are often invited in. The country does incredibly well because of their contribution.5 Then for no reason there is virtually no example in history of Jews ever doing anything that caused them to be hated the way theyve been hated the country decides to throw the Jews out, undermining its own economy in the process. So the Jews are thrown out, the country suffers, and sometimes they are invited back in. This is whats going to
2 3

Genesis, Chapters 20 and 21. Genesis, Chapter 16. 4 The Biblical commentators allude to the deeper meaning behind the well story. Wells and water are a symbol for Torah
5

and spirituality. Stuffing them up is symbolic of the historic gentile rejection of the spiritual-moral mission of the Jews. See Gods blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3.

happen over and over again. Its so irrational yet such an oft repeated pattern. Its probably the greatest love-hate relationship in history, the syndrome of cant live with em and cant live without em.

The Twins Isaac married Rebecca, who became pregnant with twins. While still in the womb, the twins who would be named Esau and Jacob were already fighting. (Suffice to say, it was a difficult pregnancy for Rebecca.) And almost as soon as they were born, the rivalry between them began. Although they were twins, Jacob and Esau had totally different

personalities, and they were also physically very different. The Bible describes Esau as hairy and Jacob as smooth-skinned. Esau was a hunter, a man of action. Jacob was a scholar, a man of thought. Its also clear from the narrative that Isaac favored Esau who was the firstborn of the twins. He was just a couple of minutes older, but that could be significant when it came time to decide who would inherit the family mantle. Isaac probably realized that, as a man of action, Esau was a doer and that to change the world requires such a personality. But Rebecca clearly favored Jacob. She no doubt loved Esau, but with her feminine intuition6 she picked up that there was something off in his personality. Though Esau had the gift of gab and could fool his father, his mother saw through his smooth double-talk.7 For one thing, for all his talk later on, when he was hungry, he sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of beans. As the Bible relates: Jacob was once simmering a stew, when Esau came home exhausted from the field. Esau said to Jacob, Give me gulp of that red stuff! Im famished! (He was therefore given the name Edom.) First sell me
6 7

The Talmud (in Tractate Niddah 45b) says that women have binah yeserah, an added intuitive intelligence.

For a deeper understanding of this story, as well as Isaacs perception of his two sons, see Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirschs commentary on Genesis, Chapter 27.

your birthright, replied Jacob... He [Esau] made an oath and sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob then gave Esau bread and stew. He ate it, drank, got up and left. He thus rejected the birthright.8 When he was old and blind, Isaac decided to give each of his sons a blessing, and, of course, he wanted to give an extra-special blessing to the first-born, unaware that Esau had already rejected his birthright. When a great spiritually-connected person like an Isaac gives someone a blessing, that blessing has tremendous power of potentiality and it can have a huge impact not only on the recipient of the blessing but also on history itself. Although Esau didnt really want the position of the first-born with all the responsibility it entailed to carry on his fathers mission, he did want the blessing of wealth and power which went along with it. But Rebecca realized that the blessing had to go to Jacob as he was the one who was willing and able to change the world in the manner of Abraham. So while Esau was off hunting to catch something for his fathers dinner, Rebecca took charge. She covered Jacobs arms with a goat skin so they would feel hairy like Esaus to poor blind Isaac. And then Jacob would receive the blessing of the first-born instead.

The Symbols
Its a mistake to read the Bible stories only on a simplistic, first-grade Sunday school level. This is not simply the story of some old, blind man whos confused by his wife and son. There are very profound things going on here. When Isaac encountered Jacob pretending to be Esau, he said: The voice is Jacobs voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.9
8

Genesis 25:29-34.

What does the voice symbolize? Speech is uniquely human. Animals may communicate, but they cannot speak or express abstract ideas. Speech is therefore representative of spirituality and intellect. Later in our story, Jacob will have his name changed to Israel10 and his children will create the Jewish nation. The voice is, therefore, symbolic of the real power of the Jewish people their spirituality and intellect. Golda Meir once said that she was angry at God for making the Jews wander in the desert for 40 years and then bringing them to the only place in the Middle East without oil. That is precisely the point the Land of Israel is weak in natural resources. The people of Israel are its greatest natural resource. Their intellect, drive and spirituality have given them an edge that has not only enabled them to outlast the greatest empires in history, but to impact the world far out of proportion to the smallness of their number. Jacobs voice represents the spiritual power of the Jewish people. The hand symbolizes the power of action, of might it is the hand that wields the sword and the pen.11 Esau, who embodied the power of the sword, gave rise, through his descendants, to the Roman Empire (or Edom as the Bible calls it). The power of Rome clearly lay in its ability to conquer, build and dominate. Even after its decline and fall, the spirit and power of Rome perpetuated itself in the new powers of the Western World. And, of course, it was the Romans (as in the Roman Catholic Church) who converted the world to Christianity, the other great monotheistic faith. So, in Esau, we see yet another example of an offshoot of the children of Abraham, who, like Ishmael, did not carry on the mission, yet became a great power, both physically and spiritually. As intense as the rivalry was between Isaac and Ishmael (the Jews and the Arabs), they were only half brothers. Jacob and Esau were twins with the same genetic material. Their rivalry (as expressed by the subsequent rivalry

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Genesis 27:22. Genesis 32:29.

Its interesting to note that the human hand is also unique. Other primates do not have the same kind of thumb and therefore lack human dexterity.

between Israel and Rome/Western World) is understood to be the ultimate rivalry in history. It embodies nothing less than a cosmic struggle. These two Jacob and Esau started fighting in utero, and they have been fighting throughout history. The battle continues until today and will not end until the final showdown during the Messianic Era. Its never been an even battle. Esaus descendants have always been stronger in the physical sense, but the Jewish people have had spiritual strengths and inner resources. Furthermore, their destiny is to triumph ultimately and bring all humanity back to God.

Amalek
The descendants of Abraham cant help but be great. We see that those who do not come from the line of Isaac and Jacob but through Ishmael and Esau also have a huge impact on the world. Indeed, the greatest enemies of the Jews have come from within the family. Who is the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people in history? The nation of Amalek. This is a people who epitomize evil and rebellion against God. There is a commandment in the Bible to wipe them off the face of the earth. With Amalek there is no compromise its a fight to the finish. This is a nation whose pathological hatred of the Jews is so great that they will show no mercy. Given half a chance, they will wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. (We will see the role they play many times in history, particularly in classes 16, 24 and 60.) The progenitor of the nation of Amalek was Esaus grandson by his son Eliphaz.12 From this individual named Amalek would emerge the Amalekite nation the arch-nemesis of the Jewish people. Rabbi Simon bar Yochai,
12

Genesis 36:1-15.

who wrote the chief work of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, some 2,000 years ago, said that Its a known law that Esau hates Jacob.13 This is a spiritual law of reality, so to speak, that describes the interaction between the Jews and descendants of Esau. This deep-seated hatred is deeply embedded in the collective conscience of the descendants of Esau, but it is especially concentrated in the descendants of Amalek. To understand this rivalry is to understand the deeply-rooted anti-Semitism of those nations that emerged from Rome. No matter what happens, the descendants of Esau are going to hate the Jews.14 It all began here, when Jacob got the blessing and then Esau showed up to find out what happened. Isaac, too, realized what happened and that he had been tricked. He was not angry, however, because he saw for the first time that Jacob was capable of action and could carry out the mission. But Esau was bent on murder. To save Jacobs life, Rebecca sent him away, telling him to go quickly to Haran (the former home of Abraham, located in todays southern Turkey). In Haran lived Laban Lavan, in Hebrew, meaning white Rebeccas neer-do-well brother. Mr. White despite his name proved to be one of the biggest crooks in the Bible.

Mr. White
On his way to Haran, Jacob stopped for a nights rest and had a momentous vision. He dreamt of a ladder extending up to heaven with angels going up and down. In the dream God repeated the promises He made earlier to Abraham and Isaac:

13 14

See Rashi on Genesis 33:4. th This, of course, helps us understand why the enlightened Europe of the mid-20 century could explode into such deep and violent anti-Semitism as the Holocaust. This doesnt mean that everyone who comes from a Western country is an anti-Semite. Clearly, this is not the case. Most people today are a mish-mash of many ancient races. Indeed, Amalek is no longer identifiable as a nation, but its spirit lives on.

I am Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and your descendants the land upon which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. You shall spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. All the families on earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.15 Awakening in awe, Jacob declared: God is truly in this place... It must be Gods temple. It is the gate to heaven! Jewish tradition16 holds that this place was Mount Moriah, where Abraham had brought Isaac for the sacrifice that never was, and which would become the site of the future Temple. When Jacob finally arrived in Haran, the first member of his family he encountered was his cousin Rachel, and from their first meeting, he realized that she was his soul-mate. As he had arrived penniless on his uncles doorstep, he offered to work for free for seven years to win her hand in marriage. Laban agreed. But at the end of the seven years, he pulled a switch on the wedding day, substituting Rachels older sister Leah and then demanding that Jacob work another seven years to get Rachel also. (Many biblical commentators have drawn a parallel between this switch and the switch that Jacob pulled to get Esaus blessing.) In the end, Jacob wound up with four wives Leah, Rachel, and their handmaidens Zilpah and Bilhah. These four women gave birth to 13 children

15 16

Genesis 28:13-15. Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer 35, Midrash Tehillim 91:7, Zohar 1:131a and 1:72a. Also see: Kaplan, Aryeh, Jerusalem: The Eye

of the Universe, New York: NCSY, 1979, pp. 50-51.

 12 sons and one daughter named Reuben, Simon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naftali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin and Dinah. Unlike previous generations where a child went off in a different direction and did not follow in the footsteps of Abraham, all of Jacobs sons would be totally dedicated to the mission. They would be a core group an extended family that would form the nation meant to change the world. Despite Labans attempts to keep him dependent and working for peanuts, Jacob managed to accumulate a big fortune. Reading the Bible, it is fascinating to watch Jacob metamorphose. As a young boy, he started out totally straight and pure (sort of like the worst kind of guy for a poker game), but forced to interact with his double-talking brother and his scheming uncle he successfully developed the skills necessary to overcome the challenges they presented. This is yet another great pattern in Jewish history. During the long Diaspora, the Jews have constantly found themselves at a disadvantage, economically and politically marginalized, with their hands tied behind their back. In order to survive, they had to learn to be very resourceful and creative. History has proven that, despite having the odds constantly stacked against them, when given the slightest opportunity, the Jew has done remarkably well, even in a very hostile environment. His character transformation completed, Jacob is told by God that he must return to the Land of Israel because he has a mission. Just as Abraham knew that Israel was the only place where Jewish potential could be actualized, so too Jacob understood that the Land of Israel was the only place to be. Despite his lingering fear of Esaus revenge (even though 20 years has passed), he gathered up all his family and his belongings and headed for home. On the way, he had another momentous vision a spiritual encounter in which a mysterious stranger17 appeared to him and wrestled with him until daybreak. When the stranger saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he
17

According to Rashi, the mysterious stranger was the guardian angel of Esau, and the struggle between them was symbolic of the struggle between Esau and Jacob throughout history.

dislocated the upper joint of Jacobs thigh, which would prove a permanent disability. Even so, Jacob demanded a blessing from him. To this the stranger responded: Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel. You have become great before God and man. You have won.18 This is the first appearance in the Bible of the name Israel, by which the descendants of Jacob would be called (children of Israel, Bnei Israel, Israelites),19 and by which the Promised Land would be also known.

The Great Embrace

Come morning, Jacob/Israel is more ready than ever for his encounter with Esau. And this brings us to another scene which foreshadows a powerful pattern in Jewish history: the re-union of the brothers. As he was making his way home, Jacob heard that Esau was coming out to meet him with an army of 400 men. In response, he applied his brain to come up with a multi-pronged strategy to protect himself against any eventuality. First, he prepared for war by dividing his family into two parts; in case one was attacked, the other part would survive. Next, he pursued the diplomatic track by sending elaborate gifts to Esau. Finally, he prayed, realizing that ultimately the outcome of the coming encounter was in Gods hands. We know that the Jewish sages believed strongly in the concept of the actions of the fathers are a sign to the children. Later in history, when the rabbis would have to interact with Roman officials, they would first study the story of Jacobs meeting with Esau. They knew that Jacobs strategy toward Esau was the key to successful Jewish negotiations with Rome.

18 19

Genesis 32:29. The name Jews came later, after the first exile from the Land of Israel and is derived from the ruling tribe of Judah.

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As it happened, Esau did not try to kill Jacob.20 Instead, he embraced him warmly and invited Jacob to travel together with him, with an implied offer that they would eventually live together. It is interesting to speculate what would have been had the spiritual-intellectual power of Jacob united with the physical power of Esau. But that did not happen. Jacob was not interested in the offer, no doubt aware that Esau still harbored deep enmity toward him. He told his brother, in effect: You go ahead of me. Ill catch up later. Now we know from the narrative that Jacob never did catch up. So what is the deeper meaning behind his statement? In effect, Jacob (representing the great intellectual, spiritual force in human history) said to Esau (the great physical force): I give you permission to go on ahead and dominate human history physically. But at the end of days, well get together and the tables will be turned.21 This end of days refers to the Messianic Era when the whole world will follow the Jewish lead and come to recognize the one God and live according to one standard of morality, in peace and brotherhood. The Jewish mission will be fulfilled then, but in the meantime, Esau is going to dominate. The ultimate struggle in history will be between Jewish ideas and the ideas of Esau and the culture that Esau is going to create. Jewish sources depict this as nothing less than a cosmic battle, and it is a major theme in Jewish history (as we shall see).

20 21

There is reason to believe that Esau still hated Jacob. See Rashi on Genesis 33:4.

See Rashi on Genesis 33:14. Rashi asks: When will Jacob go to Esau? In answer, he quotes the Prophet Ovadiah: A redeemer will go forth from Zion to judge the mountain of Esau. This is a clear allusion to the Messianic Era, when even Esaus descendants will return to God and recognize the Jewish peoples unique role in history. Also see Talmud, Tractate Avoda Zara 8b.

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