He Was Not Entitled - Toldot
Dedicated to the memory of the holy martyr Rabbi Zvi Kogan, may Hashem avenge his blood. Esav was an unsavory character in many ways. In contrast to his holy brother Yaakov, he was a murderer, a rapist, and a lot more. A word that came to my mind recently to describe him in modern terms is “entitled.” He was the epitome of entitlement. There are many Midrashic and mystical explanations for why the whole story with the blessings happened as it did, why Yitzchak favored Esav and why Yaakov had to trick his father to “steal” the blessings from his brother, but let’s look at the narrative on a simple level. Yitzchak was planning to give the greatest blessings ever bestowed on anyone to his firstborn son, in order for him to use those blessings to improve the world. Esav had tricked his father into believing that he at least had some righteous tendencies or potential. He showed tremendous respect and deference to his father. A...