D'var Torah!

Phew it has been a busy month! I began November very busy working on my first D'var Torah in Rabbinical School. I have written several Divrei Torah over the past few years, but this was my first chance to work one on one with Rabbis and Torah Scholars, and it was really fun . Aside from that, I have been working hard in all of my classes, getting all of the end of semester assignments finished and then it's time for finals! I'm also still really enjoying my time studying at the Hartman Institute: we have studied topics such as zohar, and mishnah, and we are now moving onto "israel as a Jewish State: theory and practice" with scholars such as Melila Hellner-Eshed, Micah Goodman, and Ariel Picard. Also, we have been having a great time in our Israel Seminar class! A couple weeks ago, Etgar Keret came and spoke with us! If you don't know who Etgar Keret is, I'd strongly recommend looking him up and reading some of his stories, he has also been featured on This American Life.

In other news, my mom came to visit me! We had a really amazing time together, it was wonderful to share my life here with my mom, and especially since it was her first visit to Israel. I have started to become very comfortable here, and it was really cool to see it through her first time experience. I don't have any pictures, but as soon as my mom send me some I will post a few!

Also, I'm posting a copy of my d'var torah below for those who are interested:
Imagine if the opening of the Amidah, a prayer which we all say at least once a week together in Thursday’s shacharit, included this line: ברוך אתה יי אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק אלהי יעקב ואלהי עשו...
I know that this seems at first to be a rather strange idea but a careful reading of parasha Toldot might very well lead us to conclude that Esau deserves to be included in the category of the patriarchs. However, the Rabbis have painted a very different picture of Esau after Biblical times. Richard Elliott Friedman, a contemporary Torah Scholar who published a new commentary on the Torah in 2001, makes this argument in his commentary by saying, “numerous attempts have been made to denigrate Esau in midrash and even in current biblical interpretation. It is not justified according to the text. The motive is understandable: Jacob’s behavior in the matters of the birthright and the blessing is an embarrassment. Even small children express surprise at what this patriarch does to his brother, and his father. The Torah itself neither denigrates Esau nor justifies Jacob. On the contrary, one of the great qualities of the Tanach is precisely that none of its heroes is perfect.” What are we to learn from the characterization of Jacob and Esau in the Tanach, and from their Rabbinic interpretation?

The rivalry between Esau and Jacob begins while they are still in Rebecca’s womb; in Genesis 25 we read that “the children struggled in her womb, and she said, ‘if so, why do I exist?”( 25:22). When Rebecca’s twins are born, Esau comes first and is described as “red, like a hairy mantle all over” (25.25). The description of Esau’s appearance at birth has been explained in many ways. Most commentators suggest that his red and hairy appearance foreshadows his angry and resentful condition. His hairy appearance plays a crucial role in the later part of the narrative. As we progress through the story, we learn of Esau’s naïveté as a young man, when he exchanges his birthright for bread and lentil stew from his brother Jacob.
Later in the narrative, Rebecca tells Jacob to trick his father into offering him a blessing, by dressing in his brother’s clothing and pretending to be Esau. All the while Esau is doing as his father has requested to prepare himself to receive the blessing. Jacob takes advantage of his father’s blindness and lies to his face: Isaac asks “are you really my son Esau?” and Jacob answers “I am” (27: 24). When Esau returns to his father to receive the blessing we read: וַיֹּאמֶר עֵשָׂו אֶל-אָבִיו, הַבְרָכָה אַחַת הִוא-לְךָ אָבִי--בָּרְכֵנִי גַם-אָנִי, אָבִי; וַיִּשָּׂא עֵשָׂו קֹלוֹ, וַיֵּבְךְּ. Esau bursts into wild and bitter sobbing, and pleads to his father for a blessing saying, do you only have one blessing father? Bless ME too father. And he lifted up his voice, and he wept. This reaction does not sound to me like a wild and ravenous human being, but rather a man who has been hurt and robbed of something meaningful and special to him. His first reaction is not to scorn his brother, but rather to plead to his father. Isaac answers Esau by saying that “your brother came with deceipt and took away your blessing” (27:35).

A faithful reading of the text so far is of a positive image of Esau, portraying him as a victim of Jacob and Rebecca’s deception. Several parashot down the line in vayishlach, Jacob and Esau meet again after many years of separation. Jacob expects Esau to kill him, and instead, in a move of great growth and maturity, Esau embraces Jacob and kisses him. Esau demonstrates nothing but kindness to Jacob, and yet Jacob deceives Esau once again by lying to him about his next point in his journey. According to the story, Esau had every right to hate his brother, yet he has only love for Jacob after their years of separation. Once again this is a very positive image of Esau, one which we can certainly learn from.

Esau’s story is that of a good and moral man, who in his own life rises to become a great nation. However, after years of rabbinic interpretation, Esau is not remembered in this way. What can we learn from Esau’s life and how he is remembered - and how can we apply this example to our own lives? Esau had control over how he behaved during his life, but he did not have control over how others perceived and interpreted his actions. We face the same challenge in our own lives. No matter how good our actions and intentions, they are not always perceived or remembered in the way in which we would like. No matter how good and moral we are, it is important for us to understand that the way we are seen by others is not entirely in our hands. We can learn from Esau that it is important to be merciful and forgiving, as he is deceived by those closest to him, yet still finds it in his heart to love them. We learn an equally important lesson from Jacob our forefather. On the one hand, Jacob can be remembered as a deceiving trickster, on the other hand we can also remember him as a clever and smart man who did what he thought was necessary to ensure the future of his people. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Esau acts valiantly while surrounded by deception and bad influences, while Jacob uses his intelligence and foresight to make sure that his small tribe will thrive-which is something I think we can all be thankful for!. These two stories both hold powerful meaning for us and for the choices we make – but to take Esau without Jacob, or Jacob without Esau, would be to neglect an important aspect of what this parashah is trying to teach us about our relationships. We have the choice every day about how we can treat others, and how we can react to the way they treat us.

I am not necessarily planning on calling on the Reform Movement to amend its next edition of MIshkan Tefilah to include Esau as one of the patriarchs. However, I think that we must be more sensitive to Esau’s good qualities and attributes, rather than to dismiss him because of what the text doesn’t tell us. The Rabbis have a concept that they describe as judging everybody “לפנים משורת הדין”. I think that concept is wonderfully presented to us in the story of Esau, as well as in our everyday lives. This concept is of judging everybody fairly and as generously as possible. We must judge both Esau and Jacob לפנים משורת הדין. That is to say, we must resist the temptation to label’s Esau’s naïveté and trustworthy-ness as stupidity, and not let the surface impressions and the Rabbinic interpretation detract from our understanding of Esau. It is important also to judge Jacob fairly, and not automatically praise him because of the Rabbinic interpretation.

As we move forward in our own Jewish practice and in our careers, may we remember Esau not only as the negative image that is presented by the Rabbis, but rather as the vulnerable, naïve, young boy who cries and pleads to his father for a blessing that has been taken from him by his brother and mother. And may we be inspired by Esau to have the strength and courage to not let superficial impressions tarnish our ability and desire to truly get to know ourselves and one another.