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Toldot: Who Deserves the Blessings?

Was Jacob right to take Esau’s blessing in disguise? Was he right to deceive his father and to take from his brother the blessing Isaac sought to give him? Was Rebecca right in encouraging Jacob to carry it out? Rebecca was righteous and knew that it would be Jacob, not Esau, who would continue the covenant and carry the mission of Abraham into the future. She knew this on two separate grounds. First, she had heard it from G‑d himself in the oracle she received before the twins were born:


‘Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you will be separated.

one person will be stronger than the other.

and the elder will serve the younger.’


Esau was the elder, Jacob the younger. Therefore, it was Jacob who would emerge with greater strength, Jacob who was chosen by G‑d.


Rebbeca knew that Esau was a hunter, a man of violence and threat. She had seen that he was a man of impulse. Esau cannot be a guardian of a covenant intended for eternity. The blessing had to go to Jacob. And if she had no other way of ensuring that the blessing went to one who would cherish it and live it, then in this case the end justifies the means. Rebbeca knew exactly where the truth stood.


The blessings Isaac bestowed upon Jacob were for material prosperity and a promise that he would be able to overcome the evil of Esau. The fact that Jacob obtained these blessings through cleverness in a somewhat tricky way teaches us how we should engage nowadays with the descendants of Esau, meaning Amalek. Anyone can see the continuation of Esau, Amalek's behavior, characterized by terror and violence, still flourishing just before redemption. On the other hand, Esau by itself represented by many nations in the world is already purified enough and ready for redemption.


It can be seen that those who stand on the evil side are the supporters of terror and violence. Those who are on the true side are Jew supporters in their war against pure evil. And the rest are still on the sidelines. The world is entering a new phase of revealing a divine truth. Moshiach is about to finish the last war against pure evil and rebuild the third Holy Temple.


*This is from a series of articles by Rabbi Bernstein Moshe.



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