Eisav’s Honor for His Parents

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka, writes in Ohr HaTzafon (vol. 1, p. 179):

Our holy Sages speak in remarkable terms about Eisav’s excellence in honoring his father. The verse states, “A son honors his father” (Malachi 1:6), and the Zohar (Toldot 146b) teaches that this refers to Eisav. There was nearly no one in the world who honored his father as Eisav honored his father.

Eisav had special garments that he wore when serving his father. The Torah says, “Rivkah took the precious garments of Eisav, her older son, which were with her in the house” (Bereishit 27:15). Why are they called “precious”? Because Eisav had coveted them from Nimrod, killed him, and taken them.

These garments had originally belonged to Adam HaRishon. When Adam wore them and went out to the field, all the animals and birds in the world would come and gather around him. Eisav kept these garments in Rivkah’s house and would not wear them outdoors. He wore them only when serving his father (see Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, ch. 24; Bereishit Rabbah 65:16).

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: “All my life I served my father, yet I did not serve him even one-hundredth as much as Eisav served his father. When I served my father, I served him in soiled clothing, and when I went out to the marketplace, I wore clean clothing. But when Eisav served his father, he served him only in royal garments. He said: ‘It is not fitting for my father’s honor that I serve him in anything less than royal clothing’” (Bereishit Rabbah, ibid.).

We can imagine how great Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s own honor for his father must have been. He testified about himself, “No creature has honored his parents as I honored my parents” (Devarim Rabbah 1:15). Yet even he declared that he had not reached even one-hundredth of Eisav’s level in this mitzvah.

Moreover, Eisav risked his life to honor his father. He would go to dangerous places to hunt and bring food to him.

Yosef later learned this trait from Eisav. When Yaakov said to him, “Go now, and I will send you to them” (Bereishit 37:13), Yosef knew that his brothers hated him. Yet he said to himself: Eisav goes to a dangerous place in order to hunt and bring food to his father; my father has sent me to see how my brothers are doing and how the flock is doing — which are the very livelihood of my father and his household…