Riddles of the Week

(For answers see above)

1. When Eisav returned from hunting in the field, he asked Yaakov to give him some of the lentil stew that he was cooking (25:30). Why did Yaakov give him both bread and stew to eat (25:34) when Eisav had only requested the stew?
2. What happened in this week’s parsha to Yitzchak and Rivka, which we also find happened in Megillas Esther to Mordechai HaTzadik?
3. When Yaakov (dressed up like Eisav) brings food in front of his father Yitzchak, “Yitzchak smelled his clothing” and proclaimed, “See the aroma of my son is like the aroma of the field that G-d has blessed” (27:27). Rashi asks an obvious question, which is that Yaakov had goat skin on his hands to make him feel hairy, and surely there is nothing which smells worse than this? Rashi quoting Chazal answers that the smell of Gan Eden entered with Yaakov. The Sifsei Chachamim explains that Eisav got his clothes from Nimrad, and Nimrod inherited them from Adam HaRishon who wore them in Gan Eden, and this is where the smell came from. The question is, from the time of Adam HaRishon until the time of this story, there was around 2,300 years. How is it possible that the smell of Gan Eden lingered on the clothing for so long?
4. We mentioned above, that when Yaakov came to Yitzchak to receive the berachos, he said that he could smell the smell of Gan Eden, how did Yitzchak know what Gan Eden smelt like?
5. Eisav was very upset at the fact that Yaakov stole the berachos, and “he said in his heart, the days of mourning over the death of my father are coming, and I will kill Yaakov my brother” (27:41). Why did Eisav wait for the days of mourning over his father in order to kill his brother?
6. Can you name the three places in Eretz Yisrael today that are mentioned in Parshas Toldos?