By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
On the day of Avraham Avinu’s levayah, Yaakov was cooking a red lentil soup for his father Yitzchak. Lentils are round, given to a mourner to hint that aveilus is something that goes around and everyone experiences. Eisav came in from the field, famished, and saw the pot. He said, “Stuff me down some of that red food, for I am starving.” Not so fast, Yaakov said. If you want some, sell me your birthright.
Until Cheit Haeigel, it was not shevet Levi who would serve in the Mishkan and Beis Hamikdash, but the bechor of each family. Yaakov could not bring a korban, only Eisav, the bechor. Eisav was destined to be the third of the Avos.
Eisav responded to Yaakov’s proposal: “I am going to die; what do I need the birthright for?” He swore his agreement, and the bechorah was transferred to Yaakov. The Torah testifies that he was not duped; the deal was fair and square, because “Eisav scorned the birthright.”
At the moment that Eisav demanded the “red stuff,” the Torah tells us, “therefore his name was called Edom.” From then on, he was Edom, he and the nation that descended from him. Our mesorah is that the leaders of Rome and Western civilization were the children of Edom, responsible for the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and the long galus that bears their name.
At first glance, it is hard to understand why Eisav’s name and that of his nation was forever changed because of this incident. But it teaches us a critical lesson.
Eisav grew up in the shadow of the Avos, in homes that saw malachim and ran solely in accordance with the will of Hashem. On the day of Yaakov’s burial, Eisav contested his right to burial in Mearas Hamachpelah. Indignant at the slight to his grandfather’s honor, Chushim ben Dan killed Eisav on the spot. His head rolled into the cave and was buried there forever.
Rav Aharon Kotler tells us that, in fact, Eisav’s head deserved this burial. Intellectually, he was like one of the Avos. He knew of Hashem, hashgachah, Olam Haba, everything his fathers embodied. He had not ignored the lessons of Avraham and Yitzchak’s house. But the desires of his heart and body were more powerful, and thus he sold away eternity for a bit of red soup.
We are still in galus Edom, living among the civilizations descended from Eisav. This is their nature: to overlook true meaning, to give it up in favor of trivial temptations. Redder, bigger, louder, faster. These is what counts to Eisav.
Eisav scorned the birthright, and gave it away for some soup. We live in a society that follows in his footsteps. How wonderful it is to hear the voice of our seichel and overcome our taavos.
