In this week’s Torah portion, Eisav sells his firstborn right to Ya’akov for red lentil stew.
Ya’akov represents the soul, and Eisav represents the body. G-d chose the bodies of the Jewish People with His true free choice. Since the body doesn’t have any special quality on its own, it was truly free choice, with no reasons influencing the choice. This free choice was on the level of G-d’s Essence.
Eisav was red. The word for red, “Adom”, has the same letters as “Me’od”, meaning “very much” and representing the unlimited. Eisav’s redness represents the specialness of G-d’s essential choice of the body. Eisav asked Ya’akov for “this red red” (referring to the red lentil stew). On a deeper level, this represents that through the soul, which comes down into the body where it can fulfill the Mitzvos of the Torah, the greatness of G-d’s essential free choice of the body is revealed. This revelation of the Essence, showing the trueness of the Essence, that it isn’t limited to being hidden but can also be revealed, is even greater than the firstborn right.
(See talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach Shlita, Toldos 1, 5752 (1991))
