כשמע עשו את דברי אביו ויצעק צעקה גדלה ומרה עד מאד ויאמר לאביו ברכני גם אני אבי
He cried out an exceedingly great and bitter cry. (27:34)
Chazal tell us that Eisav cried three tears, each alluded to in this pasuk: "he cried out"; "exceedingly great", "bitter." They say that Moshiach Tzidkeinu will not arrive to liberate us from our present exile until the tears of Eisav have ended.
Why should HaShem be concerned about Eisav's tears? What about our tears? Have we not cried enough over the last two thousand years - and Moshiach still has not come?
K’sav haSofer writes that Eisav’s crying for a blessing testified to his great belief if the blessing of a Tzadik. He was only pained from the loss of the blessing from Yitzchak. This is a lofty form of tear, one that should be envied. We cry when we are in pain, when we hurt. Do we cry when we do not understand the Gemara? Do we cry when we have missed out on an opportunity to daven with a Minyan? Do we cry when we have missed a great shiur? Regrettably, the Jew has no shortage of reasons for which to cry. We derive from here that there are priorities even in expressing emotion.
Horav Shmelke m'Nikolsburg gives an interesting response based upon the halachic axiom of “min b'mino afilu b'elef lo batil, "a species mixed with its own type is not considered nullified, even if there is a ratio of one to a thousand." (Under most circumstances, annulment occurs if two unlike species mix with a ratio of 60 parts to one, if they are of the same species, this rule does not apply.)
The tears of Eisav were specifically in response to olam hazeh, this materialistic world and matters relating to it. He did not care about his spiritual dimension. He prioritized the physical dimension and all it had to offer. When our tears are shed for material losses, for matters that concern us in this materialistic world, they are similar to Eisav's tears, and hence, we cannot overwhelm them. It is only when we shed tears for matters relating to HaShem, for matters relevant to the spiritual, HaShem's sovereignty over the world, when we cry about the Shechinah's exile - not just about our own - then our tears are different from Eisav's, such that we have the power to annul them. In order to nullify the power of Eisav's tears, we must see to it that we cry for the right purpose.
Alternatively, Eisav cried and we cry constantly. What makes his tears so special? It is not the actual tears that are so upsetting, it is the fact that we/Yaacov inadvertently caused them. To make another person cry is terribly odious. When a person cries, he releases his inner emotions; he loses control and expresses his hurt and pain. To be the cause of such a loss of emotion is particularly detestable. In Yaakov Avinu's situation, he certainly did nothing wrong. On the Heavenly barometer, however, he caused a situation where another person was brought to tears. This is held over his descendants until we correct the hurt and make sure that we are not responsible for another person's pain.
What was the effect of the tears of Eisav?
Later in verse 39, Yitzchak does bless Eisav with "Mishmanei haAretz" (the good of the land). However, Yaakov had already received the blessing of "Mishmanei haAretz” (v. 28); there seemed to be no place left on earth that could bring a blessing for Eisav.
Rashi says this refers to Italia of Yavan (Rome). (Bereishis Rabbah 67:6) The Gemara (Shabbos 56b, Sanhedrin 21b) says that when King Shlomo married the daughter of Paroh, the angel Gavriel forced a stick into the Mediterranean Sea. Silt collected upon it until it formed the land called Italia of Yavan, which is Rome. Since this was a newly created land, after the time of the Yitzchak’s blessing, it is only possible place for this particular land to be the source of Eisav's receiving the physical blessings of the earth without encroaching on the Yaacov’s blessing.
(Vayikra Rabbah 12:1) R. Yudan said: All the seven years of building the Temple, Shlomo never drank wine. When he built it and married the daughter of Pharaoh, that night he drank wine, and there were two dances: one the celebration of the building of the Temple; the second was the celebration of the wedding to the daughter of Pharaoh. HaShem said, “Whose should I find acceptable, these or those?” At that moment, He thought of the possibility of destroying Yerushalayim.
