And the land of their sojourns was unable to hold them because of their livestock. (36:7)
Rashi explains: To supply pasture for their animals. Midrash Aggadah explains, because of his brother Yaakov (meaning because of the contract of the debt of the decree of ‘that your offspring shall be sojourners’ (Bereishis 15:13), which was placed on the offspring of Yitzchak. Eisav said, “I will get myself away from here. I want no portion, not the gift which has been given to Yitzchak, that is, this land, nor the payment of the contract. Another reason was because of the embarrassment of having sold his birthright.
One of the differences between a Jew and a goy is that the goy wants to receive the good but is not willing to work hard for it at all. But the Jew knows and believes that this is the way of the world in every detail. First, we must endure ‘vayehi erev’ – ‘and it was evening’ and only then do we reach ‘vayehi boker’ – ‘and it was morning’ (Bereishis 1:5), first comes the darkness and then comes the light. There is nothing sweeter than that which first has bitterness. We see that the main goodness in the world was only given to Israel because good is bound in challenge. No one is prepared for this other than Israel as it is brought down in the Gemara (Berachos 5a), ‘It was taught, Rebbe Shion ben Yochai said, “HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave three good gifts to Israel, and all of them were only given through challenges. They are Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and Olam Haba [the World to Come]. What is the source for Torah? (Tehillim 94:12) ‘Praiseworthy is the man whom G-d disciplines, and whom You teach from Your Torah’. Eretz Yisrael? (Devorim 8:5) ‘that just as a father will chastise his son, so Hashem, your G-d, chastises you’. It then states (8:7) ‘For Hashem, your G-d, is bringing you to a good land’. Olam Haba? (Mishlei 6:23) ‘For a commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light, and reproving discipline is the way of life’.”’
The world usually illustrates this by way of a parable. A goy heard from his Jewish friend how he describes the delicious food served by Jews at the Seder table. Because of this, the goy wanted to taste the unique delicacies that are served on this night, what did he do? He searched for a poor Jew who would bring him to shul on the night of Pesach so someone would take pity on him and invite him to his table.
He succeeded in getting an invitation, and one of the men invited to join his Seder table. From the outset, the goy did not know that you have to wait several hours until the delicacies are served to those at the table. Having no choice, he kept his disappointment to himself, and he patiently waited throughout the reciting of the Haggadah until it was time for the seudah. When it was time for ‘rachtsa motzi matzoh’ he hoped that his wait was over, and they would now bring him the delicacies. But to his dismay, he saw that after ‘motzi matzoh’ came ‘maror’. By now he lost his patience, got up and ran out with the taste of maror in his throat.
The next day he met his Jewish friend who suggested that he taste the flavor of the Seder, and he complained, “Why did you trick me?” He described the hardships that he endured by his host. The Jew smiled and told him, “If you had waited just a little longer, you would have come to ‘shulchan aruch’ and enjoyed the wonderful delicacies, but what can I do since you goyim do not endure any suffering, and you advocate for skipping, and you lose out on the good that comes after the bad. It is not so with us Jews who are always ready to accept what is decreed upon us by our Creator.
This is one of the foundations of the Jewish Nation, and because of this, we also earn the good that comes because of the bad. This distinction is categorized as ‘maaseh avos siman lebanim’ – ‘the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the sons’. We find this by the fathers of the nations, Yaakov and Eisav mentioned in our parsha, and as Rashi explained to us. Both of them knew of the decree of exile that was imposed on the descendants of Avraham, and as HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham (Bereishis 15:13) ‘Know with certainty that your offspring shall be sojourners’, and this exile was terribly bitter, and here we recognize the difference between the two of them. Yaakov, whose wisdom was a lamp unto his feet, with his fortitude he was able to overpower his mundane desires, and accepted the yoke of exile on his neck and understood that it was appropriate to suffer now so his children would merit the guidance of the Shechina and the receiving of the Torah, since they are the ‘tachlis haberiyah’ – ‘the purpose of the creation’, and without it there is no value to the life of the person. In contrast, Eisav only used the eyes of the flesh, and since he saw that now by going down into exile his offspring would suffer terribly, he threw off the yoke from upon himself and severed the bond and forgo any reward. This fool lost an abundance of good whether in this world where he has no Torah and no purpose, and also in the future world where he will inherit Gehinnom.
Just as the Jewish people in general demonstrate wisely that they are prepared to suffer for the eternal good that will sprout from the bad. So too every Jewish individual has the power to suffer with his personal yoke, knowing that his pain is only for a while, and in time this will be a cause for his benefit. And so, every Jew is meted out various difficulties, this one this way and that one that way, and mainly the person is challenged with his involvement in Torah and avodah and the result of this is that there are some who do not see blessing from their learning, and their Torah is hard for them like iron. There are those whose Tefillah does not go up properly, since it is hard for them to concentrate and focus and understand the meaning of the words properly as one standing before the King. They must know that it is enough for them to strengthen their avodah, for specifically through this they will merit to see light, as Rashi explains the posuk (Shemos 19:5) ‘And now, if you listen well to My voice’, ‘If you accept the Torah upon yourselves now, it will be pleasant for you from now on, for all beginnings are difficult.’ That is, now in the beginning the work is bitter and we can even taste the taste of death, but from now on, once you get through the beginning, you will feel the light of the avodah.
The main difficulty is when one is young, for then the person is compared to a ‘hard olive’ which does not produce oil. While it is still hard, it is like one who has no moisture at all, but after it is beaten and crushed, its liquid is discernable, and this is what is said in the Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah Parsha 66) that ‘the righteous suffer in the beginning but end calm’.
