[Avodah] Was Esav a Rasha in the womb?

Marty Bluke marty.bluke at gmail.com
Wed Nov 18 00:24:47 PST 2009


Rashi comments that when Rivka passed a Beis Medrash Yaakov tried to
get out and when she passed a house of Avoda Zara Esav tried to get
out.

That obvious question is was Esav a Rasha already in the womb? What
choice did he have there? Did he even have a Yetzer Hara before he was
born? How could he become a Rasha in the womb? The same goes for
Yaakov. Chazal state that a person's yetzer tov doesn't enter them
until the age of 13, if so, what drove Yaakov to the Beis Medrash?

The Maharal gives a very perplexing and difficult answer. He says that
Esav was not propelled by the Yetzer Hara to go to the house of Avoda
Zara rather that was simply his nature. The same with Yaakov and the
Beis Medrash. Esav's innate nature was drawn to tumah and Yaakov's was
drawn to kedusha.

This Maharal seems to contradict a fundamental principle of Judaism
that every person has free will and can choose to be a Tzadik or a
Rasha. If Esav's innate nature in the womb was to worship Avoda Zara
how can he blamed for his actions, likewise if Yaakov's innate nature
was for kedusha why should he be rewarded for that? See the Rambam in
Hilchos Teshuva the beginning of Perek 5 where the Rambam states
clearly and unequivocally that there is no predisposition,  every
person has choice what to be.



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