[Avodah] Sedra Toldos - Balance, When Parents Favour One Child

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Nov 19, 2017 at 08:25:21AM +1100, Rabbi Meir G. Rabi via Avodah wrote:
: But Eisav was not a better cook than Rivkah - "she made him a delicious
: dish just as he liked" [27:14] [unless she had him on a healthy food diet
: and Eisav was Yitzchak's secret steak supplier]

Or the hunter was usually the one who prepared the game, whereas Rivqa
tended to be cooking the animals they farmed.

...
: Yitzchak understood, he encouraged Eisav to hunt and cook for him. He even
: reminded Eisav to take his hunting weapons when he instructs him to hunt
: and prepare food before he blesses him - Yitzchak wants Eisav to be engaged
: in the hunting and preparation of the food, because it is this engagement
: that is their link and best encapsulates his approval of his son Eisav...

Perhaps this is the whole point of the Torah's not saying why Rivqa
preferred Yaaqov. Yitzchaq's additional love of Esav was teluyah bedavar,
and that fact impacted Eisav's choices. Rivqa love Yaaqov, full stop,
not for some reason.


There is also an idea I heard from RYBS and often utilized in Gush
circles that had things turned out more positively, Eisav would
have been the physical arm of the same project as Yaaqv's Torah. Eisav's
children would have supported and protected Yaaqov's.

According to the Qedushas Levi's version of this idea, Yitzchaq knew
Eisav had failings, but felt that the person who was supposed to go out
into the real world was bound to be the tzadiq who "falls 7 times and
arises" (to quote Shelomo haMelekh).

What Yaaqov missed was the nevu'ah "ushnei le'umim mimei'ayikh
yipareidu". He thought that the ideal plan, Esav and Yaaqov together
without such pirud, was still how history was going to play out.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter