[Avodah] longevity

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jan 28, 2026 at 05:47:46AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> Interesting thought from R' Steinman quoted by R' Rimon. The reason life
> expectancy has gone up so much in Israel is that in pre-moshiach times we
> will be fighting esav who excelled at respect for parents and so in order
> to defeat him we must more excel in that mitzvah. The increased longevity
> and the needs of aged parents give us this opportunity.

Excepts Esav's descendents and conceptual descendants are also enjoying
longer life speans.

Which to me would mean that either they are also beefing up on kibud
av va'eim, or
they abandoned that aspect of Edom's culture, and thus we have nothing
to worry about anyway.


Personally, I have a hard time believing Edom survived Sancheirev
any better than the 10 shevatim (Malkhus Yisrael and Shim'on) did.

I have more haskalishe thoughts about what Chazal meant by identifying
Rome with Edom:

1- Herod was Idumian, ie a member of the nation that settled Edom's land
after Sancheirev moved Eisav's descendents from there.

And it is likely that since the populations overlapped, there was elements
of Edom's culture that became part of Idumian culture.

2- Esav wanted the perks of being bekhor without the achrayus of continuing
Yitzchaq's message and mission.

Rome too thought they can build an empire for their own benefit and
not out of a sense of responsibility to the peoples they conquered.
R Shimon's approach to Rome rather than R Yehudah bar Ilai's:
    Everything they built, they built for themselves. They built market
    places in order to place prostitutes there; bathhouses, in order to
    refresh themselves; and bridges, in order to collect taxes.


(In modern terms, to be Edom and Malkhus haRisha'ah is to be a Western
Imperialist. ;-P <duck-n-run>!)


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 We are great, and our foibles are great,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and therefore our troubles are great --
Author: Widen Your Tent      but our consolations will also be great.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                      - Rabbi AY Kook