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RSRH says that this is why Esav turned out the way he did. When a friend recently told this to a well-known Rav in Flatbush, the Rav began to yell at him saying that this is false. I believe this Rav thinks that the Avos did not make mistakes. However,
RSRH, following the Ramban also says that Avraham made a mistake when he told Sarah to say she was his sister, and hence endangered her.
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RSRH writes, "<span>Yet, even if we were incapable of explaining the strange events in<br>
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<div>this story; even if we were forced to conclude as the Ramban concludes —<br>
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<div>, 'Our father Avraham inadvertently committed<br>
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<div>a grave sin by placing his virtuous wife before a stumbling block<br>
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<div>of iniquity because of his fear of being killed . . . His leaving the Land,<br>
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<div>about which he had been commanded, because of the famine was another<br>
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<div>sin he committed )' — nevertheless, none of this<br>
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<div>would perplex us. The Torah does not seek to portray our great men<br>
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<div>as perfectly ideal figures; it deifies no man. It says of no one: “Here you<br>
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<div>have the ideal; in this man the Divine assumes human form!” It does<br>
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<div>not set before us the life of any one person as the model from which<br>
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<div>we might learn what is good and right, what we must do and what we<br>
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<div>must refrain from doing. When the Torah wishes to put before us a<br>
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<div>model to emulate, it does not present a man, who is born of dust.<br>
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<div>Rather, God presents Himself as the model, saying: “Look upon Me!<br>
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<div>Emulate Me! Walk in My ways!” We are never to say: “This must be<br>
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<div>good and right, because so-and-so did it.” The Torah is not an “anthology<br>
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<div>of good deeds.” It relates events not because they are necessarily<br>
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<span>worthy of emulation, but because they took place.</span><br>
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Rav Hirsch's essay about the education of Yaakov and Esav may be read at <br>
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<font face="arial,arial,helvetica"><font size="4"><b><a href="https://web.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/lessons_jacob_esau_col_vii.pdf">Lessons From Jacob and Esau</a> (Collected Writings VII)</b></font></font></div>
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<font face="arial,arial,helvetica"><font size="4">There is much wisdom in this essay about education.</font></font></div>
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<font face="arial,arial,helvetica"><font size="4">YL</font></font><br>
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