Vampire Weekend's Surprising Jewish Stories
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Bereishit, 32:5-6: “And he [Yaakov] commanded them [the Angels], saying, ‘so shall you say to my Master, to Esav, so said your servant, Yaakov, ‘I sojourned with Lavan, and I delayed until now. And there is to me an ox and donkey…”
Rashi, 32:5. Dh: Garti: “I was not made a prince or important person, rather a stranger, it is not worth it for you to hate me because of the blessing that your father gave me – ‘you shall rule over your brother’ – because it was not fulfilled in me’.”
Rashi, 32:6: Dh: Veyehi li: “Father said to me, ‘from the dew of the Heavens and from the fat of the land’, but [my property] is not from the heavens or from the land.”
This week’s Torah portion begins with the build up to the confrontation between Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov attempts to appease his angry brother by sending him gifts and appeasing messages. He explains that there is no reason for Esav to be jealous of the blessings that Yaakov ‘stole’ from him, because they were not in fact fulfilled: The blessing included great status and fame, and yet Yaakov points out that he has been a mere stranger in a foreign land for the past several years.
Likewise, the blessing promised the bounty of the ‘heavens’ and ‘earth’, yet Yaakov points out that he only has cattle and property, but nothing from the ‘heavens’ and ‘earth’. Accordingly, Yaakov argues, there is no reason for Esav’s anger with him.
Two significant difficulties arise. Firstly, as Rabbi Moshe Feinstein1 points out, it sounds like Yaakov is denying the veracity of the blessings – how can he possibly believe or communicate that the Divine blessings he received are meaningless? Secondly, it is obvious that blessings are not immediately fulfilled – for example, the blessings to the Patriarchs about receiving the land of Israel took hundreds of years to come to fruition. Consequently, why should the fact that Yaakov had not yet received the full benefit of the blessings of such significance?
The key to answering both these questions is to understand that Esav viewed the world in a fundamentally different way from Yaakov.2 Esav lived in the now, expecting immediate reward and satisfaction. He was not interested in long-term results, he wanted everything right now. This is borne out by his very name, Esav: this means that he was born ready-made. There was no process of growth to something greater – from birth he was complete. Yaakov, on the other hand, is named after the heel, ‘eikev’ – alluding to the fact that starts at the bottom and has to patiently work his way up. It is also evident that Yaakov was well aware of his brother’s short-term approach.
In Toldot in the incident of the sale of the birthright, Yaakov tells his brother; “sell to me like the day (ka’yom’) your birthright.”3 The words, ‘ka’yom’ in this request seem superfluous – what was Yaakov adding with these words? The Seforno4 explains that Yaakov was hinting to Esav that he lives for the day to the extent that he is so hungry that he can’t even tell the difference between a bowl of soup and the color red. Consequently, Yaakov was telling Esav that there is no doubt that he would not be able to perform the function of the first-born – that is a position that requires long-term service of God – yet you are focused on the here and now. Indeed, Esav agreed with this assessment and rejected the long-term prospect of the birthright for the immediate gratification of the lentil soup.
We can now answer the two questions above – how could Yaakov seemingly deny the validity of the blessings, and the fact that they had not come to fruition yet was no indication that they wouldn’t be actualized at some point in the future. The answer is that Yaakov knew very well that the blessings would indeed be fulfilled, and he was willing to wait. However, when he was speaking to Esav he was speaking according to Esav’s worldview. In that vision, Esav expects immediate results – he has no interest in the ‘long haul’. Therefore, when Esav sees that Yaakov has not received these blessings in the past several years, then the blessings seize to be of use to an Esav.
Esav’s attitude is the general approach of virtually all wicked people. They always look at the short-term benefits versus the long-term gain. In a spiritual sense, that means that they effectively trade long-term benefit for transitory pleasure – this world for the next world. But this does not only apply to the wicked - when people are faced with the dilemma of choosing the pleasure of the moment or choosing the long-term view at the cost of deferring instant gratification, people that don’t possess a sense of spirituality will chose the now, and in the long-term they will lose out.
In contrast, success in the spiritual realm (and almost always in the physical realm as well) requires considering the long-term effect of our decisions, even if in the short-term, the results do not seem so desirable. In this vein, Rabbu Yissachar Frand relates the following story – in his words:
I heard that Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik, who was a Rabbi in Zurich Switzerland many years ago, was once counselling a couple who were having marital problems. The husband came to Rav Soloveitchik and said “My wife is making a mistake. She just isn’t right! We can’t come to terms.” Rav Soloveitchik responded, “Maybe your wife is not right. But if you have Shalom and the house is tranquil then your children and grandchildren will grow up in such an environment and will be different people – much better people!
Take the long view of life. The view of a Jew is always the long-term view. “Granted, your wife may be wrong in this argument. But if you take the long view of things and consider the effects of long-term Shalom Bayit (marital harmony), it is far more important than the short-term victory over your wife in proclaiming ‘I was right!'” The whole point of being a Jew is that we are not into it for instant gratification, or just for the here and now. We are in it for the future as well. Therefore, he advised this congregant to give in to his wife, because in the long run, it will be for the best.
This is the difference between Esav and Yaakov - may we merit to emulate our ancestor and consider the long-term future as well as the here and now.
