Jewish Life Digital Edition January 2014 | Page 19

HaRishon, which had come into Nimrod’s
hands. When Eisav wore these clothes, they
gave him special strength. Such a skilled
‘trapper’ was Eisav that he succeeded in
feigning piety and giving the impression, at
least to his father, that he was quite meticulous in observing mitzvos.
Yitzchak loved Eisav because of Eisav’s
‘trappings’, both literally (ie, due to the animals that Eisav would trap) and figuratively (ie, due to the words that Eisav would
use to deceive Yitzchak).
On the day Avraham died, however, it
was like a dam burst, as the true nature of
the then 15-year-old Eisav was suddenly
and viciously revealed in all of its profound
ugliness. Our sages teach that, immediately upon Avraham’s passing, Eisav committed five aveiros (sins): (1) He raped a girl
who was engaged to be married; (2) He
killed a man; (3) He was kofer b’ikur (denied the existence of Hashem); (4) He denied t’chias ha’meisim (the resurrection of
the dead); and (5) He mocked and regarded
with contempt his status as the bachor
[the first born – which, prior to the designation of the Kohanim as being the exclu-

YAAKOV AND EISAV WERE POLAR OPPOSITES
– AS DIFFERENT AS PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY
BROTHERS, CAN BE.
sive performers of the avodah (service) to
Hashem, was the exclusive privilege of the
first born], which he sold to his brother,
Yaakov, in exchange for a few beans. Our
sages add to this list that Eisav also practised idolatry and committed theft on that
day. And the rape that Eisav committed
that day would only be the first of many, as
he continued until the age of 40 to ‘trap’
(as a hunter traps his prey) married women
and rape them. Although he later regretted
his negative feelings towards the bechora,
Eisav generally practised a philosophy of
living entirely for the moment and not
worrying about tomorrow.
At the age of 40, Eisav decided to emulate
his father and get married, choosing not
one, but two women, who were idol worshipers from the nation of Chas, descendants from Canaan. Even when it became
evident to Eisav that his father, like his fa-

ther before him, forbade his brother, Yaakov, from choosing a wife from among the
daughters of Canaan, did Eisav separate
himself from his Canaanite wives, who had
so upset his parents? No, he just sought out
another wife, this time being careful to
choose one from his father’s and his grandfather’s own family – albeit, the wrong side
of the family, the side that his grandmother,
Sarah Imeinu (our matriarch), had insisted
that they distance themselves from due to
their negative influence: Machalas, the
daughter of his uncle, Yishmael.
So, is there anything that we can possibly learn from a person such as Eisav?
Our sages tell us that Eisav had to his
credit a single mitzvah: kibud av, honouring his father. The honour with which Eisav
accorded Yitzchak was, in fact, exemplary.
Eisav would even get specially dressed in
royal robes (the special clothing of Adam

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