Pareshath Toledhoth

I spoke about Yishma'el, now let us speak about 'Eisav. Ya'akobh's hirsute brother is much more the consummate villain, but that does not make him a straightforward character. According to one way of reading the text, he is a boorish simpleton, tricked time and again by clever Ya'akobh. Jewish brains against goyishe brawn. Would such an adversary be worthy of his place as antagonist to the Jewish people? The traditional understanding takes a nearly opposite tack. (Unless otherwise referenced, all midrashim below can be found in the Yalkut Shim'oni).

What do we know of 'Eisav? We know that he is an "ish yodhea' tzayidh, ish sadhe", translated by JPS as a cunning hunter, a man of the field. Tzayidh is an interesting word, only really associated with one other character in Tanakh: Nimrodh, the great dictator and hunter of men, founder of the first empire. It can mean to hunt or trap, but is also connected to roots for plotting and secrets. But where Nimrodh is a ghibor tzayidh, a hunter by dint of might and valor, 'Eisav is a yodhea' tzayidh, one who knows the hunt, using his intellect to trap and kill, doubling down on those associations of stratagem already present in the word. This is the opposite of his brother, the ish tam, a wholesome man. Similarly, the man of the fields is contrasted to the man of tents, the farmer/shepherd dichotomy that starts with Kayin and Habhel and appears again prominently in Egypt. These roots also contain more than their simple meaning; sadhe, field, is related to productivity and material sustenance, whereas ohel, tent, is related to radiant light. Here also, we see a certain sophistication in worldly matters contrasted with moral and spiritual qualities. Yitzḥak is said to love 'Eisav on account of the hunt in his mouth. According to the midrash, this means that 'Eisav would put his skills as a hunter to work in discourse with his father, appearing to be a righteous man by asking about the tithes on salt and hay.

How does this sophistication and self control relate to his monstrous appetites? We see him spurn his birthright to sate his hunger, and midrashically he habitually raped married women from the age of fifteen until forty. However, it is not clear that this was an inherent aspect of his personality. His first sin, at the age of thirteen, was that he began in secret to attend houses of idolatry. After two years of this intellectual corruption, his grandfather Abhraham is gathered to his people. 'Eisav's greatest moral strength lies in kibudh abh, his respect for his father and by extension his grandfather, and this event shatters what is left of his faith. He says to himself, "If grandfather died, then there is no reward for righteousness," and he throws himself into hedonism of the most violent and selfish sort, starting with murder and rape. Returning wearied from this dramatic loss of innocence, he finds his brother cooking the funeral meal and demands it. In the ensuing encounter, he plays the dark and warped version of Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), our philosopher king par excellence; with death coming, only this world matters, and so the exalted spiritual birthright of Abhraham is not worth even a bowl of soup (it seems clear from what follows that Ya'akobh gains no particular claim to the material inheritance; indeed it is not clear that he shares in Yitzḥak's wealth at all in the end). I understand this exchange to be a division of the roles of spiritual and material leadership, along the same lines that Yitzḥak seems to intend years later at the giving of the brakhoth, which division Ribhka decisively rejects and undermines. So, we have a picture of an active, vigorous, intelligent, kingly man who feels entitled to everything the material world has to offer and who justifies acting out his darkest desires through an erroneous moral framework. A true tragic hero in the classical mold, great in his potential and great in his flaw. No wonder, given this understanding, that the rabbis identify him with Rome.
Rav Yakov Medan draws a convincing parallel between him and Dovidh haMelekh, the beloved of God, in his relation to the world. Dovidh also was red haired, a warrior, hunter, and bandit. However, Dovidh also has God always before his eyes and on his lips. The hands of 'Eisav and the voice of Ya'akobh, the combination that so bewildered Yitzḥak. Only through such a union, the spiritual and the physical in one, can redemption come. Ribhka saw this, and arranged that Ya'akobh should have the blessing of the material world for his posterity, to enable that combination.

Obviously, there is much more to say, but I think that is as good a stopping place as any I am like to find. I could try to draw out a lesson, but I think there is a place for a more literary reading as well as the ethical. So,

Shabbath Shalom uMebhorakh!