Shabbat Vayetzey: Frenemies
The dramatic encounter between Jacob and Esau has come to be regarded as a model for relations between Jews and non-Jews.
Two brothers compete for love and heritage. They part company as enemies. As Rivka says, “Your brother Esau is planning to kill you. Now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban.” The brothers meet again after many years with anxiety and hesitancy. Jacob had left his father-in-law to go home and is terrified that Esau is still planning to kill him. His stress is reflected in his actions. But they meet and finally reconcile. And even though they go their separate ways, Esau presses Jacob to stay together. In the end, they do go their separate ways. However, they do come together to bury their father.
Esau, known as Edom, in late Talmudic tradition, becomes Rome/Christianity just as Ishmael becomes Islam even though neither of those people or religions was in existence for hundreds, indeed over a thousand years after the Biblical encounter. Since the Bible could not possibly have had Christianity or Islam in mind, how did this association come about? But the later texts and commentators painted Esau as a vindictive, aggressive man who, in reality, didn’t kiss Jacob when they met but intended to bite him. Often, they reinterpret certain biblical characters for a homiletical purpose that is at odds with the simple meaning of the text. One such example explains why there are dots in the Torah text over the word “and he kissed him” when Esau finally meets Jacob. There are plenty of other explanations for this textual anomaly that imply no such thing.
The famous opinion quoted by Rashi goes, “It is a well-known rule that Esau will always hate Jacob.” It’s a post-Biblical statement of course. And it reflects the suffering of Jews at the hands of Romans and Christians. Sadly, it is used by not a few today, to apply to anti-Semitism as something inherent in the non-Jewish world. An eternal virus and will never change. Indeed, Rashi who lived in France during the crusades, makes this point in his commentary. Yet, on the other hand, his grandson Rashbam who also experienced massacres and hatred disagrees with this negative assessment of Esau’s real intentions and says that Jacob had nothing to fear from Esau altogether. There have been plenty of humanitarians throughout history who have rejected prejudice and hatred.
Nowadays that the cries of “death to Jews” are heard again both in Christian and Muslim societies; we would be stupid not to take heed and respond. Sadly, some of us say stupid and dangerous things too, about killing others randomly without due process. Even so, it would be wrong, both morally and traditionally to think that everyone is an enemy or that it must always be so. Just as we have self-hating Jews, so too does every other group in society have those actions and thoughts conflict with the best of moral thinking in all cultures and religions. The lowest common denominator in the values of many human societies ought not to disguise the good.
Whether it was Isaiah’s great prophesy of a world at peace and human beings learning to live and respect each other, the Talmud’s belief in the Pious of other Nations, or Maimonides’s vision of a messianic era without oppression, there have been more voices in Judaism advocating these values than those who preach hatred.
We should conclude that just as Jacob and Esau were eventually reconciled, so too should we all be reconciled to Israel. Even if, at this moment, it seems highly unlikely.
Genesis 32.4-36.43
