GEN1212 Possibly the most important educational principle for a Jewish parent to adhere to is the nation of bringing up each child according to his or her unique personality, character traits, and talents.   [Hirsch commentary, this verse].   To demonstrate this, Samson Raphael Hirsch asks a simple but difficult question.   We can understand why one of Abraham’s children, Yishmael, went off the proper path, since although he had Abraham for a father, his genes and environment were somewhat tainted by having the maidservant Hagar for a mother.   However, how is it possible to understand why one of Isaac’s sons, Esau, went off the proper path?   After all, both parents, Rebecca and Isaac, were righteous, and the home environment was a proper Jewish one?   Hirsch answers that a clue is provided by th[is] verse that says that the brothers Esau and Jacob grew up, and only then it indicates that Esau was a hunter while Jacob dwelt in the tent (of study).   It is clear, according to Hirsch, based on this verse, that both Esau and Jacob, born as twins, were raised in precisely the same environment and with the same methodology.   Rebecca and Isaac raised both of their children identically, and that was their mistake.  They did not take into account that Esau possessed a different personality from Jacob and needed his own special environment in order to be raised to become a righteous human being.  Esau rebelled against this upbringing, which did not suit his personality and temperament, and turned to the evil path.  Had Isaac and Rebecca realized Esau’s unique personality traits early on, they could have raised him differently and he could also have become righteous like Jacob.   AMEMEI 208

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GEN1214 See [[GEN1193]] Genesis 24:63 walking SINAI1 38-40

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GEN1213 And everything is prepared for the banquet.   Pirkei Avot III:20  Everything in this world is actually only a preparation for the “banquet” in the world to come. The Talmud has an adage: “The one who has toiled on the day before Sabbath will eat on the Sabbath.” Avodah Zarah 3a.   Our existence here on earth is merely a short interval between two eternities: the oblivion until birth and the eternity that follows our death. We run our course between these two poles. If our path is straight, our actions sincere, our values worthwhile, we will have achieved an eternity of bliss. On the other hand, should our path be crooked, our actions hypocritical and our values derived from the gutter, then we have nothing to look forward to. “Everything is in preparation for the banquet.” Commentary of Rabbenu Yonah Tradition tells us that Jacob once said to his twin brother Esau, “My brother, we are our father’s only two sons, and before us there are two worlds: this world and the world-to-come” – or , if you will, the material and the spiritual realms. “In this world there will be food and drink, business and trade, marriage and children; but in the world-to-come there will be none of these. If you like, you take this world and I will take the Hereafter.” And Esau agreed. Seder Eliyahu Zuta XIX; Genesis Rabbah 25:22 Esau, the man of the field and the hunt, desired only this world, the world of the senses, the chase, the excitement of pursuit and conquest. Jacob, the “quiet man dwelling in tents,” [this verse] chose the world of the spirit, the world of contemplation; he preferred to wrestle with an angel and have a vision of a ladder to Heaven.   Without any doubts, he chouse the world-to-come. He accepted the kind of life after which he would find “everything prepared for the banquet” – for eternal bliss in the Hereafter.   SINAI1 334-5

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GEN1215 When the Mishnah uses th[e] term “hunting,” it never refers to a gun, knife, or weapon to be used to kill the animal, but rather to trapping the animal while it is still alive, especially since killing the animal with any weapon would render it non-kosher for eating.   Mishnah Beitza 3:12.  There is no concept of hunting for sport or killing any animal with a weapon in Judaism.   The concept is codified in Jewish law.   Shulchan Aruch [Orach Chaim 316:2] rules that it is forbidden on Shabbat to “hunt” even a deer (a kosher animal) that is old, blind, sick, or damaged. Rema adds that hunting with trained dogs is not only forbidden on Shabbat, but is prohibited even during the week, since it is a frivolous, non-Jewish activity.   Why is hunting forbidden? Rema, in another of his books, explains that hunting is forbidden, whether the purpose is for “fun” or to sell the prey.  Darchei Teshuva, Yoreh De’ah 117:44.  This is the occupation of the evil Eisav, which show a quality of cruelty in preying on animals and killings God’s creations.   When man curtails life as sport for fun, it is the opposite of his purpose in life, which is to enhance and expand the world.   Not only is Eisav depicted as the classic hunter, but another evil leader, Nimrod is also called a hunter in the Torah and is viewed very unfavorably in Jewish thought.  [this verse].   Sefer HaChunuch [Mitzvah 550] forbids hunting as part of the prohibition of needlessly causing pain to animals.  Hunting also violates the general spirit of Judaism, which is to promote peace in the world.  Gittin 59b.  The most famous discourse on the Jewish opposition to hunting is a responsum of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau (1713-1793). In it Rabbi Landau reviews all the reasons presented above to prohibit hunting.  He adds that it is forbidden for a Jew to hunt because part of hunting for sport involves putting oneself in danger in the forest or jungle, which is forbidden. He concludes that the entire activity is disgusting, cruel, and dangerous, and is utterly forbidden for all Jews.  Responsa Noda BeYehudah Mahadura Tennina, Yoreh De’ah 10.   AMJV 126-7

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GEN1216 Zusya became a disciple of the great Maggid, Rabbi Dov Baer of Mezritch. But instead of learning from the Maggid in his yeshivah, Zusya preferred walking in the forest, singing blessings to God. He was so simple-minded about this people applied to him the lover’s confession in Song of Songs 4:9: “My love, you have ravaged my heart.”  Lovers are so taken with their beloved that they often do foolish things. Who could forget watching (and aching for) Forrest Gump as he ran back and forth across the country, trying to numb his pain after his sweetheart left? As he ran, he slowly healed, enabling him to spread his commonsense gospel of hope—and that, despite knowing that the opposite, too, “can happen.” It’s easy to be cynical, and we smugly poke fun at the lover’s single-minded obsession. But the lover knows who is the real fool. Temimut means knowing what you truly love. The Torah describes the patriarch Jacob as an ish tam, a pure-hearted soul. The rabbis interpret this unexpected phrase as a description of his extraordinary love for learning: “No one ever labored at studying Torah as did Jacob. As it is written in [this verse]: ‘Jacob was a pure-hearted man, dwelling in tents.’ Not ‘dwelling in a tent,’ but ‘dwelling in tents.’ That implied that, having learned much, he would leave the academy of Shem and enter the Academy of Eber, then leave that school and enter the academy of Abraham” Tanhuma, Buber ed. Vayishlah 8.9  And, of course, loving Rachel as he did, Jacob willingly served her father Laban for 14 years in order to win her hand. Jacob loved Rachel enough to slave for her, wasting his youth attending the flocks of her father, Laban, a man he grew to despise. May we now ask, whom do you so long for, “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” Deuteronomy 6:5, sacrificing everything, dedicating yourself to this aspect of temimut? BOROJMV 214

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GEN1217 Although there are medieval commentators who interpret this statement as the hyperbole of an impetuous and myopic boor, there is another stream of biblical commentary that argues for the literal sense. Commentators like Abraham bin Ezra suggest that Esau understands that hunting is dangerous business and that he is likely to predecease his father, thereby rendering his birthright worthless. Better, Esau shrewdly reasons, to get something for the birthright now. [Eighteen century Rabbi] Yehezkel Landau uses this commentary on an aggadic passages in Genesis to conclude that hunting is dangerous for the hunter, and placing oneself unnecessarily in a dangerous situation is a clear violation of the halakhah! Thus, sport hunting is prohibited not because of the senseless murder of the hunted animal, but because of the potential danger to the hunter. One wonder how Landau would argue the issue today, given hunters with high-powered telescopic rifles riding in jeeps akin to armored personnel carriers. (By Shai Cherry, "Ethical Theories in the Conservative Movement" OXFORD 232

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GEN1218 One who has been blessed by God with intelligence must impress upon himself that Hashem has sent him into this world to keep His restrictions, instructions, statutes, and commandments.  He should close his eyes to everything but the fulfillment of his mission.   At the end of days, if he fulfills his mission faithfully, he will return and come in song, crowned with eternal joy, Isaiah 31:10, Isaiah 51:11, like the servant whose king has sent him overseas, whose eyes and heart are entirely bent on his mission until he returns to his master.  Similarly, Shlomo [HaMelech], a”h, said Proverbs 22:19, 21, “Let your trust remain with Hashem…to teach you the certainty of truthful words, so that you may bring back words of truth to those who have sent you.”   GATES 141-3

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GEN1219 When one studies Torah for its own sake and labors and exerts himself for the sake of Heaven, his two kidneys become like two springs and he produces reasons and halachos himself, what he had never learned and what had not even been given to Moshe on Sinai, as we find in respect to Avraham of blessed memory Genesis Rabbah 95:3, who never was taught by any man, but who sat and reflected by himself concerning mitzvos and in this way derived the whole of Torah and mitzvos, the Scripture testifying about him [this verse.].   GATES 577

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GEN1220 [Included in the class of flatterers is] one whose words are believed by others and who is relied upon by all who hear him, who then, with the intention of elevating a particular person or one of his close relatives whom he likes, asserts that he is a wise man, when in actuality he is a child without wisdom. Hosea 13:13  [This “wise man”] will be a hindrance and stumbling block, for people will rely on his decisions, disputes will be adjudicated by him – and he will pervert justice and destroy the world. Ethics of the Fathers 5:8.   GATES 385

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GEN1221 Why did our forefathers earn the right to this world, to the Messianic era, and to the world to come? – because they habituated themselves to giving charity.   …   Isaac was praised for his charity, as it is said [this verse] and sowing indicates charity, as it is said Hosea 10:12: “Sow for yourselves in charity.” (The connection is that just as a man longs to sow his field, even though, at the time, he merely casts his seed on the ground-he is nevertheless confident that it will yield a hundredfold later on – so should one long to give charity, and be just as confident that God will repay many times over for the small loss of capital suffered at present, as it is said Deuteronomy 15:10: “You shall surely give … for on account of this thing God will bless you.”  AHAVCH 155

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