GEN1252 [T]here is no such thing as abolishing or wiping clean the slate of unethical behavior. For just as the ethical concepts are eternal so the punishments for their transgression are likewise eternal, for God is eternal and His laws are eternal. There is a price which must be paid for unethical conduct regardless of the circumstances attendant upon such conduct. In the Book of Genesis there is told the story of conflict between the two brothers, Jacob and Esau. They strove one with the other for the blessings of their father Isaac. Jacob outwitted Esau and received the blessings for himself and the people of Israel. His action was necessary and had to be done, but in the doing of it Esau suffered. When Esau learned that Jacob had taken the blessings from him, the Bible tells us, “he cried with a great and bitter cry.” [this verse] A man was hurt; a man had suffered in the course of another man’s duty. Jewish ethics teach us that a cry of human suffering cannot be lost. If a cry of human hurt is heard in the world that cry must be answered, for if it were not answered the concept of justice would be lacking. Justice demands retribution for every wrong, punishment for every injury, comfort for every cry, assuagement for every hurt. Esau had cried a “great and bitter cry.” He had been hurt and his cry must be answered. It does not matter when it is answered, but the people of Israel would have to answer for that cry – and so they did: In the days of Haman, around which the story of Purim revolves, Mordecai, when he heard of Haman’s evil dictates, went out into the city. And the Book of Esther uses the same words which the Book of Genesis uses: Mordecai “cried a great and bitter cry.”   Esther 4:1 Exactly the same cry as Esau’s. The Rabbis tell us that these words are measured; no more, no less. The Jewish people, through Jacob, had caused a hurt in the world. They, in turn, must now feel that hurt, for nothing is lost. No human cry is ever unheard. Justice demands an even balance of all things. This was the even balance. Midrash Rabboh The laws of ethics are often expressed in language which is even more emphatic than that used for the observance of ritualistic practices.   For example, in commanding us to be just, the Bible says, “Justice, justice shalt thou purse.” Deuteronomy 16:20   The word “justice” is repeated. The Bible does not say “Shabbos, Shabbos shalt thou keep.” Nor does it say, “The swine, the swine shalt thou not eat.”  But the Bible states “Justice, justice” – twice – as though to emphasize that there can be no end to the pursuit of justice.   BUILD 208

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GEN1253 Consider … the scene that transpired immediately after Jacob left his father. Esau returned from hunting and brought Isaac the food he had requested. Genesis 27:33 – 36. It is impossible to Read Genesis 27--the text as it stands without commentary--and not to feel sympathy for Isaac and Esau rather than Rebecca and Jacob. The Torah is sparing in its use of motion. It is completely silent, for example, on the feelings of Abraham and Isaac towards the trial of the binding.   Phrases like “trembled violently” and “burst out with a loud and bitter cry” [these verses] cannot but affect us deeply. Here is an old man who has been deceived by his younger son, and a young man, Isaac, feels cheated out of what was rightfully his. The emotions triggered by this scene stay with us long in the memory. Then consider the consequences. Jacob had to leave home for more than twenty years in fear of his life. He then suffered an almost identical deceit practiced against him by Laban when he substituted Leah for Rachel. When Rachel cried out, “Why did you deceive me [rimitani]?” Laban replied: “It is not done in our place to put the younger before the elder” Genesis 29:25 – 26. Not only the act but even the words imply a punishment, measure for measure.   “Deceit,” of which Jacob accuses Laban, is the very word Isaac used about Jacob. Laban’s reply sounds like a virtually explicit reference to what Jacob had done, as if to say, “We do not do in our place what you have just done in yours.” The result of Laban’s deception brought to grief to the rest of Jacob’s life. There was tension between Leah and Rachel. There was hatred between their children. Jacob was deceived yet again, this time by his sons, when they brought him Joseph’s bloodstained robe -- another deception of a father involving the use of clothes. The result was that Jacob was deprived of the company of his most beloved son for twenty-two years, just as Isaac was of Jacob. Asked by Pharaoh how old he was, Jacob replied, “Few and evil have been the years of my life” Genesis 47:9   He is the only figure in the Torah to make a remark like this. It is hard not to read the text as a precise statement of the principle of measure for measure: as you have done to others, so will others do to you. The deception brought all concerned great grief, and this persisted into the next generation. My reading of the text is therefore this. The phrase in Rebecca’s oracle, verav yaavod tzair, Genesis 25:23, is in fact ambiguous. It may mean, “The elder will serve the younger,” but it may also mean, “The younger will serve the elder.” It is what the Torah calls a chidda, Numbers 12:8, that is, and opaque, deliberately ambiguous communication. It suggested an ongoing conflict between the two sons and their descendants, but did not foretell who would win. SACKS 35-7

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GEN1254 [One reason for anti-Semitism that] can be seen in the Torah as well as in many countries today is jealousy.  Non-Jews, jealous of success of the Jews, tend to hate them for this success.   This was first seen in the blessings given by Isaac to his son.  Not only was Esau angry because Jacob “stole” the blessings, but he was also jealous that Jacob somehow always got ahead (that is the meaning of the word Jacob) and that Jacob would now get much merit while he, Esau, would get less.   Esau felt outwitted, according to Rashi.   According to most commentaries, the stories of Jacob and Esau are prototypes for what will transpire in all generations between Jew and non-Jew.   AMEMEI 12

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GEN1255 See [[GEN1230]] Genesis 26:34 bitterness BLIDSTEIN 36

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GEN1256 Maybe the only reason [Joseph] had not yet taken revenge [against his brothers for selling him into slavery] was respect for Jacob. There was a convention in those days that there was to be no settling of scores between siblings in the lifetime of the father.  We know this from an earlier episode: after Jacob took his brother’s blessing, Esau said [this verse]. SACKS 71

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GEN1257 Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch defines sinah as the feeling that the existence of a certain person is infringing upon your own existence, and that his disappearance would help to complete and fill what you are lacking. It is the feeling that you cannot find peace and security as long as he is around. Chorev.   He adds that sinah is related to the word סנה (sneh), a thorny shrub.   The soneh wants to act as a thorn and push the other person away from him. He views the other’s existence as a hindrance to his own success, and wishes him removed. His commentary on Bereshis 22:2.   This accurately describes the mechanics of hatred, but less intense hatred is also forbidden. The wish that the other person would cease to exist is demonstrated to an extreme in the hatred of Esav toward Yaakov. Rivka told Yaakov [this verse]. Rashi explains in the name of the Midrash that, in his (Esav’s) eyes Yaakov was already dead, and he drank the cup of consolation, which is customary for close relatives of the deceased to drink, over him. Esav’s hatred was so intense that he had felt as though Yaakov had already ceased to exist. CASTLE 514

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GEN1258 The love of long life should take the form of one’s loving his days not for eating, drinking and indulging in pleasures in the days of his vanity, but from consideration of the fact that the labor of Torah and mitzvos is very great and that if he lived twice or four times as long as he would not be able to fulfill the demands of Torah and attain the goodly qualities by which a servant finds favor with his master.  He should thus love the days of his life, for through them he attains Divine service and the pure fear and love of the Blessed One.   He acquires substance in this world which he brings to the next world.   Through this world and its ephemeral days he attains the eternal world and eternal pleasure.   And he should always fear death and grow each day in purity and abnegation, thinking that he may not yet have achieved all of the perfection that he could have achieved; and each day he should increase love and fear for the Holy One Blessed be He.   But life without fear of Hashem is not considered life, and one must abhor and despise life which is contrary to the will of the Creator, Blessed be He, as expressed by Rivkah [this verse].  Therefore, in a situation which involves desecrating God’s name, one must not pity his life and one must always be ready to sacrifice himself for sanctification of the Name on behalf of all mitzvos, regardless of the degree of their severity.   TZADIK 117

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GEN1259 Before you admonish someone, let him know that you sincerely care about him. The Chofetz Chayim used to say that we should learn from Yitzchok the most effective way of admonishing others.  Before Yitzchok warned his son Yaakov what not to do, he blessed him.   Often, you will not be able to correct someone by shouting at him. (Even if you are successful, you will have hurt the other person’s feelings, and will have caused ill-will.)   But if you show a person first that you truly care about his welfare, he will more readily listen to your admonition. (HaChofetz Chayim, vol. 3, p. 1114).  PLYN 97

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GEN1260 See [[GEN1406]] Genesis 33:11 blessing SACKS 37-9

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GEN1261 Rashi was always ready to acknowledge what he didn’t know.   For example, [this verse] describes Laban as “the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.”  Why does the verse describe Rebecca this way, given that this relationship has repeatedly been noted in the preceding chapters? (This is comparable to an American history textbook repeatedly identifying Abraham Lincoln as an American president.) Rashi comments on this odd wording: “I do not know what this comes to tech us.”  Of course, he could have said nothing. But had Rashi passed over the verse, people would have assumed that he found no problem with it – which he did – or that he understood why the Torah offered this identification of Rebecca, which he didn’t.  Instead, Rashi acknowledged that here was a textual problem he couldn’t solve (perhaps thereby motivating others to try and solve it).   TELVOL1:226

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