GEN1406 Isaac fully understood the nature of his two sons. He loved Esau but this did not blind him to the fact that Jacob would be the heir of the covenant. Therefore Isaac prepared two sets of blessings, one for Esau, the other for Jacob. He blessed Esau Genesis 27:28-29 with the gifts he felt he would appreciate, wealth and power: “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness-an abundance of grain and new wine”- that is, wealth; “May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you” - that is, power. These are not the covenantal blessings. The covenantal blessings that God had given Abraham and Isaac were completely different. They were about children and a land. It was this blessing that Isaac later gave Jacob before he left home Genesis 28:3-4: “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples”- that is, children; “May He give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham”-that is, land. This was the blessing Isaac had intended for Jacob all along. There was no need for deceit and disguise. Jacob eventually came to understand all this, perhaps during his wrestling match with the angel during the night before his meeting with Esau after their long estrangement. What happened at that meeting is incomprehensible unless we understand that Jacob was giving back to Esau the blessings he had wrongly taken from him. The massive gift of sheep, cattle, and other livestock represented “heaven’s dew and earth’s richness”- That is, wealth. The fact that Jacob bowed down seven times to Esau was his way of fulfilling the words, “May the sons of your mother bow down to you”-That is, power. Jacob gave the blessing back. Indeed, he said so explicitly. He said to Isaac: “please accept the blessing [birkati] that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need” Genesis 33:11. In this reading of the story, Rebecca and Jacob made a mistake-a forgivable one, an understandable one, but a mistake nonetheless. The blessing Isaac was about to give Esau was not the blessing of Abraham. He intended to give Esau a blessing appropriate to him. In so doing, he was acting on the basis of precedent. God had blessed Ishmael with the words, “I will make him into a great nation” Genesis 21:18. This was the fulfillment of a promise God had given Abraham many years before when He told him that it would be Isaac, not Ishmael, who would continue the covenant Genesis 17:18–21. Isaac surely knew this because, according to a midrashic tradition, he and Ishmael were reconciled later in life. We see them standing together at Abraham’s grave Genesis 25:9. It may be that this was a fact that Rebecca did not know. She associated blessing with covenant. She may have been unaware that Abraham wanted Ishmael blessed even though he would not inherit the covenant, and that God had acceded to the request. If so then it is possible all four people acted rightly as they understood the situation, yet still tragedy occurred. Isaac was right to wish Esau blessed in the same way as Abraham had wanted Ishmael blessed. Esau acted honorably towards his father. Rebecca sought to safeguard the future of the covenant. Jacob felt qualms but did what his mother said, knowing that she would not have proposed deceit without a strong moral reason for doing so. Do we have to here one story with two possible interpretations? Perhaps, but that is not the best way of describing it. What we have here, and there are other such examples in Genesis, is a story we understand one way the first time we hear it, and a different way once we have discovered and reflected on all that happened later. It is only after we have read about the fate of Jacob in Laban’s house, the tension between Leah and Rachel, and the animosity between Joseph and his brothers that we can go back and read Genesis 27, the chapter of the blessing, in a new light and with greater depth. There is such a thing as an honest mistake, and it is a mark of Jacob’s greatness that he recognized it I made amends to Esau. In the great encounter twenty-two years later, the estranged brothers met, embraced, parted, and went their separate ways. But first, Jacob had to wrestle with an angel. That is how the moral life is. We learned by making mistakes. We live life forwards, but we understand it only looking back. Only then do we see the wrong turns we inadvertently made. This discovery is sometimes our greatest moment of moral truth.   Each of us has a blessing that is our own. That was true not just of Isaac but also Ishmael, not just of Jacob but also Esau. The moral could not be more powerful. Never seek your brother’s blessing. Be content with your own. [This message later became the 10th of the 10 Commandments]. SACKS 37-9

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GEN1407 No matter what our review of God, all Jews agree with the ancient Hebrew lyricist: “The earth is Adonai’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants. For God founded it upon the waters and established it upon the floods” Psalm 24:1 – 2. And we humans are only God’s tenants. Or, if you prefer financial language, we are God’s fiduciaries, entrusted with God’s assets only if we also accept special mandates and accountabilities. Fiduciaries are expected to manage prudently and exercise good judgment, not for their own best interest, but for those of the owner. Good Jews will manage their wealth, in whatever amount, as God’s agents. That is how riches become a component of positive Jewish piety. Thus we may follow our patriarch Jacob’s lead and say: “God has shown me favor, and I have everything” [this verse] BOROJMV 116

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GEN1408 See [[GEN1176]] Genesis 24:14 water LEHRMAN 323-4

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GEN1409 When you visit a place, contribute to its welfare.   The Talmud Shabbat 33b states that when Yaakov encamped by Shechem, he instituted something for the welfare of the city.   Rav said that he minted coins.   Shmuel said that he established markets, and Rabbi Yochanan said that he set up bathhouses for the residents of the area.   The Midrash Genesis Rabbah 79:6 adds that whenever we benefit from a place, we must show our gratitude by doing something for its welfare.   Rabbi Chayim Shmuelevitz commented that this principled also applies to someone who comes to a yeshiva.   Although a student might not be able to assist in the physical betterment of the yeshiva, he is able to assist in the spiritual betterment.  How? By serving as a good example of others.   He should come to davening and seder (study sessions) on time so that others will do likewise.  PLYN 108

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GEN1410 The biblical ideal seems to be “Each man under his vine and under his fig tree,” 1 Kings 5:5 with each person and engaging in independent productive activity. In light of this, is it ethical to make a living through business and commerce?   It is true that the blessings of the Torah are usually directed to the individual farmer or herder, not to the trader. Nonetheless, we also find that our tradition greatly esteems the role of commerce. When Jacob arrived in Schechem, the Torah tells us, he “graced” the city [this verse]. How did he do this? Our sages explained that he established the foundations of commerce by establishing coinage or a marketplace. Shabbat 33b. In order to understand this approach, we have to understand the role of commerce in human society.   Why is commerce necessary to get goods and services to people in the first place? After all, the creator could easily have arranged the world so that all our needs would be fulfilled without commerce or even without effort, as in the Garden of Eden. One aspect of the importance of commerce is that it gives people a motivation for cooperation. When every person or every nation is self-sufficient economically, there is a tendency for them to be isolated or even hostile. However when people see that there is an opportunity for mutual gain through trade, they learn to accommodate each other and get along.   MEIR 4

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GEN1411 What did he do? He set up shops and sold cheap.   From this it is to be derived that we are obligated to make improvements [in our host community], as our forefathers did.   Yerushalmi, Shevi’ith 9:1   TEMIMAH-GEN 145

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GEN1412 One of the complaints against globalization is that the rich countries that impose market institutions in developing countries also try to evade these same institutions by obtaining special political favors. We see that Jacob not only encouraged equitable market institutions for others; he also subjected himself to them by paying full price for his field. Globalization can be a force for economic and humanistic benefit as long as the powerful groups that spread it and the cultures that adopted keep it in perspective. Worldwide markets are a good basis for prosperity and understanding, but we need to be careful not to follow the example of [the Roman Empire], which used to them as a bridgehead for immorality and domination. Instead, we need to follow the example of Jacob, who realized that the marketplace is a benefit when it has grace – a sense of proportion and propriety. MEIR 15-6

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GEN1413 Dinah who has gone to visit some of the non-Israelite neighbor women, (literally “the daughters of the land”) is raped by Shechem, Son of Hamor the Hittite, prince of the area.  The Hebrew reads he took her, lay (with) her, and raped her. The “rape” term literally means to afflict or oppress – thus are the Israelites treated by Pharaoh in Egypt. In spite of the etymology of rape, the biblical narrator does not treat Shechem’s rape as an act of violence and considers it compatible with love. At least so Shechem’s attitude is portrayed. The language of Genesis 34:3 thus softens: “His (Shechem’s) soul clung to Dinah … he loved the girl and spoke coaxingly to her (literally ‘upon her heart’),” and asked his father to obtain her for his wife. The language of victimization resumes in Genesis 34:5. Jacob heard that he (Shechem) had sullied his daughter, literally “rendered her unclean.” The body, especially the woman’s body, is a vessel that can be rendered unclean, a commodity, like an edible, that can be made unfit for consumption by improper use or storage. Jacob, the father, is silent about the matter, but Dinah’s brothers are enraged. The narrative paints a real difference between the more patient, acquiescent, deal-making old men and the impatient youths who grab what they want (in the case of Shechem) or are quick to vengeance (in the case of Dinah’s brothers) .… Shechem, they say, has committed an outrage in Israel.… the sons of Jacob and the point of view they represent—accused Shechem of acting in a barbarous fashion, breaking accepted rules of civilized interaction Genesis 34:7. Throughout, Dinah is called “daughter of Jacob,” for the injury is done to Jacob and his sons and not only to Dinah. Dinah herself recedes into the background and is mentioned only once more at the end of the tale, for though she is central to the story—without her there would be no plot—the story is not about her, but about the contest for honor and the struggle for power between two groups of men linked by her. NIDITCH 108-9

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GEN1414 See [[GEN1413]] Genesis 34:2 force NIDITCH 108-9

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GEN1415 See [[GEN1413]] Genesis 34:2 force NIDITCH 108-9

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