Musar sobre Génesis 27:36

Since the blessing Jacob received from his father had been of a material nature, such as "the dew of the heavens, the fat parts of the earth, etc." [seeing Isaac thought he was blessing Esau], he could not really receive Isaac's spiritual blessings until he had successfully confronted Esau, i.e. had experienced the fear of Esau approaching him with four hundred armed men. Jacob's very desire to belong to the choicest of the בני עליה, the spiritually most refined human beings, necessitated that he undergo a thorough process of refinement. His stay at Laban, i.e. physical and mental hardship for over twenty years were all part of the preparation for receiving the ultimate spiritual blessings. After Jacob had successfully confronted the spiritual power of Esau in his nocturnal encounter in Genesis 32,25 ויאבק איש עמו (compare Bereshit Rabbah 77,3), he finally obtained the consent of his adversary that he was entitled to the blessings he had received from his father. This is why Esau said in 33,9: "you may keep what is yours." Esau's spiritual counterpart had already acknowledged this during the struggle when he had bestowed a blessing on Jacob in 32,30: ויברך אותו שם, "He blessed him there." At that time Jacob was also informed about the forthcoming change of his name to ישראל. The Esau on earth, had previously called him Jacob as a slur when he had felt himself betrayed in 27,36.

This is the key to the meaning of 32, 29: "Your name will not be said to be Jacob any longer but Israel." We must remember that at birth Jacob was named Jacob because his hand gripped the heel of Esau. Esau interpreted this as referring to עקבה, deception. He exclaimed in Genesis 27, 36: "Is he not rightly called Jacob since he has deceived me already twice?" There is a conceptual relation between what happened at the birth of these twins, what happened when Jacob bought the birthright, and again at the time he secured the blessing. At birth, Jacob did not want Esau to leave the womb first, for he, Jacob, considered himself the בכור, the firstborn. He claimed that distinction because Isaac's first drop of semen resulted in fertilization of the ovum that would produce him (cf. Rashi on 25, 26). Jacob was thus within his rights then when he tried to retrieve what he had been deprived of by resorting to עקבה וערמה, devious ways and trickery. It was Esau who used deviousness already at birth, by forcing his way out of his mother's womb first. What he experienced later at the hands of Jacob was no more than מדה כנגד מדה, tit for tat. Jacob took a leaf out of Esau's book and "donned" Esau's kind of garments. After Jacob died and was resurrected his name "Jacob" assumed a different meaning. Jacob, i.e. "heel," or result, consequence, is an allusion to the eventual permanent world which follows on the heels of the transient world in which the Esaus and their kind feel at home.

At this point (27,36), Esau burst out complaining that this was already the second time Jacob had tricked him, that his very name means that he is a trickster, and he asked whether his father had not reserved a blessing for him exclusively. Esau's first statement is an expression of amazement that Jacob should be allowed to benefit by his trickery! He claimed that his brother's undetected trickery could only have been due to their being twins; this enabled Jacob to misrepresent himself as his twin brother Esau. Esau complained (when he used the word פעמים, twice) that surely Jacob would not be allowed to get away with such a subterfuge a second time. The first time, when Jacob took the birthright, was something that he Esau could not now reverse, and as a result Jacob had established his claim to the blessings in the Hereafter. But surely, Esau said, Jacob should not be allowed to preempt Esau's claim to his share also in this world! Esau had another argument, alluded to by his words: הלא אצלת לי ברכה? He sensed that Isaac had hedged his bets by phrasing the blessing in such a way that whether the son before him was Esau or Jacob, he should receive his specific blessing. Now, that it had become clear that Jacob received the blessing due him for עולם הבא, the blessing for this world should be available for him! How could Isaac not at least give Esau the blessing pertaining to עולם הזה!