Commento su Genesi 25:25

THE FIRST ONE EMERGED RED [...]; THEN HIS BROTHER EMERGED. The Midrash states that the reason that Esau emerged first is so that his afterbirth (refuse) would emerge with him. R’ Abahu said, like the bathing master who first scours the bath and then afterwards the king’s son bathes. One can understand the intent of this statement and the allegory that R’ Abahu gave and what additional information he conveyed with the allegory. In all circumstances, the first is the most important and the foundation of what comes after, The first is also greater in stature than the second. This is the significance of the firstborn. However, when one considers BT Pesachim (5a) where a distinction is made in the gemara between where “first” is written by itself and where “first” is written with a “heh ha’yedi’a” (the first.) “First” without the “heh” means literally first and what comes after is subordinate to it. (The gemara is talking about a case) where the first day of the holiday is the most important day and the days that follow are subordinate to it, but where “first” is written with the “heh” (“the first”) it means earlier (but not necessarily most important.) See the verse (Exodus 12:15) which states “on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses” that the gemara establishes is referring to the day before Passover and not the first day of Passover, because “the first” implies ordering (and not importance) as in Job (15:7) – “Were you the first man born?” It makes no sense to says that the day before Passover is the most important and the first day of Passover is secondary to it; what is meant is merely that it is before Passover and after it comes the first day of Passover. For example, when a king travels, he is the first in the procession and his minister comes behind him; the king is called “first”. It is known, however, that the king’s servants travel before the king’s procession to clear the way and to announce his arrival; it makes no sense to say that they go first and the king goes after them and is subordinate to them; they are not called “first,” they merely travel earlier and are called “the first” with a “heh.” Afterwards, the king travels in the front of the procession. It makes no sense to say the king is in procession after them; he is only traveling behind them so that they can do their job to clear the way or to give honor to the king (by announcing his arrival.) This is why the verse is exact with regard to Esau since the word “first” is not written, just “the first emerged” (with a “heh”, implying order and not importance.) Esau is not called “first” to imply that Jacob was subordinate to him, he is just called “the first” to imply birth order. Similarly, the verse does not say “after him his brother emerged” because this would imply that he was subordinate to Esau. The verse instead say “afterwards his bother emerged”, that is, after Esau emerged and performed his function by emerging first (to remove the afterbirth and refuse) Jacob emerged. This is the question being answered by the Midrash as to what purpose was served by Esau emerging first; the Midrash answers to clean the way so that Jacob would be clean when he emerged because Esau had emerged and brought the afterbirth and refuse with him. R’ Abahu then gives the allegory “like the bathing master who first scours the bath and then afterwards the king’s son bathes” to say that after to work that the bathing master did to clean the bath, (it is fit for the king’s son to bathe.) I saw some a similar idea in the book “Beit David”, see there. At the outset of their birth, the prophecy of Shem and Ever was fulfilled; they had said to Rivka that the older (“rav”) would perform serve the younger (“tzair”). At the outset of their emerging, Esau did a service for Jacob. This is why they did not say “the firstborn” (bekhor) will serve the younger. Similar to the language of scripture in a number of other places where firstborn (“bekhor”) is used in comparison to younger “tzair”, (for example Exodus 43:33.) In truth, Esau was not the firstborn, Jacob was, since he was conceived first. A similar allegory is brought in the midrash:; two pearls are placed in a vial – the pearl that was placed in the vial second comes out first. Esau is called older “rav” since he was born first, and he will serve the younger brother who is the firstborn (“bekhor”).

אדמוני RED — a sign that he would always be shedding blood (Genesis Rabbah 63:8).

(1) ADMONI. Roux in O.F.