Musar su Genesi 25:22

All these matters are alluded to in the word הזה in Genesis 28,17. Bereshit Rabbah 63,8, commenting on Genesis 25,22, where Rebeccah complained about the fetuses within her quarreling, by saying: אם כן למה זה אנכי, quotes Rabbi Nechemiah as saying that Rebeccah had sufficient merit to become the mother of twelve tribes, in accordance with the numerical value of the letters in the word זה; seven corresponding to the letter ז, and five to correspond to the letter ה. Did Rabbi Nechemyah think that we could not count to twelve and had to have this calculation broken down for us? I believe the Midrash wanted to stress why the number twelve here is composed of a combination of 7+5, and not of, say, 8+4 or 9+3. Why did the Midrash have to see in that number a reference to the twelve tribes? The Torah does not mention anything about that number of children! Maybe the number twelve refers to something else?

I believe this whole story can be interpreted in light of Genesis 25,22 where the as yet unborn twins Esau and Jacob are described as already wrangling inside their mother's womb. Rashi explains this as a struggle for possession of two worlds. This seems very puzzling; who would have thought that Esau was even interested in securing his place in the Hereafter? We must appreciate that the רשעים of earlier times, though wicked, were quite learned, but employed their knowledge to advance evil causes. Their entire purpose was to uproot Israel from its spiritual roots, from its share in the "higher" world. If successful, they themselves would enter the domain of קדושה, sanctity, and they would no longer be merely קליפות. They would find themselves in the sanctuary of the king, i.e. G–d. There is strong scriptural evidence that this is a correct interpretation of Psalms 83,13: 3 נירשה לנו את נאות יעקב, "Let us inherit the meadows of Jacob." [Actually the verse mentions the meadows of אל-הים, which the author seems to equate with the meadows of people that are supposedly G–d's people. Ed.] This verse is the subject of a lengthy commentary in Manot Ha-Levi, whose author explains in his introduction that the quarrel between Jacob and Esau was also about who would inherit the Hereafter. Jacob succeeded in uprooting Esau from the Hereafter but he wanted to receive his share in this world also. Though at first glance this appears unseemly, yet Jacob's interest in this world was not for egotistical reasons, for he was interested in the wealth of this world only so that it would be easier for him to serve G–d without a hindrance such as the need to work for his daily bread. The blessings bestowed upon him by his father Isaac may be interpreted in either of two ways. They may be understood as applying in this world or in the world to come, as I shall explain. Using this approach we can understand the Midrash which I have quoted concerning why the Torah was created with the letter ב, namely to teach us that there are two worlds. Immediately afterwards the Midrash states that the reason the Torah, i.e. Creation, started with the letter ב is, that that letter stands for ברכה, blessing, whereas the letter א symbolizes ארירה, "curse." These two statements are not in conflict with each other. On the contrary, they are complementary. One statement refers to blessings in the Hereafter, the other concerns itself with blessings in this world.