Musar su Genesi 25:30

By doing so one fulfills the directive of verse 7: "to eat in the Presence of G–d." In view of the fact that one eats in the Presence of the שכינה, one has to share one's meal with the poor, and not give them anything inferior to what the host eats himself. One must observe table manners, not gulp down one's food as did Esau when he sold Jacob his birthright (Genesis 25,30). We have a tradition that a wicked person will always feel that his belly lacks something, is hungry (Proverbs 13,25). When the Torah writes לפני ה' אלוקיך, this is always to emphasize that we must feel in the presence of positive rather than negative forces, חצוניות. While consuming one's meal one must not engage in futile pursuits but concentrate on the immediate requirements of the meal and on words of Torah.

הלעיטני נא מן האדום. There is a great moral lesson here. It teaches that man's food intake should be based on considerations of sanctity and modesty. When he eats, he should behave as if in the presence of his king. This is best illustrated in Exodus 23,11 where the אצילי בני ישראל, the elite of the Children of Israel, are portrayed as ויחזו את האלוקים, ויאכלו וישתו, "They had a vision of G–d and they ate and drank." Surely this means that they consecrated their eating and drinking to be such a sacred activity that they were fit to have visions of the Divine even then.

Edom, on the other hand, is impure, his food habits are worse than those of other nations, as had already been demonstrated by their patriarch Esau when he wanted the lentils Jacob had cooked (Genesis 25,30). He said to Jacob: הלעטני נא מן האדם האדם, "Please pour some of this red, red (food) down my throat." The exile the Jewish people suffer under the dominion of Edom is by far the worst. The Torah uses the pig as a symbol of the abominable manner in which this animal pretends to be pure, displaying its cleft hooves as proof, while refusing to chew the cud, symbol of paying homage to G–d.

We have now learned that the three parts of the Tabernacle correspond to the three parts of the universe concerning which King David said in Psalms 103,20: "Bless the Lord, O, His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding. Bless the Lord all His hosts, His servants who do His will; bless the Lord all His works, through the length and breadth of His realm." David's son Solomon also adopted his father's outlook when he alluded to this in three consecutive verses in Song of Songs 5,13-15. Three different parts of the human body form the subject of those verses, each one representing a different aspect of the universe and how man's composition reflects this division of the universe into three constituent parts. I (Rabbenu Bachyah) have explained this in detail when I discussed Jacob's dream of the ladder." Thus far the quotation from Rabbenu Bachyah.

7. Most important of all, one must be careful not to eat in a gluttonous manner when breaking the fast. This is utterly forbidden because it is the way of the wicked Esav, who said, “Pour into me now” (Bereishis 25:30). Similarly, it is written in Mishlei, “The belly of the wicked is always lacking” (13:25). Many people are remiss in this area, gobbling down their food in a gluttonous and drunken manner. This greatly detracts from the merit of the fast.

The flax and camels in the story in the Tanchuma that we quoted are metaphors. The example of the camels laden with flax refers to Cain, whose sacrifice (the one G–d rejected) consisted of flax (Tanchuma Bereshit 9). The example of the camel is a metaphor for Esau who had said to Jacob: הלעיטני נא מן האדום האדום הזה (Genesis 25,30). The expression הלעיטני is reminiscent of camels as we know from Shabbat 155, that whereas one must not stuff a lot of food down a camel's throat (on the Sabbath), one may feed it by a method called מלעיטין. The reason that Rabbi Levi in Bereshit Rabbah used the metaphor of קוצים, thorns, is because G–d told Adam after he had eaten from the tree of knowledge that the earth would respond to his efforts by bringing forth קוץ ודרדר, thorn and thistle (Genesis 3,17).