Musar su Genesi 27:36
וַיֹּ֡אמֶר הֲכִי֩ קָרָ֨א שְׁמ֜וֹ יַעֲקֹ֗ב וַֽיַּעְקְבֵ֙נִי֙ זֶ֣ה פַעֲמַ֔יִם אֶת־בְּכֹרָתִ֣י לָקָ֔ח וְהִנֵּ֥ה עַתָּ֖ה לָקַ֣ח בִּרְכָתִ֑י וַיֹּאמַ֕ר הֲלֹא־אָצַ֥לְתָּ לִּ֖י בְּרָכָֽה׃
E disse (Esaù): Fu egli dunque perciò chiamato Giacobbe? Infatti mi soppiantò già due volte. Tolta si ha la mia primogenitura, ed ora si tolse la mia benedizione. Indi disse: Non hai tu serbata per me alcuna benedizione?
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
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!
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy