Parshat Toldot

                                                                                                   by Ari Hart

On a pshat level, the story of Yaakov, Eisav and the birthright presents the ethically sensitive reader with many questions. Eisav is foolish and irresponsible, but without the classic midrashic readings, does he truly deserve to have his birthright stolen? Yaakov is clever and crafty, but isn't there a hint of duplicity and dishonesty in his behavior?

A fascinating midrash from Bereishit Rabba deals with this question, in a slightly indirect way. It says (Bereishit Rabba 67:4) - Anyone who says that God is overly merciful angers God. What is the proof? When Eisav learns what Yaakov has done to him, he lets out a loud and bitter cry - "va'yitzak tza'akah g'dolah u'mara." Those words appear exactly one other time in Tanach, in the story of megillat Esther. Mordechai, learning about the oppression and evil that has befallen the Jews, lets out the same cry (Esther 4:1) "va'yitzak tza'akah g'dolah u'mara."

Call it midah k'negged midah, call it karmah, call it payback, the message is clear. Yaakov's actions, even if justified, caused immense suffering. That suffering had power, and it came back to Yaakov. After thousands of years, it's the same bitter cry.

In the worldview of Chazal, Esav and his descendants represented great evil: Amalek comes from Esav, as did the oppressive Roman Empire. However, Chazal recognize their own part of that evil. In the Jewish world-view, suffering in the world is not something foreign or alien. It is not the work of the devils and ghosts. It is undeniably human. In spite of all the suffering caused to them at the hands of the Romans, Chazal are able to see through their own pain and suffering and see the sounds of the suffering are the same. These same bitter cries, of Eisav, of Mordechai echo through the world today. Let us have the strength to hear them and recognize them as our own. Shabbat shalom.