Toledoth: the antisemitism of envy

This parsha is antisemitic. Not only does it describe  some origins of hating Israel, it supplies some of the motivation for it. 

Esau and Jacob  are competing even  as fetuses ( fourth declension).  Competition, and its emotional analog envy, precede birth. Jacob is so  named for clinging to Esau's heel [the place that the devious  serpent bites to kill the gullible human] at birth.  The rivalry is in the DNA. [ DNA changes very little over time and is almost indestructible.]

The story quickly turns to the sale of the birth rite. Esau returns from hunting - an exhausting  and risky undertaking.  Often, no game is captured. Were it not for the gatherer Jacob, there are times that Esau could starve.  Jacob feeds him lentils ( which are toxic eaten raw) and bread ( a product of early technology) and  with that bought the right to be the firstborn. Jacob bought  fate with technology.  The Torah tells us that Esau devalued his primogeniture. The meaning  of this is revealed later, when Jacob exercises the option he purchased with a meal. 

The crux of the parsha is Isaac's blessing.  Isaac knows about fateful sibling rivalry.  His competition with Isaac looks, outwardly,  less mortally combative,  since Ishmael is the son of the lesser wife.  But both sons are tested with life-threatening trials [ banishment to the desert, sacrificial candidate] before they come to a truce  at the burial their father Abraham.


 Isaac's blessing expresses the rivalry of brothers for the future. One will rule over the other.  So he says:  יַֽעַבְד֣וּךָ עַמִּ֗ים וישתחו [וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲו֤וּ] לְךָ֙ לְאֻמִּ֔ים הֱוֵ֤ה גְבִיר֙ לְאַחֶ֔יךָ וְיִשְׁתַּחֲוּ֥וּ לְךָ֖ בְּנֵ֣י אִמֶּ֑ךָ   Let peoples serve you, And nations bow to you; Be master over your brothers, And let your mother’s sons bow to you. . and so it was declared to Rivka when she perceived the fetal rivalry. שְׁנֵ֤י גיים [גוֹיִם֙] בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ וּשְׁנֵ֣י לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִמֵּעַ֖יִךְ יִפָּרֵ֑דוּ וּלְאֹם֙ מִלְאֹ֣ם יֶֽאֱמָ֔ץ וְרַ֖ב יַעֲבֹ֥ד צָעִֽיר׃  Two nations are in your womb, Two separate peoples shall issue from your body; One people shall be mightier than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.

Jacob, in an act of deception receives the coveted blessing.  Did he not buy it from Esau?  Clearly Esau did not think so.  When he sold the right to be first born, he did not mean this, and he says so. הֲכִי֩ קָרָ֨א שְׁמ֜וֹ יַעֲקֹ֗ב וַֽיַּעְקְבֵ֙נִי֙ זֶ֣ה פַעֲמַ֔יִם אֶת־בְּכֹרָתִ֣י לָקָ֔ח וְהִנֵּ֥ה עַתָּ֖ה לָקַ֣ח בִּרְכָתִ֑י  [Esau] said, “Was he, then, named Jacob that he might supplant me these two times? First he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing!”He calls the capture of the blessing a second "Jewing" perpetrated by his heel of a  brother.  Esau had sold Jacob something cheaper, but it is not clear to me what that was... if not this. 

Isaac blessed the deceiver. He accepted him as Esau.  Isaac was blessing the concept of Esau, the wolf ( or fox)  in goat's clothing.  He confirms the blessing going to Jacob.  Jacob  had truly bought the Esau identity, the desperation of the famished hunter. 

With his blessing, Isaac creates an eternal struggle between the descendants of Jacob ( who would always control the banks and the media and the revolutionary movements) and those of Esau ( who would rule whenever Jacobs progeny fell).  He creates the persecuted Jew. 

There is another theme in the parsha.  Isaac digs wells, Philistines claim the wells and Isaac moves on because of the threat.  Ultimately, he finds a well that is not contested.  The wells are a hidden treasure with an element of science

Maybe fate is not a zero sum game.