Toldoth: Competition

Competition is the overarching theme of this week’s parsha. The competition between Jacob and Esau dominates the parsha.  That story surrounds the interactions between father Isaac and Avimelach, the Philistine king.

Competition is a key part of the unstated American/Western ethos( religion). Competition generates the motivation for advancement. It is the force that generates new products and lowers prices. Competition is postulated as the basis for the diversity of life, it is the Darwinian origin of the species. The natural status of competition imbues it with inevitability.

We are brought back to the first competition: Cain and Hevel. What were they fighting over? The text says, they were talking… and Cain killed Abel:

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יו וַֽיְהִי֙ בִּהְיוֹתָ֣ם בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה וַיָּ֥קׇם קַ֛יִן אֶל־הֶ֥בֶל אָחִ֖יו וַיַּהַרְגֵֽהוּ׃

Cain said to his brother Abel … and when they were in the field, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him.

The topic of their conversation does not matter.  Cain’s overwhelming envy could only be satisfied by murder.

In this week’s parsha, Esau expresses murderous intentions against brother Jacob. Esau’s motives seem similar to Cain’s.  Esau feels cheated out of a blessing: words of approval.

It is strange that the blessing can work when delivered to someone other than the intended recipient. The blessing is all about intention; and misdirection should invalidate it.  Perhaps Isaac’s blessing incorporated a test of capability. The “blessing” was more a prophecy of which brother would rule, and Isaac saw Jacob’s guile; and he recognized that this quality would dominate…for a while.

Isaac lived by virtue of the unexpected. His birth to post-menopausal Sarah was a miracle. He was rescued from death at the hands of his father Abraham by the tears of the angels and a ram caught by its horns. Isaac was prepared to sincerely give the “blessing” to whomever it seemed appropriate.

When Esau arrives moments too late, the blessing acquires its balancing curse. Esau, in the Midrash, is imagined the forerunner of the Roman Empire, the [fr]enemy of Judea. The Romans subjugated Judea, a situation that could be projected upon the consolation promise made to Esau after clever Jacob had snatched it .

וְעַל־חַרְבְּךָ֣ תִֽחְיֶ֔ה וְאֶת־אָחִ֖יךָ תַּעֲבֹ֑ד וְהָיָה֙ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּרִ֔יד וּפָרַקְתָּ֥ עֻלּ֖וֹ מֵעַ֥ל צַוָּארֶֽךָ׃

Yet by your sword you shall live,

And you shall serve your brother;

But when you grow restive,

You shall break his yoke from your neck.”

Isaac was suborning the murderous competition. Perhaps he was echoing Gd’s instruction to Cain, presumably meant to prevent this outcome:

הֲל֤וֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב֙ שְׂאֵ֔ת וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א תֵיטִ֔יב לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ וְאֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָת֔וֹ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּמְשׇׁל־בּֽוֹ׃

 Surely, if you do right,

There is uplift.

But if you do not do right

Sin couches at the door;

Its urge is toward you,

Yet you can be its master.”

Competition leads to murderous intent. The alternative of self-improvement does not always work. The parsha, once again, relates intense competition to envy, often over nothing more than a favorable attitude from an important entity.

In the story of Abimelech and Isaac, envy leads to pure destruction. The Philistines fill the wells, and then fight over the wells dug by Isaac. Isaac simply moves on. Ironically, he settles in the lands to which his brother, Ishmael, had his miracle.

These stories of competition become a context for the Jews understanding of antisemitism. The Jew must be clever to survive; but some are  so clever that they thrive; that evokes the envy of the host; the cruel power of the host is unleashed against the Jew. The host feels cheated. How can cleverness outdo indigenousness? The Jew either moves on, or has the wells filled, or goes to the next exile.