OU TORAH YU TORAH and NAALEH.COM Attitudinal Aversion By Shira Smiles

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein Parshat Toldot contains one of the seminal scenes that defines Bnei Yisroel and clarifies the differences between Yaakov Avinu and his twin Esau. This scene is Esau selling his right as the firstborn to Yaakov Avinu for a bowl of red lentil soup. While Yaakov Avinu was cooking some lentil soup for his father, Esau came in famished and tired from a full day of hunting in the fields. Esau turns to Yaakov Avinu and says, “Pour into me some of that very red stuff, for I am exhausted.” Yaakov Avinu here makes a deal with Esau, a deal that some see as controversial, and asks Esau, “Sell me, as this day, your birthright to me.” In Esau’s mind, he is getting the better end of the deal. He replies, “Look, I am going to die, so of what use is the birthright?” After making the deal, Esau ate and drank, got up and left, and Esau spurned the birthright. If we examine the proceedings and the words of the Torah closely, we will understand that there was no deception on Yaakov Avinu’s part, and that all that transpired between them here was a complete reflection of what each brother valued and received.