This week’s parasha , Toldot, presents the early years of Ya’akov and Esav – the twin sons of Yitzchak and Rivkah. A watershed moment occurred between them early in their respective lives. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Torah tells us that Yaakov was cooking a lentil porridge and that Esav was coming inside from the field and that he was tired. Esav requests lentil porridge from Yaakov and Yaakov offers to give him some in exchange for Esav’s firstborn rights. Esav takes an oath and sells the birthright to Yaakov. Yaakov gives porridge to Esav who ate, drank, got up and left and “disgraced” the birthright. Rashi seems to be bothered by the context of this story. In one of his comments, Rashi cites a Midrash that says that Yaakov and Esav lived similar childhoods, but went their separate ways at age thirteen. In another comment, Rashi cites a Midrash that addresses the reason why Yaakov was preparing lentils. The Midrash says that lentils are customarily eaten by a mourner b...
Rabbi Benjy Owen, Dean, Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South, Memphis, TN