Separating Yaakov from Esav Through Humility

1a“These are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham: Avraham begot Yitzchak” [Bereishis 25:19]. Rashi explains that the generations are “Yaakov and Esav, who are spoken of in the parshah.” This follows the Midrash Rabbah in Parshas Mishpatim (Shemos Rabbah 30:3): “‘And these’ adds to the earlier ones,” and so “And these are the generations of Yitzchak” adds to the earlier generations. The point is this. Yitzchak Avinu's “bed,” his family, was also not yet complete, since Esav came from him. In this he was a continuation of what came before, just as Avraham Avinu's family was not complete, since Yishmael was born to him. But through the Torah's words about the difference between Yaakov and Esav, Yaakov was completely separated from Esav's portion. Esav took all the zuhama, the spiritual filth, as the holy books explain. Yaakov remained clean and cleansed of every dross and blemish, until he fathered the twelve tribes of Yeshurun with no waste among them, Heaven forbid. This is what Rashi means by “Yaakov and Esav, who are spoken of in the parshah”: the parshah speaks of them in order to set them apart.

1bThis is the inner meaning of the bread and lentil stew that Yaakov Avinu gave Esav [Bereishis 25:34]. It follows the secret of “If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread” (Mishlei 25:21), for by this “you heap coals on his head” [Mishlei 25:22]. It is also the secret of “The goat shall carry on itself all their iniquities” [Vayikra 16:22], as the Midrash Rabbah teaches [Bereishis Rabbah 65:15]: “‘The goat (sa'ir)’ is Esav, as it says, ‘My brother Esav is a hairy (sa'ir) man’ [Bereishis 27:11]. ‘All their iniquities (avonosam)’: read it avonos tam, the iniquities of the plain man. This is Yaakov.” [See all this at length in the sefer Chok Nosson by Moharnash¹, 46a–b.]

2aThis is also what the Torah tells us next: “The lads grew up, and Esav became a man who knows hunting, a man of the field, and Yaakov was a plain man” [Bereishis 25:27]. The one depended on the other. The more Esav grew in his wickedness, the more he drew all the filth out of Yaakov's portion, and so Yaakov Avinu grew all the more in wholeheartedness and righteousness. And according to the words of my father and teacher, zt"l, cited below (in maamar 3), the verses connect as follows. The families of Avraham and Yitzchak were not yet complete. When they saw this, they wanted with all their might to set it right, so that holy offspring would come from them in holiness and purity.

2bThe counsel for this is to purify one's thoughts and mind. Then, as is known, the attribute of Yesod, “the culmination of the body,” the source of offspring, is set right by itself. The way is to be truly humble and lowly of spirit, always nothing in one's own eyes, nullified like actual dust. Through this one's thoughts become pure, and he merits wisdom, as it says, “Wisdom is found from nothing (me'ayin)”² (Iyov 28:12). And “Chochmah is the mind” (Tikkunei Zohar, Pesach Eliyahu). That is why both of them were lowly in their own eyes. Avraham relied only on Yitzchak's merit, and Yitzchak relied only on Avraham's merit. Why such lowliness? Because Yaakov and Esav, spoken of in the parshah, are an addition to the earlier ones, Yitzchak and Yishmael: their families were not yet complete. So the heart of their avodah was lowliness and humbling themselves all the more, to sanctify and purify themselves, so that a complete family would arise, holy offspring, the congregation of the treasured people. (From the author's handwritten manuscript.)