Hebrew History
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.†George Santayana
Isaac marries his shirt-tailed relative and she gets pregnant with twins. It was a difficult pregnancy – and her only one. The twins are constantly fighting in the womb. Rebecca goes to G-d to find out what the problem is …. and He tells her! They are definitely not identical twins! Appearance and personality are completely different.
The Church has given Jacob (Ya’acov) a bum wrap for years, in my opinion. The Scriptures tell us he was a “plain†man. That means a quiet, peaceable, fellow who minds his own business. He was a student and a scholar. His mother favored him because he was “bookish†while Isaac favored his big, hairy, robust son who loved to fight and kill things. OK, he was a hunter, and that was necessary, but I don’t much go for that – I’ll take the kid in the library!
Esav (Esau) was the oldest by a few minutes. But those few minutes made all the difference in the world. The right of the first born, for instance. He was the one to receive the bulk of the family inheritance as well as the family spiritual leadership. Esau doesn’t care about the spiritual part of his inheritance, but he sure wants the power and the money! Abraham left a legacy – who would fulfill it? Not Esau.
When Isaac was old and supposedly dying – he calls his sons in for their blessing. You know the story. When Jacob comes disguised as Esau, Isaac says, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Jacob.†Bresheet (Genesis) 27:22 That was because, according to R’ Spiro, the voice symbolizes the power of the intellect, and the hands symbolize the power of action and might and of sword. Here we see that Esau, through his descendants, will give rise to the Roman Empire! The Bible calls it Edom. The Roman Empire became the seat of the universal Catholic Church which later divided into two powers – including the Eastern Orthodox group. Still later, the Protestant Christians split off from the Roman Church.
This struggle of the twins is no less than a world-wide fight throughout all history! It started in utero and has continued down through the corridors of time until this very hour. One thought is that Rome, the end result of Esau, gives rise to our Western culture and continues its battle against the Jewish people. All the descendants of Abraham can only become great – by G-d’s design. As in the days of yore, Rome will always be the stronger – in the physical sense while Israel is stronger in the spiritual and intellectual sense. Look how many Nobel prize winners there are that are of Jewish descent! How many great inventions are claimed by the Jews. Look at your phone book – how many Jewish doctors and lawyers are there? G-d has given the Jewish people a marvelous intellect – you can see it in their eyes. When one travels in Israel, you can’t help but immediately see the difference in the Jewish neighborhoods and those of the Arabs. You can see it in the way they care for their children, in the cleanliness of their streets and the graffiti or lack of – on their buildings. I know there are many wonderful Arab people. And G-d has blessed them, too. There is a place in His Kingdom for all of us.
Anyone who calls upon His name shall be saved…..
Next week we will look at the greatest enemy of all time of the Jewish people – Amalek! The nation G-d hates.
See you next time!
Shalom, Sharaka
************************************