Truth Be Told
This week’s parsha contains one of the Torah’s most difficult-to-accept stories: The story of Jacob’s deception so that he could receive his father’s blessings that were intended for his brother, Esav. Our tradition teaches that Jacob was the apotheosis of our development as a Jewish people: he was the forefather who became a complete, exemplary human being. Yet, in this parsha, Jacob appears to be a cheater who deceives his father and steals from his brother. Moreover, we are taught that Jacob exemplified the trait of emet (truth), making his deceptive behavior in this story even more difficult to accept. Interpreted in a literal, simplistic way, Jacob’s actions in this week’s parsha make him, and us as Jews, an easy target for antisemitic tropes, as he appears to act deceitfully in pursuit of his own gain. How do we make sense of the apparent contradiction between Jacob, the model of honesty and pinnacle of the Jewish people, and Jacob, the son who seemingly tricks his father and steals from his brother?
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch’s analysis helps both reveal its fundamental message and resolve the contradictions. Isaac assumed that both his sons would continue his legacy, side by side. After all, they were twins, from the same parents, but with opposite personalities. Esav was gruff and dealt only with the physical world, placing no importance on spirituality. For that reason, the sages tell us that he was immoral and represented the forces of evil, having no regard for the World to Come. In contrast, Jacob was devoted to the spiritual activities of prayer and Torah study. The Torah describes him as an Ish tam yosheiv ohalim [a pure man who sat in tents]. Essentially, he was a nice, wholesome yeshiva boy.
Why did Isaac assume his two sons would build the Jewish nation together? Because Issac understood that the Jewish people are not one-sided. We are neither exclusively spiritual nor physical; We do not only study in ivory towers, nor do we exist exclusively in a physical society based on power and economic exigencies. Rather, both the spiritual and physical are essential to the Jewish nation. Therefore, Isaac concluded that God intended for our spiritual and physical sides to co-exist in the form of separate but equal tribes: Esav would handle the physical components of the Jewish nation, and Jacob would handle the spiritual elements.
However, Rebecca realized that we would never succeed as a nation unless we became one, integrated whole. Without a physical component that is deeply connected with every facet of the nation, we’d have no place to actualize ourselves. Similarly, without spirituality infused into all aspects of our people, we’d have no future, as the physical world is ephemeral and everything is fated to die. Rebecca recognized that Esav was completely dedicated to the physical and was incapable of developing spirituality, but Jacob at least had the potential to add the physical to his repertoire, so he was the only hope the Jewish people had for survival and success.
On that basis, the Zohar explains that Jacob was not lying when he told Issac “Anochi Esav bechorecha,” [I am Esav your firstborn son]. He was demonstrating to his father that he could successfully embody his own spirituality along with Esav’s practicality. This physical universe is called ‘Alma d'shikra,’ [a world of lies]. You can’t survive if you’re naïve about reality. Rather, you must learn how to cope with it.
As much as we admire honesty, it is undeniable that life presents numerous situations which call for some degree of deception. For example, we’d destroy our personal relationships if we didn’t keep some thoughts to ourselves. There are also many times when lying is the only means of survival, as is often the case when trying to survive in the face of persecution, scenarios the Jewish people know all too well. There are countless other examples in everyday life where basic human decency and, ironically, even truth, demands that we not be completely honest about everything. The difference between the times when we should be completely genuine and when, in the language of the Talmud, mishanin, we are supposed to change the truth, is often difficult to determine. Rebecca felt, and advised Jacob, that Isaac’s blessings was one of the critical times when an adjustment to truth was necessary for the sake of the survival of the Jewish people.
Indeed, during this episode, we are told that Issac inhaled the sweet fragrance of the Garden of Eden, where spirituality and physicality were intertwined. He also felt the fires of Gehinnom (hell), which meant he realized that having Esav as a co-leader of the Jewish people would be a disaster. Because of Jacob's intervention, Isaac could finally see the truth: that a bifurcated structure would destroy the Jewish nation.
Our Sages teach that our current exile is called galut Edom, the exile of Esav (Edom was Esav’s nickname). In other words, our 2000-year exile forces us to interact with, and intimately relate to Esav, or today’s secular society. These experiences teach us how to integrate the physical world with the spiritual.
While there are various streams of Orthodoxy that try to define how this integration works, such as Torah im Derech Eretz or Torah Umada, our parsha leaves this issue unresolved, because the only path to comprehending these complex issues is to discover them in real time.
I think our parsha’s message about integrating our spirituality and physicality is very fitting for this Thanksgiving weekend. The U.S. has many flaws. However, it is still a unique country that has allowed Jews to achieve success in almost every facet of life, a reality greatly resented by antisemites here, as recent current events have made clear. We must give thanks to God for bringing the Jewish population to the U.S., a place where we are free to continue to accomplish our destiny as Jacob's children. If we can learn how to integrate our physical lives with our spiritual lives, we will have achieved our purpose in this exile, which will hasten the coming of Mashiach and our efforts toward our ultimate redemption. Shabbat shalom.