1. AND ESAU SAID, I AM GOING TO DIE \u2026 (25:32)<\/p>\n
Isaac and Rebecca are married and have no children.
\nFinally, Rebecca gives birth to twins. Esau and Jacob.
\nAs the older brother, Esau had the “birthright”.
\nThe spiritual leadership of the family.
\nEsau agrees to sell the birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew!
\n“Give me some of that red stuff. I\u2019m starving \u2026
\nLook, I\u2019m going to die. So what good is the birthright”?
\nIn the words of the Torah? “Esau despised the birthright.”
\nAnd in Jewish tradition he represents giving up eternity for the pleasure of the moment.
\n\u2026 It\u2019s not only about Esau\u2019s approach to life.
\nIt\u2019s also how he responds to his mortality.
\n“Look, I\u2019m going to die. So what good is the birthright”?
\nThat\u2019s one way we can relate to our mortality.
\n“Eat drink and be merry. For tomorrow, we die”.<\/p>\n
\u2026 A fellow comes to a meeting with his accountant.
\nDriving the latest model luxury car. Completely loaded.
\nHis accountant is very surprised. To say the least.
\n\u201cI do his books. There is no way he can afford this car.\u201d
\nThe client notices the look on the accountant\u2019s face. \u201cI\u2019ll explain.
\nA few weeks ago I was in a house.
\nAnd just minutes after I left, there was a terrible explosion. A gas leak.
\nIt was a miracle that I didn\u2019t get killed.
\nAnd you know?
\nIt\u2019s times like that, that get you thinking.
\nYou don\u2019t live forever.
\n… Enjoy life while you can \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026 Jewish tradition wants us to look at it differently.
\nAnyone who was a student knows how it is.
\nWhen do you study for a final?
\nThe day before the test!
\nIf we lived forever?
\nWe would never accomplish anything!
\nSo Jewish tradition doesn\u2019t want us to be obsessed with our mortality.
\nBut it\u2019s good to remind ourselves once in a while.
\n\u2026 You don\u2019t live forever.
\nYou need to make your life meaningful while you can.
\nA Mitzvah. Helping someone in need. Studying Torah.
\nMaking someone smile. Being there for a friend.
\nBecause these are things that are eternal.<\/p>\n
2. ISAAC LOVED ESAU BECAUSE … AND REBECCA LOVES JACOB \u2026 (25:28)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the most famous Torah stories. One that decides the future of the Jewish People.
\nIsaac and Rebecca see their children differently. And the stakes are very high.
\n\u2026 Rebecca loves Jacob. Sees him as the spiritual future of the Jewish People.
\nBut Isaac loves Esau. And thinks that he can be the Jewish future.
\nIsaac is about to \u201cpass the mantle\u201d to Esau.
\nBut Rebecca rises to the occasion. And takes bold steps to turn things around.
\nAnd Jewish tradition is very clear. She was right.
\nRebecca understood what Isaac did not. And her intervention saved the Jewish People.
\n\u2026 But there\u2019s something else that\u2019s very interesting about our tradition.
\nFor the last 3000 years the name Rebecca has brought something else to mind.
\nSomething we read about in last week\u2019s portion. Something the Torah described in great length.
\n\u2026 Rebecca has always been a symbol of _chessed_. Of doing great acts of kindness.
\nYes. It\u2019s true that Rebecca saved the Jewish People.
\nBut she did something else which may be even more important.
\n\u2026 She taught us the kind of People we\u2019re meant to be!
\nHopefully, we\u2019ll never have to face a situation where we are called upon to save the Jewish People.
\n\u2026 But we\u2019re constantly given opportunities for acts of kindness.
\nAnd we know how it is. Sometimes we\u2019re too busy. Too tired. Or just \u201chaving one of those days\u201d.
\nWe should be inspired by Rebecca\u2019s example.
\nAnd rise to the occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. AND ESAU SAID, I AM GOING TO DIE \u2026 (25:32) Isaac and Rebecca are married and have no children. Finally, Rebecca gives birth to twins. Esau and Jacob. As the older brother, Esau had the “birthright”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-chicago-torah-network-shabbat-fax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1754,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}