The Actions of Yaakov - Rabbi Reuven Taragin

when we look at parsha told we can't help but be surprised by the actions taken by yaakov avinu if we listen to the words of yitzhak when he responds to asav after yaakov has taken the bracha asap responds and we can't help but be sympathetic one may suggest that maybe yakov was correct in taking the brothel because after all aesop had sold him to behora in the beginning of the parsha but let's think about that asap comes home hungry asks his brother for food and yaakov says what will you sell me can very easily understand where the stereotypical view of the jew is not willing to give anything for free comes from and the truth is that this is part of a broader question about ghazal's demonization of asev they say the fact that he was admoni reddish means he was a murderer david was also described as admoni the fact that he was the odais which could have been seen as something positive he hunted for his food meant that he fooled his father in fact the target jonathan says he murdered even when asaph comes home and it says that he's tired rashi says he was tired because he was on a killing spree targmionson says he had done five average and of course we're familiar with the words hazal rashi quotes on why there was the rumbling inside rifka's stomach that asev would push to come out every time he walked by a beta the question is why such a negative view of asaf so of course the answer comes from safer malachi perak god talks about how he hated aso we can see this in our parsha as well when rivka goes to get an explanation for why all this kicking is going on inside her womb she's told virav yavod tsair the younger one will be the one who is served and this explains why she loved the akov as opposed to yitzhak who hadn't seen the prophecy but the question remains why was hashem so negative about asaph i think we're given the answer in the first story of the parsha which is a rare case where the torah beferish tells us that someone did something wrong generally the torah tanakh tells stories and lets us be the judge but here in paris it says yakov gave them it says here that asap had denigrated the bahrain and anyone who takes a look at malachi pericardif again afterwards for this week's parachute sees how within the context of talking about god's hatred for asav malachi uses the word bizayon twice the question is why was asaf seen as having denigrated the bahra i think the answer cuts to ace of heisman that he makes that the torah tells us asap says asap says i'm going to die anyway what difference does it make if i'm that seems like a reasonable issue of a reasonable calculation what difference does it make if it says on my tombstone that i'm the that the jews wouldn't get back from egypt for hundreds of years anyway so it wouldn't even be in his lifetime so what was wrong with aesop's thought process i think we get the answer from the words of rashi the name of ghazal that relate to why the torah tells us twice that yakov was cooking adoshin lentils rashi tells us it was the day that avraham if you know had died explains very well why asap is thinking about death and tell us that he just lost faith in everything nimrod his adversary had died on the same day and he said if avraham and nimrod both die on the same day what difference does it make if you live like avraham or live like nimrod avraham had brought this great citizen of monotheism to the world had such an impact but nahi now he died as well hazal explained that asapha's kopherbachol gave up on any everything and of course we're familiar with absolutely which because of the reality of death caused people to lose faith in the meaning of life yaakov though was benting like baking lentils which are round and they symbolize the cycle of life yaakov reacted to afram's death in the opposite way not to lose faith in life but to realize that we have to take advantage of life to maximize what we accomplish and to pass on to the next generation as avram did things in the best possible way which is why he wanted to be the bahur the swarno tells us that yaakov used the words mishra yom met bihar khali to emphasize that asap didn't know how to look past the day and therefore he wasn't growing for the bihor asaf sees nothing beyond the color of the food that fuels his life sees no mission in life and the ramban tells us that the be zion of the beholders because god has no interest in people who can't see past living their life eating drinking and going to the bathroom what we learn here from the beginning of the parsha is that to be someone who god loves to be part of the chain of the jewish people we have to realize that death means our life is limited which means we have to take full advantage to live it to the fullest and pass on to the next generation what we received from the generation before