Toldot 5775 - English

By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik

“The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.” (Genesis 27:22) The words of the patriarch Isaac sum up the dilemma presented to him.  

We know the story.  Blind and feeling the approach of death (even though he would live for twenty years more), Isaac decides it is time to bestow his blessing on Esau, his firstborn and favorite son.  He asks him to hunt some game and bring him a delicious meal made with his own hands.  

Rebecca, his wife, has other plans. She wants the blessing to fall upon Jacob, their other son, so she disguises him as his brother and tells him to stand before his father carrying the delicious dish.  

Isaac is suspicious.  He knows something is not right.  When Jacob comes in, he asks, “Which of my sons are you?”Then he questions the speed with which he completed the errand, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?”Finally, he says, “Come closer that I may feel you, my son—whether you are really my son Esau or not.” (Gen. 27:18-21)

Then Isaac expresses his doubt in the words that head this commentary.  “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.” 

Isaac insists, “Are you really my son Esau?” and asks again, “Come close and kiss me, my son.” In the end, he blesses him.  (Gen. 27:24-27)  

Why is it that despite all his uncertainty, Isaac finally decides to bless the son before him, although he is not clear on which one it is?  The Torah is clear on how different they were from each other, yet Rebecca’s ruse seems to work out as we find Isaac ill and confused.

We would expect a person with bad eyesight (Midrash Bereshit Raba 56:5 explains Isaac’s blindness going back to the binding experience on mount Moriah) to have heightened his other senses much more.  But in this case, touch and hearing (as well as smell) sent cross signals: “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.”

The difference between the sons is manifest also by their main attribute.  For the Talmudic wise men (Gittin 57b), the voice of Jacob is associated with prayer while Esau’s hands are associated with war.  Both men are extraordinarily successful in their specialty.  

Along these same lines, we can visualize the dichotomy voice/hands as thought/action or as spiritual/material.

Maybe that is why we must view Isaac’s decision to bless this son, who combined the qualities of both, as a reminder that the ideal of personal fulfillment lies not in opposite characteristics, but in our capacity to complement the different sides of ourselves.  

This ideal of a son who combines the voice, intellect and spirituality of Jacob with the hands, action and materialism of Esau replaces the dialectic dynamics of parenthood.  For an instant, the differences between the brothers and their parents’ favoritism are almost magically resolved.  

When Esau returns and discovers the trick, the Torah tells us, “Isaac was seized with very violent trembling.” (Gen. 27:33)  He may have felt frustrated and deceived by Jacob, but his reaction could also be the product of the collapse of that fantasy of an ideal son combining the qualities of both his descendants, thereby resolving all the longstanding domestic troubles and tensions.

Isaac returned to the frustrating reality.  Through illicit methods, Jacob had taken the blessing reserved for the firstborn, and Esau would remain angry with his brother until his death.  The voice of Jacob and the hands of Esau had never been so far apart…  

The difficult task of attempting to restore harmony between both dimensions is left to us, in order to live harmonious and integrated lives that will allow us to achieve fulfillment in all aspects of our existence.

Shabbat Shalom

Gustavo