#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
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VERSE: Gn27-24a
RASHIS COVERED: Gn27-24a Gn27-19a Gn22-22a
BACKGROUND
==========
Recall that at Rivkahs advice. Yaakov dressed up as Esauv and
fed his father dinner in order to get the blessings. Also
recall that although Isaac recognized Yaakovs gentler speech
patterns he nevertheless was fooled by the externals and called
him Esauv. There are several verses where Isaacs attempt to
recognize Jacob as Jacob occurs. Let us examine 2 of them and
their Rashis
THE VERSES
==========
Gn27-19a >I am Esauv your elder (Stated by Jacob)
Gn27-24a>Are you my son Esauv(Asked by Isaac)?& Jacob said,I am<
THE RASHIS
==========
Gn27-19a >I AM ESAUV YOUR ELDER< should be interpreted as
>I< am Jacob who brings to you but >ESAUV IS YOUR
ELDER<
It thus looks like Rashi is playing a word game with
the phrase >I AM ESAUV YOUR ELDER< and breaking it up
into two parts: >I< (am Jacob) but >ESAUV IS YOUR ELDER<.
The advantage of such an alleged interpretation is that
it saves Jacob from violating the ethical norm of lying
Gn27-24a On the verse >Are you my son Esauv? and Jacob said,I AM<
Rashi states >Jacob doesnt answer >I AM ESAUV< but
rather he answers >I AM<
Again it looks like Rashi is playing word games and trying to
make Jacob look as if he is avoiding the ethical prohibition
of lying by only saying >I AM< vs >I AM ESAUV<
DISCUSSION
==========
But the ethical prohibition of lying is not a prohibition on words
but rather a prohibtion on meaning. If Jacob answers >I AM< to
Isaac who asks him if he is Esauv, then the >MEANING< of >I AM<
is >I AM ESAUV< and Jacob has indeed mislead Isaac. Nothing is
gained by saying >I AM< vs >I AM ESAUV<
A MORE REASONABLE EXPLANATION
=============================
If we place the emphasis on Rashi on different words we get
a much more reasonable explanation. We use the method of
ALIGNMENT of similar verses
----------------------------------------------------------------
Gn27-19 I am Esauv Your elder I did what you asked please get up
Gn27-31 *1 *2 *3 get up
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The above {LIST} compares the responses of Jacob and Esauv to
Isaacs identical question >WHO ARE YOU<.
NOTES
=====
*3 Notice for example how Jacob says >PLEASE< but Esauv does
not. Jacob was a more polite person and this led Isaac to
suspect that he was really Jacob
*2 Jacob emphasizes (while Esauv does not) that he routinely
did errands for his father (He wasnt just doing >THIS ERRAND<
to get a blessing). Thus Jacob but not Esauv says >I did
what you asked me<
*1 Jacob in effect says >I (Jacob) always do what you ask
me and yet you wish to recognize Esauv as your eldest
by the fact that he brings you food for a blessing<
THE POINT
=========
Jacob did >NOT< try and hide his identity. Jacob uses words like
>PLEASE< or later on >YOUR GOD HELPED ME< in his conversation to
Isaac. Jacob clearly did >NOT< go out of his way to fool Isaac
(which he could have done by changing his verbal patterns).
Indeed Isaac himself noticed this for Isaac says in Gn27-22
>The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands feel like Esauv
AND ISAAC DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM BECAUSE OF HIS HANDS<
The whole emphasis in the Bible is that Isaac could be so easily
mislead by externals and not pay attention to more important
features like use of the words >YOUR GOD<, >PLEASE< or who
usually did him errands.
We are indebted to Rav Hirsch for the above analysis. Rav Hirsch
points out that Rivkah (a Matriarch) was not stupid enough to
think that >a blessing< could be stolen. She didnt ask Jacob to
dress up to steal a blessing. Rather she asked him to dress up
in order TO SHOW ISAAC HOW HE HAD BEEN FOOLED HIS WHOLE LIFE
BY THE EXTERNALS OF ESAUV. Isaac in fact finally learned his
lesson as it says Gn27-31 >And Isaac was very frightened/shocked<
(Said when he realized he had been fooled). Isaac finally
realized that his whole life he had been fooled by externals.
With that background we can now interpret the verses
Gn27-19a >hints< at the following contrast >I (Jacob) am the one
always doing you errands but Esauv is your elder?<. Why, Isaac
are you judging the birthright by who brings you food for it?
We now see this interpretation in Rashi
Gn27-19a >I(Jacob)always bring for you but Esauv is your elder?<
To help summarize we bring the following list of items by which
Jacob could have been recognized
{LIST}
Things Jacob did or said which identified him as Jacob and
not as Esauv. Isaac himself said >You sound like JACOB but
you feel like ESAUV<. The Bible emphasizes >And Isaac did
not recognize him BECAUSE of how his hands felt<. More
nuances could be added to this list but this will suffice
for now
===========================================================
VERSE THINGS JACOB SAID BUT ESAUV DIDNT
======== =================================
Gn27-19a I always do the things you ask
Gn27-19 PLEASE get up
Gn27-20 Your God helped me find food quickly
{END OF LIST}
Having explained Gn27-19a we now proceed to explain
Gn27-24a
Jacob continues this theme in Gn27-24a. When Isaac asks
>who are you< (Gn27-24 to Jacob and Gn27-32) he gets
two different answers
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Gn27-24 Are you Esauv? I am
Gn27-32 Who are you? I am Esauv your eldest
*1
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NOTES
-----
*1 The difference is clear. Esauv is a person of Titles
>I am ESAUV your ELDEST< while Jacob is a person of
deeds >I AM (who I am)<.
THE POINT
=========
It is not necessary to interpret Rashi as seeing Jacob trying
to use word games to escape lying. Rather Rashi was seeing
Jacob as taking his mothers side and trying to make Isaac
aware that he had been fooled his whole life by titles and
externals but he did not look at deeds. Accordingly Rashi
interprets >I am Esauv your elder I have done as you asked<
as a cynical comment >You know, Isaac, that Jacob always does
errands for you...why are you Judging Esauv as worthy of the
blessings because he does you one favor<. Similarly when Isaac
said >Are you Esauv< Jacob simply said >I AM<---again Jacob
cynically said >Why dont you judge me by my deeds and speech
patterns instead of by what I claim to be<
Again Isaac himself acknowledged he was being fooled >The Voice
is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esauv..
and he didn't recognize him BECAUSE of how his hands felt<.
COMMENT:
=======
One further nuance. There are two words for the pronoun >I<
in Hebrew. We could discuss the difference between these 2
>II<) Therefore the above analysis
should suffice for now.
RASHI RULE USED: DOUBLE PARSHAS
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Volume 8 Number 9
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
Volume 8 Number 9