"Black Friday": Reflections on Parshat Toldot

"Chinese Singles' Day", "Black Friday", "Cyber Monday". Run to purchase! Buy now! Get a bonus! Pay tomorrow-in a month-in a year...

Split into five - ten - thirty payments. Take a supersized portion, with all the extras and an upgraded dessert. Go on vacation, pamper yourself and surround yourself with all luxuries. Go for the jackpot, seize the moment and squeeze it to the last drop...

After all, life is so hard and grinding, what's left for you? Wake up in the morning, go to work, return home exhausted, survive with the kids, eat and go to sleep and repeat, so if you're going to enjoy life, make it B-I-G!

"And Esau said, 'Behold, I am going to die, so what use is this birthright to me?'" (Genesis, 32)

Living in the Extreme

Even Esau is tired and exhausted from the daily chase after the 'prey' and looks for something to fill his hunger, something to 'gulp down.' And because he doesn't believe in the survival of the soul or in the existence of a soul, and according to his view he is anyway 'going to die,' he advocates a life of pure hedonism and constant pursuit of thrills, fulfilling desires, as fast as possible and as extreme as possible.

Abysses of Boredom and Emptiness

The truth is that the birthright with all its obligations simply bores him. He's much more drawn to a steaming fresh lentil stew that can be poured directly into the stomach (even without chewing) and provides immediate satisfaction. The problem is that the constant pursuit of physical desires and immediate gratifications provides only temporary satisfaction. It brings a person to dullness of senses and indifference and requires them to become addicted to increasingly greater thrills, without which they experience abysses of boredom and emptiness.

Inside Each of Us Lives a Small "Esau"

Inside each of us lives a small "Esau" that convinces us to "eat and drink" without restraint "for tomorrow we may die." The problem is that surrendering to his agenda pulls us into a spiral of addiction to external thrills and distances us from true pleasure and satisfaction, reserved for those who properly nourish their souls.

There's Something So Attractive About This "Esau-ness"

So what do we do? There's something so attractive about this "Esau-ness," something so powerful, exciting, sensual. So immediate... Just to respond to all this dazzling abundance that's available and accessible within reach and already feel the pleasure... How can one even resist it?! And who cares about the next moment and the price we'll pay for this immediate satisfaction, when the alternative requires a much greater effort?

Boundaries - The Real Extreme!

Indeed, spiritual pleasure requires greater effort. Unlike physical pleasure that encourages unbridled surrender without restraints and boundaries, it actually demands abstention, it requires maintaining boundaries and self-control. It defines what is good and what should be avoided, and as such is much less attractive.

Taking the Entire Pot

Esau lives in the moment, a life full of adrenaline and explosive action. He swallows it with full intensity in one big gulp. But the one who 'ultimately takes the entire pot' and wins both spiritually and materially is actually his twin Jacob. The pale one, the less charismatic, who obeys the laws of the Torah, limits and distances himself from what is forbidden and enjoys this world in moderation.

Sources:Maharal ... "And this is what Esau said, 'Behold, I am going to die,' immediately denying the resurrection of the dead, saying that this world is primary, which is the physical world, and there is no resurrection at all, so 'what use is this birthright to me,' meaning the holiness that is separate from the physical, because a person has nothing beyond this physical world."

Yemima Bismut: yemimabismut@gmail.com