Can you be born evil?

This is the story of Isaac, son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac.

Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.

When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.

The first one emerged red, like a hairy mantle all over; so they named him Esau.

Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob became a mild man, raising livestock.

Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah favored Jacob.

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished.

And Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom.

Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Jacob then gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, and he rose and went away. Thus did Esau spurn the birthright.

ויתרצצו AND [THE CHILDREN] STRUGGLED — You must admit that this verse calls for a Midrashic interpretation since it leaves unexplained what this struggling was about and it states that she exclaimed “If it be so, wherefore did I desire this” (i.e. she asked whether this was the normal course of child-bearing, feeling that something extraordinary was happening). Our Rabbis explain that the word ויתרוצצו has the meaning of running, moving quickly: whenever she passed by the doors of the Torah (i. e. the Schools of Shem and Eber) Jacob moved convulsively in his efforts to come to birth, but whenever she passed by the gate of a pagan temple Esau moved convulsively in his efforts to come to birth (Genesis Rabbah 63:6). Another explanation is: they struggled with one another and quarrelled as to how they should divide the two worlds as their inheritance (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 111:2).

והנה תומם בבטנה , “and here there were twins in her womb.” The word תומם, “twins,” is spelled defectively, with the letters י and א missing. The reason for the defective spelling is that one of Rivkah’s children was going to be a wicked person. The next time the birth of twins is mentioned in the Torah, i.e. the sons of Tamar and Yehudah, Peretz and Zerach, the word is spelled properly, i.e. תאומים, seeing that both of the sons Peretz and Zerach were going to be righteous.

And Antoninos said to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: From when does the evil inclination dominate a person? Is it from the moment of the formation of the embryo or from the moment of emergence from the womb? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to him: It is from the moment of the formation of the embryo. Antoninos said to him: If so, the evil inclination would cause the fetus to kick his mother’s innards and emerge from the womb. Rather, the evil inclination dominates a person from the moment of emergence from the womb. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said: Antoninos taught me this matter, and there is a verse that supports him, as it is stated: “Sin crouches at the entrance” (Genesis 4:7), indicating that it is from the moment of birth, when the newborn emerges from the entrance of his mother’s womb, that the evil inclination lurks.

אדמוני RED — a sign that he would always be shedding blood (Genesis Rabbah 63:8).

(12) So they sent and brought him. He was ruddy-cheeked, bright-eyed, and handsome. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.”

A sign that he will be a murderer. [Rashi knows that] this was written here to be a sign, because otherwise, why would Scripture tell us he was reddish? Whereas it is understandable that it says he was hairy — this explains why his name is “Eisov.” Although it is written also about Dovid that “He was reddish” (Shmuel I 16:12), the earlier sages have explained in Bereishis Rabbah 63:8 that concerning Dovid it is written (ibid), “With beautiful eyes” — teaching that David shed blood according to the directives of the Sanhedrin, who are called “Eyes of the congregation” (Bamidbar 15:24).

ויגדלו הנערים, “the lads grew up;” Rashi comments on this statement that they had attained the age of 13 at this point. During the years prior to this they did not show signs of developing radically different from one another. Until that age they had both been tutored by their father and been trained in how to become wholesome personalities, as pointed out in Bereshit Rabbah 63,10. It is pointed out there that as of that age the father may thank the Lord that he has been relieved of the burden of raising his children. [Every father nowadays recites this blessing at his son’s bar mitzvah. Ed.] The deeper meaning of this is that from that day on a father is no longer held accountable for sins committed by his children. You might object by arguing that at the time of the sale of the birthright the children must have been at least 15 years old, seeing that our sages interpret the dish of lentils that Yaakov had cooked as having been the meal offered on the occasion of their grandfather Avraham being buried at the age of one hundred and seventy five, and they added that the reason that Avraham did not live to be one hundred and eighty, was to spare him the anguish of seeing his grandson Esau going astray spiritually. We know from the Torah that Avraham had been one hundred years of age when Yitzchok was born, so that at his death the children of Yitzchok must have been 15 years of age. The answer given by the midrash to this argument is that Esau had succeeded in keeping his wicked deeds secret or misrepresenting them as good deeds for two years.

Already from the womb they are separated... Re’m writes that according to Rashi, יִפָרֵדו is to be understood as present tense, for Rashi writes הם נפרדים (they are separated). Here, Hashem is not telling her what is in her womb. He already told her, “Two nations are in your womb.” He is rather telling her the nature of these nations. While still in the womb, as yet unborn, they are exceptionally separated from one another — one to his evil ways and the other to his wholesomeness. This is why Rashi writes נפרדים, present tense, rather than יִפָרֵדו, future tense. He is saying that already in the womb, they are separated. You might ask: Does the Sifrei not say that the evil inclination does not affect a person while he is his mother’s womb? For it is written (8:21), “The inclination of man’s heart is evil מנעריו,” meaning [that he has the evil inclination only] after he is shaken (ננער) from his mother’s womb. The answer is: Before a person is born, the evil inclination does not cause him to lust sins. But Eisov was drawn to the sin of idolatry because it was his nature. He sought out his own kind. (Gur Aryeh)