(19) And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begot Isaac. (20) And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. (21) And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD let Himself be entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (22) And the children struggled together within her; and she said: ‘If it be so, wherefore do I live?’ And she went to inquire of the LORD. (23) And the LORD said unto her: Two nations are in thy womb, And two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; And the one people shall be stronger than the other people; And the elder shall serve the younger.
Rashi on Genesis 25:22
And the children struggled within her
Whenever she would pass a house of prayer or house of study, Jacob would struggle to come out ... and when she passed a house of idol-worship, Esau would struggle to come out. Also, they were struggling between themselves, fighting over the inheritance of the two worlds (i.e., the material world, and the "world to come").
(7) When Rebekah had been pregnant seven months, she began to wish that the curse of childlessness had not been removed from her. She suffered torturous pain, because her twin sons began their lifelong quarrels in her womb. They strove to kill each other. If Rebekah walked in the vicinity of a temple erected to idols, Esau moved in her body, and if she passed a synagogue or a Bet ha-Midrash, Jacob essayed to break forth from her womb. The quarrels of the children turned upon such differences as these. Esau would insist that there was no life except the earthly life of material pleasures, and Jacob would reply: "My brother, there are two worlds before us, this world and the world to come. In this world, men eat and drink, and traffic and marry, and bring up sons and daughters, but all this does not take place in the world to come. If it please thee, do thou take this world, and I will take the other."...
(27) And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
(28) Now Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison; and Rebekah loved Jacob.
What is the difference between Isaacs love and Rebecca's love?
How do you imagine Esau and Yaakov feel about their parents expression of love?
(29) And Jacob sod pottage; and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. (30) And Esau said to Jacob: ‘Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.’ Therefore was his name called Edom. (31) And Jacob said: ‘Sell me first thy birth right.’ (32) And Esau said: ‘Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall the birthright do to me?’ (33) And Jacob said: ‘Swear to me first’; and he swore unto him; and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. (34) And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
(21) ...Tired and exhausted he (Esau) arrived at home to find Jacob busy preparing a dish of lentils... (22) Esau accosted Jacob thus, "Why art thou preparing lentils?" (23) Jacob: "Because our grandfather passed away; they shall be a sign of my grief and mourning, that he may love me in the days to come." (24) Esau: "Thou fool! Dost thou really think it possible that man should come to life again after he has been dead and has mouldered in the grave?" He continued to taunt Jacob. "Why dost thou give thyself so much trouble?" he said. "Lift up thine eyes, and thou wilt see that all men eat whatever comes to hand--fish, creeping and crawling creatures, swine's flesh, and all sorts of things like these, and thou vexest thyself about a dish of lentils." (25) Jacob: "If we act like other men, what shall we do on the day of the Lord, the day on which the pious will receive their reward, when a herald will proclaim: Where is He that weigheth the deeds of men, where is He that counteth?" (26) Esau: "Is there a future world? Or will the dead be called back to life? If it were so, why hath not Adam returned? Hast thou heard that Noah, through whom the world was raised anew, hath reappeared? Yea, Abraham, the friend of God, more beloved of Him than any man, hath he come to life again?" (27) Jacob: "If thou art of opinion that there is no future world, and that the dead do not rise to new life, then why dost thou want thy birthright? Sell it to me, now, while it is yet possible to do so. Once the Torah is revealed, it cannot be done. Verily, there is a future world, in which the righteous receive their reward. I tell thee this, lest thou say later I deceived thee."
What is the difference between Esau and Yitzhak in this midrash?
Lord of the Flies- act out the scene and compare with the Yaakov and Esav story
Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day’s hunting. Swearing, he turned off the trail and pushed his way through until the forest opened a little and instead of bald trunks supporting a dark roof there were light grey trunks and crowns of feathery palm. Beyond these was the glitter of the sea and he could hear voices. Ralph was standing by a contraption of palm trunks and leaves, a rude shelter that faced the lagoon and seemed very near to falling down. He did not notice when Jack spoke.
“Got any water?”
Ralph looked up, frowning, from the complication of leaves. He did not notice Jack even when he saw him.
“I said have you got any water? I’m thirsty.”
Ralph withdrew his attention from the shelter and realized Jack with a start.
“Oh, hullo. Water? There by the tree. Ought to be some left.”
Jack took up a coconut shell that brimmed with fresh water from among a group that was arranged in the shade, and drank. The water splashed over his chin and neck and chest. He breathed noisily when he had fin- ished.
“Needed that.”...
He flung himself down at Jack’s feet... Once down, Ralph explained.
“Been working for days now. And look!”
Two shelters were in position, but shaky. This one was a ruin.
“And they keep running off.
You remember the meeting? How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished?”
“Except me and my hunters—”
“Except the hunters...
Ralph lay flat and looked up at the palm trees and the sky.
“Meetings. Don’t we love meetings? Every day. Twice a day. We talk.”
He got on one elbow. “I bet if I blew the conch this minute, they’d come running. Then we’d be, you know, very solemn, and someone would say we ought to build a jet, or a submarine, or a TV set. When the meeting was over they’d work for five minutes, then wander off or go hunting.”
Jack flushed.
“We want meat.”
“Well, we haven’t got any yet. And we want shelters. Besides, the rest
of your hunters came back hours ago. They’ve been swimming.”
“I went on,” said Jack. “I let them go. I had to go on. I—”
He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was
swallowing him up.
“I went on. I thought, by myself—” The madness came into his eyes again.
“I thought I might—kill.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I thought I might.”
Some hidden passion vibrated in Ralph’s voice. “But you haven’t yet.”
His invitation might have passed as casual, were it not for the under- tone.
“You wouldn’t care to help with the shelters, I suppose?”
“We want meat—”
“And we don’t get it.”
Now the antagonism was audible.
“But I shall! Next time! I’ve got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs— ”
“We need shelters.”
Suddenly Jack shouted in rage.
“Are you accusing—?”
“All I’m saying is we’ve worked dashed hard. That’s all.”
They were both red in the face and found looking at each other diffi-
cult. Ralph rolled on his stomach and began to play with the grass.
“If it rains like when we dropped in we’ll need shelters all right...
What connections can you make between Ralph and Jack and Jacob and Esau?
What is important to Ralph and What is important to Jack?
The Stanford Marshmallow Test - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/11117560/The-marshmallow-test-Stanford-University-experiment-that-claims-to-predict-a-childs-future-successes.html
Immediate vs. Delayed gratificatin
Do this with your students or watch the video and discuss.
What would you do?
Red Lentil Soup
Red lentils
any orange vegetables- ie, carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash
1 onion
salt
pepper
1 tsp. cumin
chop everything and add to pot with water to cover- bring to a boil and then lower flame and cover pot let simmer for 45 minutes.
Either blend or eat as is!