Parshas Toldos

First off I realized I do have a thanksgiving post after all.

The Parsha of twins. When I was younger I had thought that in every twin relationship there is a Yaakov and Eisav. So I think that’s what motivated me to be a good person, so that I will be the “Yaakov” of the two. It’s actually funny when I babysat the triplets, the mother would always tell her son that he should behave like Yaakov. Kind of giving the image that Yaakov is the good guy, and Eisav the bad guy.

I used to think that it’s all in the parenting, that if you raise good children, then your children will be good. But here is an example, where both Yitzchak and Rivka were good parents, and yet they had an Eisav. But apparently there are different ways to raise each child, that each one is unique. Like how Yitzchok blessed each of his children differently.

From Something to Say:

And the children agitated within her [Rebecca] (25:22)

Rashi tells us that when Rebecca passed in front of the Yeshiva of Shem and Eber, Jacob would kick inside her, and when she passed in front of temples of idol worship, Esau struggled to come out. The commentaries ask: “We can well understand why Esau wanted to go out to indulge in idolatry. But Jacob, who loved Torah study, had every reason to remain in his mother’s womb. Chazal teach us that during the time that a baby is inside hit’s mother, an angel is teaching it Torah. In that case, why would Jacob want to leave? Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef answers that Jacob wanted to learn the Torah through his own toil and effort. He knew that being me value or permanence as acquiring with it the same value or permanence as acquiring it with one’s own effort.

I thought this was a great explanation to why Yaakov wanted to leave his mothers womb when they passed by the Yeshiva of Shem VaEver. It shows that there is an importance to earning your reward, and how you appreciate it more because you put in effort and worked for it.