Chanukah is when Esav and Yaakov square off, on a deep level. It wasn’t just about the war, of course.
The Greeks wanted us to give it all up and admit to their “enlightened” way of thinking.
They were at the top of their game, in all the leading fields. Philosophy, technology, confusing mathematical ideas, you name it. And they wanted us to stop with all this Torah business and join the modern world already.
Really, that’s not where the battle started or ended. Every generation has had its own version of the battle for the Torah way of thinking. The battle already started with Yaakov and Esav. When Esav sold his birthright to Yaakov, the Torah calls it a “bizayon” — a disgrace. The question is — why?
Esav had some very legitimate reasons to turn it down, as Rashi brings. The firstborns were supposed to do the avodah, the Divine service. If you make even a slight mistake, such as thinking the wrong thoughts, while bringing the offering, you become liable to the Heavenly death penalty. Based on that concern, Esav gave up the birthright.
That’s a significant workplace hazard. Most of us wouldn’t be up for that type of risk either, would we? So why is Esav’s walking away from that called a disgrace?
Rav Moshe Feinstein gives a powerful answer: If a person has the option to take on a communal responsibility, even if there are big risks involved, he has to take it on. And if not, it’s a disgrace. Rav Moshe goes on to call out point-blank those people who could have become leaders in the then-fledgling world of American Jewry but turned down positions out of fear.
His holy words are powerful without any elaboration.
But if we think about it, there’s something more going on here.
Because Esav wasn’t being offered a position of responsibility and authority. The truth is, he already had it. He was the firstborn. Had Yaakov not bought that right, Esav would have stayed that way. That means Esav wasn’t expected to avoid a fearful situation. He was already living in it full-force.
His job, it seems, was to accept his status and overcome the fear. To stop for a moment and think to himself: “If Hashem put me in this position—as the firstborn son of Yitzchak, who will perform the most Divine service known to man on behalf of my family—that must mean I can succeed.”
His job was to believe in himself and to know that if he would try his best, Hashem would help him every step of the way.
But he couldn’t do it. The fear was too much. So when the opportunity came, he sold the birthright and escaped. And Yaakov jumped on the opportunity with two feet. It all came down to emunah and bitachon. That’s where the first split happened, and the rest is history.
We all are offered positions that involve some amount of responsibility from time to time. We might feel up to the challenge; we might not. We might legitimately understand that we are not the right person for the position, and that’s our call to make.
But what’s more important is to own those roles that we are already filling.
If you are married, it means you can be amazing at shalom bayis — even if you leave your socks on the floor (work on that, by the way).
If you have friends, it means you can be a devoted and loyal friend — even if you forgot to call for a few weeks. Or months. Or years!
If you are a teacher, it means you can teach your students the information in exactly the way they need to learn it, no matter what the other teachers are doing.
And if you’re a parent?
That means you can do a good job. A fantastic job.
You’ve already got the job, and you are the best person for it, plain and simple.
If we are afraid of this role, that means we’re using our heads. Parenthood is scary. The stakes are incredibly high. One wrong move, one bad moment, and we’re up all night asking the internet if we’ve messed our kids up forever.
But if that fear means we escape from it, and assume someone else is a better fit for our kids, we’ve got a problem.
The Maccabees didn’t run. They were outnumbered and outgunned. But they realized what was on their doorstep. The war was happening, and they were the soldiers, whether they liked it or not. So they stepped up.
We’re not being offered this role. We already have it. Our kids are already here.
If we do what we can, we can absolutely expect Divine assistance, because Hashem is raising these kids along with us anyway.
Yaakov bought the birthright because he understood that when Hashem gives you the job, He also gives you everything you need to do it. He’s not asking us to do it alone. He’s asking us to do it with Him.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 62 Chanukah.
