Esau's Soul

Parshas Toldot begins by telling us about Yitzchak (Isaac)'s family: "These are the children of Yitzchak." But this verse does not tell us about the children of Yitzchak.

Because the names of Yitzchak's children are not mentioned in the possuk (verse), Rashi, a famous Torah commentator, explains that the possuk refers to "Yaakov (Jacob) and Esau, about whom this parshah speaks."

But wouldn't we have known this without looking into Rashi? Most of us surely know that Yaakov and Esau were Yitzchak's only children. So why did Rashi make a point of telling us?

If we read Rashi's words carefully, we will realize that he is trying to teach us something deeper than the names of the children. With the words, "about whom this parshah speaks," Rashi teaches us how to think about Yaakov - and even more so, how to think about Esau.

We know that Esau was a person who did not always do good deeds. We do not approve of what he did or the way he talked. But Rashi tells us, "Yaakov and Esau, about whom this parshah speaks." We should look at a person, even an Esau, the way our parshah in the Torah speaks.

What does this mean?

The Torah does not decide whether a person is good only by his deeds. The Torah looks deeper, into his neshamah (soul), and searches for the good which is there. Every Jewish neshamah is good, because it is a part of G-d. Even if a person may not do good deeds, the goodness of his neshamah is there, and the Torah tells us that it has the power to come out. Nothing can stand in the way of the neshamah.

Rashi is teaching us not to jump to conclusions about Esau. Instead, we should try to see things in the same way as the Torah. This helps us realize that even a person like Esau has good inside, and that G-d is waiting patiently for it to come out and shine. Because it will. 

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom!

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