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November 12, 2004/Cheshvan 28 5765, Vol. 57, No. 11
Living for today and tomorrow
Torah study
ELLIOT A. KLEINMAN
Toldot, Genesis 25:19-28:9
They lined up for 10 blocks. That's what the newspapers said. People were lined up for 10 blocks for a chance to see "Esther" (you remember her, she used to be called Madonna) as she arrived at her hotel in Israel. She is a superstar and a hero, beloved by her fans. But is she a Jewish role model?
There are many problematic issues associated with the popularization of kabbalah study. Chief among them is the apparent simplicity it offers. Live in the moment, wear a red band around your wrist, and all will be right with the world. Too often, living "in" the moment has become living "for" the moment.
Torah admonishes us not to live exclusively for the moment lest we forget that tomorrow will bring new challenges and new blessings. The Torah portion Toldot highlights the struggle between this instant and the thousands of tomorrows that follow.
By looking at the story of Jacob and Esau, we can learn to seek a balance between our desires of the moment and our obligations to the future. Esau is an accomplished outdoorsman; his brother, Jacob, is the quiet and contemplative one. Following a long day in the field, Esau returns home. As he approaches his home, he finds Jacob cooking a "red" stew. Able to identify the food only as "red," he asks that it be given to him. Jacob asks for his birthright blessing in return. Esau agrees, saying he has no use for it.
Several questions immediately arise, and each answer helps resolve the questions that follow. Why is Esau so interested in food if he is so tired? The text never really tells us that Esau is "famished." Rather, the Hebrew asserts that he is worn-out, he is tired. Rashi and other commentators observe that Esau spends time considering his birthright blessing (Rashi on Genesis 25:32).
Certainly there were benefits associated with the birthright, but there were also responsibilities. From Rashi we learn that Esau's exhaustion is more spiritual than physical. He is tired of the obligations of family life, tired of the responsibilities associated with Jewish living, and weary of the limitations placed on him daily by his pledge to the future. Would it not be easier simply to ignore tomorrow and live only for today? And so, with the stew as collateral, Esau abandons his future.
Esau wants to live only in and for a particular moment, deciding thus to trade his heritage for a bowl of "red stuff." But the birthright blessing does not work that way for us. Each of us carries this blessing - the blessing ultimately given to Jacob - as our inheritance. Unlike Esau, we are not free to squander it. Rather, it our daily struggle to uphold our inheritance and, through Jewish living, to balance our desire to live for the moment with our sacred responsibility to others and to a better future.
Everyday life is hard for people. All too often we return from our labors drained by the mundane demands placed upon us. The news is filled with people who are too tired to care for their children, too tired to attend to the needs of others, too tired to give of their time and resources for worthy causes.
Our birthright blessing insists not only that we care, but also that we act. A quick fix of kabbalah is not the answer. It is only through Jewish living, learning, and action that we can continually earn our inheritance and redeem ourselves from the spiritual exhaustion that so often afflicts us.
Rabbi Elliott A. Kleinman is the director of the program department for the Union for Reform Judaism. Torat Chayim of the Union for Reform Judaism is at www.urj.org/torah.
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