“וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק אֶת־עֵשָׂו כִּי־צַיִד בְּפִיו וְרִבְקָה אֹהֶבֶת אֶת־יַעֲקֹב”
And Yitzchak loved Esav because game was in his mouth, and Rivka loves Yaakov
Bereishit 25:28
“וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק אֶת־עֵשָׂו כִּי־צַיִד בְּפִיו” Yitzchak loved Eisav because he had game in his mouth.
“וְרִבְקָה אֹהֶבֶת אֶת־יַעֲקֹב” Rivka loves Yaakov.
Yitzchak’s love is described in the past tense (וַיֶּאֱהַב) while Rivka’s love is in the present tense (אֹהֶבֶת). Also notice that Yitzchak’s love for Eisav comes with a reason “כִּי־צַיִד בְּפִיו” while Rivka’s love for Yaakov states no reason.
Fatherly Love
A father doesn’t need a ‘because’, a reason to love a child. Parental love is natural, instinctive, automatic. So why does the Torah state a reason why Yitzchak loved Eisav?
Chazal explain that Eisav was a master of deception. He looked righteous. He asked halachic questions, like whether one must take maaser (giving a 10th of ones possession to charity) from salt, a food that doesn’t require maaser at all. This sounds like piety. To Yitzchak, Eisav’s apparent frumkeit was admirable.
But Rivka knew the truth. Raised in the home of Lavan, she knew what a faker looked like from miles away. She was not fooled for a moment.
And she saw something else too.
Sibling Rivalry?
Yaakov and Eisav grew up together and Eisav seemed to be earning all their father’s admiration. You might expect Yaakov to try to “outdo” Eisav, ask deeper halachic questions, bring even tastier food, ect. but Yaakov doesn’t compete at all. He continued to sit and learn, serving Hashem dutifully.
The Gemara tells us that in the times of the Beit Hamikdash (temple), two witnesses were needed to testify about the new moon. If a witness claimed “the sun was seen on the dark side of the moon,” Beit Din (Jewish court) knew he was a false witness because
“לְעוֹלָם לֹא רָאָתָה חַמָּה פְּגִימָתָהּ שֶׁל לְבָנָה”
The sun has never seen the dark side of the moon.
The Sun And The Moon
The sun and the moon can be a parable. The sun represents the nations of the world and the moon represents the Jewish people. The greatness of the greatest gentile does no not come close to the greatness of the simplest Jew. Hashem (God) loves us simply because we are His children. But when He looks at the other nations and compares us with them, His love for us grows even more.
And so too Rivka. She loves Yaakov because of who Yaakov is, and when she compares him to Eisav, her love for him grows even more. That’s why the Torah says “וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק” in past tense.
Yitzchak loved Eisav until he found out the truth about his wicked son. But Rivka’s love was present tense – אֹהֶבֶת, always growing, increasing every day.
The Torah is teaching a lesson for life. In Shema, we say: “אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּךָ הַיּוֹם” “…that I command you today.”
Keep It Fresh!
Hashem gave us the Torah some 3,000 years ago, what does “today” mean? Every day that we serve Hashem whether through prayers or mitzvot, should feel like the first day we received the Torah at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai). Every mitzvah should feel fresh, new, alive. Our goal should be to keep Yiddishkeit fresh and new.
Let our love for mitzvot be like Rivka’s love for Yaakov – in present tense.
Written by RL Breski; based on the teachings of Rabbi D. Zahn
