Another viewpoint of this weeks Torah/Bible portion: by Yehuda HaKohen. After two decades of marriage to Yitzhak, Rivka’s womb is finally opened as HaShem blesses the couple with children. There is, however, something irregular about her pregnancy.
“The children agitated within her, and she said, `If so, why am I thus?’ And she went to inquire of HaShem. And HaShem said to her: `Two nations are in your womb; two regimes from your insides shall be separated; the might shall pass from one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.'” (BEREISHIT 25:22-23)
The Maharal of Prague teaches in his Gur Aryeh commentary that the struggle in Rivka’s womb between Yaakov and Esav was not at all influenced by their personal inclinations of good and evil, as these inclinations could not exist before birth. Rather, Yaakov and Esav represent cosmic forces in Creation – forces that transcend the normal course of personality development and existed within them even when in their mother’s womb.
Rivka, anxious that the struggle inside her could have resulted from some iniquity on her part, went to Shem (son of Noah) in order to inquire of G-D. Through Shem, she is informed that her unborn sons represent not only two nations, but also two conflicting ideologies – Israel and Edom – and that the struggle in the womb was the irreconcilable conflict already raging between them.
Our Sages explain (Megillah 6a) that Israel and Edom cannot be simultaneously dominant on the world stage. When one nation rises the other must fall. History has shown that not only the nations but also their cultures have forever been in conflict. And ultimately one will succeed in completely eclipsing the other.
During the early Hebrew Kingdoms, when Israel was counted as a major world power, Esav’s offspring were of no major significance to the political or cultural developments of man (they were even subjugated under the Israeli Kingdom for many years). It was not until the second Temple period that Esav’s descendants, the Roman Empire, appeared on the scene as a central player. Rome exerted political influence over Israel, invaded our country, destroyed our Temple, put down countless Judean revolts (albeit with great difficulty), exiled us from our native soil and even sought to abolish the Israeli character of our country (altering her name from Judea to Palestine). Since that time, Rome has succeeded in dominating much of the world with its culture, values and pagan notions of morality.
To fully grasp the eternal conflict between our nations, it is necessary to examine the essence of Edom – how it developed through time and how it clashes with Israel’s culture of Torah.
The essence of Esav is to appear righteous on the outside while being internally repulsive (much like a pig that has all external signs of kashrut yet lacks the internal requirements of cleanliness). The Roman Empire, Christianity and modern Western culture all stem from the impure source of Esav. From the time the Roman Empire adopted Christianity, this oppressive dogma was imposed throughout the world, eventually becoming the foundation for what is now Western civilization.
Beginning as a breakaway Hebrew sect, Christianity grew in influence and ultimately dominated most of the civilized world. Through powerful vehicles such as the Roman Legion and later the Crusades, this poisoned doctrine spread far and wide as it was used as a means of controlling the masses. By abandoning the mitzvot of HaShem’s Torah, Christianity enshrouded the world in a seemingly legitimate offshoot of idol worship. While superficially mimicking the Torah’s sense of values, Christianity actually led the world further away from a true connection to HaShem. Under a guise of false righteousness, this synthetic religion demanded an unnatural level of piety, repressing man’s basic character traits and breeding a culture of guilt and forbidden desires, which built up inside of Western society until finally exploding in the form of cataclysmic bloodshed.
Inwardly sensing his estrangement from HaShem, modern man came to reject the Church and its teachings. Religion became viewed as a prison from which humanity must escape. In seeking freedom from the chains of theology, society leaped to the opposite extreme. Man’s every passion was declared holy and every desire suddenly became permissible. Europeans revolted against the Church’s dominion and the culture of Esav was given new expression. The European “enlightenment” and its ideological derivatives became the natural modern outgrowths of oppressive Christianity and the next incarnation of Edomism in the world. Europe became a continent where “rationalism” reigned supreme. But because Christianity had for centuries stifled the life force of Europe, base traits and suppressed rages festered without a healthy outlet. Like a volcano, they burst forth in the form of devastating world wars, granting release to ancient pent-up aggression.
Enlightened civilization was exposed as a mask that had been hiding man’s primitive passions for centuries (the same murderous impulses which had hallmarked ancient Rome). No enduring moral progress had ever been achieved. Two world wars erupted from Europe and scorched the entire globe with the slaughter of millions.
The worldview of Edom grew powerful and expanded its influence on the civilized world, first through Roman imperialism and then through the vehicle of Christian theology. Modern civilization, although predominantly secular and often hostile to the Church, is rooted in a value system that springs from Christian dogma. In separating mankind from the true path of serving G-D, Christianity remains the core foundation of Western thought.
The ideology of Esav – in all of its various forms – has unquestionably been the greatest cultural influence of the past two thousand years, laying the basic framework for Western morality. While professing to be an enlightened civilization, modern society is still rampant with the profane culture of Edom. Rather than refining and uplifting man’s traits, Western civilization leaves him in a primitive state. The greed, selfishness and base lusts that currently dominate society, along with the devastating wars of the previous century, underscore the failure of the “Age of Enlightenment” to lift man out of his deep moral prison.
But there is still hope for the world. After a long and bitter exile from our country, the Nation of Israel has begun to experience a miraculous rebirth. Returning to take possession of our homeland, fostering agricultural achievements in a seemingly impossible soil, winning miraculous victories in war and reviving our ancient language to everyday use, the Jewish people are experiencing a full national renaissance. While the physical accomplishments continue to push forward, the Torah character of our state is beginning to flourish. The Jewish people are slowly separating from the contaminated value system of Edom and returning to the holy culture of HaShem’s Divine Truth.
Israel’s national resurgence is troubling for Esav’s spiritual descendents. World leaders instinctively feel the threat of Israel’s renaissance, and of the destruction it heralds for Western civilization. The subconscious realization that Israel is ascending to become the dominant moral light in the world compels the international community to try and limit the size and strength of the Jewish state. While pressuring Jerusalem to surrender portions of the Jewish homeland and lending support to regional forces committed to Israel’s destruction, the West bombards our culture with its spirit of materialism in a distracting attempt to lull the Hebrew Nation into a complacent consumer culture. The disproportionate focus of world media attention on Israel, along with the validity given to the claims of our enemies, are merely tools employed by Edom to prevent the Jewish people’s full national rebirth as well as the moral revolution we are bringing to mankind.
Rivka was told that “The might shall pass from one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.” This is the deterministic blueprint of human history. The cosmic force of Yaakov will eclipse that of Esav. The salvation of HaShem is destined to reach mankind through the Zionist Revolution advancing in our day. The downfall of Edom will bring peace to the world as humanity is liberated from centuries of spiritual tyranny. As Israel’s Redemption continues to unfold and the Jewish Nation rises to the challenges confronting us, the ideal culture of Torah will be bestowed upon man, bringing all of Creation unparalleled blessing.
With Love of Israel,
-Yehuda HaKohen
Am Segula
