Can’t Change Your Language
A Jew can and in some cases may, figuratively speaking, put on the clothing of other cultures. A Jew can engage the outside world, interact with it and be a part of it, insofar as the external aspects of the world are concerned. But when it comes to our essence, A Jew will discover that try as he might, he cannot help himself. His or her Jewish soul will inadvertently emerge in his or her speech, and reveal their true essence.
“The Voice is the Voice of Jacob, and the Hands are the Hands of Esau.”
In this week’s parsha, the Torah relates how the Patriarch Isaac, sensing that his end might be near, summons his son Esau so he could impart his special blessings to him. But first, he asks him to go hunting, and bring him the food that he Isaac preferred. When Rebecca overhears this conversation, she tells her son Jacob to dress in Esau’s clothing, so that his father will think that he was Esau, and then he will receive the blessings.
When Jacob comes to his father and serves him the special meal Rebecca prepared and gently and reverently asks his father to partake of the food, Isaac is confused. He expresses his bewilderment by asking Jacob, “Are you my son Esau or not?” After touching and feeling him he exclaims: “The voice is the voice of Jacob, and the hands are the hands of Esau.”
From the above narrative it is clear that Jacob was almost caught in this ruse. His voice almost gave him away. According to Rashi, it wasn’t the sound of his voice but the manner in which he spoke. Jacob was soft-spoken, polite and reverential. In addition, he would always invoke G-d in his conversations.
Why Didn’t Jacob Disguise His Voice?
The question can be asked. If Jacob was trying to deceive Isaac into thinking that he was indeed Esau, why didn’t he disguise his voice? Why didn’t he try to mimic Esau’s brusqueness and irreverent style of speech?
This question is magnified in light of Jacob’s fear—that he initially expressed to his mother—that he would be caught and that would bring curses on him rather than blessings. If so, why did he take a chance and risk being cursed by his father—with all that this curse would have entailed—by not trying to mimic Esau’s manner of speech?
Two intertwined answers come to mind, both of which carry important messages for us in our own lives.
A Give Away
The first approach is based on the words of the Haggadah—indeed, our Sages tell us that this entire event with Jacob and the blessings occurred on Passover—that introduce the Four Son’s sayings: “A wise son, what does he say.” The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe provided the following revised rendition of this phrase: “A wise son, what he truly is, he says.” While a person can dress in ways that are totally not in consonance with his nature and value system, a person will always give himself or herself away by their way of speaking.
And while the way one dresses can give us some insight into a person, it merely exposes some of the more peripheral aspects of a person’s personality. Our speech, by contrast, reveals so much more of who we really are. (It also works the other way around. The words we use can help to shape and mold our essential character.)
Hence, when Jacob came before his father Isaac, even if he tried to disguise the sound of his voice, he discovered that he simply could not alter the way he spoke, inasmuch as it was a reflection of his inner nature. He just couldn’t help it; good and G-dly words just rolled off his tongue.
Engage but don’t Change
The lesson from this explanation is that a Jew can and in some cases may, figuratively speaking, put on the clothing of other cultures. A Jew can engage the outside world, interact with it and be a part of it, insofar as the external aspects of the world are concerned. But when it comes to our essence, A Jew will discover that try as he might, he cannot help himself. His or her Jewish soul will inadvertently emerge in his or her speech, and reveal their true essence.
The second approach as to why Jacob did not alter the manner of his speech can be offered by way of a story:
No Betrayal, No Matter What!
When the Lubavitcher Rebbe was in Vichy France during the Second World War, they were registering people by their religion. The Rebbe was not home at the time. The person who registered him wrote down that he was “Orthodox.” When the Rebbe heard of this, despite the obvious danger to his life, he quickly went to the authorities and had them change his registration to “Jewish.” His reasoning that he offered was that he did not want to be separated from his G-d and his religion even on paper, since the word Orthodox might have implied that he was a member of the Greek or Russian Orthodox community and was not Jewish.
A Jew, by dint of his or her nature, cannot and will not even say or write something that can be considered a betrayal of his or her most cherished beliefs and principles. Jacob’s inability to change his manner of speech thus could have very well been a conscious decision on his part. “Come what may,” he might have reasoned, “I cannot betray the legacy of my father and mother by perverting the integrity of my speech. I will not leave G-d out of my vocabulary. And while I might try on Esau’s clothing and even use some measure of deception to claim the blessings that are rightfully mine, but offered to Esau because he had successfully hoodwinked his father, I will not change my essence—my loyalty to G-d.”
The lesson is obvious and powerful: Whether consciously or sub-consciously, a Jew’s essence will always come to the fore, even if it would seem to be to their detriment.
Twin Phenomenon on Display
As we get closer to the coming of Moshiach, we see the twin phenomenon of Jews—while feeling quite comfortable wearing the “clothing” of Esau and having become an integral part of all strata of society—have nevertheless not lost their manner of speech. This has manifested itself in many ways.
One tragic expression of this was seen and heard a few years ago when the terrorists murdered the Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl of blessed memory, may G-d avenge his blood. In his last words, he proclaimed proudly his Jewish identity. His words expressed his true essence.
May we see the time when a Jew will proclaim his or her Jewish identity in peace with the imminent coming of Moshiach.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Toldos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
