The Voice of Jacob and the Hands of Esau
A Jew cannot be passive. Judaism is not a spectator sport. One must be actively engaged in one’s Jewish life.
Jewish Strength: The Voice of Jacob
Rebecca overhears her husband Isaac tell their son Esau that he wants to bless him before he dies. She then directs Jacob to get the blessings by wearing Esau’s furs so that if his father—who could not see—would try to touch him, he would think it was the hairy Esau that he was blessing.
When Jacob addresses his father Isaac, Isaac immediately detects that something is strange. It was the voice of Jacob, not Esau. So he asks him to approach so that he can feel him. And when he feels the hairy texture of the fur, Isaac exclaims: “The voice is the voice of Jacob, and the hands are the hands of Esau.”
This expression has been used by our Sages to describe the different powers that were possessed by the descendants of Esau (specifically the Romans) and the descendants of Jacob (the Jewish nation):
While other nations of the earth expressed their strength by the use of their hands and arms, the strength of the Jewish people lies in their voice, in their prayers and study of Torah.
The Role of Intent Versus Action
There is another interesting interpretation that has been given by one of the early Chassidic masters, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polna’ah, a leading disciple of the Ba’al Shem Tov. This interpretation concerns the necessity of having the right intentions while performing a mitzvah.
According to Jewish law, as codified by the great Maimonides, if one were to hear the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, but not have in mind to fulfill a religious obligation, they would not have fulfilled their obligation. For example, if one were to hear the sounds of the shofar as he was passing by a synagogue, but did not think of fulfilling his obligation at that time, they do need to hear the shofar later.
There is a discrepancy, however, in this matter, for Maimonides himself rules that if one were to eat Matzah on Passover without the intention of fulfilling his religious obligation, he would not have to repeat the eating of Matzah, for he has fulfilled his religious duty. The intent is not crucial to the fulfillment of the Mitzvah.
So which is it? Why is it that for the Mitzvah of Shofar one must have the intent, whereas for the mitzvah of Matazh the intent is not imperative?
One answer given by one of Maimonides’ earliest commentators is that hearing a sound is a passive function, whereas eating is active. In order to make a Mitzvah out of hearing, that takes no physical effort, one needs to expend the mental effort, in order to make the passive act of hearing shofar an active Mitzvah.
By contrast, eating Matzah is an active performance. Hence there is no need to have intent to discharge one’s obligation. The act itself has intrinsic value. To be sure, ideally, one should have both physical and mental effort in doing a Mitzvah, nevertheless, in the event that it was lacking, one still has accomplished something just with one’s action.
This is how Rabbi Yaakov Yosef interprets the words of Isaac: “The voice is the voice of Jacob and the hands are the hands of Esau”:
When it comes to a Mitzvah that involves hearing a sound (the Hebrew word for voice “kol” also means sound), it must be infused with the spirit of Jacob. One must have the proper intent. If, however, it is a Mitzvah that involves action, then even if it were the “hands of (the non- spiritual) Esau”; an act that is devoid of feeling, it is nonetheless a Mitzvah.
Passivity is Passé
There is a dual lesson in the above:
One the one hand, we derive from this law, that a Jew cannot be passive. Judaism is not a spectator sport. One must be actively engaged in one’s Jewish life.
On the other hand, we should not think that if we do not perform the Mitzvah with all of our physical and mental faculties that it may not pay to start. Any physical involvement with a Mitzvah, even if it lacks the infusion of the ideal mental, emotional and spiritual dimension, is nonetheless a bona fide Mitzvah.
Cascade of Cataclysmic Events
The above has special application to the time in which we live.
We are witness to an unprecedented avalanche of events of cataclysmic proportions. And more importantly, perhaps, we are now capable of hearing about these events—that eluded us in the past—due to the media explosion that bring all these events to our attention.
And although we have no way of knowing why the tragic events are happening, our tradition teaches us to look at every event and ask: what? What do these events teach us? And the answer provided by our tradition is that these events are G-d’s “shofar,” G-d’s way of awakening and jolting us, so that we realize that Moshiach is on his way and it is high time for us to be part of the process of Redemption. But, we cannot just passively allow the reverberations of the world’s upheavals merely enter our consciousness; we must make a special effort to hear and internalize this wake-up call.
Just Do it!
And at the same time, we must also accentuate the “hands of Esau” in the performance of more acts of goodness and kindness. Don’t worry about your motives and feelings when a decision has to be made to do a Mitzvah; just do it. The feelings will come later, but the opportunity to do that one act of kindness—that might be the one act needed to change the balance of the entire world that will bring about its salvation—will be lost.
Don’t be concerned if people tell you “you are a hypocrite” because you did a Mitzvah, and you’re still no better than Esau. For it is this Mitzvah that might transform you into a Jacob, and make you receptive to the sound of the Great Shofar that will usher in the age when our feelings and actions will be well integrated—the voice and hands will both be those of Jacob.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Toldos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
