Parshat Toldot - Mindset for Mitzvah
by Rabbi Lobel

Isaac intended to bless his son, Esau. Isaac tells his son (Genesis 27:2-5), "behold, I have reached old age and do not know the day of my death. Now, sharpen your hunting utensils, your sword, your bow, and go out to the field and hunt. Then make delicacies for me such as I love and bring them to me so I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die".

Rebecca overhears the conversation, tells Jacob, and advises him to bring two young goats from her personal flock. Then Rebecca prepares the delicacies the way Isaac loves them. She tells Jacob to bring the delicacies to Isaac so that Isaac may bless Jacob in place of his brother, Esau. Even though Isaac's vision was weak and he would not have recognized Jacob, still Jacob was worried, and said "my brother is a hairy man and I'm a smooth skinned man; perhaps my father will touch me and I will be a mockery. I will thus bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing" (Genesis 27:11-12). To combat this, (Genesis 27:15-16) "Rebecca took the clothing of Esau, her eldest son, his clean garments, which were with her in the house, and placed them on Jacob, her younger son. And with the skins of the goats she clothed his arms and smooth neck."

The Medrash Rabba (30 CE – 200 CE; Genesis 65:16) asks, why the special reference to “clean garments”? The Medrash relates that that these garments were actually inherited by Esau from Nimrod. The Maharzu (Ze’ev Volf Einhorn of Vilna 19th Century), explaining the Medrash, says that Nimrod received these garments from Cham, Noah's son, Noah received them from Adam, and Adam received them from God, after wrongfully eating from the tree of knowledge. The Medrash continues that Esau would serve and honor his father dressed in these special clothes. These garments were fit to serve a king, received from the King of Kings, God himself.

Rebbe Shimon the son of Gamliel (10 BCE – 70 CE) comments in the Medrash "all my days I served my father, however, I did not honor him even one one-hundredth of a percent as well as Esau would honor his father, Isaac. I, (Rebbe Shimon) when honoring my father would serve him in plain clothes, when I was finished, I would dress in fine clothing. Not so with Esau; he would serve his father in the finest of garments, garments fit to honor a king." Rebbe Shimon would not want to dirty his finest clothing while serving his father.

Rebbe Shimon is admiring the dedication Esau had when honoring Isaac. The devotion to his father was exemplary and is seen in every facet and form.

If Rebbe Shimon admired Esau why didn’t Rebbe Shimon dress in his finest when honoring his father and achieve the same dedication as Esau?

It seems that when performing a mitzvah (good deed) one's physical actions have to be in line with his inner feelings. Of course, it's easy to dress in your finest, to honor you parents, but the question is, do your inner feelings feel it is important to do so, or can you just as well do the deed with plain clothing? Rebbe Shimon understood that his true feelings were that one could honor parents on a daily basis in a simpler fashion. One doesn't need extravagance to perform the mitzvah of honoring your parents. Esau, on the other hand, felt completely, within his deepest understandings, that not wearing the proper clothes would be a serious lack of dedication toward honoring his father, Isaac.

It wasn't just a physical difference between Esau and Rebbe Shimon on how they honored their parents. It was a true emotional inner feeling that was the root of the difference. Rebbe Shimon would not dress elegantly, as it would not be in line with his actual feelings. If Rebbe Shimon dressed in his finest, it would have created a fraudulent deficiency between Rebbe Shimon's actions and his actual feelings.

Spiritual growth requires balance and consistency. It is understood that Man must observe all the Mitzvot and its fine points. However, the additions which represent the zealousness or beautifications of a mitzvah may cause imbalance if it does not represent the person.