Twinning and Splitting: The History of a Cry Parshat Toldot

(31) He too prepared a dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father sit up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may give me your innermost blessing.” (32) His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, Esau, your first-born!” (33) Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. “Who was it then,” he demanded, “that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!” (34) When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!” (35) But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.” (36) [Esau] said, “Was he, then, named Jacob that he might supplant me these two times? First he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing!” And he added, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” (37) Isaac answered, saying to Esau, “But I have made him master over you: I have given him all his brothers for servants, and sustained him with grain and wine. What, then, can I still do for you, my son?” (38) And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!” And Esau wept aloud. (39) And his father Isaac answered, saying to him,
“See, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earth
And the dew of heaven above.
(40) Yet by your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
But when you grow restive,
You shall break his yoke from your neck.”

(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.”

(10) “His eyes dimmed from seeing” – Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya said:
Another matter. “from seeing [mereot]” – as a result of that sight [re’iya]; when Abraham our patriarch bound his son atop the altar, the ministering angels wept. That is what is written: “Behold, their angels cry out outside…” (Isaiah 33:7). Tears fell from their eyes into his eyes, and they had an effect inside his eyes. When he grew old, his eyes dimmed. That is what is written: “It was when Isaac was old…”

Timna was the daughter of kings, as it is written: “The chief of Lotan” (Genesis 36:29), and: “The chief of Timna” (Genesis 36:40), and each chief is a member of a monarchy, albeit without a crown. That is why they are called chief and not king. Timna sought to convert. She came before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they did not accept her. She went and became a concubine of Eliphaz, son of Esau, and said, referring to herself: It is preferable that she will be a maidservant for this nation, and she will not be a noblewoman for another nation. Ultimately, Amalek, son of Eliphaz, emerged from her, and that tribe afflicted the Jewish people. What is the reason that the Jewish people were punished by suffering at the hand of Amalek? It is due to the fact that they should not have rejected her when she sought to convert. Therefore, the verse is significant.

(1) When Mordecai learned all that had happened, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went through the city, crying out loudly and bitterly,

(4) “When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out, a very great and bitter cry, and he said to his father: Bless me too, my father” (Genesis 27:34).
“When Esau heard the words of his father” – Rabbi Ḥanina said: Anyone who says that the Holy One blessed be He is lax, may his intestines become lax. Rather, He shows patience and collects His due. Jacob caused Esau to cry out one cry, as it is written: “When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out.” Where did He punish him [Jacob]? It was in the Shushan citadel, as it is stated: “[When Mordekhai learned what had happened…] and cried out an exceedingly loud and bitter cry” (Esther 4:1).