Dominator culture is a term coined by Riane Eisler, a futurist writer. The future is today, dominator culture is now. On close examination of the above picture one can see dominator culture personified. The fish are climbing all over each other … reaching beyond what is natural… jumping out of the water … for what?
This picture was taken in a park in Nanning China and the fish are being fed small food pellets by curious tourists. The tourists giggle as they watch the fish push and shove each other, climb on top of each other and even leave the water to try and catch a morsel of food. Take a close look at the fish with their mouths wide open, hoping to catch one of the pellets A wonderful metaphor depicting the millions of people who buy lottery tickets hoping the jackpot will fall into their lap.
Competition personified! Some say an image is worth 1,000 words, this image is worth tens of thousands, crisply illustrating the disgusting reality of the masses of people around the globe today. All this in the socially acceptable pursuit of liberty, wealth and vanity, promoted in the name of individuality and competition. People literally trample each other for the prize … a morsel of gold … and all of this is considered quite acceptable behavior in dominator culture.
At one time the world was a grand mosaic of independent civilizations, each with their unique combination of beliefs, values, art, literature and customs. Over time the superior civilizations conquered their neighbors and imposed their way of life on the conquered peoples, Thucydides style. “The strong will do as they wish and the weak will suffer as they must.”
The Roman Empire and Qin Dynasty are classic examples of this evolution of culture. The emerging cultures were at first a confluence of the ancestral civilizations, but over time evidence of the indigenous cultures disappeared or was integrated into the culture of the captor.
The pervasive existence of competition in the superior civilizations of history inevitably would lead to the emergence of a dominator culture. The essence of competition is winners and losers, a continuous process until one winner emerges. Western culture has emerged as the victor, peacefully or forcefully imposing many aspects of its culture into the farthest corners of the world.
In the mid 19th century, commenting on the culture of France in her day George Sand wrote:
" ... there is a lack of hands to work the land but every profession has a host of aspirants; where human beings, hideously massed together around palaces, crawl and lick the footprints of the rich; where enormous capital, accumulated in accordance with the laws of social wealth ... in a few men's hands, is the prize in a never ending lottery of avarice, immorality, and ineptness ... in this country of lewdness and misery, of vice and desolation, in this civilization, rotten to its very roots, you want me to be a loyal citizen? You want me sacrifice my will, desires, imagination to its needs, being either its dupe or its victim, so the penny I might toss to a beggar will end up in a millionaire's coffers?"
What has changed? Since 1850 or so the cultural characteristics described above has migrated to all countries in the world
“… there is a lack of hands to work the land” The world continues to promote industrialization and urbanization … in the name of progress and modernization. Farming as an honorable way of life continues to be demeaned around the world. Yet what would we do without food to eat … knowledge cannot fill our stomachs. The farmers themselves are insisting their children should have a better life ... a life with membership and status in today’s dominator culture. Yuk!
Today more than 100 million village people (farmers) have migrated to the cities in China in search of a better life. They live and work in deplorable conditions, harboring the hope that their sacrifice will somehow lead to a better life for themselves or their family. What a fallacy! Their sacrifices only serve to make the elite wealthier. There are numerous stories about how many of these people did not receive their meager wages for more than a year.
“ but every profession has a host of aspirants” For several years now we have been told that we live in a knowledge society, knowledge is currency … knowledge is paramount. Higher education is evangelized around the world as the answer to all our social problems, with universities producing more professionals than ever. What will the world do when all people are professionals?
“Crawl and lick the footprints of the rich” the most colorful language I’ve read to describe one of the pillars of our dominant culture. If one tried to imagine people crawling down the corridors of large corporations physically licking footprints we would find ourselves disgusted at the sight. Yet people like George Soros and Bill Gates are revered for their success in amassing huge fortunes in such a short period of time. “a prize in a never ending lottery of avarice, immorality and ineptness”
Unbelievable wealth achieved within the boundaries of our impeccable ‘rule of law’. How disgusting! … that masses of people subscribe to this behavior while children all over the world go to bed hungry.
“... in this country of lewdness and misery, of vice and desolation, in this civilization, rotten to its very roots, you want me to be a loyal citizen? You want me sacrifice my will, desires, imagination to its needs, being either its dupe or its victim” It’s mind boggling that countless numbers of people all over the world do not see themselves in the above imagery. It’s as though they are living an illusion … in a bubble.
Seems he is saying people don’t feel good about the way of the world but they prefer adopting coping mechanisms such as anti depressants rather than attempt to go against the flow. “Any dead fish can float downstream … it takes a live fish to swim upstream” From a homily heard in Medugorje
Like the sheep in the flock … they find themselves with no choice but to follow along. Coping mechanisms abound … drugs like Prozac. Discussions about the popularity of Prozac with some people taking the drug often lead to the same conclusion … people simply can’t handle the stress and anxiety of day to day life. They need drugs to dumb down their feelings … they become walking zombies. Jesus said something to the effect “you are all like whitewashed tombs” Paraphrasing one might say … you dress up nice but inside your hearts are hard as stone or black as coal.
Dostoevsky in his book Brothers Karamozov writes “Turn those stones into bread and I will follow you anywhere.” … a reference to one of the temptations of Jesus during his 40 days in the desert.
Dostoevsky has profound insight into natural human behavior … there is so much truth in these words and they form the cornerstone of today’s dominating culture.
In biblical terms we sell our birthright for a bowl of pottage. The story of Jacob and Esau has perplexed religious scholars for centuries … what is the message for humanity in this story? What does it mean to sell your birthright for a bowl of pottage? What does it mean to be a reprobate?
Bar Hayim uses the Biblical story of Jacob and Essau to challenge a nation’s perspective on the future. St Louis de Montfort uses the same Biblical story to define 2 classes of the people … reprobate and predestined.
The Tora of Guela By HaRav David Bar Hayim
“And it came to pass that Yishaq was old, and his eyes were too dim to see...” (Bereshith27:1). Thus begins the story we recently read in this weekly portion of the Tora, relating how Yishaq came to bestow his blessings upon Ya’aqov, rather that Esauw. the first-born. The Tora describes these events in no less than 51 verses (Bereshith 27:1 - 28:5). many more than the Tora utilizes when speaking of Shabath!
It is with regard to such lengthy ‘narrative’ sections of the Tora that the Zohar states: “Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories .. rather (the fact .is) that everything in the Tora is 1ofty and contains great secrets
and just as His Angels, [who are of spiritual, and not physical essence), when they descend to Earth take on the ‘garments’ of this world (a physical form): and were this not so they [the Angels] could not exist in this world and the world could not bear them ... how much more so the Tora itself – when it descends to this world, were it not to take on the ‘garments’ of the world, the world could not bear it. Thus, the stories of the Tora are the Tora’s ‘garments’ ...“ (Zohar III 152a)
The Zohar repeats this statement with specific references to the tale of Yishaq’s blessing: “All the works of the Holy One Blessed Be He are profoundly true; all things in the Tora are rooted in the mysteries of the Higher Worlds” (Zohar I, 141b). The meaning is clear: the Tora does not spend 51 verses in order to tell us ‘a good story.’ Hashem is trying to tell us something.
“And it came to pass that Yishaq was old, and his eyes were too dim to see, he called Esauw his elder son …” Several questions occur to us upon reading these words, and the story that follows:
Would it not have been sufficient to simply inform us that Yishaq blessed Ya’aqov, despite not being the first born, due to his superior moral behavior(as Hazal are so intent on pointing out)? Would any of us have challenged such a decision?
Why emphasize that Yishaq called Esauw “his elder son”? The fact that Esauw was the first-born is plainly stated at the beginning of the weekly reading.
Why did Yishaq insist on passing his mantle to Esauw? Could he truly not perceive that Ya’aqov was more worthy?
On what basis did our matriarch Rivqa decide that she could devise a plan to grant Ya’aqov the blessings? What did she know that Yishaq did not?
We must begin by defining the attributes of our forefathers. Avraham is known as a man of great kindness and giving: the story of seeing the three travellers in the desert and inviting them into his home is famous (Bereshith 18:1). Our Sages further amplify this picture of Avraham in many Midrashim. Even when the situation required making an unpleasant decision, such as distancing Yishmael from Yishaq and removing him from the family, Avraham faltered: “And this thing was very grievous in Avraham’s eyes(Bereshith 21:11). It ran against the grain of Avraham’s love of compassion.
Yishaq is a more stern and severe figure. When Ya’aqov rebukes Lavan, he refers to his forefathers in an unusual fashion: “Were it not that the G-d of my father, the g-d of Avraham, and the fear of Yishaq, had been with me, you would have surely sent me away empty handed” (Bereshith 31:42)
Ya’aqov is the confluence of these two tendencies — he is the perfectly balanced Jew: ‘The choicest of the Forefathers” (Bereshith Raba 76:1). Or in the words of the prophet Mikha: “You shall show Truth (perfection) to Ya’aqov, Loyal Love (compassion) to Avraham” (Mikha 7:20).
The Zohar sums it up thus:“Ya’aqov completes and perfects everyrthing ... as it says ‘Loyal Love (compassion) to Avraham’ — this is Avraham’s portion because he showed compassion to people … Yishaq is strict justice (I. 96aJ. “Hesed (Compassion), Pahad (Fear), Emeth (Truth) — these are the attributes of the three Forefathers” (III, 217a).
Our holy forefather Yishaq, therefore, is driven by a strict sense of justice and a rigid loyalty to tradition. It is for this reason that he felt that he must bestow his blessings, and the leadership of the nascent Jewish people, to Esauw: this was the tradition he had received from his father. This was the Law: the blessing belongs to the first-born. Therefore “He called Esauw his elder son …” He was, in fact, aware of Esauw’s short.¬comings. This is why he requested that Esauw bring him his favorite dish: ‘that my soul may bless you before I die” (27:4). He needed to be in a positive frame of mind toward Esauw, in order to bless him with a happy and full heart (only in this fashion, he knew, would his blessing be truly effective). As for the future, be felt that Hashem could cause Esauw to repent and return to Him if He so chose. He felt, at any rate, that this was out of his hands (see Mei HaShiloah, Toldoth).
Rivqa, however, knew that radical and rapid action was required to avert disaster (see Rambam 27:7). “Upon me be your curse, my son; but obey my voice .“ (27:13) she said upon seeing Ya’aqov’s reluctance to go along with her plot.
How did she know that this was the right thing to do? We find two explanations in our classic sources. Onqelos, in his Aramaic trans¬lation, states: “It was said to me by way of prophecy that no curse shall befall you.” The Rashbam points out: “She relied [in so doing] on that which had been said to her by Hashem ‘and the elder shall serve the younger.”’
In truth, these two explanations are one. The Rashbam and Onqelos are simply reminding us of what we read at the beginning of the parasha when Rivqa, distressed by an unusual pregnancy, “went to inquire of the Lord” (This very fact indicates Rivqa’s holy intuition, the first step to prophecy; many women would simply have put it down to ‘bad luck’). “And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in thy womb and the elder shall serve the younger” (25:22-23).
Note the wording ‘and the; Lord said to her.’ In general, woman have greater powers of intuition and insight than men: “Hashem placed greater insight in women than men” (T.B. Nida 45b) (The expression ‘a woman’s intuition’ has a basis in reality!) That which was revealed to Rivka was unclear to Yishaq: “his eyes were too dim to see …“ She did not share this knowledge with him. “‘And the. Darkness He called Night’ — this refers to Yishaq (Zohar I, 142a). He was in the dark.
Rivqa. armed with this knowledge, knew that Ya’aqov must receive the blessing. The question was ‘How?. Hashem had not revealed the answer to this question. Yet Rivqa does not falter. If Hashem, in His Wisdom, had informed her of what must be, it was surely her responsibility to make it happen. She therefore hatches a plan and speaks to Ya’aqov: “obey my voice …” She is not only sure in the knowledge of what Hashem revealed to her; she is equally certain as to what must be done. The former is prophecy; the latter holy intuition, Ruah Haqodesh.
“Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories.” We must internalize the profound truth hidden herein.
Great events in our national existence cannot be understood and decisions that will shape our people’s future cannot be made in the ‘Yishaq mode.’ In order to perceive the direction and orientation that must be assumed, to come to terms with the steps that must be taken, and to possess the self-assuredness simply to know when something is right, and to be therefore willing to lead the way -for all these, something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required.
Our Geula, which was prophetically mapped out for us long ago, is the. ‘What.’ We must supply the ‘How.’
Rav David Bar Hayim is the head of the Makhon Ben Yishai Institute for Tora Research in Jerusalem
”something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required."
Hopefully, more and more people will see today's dominator culture as a "Yishaq mode" ... or simply a mode that needs to change. As John Lennon sings in his song Imagine … “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ill join us and the world will live as one.”
St Louis de Monfort uses the same story to characterize two types of people. Perhaps the reprobate belongs to the existing dominator culture and the predestined belongs to the culture of tomorrow.
Augustine introduces the expression ‘carefree cheerfulness’ is his book Confessions.
"How unhappy I was and how conscious you made me of my misery, on that day when I was preparing to deliver a panegyric on the emperor. In the course of it I would tell numerous lies and for my mendacity would win the good opinion of people who knew it to be untrue.
The anxiety of the occasion was making my heart palpitate and perspire with the destructive fever of the worry, when I passed through a Milan street and noticed a destitute beggar.
Already drunk, I think, he was joking and laughing. I groaned and spoke with the friends accompanying me about the many sufferings that result from our follies.
In all our strivings such as those efforts that were than worrying me, the goads of ambition impelled me to drag the burden of my unhappiness with me, and in dragging it to make it even worse; yet we had no goal other than to reach a carefree cheerfulness.
That beggar was already there before us, and perhaps we would never achieve it. For what he had gained with a few coins, obtained by begging, that is the cheerfulness of temporal felicity, I was going about to reach by painfully twisted and roundabout ways.
True joy he had not. But my quest to fulfill my ambitions was much falser. There was no question that he was happy and I racked with anxiety. He had no worries; I was frenetic, and if anyone had asked me if I would prefer to be merry or to be racked with fear, I would have answered 'to be merry'.
Yet if he asked whether I would prefer to be a beggar like that man or the kind of person I then was, I would have chosen to be myself, a bundle of anxieties and fears.
What an absurd choice! Surely it could not be the right one. For I ought not to have put myself above him on the ground of being better educated, a matter from which I was deriving no pleasure. My education enabled me to seek to please men, not to impart to them any instructions, but merely to purvey pleasure. For that reason you 'broke my bones' (Ps. 41: 11;50: 10) with the rod of your discipline(Ps. 22: 4)."
Carefree ... a word that speaks volumes ... most evident in toddlers ... children at the age where they remain convinced they need not worry about where their next meal will come from.
Today my memory won't retrieve my particular moments of carefree cheerfulness ... now I can only imagine.
The state of carefree cheerfulness ... the word state infers a finite space ... a geography bound with outer limits beyond which is outside the 'state' and within which exists the 'state'
For example there are 51 states in the USA ... seems to me there are more than 51 'states of being' ... the sad state ... the sorry state ... the happy state etc
How do we migrate from state to state? ... how do we stay in a preferred state how do we avoid an undesirable state? What are the conditions, terms, influences etc that are the 'railway tracks' that transport us from state to state. Are all the dominant factors within our control? Why not?
How do we protect the boundaries ... who are the soldiers guarding the frontiers of our current state of being, preventing the entrance of contaminants or enemies that want to alter our current state of being.
How are these soldiers nurtured, strengthened and trained ? How do we stop them from going A-wall and allowing our state to change? E.g. from a happy state to a lethargic state.
The expression carefree cheerfulness suggests worry free happiness. A difficult state of being for adults to maintain … while easily identifiable in toddlers. Young children are not sufficiently programmed to worry and therefore children do not allow worry to interfere with their fun (happiness). A study found that young children laugh on average 400 times a day. How many times a day do adults laugh?
Augustine uses the words carefree cheerfulness to describe a state of being pursued by all adults yet only found in a drunkard he meets on a street in Milan. Still today alcohol in sufficient quantities often produces a temporary state of ‘carefree cheerfulness’. Little wonder so many people like to drink … a lot. Seems they want to escape from their stress filled existence.
In today’s stress filled lifestyles one cannot live without worry, without anxiety … it would be like walking in the rain without an umbrella and expecting to stay dry. To compensate for the strain resulting form this anxiety people have embraced all kinds of escapes … all designed to improve tolerance not eliminate the anxiety. Remember the ‘Participaction’ campaign?
Is there any connection with spiritual poverty and stress or anxiety?
Stress and anxiety are fruits of day to day life … our lifestyle, our culture, our values etc. In most societies today people are totally consumed with the pursuit of personal wealth and stature … e.g .”The American Dream”. As George Sand wrote 150 years ago … people are content to crawl and lick the footprints of the rich. The popularity and variety of the how to get rich books testify to Sand’s remarks. Today’s heroes are the individuals who succeeded at this game e.g. Soros. The recent financial crisis may be a signal event in humanity’s’ retribution for the individual and collective successes in the ever increasing pursuit of wealth.
Poverty can not hurt anyone (poverty in this sense meaning enough to eat and a safe place to sleep) however, the fear of poverty can be lethal e.g. the numerous suicides following the loss of wealth or stature.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Lucky indeed are those people who have little or no concern about what other people think of them … those people who care little about ‘belonging’ ... those people who are willing to live on the fringe of main stream society … on the fringe of the ‘flock. When a flock of sheep is on the move almost all of the sheep have no choice but keep their nose in the butt of the sheep in front of them.
This picture was taken in a park in Nanning China and the fish are being fed small food pellets by curious tourists. The tourists giggle as they watch the fish push and shove each other, climb on top of each other and even leave the water to try and catch a morsel of food. Take a close look at the fish with their mouths wide open, hoping to catch one of the pellets A wonderful metaphor depicting the millions of people who buy lottery tickets hoping the jackpot will fall into their lap.
Competition personified! Some say an image is worth 1,000 words, this image is worth tens of thousands, crisply illustrating the disgusting reality of the masses of people around the globe today. All this in the socially acceptable pursuit of liberty, wealth and vanity, promoted in the name of individuality and competition. People literally trample each other for the prize … a morsel of gold … and all of this is considered quite acceptable behavior in dominator culture.
At one time the world was a grand mosaic of independent civilizations, each with their unique combination of beliefs, values, art, literature and customs. Over time the superior civilizations conquered their neighbors and imposed their way of life on the conquered peoples, Thucydides style. “The strong will do as they wish and the weak will suffer as they must.”
The Roman Empire and Qin Dynasty are classic examples of this evolution of culture. The emerging cultures were at first a confluence of the ancestral civilizations, but over time evidence of the indigenous cultures disappeared or was integrated into the culture of the captor.
The pervasive existence of competition in the superior civilizations of history inevitably would lead to the emergence of a dominator culture. The essence of competition is winners and losers, a continuous process until one winner emerges. Western culture has emerged as the victor, peacefully or forcefully imposing many aspects of its culture into the farthest corners of the world.
In the mid 19th century, commenting on the culture of France in her day George Sand wrote:
" ... there is a lack of hands to work the land but every profession has a host of aspirants; where human beings, hideously massed together around palaces, crawl and lick the footprints of the rich; where enormous capital, accumulated in accordance with the laws of social wealth ... in a few men's hands, is the prize in a never ending lottery of avarice, immorality, and ineptness ... in this country of lewdness and misery, of vice and desolation, in this civilization, rotten to its very roots, you want me to be a loyal citizen? You want me sacrifice my will, desires, imagination to its needs, being either its dupe or its victim, so the penny I might toss to a beggar will end up in a millionaire's coffers?"
What has changed? Since 1850 or so the cultural characteristics described above has migrated to all countries in the world
“… there is a lack of hands to work the land” The world continues to promote industrialization and urbanization … in the name of progress and modernization. Farming as an honorable way of life continues to be demeaned around the world. Yet what would we do without food to eat … knowledge cannot fill our stomachs. The farmers themselves are insisting their children should have a better life ... a life with membership and status in today’s dominator culture. Yuk!
Today more than 100 million village people (farmers) have migrated to the cities in China in search of a better life. They live and work in deplorable conditions, harboring the hope that their sacrifice will somehow lead to a better life for themselves or their family. What a fallacy! Their sacrifices only serve to make the elite wealthier. There are numerous stories about how many of these people did not receive their meager wages for more than a year.
“ but every profession has a host of aspirants” For several years now we have been told that we live in a knowledge society, knowledge is currency … knowledge is paramount. Higher education is evangelized around the world as the answer to all our social problems, with universities producing more professionals than ever. What will the world do when all people are professionals?
“Crawl and lick the footprints of the rich” the most colorful language I’ve read to describe one of the pillars of our dominant culture. If one tried to imagine people crawling down the corridors of large corporations physically licking footprints we would find ourselves disgusted at the sight. Yet people like George Soros and Bill Gates are revered for their success in amassing huge fortunes in such a short period of time. “a prize in a never ending lottery of avarice, immorality and ineptness”
Unbelievable wealth achieved within the boundaries of our impeccable ‘rule of law’. How disgusting! … that masses of people subscribe to this behavior while children all over the world go to bed hungry.
“... in this country of lewdness and misery, of vice and desolation, in this civilization, rotten to its very roots, you want me to be a loyal citizen? You want me sacrifice my will, desires, imagination to its needs, being either its dupe or its victim” It’s mind boggling that countless numbers of people all over the world do not see themselves in the above imagery. It’s as though they are living an illusion … in a bubble.
Seems he is saying people don’t feel good about the way of the world but they prefer adopting coping mechanisms such as anti depressants rather than attempt to go against the flow. “Any dead fish can float downstream … it takes a live fish to swim upstream” From a homily heard in Medugorje
Like the sheep in the flock … they find themselves with no choice but to follow along. Coping mechanisms abound … drugs like Prozac. Discussions about the popularity of Prozac with some people taking the drug often lead to the same conclusion … people simply can’t handle the stress and anxiety of day to day life. They need drugs to dumb down their feelings … they become walking zombies. Jesus said something to the effect “you are all like whitewashed tombs” Paraphrasing one might say … you dress up nice but inside your hearts are hard as stone or black as coal.
Dostoevsky in his book Brothers Karamozov writes “Turn those stones into bread and I will follow you anywhere.” … a reference to one of the temptations of Jesus during his 40 days in the desert.
Dostoevsky has profound insight into natural human behavior … there is so much truth in these words and they form the cornerstone of today’s dominating culture.
In biblical terms we sell our birthright for a bowl of pottage. The story of Jacob and Esau has perplexed religious scholars for centuries … what is the message for humanity in this story? What does it mean to sell your birthright for a bowl of pottage? What does it mean to be a reprobate?
Bar Hayim uses the Biblical story of Jacob and Essau to challenge a nation’s perspective on the future. St Louis de Montfort uses the same Biblical story to define 2 classes of the people … reprobate and predestined.
The Tora of Guela By HaRav David Bar Hayim
“And it came to pass that Yishaq was old, and his eyes were too dim to see...” (Bereshith27:1). Thus begins the story we recently read in this weekly portion of the Tora, relating how Yishaq came to bestow his blessings upon Ya’aqov, rather that Esauw. the first-born. The Tora describes these events in no less than 51 verses (Bereshith 27:1 - 28:5). many more than the Tora utilizes when speaking of Shabath!
It is with regard to such lengthy ‘narrative’ sections of the Tora that the Zohar states: “Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories .. rather (the fact .is) that everything in the Tora is 1ofty and contains great secrets
and just as His Angels, [who are of spiritual, and not physical essence), when they descend to Earth take on the ‘garments’ of this world (a physical form): and were this not so they [the Angels] could not exist in this world and the world could not bear them ... how much more so the Tora itself – when it descends to this world, were it not to take on the ‘garments’ of the world, the world could not bear it. Thus, the stories of the Tora are the Tora’s ‘garments’ ...“ (Zohar III 152a)
The Zohar repeats this statement with specific references to the tale of Yishaq’s blessing: “All the works of the Holy One Blessed Be He are profoundly true; all things in the Tora are rooted in the mysteries of the Higher Worlds” (Zohar I, 141b). The meaning is clear: the Tora does not spend 51 verses in order to tell us ‘a good story.’ Hashem is trying to tell us something.
“And it came to pass that Yishaq was old, and his eyes were too dim to see, he called Esauw his elder son …” Several questions occur to us upon reading these words, and the story that follows:
Would it not have been sufficient to simply inform us that Yishaq blessed Ya’aqov, despite not being the first born, due to his superior moral behavior(as Hazal are so intent on pointing out)? Would any of us have challenged such a decision?
Why emphasize that Yishaq called Esauw “his elder son”? The fact that Esauw was the first-born is plainly stated at the beginning of the weekly reading.
Why did Yishaq insist on passing his mantle to Esauw? Could he truly not perceive that Ya’aqov was more worthy?
On what basis did our matriarch Rivqa decide that she could devise a plan to grant Ya’aqov the blessings? What did she know that Yishaq did not?
We must begin by defining the attributes of our forefathers. Avraham is known as a man of great kindness and giving: the story of seeing the three travellers in the desert and inviting them into his home is famous (Bereshith 18:1). Our Sages further amplify this picture of Avraham in many Midrashim. Even when the situation required making an unpleasant decision, such as distancing Yishmael from Yishaq and removing him from the family, Avraham faltered: “And this thing was very grievous in Avraham’s eyes(Bereshith 21:11). It ran against the grain of Avraham’s love of compassion.
Yishaq is a more stern and severe figure. When Ya’aqov rebukes Lavan, he refers to his forefathers in an unusual fashion: “Were it not that the G-d of my father, the g-d of Avraham, and the fear of Yishaq, had been with me, you would have surely sent me away empty handed” (Bereshith 31:42)
Ya’aqov is the confluence of these two tendencies — he is the perfectly balanced Jew: ‘The choicest of the Forefathers” (Bereshith Raba 76:1). Or in the words of the prophet Mikha: “You shall show Truth (perfection) to Ya’aqov, Loyal Love (compassion) to Avraham” (Mikha 7:20).
The Zohar sums it up thus:“Ya’aqov completes and perfects everyrthing ... as it says ‘Loyal Love (compassion) to Avraham’ — this is Avraham’s portion because he showed compassion to people … Yishaq is strict justice (I. 96aJ. “Hesed (Compassion), Pahad (Fear), Emeth (Truth) — these are the attributes of the three Forefathers” (III, 217a).
Our holy forefather Yishaq, therefore, is driven by a strict sense of justice and a rigid loyalty to tradition. It is for this reason that he felt that he must bestow his blessings, and the leadership of the nascent Jewish people, to Esauw: this was the tradition he had received from his father. This was the Law: the blessing belongs to the first-born. Therefore “He called Esauw his elder son …” He was, in fact, aware of Esauw’s short.¬comings. This is why he requested that Esauw bring him his favorite dish: ‘that my soul may bless you before I die” (27:4). He needed to be in a positive frame of mind toward Esauw, in order to bless him with a happy and full heart (only in this fashion, he knew, would his blessing be truly effective). As for the future, be felt that Hashem could cause Esauw to repent and return to Him if He so chose. He felt, at any rate, that this was out of his hands (see Mei HaShiloah, Toldoth).
Rivqa, however, knew that radical and rapid action was required to avert disaster (see Rambam 27:7). “Upon me be your curse, my son; but obey my voice .“ (27:13) she said upon seeing Ya’aqov’s reluctance to go along with her plot.
How did she know that this was the right thing to do? We find two explanations in our classic sources. Onqelos, in his Aramaic trans¬lation, states: “It was said to me by way of prophecy that no curse shall befall you.” The Rashbam points out: “She relied [in so doing] on that which had been said to her by Hashem ‘and the elder shall serve the younger.”’
In truth, these two explanations are one. The Rashbam and Onqelos are simply reminding us of what we read at the beginning of the parasha when Rivqa, distressed by an unusual pregnancy, “went to inquire of the Lord” (This very fact indicates Rivqa’s holy intuition, the first step to prophecy; many women would simply have put it down to ‘bad luck’). “And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in thy womb and the elder shall serve the younger” (25:22-23).
Note the wording ‘and the; Lord said to her.’ In general, woman have greater powers of intuition and insight than men: “Hashem placed greater insight in women than men” (T.B. Nida 45b) (The expression ‘a woman’s intuition’ has a basis in reality!) That which was revealed to Rivka was unclear to Yishaq: “his eyes were too dim to see …“ She did not share this knowledge with him. “‘And the. Darkness He called Night’ — this refers to Yishaq (Zohar I, 142a). He was in the dark.
Rivqa. armed with this knowledge, knew that Ya’aqov must receive the blessing. The question was ‘How?. Hashem had not revealed the answer to this question. Yet Rivqa does not falter. If Hashem, in His Wisdom, had informed her of what must be, it was surely her responsibility to make it happen. She therefore hatches a plan and speaks to Ya’aqov: “obey my voice …” She is not only sure in the knowledge of what Hashem revealed to her; she is equally certain as to what must be done. The former is prophecy; the latter holy intuition, Ruah Haqodesh.
“Woe to the man who says that this Tora wishes to relate simple stories.” We must internalize the profound truth hidden herein.
Great events in our national existence cannot be understood and decisions that will shape our people’s future cannot be made in the ‘Yishaq mode.’ In order to perceive the direction and orientation that must be assumed, to come to terms with the steps that must be taken, and to possess the self-assuredness simply to know when something is right, and to be therefore willing to lead the way -for all these, something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required.
Our Geula, which was prophetically mapped out for us long ago, is the. ‘What.’ We must supply the ‘How.’
Rav David Bar Hayim is the head of the Makhon Ben Yishai Institute for Tora Research in Jerusalem
”something more than rigid loyalty to tradition is required."
Hopefully, more and more people will see today's dominator culture as a "Yishaq mode" ... or simply a mode that needs to change. As John Lennon sings in his song Imagine … “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ill join us and the world will live as one.”
St Louis de Monfort uses the same story to characterize two types of people. Perhaps the reprobate belongs to the existing dominator culture and the predestined belongs to the culture of tomorrow.
Augustine introduces the expression ‘carefree cheerfulness’ is his book Confessions.
"How unhappy I was and how conscious you made me of my misery, on that day when I was preparing to deliver a panegyric on the emperor. In the course of it I would tell numerous lies and for my mendacity would win the good opinion of people who knew it to be untrue.
The anxiety of the occasion was making my heart palpitate and perspire with the destructive fever of the worry, when I passed through a Milan street and noticed a destitute beggar.
Already drunk, I think, he was joking and laughing. I groaned and spoke with the friends accompanying me about the many sufferings that result from our follies.
In all our strivings such as those efforts that were than worrying me, the goads of ambition impelled me to drag the burden of my unhappiness with me, and in dragging it to make it even worse; yet we had no goal other than to reach a carefree cheerfulness.
That beggar was already there before us, and perhaps we would never achieve it. For what he had gained with a few coins, obtained by begging, that is the cheerfulness of temporal felicity, I was going about to reach by painfully twisted and roundabout ways.
True joy he had not. But my quest to fulfill my ambitions was much falser. There was no question that he was happy and I racked with anxiety. He had no worries; I was frenetic, and if anyone had asked me if I would prefer to be merry or to be racked with fear, I would have answered 'to be merry'.
Yet if he asked whether I would prefer to be a beggar like that man or the kind of person I then was, I would have chosen to be myself, a bundle of anxieties and fears.
What an absurd choice! Surely it could not be the right one. For I ought not to have put myself above him on the ground of being better educated, a matter from which I was deriving no pleasure. My education enabled me to seek to please men, not to impart to them any instructions, but merely to purvey pleasure. For that reason you 'broke my bones' (Ps. 41: 11;50: 10) with the rod of your discipline(Ps. 22: 4)."
Carefree ... a word that speaks volumes ... most evident in toddlers ... children at the age where they remain convinced they need not worry about where their next meal will come from.
Today my memory won't retrieve my particular moments of carefree cheerfulness ... now I can only imagine.
The state of carefree cheerfulness ... the word state infers a finite space ... a geography bound with outer limits beyond which is outside the 'state' and within which exists the 'state'
For example there are 51 states in the USA ... seems to me there are more than 51 'states of being' ... the sad state ... the sorry state ... the happy state etc
How do we migrate from state to state? ... how do we stay in a preferred state how do we avoid an undesirable state? What are the conditions, terms, influences etc that are the 'railway tracks' that transport us from state to state. Are all the dominant factors within our control? Why not?
How do we protect the boundaries ... who are the soldiers guarding the frontiers of our current state of being, preventing the entrance of contaminants or enemies that want to alter our current state of being.
How are these soldiers nurtured, strengthened and trained ? How do we stop them from going A-wall and allowing our state to change? E.g. from a happy state to a lethargic state.
The expression carefree cheerfulness suggests worry free happiness. A difficult state of being for adults to maintain … while easily identifiable in toddlers. Young children are not sufficiently programmed to worry and therefore children do not allow worry to interfere with their fun (happiness). A study found that young children laugh on average 400 times a day. How many times a day do adults laugh?
Augustine uses the words carefree cheerfulness to describe a state of being pursued by all adults yet only found in a drunkard he meets on a street in Milan. Still today alcohol in sufficient quantities often produces a temporary state of ‘carefree cheerfulness’. Little wonder so many people like to drink … a lot. Seems they want to escape from their stress filled existence.
In today’s stress filled lifestyles one cannot live without worry, without anxiety … it would be like walking in the rain without an umbrella and expecting to stay dry. To compensate for the strain resulting form this anxiety people have embraced all kinds of escapes … all designed to improve tolerance not eliminate the anxiety. Remember the ‘Participaction’ campaign?
Is there any connection with spiritual poverty and stress or anxiety?
Stress and anxiety are fruits of day to day life … our lifestyle, our culture, our values etc. In most societies today people are totally consumed with the pursuit of personal wealth and stature … e.g .”The American Dream”. As George Sand wrote 150 years ago … people are content to crawl and lick the footprints of the rich. The popularity and variety of the how to get rich books testify to Sand’s remarks. Today’s heroes are the individuals who succeeded at this game e.g. Soros. The recent financial crisis may be a signal event in humanity’s’ retribution for the individual and collective successes in the ever increasing pursuit of wealth.
Poverty can not hurt anyone (poverty in this sense meaning enough to eat and a safe place to sleep) however, the fear of poverty can be lethal e.g. the numerous suicides following the loss of wealth or stature.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Lucky indeed are those people who have little or no concern about what other people think of them … those people who care little about ‘belonging’ ... those people who are willing to live on the fringe of main stream society … on the fringe of the ‘flock. When a flock of sheep is on the move almost all of the sheep have no choice but keep their nose in the butt of the sheep in front of them.