The Maharal explains that the struggle between Eisav and Yaakov in their embryonic stage was not influenced by their personal proclivities to good and evil, since these inclinations had not manifested prior to their births. Yaakov Avinu and Eisav represented cosmic forces in Creation, Heavenly ordained forces that transcended the normal course of personal development, a phenomenon that predated and existed even before their births. Chazal (Midrash Rabbah 63:6) teach that Eisav hated Yaakov while they were still in the womb. The Brisker Rav, zl, derives from Chazal that Eisav’s hatred for Yaakov is non-dependent on any specific circumstance, incident or rationale. Even if there is no reason – Eisav still hates. It is a halachah, absolute, that Eisav hates Yaakov. True, they argued over who would receive which worlds Yaakov seeking Olam Habba, the World to Come; and Eisav placing his stake on Olam Hazeh, This World. These claims were the end result of their hatred for one another – not the source of their animus.
One observation: Eisav sonei l’Yaakov; Eisav hates Yaakov. Does Yaakov hate Eisav? I think the term hatred is beneath Yaakov. He does not hate; he ignores. Eisav is a non-entity in Yaakov’s world. This alone can motivate Eisav to animus. When someone hates you back, the “fight” becomes exciting. When an individual is ignored, discounted and scorned, it can drive him into insanity and increase his hatred. David Hamelech says (Tehillim 139:21), Me’sanecha Hashem esnai, “Those who hate You, Hashem, I hate them.” We hate for Hashem. Personal hatred is below our dignity.
The Talmud Shabbos (89) cites the source of anti-Semitism toward the Torah which was given on Har Sinai: She’misham Yardah sinaah l’Olam, “Because the great sinaah, hatred, aimed at the Jew – emanates from Sinai.” At Sinai, we were told that there is one G-d, Who makes moral demands on all humanity. As a result, the Jewish People to whom Hashem spoke became the ipso facto conscience of morality for the world. Thus, we are hated by those who seek to “liberate” the world from the shackles of moral discipline. We are to be a light unto the nations, the chosen people, the exact opposite of a world that does not want to be told what to do and how to live; a world that would much rather live in darkness than to be told to follow the light. The Torah was given to us at Sinai – the Revelation was a message to all mankind to heed morality, to live moral lives. The Jewish People respect the moral imperative of G-d. They represent the truth. The world cannot tolerate such blatant truth – especially when somewhere deep down in the inner recesses of its G-dless soul, it is acutely aware of the essential truth of morality. The greater the Jewish presence, the greater the hatred.
Does this mean that there is a rationale to anti-Semitism? Sometimes, anti-Semitism means the hatred of the Jews, and sometimes it means Eisav soneh l’Yaakov, Eisav’s hatred for Yaakov which heralds back to their embryonic state, when rationale did not apply. Eisav does not represent all gentiles. Eisav represents an abnormally evil strain of humanity, as manifested by his descendants, the minions of Edom, Amalek, and whoever has donned the cloak of Amalakean hatred against the Jews. It is irrational, with no benefit derived by Amalek. It is pure, unmitigated, relentless hatred for the sake of hatred. Nothing is to be gained by it. How do we respond to the hatred of Eisav/Amalek?
We follow our Patriarch’s lead. Yaakov Avinu gravitated to the bais hamedrash, which was his only refuge from Eisav. A hatred so intense, so irrational, cannot be overcome by changing our stripes and assimilating. That might work for those who hate Torah. When they see that we are like them, they might temporarily accept us. This was what our secular brethren attempted to do in Germany during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and then they exported their heresy to America. It does not work with Amalek, a verity that was unfortunately proven during World War II. The German barbarians were directed to murder anyone with a vestige of Jewish blood, regardless of their not meeting halachic standards for a Jewish pedigree. It was Eisav soneh l’Yaakov. Concerning that: Ein lanu l’hishaein elah al Avinu she’ba’Shomayim; “We have no One upon to rely other than our Father in Heaven.”
