25 Nov PARASHAT TOLDOT: HARD WORK AND EFFORT

The Torah in
Parashat Toldot
tells the story of
the blessings which
Yishak Abinu wished
to bestow upon his older son, Esav, but
which were taken by the younger son,
Yaakob. Yishak informed Esav of his
desire to bless him, and instructed him
to go out to the field, hunt an animal,
and prepare the meat for him, so that
in the merit of this Misva he would be
worthy of his blessing.
After Esav left, Ribka, who heard
Yishak’s commands to Esav, plotted
to have Yaakob receive the Berachot,
instead. As Yishak was blind, Ribka
needed only to dress Yaakob in Esav’s
special garments so he would feel like
his brother. The Torah says that Ribka
dressed Yaakob in “Bigdeh Esav…
Ha’hamudot” – Esav’s “precious”
garments. The Sages explain that these
garments had been passed down since
the time of Adam, and had the special
power to attract animals. In fact, this is
how Noah brought all the animals onto

the ark – by attracting them through
these garments. Esav received this
clothing and would wear it when he
went hunting. The animals would be
drawn to him, and this is how Esav
could easily catch them. Esav used
this power for the sake of the Misva
of Kibbud Ab – honoring his father,
as he would quickly catch animals and
prepare meat for Yishak. According to
the Midrash, these were the garments in
which Ribka dressed Yaakob when he
came before Yishak disguised as Esav
to receive the blessings.
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin (1881-1966),
in his Oznayim La’Torah commentary,
notes the obvious question that arises
from the Midrash’s comments. If, indeed,
the “Bigdeh Esav Ha’hamudot” were
the garments which Esav wore while
hunting to prepare meat for his father,
so why wasn’t Esav wearing them at
this time? Yitshak had just commanded
him to prepare meat; seemingly, this
was precisely the time when Esav
would wear his special garments to help
him out in the hunt. Why were they at
home?
Rav Sorotzkin
offers several
answers, one
of which is
that Yitshak
specifically asked
Esav to hunt the
animals naturally,
without using his
special garments,
so that he would
need to work
hard and thereby
earn reward. As
the Mishna in Abot (5:23) famously
teaches, “Le’fum Sa’ara Agra” – the
harder one needs to work in fulfilling a
Misva, the greater his reward is. Yishak
wanted Esav to be worthy of the great
blessings which he now wished to grant
him, and so he told Esav to go out and
hunt an animal without the miraculous
power of the special garments, which
made hunting quick and easy.
When it comes to performing Misvot,

we should not be looking for shortcuts,
or for the easy way out. The quality of
our Misvot depends, to a large extent,
on the hard work and effort that we
invest in them. And so we must not
expect Misva observance to be easy,
and we certainly must not despair when
challenges and obstacles get in the way.
We must remember that it is specifically
through the exertion of effort that our
Misvot become precious and valuable,
and bring us immense rewards.