18 Nov TOLDOS: WORSE THAN COLOR BLIND

Worse Than
Color Blind:
Seeing The
Color, But Not
the Soup
This week’s
parsha, contains the famous story of
the selling of the birthright. Yaakov
cooks a pot of lentil soup. Eisav
comes in, tired from the field, and
says to his brother, “Give me this red
stuff you have over here.” Yaakov
responds, “Sell me as this day
(ka’yom) your birthright” [Bereishis
25:30-31].
Eisav was the older brother. He was in
line to inherit the spiritual gifts that
were passed down from Avrohom
through Yitzchak. Yaakov asks Eisav
to sell him these rights “ka’yom” (as
this day).

The Sforno is bothered by the term
“ka’yom”. The Sforno’s interpretation
provides for us a very relevant
message.
When Yaakov saw the preoccupation
that Eisav had to his mundane
profession, that he was so obsessed
with ‘his own thing’ that he couldn’t
even identify the soup that was being
prepared, except by its color, he knew
that Eisav had no need for the Bechora.
If a person can work to the extent that
he comes home so hungry that unlike
any normal human being, he can only
say about the soup “Give me the red
stuff” then he is a person for whom
the only thing that matters is ‘Today’
(ka’yom). He is so preoccupied with
his activities that he can’t even
recognize a bowl of soup! If that is
how involved he is in the work of
today, he has no need or interest in the

Service of G-d, which is inherent in
the rights of the First Born.
This is what Yaakov meant. “If Today
(ka’yom) is so important to you then
you can’t be the Bechor. You can’t
expect to serve G-d the way the
Master of the World has in mind.”
What the Sforno is saying is that there
is a basic dichotomy between that
which is spiritual and that which is
temporal. A person can get so involved
in his work, in his career, that nothing
else matters besides ‘Today’. When
‘making partner’ becomes the top
priority, when being successful in
one’s profession is all that matters,
one only has ‘Today’. Family loses its
importance, spirituality loses its
importance, the relationship with
everything that is of lasting and
eternal value is severed. A life of
‘Today’ precludes a life of holiness.

Eisav was the ultimate ‘career person’,
the ultimate ‘workaholic’. He came
back from his work so consumed, so
obsessed, that he could not even
recognize a bowl of soup. Yaakov
recognized that Eisav had no
connection to the Tent of Spirituality
and no need for the Bechora.