Shabbos Parashas Vayishlach - 5785

Shabbos Parashas Vayishlach - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

   Eisav said, I have plenty my brother, let what you have remain yours.

  [Bereishit 33:9]

Our verse follows the offering by Yaakov of a large tribute to Eisav. What does

Eisav mean by this response? He uses the phrase "my brother" but who else

could he have been speaking to? What did he mean by having "plenty"? What

did he mean by "remain yours"?

Onkelos translates the last phrase of the verse as "prosper with what is your

own", explaining that Eisav is giving Yaakov a blessing here. But most others

see it as Eisav releasing any interest he may have in whatever Yaakov owns.

What is it that Eisav is releasing interest in here? Or HaChayim answers that

either it was Yaakov's intent that Eisav benefit from the gifted animals, in which

case Eisav had plenty and did not need more, or Yaakov intended to find

grace in Eisav's eyes, to which Eisav here responded that because Yaakov

was his "brother", there was no need for such a gift, Eisav already felt positively

predisposed to him.

Rav Moshe Feinstein notes that our verse tells that Eisav did not believe in God,

whereas Yaakov did. "Eisav said 'I have plenty', Yaakov [Bereishit 33:11] said 'I

have everything'. One who believes in God knows that he has all that God has

ordained, regardless of whether plenty or not."

Most other commentators understand the subject matter here to be the blessings

from Yitzchak that Yaakov obtained in place of Eisav more than two decades

earlier. Rashi, based on Bereishit Rabbah [78:11] writes, "Here he conceded to

Yaakov with regard to the blessings." Radak writes that by this verse, Eisav told

Yaakov that he was no longer upset over having lost the original blessing and in

fact had not suffered as a result, since he now had such wealth.

In the previous chapter in Bereishit Rabbah [77:11] "R'Aivu said, Yaakov's hold on

the blessings was in fact but weak. Where was it strengthened? Here, 'my brother

let what you have be yours'." It explains how Yaakov's position was weak, that had

Yaakov not deceived Yitzchak, he would not have received the blessing at all, and

he had no witnessed document to support his claim now. Since Eisav in our verse

released his interest in favor of his brother, Yaakov's position is now strengthened.