Dear Friends,
Note this rather unremarkable verse from the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy, when Moses was retelling our 40-year history in the desert:
“We then moved on, away from our kin, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the road of the Aravah…” [Deut 2:8]
Perhaps it is not so unremarkable, after all, but is a most interesting verse!
After all, the Israelites were not readily inclined to call the ‘descendants of Esau’ “their kin.” There had been generations of enmity, warring, and a long memory back to the internecine family fracture dating to the Book of Genesis, when Jacob manipulated the birthright from his brother, Esau, and was forced to flee for his life. How odd, therefore, that here, early in the Book of Deuteronomy when Moses is recounting the history of the Israelites’ journey, that he grants to the children of Esau the status of “kin.”
Why?
The early 18th century Torah Commentary, Or HaChayim, written by the sage Chayim ben Attar, offers this explanation: “The reason Moses stresses the brotherly relations with Esau is to remind the Israelites that the Jewish people had abided by God’s command not to cause any friction or provocation in their dealings with the Edomites.” (Edomites was a common medieval term in Jewish parlance to designate the non-Jewish neighbor, originally the pagan non-Jewish neighbor from the biblical period, and later Christian non-Jewish persons in European Christendom.)
ben Attar, therefore, is urging a brotherly relationship, even with the often less-than-brotherly neighbors with whom Jews for millennia had to abide. Hence, the obligation to manage relations belongs to the Jew, even when dealing with unfriendly fellows. As my late mother taught, “if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.” Yet, ben Attar suggests that the Torah teaches to extend that axiom even farther: endeavor to recognize the others as “brethren,” as the Torah does the Children of Esau, and we will more likely avoid trouble or friction.
The Torah, then, through its unremarkable language, is offering a significant and remarkable message. It is up to us how our neighbors will be seen – as friend or as foe. And, thus, it may be up to us how they will behave, and how we will relate. Friend or foe – it is in our own hands!
And, among our Tradition’s highest precepts is to turn an enemy into a friend!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Note this rather unremarkable verse from the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy, when Moses was retelling our 40-year history in the desert:
“We then moved on, away from our kin, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the road of the Aravah…” [Deut 2:8]
Perhaps it is not so unremarkable, after all, but is a most interesting verse!
After all, the Israelites were not readily inclined to call the ‘descendants of Esau’ “their kin.” There had been generations of enmity, warring, and a long memory back to the internecine family fracture dating to the Book of Genesis, when Jacob manipulated the birthright from his brother, Esau, and was forced to flee for his life. How odd, therefore, that here, early in the Book of Deuteronomy when Moses is recounting the history of the Israelites’ journey, that he grants to the children of Esau the status of “kin.”
Why?
The early 18th century Torah Commentary, Or HaChayim, written by the sage Chayim ben Attar, offers this explanation: “The reason Moses stresses the brotherly relations with Esau is to remind the Israelites that the Jewish people had abided by God’s command not to cause any friction or provocation in their dealings with the Edomites.” (Edomites was a common medieval term in Jewish parlance to designate the non-Jewish neighbor, originally the pagan non-Jewish neighbor from the biblical period, and later Christian non-Jewish persons in European Christendom.)
ben Attar, therefore, is urging a brotherly relationship, even with the often less-than-brotherly neighbors with whom Jews for millennia had to abide. Hence, the obligation to manage relations belongs to the Jew, even when dealing with unfriendly fellows. As my late mother taught, “if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.” Yet, ben Attar suggests that the Torah teaches to extend that axiom even farther: endeavor to recognize the others as “brethren,” as the Torah does the Children of Esau, and we will more likely avoid trouble or friction.
The Torah, then, through its unremarkable language, is offering a significant and remarkable message. It is up to us how our neighbors will be seen – as friend or as foe. And, thus, it may be up to us how they will behave, and how we will relate. Friend or foe – it is in our own hands!
And, among our Tradition’s highest precepts is to turn an enemy into a friend!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
