Jacob & Esau Struggle in the Womb

Torah study 12-3 Genesis 25:19-26

Rebecca's pregnancy Two nations. Elder serve younger.

Rebecca was barren. Literary device repeated in Torah.
Shows the miracle of birth of children.

She seeks an answer to her barrenness and why her pregnancy is difficult.
Automatic succession is challenged. Younger sons dislodging the elders is another theme throughout Torah.

What happens is foretold.

Esau and Jacob .
Children struggle within the womb. Midrash.

The word for Struggling ( v22)... sounds like the verb to run...

Rashi. Verse demands interpretation.
Means ‘running’. When she walk by yeshivah Jacob would run to try to get out...
When walk by place of idolatry Esau run to get out. They are already at war.

Symbolize Israel and Adom the people who live east of the Jordan.

Eli Munk... The antagonism goes back to congenital differences that goes back to the womb. No rational grounding. It is inherited.

Esau =Rome. Edom. Code word for Rome. Later equated with Christians ... Hostility of Christians anti-Semitism stems from the struggle between Esau and Jacob.
Shows that there is no rational explanation for anti Semitism.

Torah shows that in the end they embrace but go separate ways. It is later Midrash that poses them as irreconcilable.

Book. Constantine's Sword James Carroll and Jerusalem Jerusalem James Carroll
Addresses the struggle between Christians and Jews.

They are born (v24). Hine tovim. Look Twins. Word spelled without the aleph. Defective spelling. Similar to Tamar. Spelling different.

Eli Munk on twins. Speaks of astrology. Third month zodiac sign of Gemini. Same month that Torah was given. Implies Torah is open to all people.

Malbim. Russian commentator in the time of pogroms.

When Jacob and Esau emerge into world they stop struggling. Symbolic of a messianic time.

First one came out red... Reference 1st Samuel 16. Ask of other son. Described as ruddy... David. Described as ruddy and handsome. Admiring quality here,

Wordplay. Adom and Edom...

Most say it is referring to the hair color. Historic position. Minority. Cultural association with prejudice even today. Art historian Ruth Melankoff...article. 9th century..Judas differentiated in art. No Europe made him hateful as in red coloring... Disdain for red hair...goes back to early Egypt.

Shakespeare reference to red hair and Judas coloring. Relation to foxes. Relation to pagan god Thor. Many negative connotations.

Next time the fact he was covered in hair.