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43  seven And Jacob Came Out Parashat Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10–32:3) Yoel Kahn There are 600,000 interpretations of the written Torah for each and every verse. . . . For each and every soul amongst the 600,000 souls of Israel has a particular path in the entire Torah according to the underlying nature of its soul-root (bechinat shoresh metziut nishmato). —Rabbi Chaim Vital (b. 1543, lived in Safed)1 Sometimes, we find meaning or significance in Torah by striving to understand its “big ideas”: all humans are created “in the Divine Image,” or “know the heart of the other, because you were others in Egypt.” Often, we consider Torah at the scale of a weekly Torah portion, whether looking at the story as a whole or even at an individual verse. But our tradition teaches that every aspect of Torah is a potential source of meaning, from the accent marks to the shapes of the letters or even the layout of the columns of the scroll (as Rachel Brodie demonstrates in her essay on Parashat Chayei Sarah in this volume). The Torah’s truth can be disclosed in many ways. Each weekly portion is given a name, derived from the first significant word in the first verse of the portion. Often, the name also hints at or relates to the content that follows. The story of the patriarch Jacob is told over the course of three portions: first, Toldot, the story of the birth and youth of Jacob and his competing twin, Esau, then Vayetzei, in which Jacob sets out on his personal quest, and finally, Vayishlach, in which Jacob and Esau are reconciled. The secret of Jacob’s biography—and the closeted message of the Torah—is disclosed in the name of this portion, Vayetzei. The portion begins, “va-yetzei Ya’akov,” customarily rendered as “Jacob left” or “Jacob departed,” but the root of the Hebrew verb y-tz-a is the same as in the “Motzi” blessing for bread (“brings forth”) and “Yetzi’at mitzrayim,” the Exodus from Egypt. The true meaning of this phrase, as the narrative bears out, is “Va-yetzei Ya’akov: And Jacob came out.” Jacob and his older twin, Esau, are opposites. Seen as Jungian archetypes, they mythically embody the conflict and the triumph of the settled agriculturalist over the hunter-gatherer. Jacob, “a dweller in tents,” defeats Esau, the “man of the (open) fields” (Gen. 25:27). For the modern reader, Jacob and Esau present the characteristics and behaviors of classic male typologies. Esau is the macho older brother, who goes for extreme sports and adventure travel. He is the silent, butch, NASCAR guy 44 Yoel Kahn who lives from paycheck to paycheck, short on words and quick to act. Esau is everything that his passive, nearsighted, unadventurous father, Isaac, is not—and the boys’ father favors Esau (25:28). A mama’s boy, Jacob stays close to home. In contrast to Esau’s worldliness, he is a naïf, “ish tam,” who lives in awe of his brother and father and subscribes to Gourmet magazine. Esau is butch; Jacob is femme (for a different perspective on the gender dynamics of Jacob and Esau, see Sarra Lev’s essay on Parashat Toldot). Closer reading reveals that Jacob is indeed a classic queer character. Like the trickster in folklore, Jacob is the marginal figure who lives on wits and subterfuge to control his stronger brother. One day, Esau comes home from the hunt and says to Jacob, “Let me gulp some of that red stuff you are cooking!” Is it a coincidence that Jacob is stirring a pot of Esau’s favorite food? Has he been cooking up this superprotein meal with the goal in mind of bribing his brother? Or did he intend this menu for himself, one more vain attempt to transform himself into someone he is not? Seizing the opportunity , Jacob asks Esau to sell his birthright, the privileges that are the exclusive claim of the firstborn son. Esau, ever impulsive and lacking a 401(k), does not plan ahead; his future inheritance is trumped by the demands of the hour: “Look, I am about to die (from hunger). What use is a birthright to me?” (25:32). Having long anticipated such a moment, crafty Jacob has the legal papers already drawn up and waiting; he does not allow Esau to eat until he has sworn an oath. Despite a regimen of Esau-inspired diets and self-improvement...

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