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Eating from the Tree of Life: A Course on the Zohar
Translated Texts
JACOB & ESAU
INTRODUCTION Before reading this passage, you might want to reread the stories
of Jacob and Esau in the Bible, Genesis 25:19-33, 26:34-28:9,
32:4-33:16, 35:28-36:8 [pgs. 173ff in the Plaut Commentary]. "In biblical narrative... deception is considered an acceptable
and generally praiseworthy means for a weaker party to succeed
against a stronger power". Jacob is the weaker party, the underdog, because he is the second-born,
and in the Biblical story the expectation of society is for the
first-born to get the best of everything. Also, in typical fairy-tale
fashion the Torah introduces Jacob as a simpleton ("ish tam",
Genesis 25:27), whose resourcefulness comes as a surprise. Later
interpreters, however, seeing Jacob as a Jewish role model rather
than an archetypal trickster, were morally troubled by his story. The Zohar responds to these dilemmas by transposing the human
drama to the cosmic level, with challenging results. TEXT: JACOB AND ESAU Come and see! Esau emerged red, as it is written: "The first came
out all reddish". And every species goes to its own species, and because of this
(Isaac) loved Esau more than Jacob, as it is written, "Isaac dearly
loved Esau because of his trapping food for him". Rabbi Yitzchak said: It is written, "The children were crushing
inside her, and she said, 'If so, what am I for?' and she went
to inquire of YHVH". To what place did she go? To the study-house
of Shem and Ever. Genesis 25:28: In midrashic tradition, Nimrod was the first tyrannical king,
and tried to kill Abraham. Genesis 10:9: Come and see: that side rides on the serpent (see below), and this side rides on the complete, holy throne -- on the side of the sun [shamsha], to make love [l'shamsha] with the moon. It is written, "In the womb he took his brother by the heel" --
he threw him down below by that heel. As it is written, "His hand was clinging to Esau's heel" -- he
put his hand on that heel, to overturn him. Another interpretation of "his hand was clinging..." -- he could
not get away from him altogether, but "his hand was clinging to
Esau's heel". Because of this it was necessary for him to move
wisely with him, in order to push him down below, for him to adhere
to his place. Hosea 12:2-3 Genesis 25:26: Genesis 27:36. Esau has just heard from Isaac that Jacob has obtained
his blessing by trickery: "He called him Jacob". Truly, the Blessed Holiness called him
Jacob. Come and see: it is written: "Is this why he called him
Jacob..." "He was called Jacob" is not written, but "He called
him." And here, "He called his name Jacob". Wherever his name was called,
it was not by a human being. Elsewhere, what is written? "God
called him 'the God of Israel'" -- the Blessed Holiness called
Jacob God. He said to him: I am God on high and you are God below. So it comes out as Rabbi Shim'on has said: What is written? "God
created the great sea-serpents" -- they are Jacob and Esau. "And
all the breathing life that crawls..." -- these are the rest of
the levels between them. Truly, Jacob made himself wise, as much as that other snake, and
this was necessary. Leviticus 1:1 The Zohar's translation comes from the Talmud, Megillah 18a: Genesis 1:21: COMMENTARY: JACOB AND ESAU This embodiment of the Sefirot is somewhat similar to the Christian
teaching that Jesus was an incarnation of the second person of
the Trinity. The Zohar may have deliberately adopted and reworked
this Christian idea. This passage does not develop a specific role for Rebecca (Rivka),
Esau and Jacob's mother. Essentially she is merged with Isaac
as the source of Esau and Jacob. The only comment on her in herself
comes from earlier Midrash. It is a good example of how the rabbis
imagined the world of the Bible as their own world: when Rebecca
had a question to ask, she went to the rabbis in the yeshivah
of Shem and Ever.
In midrashic tradition, Jacob, the ancestor of the twelve tribes
of Israel, represents the Jewish people. His first-born twin brother
Esau represents the oppressive non-Jewish world, especially the
Roman Empire, and in medieval times the Catholic Church.
Seeing Esau as the wicked oppressor fits only awkwardly, however,
with the Biblical stories. After all, Isaac, Jacob's father, the
ancestor of all Jews, loves Esau best. And while Esau is a hunter
and becomes a chieftain and ancestor of kings, he does not do
Jacob any harm; it is Jacob who outwits his brother several times
and takes his birthright and blessing away from him. Indeed Jacob's
name, which comes from the word for the heel of the foot, also
has a connotation of trickery.
"In biblical narrative...": Ora Horn Prouser, "The Truth About Women and Lying", in Journal
for the Study of the Old Testament 61 (1994) 15-28.
Zohar I (Toledot) 137b f.
Rabbi Yehudah's young son asked: Why did Isaac not love Jacob
as much as Esau, since he knew (prophetically) that he would establish
twelve tribes through Jacob?
(Rabbi Yehudah) said to him: You have spoken well. The answer
is that every species loves its own species; a species is drawn
after, and follows, its own species.
Genesis 25:25-26:
Vayeitsei harishon admoni kulo, k'aderet sei-ar, vayikr'u sh'mo
Eisav. V'acharei kein yatsa achiv, v'yado ochezet ba-akeiv Eisav,
vayikra sh'mo Ya-akov; v'Yits'chak ben shishim shana b'ledet otam.
"The first came out all reddish, like a hairy garment, and they
called him Esau. And after that his brother came out, and his
hand was clinging to Esau's heel (akeiv), and he called him Jacob
(ya-akov). Isaac was sixty years old when (Rebecca) gave birth
to them."
That is the species of Isaac, who is harsh judgment on high. Esau, who is harsh judgement below, emerged from him, looking like
his own species.
It is written here, "because of his trapping food for him" and
it is written there, "so it is said, 'Like Nimrod, a mighty man
of trapping before YHVH'".
"The children were crushing inside her" -- because there that
wicked Esau was waging war against Jacob. "Crushing" -- they were
breaking, as in our expression: "crush its brain!"
They broke with each other and separated.
Vaye-ehav Yits'chak et Eisav ki tsayid b'fiv, v'Rivka ohevet et
Ya-akov.
"Isaac dearly loved Esau because of his trapping food for him,
but Rebecca loved Jacob".
Hu haya gibor tsayid lifnei Adonai; al kein yei-amar, k'Nimrod,
gibor tsayid lifnei Adonai.
"(Nimrod) was a mighty man of trapping before YHVH; so it is said:
'Like Nimrod, a mighty man of trapping before YHVH'."
"The children were crushing inside her..." -- Genesis 25:22:
Vayitrotsatsu habanim b'kirba, vatomer, im kein, lama zeh anochi?
Vateilech lidrosh et Adonai.
Shem and Ever were the son and grandson of Noah, the earliest
ancestors of the Jewish people. According to the Biblical chronologies
of their ages they were still alive at this time; according to
midrash, they were running a yeshivah.
Jerusalem Talmud, Kiddushin 48a:
Rabbi Shim'on ben Yochai [the hero of the Zohar] says: "Even the
best of serpents -- crush its brain!"
And come and see: Because Esau was drawn after that serpent, Jacob
dealt with him crookedly, like the serpent, who is wise and deals
crookedly, as you say, "the serpent was cunning..." -- wise. So
Jacob's actions toward him were like a serpent to him.
And it was necessary for him to do this, in order to draw Esau
after that serpent, so that he would separate from him and not
have a portion with him in this world or in the world to come.
We have learned: "Someone is coming to murder you -- you kill
him first!"
Genesis 3:1:
V'hanachash haya arum mikol chayat hasadeh asher asah Adonai Elohim,
vayomer el ha-isha, af ki amar Elohim lo tochlu mikol eits hagan.
The serpent was cunning, more than all the animals of the field
which YHVH God had made, and it said to the woman, "Even though
God said not to eat from all from the trees of the garden..."
Talmud Berachot 58a and parallels:
"If someone is coming to murder you, act quickly to murder him."
V'riv l'Adonai im Yehuda, v'lifkod al Ya-akov kidrachav, k'ma-alalav
yashiv lo. Babeten akav et achiv, uv'ono sarah et Elohim.
"YHVH has a quarrel with Judah, and will punish Jacob for his
ways, repay him for his deeds. In the womb he took his brother
by the heel; in his strength he wrestled with God."
V'acharei kein yatsa achiv, v'yado ochezet ba-akeiv Eisav, vayikra
sh'mo Ya-akov; v'Yits'chak ben shishim shana b'ledet otam.
"And after that his brother came out, and his hand was clinging
to Esau's heel (akeiv), and he called him Jacob (ya-akov); and
Isaac was sixty years old when (Rebecca) gave birth to them."
Vayomer hachi kara sh'mo Ya-akov, vaya-akveini zeh fa-amayim,
et b'chorati lakach v'hinei ata lakach birchati! Vayomar, halo
atsalti li bracha?
"(Esau) said: 'Is this why he called him Jacob, because he has
gotten me under his heel twice? He took my birthright, and now
he has taken my blessing!' And he said, 'Have you not kept a blessing
for me?'"
"...[Because] he has gotten me under his heel...?" -- indeed.
The Blessed Holiness saw that the primordial snake was wise in
doing evil. When Jacob came, He said, "truly, he is correspondingly
wise" -- and therefore He called him Jacob.
We have established that an anonymous "he called", wherever it
occurs, is the last level, as it is written, "He called to Moses".
And come and see: Jacob knew that Esau would adhere to that crooked
snake, and because of this, in all his actions, he was drawn upon
him like another crooked snake, with wisdom, with crookedness,
and this was necessary.
Vayikra el Moshe, vay'daber Adonai eilav mei-ohel mo-eid, leimor:
"He called to Moses, and YHVH spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting,
saying..."
Genesis 33:20
Vayatsev sham mizbeyach, vayikra lo Eil Elohei Yisra-eil.
Usual translation: "(Jacob) built an altar there, and he called
it, 'God is the God of Israel'."
"Rabbi Acha said that Rabbi El'azar said: From where do we learn
that the Blessed Holiness called Jacob God? It is written, vayikra
lo Eil Elohei Yisra-eil -- God called him, 'the God of Israel'."
Vayivra Elohim et hataninim hag'dolim, v'eit kol nefesh hachaya
haromeset asher shartsu hamayim l'mineihem, v'eit kol of kanaf
l'mineihu, vayar Elohim ki tov.
"God created the great sea-serpents, and all the breathing life
that crawls, with which the water swarms, in their species, and
all the winged birds in their species, and God saw that it was
good."
The Zohar's answer to the moral dilemmas of the Jacob and Esau
stories depends on a set of correspondences that are simple but
have startling implications. In a common theme of the Zohar, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob embodied the Sefirot of Chesed, Gevurah and Tif'eret.
Abraham is Chesed, Isaac is Gevurah, Jacob is Tif'eret, which
emerges from Gevurah as one Sefirah unfolds from another. Of all
the Sefirot, Tif'eret is most like the God of traditional prayers.
(The Talmud already claims that God called Jacob God.])
On the other hand, Esau, the wicked brother in midrashic tradition,
is Sama'el, the devil. (In earlier midrash, Sama'el is Esau's
supernatural counterpart, his guardian angel.)
The Zohar's vision of reality as a plural unity tests its own
limits when it touches on demonic forces. As noted in our introduction,
it sees these forces as very dangerous and real. In many respects
Sama'el is an independent force, an enemy of God. Yet from another
perspective he too is part of the divine unity, and the Zohar
shows this by including him in the genealogy of the family of
Genesis, which embodies the divine emanation, the unfolding of
one Sefirah from another.
Each of these aspects of spiritual reality has a feminine counterpart.
The counterpart of Tif'eret is Malkhut; besides the human imagery,
She is the throne and He is the king who rests on Her; She is
the moon and He is the sun whose light She absorbs and reflects.
In this passage She is also called "the last level" and "the Blessed
Holiness". ("The Blessed Holiness" (Kudsha brikh Hu) usually means Tif'eret
but can refer to other Sefirot as well, even those that are usually
imagined in the feminine.)
Elsewhere in the Zohar, the feminine counterpart of Sama'el is
often called Lilith; here, she is the serpent from the Garden
of Eden story. (So the Zohar says that Esau "rides on the serpent",
with a sexual connotation.)
Sama'el himself is also called a serpent, or snake: "the primordial
snake". In general the serpent represents Samael's role, his place
in the scheme of things. So the Zohar says that Jacob had to "draw
Esau after that serpent, so that he would separate from him",
and that he had to "push him down below, for him to adhere to
his place." "That serpent" and "his place" are equivalents. The
serpent is the place in the scheme of things to which Sama'el
must be confined, which he must "adhere to". If he were to take
his serpent energy beyond certain boundaries, all of existence
would be in danger.
Kabbalistically, it makes sense that Esau is the beloved son of
Isaac, because the demonic forces primarily come from Gevurah. This is why the Torah emphasizes Esau's red colour; red is the
colour of Gevurah, as mentioned in our first text, The Rose. Gevurah is harshness, strictness, saying no. When this energy
goes a little too far it becomes a no to life, utter destructiveness,
evil.
In the unfolding of the Sefirot, the energy of Isaac/Gevurah grows
in two ways. At first, it presses on in its own direction, outward,
over the edge, and becomes Sama'el, represented by Esau, the first-born.
Then Gevurah's energy collects itself and refocuses toward the
centre, balancing with Chesed, and becomes Tif'eret, Jacob. Tif'eret
is about a blending of Gevurah with Chesed, but Sama'el is pure
unmitigated Gevurah. Therefore it makes sense that Gevurah loves
Sama'el, that Isaac loves Esau. It also makes sense -- startling
as it is -- that the Devil is the older brother of God, in God's
central manifestation as Tif'eret.
The identification of Isaac with Gevurah may seem surprising because
Isaac is noteworthy for his receptive, passive role in the Biblical
stories. One way of looking at this is that Gevurah can be inward-focused
-- in self-restraint and self-control -- or outward-focused in
restraint and control over others. Isaac manifests the former
and Esau, the hunter, the latter. (The Zohar juxtaposes Esau with
the tyrannical king Nimrod to suggest that his aggressive hunting
energy was felt in the human realm as well.)
In the Zohar's interpretation of the conflict between Jacob and
Esau, Jacob/Tif'eret, aware of the evil power of Esau/Sama'el,
proactively responds in kind, fighting fire with fire. This provides
a mystical understanding of Jacob's morally unacceptable trickery.
It was necessary to use evil means in order to defeat the power
of evil and keep it in its place. Yet, while the ends justify
the means, the means still have consequences. Jacob/Tif'eret is
tainted by the conflict with Esau/Sama'el. He remains stuck to
him -- "he could not get away from him altogether, but his hand
was clinging to Esau's heel". He is more like him than he, or
we, may find comfortable. "The great sea-serpents" of the beginning
of Genesis are Jacob and Esau. The verse goes on to mention "all
the breathing life that crawls" which, the Zohar says, covers
all the divine and demonic powers surrounding them, without distinction.
The distinction between the demonic and the divine is blurred
in a different way in our next selection.
JACOB AND ESAU: QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION
The Zohar's picture of the place of evil in the realm of the divine
is somewhat unsettling. In principle, the Kabbalists could have
followed many other theologians in seeing God as completely removed
from evil, or evil as a mere illusion, or both.
What do you think the Zohar gains by taking its complex stand?
This passage begins with a father (Rabbi Yehudah) answering a
question from his son, and continues with a teaching from Rabbi
Yitzchak, whose name is the same as Isaac.
What are the implications of these literary choices?