Trauma in the Abrahamic Family: Moving Backwards and Forwards in Time Parshat Toldot

22. But the children [almost] crushed one another inside her,
so she said:
If so,
why do I exist?
And she went to inquire of YHWH.

23. YHWH said to her:
Two nations are in your belly,
two tribes from your body shall be divided;
tribe shall be mightier than tribe,
elder shall be servant to younger!

27. The lads grew up:
Esav became a man knowing the hunt, a man of the open-field,
while Yaakov was a wholesome man, staying among the tents.

28.Yitzhak grew to love Esav, for [he brought] hunted-game for his mouth,
but Rivka loved Yaakov.

1. Now when Yitzhak was old and his eyes had become too dim for seeing,
he called Esav, his elder son, and said to him:
My son!
He said to him:
Here I am.

2. He said:
Now here, I have grown old, and do not know the day of my death.

3.So-now, pray pick up your weapons—your hanging-quiver and your bow,
go out into the field and hunt me down some hunted-game,

4. and make me a delicacy,^* such as I love;
bring it to me, and I will eat it,
that I may give you my own blessing before I die.

5)Now Rivka was listening as Yitzhak spoke to Esav his son,
and Esav went off into the fields to hunt down hunted-game to bring [to him],

6) so Rivka said to Yaakov her son, saying:
Here, I was listening as your father spoke to Esav your brother, saying:

7) Bring me some hunted-game and make me a tasty-dish, I will eat it
and give you blessing before YHWH, before my death.

8) So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you:

9) pray go to the flock and take me two fine goats’ kids from there,
I will make them into a tasty-dish for your father, such as he loves;

10) you bring it to your father, and he will eat,
so that he may give you blessing before his death.

11) Yaakov said to Rivka his mother:
Here, Esav my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man;

12) perhaps my father will feel me—then I will be like a trickster in his eyes,
and I will bring a curse and not a blessing on myself!

13) His mother said to him:
Let your curse be on me my son!
Only: listen to my voice and go, take them for me.

14) He went and took and brought them to his mother, and his mother made a tasty-dish, such as his father loved.

15) Rivka then took the garments of Esav, her elder son, the choicest ones that were with her in the house,

and clothed Yaakov, her younger son,
16) and with the skins of the goats’ kids, she clothed his hands and the smooth-parts of his neck.

17) Then she placed the tasty-dish and the bread that she had made in the hand of Yaakov her son.

18) He came to his father and said:
Father!
He said:
Here I am. Which one are you,^*

19) Jacob said to his father:
I am Esav, your firstborn.^*
I have done as you spoke to me;
pray arise, sit and eat from my hunted-game,
that you may give me your own blessing.

20) Yitzhak said to his son:
How ever did you find it so hastily, my son?
He said: Indeed, YHWH your God made it happen for me!

21) Yitzhak said to Yaakov:
Pray come closer, that I may feel you, my son,
whether you are really my son Esav or not.

22) Yaakov moved closer to Yitzhak his father.
He felt him and said:
The voice is Yaakov’s voice, yet the hands are Esav’s hands—

23) but he did not recognize him, for his hands were like the hands of Esav his brother, hairy.
Now he was about to bless him,

24) [when] he said:
Are you he, my son Esav?
He said:
I am.

25) So he said: Bring it close to me, and I will eat from the hunted-game of my son,
in order that I may give you my own blessing.
He put it close to him and he ate;
he brought him wine and he drank.

26) Then Yitzhak his father said to him:
Pray come close and kiss me, my son!

27) He came close and kissed him.
Now he smelled the smell of his garments
and blessed him and said:
See, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field^*
that YHWH has blessed.

28) So may God give you
from the dew of the heavens,
from the fat of the earth,
[along with] much grain and new-wine!

29) May peoples serve you,
may tribes bow down to you;
be master to your brothers,
may your mother’s sons bow down to you!
Those who damn you, damned!
Those who bless you, blessed!

30) Now it was, when Yitzhak had finished blessing Yaakov,
yes it was—Yaakov had just gone out, out from the presence of Yitzhak his father—
that Esav his brother came back from his hunting.

31) He too made a tasty-dish and brought it to his father.
He said to his father:
Let my father arise and eat from the hunted-game of his son,
that you may give me your own blessing.

32) Yitzhak his father said to him:
Which one are you?
He said:
I am your son, your firstborn, Esav.

33) Yitzhak trembled with exceedingly great trembling
and said:
Who then was he
that hunted down hunted-game and brought it to me—I ate it all before you came
and I gave him my blessing!
Now blessed he must remain!

34) When Esav heard the words of his father,
he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry,
and said to his father:
Bless me, me also, Father!

35) He said:
Your brother came with deceit and took away your blessing.

36) He said:
Is that why his name was called Yaakov/Heel-Sneak?^*For he has now sneaked against me twice:
my firstborn-right he took, and now he has taken my blessing!
And he said:
Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?

37) Yitzhak answered, saying to Esav:
Here, I have made him master to you,
and all his brothers I have given him as servants,
with grain and new-wine I have invested him—
so for you, what then can I do, my son?

38) Esav said to his father:
Have you [only] a single blessing, Father?
Bless me, me also, Father!
And Esav lifted up his voice and wept.

39) Then Yitzhak his father answered, saying to him:
Here, from the fat of the earth
must be your dwelling-place,
from the dew of the heavens above.

You will live by your sword,
you will serve your brother!
40) But it will be
that when you brandish it,
you will tear his yoke from your neck.

10) Now it was when Yaakov saw Rahel, the daughter of Lavan his mother’s brother,
and the sheep of Lavan his mother’s brother,
that Yaakov came close,
he rolled the stone from the mouth of the well
and gave drink to the sheep of Lavan his mother’s brother.

11) Then Yaakov kissed Rahel, and lifted up his voice and wept.

16) Now Lavan had two daughters: the name of the elder was Lea the name of the younger was Rahel.

17) Le’a’s eyes were delicate, but Rahel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.

18) And Yaakov fell in love with Rahel.
He said:
I will serve you seven years for Rahel, your younger daughter.

22) Lavan gathered all the people of the place together and made a drinkfest.

23) Now in the evening
he took Le’a his daughter and brought her to him,
and he came in to her.

24) Lavan also gave her Zilpa his maid,
for Le’a his daughter as a maid.

25) Now in the morning:
here, she was Le’a!
He said to Lavan:
What, now, have you done to me?
Was it not for Rahel that I served you?
Why have you deceived me?

26) Lavan said:
Such is not done in our place, giving away the younger before the firstborn;