Parashat Toldot

5782

Chapter 25;v.27

כז. וַֽיִּגְדְּלוּ הַנְּעָרִים וַיְהִי עֵשָׂו אִישׁ יֹדֵעַ צַיִד אִישׁ שָׂדֶה וְיַֽעֲקֹב אִישׁ תָּם ישֵׁב אֹֽהָלִֽים

  1. And the boys grew; and Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

Referring to Esau, the word ‘man’ is used twice: “…a man who knew how to hunt, a man of the field’, but, referring to Jacob, the word ‘man’ is used only once: “….Jacob was an innocent man”. Why is this so?

Since Esau was a politician, duplicitous and two-faced, he had one face at home, that of ‘a man who knew how to hunt’. He knew how to hunt and trick his father with his mouth, asking: Father, how do we tithe salt? How do we tithe straw? (neither of these things need to be tithed). His father assumed that he was very scrupulous in the performance of the commandments because of these inquiries. But he had a different face when he went out to the field. There, Esau was ‘Esau, the man of the field’, actually killing, thieving, and committing adultery.

Jacob was different, though. He was the same in the field as he was in the house, innocent and straight, his inside like his outside, and his outside like his inside. Therefore, the word ‘man’ is used twice when describing Esau and only once when describing Jacob.(Al HaTorah-Rabbi Mordechai  HaCohen)

5781

Chapter 28;v.5

פרוש רש”י : אם יעקב ועשו. איני יודע מה מלמדנו

This is one of the places where Rashi writes that he does not know what it teaches us.
The other place with similar Rashi’s comment is found in Exodus, Parashat Mishpatim, Chapter 22;v.28.